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It goes without saying that a lot of people and businesses are struggling out there these days, but even among all that, it’s hard not to hear of Street Kart‘s recent fortunes and wince at least a little bit extra at their particular set of circumstances.
Anyone who’s been to Tokyo in the past half decade or read about their lengthy legal battle with Nintendo, will probably know Street Kart better by their former name MariCar, which was later changed to Mari Mobility Development due to MariCar’s similarity with the popular Japanese nickname for the game Mario Kart.
That plus their service allowing customers to drive around Tokyo in go-karts dressed as popular Mario Kart characters (Nintendo costumes are no longer available), drew the unwanted attention of Nintendo’s lawyers. The ensuing three-year legal battle resulted in back-to-back court losses for Street Kart who were ordered to pay Nintendo 50 million yen at the end of January.
If that wasn’t bad enough, this would also coincide with the cusp of global tourism’s unprecedented COVID-19 drought, and since Street Kart’s clientele was almost exclusively from abroad, the combined impact of these financial blows had to be severe.
So since the end of April, the company launched a crowdfunding campaign to help them weather this storm. Let’s check in and see how close they are to their 2 million yen goal.
It would appear that as of this writing, over a month since the crowdfunding launched, they received 1,000 yen from two people.
The problem seems obvious, however. In losing their original name, it has become really hard to keep track of them, and even if someone came across this crowdfunding by chance, they might easily assume this was just another company trying to capitalize on MariCar’s popularity.
Then there’s the fact that the crowdfunding is being done on the Japanese platform Campfire. This might not sound so odd until you read what a sampling of rather unsympathetic Japanese comments online had to say about the company’s situation.
“It’s the inevitable end to anyone who crosses paths with Nintendo’s legal department.”
“All the Nintendo stuff aside, it’s noisy and dangerous, so we’re probably better off without it, unless they can address these problems.”
“I think trying to crowdfund from Japanese people is their problem.”
“Hahahaha.”
“No one wants them to continue doing what they’re doing.”
“I think at best Japanese people are indifferent to this service, they should try Indiegogo or something that will reach foreigners.”
“They leeched off Nintendo’s popularity.”
“If they let me throw a banana peel or turtle shell, I’ll kick in.”
“Even if the crowdfunding works, I don’t know if it’ll be enough. We won’t see tourists for a long time.”
It does seem odd that a business that seems to largely target customers from overseas is now appealing largely to Japanese people for support. Perhaps later they’ll try something with a more global reach like Kickstarter.
Either way, if you’re one of the many fans of this particular brand of costumed urban go-karting, and want to do it again in the future, then go ahead and put your money where your Mario was and pitch in to Street Kart’s crowdfunding linked below. This may be your last chance.
Source: Campfire/Save The Street Kart, Street Kart, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Tokyo’s “real-life Mario Kart” go-kart rental company loses lawsuit against Nintendo
-- Cosplaying go-kart driver strikes bicyclist in hit-and-run collision in Akihabara
-- Tokyo’s new “real-life Mario Karts” make it ridiculously clear they’re unrelated to Nintendo
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2020/06/07/formerly-mario-themed-go-kart-rental-service-opens-crowdfunding-to-save-their-business/
19 Comments
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Vince Black
Oh no, please. These things and those lame “yankee” bikes r the most annoying thing on the roads
Fighto!
Surprised these ridiculous death traps haven't ended up under buses and trucks.
robert maes
This “company” should have been closed by government a very long time ago. It is completely irresponsible. They are dangerous. The drivers have no experience, they are dangerous for other road users and it would be traumatic for any driver to have an accident with them.
a go cart does not belong on a public road.
tokyo_joe
Good riddance to these pests.
that person
yeah, I’m sure that’s the problem. Crowdfunding for your business? In covid era? I don’t think so. Somehow it seems unfair.
Mocheake
They were done the moment they infringed on a giant like Nintendo's copyrights. Can't say I'll be sad if I don't see them tooling around Shibuya anymore.
Dango bong
hope they close these morons are annoying and a major nuisance to drivers
kohakuebisu
In case anyone is interested, it looks like the same thing has taken off in Europe, but they call them "Hot Rod tours". I saw a glimpse of a travel show on BBC World and it showed ones that looked like shrunken versions of 1930s racing cars. The BBC said the ones in Munich do 90km/h.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of Maricar, anyone coming to Japan to do it at least has to get an international driving permit, which means they can then hire a car in inaka. Hiring a car is definitely the best way to see a vast part of Japan. Loads of places have no public transport at all.
UK9393
Sayonara ANNOYING “company”. Less idiots on the roads.
DatAss
Happy to see the back of them, they make foreigners here look like twats driving around in their silly go-karts.
gogogo
Embarrassing to the see foreigners thinking they are cool driving around it, along with thinking wearing SuperDry clothing in Japan is cool.
M3M3M3
There's something very parasitic about this business. Rather than investing in their own dedicated go-cart circuit, they annoy local taxpayers by joyriding on existing public roads meant to move people and goods from point a to b. Good riddance.
藤原
I seen this once while driving through Kyoto. I was shocked this exists in Japan and it would be quite annoying to deal with that on a daily basis.
commanteer
Crowdfunding? I'd rather crowdfund mosquitoes than these people.
El Rata
If there's a company that should close permanently, it's that one.
Good riddance!
mmwkdw
No Tourists = No Business
This is simply a matter of fact of all Companies operating within that Sector.
Crowd-funding this particular one, seems just like an excuse to give money over to Ninetendo in the long run.
The right thing, would be for Ninetendo to buy out the Company, pay the existing Employees Salaries, and promote the Service going forward under their own brand. Given the popularity to date - I doubt they'd loose money - especially if they take into consideration the Legal fees....
mmwkdw
PS. I do not like Nintendo. I believe they purposely bricked my Nintedo Wii, in order to force me to buy their Wii-U (defunct) device and now attempt to force me to buy Switch... FU is my answer - Kids need to study, and the games on their Phones are enough to handle without having to deal with a stupid organisation- so I've cut out the latter - brick my Wii U please then I can toss it too on the junk heap along with the Nintendo logo.
PS. I can back up this observation with numerous other persons experiences with exactly the same issue.
One day, I hope someone screws the likes of Nintendo & Apple over their undocumented Life-time policy and brings them to task. Justice will then... be served.
Achuthandan Jeevandas
Crowd funding will not solve your goal get venture funds to support they can only help you to get out of your probelm.when i see the target aim for collection what collected is pathetic or register a company in london convert as limited company start issue shares any help i am always there with 36 years experience in 24 industry domains.
ClippetyClop
Best of luck to them, these things are insanely good fun and will be much missed. Driving around the lake or city on a summers day dressed as Yoshi or Mario is a great day out in Japan.
It may interst some people that the majority of their customers are Japanese, they are road legal and require a driving license to rent. As of last summer the company had zero deaths on the road. It's not illegal to have fun on the roads.