Kei Truck Switches and Japanese Labels, Translated

By Farhad Musazada, owner of Skyline Kei Trucks. Last updated: October 21, 2026. Based on Daihatsu/Toyota, Suzuki, Honda and Subaru manuals and spec sheets, MLIT and MIC pages, and FCC band information; manufacturer manuals, spec sheets and government pages verified October 2026; labels we could not verify were left out (sources at the end). General information; labels and figures come from the sources listed at the end.

How much Japanese do you need to drive one?

Less than you would think. The pictograms on a kei truck are the ones you know from any car: the headlamp, the wiper, the red triangle, the thermometer. What trips people up is the printed Japanese next to the switches, on the heater panel and on the stickers. This page translates the words we see every week on the trucks and vans at our lot.

Each table gives the Japanese as printed, a romaji reading and the English meaning. The wording comes from the makers' own manuals and spec sheets, listed at the end; anything we could not confirm there we left out. If right-hand drive itself is new to you, start with our FAQ on right-hand drive and the buyer's guide.

What do the dashboard and column switches say?

The biggest habit to unlearn is the stalks. On the trucks we sell the turn-signal stalk is on the right of the steering column and the wiper stalk is on the left, the reverse of a US car. Expect to wipe a dry windshield a few times in the first week. The wording below is from the Daihatsu Hijet Truck manual, which Toyota publishes online for its Pixis Truck twin.

What do the heater and A/C controls say?

Air conditioning was not a given on these trucks; on the 1999 Acty, Honda listed a manual air conditioner as an extra-cost option. The labels below are the ones Honda uses in its current kei-car manual; an older truck may show only the pictograms.

Honda's advice on the two air modes: use 内気循環 (recirculate) in tunnels and heavy traffic to keep dirty air out, and 外気導入 (fresh air) the rest of the time. Recirculate clears frost faster with the defroster, but switch back to fresh air once the glass is clear or the cab fogs from the inside.

What do 4WD, デフロック, Hi-Lo, EL and UL/UR mean?

This is where the brands differ most, so the table names the model each label belongs to. Our 4x4 FAQ covers how part-time four-wheel drive works; here we stick to the words on the switches and shift knobs.

A few things the labels do not say. Honda ties the Acty Attack's rear differential lock to UL and UR: it works only in those gears, which makes it a walking-pace tool by design. On a Subaru Sambar with the EL five-speed, Subaru's セレクティブ4WD (selective 4WD) puts the 2WD/4WD switch on top of the shift knob; the automatic Sambar has viscous full-time 4WD and no switch. Suzuki's 1999 spec sheet calls the Carry's part-time 4WD 高低速2段切り換え式, a two-speed high/low type, with a トランスファー (transfer case). A locked differential fights the steering on pavement, so use デフロック only on loose ground at low speed. Our model comparison covers which trucks offer which system.

What do the stickers on the bed, doors and glass say?

The 最大積載量 label is the one every buyer asks about. It is the Japanese load rating for the bed: 350 kg, about 770 lb, which Honda and Subaru both print in their spec sheets. It is still a sensible limit; see the payload FAQ. The fuel door says 無鉛レギュラーガソリン, unleaded regular, as the Carry, Hijet and Acty spec sheets specify (see the fuel FAQ). Tire pressures on a Japanese label are metric: if it reads in kPa, 100 kPa is about 14.5 psi; if it reads in kgf/cm², 1 kgf/cm² is about 14.2 psi.

The shaken sticker

The small yellow square on the windshield is the 検査標章 (kensa hyōshō), the sticker for Japan's periodic vehicle certification, known as 車検 (shaken). For a kei truck the certificate runs two years, and the sticker prints the month and year it expires. Kei stickers are yellow, with the expiry year and month in numerals on the face; the current small format dates from January 2014.

What it means for you: nothing legal. Once the truck leaves Japan the certificate is cancelled, and Texas does not look at the sticker. It tells you the truck was certified for Japanese roads until that month, and nothing about the truck today.

Dates on Japanese stickers and paperwork are often written in era years rather than Western years. Three eras cover the paperwork you will see:

Two other stickers turn up: the 点検整備済標章 marks a periodic service in Japan, and the 保管場所標章 shows the owner had a registered parking space. Both are souvenirs now.

What is on the ID plate and the Japanese paperwork?

Every truck has a metal ネームプレート (nēmu purēto, name plate); the Hijet manual places it in the passenger-side door opening. The same data, with more, appears on the Japanese certificate (車検証, shakenshō) and on the export certificate we hand over with every vehicle, with an English translation. The Texas title process copies from these fields: the 車台番号 is the number matched on the VTR-68-A form. Our Texas title guide walks through the forms.

Why does the radio only find a few stations?

Because Japan's FM band is different. Japanese FM broadcasting uses 76 to 90 MHz, and in the 2010s Japan added 90 to 95 MHz for wide-FM relays of AM stations; a radio marked ワイドFM (waido FM) covers that extension. The US FM band runs 88 to 108 MHz. A stock kei truck radio therefore reaches only the bottom of the US dial: 88.1 to 89.9 MHz, or up to 94.9 MHz on a wide-FM unit.

Three fixes. A band expander, a small frequency converter wired behind the radio, shifts the US band down into the Japanese range. A new head unit solves it properly if you can live without the original look. Or keep the original radio and run a Bluetooth FM transmitter from your phone, set between 88.1 and 89.9 MHz.

Two smaller quirks. On the 1999 Acty TOWN the clock was built into the AM/FM cassette stereo, so if a previous owner swapped the radio, the clock left with it. And the speedometer and odometer are metric: 100 km/h is about 62 mph, 80 km/h about 50 mph, 60 km/h about 37 mph (see the odometer FAQ). Every truck and van on our kei truck and kei van pages still wears these labels; come by the lot and we will walk you through them.

Frequently asked questions

What does 最大積載量 350kg on the tailgate mean?

It is the maximum load (saidai sekisairyō) the truck was rated to carry in Japan: 350 kg, about 770 lb, in the bed. Treat it as the working limit for the bed.

What does the yellow sticker on the windshield mean?

It is the 検査標章, the sticker for Japan's periodic vehicle certification (車検, shaken). It shows the month and year the truck's two-year Japanese certificate was due to expire. After export the certificate is cancelled, so the sticker has no legal meaning in the US and says nothing about the truck today.

Will the stock radio pick up US FM stations?

Only a few. Japanese FM covers 76–90 MHz, or 76–95 MHz on a wide-FM radio, while US FM runs 88–108 MHz, so the overlap is 88.1–89.9 MHz (up to 94.9 MHz on wide FM). A band expander, a replacement head unit or a Bluetooth FM transmitter set between 88.1 and 89.9 MHz fixes it.

Which stalk is the turn signal on a kei truck?

The right one. The 方向指示スイッチ sits on the right of the steering column and the ワイパー・ウォッシャースイッチ on the left, the opposite of a US car. The symbols on the stalks are the usual ones, so a glance down sorts it out.

What do UL, UR and EL on the shift knob mean?

UL and UR are Honda's ウルトラロー (ultra-low) and ウルトラリバース (ultra-reverse) gears on the Acty Attack, crawler ratios below first and reverse; the Attack's rear diff lock only works in those two gears. EL is Subaru's エクストラ・ロー (extra-low) gear on the Sambar's five-speed 4WD. All three are for creeping over rough ground, not for the road.

Sources

1. Toyota Pixis Truck owner's manual, May 2018 edition (Daihatsu Hijet Truck twin)
2. Suzuki Digital Library: 1999 Carry (10th generation) spec sheet
3. Honda news release, February 23, 1990: Acty/Street 660 cc series
4. Honda news release, May 27, 1999: new Acty
5. Honda Acty Truck archive (2007–2009 model): types
6. Honda N-BOX 2024 web owner's manual: オートエアコンの使いかた
7. Subaru Online Museum: Sambar Truck brochure, October 2011
8. MLIT Chugoku District Transport Bureau: 自動車のステッカーの見方
9. MLIT Kyushu District Transport Bureau: 自動車の検査の現況
10. MLIT electronic vehicle certificate portal: sample 自動車検査証記録事項
11. MIC: basic policy on V-Low multimedia broadcasting and broadcast-network resilience (FM band allocation)
12. MIC Chugoku Bureau of Telecommunications: FM補完放送 begins in Yamaguchi (November 12, 2018)
13. FCC Audio Division: why FM frequencies end in an odd decimal
14. Consulate-General of Japan in Perth: 西暦⇔年号早見表 (era conversion table)

Written by Farhad Musazada, owner of Skyline Kei Trucks

Farhad imports more than 300 kei trucks a year to Houston and meets buyers at the lot at 6100 Harvey Wilson Dr. He writes these guides from the paperwork our buyers take to the county tax office and the official sources listed on each page. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we will check it.

Ready to look? Browse kei trucks for sale in Houston, see what is in Houston now or arriving soon, or call or text (713) 385-9798.

All vehicles are sold by Wideway Motors LLC as is, with no warranty.