Friday Fun: A Mario Kart Tour of Japan

Foreign tourists are taking to the streets of Japan dressed as Mario, Luigi, and more of their friends from the Nintendo universe.

1 minute read

June 23, 2017, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


MariCar

Leng Cheng / Flickr

Alastair Gale and River Davis report on "one of the hottest tourist attractions in Japan": dressing as Nintendo characters and driving around Japan in go-karts. It's a life-sized version of the popular Mario Kart series of video games.

According to the article, the tours are a symptom of Japan's ongoing tourism boom, and a cause of growing backlash among locals, concerned with traffic safety. Nintendo also has taken offense, recently suing the tour company MariCar for copyright infringement. The Japan Patent Office favored the tour company, however.

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