For years, we’ve seen tourists flaunt photos of one of Tokyo’s biggest attractions, MariCar Street Car. But, now it looks like the company has gone out of business.
The attraction allowed fans to simulate a real-life version of the popular Nintendo classic, Mario Kart, right in the streets of Tokyo. Despite drawing people from all over the world, the ride has faced years of backlash from the game’s creators.
Nintendo sued the company in 2017 over intellectual property infringement surrounding the name. Although they changed the name and put up disclosures alerting people they were not affiliated with Nintendo, “Street Car” was forced to hand over 50 million Yen to Nintendo earlier this year.
Then came COVID.
Tourism in Tokyo fell drastically, and the company never fully recovered from having to pay Nintendo plus the decline in customers. In late April, a fundraiser was started online to help save the attraction. Unfortunately, they were never able to reach their goal.
Many are hoping that once tourism ramps back up in Japan, the company will be able to rebrand and come back stronger than ever. Until then, we’ll sit back and dream.
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