＜before＞ and ＜after＞ in Native Japanese

How do you say ＜before＞ and ＜after＞ in Native Japanese?

In terms of location

before - ma-e (まえ、Chinese character 前)
There is a car before me.  - Watashi no mae ni kuruma ga aru. わたしのまえにくるまがある。
As ＜ma-e (まえ)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜ni, に＞ (at).

behind - u-shi-ro (うしろ、Chinese character 後)
There is a car behind me.  - Watashi no ushiro ni kuruma ga aru. わたしのうしろにくろまがある。
As ＜u-shi-ro (うしろ)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜ni, に＞ (at).

after - a-to (あと、Chinese character is also 後)
I will go behind (after) you. （I will follow you.) - Watashi wa anata no ato kara ikimasu. わたしはあなたのあとからいきます。
As ＜a-to (あと)＞ is not a preposition but a noun you need to put an helping word ＜kara, から＞ (from).

We have no prepositions in Japanese we use helping words (jyoshi, 助詞) instead.

In terms of time

before - ma-e (まえ、Chinese character 前)
Two year before.  - ninen mae (ni)  にねんまえ（に）
As ＜ma-e (まえ)＞ can be used as a noun as well as a adverb you can omit <ni, に> this time. Adding <ni, に> is not a mistake.

behind - a-to (あと、Chinese character is also 後)
Two years later or after two years - ninen ato (ni)  にねんあと（に）
As a-to (あと) can be used as a noun as well as an adverb you can omit ＜ni, に＞ like ＜ma-e (まえ)＞.

＜u-shi-ro (うしろ)＞ is not used in a time frame.

Either English or Japanese you can find a strange thing.

In terms of location

before  - in front
after  - behind

In terms of time 

before  - behind, backward
after  -  in front, forward

You can find this in most other languages - in Chinese too. Why does this conversion between location and time happen ?
Possible answer: People tend to look back in time frame while we see forward physically in terms of location.

sptt