I have long known about these pint size motorhome and am elated to see one first hand. I would like to rent one and tour this island nation in leisure. Snail pace may be, but definitely not a beige vehicle.

 

samurai go karts



vintage bikes



the mini me of the classic Fiat 500



I gave him a thumb up and he liked it



a refrigerated pint size commercial delivery van

 

Thanks for all the pics, saves me thousands of dollars in not having to travel.

 

 

Good stuff!

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I've always liked those MR2 Spyders, but they look much better with a hardtop.

That little Fiat is a real sleeper, with its classic verde chiaro paint and looking quite innocent until getting a glimpse of that Abarth oil pan!

Anyway,
fun stuff looking at all the cars you snapped,
Japan is an interesting place...

...I like watching old Japanese car adverts:

 

If I haven't mistaken, the little Fiat 500 is a mini me that is JDM. Same with the white Audi TT mini me. Some of these cars are very endearing especially one consider the local context. The most amazing thing is I had one shot with both the Audi TT and Fiat 500 mini me's. These JDM mini me's were ubiquitous the first time I came to Tokyo. Now you only see them if you pay extra attention. Japan bought up a lot of classic mini's in the hay days of the country's economy. I am surprised I only saw one so far in this trip.

Hong Kong has a lot of exotic cars but they tend to like to drive them on the viaducts where they don't have to negotiate with pedestrians and random traffic so you don't see them as often. A parking space in an apartment costs more than most house in the US. The white Civic Type R owner told me the duty and luxury tax is way more then 50% of the price of the car.

 

It is saturday night here and I worn myself out so headed back to my hotel and enjoy better wifi speed as most guests are still out. More photos including the one with the mini me Audi TT and Fiat 500 that I thought I posted, but not. It sucks to post with crapy wifi narrowband speed that is totally flaky and the NAM's continuous scrolling pages certainly does not help.



I think this baby blue Renault is also a JDM mini me


here is the shot with the mini me Audi TT and the Fiat 500 - I went here to taste the deep fried Japanese curry bun


the go karts are for let but you have are not allow to drive freely. you have to follow the guide who leads; I think it cost $60 an hour

 

more photos of cars of interest

how I miss my Porsche


I have never seen this Lexus LC500 until now


box cars are very popular here now and it make so much sense; almost every brand has one and they all look very similar - quite endearing as a functional city runabout








I think this is a real Citreon c3 mini car


oh, one cannot report from the country of the rising sun without the mention of the washlet

 

 

Good observation. My thought too exactly. So much fascinating things to discover. Parking is very costly in Tokyo. The peopler's attention to details and precision are forever fascinating to me.

 

I think this is another JDM mini me that is a Gulf GTI


I have been seeing a lot of G Wagons - money must grow on trees for these owners

 

my driver patiently wait for me at my hotel each day





OK, it is half truth. It is the hotel that i stay at. This Rolls has been here a lot from the first night I arrived and a couple more nights. I infer is is some rich guy meeting up with his mistress at my upscale hotel


more G Wagon




near my hotel


a lot of AMGs

 

the classic Toyota Crown taxi with the fender mounted mirrors - so 70s Japanese


Desire is safe and sound asleep





firemen doing the early morning drill with the miniature fire engine


I need one of this for my driveway


I am always fascinated by the food delivery suspension contraption


yes, that green suspension thingy that save the bowl of ramen from spilling the delicious broth costs about $600 USD at the cookware street

 

everything is smaller in Japan, including this Honda generator - it is running on eco mode and is so quiet



surfboards in this time of the year - cherry blossom in a warm year


the G-Wagons are like cockroaches


more cool bikes



I cannot tell you how thrilled I was seeing the Renault Alpine first hand for the first time; it is smaller than i thought and very nice; I took a short video with sound



a Jag and a Toyota that you don't see too often in Tokyo

 

you just have to be in the right vicinities to see the upscale cars and I found the block near my hotel

a 911 Carrara S



a 718 Boxter


everything is smaller in Japan, but no less in utilities and quality


the attentions to details and love of quality is infatuating - down to the design of the warning sign


most of the BMWs are M3s here just like in Hong Kong

 

Fun stuff!

That VW is a Lupo...

...neat little cars they are!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Lupo

.

 

still more nice german cars where I spent a good part of the day at Isetan department store that reminds me of Harrods in London that as soon as I walked in I felt like a homeless




the service in Japan is just amazing especially if you are loaded

 

Oh! I had no idea VW made a mini car. Go shows what car companies would cater to different countries' needs. I noticed the emblems are often different in different markets too with basically the same cars. There are very few Prius here but a lot of the Prius mini me's that are Aqua. You don't see all electric and I haven seen any charging station for e-cars.

 

I am including a few photos of this great city



the G-Wagons are as numerous as cockroaches




this is the new Japanese taxi with similarities to the London cab but much more modern and refined

 

a Maserati


more shining box car


the second classic mini I saw in Tokyo


Mini mini me

 

the Isetan department store is a magnet for luxury cars


still more G-Wagon


you don't see the Gen 1 or 2 Mini's that often, probably due to the country's effort to purge older cars off the road

 

I wrote in the preceding post that you don't see older cars in Japan is due the the policy to purge them off the road. It turned out it is untrue. I has more to do with the culture that place importance in appearance, as well as very very few owner work on their own cars. Here is one expat debunks the common myths of owning a car in Japan.

The other interesting thing is, it is very costly to travel by car for any distance due to high cost of highway tolls.

Another interesting read on buying a used car in Japan and the shaken.

 

Thanks for those links --- both were interesting reads, but especially the OppoLock article by the expat as there are so many myths circulating. It's good to get the real low down.

I greatly lust after a Honda S660!
Esp. with Spooniness:
http://www.speedhunters.com/2017/12/...he-spoon-s660/

Wish they made LHD versions. I just don't think I could ever warm up to driving a RHD car.
As compared to when I was growing up there are quite a good many JDM cars in the US now due to the 25 year rule and you can find them easily and for good prices too in some cases,
like for example a Honda Beat or Suzuki Cappuccino are affordable little cars compared to some of the other JDM exotica.

Japanese car auctions are neat and very interesting:


The more collector-focused auctions are neat too, and often have huge lavish catalogs that are great fun to browse through,
like this one:
(pdf)
http://bhauction.jp/pdf/catalog/2019...N_VIEW_ALL.pdf

The BH auctions are of course the more upscale variety and equivalent to Barrett-Jackson type of affairs.