Lexus LFA engineer Chiharu Tamura drives a Subaru 360
Chiharu Tamura may be a hero to many for his work as Deputy Chief Engineer of the Lexus LFA. To us, it’s because he drives a 1968 Subaru 360. Not even 27 of these 20PS kei jidosha would equal a single...
View ArticleQotW: What’s the coolest vintage barrel?
No other car culture comes close to Japan’s in terms of wheels. The sheer enormity of selection can be matched only by the magnitude of a rim collector’s obsession. From ninja star designs to barrels...
View ArticleEVENTS: The Bayline Gathering, Part 01
Ever since Motoring J Style faded in 2008 there’s been a void in the NorCal nostalgic scene. The Bay Area is rife with vintage Nihon steel, and it needs a bona fide show to bring the cars out from...
View ArticleAll around the world, it’s a happy 8/6 Day
It’s amazing how one affordable little car can bring the world together. Around the globe August 6th has become the de facto worldwide holy day for honoring the Toyota AE86. 2012′s 8/6 Day will forever...
View ArticleThe beautiful Box Art and history of Aoshima model kits
Step inside any Japanese hobby store and you’re bound to be dazzled by both the beauty and abundance of Aoshima box art. Their highly detailed plastic model kits have been around for decades, and in...
View ArticleJay Leno tours the Nissan Zama Warehouse, gets dirt on potential S30...
Jay Leno is in Japan. What comes of this trip should be interesting, but for now, watch as he tours the Nissan DNA Garage. UPDATE: Leno goes to Toyota and drives the Lexus LFA Spyder as well! Nissan...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2012 Formula D Car Show & Drifting Championships
Formula D isn’t the kind of event we here at JNC normally cover, but in recent years stateside drifting has grown tremendously, and with that growth it has welcomed with open arms the nostalgics that...
View ArticleNEXT VERSION: Lexus LFA in Toyota 2000GT Yatabe Speed Trial livery
If you were one of the lucky ones who ordered one of 500 Lexus LFAs before production ended in December 2012, you could have ordered it an any color under the rainbow. Pearl Yellow wouldn’t have been...
View ArticleVIDEO: Rocky Auto’s Lexus V8-powered Hakosuka
Many of you loved the cars in the last video we posted but found the music controversial. Prepare yourself for the opposite. It’s hard to take offense to a Temptaions-esque free use Motown groove, but...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2013 All-Toyotafest, Part 01 — The Very Old & Very New
The year is 2013, and that means the official JNC 25-year-or-older rule puts the nostalgic cutoff squarely in 1988. Yes, it’s hard to believe that MkIII Supras are elegible for historic tags in most...
View ArticleThe return of Intelligent Sport” and a introducing a new member of the JNC...
By the time Nobuaki Katayama began work on the original Lexus IS, he was already a rock star within Toyota. He’d chief engineered all-time greats like the Lexus SC and JZA80 Supra and, in his younger...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2013 SEMA Show
The SEMA show is a purist’s worst nightmare. Stock is a dirty word to these people. You won’t find a single unmolested car in the whole Death Star-sized convention hall, but that’s not necessarily a...
View ArticleGRAND TOURING: Tokyo and Nagoya Street Scenes
We saw plenty of nostalgics on our recent trip to Japan, and we’ll have more coverage of those as soon as we go through the photos. In the meantime, please enjoy these omiyage, or souvenirs. You’ll be...
View ArticleOne last tour of Toyota’s Amlux showroom as it closes for good
Today marks the end of a Tokyo institution. Toyota‘s Amlux showroom is closing after 23 years of operation. Most residents of Japan’s constantly morphing metropolis probably didn’t even notice, but for...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2014 All-Toyotafest
Our friends at TORC have just released their 2014 All-Toyotafest flyer. Here’s everything you need to know about the 19th running of this fantastic yearly gathering of Toyota, Lexus and Scion...
View ArticleMINICARS: Custom 1:18 Models by Yordy Kolner
Today’s guest writer is Yordy Kolner, who hails from the Netherlands and, like Luis Aguilar, builds custom scale models of his favorite Japanese cars. However, Yordy starts with 1:18 scale cars made of...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2014 All-Toyotafest, Part 04 — Museum Pieces
For our final installment of Toyotafest coverage, we bring you the museum-worthy cars that put meaning to the word classic. Whether its racing provenance, rarity, pop culture status or just a...
View ArticleEVENTS: Monterey Historics, Part 01
So after we dropped off the hakosuka GT-R at Nissan’s garage, we set out to see what the rest of the Monterey Historics had to offer. It is the most mind-detonatingly expensive automotive festival in...
View ArticleEVENTS: Monterey Historics, Part 05 — Sights & Sounds
The Monterey Historics car week is one of the world’s great automotive events, and 2014 was a milestone year for Japanese classics. After all, seminal Nihon steel made strong showings at auctions,...
View ArticleEVENTS: 2014 Japanese Classic Car Show, Part 03 — The Sixties
The Sixties were a time of rapid growth and optimism for Japan. Automakers just built whatever they felt like with no cares given to what western markets would bear, and before the companies themselves...
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