Classic Japanese Cars

In Bungotakada City on the north east part of Kyushu in Oita Prefecture I found this collection of classic Japanese cars. The city is famous for it’s “Showanomachi”, or Showa Era City, a sort of time capsuled city where everything remains as it would have looked in the middle of the Showa ear (1950′s to 1960′s). The cars include a splashing yellow Subaru from 1972 and a blue three wheeled Daihatsu from 1970 and a very cool looking Nissan truck. More photos from Showanomachi to come!

Roppongi Itasha

Walking in Roppongi I saw these two gloriously decorated cars parked on the side of the road just outside Tokyo Midtown. Itasha, the practice of anime fans to decorate their cars with the favorite anime series has been going on for quite some time but it’s always fun to see them in the wild! An Audi and an Alfa Romeo, fun thing is, both parked outside the Roppongi Mercedes dealership. I love how the owners of these cars are so fantastically devoted to their favorite shows that they would decorate a multi-million yen sports car like this. Both of the owners were standing near the cars when I stopped to snap these but they didn’t mind at all. Must be getting used to the cameras by now!

A Truly Blinged Car

How’s this for a blinged out car? I can absolutely imagine seeing a car like this on the streets of Tokyo someday soon. Can’t you? I saw this beauty at the annual Tokyo Hobby fair, April 29th at Odaiba. Enjoy!

Idol Car

Remember the Itasha that I blogged about earlier this week? Here’s another variation, this one featuring a real artist, or idol, depending on what mood you are in: Ms. Kumi Koda (倖田來未), whom some people refer to as the Japanese Britney Spears. I saw this car in Saitama prefecture just north of Tokyo, and I think this is a proof that Japanese people aren’t really mindful of their surrounding, I doubt a car like this could drive down a major wester urban center without people stopping to watch. Here, nobody cares! If you don’t know much about Kumi Koda recommend you do a YouTube search, in my book, she is one of the few Japanese artists that theoretically could become a household name in most western countries, but I could be wrong. Still, that is one dedicated fan!