Japan

Clean Culture As far as first dates go, this one went off with pops and bangs. The last weekend of May marked the first ever Clean Culture event to be held in Japan. Co-hosted by Jun and the Hardcore Tokyo ...

RWB Baphomet: Drive With The Devil

Ever since Jenna Ortega donned an all-black dress as Wednesday Addams it seems the whole world has been on a giant gothic resurgence. Yup, that same aesthetic which otherwise had you ousted at school is now the latest TikTok trend. ...

Tamon Design x Katayama Racing: A One Of A Kind FC3S RX-7

Japan has an ability to push me out of my comfort zone when I least expect it. This is one of those times. Back in September last year, I made my very first excursion down to the Okinawan archipelago. This short Speedhunting trip was ...

Power X is working on zero-emission container ships

Japanese battery startup PowerX unveils the design of a large electric ship to be completed by 2025. Vessel ‘X’ will be the first in a line of “Battery Tankers” and is scheduled for field tests in 2026. The zero-emission ...

A Rally Replica Ford Escort In Japan

Unlike the famous soft drink with grandiose claims of authenticity, this particular Mk2 Ford Escort is not the real thing. It is, however, an extremely good replica of sorts. And it should be, as the car was created by the same company that built the ...

Vintage Metal At The Glion Museum

Not Just Any Warehouse Give me a red brick warehouse full of old bangers over a flashy new exhibition hall any day of the week. This might be easy enough for those living in the Western world, but here in ...

Panasonic to quadruple its battery production

Panasonic wants to increase its annual production capacity for EV battery cells to 200 GWh by March 2031. That would be around four times what it currently produces. To do so, Panasonic is focusing more on production in North ...

You Can’t Beat Tokyo Car Culture

Attending a secret Tokyo underground car meet is something on almost every enthusiast’s bucket list when visiting Japan’s capital city for a hit of its automotive culture. But despite how it can appear online, meets like this are actually very few and far ...

TOM’S Angel T01: As Rare & Real As It Gets

In a way, I envy many of you. You see, growing up I was never really into video games. As a result, I found myself looking at the TOM’S Angel T01 I shot last month in Kyoto, as just another ...

The Organised Chaos That Is Dori Dore

It’s easy to become desensitised to a lot of the events I get to go to here in Japan, but every now and then I catch myself being completely blown away. This is one of those rare times. First let’s set the ...

Tesla drops right-hand drive Model S & X models

Tesla has decided not to produce its Model S and Model X as right-hand drive models. This affects the markets in Great Britain, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand. Previous reservations of the vehicles will be canceled or ...

The Imports Of Wekfest Japan

Last week we took a first look at Wekfest Japan 2023; now it’s time to focus solely on some of the standout import cars that caught my eye inside the brand new Port Messe Nagoya exhibition center. As ever, the level of ...

Honda and GS Yuasa form JV for battery development

Honda and GS Yuasa have agreed to establish a joint venture for battery development. The new company, called Honda GS Yuasa EV Battery R&D, will launch at the end of 2023. Both companies will hold a 50/50 stake in ...

Panasonic postpones 4680 cell mass production by several months

Tesla’s battery partner Panasonic has postponed the start of series production of its 4680 battery cells. According to a recent statement, Panasonic is now considering the period from April to September 2024 to produce an improved version. Last year, ...

Panasonic invests in billing platform for charging payments

Panasonic will invest in Ubiden, which provides charging services for electric vehicles. Together, the companies want to expand the number of EV chargers in Japan. The amount that Panasonic is investing was not disclosed. Instead, the Japanese company focuses ...

Fuji Heavy Disease: Meet Subaru’s Most Avid Collector

If you were to believe social media, the archetypal car collector should be a chiselled, brilliantly-tanned entrepreneur with teeth so bright only the Large Hadron Collider could accurately measure the light they emit. Most of these characters are usually found ...

Wild In The Streets Of Saitama

The FC3S Mazda RX-7 often seems overshadowed by its successor, the FD3S, however it’s exquisitely executed FCs like Saito-san’s that leave me with a soft spot for this classic chassis. As far as street-terrorising cars go, Saito-san’s RX-7 is about as perfect for ...

Now You Can Be Like A Dato’ - Offering the very best Toyota Vellfires, Alphards from TC Autohub.

There are few cars as recognisable as Toyota’s iconic duo – the Vellfire and Alphard – that they are almost synonymous with the luxury MPV segment. These Japanese imported models are known for their sublime ride comfort and mile-munching highway ...

Supercars At Kitano Tenmangu Shrine

A Spiritual Awakening The Japanese city of Kyoto is best known for its historic temples, shrines and royal palaces. There also happens to be a big classic and custom car scene in wider Kyoto Prefecture. If only there was a way ...

Daihatsu’s DNGA crash test ‘inaccuracies’ - Perodua Axia, Toyota Vios safe to drive?

Recently, it came to light that Daihatsu might not have been entirely forthcoming about the nature in which some safety tests (crash assessments in particular) were executed for certain cars developed on their watch, affecting 88,000 units sold into various ...

Honda and GS Yuasa to build battery factory in Japan

The two Japanese companies Honda and GS Yuasa are planning a joint battery factory in Japan. Production is said to kick off in 2027. The cell factory is to be built and operated by a joint venture between the ...

Leoni focuses on EV charging cables in new division

Automotive supplier Leoni announces a new business unit. ‘Charging & Power Solutions’ will unify the company’s cable business and focus on electromobility. The product suite ‘EcoSense’ covers cables for all types of charging, including new liquid-cooled solutions for HPC. ...

Automobile Council: Stunners From The Showfloor

Past, Present, Future Serenaded by the sound of violins and the clinking of champagne flutes, Automobile Council 2023 at Makuhari Messe was more akin to shooting photos in an art gallery than any car show I’ve ever been to. As always, ...

Automobile Council: Celebrating The Past, Present & Future

The Art Of Machine Enjoying car culture means different things to different people. Some choose to focus on the bit that they actively participate in, while others embrace and rejoice every square inch of this rich tapestry of man and ...

Simple & Nimble: The Mizukami Auto 240ZG

Keep it simple, make it nimble. It’s not quite as clever as Colin Chapman’s “Simplify, then add lightness” ethos, but feel free to make it into a bumper sticker if you like. Over many decades, Saitama-based kyusha specialists Mizukami Auto have been perfecting their own lightweight ...

Toyota plans to release 10 new electric cars by 2026

Under new CEO Koji Sato, Toyota wants to focus more on electric cars in the future and is planning ten new BEV models by 2026. However, Sato is also still committed to hybrids and therefore wants to continue investing ...

Preserving Heritage With Mizukami Auto

Japan has a long, complex and richly-textured history, although driving through its cities and towns today you’d be forgiven for thinking that Japanese civilisation started in the 1970s. That’s about as far back as 99% of the buildings and city ...

Ready To Rip: Daddy Motor Works’ GR-Powered AE86

If you cast your minds back to 2021, you might remember my visit to Daddy Motor Works in Aichi, where Kunihiro Oto first showed us his latest project car. That visit filled me – and many of you – with a lot of excitement. The ...

Overfender Magic: The Rocket Bunny RZ34

It’s a funny world we live in. Despite pretty much every automaker saying that EVs are our future and that we’ll soon all be living in a perfect, sustainable society where CO2 emissions from vehicles are a thing of the past, the good ...

USA & Japan sign trade agreement for battery resources

The US and Japan have signed a trade agreement on minerals for electric vehicle batteries. It allows Japanese car manufacturers broader access to the US market and subsidies there under the Inflation Reduction Act. Under the agreement, the countries ...

30 Years Perfecting A Porsche 930 Turbo

The 930 Turbo is undoubtedly one of the most iconic and important cars in Porsche’s history. So how do you improve the perfect poster car? Well, Osamu Ebizuka has spent the past three decades building his ultimate version of the 911 that ...

VWCV plans 44,000 ID. Buzz in 2023

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV) plans to increase production of the ID. Buzz. That should cut delivery times and make the electric model available in more countries. And VWN also wants to expand its range of light electric commercial vehicles. ...

Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid review: Potential Mr Popular

Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid. Japanese carmakers are more conservative compared to European and South Korean brands, especially when it comes to electric vehicles. For while the Europeans have been launching numerous EVs, the Japanese have mostly continued with their combustion ...

Back On The Street & Badder Than Ever: The Hardcore Pandem ’70 Camaro

When a car has a good backstory attached to it, it really gives it some character. Not that a 1970 Pandem-kitted Chevy Camaro really needs any help in that department. Its owner, and head honcho of Hardcore Tokyo, Junichi Takahashi (better known ...

Super Touring On The Streets Of Saitama

It’s very easy to fly the ‘everything seems better in Japan’ flag when you’re out here. And that could be down to the inflated perception by websites like Speedhunters, or it could simply be down to the attitude (and aesthetics) ...

Nissan Ariya production behind schedule

Nissan cannot churn out its new electric car as quickly as planned. According to media reports, the output is at least one-third below plan due to chips, components and paint issues. But the carmaker is working on ramping up ...

Road-Tripping, RWB Style

On the sixth day of a recent Japan trip, I had the pleasure of meeting our friend Sid in Osaka, which wound up leading to one of the best opportunities on my journey. Sid introduced me to a group of RAUH-Welt Begriff ...

BYD rumoured to double down on commercial vehicle business

BYD is planning a major push into battery-electric commercial vehicles, according to a media report. The Chinese manufacturer will launch a series of new BEV commercial vehicle models in markets such as China, Europe and Japan over the next ...

A Few Top Picks From Nostalgic 2Days

With big car shows and events, the sheer volume of shiny things on display can be a bit daunting. I for one need to make more of an effort to stop and smell the roses. Or at least stop drinking ...

Japan companies increase domestic investments due to geopolitical tensions and decreasing costs, says DIGITIMES Research

Japan-based firms’ investments in their home market in 2022 were more robust than in years past and three main factors were the driver for their relocation back to Japan, according to DIGITIMES Research’s latest study covering Japan-based enterprises. Three ...

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