Last week there was a car show and charity toy drive at the Datsun Heritage Museum. Click on the image above to see the gallery.

The grand opening of the Datsun Heritage Museum was this weekend. Koji Yamaguchi of the Japanese Classic Car Show was kind enough to cover it for us.

A couple of months ago we told you about a 1958 Toyopet Crown with a very unique history, having served as one of the cars of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco, that sold for a record. $22,322. It’s one of the first Japanese cars imported to the US and its sudden appearance in the marketplace caught many by surprise. The winning bidder has now been revealed. (more…)

We were flipping through the radio dials when suddenly our ears perked up to the phrase “Toyota Museum” on American Public Media’s Marketplace. It was part of a segment on how corporations are recognizing their heritage.

Those who have been to the Toyota USA Museum in Torrance, CA know that it’s actually a warehouse with no markings whatsoever to indicate that there are classics galore housed inside. So far, the company has kept mum about whether a proper gallery is in the works.

Of note, the story mentions the fact that it was 10 years ago on Toyota USA’s 40th
birthday that they began to take an interest in preserving their history. Then they started buying back cars and restoring them. Today, the museum contains eleven million dollars’ worth of Toyotas, both production cars and concepts. You can listen to the story here, which includes an interview with curator Susan Sanborn talking about the Toyopet Crown.

[Marketplace]

Japan’s version of Second Life, the virtual online world, is called MeetMe. Toyota recently set up not only a shop but an entire city where your customizable avatar can roam free in a Toyota showroom, set up residency in a high-rise condo complex, make other virtual friends, attend live virtual unveilings of new models and purchase 3D Toyotas for your collection . It’s called Toyota Metapolis and the best part is that there will also be a virtual Museum where rendered classic models go on display.

The futuristic design is by Mamoru Oshii and Production I.G., the geniuses behind the 1995 anime masterpiece Ghost in the Shell. Toyota Metapolis opens May 12, 2008 and the museum follows in the fall.

[Source: Toyota]

You may remember the M. Yokota Collection, which has been mentioned on our blog before. Essentially, a super rich old dude built a museum around a massive collection of his diverse interests, one of which happens to be old Japanese cars. Others happen to be squirrels, wine, teddy bears and other assorted toys. Our intrepid reporter Toyotageek infiltrated the magical mansion/squirrel zoo recently and took a bunch of pics for your viewing pleasure before the Oompa-Loompas kicked him out. Yokota-san also organizes a vintage rally every year. Thanks for the tip, TG!

[Source: Toyotageek]

No, we haven’t come to an untimely death by offending the wrong yakuza lieutenant, accidentally driving down the wrong side of the wangan, or eating ill-prepared fugu. Much to the chagrin of some, we are very much alive, but our last day in Japan was largely uneventful. We spent our single day of downtime meeting up with friends, collecting JDM brochures and getting fingerprints all over the cars at Toyota’s Amlux showroom in Ikebukuro and Nissan’s showroom in Ginza.

Amlux is a 10 minute walk from the JR Ikebukuro station. Exit on the Seibu side. You have to cross under an elevated highway to get to it, so this is the best exterior shot we could manage.

Six stories of Toyota goodness.

The Nostalgic Car set of R/C vintage Skylines at a Japanese Toys R Us.

Nissan’s Ginza showroom. Beware, weary traveler, for there are two Ginza showrooms. This, the smaller one, is near the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line station. It’s only big enough to house two cars and a gift shop.

The GT-R on display with the Intima concept.

The engine room of the starship Enterprise.

For some reason, you can buy Nissan Heritage Collection goods there.

This is the real showroom, which is a 10 minute walk or a quick shuttle bus ride away. Blade Runner on the outside…

… Logan’s Run on the inside.

Ben stinking up the GT-R. This is the first one we’ve seen in person that wasn’t silver. Red looks mighty purdy on this beast.

In Japan, white taxis (usually with blue stripe) are privately owned. This cabbie clearly loves his Cima (Infiniti Q45). We wanted to jump in and and say, “To Yokohama, stat!” just to see how quickly he’d get us there.

We went to sample some local fare with our friend Kats. Unfortunately, he didn’t tell us that one of the fares was beef colon soup from the Kyushu region. In case you’re wondering, it’s gamy, chewy, and not something we’d order again. Fortunately, we had several pints of smooth, delicious Suntory beer to wash it down. JNC: sampling the beef colon so you don’t have to!

Not beef colon.