Author Archives: Ben Hsu
A Hakosuka Skyline gets obliterated in ‘Did the Red Bird Escape?’
The 1973 film Akai Tori ni Geta? (Did the Red Bird Escape?) was an avant garde work that differed vastly from Japan’s typical crime dramas. Rather than heroic cops taking down bad guys, it was a tragedy about aimless youth … Continue reading
Nissan’s next restoration will be a Z31 Fairlady Z NISMO rally car
With the restoration of its WRC Pulsar GTI-R complete, the next project Nissan will tackle is a third-generation Fairlady Z rally car. The Z31 claimed the All-Japan Rally’s 1985 championship, despite missing the first two races of the season. The … Continue reading
Posted in News
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Flying Mitsubishi police cars chase a Mazda Grand Familia in one of Japan’s worst cop shows
The wild success of Seibu Keisatsu spawned a lot of similar cop shows. In Novemberr 1980 one short-lived series titled Hashire Nekketsukeiji (translated literally as “Run, Spirited Detective!”) followed the same format: police in the big city, hard luck stories, … Continue reading
Posted in Film/TV
Tagged Eterna Lambda, Eterna Sigma, Galant Lambda, galant sigma, Grand Familia, mazda, mitsubishi, rx-3
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The FC Mazda RX-7 Convertible was the Miata before the Miata
When the Mazda Miata debuted in 1989 it was heralded as a rebirth of the once-common British-style roadster. But Mazda may have already been attempting to resurrect that segment before the MX-5’s arrival. The FC Mazda RX-7 Convertible was described … Continue reading
Kamen Rider’s Ridoron had mandibles and a top speed of 932 mph — Guess the Tokusatsu Car!
Y’all thought you were so smart figuring out that Inazuman’s Raijingo was an Isuzu Bellett based on the shape of the windshield frame? Good luck guessing what car lies beneath the Ridoron, the vehicle from 1988’s 47-episode Kamen Rider Black … Continue reading
‘Toyota’s Child’ is a novel in which Akio Toyoda time travels to meet his grandfather
A new book about Akio Toyoda has been published in Japan, but it’s not your typical biography. Eri Yoshikawa’s Toyota no Ko, which translates to “Toyota’s Child”, is a science fiction novel in which the current Toyota chairman travels back … Continue reading
Akio Toyoda is so badass he flipped a GR Yaris rally car
When Chairman Akio Toyoda spoke recently at the opening of Toyota’s new R&D center, he did it standing before a wrecked GR Yaris rally car. It was one he overturned himself while hot-shoeing it at the newly built Shimoyama Technical … Continue reading
Kujira Crown gets painfully shot up and crashed in ‘Alice in Borderland’ car chase with Nissan President
The fourth-generation Toyota Crown is a rare car, even in Japan, which makes its destruction particularly agonizing to watch. In a car chase from the Netflix Japan series Alice in Borderland, a gunman in a 250 Nissan President gives chase … Continue reading
Posted in Film/TV
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This 1986 Mazda 626 GT review is surprisingly similar to that of modern Mazdas
It’s almost eerie, but Motorweek‘s review of the 1986 626 GT could be describing a modern Mazda. Take out the prices and horsepower figures and you can basically copy/paste the parts about how it handles and feels into any Mazda … Continue reading
Inazuman’s Raijingo flew at Mach 3 and had a mouth — Guess the Tokusatsu Car
The 1973 series Inazuman featured one of the most memorable cars in tokusatsu history. Called the Raijingo, the convertible sports car had a reptilian mouth from which it could fire missiles. But perhaps more impressively, it could transform into a … Continue reading
Get 33% off your Toyotafest admission with this coupon code
The 2024 All-Toyotafest will is this Saturday, June 8. General admission is $15, but be sure to use coupon code JNCFAN to get $5 off. Also, please stop by the JNC booth to meet former international editor of Road & … Continue reading
QotW: What’s the best ‘Gran Turismo’ setup?
Last week’s Gran Turismo 7 update brought back a lot of memories. Some of us have played the latest and greatest, but the last GT game I really played religiously was Gran Turismo 4, simply due to the sheer number … Continue reading
Mazda developing dual-rotor engine as partners Subaru and Toyota commit to boxers and inline-fours
This week Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda jointly announced that they were teaming up to develop Japan’s next generation of combustion engines. Each company would specialize in the iconic engines that built their brands while striving toward carbon neutrality. Toyota would … Continue reading
Posted in News
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Reebok Skyline GT-R wins 1991’s Japan Touring Car Championship
Nissan has released a video of the 1991 All-Japan Touringcar Championships, the sophomore year of the R32 Skyline GT-Rs domination. The R32 had proven itself as a force to be reckoned with the previous year, so there were no less … Continue reading
Posted in motorsport
Tagged Anders Olofsson, JTC, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, masahiro hasemi, nissan, r32, skyline, Toshio Suzuki
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QotW: If you could only drive cars from one year for the rest of your life, which would it be?
We’ve asked before what you’d select if you could only drive cars from a single marque. But instead of limiting the options to one brand, what it if it was one year? You can own and drive as many different … Continue reading
