Author Archives: Skorj

Grand Touring: A Weekend in Nagano Prefecture

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Skorj

Eight-and-a-half feet of reliable snowfall blankets the mountains of Nagano Prefecture each winter, transforming quaint and quiet towns into temporary getaways for Tokyo-ites. When the snows disappear so do the downhill skiers and onsen soakers, but local FJ40 Land Cruisers stay to witness the spring thaw. … Continue reading →

Posted in Grand Touring, honda, mazda, mitsubishi, nissan, subaru, toyota | Tagged Bessho, bus, Chikuma, chuo expressway, cr-v, daihatsu, fd, fj40, fuji heavy industries, fuso, hijet, hino, honda, j3, jeep, Kakeyu, kei, land cruiser, mazda, mitsubishi, Nagano, onsen, r3, rx-7, subaru, subaru 360, Summer Wars, toyota, Ueda, vitz, yaris | 9 Comments

Grand Touring: Nostalgic Nissans in Yamanashi Prefecture

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Skorj

In exploring the non-traditional Japan, you quickly learn to identify markers to indicate you are on the right track to discover something old and special — narrow roads lined with closed shutters, anything made of red brick, disconnected power meters, … Continue reading →

Posted in nissan | Tagged 300zx, c110, celica, datsun, fairlady z, gc110, Grand Touring, honda, just, kenmeri, nissan, phantom, r30, scooter, skyline, techno, toyota, yamanashi prefecture, yonmer, z31, z32 | 18 Comments

Grand Touring: Forgotten steel tempts rust in Aichi Prefecture

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Skorj

A few weekends ago, we were again exploring some outlaying areas outside of Nagoya, and in the middle of the rice fields was a small mechanic who had amazed a sizable collection of varied old Japanese cars. As distressing as … Continue reading →

Posted in honda, isuzu, junkyards, mazda, nissan, toyota | Tagged b10, bellett, c10, carol, crown, datsun, fairlady roadster, fairlady z, gc10, Hakosuka, honda, honda z, isuzu, junkyard, kgc10, kpgc10, kujira, mazda, ms65, nissan, s130, s60, skyline, sunny, toyota | 14 Comments

2011 Tokyo Motor Show: Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ Unveiled

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Skorj

The Tokyo Motor Show is under way and we were on hand to bring you the first live, in-the-flesh shots of the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ, as well as initial reports on what it actually feels like to sit … Continue reading →

Posted in subaru, toyota | Tagged ae86, brz, ft86, gt 86, hachiroku, subaru, tokyo motor show, toyota, toyota 86 | 17 Comments

1972 Nissan Sunny Calendar Found in Abandoned Yamanashi-ken House

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Skorj

On the dark-side of Fuji-san, a village with 200-year-old thatched-roof buildings was abandoned in the 1970s. In one of the remote and largely intact houses, hanging from the shredded shoji, in a living room full of bear- and tanuki-tossed futons … Continue reading →

Posted in cm, datsun, nissan | Tagged 510, b110, bluebird, calendar, datsun, datsun 1200, excellent, nissan, sunny | 10 Comments

Unloved Cars of Tochigi

Posted on June 24, 2010 by Skorj

Location scouting North of Tokyo, we were surprised to pass a yard not filled with the usual rural kei cars — or farming implements — but one filled with an enormous range of nostalgics.

Posted in datsun, honda, kei, nissan, subaru, toyota | Tagged 240z, 430, 510, a30, b110, bluebird, butaketsu, c10, c130, datsun, datsun 1200, fairlady z, gloria, Hakosuka, honda, kei, kgc10, kpgc10, laurel, life, nissan, s30, skyline, sprinter trueno, step van, subaru, subaru 360, subaru r2, sunny, super 6, super six, te27, tochigi, toyota | 15 Comments

Nostalgic Car Shopping in Yokohama

Posted on June 2, 2010 by Skorj

The first real hot day of summer. I’m looking at a few options in buying a nostalgic car, so we took a quick drive on the Shuto to a reasonably well stocked shop near Yokohama. While I’m interested in one … Continue reading →

Posted in datsun, mazda, nissan, toyota | Tagged 110s, 2000 gt-x, 510, bellett, bluebird, c10, cosmo sport, datsun, Hakosuka, isuzu, kpgc10, mazda, nissan, s20, skyline, sports 800, toyota | 5 Comments

2010 Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Skorj

The Tokyo Nostalgic Car Show took place at the bizarre inverted ziggurat known as Big Sight convention center last weekend. The annual event isn’t limited to Japanese classics, and this year focused on high end Italian exotics. Ho-hum, right? But like the … Continue reading →

Posted in datsun, events, mazda, nissan, toyota | Tagged ae86, b110, b120, b210, c10, c110, cherry, contessa, corolla, crown, datsun, datsun 1200, excellent, fairlady z, g-nose, Hakosuka, hino, kenmeri, kgc10, kgc110, kpgc10, kujira, levin, mazda, ms65, nissan, pickup, rx-3, s30, s60, sanitora, savanna, skyline, sprinter, sunny, te27, toyota, truck, trueno | 7 Comments

The Abandoned Cars of Ageo Bedroom Town

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Skorj

Thirty-five kilometers north of Tokyo is Ageo. A once semi-rural area, its main inhabitants are now mostly daily commuters to Tokyo — the famous Japanese salaryman and the odd OL — trudging off via their packed trains to slave away … Continue reading →

Posted in datsun, isuzu, japan, nissan | Tagged ageo, be-1, bedroom town, bedtown, bellett, bluebird, isuzu, nissan, pao, subaru, subaru 360, toyota | 8 Comments

NIHON LIFE: The Shuto, Tokyo’s Elevated Expressways

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Skorj

Tokyo’s Metropolitan Expressway — Shuto Kōsoku Dōro (or just the Shuto) — is Tokyo’s answer to handling large volumes of traffic traversing the megalopolis.

Posted in japan, Nihon Life | Tagged aqualine, bayshore route, c10, daikoku futo, datsun, fairlady z, Hakosuka, japan, nissan, s30, shuto, shuto kosoku doro, skyline, tokyo, tokyo metropolitan expressway, wangan | 10 Comments

RT40 Toyota Corona Will Survive in Miyagi-ken

Posted on April 28, 2010 by Skorj

Unlike some rural areas of Japan, the blue-skied Miyagi-ken, in the northern areas of Honshu, seem to be retaining their prosperity. The cows live indoors, the residents drive new cars and build new houses — even some in Meiji-era castle style, … Continue reading →

Posted in japan, toyota | Tagged corona, japan, miyagi, miyagi-ken, prefecture, rt40, toyopet, toyota | 8 Comments

Shoto Incongruities

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Skorj

One of the curious aspects of Tokyo living is the often cliched perspective of the new vs. the old. The fall-back standard for no-need-to-think international correspondents who like to show keitai girls in yukata, shinkansen and rice-fields, cosplay and temples, … Continue reading →

Posted in datsun, japan, mitsubishi, nissan, toyota | Tagged 330, cedric, corona, crown, datsun, gloria, j37, jeep, mitsubishi, nissan, origin, president, rt40, toyota | 11 Comments

Saitama Air-Cooled Yard

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Skorj

Students of automotive design and history advise us that the death of the rear-engine air-cooled car was dictated by a number of changing fashions and requirements. Pollution and noise requirements ensured two-strokes, with their oil-burning lubrication systems, were phased out … Continue reading →

Posted in honda, mazda, mitsubishi, subaru, suzuki | Tagged 360, air-cooled, cervo, compagno, daihatsu, fuji, honda, honda tn, japan, kei car, life, mazda carol, r2, rabbit, saitama, scooter, spider, subaru 360, subaru r2, suzuki, tn360, vamos | 10 Comments

Introducing Kuroneko; A Lone Sunny

Posted on April 5, 2010 by Skorj

JNC Blog is proud to present a new blogger, Skorj, aka kuroneko, a photojournalist that we know very little about, except that he just cold waltzed in here and wowed everybody with a bunch of killer snaps. Oh yeah, he … Continue reading →

Posted in nissan | Tagged b10, datsun, japan, mato, nissan, sunny | 7 Comments