Category Archives: Culture
ART CORNER: Bosozoku Cats and Kyuusha by San Mamiya
San Mamiya is a brilliant artist from Japan that operates mainly on Instagram. With an apparent fondness for old cars, bosozoku cats and the superdeformed style that populates manga, his illustrations exhibit a unique Nihon style that can probably be loosely described as Japanese Ed Roth.
Posted in Art Corner
Tagged 2000gt, 240z, 510, a20, alto, Art Corner, aw11, b210, bosozoku, bre, carry, celica, chaser, corolla, cressida, crown, datsun, datsun 620, e70, fairlady z, fc3s, Galant Lambda, honda, hot wheels, jimny, juke, kujira, mad manga, manga, mazda, mitsubishi, mr2, nissan, prius, rx-3, rx-7, s30, s60, samurai, san_mamiya, savanna, sports 800, suzuki, toyota, x30, x40, x60, x70
10 Comments
VIDEO: Toyota AE86 unites lonely drivers around the world
Toyota has launched a new ad campaign called “Next One” in Japan, aimed at getting millennials interested in cars and driving. The latest have been a three-part series that tells a tale as old as time itself. Boy likes girl. Girl likes … Continue reading
You can now ride a Toyota 2000GT train in Japan
How awesome is this? A Toyota 2000GT wrapped on the side of a train. Of course, it is in Japan and the train is the Linimo, a mag-lev train in Aichi Prefecture. Japanese rail companies often create limited-time decorations for their trains, … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese Nostalgic Train
Tagged 2000gt, Aichi Expo 2005, Linimo, toyota, Toyota Automobile Museum
4 Comments
CLASSIC CM: 1972 was a very good year, for Toyota
No matter your stage in life, the 1972 Toyota lineup has a car for you. Heading up to makeout point? You’ll get to first base at least in an E20 Corolla. Looking for a more sophisticated woman? The A20 Celica is your steed. … Continue reading
ART CORNER: Skylines, Truenos and Robots by Matt Spangler
We love it when JNCs pop up in unexpected places, especially when they’re obscure models never sold in the US. Last year, a hakosuka Skyline showed up in Adventure Time. More recently, we received an email from a friend that … Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner
Tagged 240z, ae86, Art Corner, c10, corolla, datsun, fairlady roadster, Hakosuka, levin, Matt Spangler, nissan, robots, s30, skyline, sprinter, te27, toyota, trueno
18 Comments
ART CORNER: A Honda Z600 encounters a Toyota 2000GT space fish
We have no idea what’s going on in this manga. All we were told is that it’s from a very short run, most likely a self-published doujinshi. In it, Honda Z600 travels through the cosmos and a Toyota 2000GT is rendered … Continue reading
50 YEAR CLUB: Half a century of the Shinkansen bullet train
Don’t worry, you’re at the right place. As JNC fans, sometimes we find ourselves fascinated by various vintage Japanese machines and the Shinkansen, or bullet train, is perhaps the most historically and culturally significant. The image of sleek white arrow piercing the landscape with … Continue reading
Posted in 50 Year Club, Japanese Nostalgic Train
Tagged 50 Year Club, Bullet Train, shinkansen
16 Comments
ART CORNER: Fujimi’s Touge Series Box Illustrations
Long after earning driver’s licenses and pinkslips to our rides, some of us still find ourselves mired in plastic model cars. Perhaps it reflects the constraint suffered by many of us on budget, space, or sanity (of ourselves and/or family … Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner
Tagged 2000gt, a60, a70, ae86, chaser, civic, corolla, cr-x, cresta, ef, fairlady z, fc3s, Fujimi, honda, integra, levin, mark II, mazda, mitsubishi, mr2, r31, r32, rx-7, s13, s14, silvia, skyline, soarer, sprinter, starion, supra, sw20, te27, touge, toyota, trueno, x70, z10, z20, z31
4 Comments
ART CORNER: Coop’s “Nag Fink” Kenmeri
The artist known Coop has made a career illustrating hot rods, X-rated devil girls and rock ‘n’ roll album covers. His latest creation takes the style of Ed Roth (check out his sweet Honda N600) and gives it a Japanese twist. Nag … Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner
6 Comments
RIP James Garner, 1928-2014
James Garner, actor, car enthusiast, and Mazda spokesman has passed away at the age of 86. He will be missed.
Posted in cm
Tagged 626, 929, b-series, capella, f1, fc3s, Grand Prix, honda, James Garner, luce, mazda, rx-7
9 Comments
BOOK CLUB: Koichi Inouye’s 1960s Japanese sports cars volumes now available in English
Three Koichi Inouye books about 1960s Japanese sports cars have been translated into English and published as e-books. The works cover seminal automobiles from Japan’s largest automakers, the Honda S-Series, Toyota 2000GT and Sports 800, and the Datsun Fairlady roadster.
Posted in Books
Tagged 1600gt, 2000gt, datsun, fairlady roadster, honda, nissan, S-Series, sports 800, toyota
8 Comments
BOOK CLUB: Datsun 280ZX, by Nissan Motor Corp
I purchase books fairly infrequently thanks to libraries. Automotive books are the exception. Information in high-quality books on cars tend to be less immortal than, say, the words of Shakespeare. Sales and circulation tend to be limited, and photos and schematics make … Continue reading
ART CORNER: Sunny Vol. 1 & 2 by Taiyo Matsumoto
The 2013 Cartoonist Studio Prize has been awarded to Taiyo Matsumoto for his works Sunny Vol. 1 and Sunny Vol. 2, about a group of kids living at a Japanese orphanage. At first we thought Sunny was the name of … Continue reading
ART CORNER: The custom 1:24 models of Luis Aguilar, Part 02
We met Luis Aguilar at a local AE86 owner gathering and immediately had our brains melted by his astounding 1:24 scale plastic models. It wasn’t just his tremendous attention to detail that caught our eye, but his highly accurate adherence … Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner
Tagged 280zx, 510, aoshima, bluebird, chaser, datsun, fairlady z, mark II, nissan, s130, toyota
15 Comments
ART CORNER: The custom 1:24 models of Luis Aguilar, Part 01
We met Luis Aguilar at a local AE86 owner gathering and immediately had our brains melted by his astounding 1:24 scale plastic models. It wasn’t just his tremendous attention to detail that caught our eye, but his highly accurate adherence … Continue reading
Posted in Art Corner
Tagged a20, a60, Art Corner, bosozoku, celica, Luis Aguilar, nissan, r30, skyline, supra, toyota
8 Comments
CLASSIC CM: Everything about the 610 Bluebird-U is just sex, sex, sex
What a difference two generations make. 1966 commercials for Nissan’s Bluebird, then of the 410 generation, capitalized on the car’s motorsports prowess at the Safari Rally. The 510‘s adverts were pretty tame as well, just a rundown of its design and … Continue reading
BOOKS: Inside Shelby American by John Morton
We suspect that while most readers will be buying the new book Inside Shelby American to learn about Carroll Shelby, JNCers will be buying it for its author, legendary race car driver John Morton.
Posted in Books, motorsport, nissan
Tagged 240z, 510, bre, carroll shelby, datsun, john morton, nissan, s30
3 Comments
ART CORNER: So apparently Louis CK was conceived in a Toyota Corona
If you are not yet familiar with comedian Louis CK, do yourself a favor and look up his stuff on YouTube. Artist Jaeil Cho recently drew a comic version of one of CK’s bits about kids asking “why?” ad infinitum. … Continue reading
