Today, March 2, is Mini Day in Japan. It’s a play on the words mi (3) and ni (2), and celebrates all things small-scale. From diecast minicars to mini 4WDs to miniature pigs, today is the day that honors them all. Sometimes, the little ones can speak to us even more so than the 1:1 scale ones. How many of us got into real cars thanks to a Hot Wheels or Tomica, buildable plastic model, or radio control car?
Personally, this Matchbox Z31 Nissan 300ZX always spoke to me. The Fujicolor livery was so vivid, it really stood out from other Matchbox cars of the era. Plus, it had an opening hood that revealed a VG30ET inside. It was one my most beloved childhood toy and put me on a path of life-sized Japanese cars.
What’s your favorite automotive miniature of all time?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW,”What non-car goods should you buy from Japan?“.
There were so many good answers to last week’s question it was almost impossible to choose a favorite. From a practical standpoint, Chris D ‘s recommendation of vintage cameras is an excellent one. Similarly, Alan suggested Japanese tools and hi-fi equipment, while TheJWT and Jonathon proposed the vinyl records play on it. And if you can fit it in your luggage take a page from Nigel and get Casio watches, Korg synths and Roland drum machines, or ra21benj and load up on CDs, kitchen appliances, audio equipment, and bike parts.
Of course, many of us are also toy obsessed, and BobbyC nailed it with a suggestion of kaiju figures and rare manga that can be very hard to find outside of Japan. We strongly agree with Banzai‘s pick of plastic or resin models and modeling tools as well. And Jeff Koch‘s reminder to fill up on Tomica and gashapon is as natural as tapping a Suica card. Jonathon also pointed out that retro consoles and miniature trains are also great takeaways from Japan.
Clothing is another area where Japan’s penchant for quality shines, as suggested by Negishi no Keibajo and streetspirit. ra21benj recommended watches and shoes, while Jonathon advised a nice Uniqlo jacket
The biggest category, however, was food. The many Japan-only Kit-Kat flavors were a favorite of brkr12002, Toyotageek, Jonathon, and Ian G. For TheJWT it’s Black Thunder chocolate. Taylor C. provided a laundry list of Japanese cuisines that are all superb, while Land Ark sang the praises of convenience store offerings, and @ye reminded us that Don Quijote has a wide range of snacks and meds. And if you get parched from all the chow, there’s Jim Klein‘s recommendation of Pocari Sweat or BlitzPig‘s suggestion of genmaicha tea.
Unfortunately there could be only one champion, and this week’s winner is dankan and his quest for an obscure potato chip:
While everyone else seems to have good, practical suggestions, when I took my daughter back to Japan last summer to see family for the first time since prior to the pandemic, we took an empty suitcase back solely for Kyushu Shoyu potato chips. It’s a flavour that you literally cannot find on Honshu (we tried, a LOT) and is just so much better than the usual Calbee consumé or pizza flavours. She loves them like no other, so when we were coming back we had to explain why there was one normal suitcase full of clothes, and one very large suitcase with an assortment of knick knacks and 15 bags of potato chips…
I regret nothing.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
For me it’s the original purple/silver Hot Wheels Mad Manga from 2012 – their own version of a Kaido Racer C230 Laurel Coupe. I remember seeing it in the store as a teen, only vaguely aware that kaido racers were a thing but still finding it intriguing enough to buy.
Jun Imai was at least a decade ahead of mainstream acceptance of kaido racers in the west, if they’ve even reached that point at all yet in 2026. Back then, the only coverage they’d get here was on those horrible “top 10 poorly modified car” lists on second-rate auto blogs.
I’ve still got mine – in fact, it sits right next to me on my desk at work where I’m typing this, proudly next to an Aoshima GX71 Mark II Hardtop kaido racer. I haven’t built a life-sized one yet, but it’s definitely on my bucket list.
Aoshimas 1/64 scale Lightweight Sports series – a seriese of Gacha models featuring pretty accurate scale replicas of the Suzuki Cappucino, Autozam AZ-1, Honda Beat and 1st Gen Copen.No longer available, but plentiful on ebay still.
(Aoshima also used to do a Kaido Racer blind box series every year, but seem to have stopped)
Also pretty much anything put out by Tomica Limited Vintage – the gold standard of 1/64 scale Japanese diecast.
The moulded plastic Toyota Type AA phone charm at the Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology in Nagoya. It is similar to the moulded plastic VW pen holders available from their auto show stands around the 2000’s but much smaller and more detailed.
Its made when you press a button on a large moulding machine and after some mechanical action, a small AA drops off for you to collect. Different day, different colours available.
You know what they say, “The best things in life are free”. Well, this AA phone charm is certainly free – with admission of course.
And looks like its more limited in availability now: https://www.tcmit.org/chinese-tw/information/news/2024/12/54673
This is my personal favourite model car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXTF4RD8qvU
This model car was customised for me to have realistic working lights and everything by a genius who used to work for Amalgam model cars. He now works on much smaller and cheaper 1/18 model cars and can customise any car you want. Unfortunately I have disabilities which prevent me from ever having a real car but the nice thing is I can have a model car that is so accurate in detail it is like having the real thing.
It’s gotta be my pair of Peter Brock signed BRE 240Z Hot Wheels that John Morton drove to the ’70-71 SCCA CP Championships. It was BRE (and my sister off all people) that got me into Z cars and later was influential in choosing which Datsun I was going to race. But looking back, I was pretty fond of my Hot Wheels Silhouette and Deoras. They were the first my folks bought me with a package of starter track. Yes, me old. 😉 If I’da known they could help fund my kids’ education, they would have been kept NIP (new-in-package). Right, my six year old self knew better. Instead, they got blown up with firecrackers along with the toy tanks and army figures. Laff….
My Dome Zero; when I was a Dōmu 童夢 (kid with dreams) I had a lot of fun playing with it. I’m not sure when I got it. I’m guessing because of the copyright, 1978, which means I was probably less than 5 years old.
It’s been sitting in a junk box for nearly 40 years, and just a couple of years ago, I realized it was a Dome Zero! I thought it was a knock-off Countach or something til then. It’s beat up a bit – the windshield is cracked, the pull-back mechanism doesn’t really work anymore, but it is complete, with Hayashi Racing stripes on the side.
Now that i’m middle aged man, I have a lot of fun remembering Bubble-era Japan and all the love that my relatives bestowed upon me then.
https://imgur.com/a/GY4rBGA
If you’re ever in Japan you can get a look at the real Zero- the Dome HQ is right next to the Maibara Shinkansen station!
The Nissan Skyline 2000GT-X released by Hot Wheels in its first Car Culture series, Japan Historics, decorated with the same off-white body and blue striping as the Hakosuka GT-R’s debut on the race track in the early 70s. This set marked a huge moment for Hot Wheels in terms of JDM, and opened the eyes of many people to Japanese motor history. Something about having an important part of JDM history in miniature form on your desk is too cool. I fell in love with the Hakosuka after learning about it, and now I try to collect every version of them that Mattel puts out.
The Hot Wheels Chaparral 2A breaks from the JNC world but inspires the dreamer in any child. Racer X’s car has a strong resemblance to this 60’s era Can Am racer, and what young boomer didn’t like Speed Racer.
So my response has nothing to do with my most expensive miniature, Auto Art 1/18th Mazda 787B, but rather the one that brings out the kid in us.
Why limit yourself to miniatures when you can go micro? I had Micro Machines of Nissan’s MID4 concept in yellow, Toyota’s AW11 MR-2 in silver or bronze, and Lamborghini’s Countach in white, among others. I distinctly remember the MR-2 being my favourite. Something about the way the space between the rear windscreen and spoiler held the tip of my finger perfectly in place.
Its the Hot Wheels Toyota MR2 Rally (MKII).
I had a diecast collection as a kid. Then in 1997 I acquired my brother’s ’86 Toyota MR2 (that I still own today). During that time it was the dawn of the internet and it was kind of a big deal to travel across the country (or the south in my case) to meet up with your car enthusiast group. During one of these MR2 meets I was gifted an MR2 Rally Hot Wheels by one of the MR2 owners and found out that this car I was really into had a bunch of diecast and plastic model kit variants. Me and my local MR2 buddies in Orlando ended up going to every K-Mart and Toys R Us collecting every variant of the Toyota MR2 Rally and even scoured eBay to grab other MR2 collectibles. Fast forward to today, I’ve got a whole diecast area of my Man Cave and have got a huge collection and totes of MR2 diecasts. It all started with this Toyota MR2 Rally.
way back when JNC were about as hot as a tundra potato in the public eye i scored SIX 1/18 kysosho C110 skylines for 40.- a pop.the detail on those is amazing, they can be easily lowered, and i modified them all before the prices shot up dramatically!
but i’m also partial to my Ebbro Daihatsu P3 baragin bin collection that i give to valued customers of my workshop.