This being Q&A Wednesday, I promised to answer  TTAC commenter 28-cars-later’s question in feature-length. He said: “Bertel, how do you get such access to Ghosn… is Nissan just *this* friendly to the press?” Let me explain to you how it works.

I am in Tokyo for a simple reason: Love. Being here also is made easy due to the fact that nowhere in the world can you cover the world’s automotive industry with greater ease than in Tokyo. Companies that are in charge of about a third of the world’s automotive output are not more than a few subway stations apart. Sure, companies like Toyota or Mazda officially are headquartered elsewhere, but they have substantial presences in Tokyo. From where I live, it’s 45 minutes to Toyota, 30 minutes to Honda, 30 minutes to Nissan in Yokohama. All by train, few people still drive in the world capital of cars. Besides, having Ronnie Schreiber in Detroit provides plenty of counter-weight, especially now that he covers the truly poetic aspects  of the state of Michigan, in a story so deep that I am unable to fathom it.

You don’t have to speak Japanese to work with the Japanese car companies. I don’t, except for what’s needed to order a hotto kohee, a hot coffee.  The large multinationals usually have large polyglot and often multinationally staffed  PR departments that cater to the international media.

Nissan is the epitome of internationalism. The whole company is like the United Nations, their management hails from all corners of the world, the language at 1-1, Takashima 1-chome, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 220-8686, Japan, officially is English. Simultaneous translation is a growth industry at Nissan.

Despite their inscrutable image, access to Japanese carmakers is easy. Much easier than, say, get access to a flack at GM, at least for me, Ed Niedermeyer, or Robert Farago back when.  In Tokyo, simply pick up the phone to make your presence known, you have a get-to-know-each-other meeting over a cup of  hotto kohee, and unless there is immediate mutual dislike, you are in. With a third of the world’s automotive volume  being bunched-up within a few square miles, getting the inside track is a matter of a few days  and a similar number of cups of kohee.

Actually, one  needs to be selective in making contact, because  soon you won’t have time to write with all the visits. Let’s have a look at my Outlook. Tomorrow, at noon, I will be at Mitsubishi to learn what they will race up  Pike’s Peak. Then I need to jump on the Keihin-Tohoku  line to Yokohama to learn everything about Nissan’s Common Module Family (CMF), despite warnings that “this briefing will consist entirely of the same content which Nissan disclosed on February 27, 2012.” You never know. On Friday morning, I will be at Nissan again for some kei car story that is sadly embargoed until June 6th. After a ride on the Keihin-Tohoku line, I will be at Toyota. On Monday, I will go on a 4 hour ride on the alleged bullet train to Shin-Kurashiki near Hiroshima. There, I will hear everything about a kei car Mitsubishi builds together with and for Nissan. It’s most likely the same car that will be disclosed by Nissan on Friday under embargo. So I better don’t go on Friday, thereby being able to write what and when I want, apart from being able to sleep in.

Once you are on the list, you visit a third of the world’s automotive volume multiple times a week. If you are not on the list, no problem. Show your meishi, your business card, at most press conferences, and you are in.  Exciting, no?

Now you probably ask how can they afford all those lavish press events with all the free booze and canapés multiple times a week? Simple: There is no free booze, there are no canapés. The only food is of the for thought variety. You are lucky if you get a bottle of water – usually reserved for special occasions, such as the quarterly results, or the launch of a new model. The entertainment at the launches consists of a PowerPoint deck, the lavish press trip usually takes place on the aforementioned Keihin-Tohoku line, paid for by my own SUICA card, a fare card that depletes faster than the battery of a Plug-in Prius.

When I go to Mitsubishi on Monday, there will be free transportation: A shuttle bus from Shin-Kurashiki to the factory. The train fare  from Tokyo ($330) is expected to be paid by the members of the media. Yesterday, going home to Tokyo on a (free) bus laid on by Nissan, a whisper went through the assembled A-list of Tokyo’s press corps: We were told to surrender the lanyards, as we always do. But this time, we could keep the baseball hat. At factory visits, hats are mandatory. It also is mandatory to give them back. Except at the launch of Infiniti’s main premium segment model. There, you get a free hat.

This is probably not the answer 28-cars-later wanted to hear. But it’s the truth. He surely doesn’t want me to lie.

Closeness allegedly breeds contempt. Not true in this business. Familiarity makes for mutual respect. It’s easy to hurt someone who doesn’t like you either, it’s harder to throw written invectives at someone you will see face-to-face tomorrow. GM has yet to learn this simple trick of manipulating the media.

I am known to occasionally make a mistake. Then, my phone rings, and someone apologizes for not having been clear enough in the morning.  Japan is the land of politeness, and  of high precision. Factual mistakes are fixed immediately. Differences in opinion are never mentioned, and it is understood that they would remain unchanged anyway. I have yet to hear one comment about a car review, good or bad, on TTAC. Wait, the other day, someone at Nissan said “I did read Baruth’s comparo of the 2012 and 2013 Sentra.” I gave the internationally accepted hand sign for “give it to me,” and nothing was given.  I don’t know whether they liked it or not. After reading the story, I still can’t figure it out.

They usually can take a joke. Despite of what some people think, my picture features of Nissan’s gesticulating CEO Carlos Ghosn appear to be a source of great amusement in the company, and I always have the same seat at the press conference. (Front row, across the aisle from the brass, right in front of the lectern.)  And that’s the secret of unfettered access: Make them laugh.

“What I can tell you today is that the Skyline name will continue in Japan,” said Nissan’s CEO Carlos Ghosn in regards to luvmyv8. When pressed further, Ghosn said that bringing Infiniti to Japan “has always been the object of a lot of discussion within the company.” Ghosn started his answer with a mild put-down:

“With the arrival of newcomers … by Johan de Nysschen now heading the Infiniti business, he also brought with him a lot of very competent people from the industry who have a very good knowledge of the premium market. We are debating and challenging everything. But so far there is no decision that has been taken about the introduction of the Infiniti brand to Japan. But it is being discussed. There are pros, there are cons. Usually, we make thorough business decisions based on the analysis of the pros and the cons. For the moment, all I can tell you is that there is no decision to introduce Infiniti in Japan. The Skyline will continue in Japan.”

TTAC readers know that Infiniti chief de Nysschen is a strong advocate of Infiniti coming home to Japan. In an interview last year in Hong Kong, de Nysschen said :

“Ironically, we take models that are unique Infiniti platforms, developed for Infiniti, and in Japan, we put a Nissan badge on them.”

De Nysschen may be a newcomer to Nissan, but not to Japan. He managed Audi’s business in Japan, and came here in 1999, at the same time as Ghosn arrived in Tokyo. Ghosn immediately wanted to hire de Nysschen, but had to take a rain-check. De Nysschen knows the market, and that it is not easy.

When a reporter asked de Nysschen in Tochigi about Infiniti’s homecoming plans, the questioner found himself instantly castigated:

“So, that means that if you ask Mr. Ghosn a question and he doesn’t answer, you are making another attempt to get an answer out of me?”

Nevertheless, there was an answer, delivered wrapped into de Nysschen’s trademark carefully carved sentences:

“To be a global brand, you might well want to compete in the premium sector in your domestic market.

We spend a lot of time talking about Infiniti brand values, and how those are to be communicated, not only in the tone and manner of our marketing and our advertising communication, but also, they need to be expressed and conveyed through the product, through design, through technology, through the engineering.

It seems to me to be very difficult for all the men and women who work on expressing these values in the Infiniti product to then not also see the vehicle and the brand being available in the domestic market.

Also, in term s of the international flavor for the brand, our customers are internationally mobile. And one important cornerstone of premium brands is that wherever you encounter them, they are positioned consistently, they portray the same values and qualities, whether you meet them in New York, or in London, or in Beijing, or indeed in Tokyo.”

After having made a strong philosophical case for estranged Infiniti coming home, de Nysschen sees himself faced with the realities:

“One of the disadvantages of course is cost of entry. It is very expensive to set up a distribution network in Japan. Last time I looked, not too many free open spaces were shouting to come and build an automotive showroom.”

Again, this is coming from a former Audi manager who had busted a cozy (and largely unknown) distribution agreement between Volkswagen and Toyota, and who had talked Ferdinand Piech into setting up an exclusive network in Japan. Eventually, this led to the end of Volkswagen’s Japanese distribution agreement with Toyota. This case should be a required course in the education of carmakers, especially those who feel entitled to major shares of the Japanese market without really trying. Continued de Nysschen:

“It is my commitment that Infiniti will achieve profitable growth, and that we will achieve very quickly a positive contribution to the overall operating profit of Nissan. That means that we have to balance the speed with which we want to enter the Japanese market.”

I take that as a carefully wrapped no.

In regards to luvmyv8’s question and with regards to luvmyv8, de Nysschen said that “on the Skyline, I really have no further comments to add other than those already expressed by Mr. Ghosn. I would urge you to be patient for just a little while.”

As this is a question and answer session, let me try to answer  28-cars-later’s inquiry. He said: “Bertel, how do you get such access to Ghosn… is Nissan just *this* friendly to the press?” Instead of a simple and pat “yes,” let’s make a separate story out of that.

In the early 1980s, as the economy continued to slump and gas prices soared, American car makers were desperate for a way forward. The good old days were gone forever. Under pressure from the Japanese, whose small cars had gone from rolling jokes to serious, high quality competition in little more than a decade, the big three knew they needed to make a radical departure from their traditional approach before it was too late. Although some of the more stodgy cars would soldier on and continue to sell to members of the Greatest Generation well past their expiration dates, for the rest of us the future was a smaller, lighter and more efficient. The winds of change were blowing and even the Ford Mustang felt the chill.

In 1982 Ford began to take a good, hard look at their strong selling V8 powered, rear wheel drive pony car. Introduced in 1979, the Fox body mustang was a radical departure from the Ford Pinto based Mustang II that had carried the name forward through the disco era and it was a good car, but all indications were that the front engine rear wheel drive platform appeared to be on the way out. Most domestic manufacturers were headed towards front wheel drive platforms, Chrysler was already heavily invested in its K car and rumor had it that even GM was considering moving its Camaro and Firebird to FWD. Fortunately, Ford’s 25% stake in Mazda offered them quick and relatively inexpensive access to a FWD platform already under development, the Mazda 626, and they chose to examine that option.

Toshi Saito of Ford’s North American Design Center prepared the initial concepts, one of which was chosen and the project moved forward into a full sized clay mock up and eventually a fiberglass model was constructed and sent to Japan where Mazda headquarters in Hiroshima. Mazda’s management approved of the design, but after some thought Ford decided that it wasn’t quite what they were looking for and came back with a longer, leaner and more rakish design that required some re-engineering from Mazda. The car was to be produced in the United States and Mazda purchased a Ford property in Flat Rock, Michigan to produce the car alongside their own 626 and Mx-6 models.

Much like the now oft-derided Mustang II, the new Mustang was set to be a radical departure from the Fox car. First, no V8s were to be offered. Instead, the front wheel drive Mustang would mount a Mazda sourced transversely mounted 4 cylinder good for about 110 horsepower. For the first year, GT Mustangs would feature the same 4 cylinder with turbo good for about 145 horsepower – comparable to what the Mustang V8 was making at the time – and the next year move to the Mazda V6 which was good for about 175 horsepower. The design was sleek, slippery and generally well liked by those who saw production models and images.

The public backlash against the car came as a real shock. Mustang enthusiasts and red blooded ‘Murricans everywhere were appalled at the thought of a Mustang based on anything other than good old American design and sent up a howl of indignation that resonated all the way back to Ford’s executive offices. Firmly in the Reagan era, a resurgent America would simply not tolerate the venerable Mustang name attached to a Japanese design. As thousands upon thousands of angry letters poured into the corporate offices, buyers rushed into dealerships and sales of the Fox body Mustang, which had been slipping as the design aged, suddenly increased.

People, it seemed, were anxious to own what was sure to be the last “real” Mustang rushed into the dealership before it was too late and, in a moment of “Classic Coke” vs “New Coke” brilliance, Ford capitalized on the controversy. The classic Mustang would remain on sale, but the new car would live too, and so Ford reached into the bag of names and pulled out one that had been attached to an especially well received aerodynamic concept car just a few years earlier and, with a knowing wink to proctologists everywhere, dubbed it the “Probe.”

The rest is well known history. Introduced in 1988, The Probe was a success and it went on to win the hearts and minds of many of those who cross shopped it with its primary competition, the Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge Turbo K variants, the small FWD GM cars, the Cavalier and the Beretta and Japanese turbo cars of all makes and models. Sales were brisk and the Detroit News reported in 1989 that Ford was selling around 600 of them a month. The design was refreshed in 1993 and almost 120,000 were sold that year. By 1997, however, the design had run its course and only 16,777 were sold. Meanwhile, the “Classic” Mustang soldiered on, was continually refreshed and, although it has been updated and redesigned over the years, it is still with us as the front engine, rear wheel drive pony car that God and Lee Iacocca originally intended.

Looking back, the 80s was a time or real, small-car innovation. Car companies, both domestic and foreign, put forth an amazing number of designs across all price ranges as they fought for market share. In that regard, I suppose, Ford really didn’t hurt themselves by keeping the ‘Stang and adding the Probe to their showrooms. I’m guessing the Probe really didn’t steal buyers from the Mustang as they each appealed to different market segments. I wonder, however, what would have happened if Ford had made the decision to stick with New Coke? Would GM have followed suit and put the Camaro and Firebird on a smaller FWD platform? Would the Chrysler K Turbos have eaten all their lunches? I wonder…

Thomas Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

In some ways my initial move across the Pacific was a lot easier than my return. I was at the end of my personal rope when I went to Japan in 1999 and, even though I was stepping into a dead end job, there was nowhere to go but up. Coming home was quite the reverse. Of course I had a job offer, but I had learned the hard way about birds in the hand versus the two in the bush and, truth is, I was scared. I had carved out a nice little life for myself in Japan. I had friends, a decent place to live and, for a change, money in my pocket. I had even purchased a car and a motorcycle, but now it was time to sell out and move on.

The car in question was my 1986 Twin Turbo Supra and it was in great shape. In the two years I had owned it I had taken good care of it, corrected a few minor paint issues with rubbing compound and special wax that turned the paint back to its original brilliant white, added new tires, a kick ass stereo and even completed the shakken. Back home in the States a similar car would have sold for several thousand dollars and there was no way I could have lost money, but in Japan, as usual, it was a different story.

Someone once told me long ago that Japan is like the pond in the center of a Zen rock garden. From the outside it looks tranquil, placid and is a perfect reflection of the sky above. Underneath, however, everything that happens in every other pond is taking place. Bugs are laying their eggs, frogs are eating the bugs and the fish are eating the frogs. The entire circle of life is going on under that water and it isn’t until you decide to plunge in that you really understand how deep and how murky the pond really is.

The Japanese, as I had learned during my initial purchase of the Supra, don’t generally do person-to-person sales of used cars. Sure, you might sell a vehicle to a family member or a good friend, as I discovered when I sold my Mazda MPV to my “Japanese family” when I left Okinawa in 2010, but selling a used car to a stranger is practically unheard of. I’m not sure if anthropologists have ever conducted a study as to why this is the case, but rumors about the Japanese belief in evil spirits attaching themselves to things that others have used in a personal way aside, I think it is because public transportation is nearly universal, parking is limited and cars are expensive to own. The result is that young people don’t need to own a car to get around and, thanks to all the fixed costs of car ownership, are effectively priced out of the market. Therefore, most cars are purchased by adults who can and usually do buy new because of status issues, increased reliability and other benefits given to new cars under the shaken inspection system.

The average Japanese person trades in their old car when they buy a new one. The money they receive in trade is ludicrously low, but given that most people don’t have the need, desire or even the extra space to keep an older car it works out well. Sure, like anyone who trades in a car they lose out on some money, but they are essentially paying for the convenience of disposing their old car. I had learned, however, that a little elbow grease and an unconventional approach could often circumvent the natural way of things in Japan and so I determined to turn to the “international community” for a solution.

There are quite a few foreigners in Japan. The vast majority of them are tourists, then in decreasing frequency come the international students on exchange trips, the Mormon missionaries, the JET teachers, company-men on temporary assignments and finally the dregs of Western society that end up as ESL teachers at for-profit English conversation schools, spouses of Japanese citizens and all the other flotsam and jetsam of the world that get swept into the relatively sheltered waters of Japan and end up staying there for years at a time. As with many communities that fail to fully integrate into their host countries, Westerners in Japan have built for themselves a vibrant and fun sub culture all their own and all it takes to access it is the time and willingness to sit down in an Irish pub and listen to people who have no intention of ever returning to their home countries bellyache about how much they hate Japan.

About a month before I returned home I put an ad in the local Gaijin (foreigner) classified ad paper, known as the Kansai Flea Market and waited for the calls to roll in. I got some quick bites on my bike and sold it after just a week at a small profit, but the car languished in the paper and generated just one call from an Australian bloke who was hoping I knew about any laws that might prevent him from taking it home. As my departure neared I checked with my girlfriend’s friends to see if any of them wanted it and was given a resounding “no” by everyone we asked. Finally I decided to take it to a place called “Gulliver” that ran frequent ads on TV about buying used cars.

In retrospect I should have probably guessed that any company that has the money to run almost constant ads on TV wouldn’t pay much for the cars they bought, but when the guy told me my car was so old that they would only take it for free I wasn’t very happy. Still, as the time for my departure was drawing ever nearer, I went ahead and struck the deal and told him I would bring the car back the next day. Of course one thing led to another and I didn’t bring the car back until the following week but since I was giving it to them who would have thought it would be an issue? Well it was, and imagine my surprise when the guy told me that because I had failed to honor my word and bring the car the next day the terms of the deal had changed. Now, instead of simply giving them my car, they wanted me to pay them $50 to take it. I wasn’t happy, but with my tickets to go home in hand, I went ahead and paid the money and bade my Supra farewell.

Had I known that I would eventually get the job of my dreams, marry my Japanese girlfriend and end up living in the same region of Japan just three years later, I would have paid up my parking fees in advance and let the car sit until my return. But at that point in time, with the future still uncertain, I know that it was better that I let the car go. Still, whenever I visit Japan and return to my “hometown,” I feel a sudden flash of shame and anger every time I drive by that shop. I know I was cheated and, frankly, it grates on me. Of course, outside of a snarky article on a car blog, I will never exact revenge. Still, it’s nice to think that someday, maybe someday, I will.

Thomas M Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

Last weekend, we were in Kuniyoshi, Chiba, the peninsula across Tokyo Bay, to check on some old cars. This is what and who we met.

TTAC’s cross-cultural adviser, Frau Schmitto-san walked by what looked just like the 360 Subaru we test-drove a year ago in Japan.

Minutes later, we saw a skinny, bespectacled man who looked very much like Chiharu Tamura, owner of said 360 Subaru, and Deputy Chief Engineer of the Lexus LFA supercar. The test drive had been a ruse to distract from my secret mission: To observe the making of the LFA.

It was him, it was his car. Tamura-san had driven Subie-san all the 250 miles from Toyotashi to Kuniyoshi to attend an event that celebrated old cars, old trains, old buses, and an old town.

The event was to help revitalize Kuniyoshi, a town that needs a revival badly. The town doesn’t even exist anymore, at least not officially. In 1955, it was merged with a few neighboring towns into Isumi. In 2005, it was merged again.

The only thing that reminds of Kuniyoshi is Kuniyoshi Station, a stop on a narrow gauge line that had been threatened with closure, many times.

This is the old train that brought us to the station.

It didn’t look much different than the old train that is now a museum piece, parked on a short piece of rail that leads to nowhere.

In front of the station, we find a rarity: A 23-window 1967 Volkswagen Bus, the DeLuxe version with sunroof and eight skylight windows. The bus is in great shape, its interior and upholstery have been restored. Later, in the evening, we’ll take it to a nice dinner by the beach and watch a big fat red moon rise over the Pacific Ocean.

The bus belongs to the station, and is driven by the station master, Daisuke Kurihara. He is a multi talent. Living with his mother in a farm, he is a trained opera singer.

At age 25, Kurihara retired from the opera, studied drawing and started producing highly detailed miniatures of old cars, old trains, old buses, and old motorcycles.

This is his rendition of a Volkswagen Beetle.

This is the original, which we find by the road around a corner. It is a 1967 Beetle 1500. The Beetle was exported to Japan in great numbers and was the foundation on which Volkswagen built its empire as the largest importer to Japan.

Naturally, Japanese cars dominated the Kuniyoshi event. This is the convertible version of the Toyota Publica, introduced in 1963. The Publica was intended as Japan’s Volkswagen: It traces back to MITI’s “national car” concept of 1955.

Before anyone makes tired jokes about Toyota and unintended acceleration, let me preempt and assure you that any intended or unintended acceleration during the event was made impossible by way of this simple device that was issued to and mandatory for all participating vehicles.

This is the 1967 Mazda Familia, aka Mazda R100, with the rotary engine, that made it a Mazda Familia Presto Rotary.

The rotary engine quickly received a reputation of being finicky and thirsty. No wonder the owner is asking for donations.

This modern-looking kei car is from the early ‘70s: A Honda Z GS. Its 354cc engine spun at a dizzying 9,000 rpm for a 36 hp output.

This is a 230 Nissan Cedric in the Deluxe trim. Built between 1971 and 1975, the Cedric was sold abroad as the Datsun 200C through 260C

I lifted the pertinent information from the all-knowing Wikipedia. Actually, the car we saw in Kunioshi is not simply the same, but identical to the car pictured in Wikipedia. Wikipedia’s PC police blanked out the bottom part of the license plate, but left the upper third, and that’s all we need for a very close match.

I could go on and on about the historically significant vehicles parked by the roadside in usually sleepy Kuniyoshi, but I am afraid this could bring the TTAC server to its knees. So here are the Japanese bookends of the event:

The three-wheeled Daihatsu Midget, introduced in 1957 with a 250 cc engine that produced a breathtaking 12 hp, quickly became the mainstay of transportation throughout Asia. There were a few of them on display in Kuniyoshi, and some of them may still be in use.

Although production officially ceased in 1972, copies of the Midget are still made in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia where they do duty as “tuk-tuks,” or motorized rickshaws. The orange one in the back is a Mazda three-wheeler, formerly used by a moving company. Its size is more than adequate to move the average Japanese apartment.

On the other side of the Nipponese spectrum is the Mitsubishi Debonair. Introduced in 1964 and built nearly unchanged through 1986, this was a big car – by Japanese standards.

Designed by former GM designer Hans S. Bretzner, the car looks a little bit like an old Lincoln Continental that was washed too hot and shrunk .

This 1975 Executive model sports the 2 liter ‘Saturn 6” engine, which makes it a rarity.

As far as foreign cars go, it is interesting to observe what constitutes a classic car in the eyes of the Japanese collectors, what is seen as representative of an era and a car culture. The doitsu, or Germans, are well represented by their iconoclastic Volkswagens, mentioned and shown further above. The French are exemplified by a lone Citroen CX 25 GTI, parked in front of a house that is in need of revitalization.

Turkey is here, not with a car, but with Turkey’s national food, the doner kebab.

America is epitomized in Kuniyoshi by a rolling symbol of excess, a very much stretched Cadillac. According to some in Detroit, the Japanese car market is closed, but some cars appear to manage to squeeze through.

Intentionally, or by happenstance, the stretch was placed in front of a symbol of Japanese frugality and bonsai culture, the Mazda Carol, a kei car that was powered by one of the smallest 4-cylinder automobile engines in history, and that grabbed an amazing 67 percent of the kei car market in its first year in 1962.

This is the American car that made the strongest impression on Japan.

An impression so strong that the Willy’s Jeep is the only car shown in duplicate at the Kuniyoshi event.

It comes complement with a faux Cavalry Major.

There are the original Signal Corps radios, in duplicate.

Shockingly for a society where public display of weapons is rare, and where even antique swords need a license, there is a regulation M1, thankfully under lock and key.

Even more shocking: “He’s one of the very few American Army Majors who can eat rice with chopsticks,” says Frau Schmitto-san.

Around the corner, and mostly ignored, a Made-in-Japan Jeep, built under license by Mitsubishi. The Made-in-America Jeep is the most successful American import to Japan.

Meanwhile, back at the Subaru 360, Tamura-san explains a little mishap that occurred on the long way from Toyota-shi to Kuniyoshi.

The 45 year old exhaust manifold finally gave up the ghost and separated from the engine.

Something like that does not faze a leading Toyota engineer: With a field-expedient wire, a nearly invisible and mostly inaudible fix was effected.

We thanked Tamura-san, and we thank him again for this fascinating trip down memory lane and down the alleys of Kuniyoshi. Who could be a better guide through Japan’s living automotive history than one of Toyota’s leading engineers?

Ooopps, one of the leading engineers of Lexus, of course. The ID holder is made from carbon fiber, a memento of the carbon fiber LFA, a car that also is history. All members of the sadly disbanded LFA team received such a holder, and made from CFRP, car and ID holder will most likely live longer than any car we have seen in Kuniyoshi.

Honmoku street is a wide, tree lined avenue that bends through the southern “Naka” district of the city of Yokohama. Close by sits the massive port, the gateway through which so much of Japan’s industrial output is sent to the world, its tall cranes working ceaselessly and with no regard for human concerns like the time of day. Above it all the Yokohama Bay Bridge soars like a vision, lifting cars and trucks across the entrance to the harbor as effortlessly as it straddles the line between art and infrastructure. Although the massive bridge and its double decked feeder highways encircle the entire district, the sense one has on the ground is of open space and nature, rarities in the second largest city in Japan. In the midst of it all sits the classic American Hot-Rod shop, Mooneyes.

Mooneyes is legendary among car guys. Its iconic eyes have adorned the sides of race cars and hot-rods since Dean Moon started the company in a small garage behind his father’s Norwalk, California café in 1950. An avid car guy, Dean Moon was heavily involved in the local drag and dry lake bed racing scenes in California as they gained momentum through the 1950s and 60s and his sense of innovation and style helped shape the nascent “hot rod” culture as it was emerging. Many of his stylistic innovations, things like spun aluminum disc wheel covers and the foot-shaped gas pedal are must-have items on any period correct classic hot-rod.

When Dean Moon passed away in the late 1980s, the company took a brief break and then stopped work altogether after the passing of his wife a few years later. In the early 1990s, Moon family friend Shige Suganuma, a long time dealer of Moon Products in Japan, reformed the company as Mooneyes USA. The US Branch of the company continues Dean Moon’s work at the shop’s location since the early 1960s, 10820 S Norwalk Blvd, Santa Fe Springs, CA where, according to the Mooneyes website, visitors are welcome and where there will be an open house from 9:00AM to 3:00 PM on Saturday July 13, 2013.

The subject of this article, Mooneyes’ Japanese location, is a place worth checking out. It combines a full service hot rod shop with a parts store, gift and novelty shop and an American 1960s style café complete with oversized hamburgers, milk shakes and apple pie. At night, its neon lights beckon you forward with a welcoming glow, and a row of classic cars, both American and Japanese, stand ready for inspection as they await just the right person to take them home. After a hard day’s struggle with the Japanese language and culture, stepping inside feels a lot like coming home to a better, vanishing America where the cars are cool, the gas is cheap and where no one counts calories.

Out back, rows of cars sit ready for the full hotrod treatment. During my time in Yokohama, I noted the progress of these cars on my way to and from work as they arrived in the rearmost parking lot in various states of disuse and decay and then moved to the area behind the garage from where they eventually disappeared into the shop for weeks or days before turning up refreshed, renewed and reformed for sale at the front of the building. My favorites were always the classic Japanese iron, the most common of which were variants of the Toyota Crown, including sedans, station wagons and even an El Camino-like trucklet. Some of these ended up as beautiful restorations, others as slick looking hot-rods and still others as mechanically solid rat-rods. All of them were appealing.

With Mooneyes just a block from my apartment, the whole area was frequently awash with car culture and excitement. Mooneyes is the sponsor of many great events, including hot rod and chopper shows that draw cars from all over Japan and visitors from all over the world. As of this writing, upcoming events include the “All Trucks Morning Cruise” on April 14th at Honmoku Hilltop Park, and a Hot Rod Cruise Night at their Honmoku Shop the evening of April 27th. More information is available in English and Japanese at www.mooneyes.co.jp

It can be hard for a foreigner to break into Japanese culture and make friends, but I have found that cool cars and fast motorcycles are a good way to break the ice. If you are ever in Japan, take the time to head out to Mooneyes’ shop in Honmoku, Yokohama. Grab a hamburger, get the T-shirt and take the time to talk to some of the people you meet there. You will return home happy, full and refreshed. The car culture that Dean Moon helped to start so long ago and so far away conquers all.

Thomas M Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

Somebody Say I look like an old woman?

Yesterday I shared with you dear, reader, one of my favorite games, the $5000 Craigslist Fantasy Challenge and you responded with a lot of great cars. Today I thought I would step it up just one more notch and introduce you to that game’s Japanese cousin – the “Goo Game.” Won’t you come and pray with me?

On an internet filled with NSFW Japanese websites, it seems odd that one called “Goo-net.com” would be dedicated exclusively to cars, but trust me on this it really is. I have used Goo-net for years to peruse the JDM market and to wrap my head around the prices and the kinds of cars for sale there. Once upon a time you needed to have some ability with the language to be able to navigate the site, something that prevented most non-Japanese speakers from doing anything more than looking at photos, but now, thanks to the advent of the Google translate button, your need for years of study has been erased. Simply follow the link, translate the site and start exploring.

http://www.goo-net.com/index.html

A few things you will need to know to better understand the site. First, the Japanese dating system is a little different from our own. Each Emperor selects the name of his era at the beginning of his reign. The current “Heisei” era began in 1989 and cars marked as H1=1989, H2=1990, H3=1991, etc. The prior era, “Showa” ran from 1926 to Emperor Hirohito’s passing in 1989. Therefore, “S” dated cars have higher numbers. For simplicity’s sake I usually think abut them backwards, so S63=1988, S62=1987, S3=1986, etc.

Exchange rates are complicated so let’s forego any price limits. Just find something cool for us to look at! However, anyone looking to do a serious calculation of a car’s price may want to note whether or not a car has a current “shaken” inspection. Some cars list “with inspection” meaning that the shaken is not current and that the dealer will include it in the price. Some listings show “without inspection” meaning that will be on your own dime, and some only show a number H25.8 meaning that the inspection expires in August of H25 (2013). Whether or not a car has a shaken will affect the price and on older cars the cost of repairs may be significant. You will note that there is a “price on car” and then a “total price.” This total price includes the inspection and any service the car actually needs. Pay close attention to this, fellow bargain shoppers!

That’s it. There are no rules this time, let’s have some fun and find some cool cars to look at.

Here are three to begin:

1969 Nissan Datsun Fairlady SRL311
68K Kilometers
Price – 287.8 million yen or about $30,000 USD
Located in Saitama Prefecture
The state of the body is in very good condition with no corrosion. I do not think what you are after more than 40 years. Development status as well, is easy to ride hand car is contained meticulously. For information on the development of future, please contact us.

What can I say? This is a classic that I would love to own.

2008 Mazda MPV 23T 4WD FSB monitor P backdoor AFS side SRS
48K Kilometers
Price 226 Million yen – about $24,000 USD
Located in Nagoya
Please let me inherit a new car warranty (5 years from the time of new car registration). Subject to the warranty at dealers across the country by the new car warranty can be inherited. In addition, we have our own guarantees with a maximum of two years from the time of car delivery.

I love this new generation of Mazda MPV mini-vans. This one has it all and if I was going back to Japan to stay this, or something very close to it, would be in my driveway. I think it is an absolute pity that Mazda USA doesn’t sell these in the USA.

1988 Toyota Soarer 2.0GT-L twin turbo
129K Kilometers
Price 28 Million yen – about $3200 US Dollars
Location, Osaka
No ad text.

This is another one of “those cars” that should have got sold in the USA. It is a real personal luxury coupe that I would love to drive. The power train in the same one I had in my Supra so I know it isn’t really going to be a race car, but it would be a good cruiser and have enough poop to run on the highway.

So there you have it, there are a lot of nooks and crannies on this huge website. Check it out and show us what you are able to come up with. Dot’s forget that over there in Bizarro World, their domestics are our imports and vice versa.

I hope you have a great time and find something interesting for us!

Typical Japanese Highway scene

Total silence is not the kind of thing you expect in Japan. Given the fact that there are almost 130 million people crammed into a country roughly the size of the State of California, only 20% of which is actually habitable, the din of human activity follows you wherever you go. It is an incredibly urban environment, filled with people, heat and activity. Yet when I turned off the engine and stepped out onto the empty road and into the cool stillness of the summer night, I felt like I was the only person in the world.

How I found myself here, on a deserted stretch of road that could barely be considered pavement running between Mie and Shiga prefectures at an ungodly hour is a tale unto itself. It is the saddest kind of story. The kind of story that involves the untimely death of someone who has much life ahead of them. It is a story of despair and the urgent need of a good friend to return home to her parents in their gravest hour. It is a story kindness, friendship and loyalty and, best of all, it features your author coming to the rescue with a magnificent white, twin-turbo steed.

It was about 8 pm, just before closing time, when the call came in. The news was dire, my friend Fumi’s young brother, just 20 years old, had been killed in an accident and she needed to go home to her parents’ immediately. It was a long way to her parents’ home in the country and I knew that in the next few hours the trains would stop running. I imagined her stuck mid-journey on the platform of some isolated station while her parents waited at home alone at a time when they should be surrounded by family. There was no looking away and, fortunately, I could help.

To be honest, despite the situation, I was looking forward to the adventure as I went to retrieve my Supra. Even in the direst of emergencies, a journey across Japan in the dead of night can be sublime. The expressways are ribbons of silky smooth pavement hemmed in by tall curved walls of steel and glass and for much of their length overhead lights shine down and give the scene an ethereal atmosphere. In places, to enhance road safety, the pavement is covered by yellow or red textured surfaces set with tiny pieces of ground glass that reflect the beams of your headlights like a million imitations stars. The other worldly effect is completed by flashing lights set into the pavement on dangerous curves while in other places, pole mounted reflectors use tiny pinwheels spun by the breeze of passing cars to flash their own warnings. The lights, colors and road combine to focus your attention on the road, drawing you into the experience of driving the way a good video game pulls you out of your living room and into the action.

Upon my return to work, however, I discovered that there was, alas, no expressway where we would be going, we would have to go by rural highway. A journey across Japan on a rural highway can be torturous. The roads themselves are awful, frustrating scars on the surface of the Earth that move across the countryside with little concern for directness, speed or efficiency. At night, add to the narrow, often winding roadway the flashing lights of the pachinko parlors, noodle shops and convenience stores, each competing earnestly for your attention, and the glare of coming cars and you will find yourself in the midst of a perfect storm of danger and distraction. The result is sensory overload and an accident always seems just a moment away.

After a trip to Fumi’s apartment so she could collect a few things in an overnight bag, we left Kyoto at about 9:30. The trip can best be described as playing football on a team without a passing game. When the light turned green and the play action started, I came off the line hard and when an opening presented itself, I took. I shucked and jived my way past the blockers, it didn’t matter which way they are going at this point because they are all in my way, and you I went as hard as I could until I was abruptly stopped just a few yards from my last starting point. So it went, moving in fits and starts, until at around 2 AM we reached our goal, exhausted.

Japanese farmhouse

Fumi’s parents home was a small dark farmhouse set in rolling hills. As we pulled up, a light flicked on inside the house and Fumi’s mother emerged. Her eyes were hollow, but she smiled broadly and emitted a stream of polite Japanese as she invited me in for tea on this, the worst night of her life. It was good manners on her part and the feelings were sincere but, as I have come to understand only after years of living with a Japanese woman, the offer was not genuine. Fortunately for everyone involved, the open road was calling me home and I politely refused. As Fumi’s mother gathered up her daughter and guided her back down the dark path and into the house, I turned the Supra around and headed back down the narrow driveway alone. Before heading out onto the road, I stopped and consulted my trusty map book. After a few minutes work, I found that there was what looked to be a better route to the South and I set out through the night to find it.

The Meihan National Highway was toll-free and it turned out that even in the dead of night it was filled with truckers looking to save a buck. Together we blasted along at unsafe speeds, impossibly close to one another. Whenever I slowed the least bit or worked to increase my following distance, the space in front of me was quickly filled with a large truck and soon my exhaustion was exacerbated by my rising anger. The late hour and my frustration began to take a physical toll and exhaustion was setting in. Was nothing in this country easy?

Suddenly, I saw a piece of America glowing ahead: the Golden Arches. They called to me, offering me an island of normality in this strange land, and I left the highway. Fortunately, it was 24 hour restaurant and while I chuffed down hamburger after hamburger I studied my map book for better options. I had come a good distance on the dangerous Meihan and saw that to the North was route 307, I road I knew well from my explorations on my motorcycle. The connection looked good enough on the map, Route 422 over something called Sakura Pass. It was a direct path home and even if it was a little slower, it had to better than the Meihan, I decided. I put away my book, swallowed the last hamburger and headed inland.

Japanese village road

Within a mile of the highway the streetlights ended and the town fell abruptly away. Darkness reigned, the mountains closed in around me and the forest grew thick and impossibly close. Ahead, a raccoon or perhaps a tanuki took offense at my unannounced appearance and glared at me momentarily from the roadside before turning and stalking off into the underbrush. From unseen heights, an owl plummeted from the sky and flashed through the white-hot arc of my headlights and an amazing variety of insects rose up from the ditches and fluttered unsteadily across my path.

My momentum soon slowed to a crawl as the road twisted and rose through the darkness, following what I gathered to be the course of a stream lost somewhere off in the darkness on the other side of the impossibly close guard rail. I noted too that the road was growing narrower, now down to just a single lane in most places with only the occasional turn-out where cars headed in opposite directions might pass one another. Only there were no cars, I was totally on my own now, and still the road climbed.

The road twisted then dipped and suddenly, as I came around a corner, the trees pulled back from the road and I found myself in a small, high mountain meadow. Overhead, the moon shone brightly, casting its silvery light down upon a scene straight out of medieval Japan, a rice field and, in the distance, a small cottage with a thatched roof. Taken aback, I stopped the car, turned off the headlights and killed the engine.

I stepped out onto the empty road and soaked in the sight as the warm cloak of silence wrapped around me. The scene banished the present and I imagined the road as simple dirt track empty of all but the occasional horse and cart. As my eyes adjusted, I picked out more details of the scene, the ripening rice growing tall in the paddy at the edge of the road, a row of reeds bending gently in the breeze and, in the distance, a swarm of fireflies swirling around. I had found it, then, a place the exact opposite of the gleaming, futuristic expressways. A place with its own ethereal light, real stars and the flashing beacons. Not the future, but the past, and it too was sublime.

Ahead, the mountains loomed less large and I knew then that I was near the pass. The way ahead was clear and the road was calling me again. Slipping back into the car, I fired the engine, snapped on the headlights and headed up over the pass towards Uji, and home.

Japanese field

The paintings in this article are taken from the following website: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xr8k-tmr/ It features many wonderful watercolors and sketches of life in rural Japan. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Thomas Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

My 1986 JDM Twin Turbo Supra

Wherever I am in the world I will always be a typical American man. Despite a lot of the stereotypes that spring to mind when I say that, I learned a long time ago that it isn’t a bad thing. I was raised right and I have solid values. When seats are limited I will stand so my elders can sit. I always hold the door open for ladies, and I keep plugging away no matter how hopeless the situation might seem. There are a few things here and there that can cause problems once in a while, too. For example, I won’t be deliberately insulted, I need my personal space and, of course, I feel like I am loser if I don’t have my own set of wheels.

Don’t leave home without it

Owning a car in Japan is a bad idea for most people. To begin with, getting a driver’s license costs thousands of dollars and involves and extensive training program. Then there is the cost of the car, insurance, gasoline and tolls to consider. Also, unless you are fortunate to own a place to park, you will have to pay rent on a parking space and, of course, anywhere you go you will pay to park, too. Then there are the costs of oil, tires, repairs, even car washes to consider. Let’s not forget taxes and, of course, the great terror that is the vehicle inspection system known as the Shakken.

The Shakken system began in the post World War II era when the few cars remaining on the roads were generally old and unsafe. Shakken’s stated purpose has always been to ensure that all vehicles meet certain safety requirements, but it is also generally acknowledged that the policy has helped to ensure consistent sales of new vehicles as people seek to replace cars that they believe will fail the test. The guidelines are stringent, and without the correct inspection sticker affixed at the top of your windshield, where it is easily spotted, your car cannot be legally driven. There is little tolerance for lawbreakers.

Of course, when I purchased a 14 year old Toyota Supra, everyone thought I was nuts. In general, the Japanese do not buy used cars outside of a dealership, and person-to-person sales among strangers are almost unheard of. For the most part, the Japanese trade-in their cars when they purchase new ones or they sell them to companies like “Gulliver” that buy old cars for a pittance and then take them to auction. Cars that are worthy are bought by dealers, marked up considerably and then resold in-country. Cars that are unworthy are sold to exporters and eventually end up in places like Australia, Russia or parts of the third world. From my friends’ perspective, a car as old as my Supra was not worthy and should have been on its way to the southern hemisphere, preferably as scrap, instead of sitting in a Kyoto parking spot.

My 1986 JDM Twin Turbo Supra

The whole thing was quite a scandal and everyone, it seemed, had an opinion. Two buddies, Matsuda and Taka, were especially critical of my purchase. Self styled car guys, they began to speak ill of the Supra the moment it arrived. Never mind the fact that it was a Toyota that had less than 50,000 kilometers on the clock. In their minds, simply because of its age, the car was in grave condition. Unfortunately for them, they made the mistake of spouting off and insulting my intelligence in front of my girlfriend, who, in typical Japanese fashion, believed everything they said. I, of course, in typical American fashion, ended our friendship right there on the street. So much for fair weather friends.

It wasn’t like I had paid a lot anyway. I had purchased the car from the Japanese wife of a New Zealander for roughly $600. The car didn’t have a mark on it, the engine was spotless, it sounded good, drove flawlessly and it even had about 8 months of shakken left on it. I figured that even if it somehow failed the dreaded inspection, I would have a cool car at my disposal for the better part of a year at nominal cost, and so it really didn’t matter. But then, of course, I got attached to my little car, and as the dreaded day drew nigh, I decided to ask around.

The women at my office were worse than useless, they were misinformed. They told horrible tales about the inspection process, about what would happen if the car couldn’t pass, and how certified repair shops would use the process against me. No matter how small the trouble, the women told me, the mechanics would insist upon costly repairs before releasing the car. They told me that there was no way a car that old would ever pass, and that I had been a fool for buying it in the first place. They even told me that I would end up paying to recycle it. There was the air of plausibility about what they said, but even so, I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

Another shot of my 1986 JDM Twin Turbo Supra

In addition to my workmates, I also solicited the opinions of my students, some of whom, it turns out, were much better informed. For the most part, I learned, the average Japanese man took his car back to where he bought it for the shakken. Upon buying a brand new car, another inspection is not needed for three years. After that, inspections are required every two years, and a typical dealer, I was told, pretty much rubber stamps the next two inspections so long as they have had a hand in maintaining the car. Therefore, most cars are about 7 years old the first time they really go under the microscope and, like most Americans, the average Japanese person is ready for a new car after 7 years whether they actually need one or not. The car is traded in, and the process starts anew.

Simply follow the easy instructions

Once in a while, there are people like myself who have purchased a car outside of the dealer network. People in my situation usually end up taking their car to an independent shop and, as the women at my school had said, most of these shops will go over the car with a fine tooth comb. The result is usually a pretty stiff bill and, as a foreigner, I was especially ripe for the picking. But then, one of my oldest students, a Mr. Hanaoka, a retired engineer in his 70s who spent most of his free time drinking heavily and studying English, told me about another little known option, the “user shakken.” Amazingly, in a land where there isn’t much DIY, there is a DIY inspection.

Following Hanaoka-san’s instructions, I went to the Kyoto DMV and collected the paperwork. While I was there, the helpful clerk sat me down in front of a video that explained the entire process. Then I was sent home to complete my own inspection. Although it was all in Japanese, the documents were well illustrated, and I was able to go through it at my own pace. Although there were some parts of the form I did not fully understand, the inspection was not complicated. I measured tire tread depth, checked all the lights, looked for leaks, etc and found that, as expected, the car was in generally good condition.

I did, however, uncover a leaky shock absorber and a burned out driving light. The light was an easy fix, but the shock was more problematic, there was no real way to fix it myself and unless I was damn clever they were going to see the dark stain of shock oil under the car at the inspection station. Fortunately I am damn clever.

The day I took the car to the inspection station it was raining like hell. I rolled up to the main office and took my paperwork, as complete as I could get it, inside. After waiting in line I approached the counter hoping for a little help to complete some of the informational blocks at the top of the form and was pleasantly surprised to find that for a fee of around $5 that the clerk would actually do everything. I paid my money and ten minutes later took my car around back to the inspection station.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The inspection station was set up like an assembly line and I was required to drive the car from station to station. There was a brake test where I put the car up onto a set of rollers followed by speedometer test on the same machine where I was required to run the car up to 45 kmh. There was an underside inspection station where I sat in the car while a guy underneath tapped about ten spots with a hammer and, thanks to the wet weather, failed to notice my dripping shock absorber. There was a headlight test where a set of robotic cameras examined the front of my car to make sure everything was working within proper specs, a horn test, a brake light and blinker test and an emissions test. It was all quite efficient and I don’t think the entire process took more than 30 minutes.

As I recall, the total cost was around $450. Some of that was for the inspection fee, some for vehicle taxes, and another large part of it was for some kind of insurance that would pay for any public property I might damage in an accident. The whole thing was quick and painless and after weeks of consternation and worry, I was highly satisfied when I was awarded a new two-year sticker without a single hitch. I drove home in triumph.

Wherever I am in the world I will always be a typical American man and, despite a lot of the stereotypes that spring to mind when I say that, I learned a long time ago that it isn’t a bad thing. I was raised right and I have solid values. I keep plugging away no matter how hopeless the situation might seem and sometimes that can pay big dividends. I remember the people who helped me, too. Today, many years later, when I have the opportunity to raise a glass, I often find myself thinking about those days and of Mr. Hanaoka. He was a man who knew how to get things done, and when the whole system is stacked against you, you need a guy like that on your side.

Mr. Hanaoka at one of our school parties. Even though he was older than every other student, he never missed a single party.

Thomas Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

They can cuff me anytime.

Hot girls in short skirts are the first things that leap into my mind whenever anyone says anything about the Japanese. The internet has not helped to change that, in fact it may have made things worse. If you add the word “Japanese” to any noun that describes a group of people and enter it into your favorite search engine, pictures of hot young girls will always appear near the top of the results. Look for Japanese tour guides, Japanese students, Japanese beach volleyball players or Japanese anything and you will see I am right. Try it, I’ll wait.

Now that you’re back, did you look for Japanese Police? I did, and despite my prior confession I was surprised at what I found. The main reason for that is because I have met a lot of Japanese police officers over the years and I can tell you from my own personal experience that they are, for the most part, nothing at all like the ones pictured above.

One of the most respected and professional police forces in the world, the Japanese “keisatsu” is a no nonsense outfit that takes its work seriously. Detectives pour over crime scenes and mark even the smallest bits of evidence with dozens of tiny red flags, rank and file officers patrol the streets on foot in groups or individually man “police boxes” in virtually every neighborhood and Japanese traffic police hone their driving and motorcycle riding skills to such perfection that only an idiot would think about running. The keisatsu is not an organization to be disrespected or trifled with and anyone who does, does so at their own peril.

Like any modern police force, the Japanese police have a tremendous amount of equipment. I could write several articles detailing armored cars, motorcycles, disaster response vehicles, buses, etc. but the most instantly recognizable vehicle in any police force is always the police car and Japan is no exception. Decked out in stunning black-and-white livery, Japanese police cars command instant attention and respect on the street. Unlike the United States, where most police cars are one of just two or three common types of sedan, the Japanese use an astonishing variety of cars, each especially suited to a specific role.

This photo is a bit dated, but I still love it.

Without a doubt, the coolest cars in the Japanese police’s motor pool are the interceptors, and well they should be because they are based on some of the baddest rides going. Some of the more famous examples have been Skyline GTRs, Mitsubishi 3000 GTs (Called the GTO in Japan), the RX-7, RX-8 and even the Fairlady Z. However, the Japanese police seldom engage in high speed chases and the rules of the road are usually maintained by speed cameras and the good old fashioned speed trap. So, while they look glorious wearing their official colors, these cars are used more as public relations tools than they are as true enforcers of public order.

One tool the keisatsu does use to great effect on the road is the unmarked car. These can be virtually any make or model and generally they hide their lights in the grill or under trap doors in the roof that pop open when they are triggered. I imagine that, like the unmarked cars used by American police forces, these cars are easily recognized by the locals but to me they were a real threat. On at least two occasions I ended up having polite conversations at the side of the road after cutting around a line of slow moving cars on the freeway to find one of these at the head of the parade. In both cases I got a firm talking to, but fortunately no tickets.

The Toyota Crown at work – check out those raised lights!

The backbone of the Japanese police fleet is the “patto-ka” and the most common patrol car on the Japanese roads today is the Toyota Crown. I have seen three versions of the Crown in action. One wears police livery but goes without the overhead lights and I presume this type of car is used by high ranking officers as a part of their duties. Actual “siren cars” as every little Japanese boy calls them, come in two flavors, those with regular, fixed red lights and those with red lights that can be raised for better visibility at accident scenes. Toyota Crowns, by the way, are also used in Japan as taxi-cabs and medium sized limos. The sheer number of them on the road makes me think they are pretty tough cars.

The Japanese police car Americans know the least about are those most often assigned to small neighborhood police stations. Because the Japanese police are committed to community policing, officers are often assigned to these small “koban” and they generally stay close to their duty station. The cars attached to these outposts are usually small econoboxes, with the cars most used being from the tiny 660cc kei class. These little cars are a great fit because they work well on narrow roads and offer the ability to carry a passenger. They are by no means fast and they would not serve as good patrol units, but they were never intended to.

A typical around town police car.

That’s because when posted to a Koban, Japanese officers are most often found on foot or on bicycles. Of course, we have bicycle patrols in the United States as well, but unlike the expensive high tech multi-speed bikes that specially outfitted and uniformed police use in our country, the Japanese approach is more mundane and makes a lot more sense.

Decked out in their regular uniforms on the same type of plain, single speed upright bikes often used by Japanese housewives, complete with handlebar mounted baskets and small cases on the cargo racks, the keisatsu are able to see and hear things that they might miss were they to patrol using motorized transport. They use the bicycle to its best advantage and their accessibility to the public makes the cop on the beat an easily approachable and welcome part of any neighborhood. How many American children know the names of the police officers who patrol our neighborhoods?

Bicycles patrols are more than just effective ways to reach the public, the are also environmentally friendly. As the sponsor of the Kyoto Convention on Climate Control, the Japanese government is especially concerned about going green wherever possible and, as a result many of the newest official vehicles are either hybrid or battery powered and police cars are no exception. As with the kei class cars, these vehicles are used in for short trips rather than day long patrols, but the fact they are relied upon at all shows that the Japanese police are constantly looking to modernize their fleet. Like the interceptors, these cars garner a great deal of public attention and often appear at public events. I expect that the numbers of these in service with the police will continue to increase as time goes on.

The Japanese police are a good organization that works hard to ensure public safety. They are serious about the job they do and the variety of vehicles they operate says a lot about their commitment. Like police forces worldwide, the Japanese police must work within a budget and one way they do so effectively is by using the right tools for specific jobs. I hope you have enjoyed this limited look at some of the cars they utilize in their effort to protect and to serve.

The average Japanese cop is more about kicking ass than he is about showing it.

Thomas Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, his favorite subject is himself.

For those of you with a love of geography but without the resources to actually set foot in the country, let me tell you about Japan. It is a nation famously made up of thousands of islands but, in reality there are just 4 main islands where most of the people live – 5 if you count Okinawa. The largest island is called Honshu, it is the banana shaped one in the middle should you be looking for a map right now, and Honshu is home to most of the great cities of Japan. Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohoma blend seamlessly into one another to form one giant zone of dense urban sprawl across the “Kanto” region in the East, while Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe mirror that sprawl, albeit with less size but more attitude, in the West. This Western region is known as “Kansai.” I’ll take you to to Japan’s flyover land. The land, where one would fly over guardrails.

If you know some Japanese or are an astute reader, you will notice that there is a similarity to the words Kanto and Kansai – namely the root “kan.” While there are many “kans” in Japanese, the one used here happens to mean “barrier.” Also, if you hadn’t guessed it yet, “To” in the case cited above means “East” and “Sai” means “West,” So, the names of these two regions, then, are literally what they describe – places to the East and West of a natural barrier, a great rugged mountain range, that runs across the center of island of Honshu.

As lovers of cars, you should be nodding your head now. Where there are mountain ranges there are mountain passes, and where there are mountain passes, there are long winding roads. Given the natural perfectionist bent of the average Japanese construction worker and the sweetheart deals the Japanese government often makes with local construction and paving companies, you can only imagine those roads; they go places and do things that no road ever should. Isolated ribbons of silky smooth pavement punch through mountains in a gross display of Japanese tunneling prowess. They span ravines hundreds of feet deep on soaring trestles made of high quality Nippon cement reinforced by steel rebar that is created by the descendants of steel makers that forged the first samurai sword. The roads cling to mountainsides that would give goats bunions and they mimic the bends of rivers so rugged that white water kayakers get wet just thinking about them.

The Uji river, Ujigawa in Japanese, is just such a place. The river begins in the high mountains above Ujitawara and runs onto the plains south of Kyoto. It then meanders east, eventually merging with the Yodo river. With the combined stream taking on the larger Yodogawa’s name, the waters turn south and flow through the city of Osaka before finally emptying into Osaka bay.

At the point where the river comes down from the mountains and finally reaches the flat Kansai region sits the town of Uji. Facing the plane with its back to the mountains historic Uji, along with its strategically important bridge, was the site of many Samurai battles in feudal Japan. Today, Uji is known for producing only the finest tea quality green teas, its considerable page-time in the ancient Japanese tome “The Tale of Genji,” the Byodoin temple (a world heritage site) and, of course, beautiful women – one of whom is married to yours truly.

Slightly upstream from the city, the Amagase dam spans a deep gorge and tames the once wild river. Behind it lies a deep green lake that stretches for miles back into the mountain range. Perched precariously above this lake, on a narrow shoulder carved from the living rock that makes up the sheer walls of canyon, sits Route 3 or the road known locally as the “Ujigawa line.”

Those stripes are more than just paint. They have a sandy texture that lifts them above the level of the pavement and unsettles your suspension.

In 1999, it was by a complicated and unhappy set of circumstances that I found myself in Uji. Perhaps it was divine intervention, I can’t be sure, but whatever the cause I found myself in this special place at a unique time; a time when the greatest Japanese performance cars of the 1980s and ’90s were selling used at rock bottom prices. Naturally, I indulged myself.

The Japanese anime series “Initial D” gives a pretty good view of the Japanese street racing scene back then. Local heroes in small highly modified cars gathered along the route wherever the road widened just enough to park. At one end of the road, close to the dam, was a small parking lot that served a local picnic area. By day the small lot was home to tourists who came to eat bento boxes and look at the breathtaking views.

At night, the lot was home to a completely different breed. It was there that the vast majority of cars would gather, their hoods open, while sullen young men in black t-shirts bearing nonsensical English phrases shuffled about or stood in small groups, their hands in their pockets and cheap bad smelling cigarettes hanging from their bottom lips. These were the “hashiriya” or runners, and I stopped there from time to time to try and engage them in conversation. As a foreigner, however, I would forever be on outside the group. In some cultures we might be united by our love of cars and speed, but here I was an unknown – at best an oddity, at worst a threat – and so I was to be avoided.

The cars were always the same. My father would have said they were products of “asshole engineering,” cheap rides cobbled together with a mish-mash of parts and modified in ways that looked less than scientifically proven. They were for the most part Silivias and Levins well past their prime. Occasionally an older RX7 FC or Mk III Supra could be found among them and every so often a later model RX7 FD or a MK IV Supra might make an appearance. Rarest of them all were the vaunted Nissan Skylines, always R32s and always from lower trim levels, never the legendary GTR.

The cars swirled around the lot like angry bees, coming and going in small groups to make high speed passes in close, single file order over the pass to the turnaround and then back again. Upon their return, the drivers would climb from the cars, fish out their stinky cigarettes and once again assume the posture of affected boredom.

A glory shot of my Supra in its prime. Note the American flag by the license plate should you doubt my veracity.

My own car, a 1986 MKIII Supra, mounted the JDM 2.0 liter twin turbo and was unmodified. Sitting on stock tires and rims at normal ride height, the car did well enough on the pass but, hamstrung by an automatic transmission and my own survival instinct, the car was not, by any means, comparable to the heavily modified vehicles the kids were driving. Most nights I would make a run or two over the pass and then park in fairly wide turn-out at the end of the longest straightaway and watch as the cars roared by.

Occasionally I would see an accident but they were always minor. The big crashes happened in the dead of night, long after the lightweights like myself had gone home. It didn’t take a forensic team to tell what had happened in most cases. It was always the same when I stumbled upon the scene the next morning, deep skid marks, sometimes hundreds of feet long ending in puddles of various colored fluids at a scarred rock wall or at a giant dent in one of the heavy steel guardrails put there to protect foolish young men from themselves. People were killed there, I know, but Japan isn’t the kind of place where people file lawsuits when someone does something stupid to themselves. So long as the police chose to allow it, the racing went on.

Japanese warning signs have a flair for the dramatic. Can you guess what this sign says?

For those of us that lived, the new millennium is getting old and that time seems more removed every day. For the most part we are embarrassed that we actually partied like it is 1999, despite the fact it was, and we are ashamed that we worried about something as banal as Y2K when it seems like each week in the current millennium brings some newer, more dire prophecy. Yet to this day, when my wife and I take the kids to visit her parents in Uji, I feel like I am going home and I am never there long before the Ujigawa line calls out to me. Without fail, I trump up some errand or other that that leads me back up into those mountains, back out onto those glorious roads and back into the days of my reckless, short sighted youth, gone now forever, but not forgotten.

Thomas M Kreutzer currently lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife and three children but has spent most of his adult life overseas. He has lived in Japan for 9 years, Jamaica for 2 and spent almost 5 years as a US Merchant Mariner serving primarily in the Pacific. A long time auto and motorcycle enthusiast he has pursued his hobbies whenever possible. He also enjoys writing and public speaking where, according to his wife, he talks mostly about himself.

The Tokyo Auto Salon was mobbed, to a high degree by youth that allegedly has no interest in cars, or procreation. They come to the Auto Salon for two reasons: Cars and girls. Both are plentiful. On Friday, we promised you in-depth coverage of this important topic, and here it is. Like with our hachi-roku coverage, we try to give you a feeling for the overwhelming number of underdressed women by giving you TTAC’s biggest picture collection of all times.

CAUTION: The content may be NSFW in certain places that object to bare skin, racy outfits and musings about deviant behavior. Do not click and/or complain if that offends you.

The term “girls” is used here after long contemplation and with deep conviction. There is not even the pretense of an iPad-equipped product specialist at the Tokyo Auto Salon. These are girls, they are proud to be girls. Their job is to look good and sexy, and they have to attract men. Whenever there is a huge crowd at a booth, there are girls on stage.  There also is an instant wall of guys, armed with everything from a Canon 1DX to a flip-phone.

Sometimes, Japanese politeness gives way to pushing and shoving, and it feels like on the 8:35 Yamanote train. Once the girls leave, the crowd disperses. So they bring out the girls again.

As far as fashion goes, there are two mainstreams at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon. One is the dominant leather-clad mistress, this being a perfect example. What little there is is studded with a thick layer of sharp nails. Not so subliminal message: Don’t touch, or I’ll hurt you big-time. The perfect outfit to wear on the subway during rush hour.

The other is the standard kawaii-fare. Silly girls in their mid-twenties, posing as teenagers, and appealing to the suppressed pedophile in you. (Standard defense reaction: “Ah, they are ladyboys.” “They remind me of my daughter.” As if thinking of underage homosexual  sex, or incest,  is an improvement…)

Sometimes, the oeuvres can get a big mixed. This collared kawaii-girl is dressed up as if she serves coffee in an Akihabara maid cafe in the afternoon, then tends bar at the aptly named “Jail” club in Roppongi. Change outfits when changing jobs!

I asked TTAC’s cross-subcultural adviser, Frau Schmitto-san, for guidance. As a professional Tokyo fashion designer, and no stranger to the topic, she looked at the pictures, was disgusted and said: “Those young chicks, they are confused. No style.”  Maybe it’s the designers who get all their female interaction from anime, complementing  their Gran Turismo sourced driving skills.

These girls are the stars of the Nitto booth across from Toyota, from where square salary men send the occasional distraught glance. The women in black are the epitome of a mish-mash multirole cross-over fetish culture,  pandering  to your submissive tendencies with boots, and studded leather, while at the same time signaling with pearlie collars that they won’t mind to be owned by a strong master. Burger King meets BDSM – anyway you like it. And ugh, leather. Nitto is a tire company, and rubber is the least we can expect. Staying on message and all that.

The “Anyway you like it” comes as single …

… and as a happy meal.

This group of girls is very popular at the Auto Salon, and they were popular at TTAC on Friday, so here are a few more pictures.

Say stop.

Had enough? (Should there be demands for more – check the gallery below.)

The “Wald Black Bison Edition”  (no endangered species was spared in this car) is a Rolls Royce Ghost, converted into a conveyance befitting any rapper. But we aren’t here for the cars.  We are here for the girls.

The two on the left have only one pose: “Kirei desu.” (Aren’t I pretty.) The one on the right has advanced to two poses: Dollface …

… and “young and fresh.”

Big-time Japanese cellphone carrier NTT Docomo has a girl next door pushing their “Drive Net” offer.

Even she is wearing leather hot pants under a PVC tank top that did not have to stretch much. (Frau Schmitto-san leans over my shoulder and says: “Are you a fashion editor now?” “Changed jobs!” “Aren’t they usually gay?” Now she’s worried.)

Suzuki  also has a girl-next-door, also in hot pants, with studded wrist band, and wearing “please rape me” shoes. Does Osamu know?

Next to black leather, red PVC is big at the car show.

This gang of girls was obviously hired to awaken deviant tendencies in insecure men.

They are all collared and branded. The collars wear the Carrozzeria brand. Which must have identified insecure men with pedophiliac tendencies as its core target.

All carrozzeria girls have to pose with two strips of paper, reason unknown. In a different setting, I would have guessed price tags at a slave auction. But here?

This one has no tags, she must be higher ranking.

This one has two collars, top and bottom, both branded.

Between BDSM-style  and Kawaii-style are a few outliers. Clubwear.

Rainwear.

Afternoon tea wear.

Evening wear.

Ballwear.

Beware.

Tread wear.

Santa Fe meets Tokyo…

Sex sells.  Even deodorizer.

Your room number? Any bags?

Pacific rims.

Nice legs.

“Japan is a mountainous country, except for its women.” Or so the saying goes.  Not true at all.

These girls invite you to escape on a Gold Wing, improved by Gordon.

They come with a trailer.

Isn’t there a Japan chapter of PETA?

Nor blowjob jokes, please.

This sad scene embodies everything that is wrong with Detroit’s approach to marketing cars in Japan.

The Detroit 3 kept respectfully in the background. The waving of the American flag was left to Goodyear.

Goodyear didn’t know anything better than a chintzy riff on “Grease.” If you want to torture logic: That era was when cars were huge, thirsty and had fins. Wrong message. There is a small and balding segment in Japan that still likes that, they don’t buy new, but spend inordinate amounts on old. Wrong story. But hell, Goodyear doesn’t sell cars, what do they know.

America could have offered something the Japanese don’t have themselves. Like athletic blondes, or wild Hispanics. That was left to Kenwood, despite its English name a very Japanese company. They know that blondes have a similar effects on Japanese men as Japanese girls on Americans.

The alleged All-American girls of Goodyear look fake, because they are. Mixed fashion signals again. At least, Goodyear did not bring their blimps.

On Friday, we mentioned that Toyobaru’s hachi-roku absolutely dominates the Tokyo Auto Salon into total submission. Just about any booth (save that of Honda, Nissan etc.) has the almond-eyes of one or more hachi-roku looking at you. On Friday, we promised you visual proof. Here it is, and it is a monster. It is the biggest collection of hachi-roku pictures this side of Gunma.

After we announced our intentions yesterday, the colleagues at our sister publication Autoguide agreed it is a good idea, and did theirs. Should you miss anything in our hachi-roku rama, head on over to theirs, and you will probably find what you are looking for.

The OEMs

The folks that actually developed and produce the hachi-roku, and there are two, Toyota and Subaru, both behaving as if the other does not exist, of course don’t let the opportunity go. They trot out THEIR hachi-roku in overwhelming strength.

Let’s start at hachi-roku central, at Toyota. Toyota will campaign two hachi-roku at the 41st 24 Hours Nürburgring endurance race to be held in Germany from May 17 through 20. Here is one racer.

And here is the other race car. At the Auto Salon, they both carry the same race number. I’m sure they’ll fix that before the race.

Toyota shows a few “concepts” – all could quite easily become reality, if there is enough interest. Here is the “86 × style Cb”.

And here again. Doesn’t look like your typical hachi-roku.

Here the “86 Modellista“.

The “86 TRD Griffon”.

Budget LFA: The TRD has a carbon fiber winglet.

Here the “Tom’s N086V.”

This is the “GRMN Sports FR Concept Platinum,” a hachi-roku -based circuit sports car with a turbocharger, and a supercharger.

Two halls down, Subaru shows the BRZ Premium Sport Package Concept, a long name for something it could offer at short notice.

Subaru also proudly displays its boxer engine, claiming prominently that its THEIRS.

The Plastic Surgeons

There is a huge industry for making the hachi-roku look different. Better? You decide.

This is a rather harmless operation by DAMD.

As you can see, hardcore showgoers look for more hardcore stuff.

Abflug x Pentroof is a Japanese tuner with a German bent. Also quite tame.

[Tangent] What is it with the Japanese and their infatuation with all things German? They eat more Baumkuchen than the Germans, Toyota has cars called Raum, sold via Vitz stores. I know what some of you will say. Abflug goes as far as calling a black car “Schwarzer”. Someone should tell them that in the German language, “Schwarzer” is an n-word equivalent . [/Tangent]

Outerworldly hachi-roku. K-spec sells performance parts in Japan.

This is getting quite hardcore. Total facejob by WALD, yet another Japanese maker with a German bent.

From the side.

What else can be done to make the hachi-roku look different? Ah, yes, the opposite of matte black: Chrome.

The hachi-roku by BLITZ can do dual duty as a mirror, but it failed to attract the ladies.

What else can be done? Of course: Gold.

This Blows

The lack of a turbo in the hachi-roku had been decried long before the car was available.Now, there are blowers galore.

Fanatics were convinced that the stock 197 hp were not enough, the factories claimed there is no space. The aftermarket seized the golden opportunity and quickly showed that there is ample space for ample power in any hachi-roku.

The HKS-GT is a favorite blower among the hachi-roku otaku.

The HKS can be found under the hood of many hachi-roku on the show floor.

The HKS does not have the market to itself, there are other players in the power game.

This blower was found under the hood of the golden hachi-roku.

Turboworld-powered hachi-roku.

This is how most will see it.

More boost.

Blown hachi-roku by Chargespeed.

Purveyors Of Bolt-Ons

There is one thing that sets the Tokyo Auto Salon apart from SEMA. At SEMA, there are bolt-ons and bolt-ons. At the Tokyo Auto Salon, there only are bolt-ons.

The hachi-roku already spawned a largest after market, which can only get bigger.

Brakes don’t show well, but a hachi-roku with brakes does.

From the rear.

The R-Spec Datasystems suspension controller also is quite a boring sight. Dropped into a blue hachi-roku, it can be quite an attraction.

Gram Lights does not make lights, as one would suspect, but lightweight wheels. They also look better on a hachi-roku than nailed to the wall.

Wedsport is another supplier of wheels & rims.

Yet another wheel maker, Treasure One. Yet another hachi-roku.

Boldworld makes suspension and brake systems. It shows a nice red hachi-roku.

IPF makes lights. They look better on a hachi-roku.

Vertex sell parts. With a purple hachi-roku.

A neighbor of Vertex. White hachi-roku.

D2 used to be a big German mobile phone operator, owned by Mannesmann. Now it is a small seller of performance parts, using a hachi-roku.

BLITZ is a Japanese seller of performance parts, and it does it with a hachi-roku.

Fujitsubo makes high-end mufflers. A hachi-roku pulls-in the crowds.

A mirror under the car shows off the shiny new muffler.

Close-up of the underworld.

Falken makes tires. Black and boring. They look much better on a white hachi-roku.

Carbing doesn’t make carbs, it makes a whole array of performance parts.

One of them a cage for the hachi-roku.

Exedy makes exhilarating products like clutches. A hachi-roku acts as a marketing vehicle.

Even toolmaker Snap-on uses a hachi-roku to sell wrenches to wrenchers.

Rare Miscellania

Some hachi-roku defied categorization.

Found on the sidelines.

Found next door.

I forgot to ask what a Barüla is. The red hachi-roku is nice.

Another one.

And another one.

It’s endless. Absolutely endless.

In Part 1 of our talk with Infiniti CEO Johan de Nysschen at his new office at the Infiniti world headquarters in Hong Kong, we talked about his new job, about new directions for Infiniti, and for the brand. In the second part, we talk about the new cars Infiniti will bring, where they will be made, what engines will be in them, and what deNysschen thinks about the plan to sell half a million by 2016.

In April at the Beijing auto show, Nissan’s Andy Palmer said he wants to see 500,000 Infiniti sold by 2016, while conceding that this is “an aggressive target.” In the last fiscal year, Infiniti sold 141,000 units worldwide, 105,000 of those in the Americas. In carefully crafted words, de Nysschen explains what he thinks of the 500,000 unit target:

“Forget volume. Whether those 500,000 come in 2015 or 2018 is less important. We are building a brand. If you put the volume first, and every day when you go home you check whether you hit the scoreboard, that forces you into a more short term orientation.”

As strong product portfolio “is the very core of establishing a brand,” says de Nysschen, and he wants more and better product.

Already in the pipeline is a “new compact premium model that we will position below the current G as a car that will be manufactured in Europe.” De Nysschen does not want to comment on reports that this compact premium is being developed together with Daimler, and that it will be built at Magna-Steyr in Austria, but his face says that the reports are not delusional.

A second new Infiniti ”is in the consideration phase, not yet in the decision phase,” but when it is decided, then this car “potentially could, I say COULD be manufactured in Mexico.” Why not in the US? Because Mexico has a free trade agreement with Europe, the U.S. has not.

There definitely will be an Infiniti to be built in China, actually two, as a start. “We have to expand our footprint in China,” says de Nysschen. “China has got to be a new volume hub for us, and a prerequisite for a volume hub is localization.”

Despite the disclaimers, de Nysschen states that “so now already we have three other factories that would complement the production in Tochigi.” Tochigi is Nissan’s plant north of Tokyo that currently produces most Infiniti models, all for export. Straining under the high yen, this is an expensive proposition, and producing in three locations outside of Japan will make the yen more palatable..

De Nysschen is outspoken in his demand for a halo car: “I want to have a product that will be emotionally appealing, and also very premium, and which very easily will draw a great deal of attention.”

Tying de Nysschen down to something more specific becomes a bit of a fencing act with a very agile opponent. No, it won’t be what at Audi he would have called a “D-class” car or “what we call the F segment here. That is a market segment that is populated by the S-Class, the 7-Series, the A8. No, I don’t think we want to enter that segment, it is overpopulated, its customers tend to be very conservative and very brand loyal.”

Then what?

De Nysschen feints, throws out a few other segments where “Infiniti has white space,” from crossovers to “wagons for Europe.” When I suggest that a high end Infiniti sports car could surely be very appealing and would draw a lot of attention, de Nysschen stops me in mid-sentence, issues a warning look and says: “Let’s leave it at that.” Cut off, I am unable to elicit whether the aspirational auto will be one of the four aforementioned, or whether it will be a fifth one.

With the Nissan GT-R, with a possibly resurrected Renault Alpine Berlinette, and with talk about possibly another sporty luxury brand residing under Renault, there should be enough DNA around for a successful super-sport cross-fertilization. It could do Infiniti good.

While we are busy creating new rumors, de Nysschen takes the opportunity of squashing old ones. Before he does that, de Nysschen paints a hyper-realistic picture of Web 2.0 car journalism:

“One reporter reads or hears something, he interprets it in a slightly different way so that he can report it uniquely and originally, and by the time the 20th reporter does that, we have something that it is very distant from the truth.”

True, true.

A prime example of those twenty degrees of separation are recent reports that Infiniti wants to deprive the world of the V8. Emphatically not true, says de Nysschen. He won’t “instruct our development engineers to design a new 6 liter V8.” But kill the current V8s? Heavens, no. Actually, he praises the wisdom of U.S. lawmakers that prevented wholesale murder of the mighty mills:

“With the way the American legislation has been formulated, with trucks in the American definition having to comply with a different set of requirements than passenger cars, there will be less urgency to phase out the big V8s.”

The V8s also could be made more efficient, as an ecologically responsible de Nysschen quickly adds.

But in the very long term, de Nysschen thinks that big bad engines definitely could be endangered species:

 “One of the inevitable phenomena that comes with wanting to reduce the carbon footprints, and reduce emissions and consumption, is that that displacement will come down and that the vehicles will become lighter without compromising on performance. In the long run, I could imagine that the high performance ICE of the future will be a smaller displacement V6 that probably uses turbocharging technology and a whole host of engine management, extracts a great deal of power and in the combination with lighter weight gives a vehicle with improved handling dynamics and lower fuel consumption without sacrificing one grain of driving enjoyment and performance.”

While the world will not be deprived of V8-powered Infinitis for the foreseeable future, de Nysschen needs smaller engines fast. When he was touring dealers and regions, one question was asked again and again: Where are the four cylinders? At that, de Nysschen gets, well, stimulated:

“We need an extension of the available powertrains. We need smaller capacity 4 cylinder engines for China, Europe, and the U.S. In the U.S., where one would think big powerful engines are common, half of the BMW 5-Series sedans are bought with small engines. Same with the 3-Series. With the Audi A4, the take rate for four cylinders is 80 percent. We don’t have anything to play. We need the same for Europe where the penalties for powerful engines with the CO2 taxation is quite large, and of course, we need diesel. You can’t play in Europe without diesel.”

Working at an Infiniti that is owned by Nissan, de Nysschen is daily asked to render a confession of faith in the electric vehicle, and he is ready for it before I am done asking the question:

“Every car company right now should be working on some form of electric vehicle. If they aren’t, they are going to be behind the curve. That does not mean that we want to have an Infiniti version of the Nissan Leaf. We have our own ideas of what we want. The young premium consumers are very progressive and forward thinking in terms of technology. I want to make sure that Infiniti has a compelling offering for that audience as well.”

Also, says de Nysschen, as a future big player in China, Infiniti must be ready for stringent requirements in terms of emissions and consumption.

The sun has set somewhere over China as I ask de Nysschen a last question. How does he feel that Infiniti cars don’t get sold in Japan? Does he want to change this?

“Philosophically, I would say the answer has to be yes. Ironically, we take models that are unique Infiniti platforms, developed for Infiniti, and in Japan, we put a Nissan badge on them. I want to go and speak to my colleagues who are responsible for the Japanese domestic market and explore a way in a pragmatic manner in which we can respect their needs and their expectations and their requirements for the Nissan dealer network, but also that we can give Infiniti the opportunity to establish the brand in its home market.”

After emigrating to Hong Kong, Infiniti might finally come home to Japan.

A few months ago, Nissan’s Infiniti premium division moved out of the office building in Yokohama and out from the shadow of its parent company. Infiniti set up its new world headquarters in Hong Kong. Nissan also snagged Audi’s America-chief Johan de Nysschen as Infiniti’s new boss. Last Friday, after work, we sat down with de Nysschen in his new office on the 35^th floor of the Citibank Tower in Hong Kong’s downtown, to talk about his and Infiniti’s plans for the future. This is a two-part interview. The second part will appear tomorrow.

De Nysschen’s office is spacious, but subdued in comparison to the workplaces of other leaders of industry. No armed guards, no sometimes more dangerous personal assistants bar the entry. He sits at a working man’s desk: Three computers of various sizes, a printer. A glass door provides limited privacy from otherwise open floor offices with space for maybe 100 people when Infiniti’s World Headquarters are fully staffed. So how does the new CEO like the new office in the new city?

“Space is more constrained in Hong Kong, but the view is better. From my old office in Auburn Hills, on a clear day, I you could see Chrysler. From here … “ de Nysschen makes as sweeping motion while the sun sets over a still unfamiliar Hong Kong skyline, and he stops. “Honestly, the two months I have been here, I haven’t had time to admire the view a lot.”

He also did not spend much time at the office. His severely battered aluminum Rimowa case in hand, de Nysschen went on a familiarization tour around the world, met with customers, dealers, importers, employees.

De Nysschen is a self-confessed workaholic:

“60 days into this job , I can tell you that it has been quite a while that I had worked that hard and around the clock. I like to  immerse myself into the business. This is immensely stimulating.”

“Stimulating” is a word we will hear more often tonight.

Impressed by the surroundings, I immediately inquire how one gets such a job. It turns out that de Nysschen and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn go a long ways back to the times when both of them had arrived in Japan in 1999.  Ghosn immediately wanted to hire de Nysschen, and add him to his stable of international executives that engineered what entered history as one of the most spectacular turn-arounds, the rescue and ascend of Nissan. Ghosn had to take a rain-check:

“I was not ready before. There was a lot of work to be done at Audi, it was a very satisfying and stimulating career I had at Audi.”

This time around, Ghosn had an offer that sounded stimulating to a man who had been in charge of Audi in increasingly important markets: South Africa, Japan, finally the U.S., where de Nysschen was CEO of Audi of America since 2004. In these jobs, he pretty much had to sell what was sent by Ingolstadt. At Infiniti, he can truly mold products and brand.

“To influence the brand from the core was a large part of the attraction. In the US, a key market for Audi, I could get involved in the last 25 percent. The only exception was the forthcoming Audi A3 sedan. That I could influence 100 percent. At Infiniti, I can influence from zero. And that of course is very stimulating. I have always been good at construction businesses, turning around underperforming businesses, molding and holding a brand. Those are my strengths because I get stimulated by it.”

De Nysschen is a native of South Africa, and when he says “good,” it sometimes sounds like it rhymes with “foot.”

De Nysschen and Ghosn share a common vision, and, says de Nysschen, “my contractual agreement with Mr Ghosn was to ultimately deliver on our vision: A tier one premium brand as part of the Nissan stable. A second major revenue and profit stream for the Nissan group.”

It will take time to get there, but de Nysschen brought the time. The 52 year old sees this as “the final chapter in my career – establishing a premium brand is a long term thing. Great brands are not born overnight.”

Most carmakers attempt to replicate the success of Audi. De Nysschen worked for Audi since 1993, right after Ferdinand Piëch took the helm coming from Audi, which he had managed since 1988. When Piëch took over, Audi had an image, sales and profitability worse than Opel, something that is easily forgotten. The brand turned around under Piech’s guidance, and only came into full bloom in the new millennium. De Nysschen knows it took time and hard work, he was there. And that’s why he is at Infiniti.

The Infiniti brand has been around since 1989, but to de Nysschen, it is still “like a toddler.” It is time for Infiniti to grow up, and de Nysschen will be coach and teacher. Like Toyota’s Lexus and Honda’s Acura, Infiniti was fathered by the Plaza Accord, when, after serious rounds of Japan-bashing, the Japanese government was intimidated into allegedly voluntary export restraints. The restraints were unit-based, Japan went upmarket, sold bigger, more expensive cars under new luxury brands, with the unintended consequence of draining the life out of Detroit’s most profitable segments.

“Premium car companies of can be quite profitable,” says de Nysschen, implying that Infiniti could grow up also in this regard. “If you look at the financial performance of BMW, Mercedes and Audi, they are immensely profitable car companies. Audi contributes approximately 40 percent of the total profits of the Volkswagen group. And it comes from a market segment which a Nissan brand cannot reach.”

Growing up to be self-sufficient and successful means that Infiniti must cut the cord from a sometimes overbearing mother Infiniti. He needs to take the same course Piëch took: “Markentrennung,” as it was called during de Nysschen’s Volkswagen times, brand separation. Says de Nysschen:

“The Infiniti brand as it existed until now has really been managed in the same way, in the same philosophy and with the same processes as Nissan. Nissan has been very successful for the mainstream brand. But in a way, ironically, those very same philosophies and processes and policies are also the ones that inhibit success in the premium market. Expectations and requirements for success are fundamentally different. I think the realization has come that that status quo for Infiniti needs to be challenged.”

Of course, this would be easier if, as at Audi, Infiniti would be its own company, with its own factories, R&D, and a boss who becomes group chief and who can put words into action. But with a strong Carlos Ghosn shuttling between Paris and Yokohama, and with Infiniti on its own in Hong Kong and out from under the Nissan coattails, with a little extra effort, it can work. It won’t be the same as at Audi, where de Nysschen, according to lore, banned the word “Volkswagen.”

“We need to live out the Infiniti values, and I will work on brand separation. We need brand purity. At the same time, we need to have the protection and support from the Nissan group. We have to be proud that we are Infiniti, that we are separate, that we have our own identity, but we also have to recognize that we would not be successful without the support of Nissan. We need to respect that. There will be a far higher degree of codependence with Nissan than what might have existed in my previous life.”

Tomorrow, we talk about the new cars Infiniti will bring, where they are made, what engines will be in them, and what de Nysschen thinks of the plan to sell half a million by 2016.

Divorces can be messy and expensive (ask me how I know) and take longer than thought (ask Frau Schmitto-san how she knows). Or ask Ford and Mazda. When Ford’s love affair with Mazda unraveled because Ford needed the cash, there was the case of their Chinese three-way joint venture with Changan. Two years ago, a deal was struck. It supposedly received the all-important Chinese government approval. Supposedly. Today, the threesome still isn’t dissolved. But it won’t be much longer.

“Ford  and Mazda and their local Chinese partner Chongqing Changan have received approval from China’s central government to split their three-way, manufacturing and sales joint venture into two,” Ford CEO Alan Mulally told Reuters in Chongqing today.

The dissolution follows the old plan. Ford and Mazda share plants in Chongqing and Nanjing. Changan Ford Automobile will get the Chongqing plant. Changan Mazda will get Nanjing.

A Mazda spokesman in Shanghai told Reuters the matter is still not official, but promised that “we’re likely to make a formal announcement shortly.”

What is behind those missing links? Who is the nice man who goes thumbs up next to China Communist Party Polit Bureau member Li Keqiang? And why has he allegedly just bought Saab?

Trollhättan’s newspaper TTELA reported yesterday (translation via The :Local) that “the sale of assets of bankrupt Swedish automaker Saab is complete.” The source was Trollhättan’s city manager Annika Wennerblom who told the Trollhättan newspaper that the deal is done. Hope springs eternal and makes a bad editor. Even worse, an unchecked story raced around the globe, leaving a string of 404s in its wake as editors hastily yanked the erroneous story.

Hours later, Trollhättan spokesman Peter Asp, called the news “Wennerblom’s own speculation that went awry.” He stated that “neither she, nor our local councilor Paul Akerlund, nor I have been informed that the administrators have completed their work.”

Now, NEVS spokesman Mikael Ostlund only wants to “confirm that NEVS is interested in buying Saab Automobile’s assets.” This is old hat. The allegedly Swedish company National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) had been rumored for a while as a bidder for the Saab assets that are on the block in a bankruptcy sale. What is more interesting is who is behind that freshly minted National Electric Vehicle Sweden.

It is two shadowy companies.

One company, often played into the foreground, is a  low profile Japanese investment company named “Sun Investment LLC.”

The other company is National Modern Energy Holdings. According to media reports, this company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, but is in turn owned by a Hong Kong based company named China Dragon Base Holdings.

“And behind it all stands the Swede Johan Kai Jiang,” writes TTELA, happily translated by our friends and fans at Saabsunited.

Here he is. Alleged Swede Kai Johan Jiang became famous for turning garbage into power. Literally.

Kai Johan Jiang was born in 1965 in China’s Shandong province. As Jiang Dalong, definitely not as a Kai Johan. Later, Jiang became a minor celebrity in China. His Beijing-based Dragon Power Group received an RMB 28 billion ($4.4 billion) loan from the Chinese state-owned enterprise China Construction Bank, which provided the capital for the National Bio Energy Company, a subsidiary of Dragon Power, to construct biomass plants across the country.

Later, Dragon Power was renamed to State Power Group, Ltd., and Kai Johan Jiang is the Chairman of that Chinese power company. State Power Group sounds confusingly similar to China’s energy moloch State Grid, and Jiang likes it that way. Writes China Daily:

“Chinese energy giant State Grid Corp, through its subsidiary National Bio Energy and China’s Dragon Power Group Ltd have invested in a Swedish bio-energy joint venture called NBE Sweden. “Our investment in cellulose-based ethanol production in Sweden is aimed at developing technology for biomass power generation projects in China,” said Kai Johan Jiang, chairman of Dragon Power Group and National Bio Energy Group Ltd China.”

You follow?

In this 2004 picture, Kai Johan Jiang, (right) explains the garbage to power process to Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress.

A year later, Kai Johan Jiang is seen with a Chinese government delegation led by Liu Qi, member of the CCCPC Polit Bureau, Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Municipality, touring a biomass power plant in Denmark.

In this 2010 picture, “top leaders Liu Qi, Liu Yandong and Guo Jinlong, etc. listen to Chairman Kai Johan Jiang’s report at the 13th China Beijing International High-Tech Exposition.“ We already met Liu Qi. Liu Yandong is a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and State Councilor, Guo Jinlong is Beijing Deputy Party Secretary and mayor of Beijing.

The fact that Swede Kai Johan Jiang wasn’t always a Swede becomes obvious in a few seconds. The rest can be found through a few hours of googling and some phone calls. The true scandal is how many dewy-eyed Saab blogs keep polishing the Swedish charade. They stress that Kai Johan Jiang was “a senior adviser for Volvo,” they look the other way when the newly minted Swede appears on the side of Politbureau members. They write that the senior adviser worked for Volvo from “1993 through 2000.” They forget that the senior adviser’s career started at a youthful age of 28. They also forget that Kai Johan Jiang is China’s conduit into western energy infrastructure. They also overlook that the former Volvo adviser  Kai Johan Jiang is also “an economic adviser to the Shandong provincial government on policy matters.” That job however, is performed under his Chinese name Jiang Dalong.

Here, Kai Johan gives an interview to a Swedish TV station.

The keep-Saab-alive blogs also play up that Japanese venture capital company, possibly knowing that it is hard to get information on a Japanese company. Unless you are in Japan.

Even then, this one is a hard nut to crack. Simply because “Sun Investment LLC” does not exist, at least not as a Japanese corporation. Not surprisingly, because there is no LLC in Japan. There is, however, a company called Ippan Shadanhojin Taiyo Keizai No Kai, a.k.a. “Sun-based Economy Association.” It was founded last year in Tokyo with a Sanefumi Sammy Shoji as a partner. Shoji, who twitters as @Samdog45, is not a deep-pocketed financier. Shoji-san graduated in 2003 from the Tokyo University as a Master of Planetary Science, then he was hired out of school by Goldman Sachs. He left in 2009 in the wake of the Lehman shock that severely thinned the herd of bankers and patrons of Roppongi bars.  Shoji dabbled for two years in the “boutique clean technology/investment firm” by the name of Japan Core Partners, before helping to launch the “clean technology-focused venture capital firm” that is erroneously called Sun Investment LLC.

Art this point, a little excursion into the byzantine world of Chinese capitalism is in order. Companies in Hong Kong, the Virgin Islands and oddly enough Japan are favorite vehicles for investments in China. The bulk of “foreign” companies investing in China are companies registered in offshore tax havens, financed with recycled money from China. These companies also are a favorite stepping stone for Chinese companies that want to invest elsewhere without immediately rubbing it in that they are Chinese.

Because Caribbean-registered, and even Hong Kong based companies have the onus of fast money, smarter Chinese ventures like to use Japanese companies as alleged parents. Often, after a little scratching on the Japanese lacquer, the Chinese veneer comes through.

Ippan Shadanhojin Taiyo Keizai No Kai is the perfect vehicle for this. The office of the company is on the 6th floor of a fancy Tokyo building near the Japanese Emperor’s residence. One wrong step, and you land in the Emperor’s moat. More than 100 tenants are in this building. Taiyo Keizai No Kai  resides in the same office as Japan Core Partners. They share phone and fax. The address is also used as the secretariat of the Biomass Expo 2012. The same company occasionally organizes get-togethers with Chinese business interests.

The “Taiyo Keizai No Kai” can loosely be translated as “Sun Ecology Group”. An “Ippan Shadanhojin” is an intermediate company, halfway between profit and non-profit. (On its Facebook page, the sunny company bills itself as a non-profit, a perfect partner for Saab.) Typically, an “Ippan Shadanhojin” represents Cayman-based Special Purpose Vehicles in Japan. This is not a deep-pocketed investment company. It is a stand-in for someone else. Taiyo Keizai No Kai has as much history and experience as National Electric Vehicle Sweden, i.e. the history and experience of a toddler. Draw your own conclusions.

Back to our main man, the Swede from China. In an interview, Kai Johan Jiang remembered his days in poverty in rural Shandong province, and said that he does “not care that much for personal wealth.”

He is the perfect man to invest into Saab. As history shows, Saab is the ideal vehicle to destroy wealth.

Yesterday, we introduced you to a matte-black LFA and a baby-blue sticker that led us to the car’s owner.  There was another sticker on that car. A round red one. If the global automotive industry should copy anything from Japan immediately and now, then it’s that round sticker.

Eons before social networks came upon us, the automotive industry became obsessed with maintaining customer relationships, creating traffic and maintaining customer loyalty in showrooms and service departments. Bazillions have been spent for that effort. Millions of them went into my pocket, which, years after leaving the lucrative business, still enables me to work for TTAC and not go hungry. The ingenious Japanese solved it all with that sticker.

The officious-looking sticker is known in Japan as the “tenken-seibi stecker,” or the annual service sticker. Don’t confuse it with that vague “Next service by” sticker your shop leaves in your door, only to be ignored. The tenken-seibi  sticker reminds car owners in Japan of their legal obligation to have that check done. It’s the law. Toyoda-san is not above the Japanese law, and the reddish round stecker reminds him that his check is due by December this year.

According to Japanese law, each car must be checked periodically. This has nothing to do with the mandatory, government-administered Shaken mentioned yesterday. Every twelve months, a pretty involved check must be performed.

Legally, you can do that yourself. You won’t. DIY is frowned-upon in Japan. I recently joked that “in Japan, people call an electrician to change a light bulb.” That earned me a quizzical look and a “what’s wrong with that?”

For the tenken-seibi, one drives to the friendly place of regular service, says “tenken-seibi kudasai” and some $130 later, the check is performed and that sticker is placed in the  windshield. Or not. This is when it gets really lucrative for the shop. Customer relationships are kept, loyalties have been maintained and refreshed, and all with a slick little sticker.

While the check is mandatory by law, carrying the sticker is not. But this is Japan, and everybody has one.  The sticker is issued by members of the Japanese Motor Service Industry Association, which obtained special governmental permission to stick that on your windshield. This is Japan, you can’t just put anything on your window, who do you think you are?

Again, while the check is the law, the sticker is not actually required, nobody stops, or arrests you for not having one. It is not even clear what happens if you did not do the check. But the whole scheme performs miracles for the business, keeps service bays occupied, and dealers afloat during times that suck.

But you have not seen it all.

While studying the law, you will notice that you must perform a daily, yes, daily 12 point check of the essential items of your Japanese motor vehicle, from brake and engine all the way to the windshield wiper. Don’t dare to start your car without checking, for instance, the “waipagomu,” that’s wiper gummis to us gaijin.

There is no sticker for that 12 point pre-flight, but there are involved websites that explain how it is done.

Today, at 2:46 pm, Japan came to a stand-still, again. Trains and subways stopped. People did fold their hands, faced in the general direction of the northeastern coast of Tohoku, and said a silent prayer. Japan and the world marked the one year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that left whole towns razed, more than 19,000 people dead or missing, 344,000 people displaced, and a large area around the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi power plant off-limits for decades, if not permanently.

Writers often like to equate the power released by the quake to the nuclear bombs that had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Depending on who you read and believe, it was anywhere between 31,700 and 600 million Hiroshima bombs. Large parts of the coastal areas are dotted with huge, neatly stacked piles of rubble which nobody wants to take and nobody knows what to do with. The devastation was so big that it turned into an attraction on Google Earth.  Considering the immense damage, it is amazing how quickly the country did rebound. On Friday, I visited what was presented to me as an emblem of the amazing turn-around, Toyota’s plant in Kanegasaki, Iwate Prefecture. Here, 1,700 employees are working overtime to build Toyota’s Aqua / Prius c, for which everybody is screaming.

“The Aqua has turned into a symbol of our recovery,” says Tetsuo Hattori, CEO of Kanto Auto Works, one of the members of the sprawling Toyota Group empire. His company is the sole manufacturer of the Aqua / Prius c compact hybrid that itself is turning into a symbol for the turn-around of Toyota. Touted as the world’s cheapest and most fuel-efficient hybrid car, the Aqua sold 13,485 units in January, the first month after its launch. It sold 21,951 in February. It could have sold many more, would the factory in Kanegasaki be able to build more. Toyota sits on 120,000 backorders for Japan alone.

The two lines in Kanegasaki have an annual capacity of 300,000 units, that comes out to 25,000 cars a month. With overtime, output can be raised to 30,000 per month. The plant made 30,000 Aqua in January, 30,000 Aqua in February and will make 30,000 Aqua in March. 24,000 of those stay in Japan. 6,000 are being exported.

The plant is supposed to make other cars than the Aqua. The Iwate plant is also responsible for the production of the Blade, Ist/Scion xD, the Belta/Yaris Sedan, and Ractis. These cars had to make way for the Aqua. All traces of these cars have vanished from the factory.

From the two manufacturing lines to the tree-lined lots where finished cars await shipment, it is Aqua/Prius c as far as the eye can see. Asked what he will do to create more capacity for the Aqua, Hattori says that production of the Ractis may be gradually shifted to the Kanto Auto Works plant in Higashi Fuji. Here, old Toyota standbys such as the Century, or the Crown Comfort, popular with notoriously overpaid Japanese taxi drivers, are being built. A look at the numbers shows that shifting production will bring no relief. It simply cements the status quo. Nevertheless, Hattori flatly denies rumors that the Aqua/Prius c might be built elsewhere than at Kanto Auto Works, or even in a different plant than in Iwate.

We are up in the north of Japan. 500 miles westward, across the sea, is Siberia. The ground is still covered with snow. That snow is “a pain in the neck,” says plant manager Kazutoshi Yoshida. He will keep 1,500 tons of the pain in the neck literally under wraps, and use water from the melting snow to cool the air-conditioning in summer. Once the snow is gone, it will be time for the goats. 12 of them do lawn care duty without using any fuel. They also “create a relaxed mood amongst our workers.” I don’t dare to ask what happens to the well-fed goats come wintertime.

A year ago, I had visited Toyota’s new plant in Ohira, 70 miles south of Kanegasaki. Back then, I had speculated that the plant may be a pilot plant. This time, that title is official. “We want to be the global model plant for compact vehicles,” says a proud Hattori, and his plant manager Yoshida says it again. The workers are highly trained, encouraged to acquire a multitude of skill sets. Workers regularly act as production engineers, providing creative solutions. “This is not something that can happen in emerging nations,” says Yoshida. In 2007, 60 percent of what this plant made was exported. Now, the rate is down to 30 percent, with further reductions likely unless the yen gets weaker and the dollar stronger. If this plant can’t export cars, at least it can export plants.

Some 50 miles from the coast, and sheltered by two mountain ranges, the plant survived the earthquake only slightly damaged. It was back up four days after the quake. Then, it had to wait for parts from less lucky suppliers. One factor in its survivability is the gas-fired cogeneration plant that can provide two thirds of the plant’s electrical power. It will be put to the test this summer. In March and April, the last two of Japan’s 54 nuclear power plants will go off-line for maintenance, leaving Japan’s power grid in an even more precarious state than last summer.

Last Friday, the plant opened to outside visitors for the first time since March 11, 2011. As our plant tour draws to an end, the line stops, workers fold their hands, bow their heads, and face east in silent prayer. It is 14:26, time to remember the dead. But it is Friday, two days ahead of the anniversary.

“Tomorrow, we work with one shift,” says my guide. “On Sunday, people want to rest.“

No work on Sunday. A year after the monster quake, normalcy has returned to Japan. In this part of Iwate, at least.

For a long time, Japan’s automakers had pressured their government to enter free trade talks with Europe and the U.S. The Japanese government had dragged its heels, putting the interest of ageing farmers first. With a trade agreement, Japan would be a ripe market for American rice farmers and cattle breeders, and I would finally be able to enjoy a good steak in Japan without risking a heart attack. Caused by the price, not by the cholesterol.

After the Japanese car industry did flee the strong yen and the country, its government reluctantly entered negotiations. Not surprisingly, the American car industry is opposed.

When Japan announced its intentions to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, U.S. car companies represented by the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC) expressed “adamant opposition,” Inside U.S. Trade reported. The AAPC represents Ford, Chrysler, and GM. Last November, AAPC President Matt Blunt demanded that Japan should not be allowed to join the TPP negotiations until U.S. and other foreign cars have achieved a higher market share in Japan. Which is a crafty way of saying “never.”

Now, the AAPC found another straw man argument. Japan should give up its beloved kei cars. Or rather the preferential tax treatment of the pint sized cars.

“Japan’s ‘Kei’ super-mini car segment has consistently represented over 30 percent of the auto market, but no longer has a clear policy rationale to be provided preferential treatment,” the AAPC wrote in an opinion paper submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative.  Imagine the uproar it would cause if a foreign trade organization would dare to doubt the policy rationale behind preferential treatment of the American pick-up. There is nothing that precludes the importation of foreign kei cars to Japan. If there would be foreign kei cars.

Of course it would be more honest to say: “Look, 2.5 percent import duty on foreign cars brought to the U.S. is low enough, who wants zero like in Japan. We want to keep that tariff. We especially want to keep the 25 percent chicken tax on trucks that worked so well. Exports to Japan? Are you kidding me?” That would be honest, but honesty does not get you far in politics.

Nobody knows that better than the former governor of Missouri Blunt, who did not run for re-election after one term, rocked by scandals. He chose a career in lobbying, which got him the job as AAPC president last year. Blunt riles against non-tariff barriers that unfairly prevent the success of American cars in Japan, but Blunt is hard pressed to name the barriers when asked what they are.

In an interview with Inside U.S. Trade, Blunt said that the AAPC will not develop an exact list of barriers its members face in Japan. Blunt said that would be a “classic whack-a-mole” approach under which the United States would seek to address one barrier only to have another one pop up.

Come on, Matt Blunt. Release the documents.

Meanwhile, the AAPC “is fully supportive of the ambition of a 21st century TPP agreement with Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.” No wonder, they don’t have much of a car industry.

In the unlikely case that Japan should succeed with that TPP business in an election year, Blunt could always declare an emergency and shoot them.

I remember looking at the then brand new Ford Five Hundred and thinking to myself, “This would make one heck of a Volvo.”

Like the Volvos of yore this Ford offered a squarish conservative appearance. A high seating position which Volvo’s ‘safety oriented’ customers would have appreciated. Toss in a cavernous interior that had all the potential for a near-luxury family car, or even a wagon, and this car looked more ‘Volvo’ than ‘Ford’ to me with each passing day.

Something had to be done…

Hmmm… why not subtract ‘twenty’ from the Five Hundred name. Call it a 480, and put in a nice classic Volvo styled fascia on the front end. Throw in an interior inspired by the best of Swedish design and, Voila! Ford would have offered a Volvo that would have hit the square peg of the brand’s main customers… and maybe even a few others who were considering an upscale Camry or a Lexus ES.

Sadly Ford never made a Volvo version of the Five Hundred, or the Flex for that matter. Instead they mis-balanced the diverging priorities of competing simultaneously with BMW (S40′s, C30′s, S60′s) and conservative middle-aged Americans who valued luxury transport over driving dynamics (Xc90, XC60, C70).  The brand became a disaster.

I am starting to see the same ingredients mixed into other brands these days. Take for instance Scion.

Yes this brand will get a nice pop and halo in the form of the upcoming FR-S. Then again, halo sports cars that are shared with other brands tend to be short-lived. Just ask Pontiac and Saturn about the Solstice and the Sky.

So what would be the perfect car to put into Scion’s kinship?

Two years ago I would have strongly argued for making the CT200h a Scion. It didn’t have the luxury trappings of a Lexus. However it offered tons of sporting character and attracted the type of youthful and educated audience that Scion sorely needed at that point.

You know. The type of people that quickly walked away from Scion after they started marketing bloated SUV-like compacts that should have been marketed as… Toyotas… or Volvos. Who knows.

Wait a second. YOU know!

A lot of potentially great cars over the years have been marketed to the wrong brands for the wrong reasons.  So I ask the B&B, “What cars were given the wrong brand, and where should they have gone?”.

Like most marketing classes in modern day MBA-land there are no right answers. Just SWAG’s and opinions. Feel free to demote a Cadillac to a Chevy if you must. So long as you can defend it, let’s hear it.

“When we started working on the FT-86 we had no idea where we would end up,” said Tetsuya Tada, whom I met last Sunday to talk about his work.

“Was it going to be a ridiculously expensive car? Or one anyone can buy? All we knew it was going to be a sports car. The rest was a blank sheet.”

The FT-86 that eventually took shape on this blank sheet will be in showrooms down the street from you, all over the world, next year.

The FT-86 ”may just be the car to herald Toyota’s ‘second renaissance,” if some enthusiast blogs are right.

At the very least, this car will change how we think and dream of a sports car: We won’t. This is not a dream car. For most of us, it will be an impulse buy.

Tetsuya Tada tells its story.

Tetsuya Tada is the Chief Engineer of the FT-86, Toyota’s new sports car that had powered the rumor mills for many years. Some enthusiast blogs enthusiastically painted Tada as the “Jason Bourne of Toyota Sports car development.” If that is the case, then he is the friendliest and most unassuming Jason Bourne I ever heard of. He is the man I’d expect to see carrying two bags when I take out my carefully sorted garbage after midnight in a quiet Japanese neighborhood. As a Toyota Chief Engineer however, Tada carries more responsibility and more power than the Ludlum hero. Scott Bellware once described the role of a Chief Engineer at Toyota like this:

“He is the person responsible for the design, development, and sale of the product. He is the organizational pinnacle and the hub through which authority and ability flow. The CE isn’t just an architect or technical lead or just a customer proxy or just a project manager or just process master. He’s all of these things and more. He doesn’t just pass along customer requirements for the product, he defines them. He doesn’t just implement the business’s design for the product, he creates it. He’s large and in-charge, and he’s uniquely and deeply qualified to be so.

Because all of these abilities and authorities are invested in one extremely capable, senior, trusted product development person, the coordination of the various perspectives, values, and vision of a product and its execution don’t suffer design-by-committee issues. And because the CE has these many responsibilities and abilities, he’s a rare person.”

Tada indeed is a rare person. Dressed in khaki pants and a striped shirt, the affable attitude accentuated by rimless glasses, he hides all that power well.

We met last Sunday at Toyota’s Megaweb down by the waterfront. Megaweb is part theme park, part test drive venue. We met there, because an FT-86 prototype is on display. We didn’t go there to drive it. First off, Megaweb is not a test track. It was barely appropriate to give the iQ a slow spin. Second, most of the FT-86 is still a secret. Doors and hatches of the car on display are locked tight. So were the lips of its Chief Engineer.

“You can ask anything except specs and price,” Tada-san announced after we found a quiet space away from the din of the Megaweb.

“In that case, let’s have lunch,” was my answer.

In lieu of talking about cars, we found out that Tada lived where I lived during his time in Germany: In Düsseldorf Oberkassel, me because of its watering holes, him because of the Japanese school. Japan’s Jason Bourne is a dad who rather did a 100km round trip commute to Toyota Cologne each day than put his children’s education at risk. Speaking of lunch, we established that we both had regular lunch at the Kikaku, Düsseldorf’s best sushi place. That created a bit of bonding, and Tada started talking about the car.

When Tada stared at a white page, it was 2007. He didn’t know what to think:

“We did know from the very beginning that it was going to be a sports car. I said, well, if it’s going to be a sports car, it has to go fast. We were looking at the Nissan GT-R, the Mitsubishi Evolution, those cars were in our heads at the original stage.

Then we thought: Should we make a car that is faster than the GT-R?

You know what we did then? We did a lot of research. We talked to owners, fanatics, real buyers of sports cars around the world. They told us: Speed isn’t everything. If it’s just an incredibly fast car, they don’t really want it. What they want is a sports car that is small, compact, light, and that handles just the way they want it to handle.”

The customers wanted more: They wanted a sports car for less. A Veyron makes for good copy and dreams. But it also causes can’t-have-it frustrations. Tada listened intently to his future customers:

“The super-super-super fast cars are only for the super-rich. Even most super-rich don’t want to buy them. The people I talked to were looking for something like the 80s kind of a sports car, echoes of an AE86. They wanted a stripped-down, basic sports car with the price more like that of a piece of sports equipment, not the price of a house. Those people wanted something that doesn’t exist.”

Tada and his team set out to design the impossible. A year later, they had the design, the specs, and the price point. Tada presented it to the board of Toyota. The concept was approved. The project had an important advocate on the board: Akio Toyoda. At the time, the CEO was Katsuaki Watanabe. The time was 2008, and all over the world, the skies were falling.

Tada puts it in his trademark humble words when he describes the boardroom discussions:

“Sometimes, it is a little hard to explain why this kind of a vehicle is needed for the Toyota brand. If you just take the commercial point of view – it won’t make a lot of money, and of course, there are some people who object to that. But as they say, money isn’t everything – especially when it comes to branding.”

At the height of carmageddon, Tada received the go-ahead for what we would call an “enthusiast car.” The Japanese have a more befitting description. It’s a “nekkyousha car” a car for maniacs – in a good way. It helped that Toyota’s resident auto otaku, Akio Toyoda, was behind the concept, and it helped even more that he became President of Toyota a year later.

Asked what changed for the FT-86 when Toyoda took the helm of Toyota, Tada says: ”He became one of our test drivers.”

Asked what it means when you work in the shadow, but also in full view of the President of the world’s largest carmaker, Tada changes the subject. His true boss is the customer, and the customer didn’t want another rice racer:

“It is possible to soup-up sedans or hatchbacks to make them sporty. But what these people are after is a body that is already very low to the ground, very sleek, a body that they can then work on – if they want.”

As for low to the ground, Tada promises a “production car with the world’s lowest center of gravity.” The FT-86 will be a tinkerer’s car. The car is named “FT-86” for a reason. Toyota wants to make a mental connection to the AE86, the archetypical cult-craze car from the Star Wars era. Nearly 20 years later, the hachiroku (Japanese for 86) still commands a following for which some modern day Messiahs would kill. Toyota wants to build a new millennium hachiroku so bad, they even kept the number. Says Tada:

“The 86 was such a popular maniac car not because of what the maker did, but what the users did with it. It created its own aftermarket and a tuner industry. The idea of the FT-86 is basically the same. We want to create a car that is easy for people to tune and to play with.”

Tada indeed is a rare person. The Teutonic engineers I grew up with used go into convulsions or threw screaming fits when people modified “their cars” – except maybe using factory-approved and overpriced accessories.

Tada smiles when you ask him whether is hurts his pride as an engineer when the people of SEMA gang-rape “his car.”

“Yes.”

A short, but honest answer. Isn’t it painful to spend years designing the perfect car, and to make it so perfect in a sense that some guys in a garage can modify it beyond recognition without even breaking a sweat or lighting a welder?

“Yes.”

The Chief Engineer’s sensitivities are touched by the most benign act of modding – the choice of tires:

“We usually come up with a designated tire, a tire that is optimal for the car. We arrive at this decision after long tests. That some guys go and decide their own tire steals a little something from the enjoyment of the engineer – but that’s the concept of this vehicle. It is not made for the enjoyment of the engineer – it is made for the enjoyment of the owner.”

That owner may not need a lot of money, but he will need to know how to drive. He will need to use his own brain and the seat of his own pants. Tada had jotted down the principle in his self-derived design guide, and he sticks with it:

“From the beginning, the concept was to put the driver back in the driver’s seat, and to eliminate computers as much as possible today. Powerful sports cars use a lot of computer technology so that anyone can drive and handle them. We decided not to go down that road.”

The FT-86 has about half of the computing power that is dragged around in a modern day car. The preferred shifter is a stick. An automatic is optional. The slushbox is nothing fancy. “No DSG or anything of that kind,” says Tada, and is proud. Sure, the automatic has a computer, but the shift points cannot be changed – at least not at the flip of a switch in the dashboard. Computers want to keep you on the straight and narrow, but some FT-86 owners want that car to go sideways. If you need nannies, go down to the children’s hospital.

The FT-86 will be built at Fuji Heavy’s Subaru, and when I mention that, the engineer’s pride shifts into low gear – for extra revs. Tada quickly explains that this is just contract production, and it’s the same as “when we make cars at Central Motors or Kanto Auto Works.” Both are separate companies, but they are also part of the greater Toyota empire. Toyota owns a good chunk of Fuji Heavy, so Subaru is part of the family – in a way.

Subaru will produce its own version, probably called the BRZ. Both companies also developed the car together, and that must have been an interesting exercise. Recalls Tada:

“The first year was actually quite tough. The character and processes of the two companies are quite different. In the beginning, we sat down and decided who does what. That didn’t work out very well, because of the cultural differences between the companies. When people started to become more interested in the car itself, people from both sides ended up becoming one team. In the end, it wasn’t so much Toyota doing this and Subaru doing that, but people working together with one goal.”

In the maniac, well, enthusiast scene, it is pretty much gospel that the cars use Subaru’s flat four “D4-S” boxer engine. Depending on whom you believe, the production engine ranges from a tried & true to a refined & modified D4-S. That elicits protests from Tada, as loud as the softspoken man can manage:

“No,no, no – it is a completely new engine. The engine is still a boxer. The technology, even the engine block are completely new. Everything is new. The only thing that remained are the mounting points.”

Imagine how much engineer’s pride that one did cost. A completely new engine was developed. At the same time it comes with an invitation to be swapped for whatever follows the Subaru bolt pattern.

After years of concept cars, the production version of the FT-86 will debut at the Tokyo Motor Show, December 2 – December 11, 2011. “Next year” (most likely in spring), the car will be launched. It won’t be available in Japan first and years later elsewhere. It will, says Tada, be available next year “all over the world.” In the U.S., it will definitely by a Scion. In the rest of the world, it will be a Toyota.

Jack Baruth and Sajeev Mehta equipped me with a long list of questions. After Tada’s initial admonition that we can talk about everything except specs and price, I didn’t have much hope for answers, but nonetheless, I tried. The following Q&A ensued:

“Can you tell me the weight?” “No.”

“Can you tell me the horsepower?” “No.”

“Can you tell me the weight distribution?” “No.”

“Can you tell me the price” “No. It will be affordable.”

“Suspension?” “McPherson, double wishbone.” And a smile.

And so it went while Tada was conspicuously consulting his watch, signaling that time, patience, or both are running out. All I could do was to use the old investigative reporter trick, put two versions on the table, and ask which one is close. I used the crowd-sourced specs from the fountain of knowledge.

Tada eye-balls both. And gives his verdict. See above.

Last question time!

“Mr. Tada – is it true that you compared the color of the FT-86 to the ass of a monkey?”

Ooops. The Chief Engineer covers his mouth in feigned shock and explains that he indeed had experienced “some trouble” after magazines had written that he indeed had compared the car’s color to a monkey’s derriere. He quickly adds that he had referred not to just any monkey, but to a genuine Japanese monkey, those amicable animals that visit hot springs in wintertime, with icicles dangling from their furs – parts of Japan’s storied heritage.

And that’s not all, says Tada. The FT-86 red can also be compared to the world famous Japanese sunset (no sunrise is mentioned) and to the dragonfly. In Japan, the dragonfly is a symbol of courage, strength, and happiness – it even symbolizes the whole Japanese archipelago.

So there you have it. The FT-86 is so customizable, so tunable, so hot-roddable that it gives you a choice of associations triggered by its color. Depending on your mood, you can pick sunset, dragonfly, or an entirely appropriate greased monkey. As long as they are Japanese.

The chief reason for the recent decline of the fortunes of Japanese automakers was not, as posited by pop pundits, the recalls or the tsunami. It was something more insidious, something regularly overlooked by most outsiders and many insiders. It was a reduction in development spending – an eventually deadly bottom line therapy also popular by cash-starved American peers. Japanese automakers have realized the error of their ways and have returned to funding the finding of that insanely great next generation car.

In the wake of the “Lehman syokku” or “Lehman shock” as they usually refer to the 2008 financial crisis in Japan, Japanese automakers drastically reduced R&D spending in an attempt to shore-up their bottom line. This is a tried & true tactic in the industry: if a disaster hits, cut R&D and advertising. The cashflow-positive effect of both is as immediate as snorting cocaine. The negative effect will not be felt until years later. In many cases, the problem is shifted to the next generation of managers who now have to sell tired technology to unenthused customers. The best medicine for car sales is new cars. Old cars are slow acting, but sure poison. A car takes 3 to 5 years to develop, medicine and poison become felt after long delays.

The epicenter of the “Lehman syokku” was America, and three years after, the American market is still wobbly. Car companies most exposed to the syokku – American and Japanese – put spending into crisis mode. European companies were far less affected and mostly maintained their spending level. This explains why Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW et al are riding high, and why the friskiest Japanese car company is Nissan with its ties to European Renault. Three years after the syokku, we are beginning to feel the effect in earnest, and it will stay with us for a while until it is digested.

Japanese companies are reaching for the antidote: Increased R&D spending.

“Seven automakers plan to spend 2.09 trillion yen, up 10 percent from fiscal 2010,” reports The Nikkei [sub]. Converted to today’s dollars, that’s $38 billion, a good chunk of money. Japanese markers are “racing to develop the next-generation of environmentally friendly vehicles as well as low-priced models for emerging nations.”

Nissan for instance is seen increasing its R&D spend by 15 percent to 460 billion yen ($5.8 billion). Honda plans to spend more than 500 billion yen ($ 6.5 billion),” aggressively developing budget cars for emerging countries.”

Toyota’s Japan  production (all vehicles and brands) slumped 46.5 percent in May to 156,379 units. Overseas production did not fare much better, falling 43.3 percent to 196,073 units. All in all, Toyota’s global production plummeted 44.7 percent in May to just 352,452 units. Could it be any worse? Yes, it can:  Exports from Japan cratered 61.7 percent to  47,167 units.

When Akio Toyota predicted a “bottom hit” of total production for May or June, he was not exaggerating.  His company however is recovering faster than originally predicted. According to an emailed statement, “Toyota forecasts its domestic overseas production levels, already at 90 percent in June, to return to near pre-earthquake planned levels in July and return production able to meet consumer needs in November or December.”

Toyota will produce an additional 350,000 vehicles in Japan from October through March 2012 to make up for lost production. From previous statements, we still believe that most of this extra production will fall into the first quarter if 2012.

“If you have no cars, you will lose market share,” said double-CEO Carlos Ghosn at last week’s annual results conference of Nissan. He said openly what other carmakers on the other side of the Pacific only dare to whisper into the ears of sympathetic reporters, or via analysts at banks and brokerages: The March 11 tsunami will cost Japanese makers big chunks of market share. The questions is: For how long?

Ghosn is not buying into the well-meant argument that customers will be slavishly loyal and will hold off buying until Japan is ready to deliver:

“People need cars and they will not wait for us for six months. They will be moving to the competition, and we have to accept the fact that in some markets we will have a significant loss in market share.”

However, it is premature to think that drowning the east coast of Japan in a wall of water is God’s own bailout for Detroit. Here are some points to consider.

• In my talks with Japanese manufacturers, “Hyundai” and “Volkswagen” come up with regularity, “GM” or “Ford” rarely rate a mention. The thinking is that an import customer will rather buy another import than go domestic. And indeed, both Hyundai and Volkswagen are on a tear. I know, both are not popular in blog comments.

• Hyundai Motor America reported-all time record April sales of 61,754 units, up 40 percent compared with the same record-breaking period last year. For the year, total sales are up 31 percent, with retail volume rising 40 percent. Hyundai’s global sales were up nearly 10 percent in April.

• The Volkswagen Group recorded a 13.9 percent in global deliveries in the first 4 months of the year, and a 14.5 percent increase in April.

• The tsunami crisis will keep Japanese automakers busy for a while, but it is not a terminal disease. In fact, automakers appear to recover faster than thought. Nissan wants to be back to normal in October. Toyota said they will be at 70 percent of plan in June, earlier than thought, with a return to full normalcy in November/December.

• When Japanese automakers are ready to deliver again, count on aggressive campaigns that remind customers that their brand is back, and stronger than ever. Ghosn announced to a somewhat incredulous press corps last week, that for Nissan, “2011 should be a progress in terms of sales compared to last year.” He is clearly banking on making up a lot of the shortfall in the last quarter.

• Despite loan paybacks, the Detroit 3 are heavily leveraged, interest payments are high. The big Japanese automakers are sitting on piles of cash. Even notoriously leveraged Nissan is now cash positive. There is enough in the war chests to go on a broad sales offensive when the pipelines are full again.

• Also, expect that automakers will send their cars where they are needed the most. Ghosn was refreshingly blunt last week when he said: “What we are trying to do is to protect some selective markets. You will see the availability of cars to be much more important in the U.S. or China, because we consider them critical markets. The shortfall will not going to be equal in all markets.”

Japanese carmakers, especially heavily export-exposed Toyota, are more worried about the effects of an overvalued yen.

“Japan has been weakened by the tsunami, and one would think that the currency mirrors a country’s strength,” a high Japanese industry executive told me on Friday night. “But apparently, this is not the case.”

It became crystal clear at last week’s annual results conference at Toyota that Japanese automakers will, with increased vehemence, urge their government not to stand by idle while other governments race to devalue their currencies in order to stem imports and to make their own exports more competitive. Japanese automakers also urge their government to end the foot-dragging on free trade agreements. Both promise no quick relief. Japan’s options to weaken its currencies appear limited to nil. Japan’s benchmark interest rate is zero, so is the inflation rate. Free trade agreements usually are phased-in over a long time – if they ever get phased in.

“Major Japanese automakers, facing increasingly fierce international competition, pinned their hopes on Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would in principle scrap tariffs on trade among members,” writes the Asahi Shimbun. “But the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has postponed its decision on whether to join negotiations on the trade pact. This has raised concerns about the erosion of international competitiveness of Japanese car manufacturers against rivals like makers in South Korea, which has been ahead of Japan in striking free trade deals.”

The writing is on the wall that more Japanese production will leave the country. This is where a strong yen helps: It buys more bricks, mortar and machinery in foreign lands. And eventually, more market share.