America has a lot of cars. Cars from manufacturers all over the world are sold and driven in the USA, especially Japanese cars. However, a lot of models don't from Japan don't make it to the USA due to marketshare or safety or smoother reason I'm not aware of. Here are some of the different models I saw walking around Tokyo.
Most of the cars I will show are kei's. Kei's are small vehicles meant for city use, but very common rurally too. The have a maximum size 3.4m L x 1.48m W x 2m H and engine 660cc and are very common throughout Japan.
This kei is from a custom shop near my home. I'm not sure of the manufacturer, probably Daihatsu.
I has been slammed so low that it would push all those pebbles in front of it.
This was a souped up, possibly 4WD kei truck. A nice, little utility vehicle.
This is a Nissan "Rasheen". It's not a kei, but an interesting wagon that has been around for about 20 years.
Kei's are often used for work vehicles believe it or not. This kei was a crepe van that came to our gem and mineral show. Their crepes were good, their kei was awesome.
It's amazing they built a tiny kitchen for cooking crepes in their vehicle.
It is not a VW. The VW is a kit people put on kei's in homage to the original VW bus. I believe this was a Subaru kei.
Another with a VW mod.
This looked like a kei, but it has a normal car number plate. Kei number plates are yellow or black. Regular cars are white. Regardless, cool looking vehicle, just don't take a turn too fast.
Even the camper vehicles are uniquely Japanese. This is not a kei, it's a full sized vehicle meant to be parked at the house. I'm sure it's roomy inside for 1 person though.
When we drove to Niigata recently I rented a Nissan van. The American version is the NV200. It is not a kei.
It was a nice, little utility van with quite a bit of space. Plenty of room for 3 suitcases and all of our trade show materials.
It was a slimmed down version though as the back seats were basic, no frills and the driver's seat didn't have the fold down arm rest which I need on long drives.
It handled nicely and it's smaller size really helped out in those tight spots, of which Japan has a lot.
This was a strange Daihatsu. It's a full sized vehicle, but basically a mini.
It's odd because there are taxes and fees that are 30-50% more than a kei. I don't know why you would buy this instead of a kei version.
While not a Japanese car, I spotted what appears to be a Bentley or Rolls Royce in Roppongi the other night.
I'll close with this car company I had never heard of, Mistuoka, https://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/ .
I stumbled upon Mitsuoka while walking to Tokyo Tower. Mitsuoka is a small, boutique manufacturer that incorporates designs of old and new American & European cars with a Japanese twist. Their "Buddy" looks a lot like a Cadillac. It's actually a nice looking car.
(source - https://www.mitsuoka-motor.com/global/lineup/new/buddy/)
There are quite a few other models of cars that I didn't show. You'd be surprised how many variations of the kei vans there are. The trend right now is to maximize the space you have to work with, so they look like boxes on wheels.
While they look cool, they are very unsafe over 30mph. Every time you see a kei accident the kei is totaled and usually the occupants don't survive. Driving then around the city, where speeds are low, is fine, but they are coffins on wheels when you get onto the highway. I think about this as a husband and father and would never want my family in one, even in the city. But, that's my opinion. I still like their look though.
