Japan 2024: D2

Second day post.

First stop was a fish market near to Ginza. I don’t remember what its called (I didn’t arrange to go there myself). Let’s say Shinjuku doesn’t disappoint with the vehicles they have.

Starting with a Suzuki Cappucino. Holy hell these are so beautiful with that rear lip. It was really to the point I went ahead to look for used example on Goonet to find out what the cheapest were.

Its a shame that they’re not yet eligible for registration yet. Just another 3 years though.

What’s next? A ruddy Toyota Century.

It is the generation that offered the infamous V12 motor, and you definitely do not see these in grey, since a huge majority of them are covered as being black in color.

These were the only cars I photo’d in Shinjuku at this hour, one being this Abarth (A bath) 500 and a Toyota Hiace with a Renoca front-end conversion by FLEX.

Seriously, what they churn out is seriously cool.

Source: FLEX

Well, off to the fish market it is.

The Honda Fit Shuttle is a surprisingly common sight, where the normal Jazz is much less common.

Tokyo is flooded with these G-Wagon’s.

Sneaky little Toyota GR86.

I lack the IQ.

There’s good food here is what I can say.

This wasn’t bad.

If I remember this was a 520d or a 320d, don’t recall.

First temporary plates of the trip.

I do need to remind myself that obviously speaking, from the place that birthed anime, they’ll use it everywhere. If I recall this character is from the Uma Musume series. (I actually have no idea what I’m talking about)

Off to a flying start. I believe it is a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody.

One of the more recent sporty kei cars. The Suzuki Alto Works. I will say I rather like the look of them.

I have never seen one of these before and I doubt I ever will again. It is a Nissan Avenir W10.

Wagons seem to be hugely popular in Tokyo. I have not seen proper sedans safe for the S-Class and a few other models.

A cheeky Nissan Juke.

A Mercedes SLK.

I must say the trains here are quite fast. They don’t stall for time as much as Singaporean trains do. Least at the time that I was using the services (Approx daytime – post lunchtime)

Speaking of lunch. Raw horny crab.

It was thorny but the pillar got in the way and I genuinely believed the supposed translation mishap until I was shown the menu.

The place in question was this stall. The food was really nice. I don’t do food reviews but I will say its nice. It does have air-conditioning in the inner parts of the shop so it’ll be something you want during the hot season. Which is now. By god the heat was as bad as Singapore weather.

Next stop is the Nissan Crossing near the Ginza station, pictured below. The photos are in inverted order

Swear they barely have base models. Lexus LS500h.

Factory alloys. I don’t agree with Nissan’s newer cars, but the wheel design here, I approve it.

One of the currently new Nissan Crown SUV’s.

A duo I would call. The Toyota Crown Comfort and Nissan Cedric.

This green G-Class was followed by ANOTHER G-Class. Just how many Japanese folk bought them…

If memory serves me right, this is a Toyota Ractis. While the shape is a bit polarizing for some, I think these lightly modified would look super nice.

The Nissan Crossing.

This wasn’t what I was expecting initially, seeing that they had only one heritage model present; a very pristine Nissan Patrol. The rest were promotional vehicles and their new lineup, which, honestly if you ask a car enthusiast, they would call boring.

Sorry, allow me to rush out of the building really quick, because is that a…

Oh joy, it is. A Nissan 300ZX.

Immaculate condition. Right outside the Nissan Crossing too. Poetic, to say the least.

Per hour, another Mercedes estate appears.

Joy. Its a Nissan Cima from the 2000’s.

My first time seeing one of these was in Singapore, a yellow unit with a Diplomat plate. It is a Toyota Vitz RS.

Fancy riding one of these, they’re crazy cool.

I forgot to make the coffee that lets you input whatever car you want from Nissan.

I did buy a GT-R set though, from R32 to R34.

I think this is a newer Daihatsu Copen and not the MG F I was so excited thinking it was.

Another one of those new Crowns.

Second Century spot of the day. Here’s the new one, the SUV variant.

The road presence of one of these is pretty great.

Whaat? Its just an ordinary-

OH MY GOODNESS!

To express this in more recent language, you cannot ball harder than this guy.

Seriously though, mid-mounted tailpipes on a Toyota Yaris is absolutely cunning and respectable to the highest degree.

Its one of those older Toyota Hiace’s!

Above the Crossing has a Sony outlet, so naturally I went to take a look. There’s some stuff here that are both unexpected and things I’ve not seen before / family hasn’t seen for sale in Singapore for a very long time.

I do apologize for the tangents and garbled timeline, my devices are completely out of sync and don’t show properly.

Another higher spec Lexus, a ES500h.

Don’t want to step foot in one of these again. One of those gambling dens is my best guess and I don’t really want to have any involvement in that.

But I guess I would want to involve myself with moneypits, one of which being cameras. Happily and luckily I walked out empty handed.

For one thing, Japan has a very strong game for plate numbers. Its been alot of walking, and rests are definitely needed, so that’s what I’ve done. The next place on the agenda is the Shibuya Crossing.

Yes, I came from Singapore to Japan, just to eat Singaporean food.

Christ, the chances.

Yeah I just teleported there. At least by the storytelling of this blog.

First on the agenda is to photograph the first car; another Crown Comfort.

In my teleportation (Walking to the crossing), this little nugget appeared. I love these Mitsuoka cars.

First location was to this building. It has anime stuff, I (somewhat) like the medium, so why not walk in and see what there is.

There’s a vinyl shop, a gachapon shop, some shops selling anime merchandise and clothing shops. Speaking of clothing, the folks here really have a different and have more styles of clothing they like to wear. Its no wonder why certain genres of folks in manga and their character design are as far-fetched as we foreigners sometimes perceive them. Or maybe its just me. 

Picked up three CD’s that I probably will be using in my car.

Gachapon shop has the usuals. None of them are to what I’ve wanted to look for so I didn’t spend any money on them.

This is Japan. On one hand you have a Probox with some Toyota genuine parts and a lifted outlook, and sitting behind it is a whole Cadillac Escalade.

This! is a little nugget. I think of it as the Italian Yugo because of DoVe_7’s videos, but what it is is a Autobianchi A112 Abarth. I never thought I’d actually see one of these in person, but Japan doesn’t fail to disappoint. (Surface level that is, but no matter.)

Double spot! A early 2000’s Acura RL in lowrider fashion and a one-of 500 Redbull Mini Cooper. I love the car culture in Japan.

I know fully well that this blog will almost never reach the respective owners, but I must say; your cars are beautiful.

Another sweet car at the crossing; a 986 Porsche Boxster with a 996.1 GT3 bodykit. I went looking at a 2.5A Boxster in Singapore long before the Lotus Elan, and had I actually got that, I think I would have been head over heels for this car.

A bit farther from the crossing, something I never knew about; Mitsuoka Ryugi wagon. They’re, from judgement by eye, based off the Corolla Fielder, and is confirmed via other sources. Turns out they’re also in production, which I didn’t realize this body of Fielder is still in production in 2024. Either way, yeah I’d rock this.

A spot of dinner afterwards, we decided to pace around and explore the area.

There was an exhibition in one of the adjacent buildings next to the crossing, which featured a little classic.

I’m not sure of the significance of this car and why it gathered as much interest as it did. According to Yahoo Japan, the exhibition is hosted by Southern All Stars, a rock band celebrating their 46th debut anniversary. It definitely holds more local interest for what it symbolizes, but I think this car is quite the set piece for their work. Its a really good looking motor.

Walk outside, and what do we have here?

The owner hosts rides to Daikoku, and offered us both a ride and the trip. Sadly, we have such a trip already planned for the coming days so there wasn’t a choice but to turn the offer down. This is quite a nice car though, really like it.

Rest of the day was walking around and nearby the crossing.

One of a few Alphard’s on bags on this day. Balling.

What I think is a Dodge van.

The new Crown already being used as a taxi!

Really was doing pulls on this stretch.

Again, the timeline is all over the place, but look at this…

A Nissan Figaro. I forgot these existed, and now I’m gushing over them again. Interesting little cars that understandably never maintained attention because of their obscurity and lack of prowess.

A Mitsuoka Buddy! I loved the look of these when they were unveiled, and seeing them in the flesh, that outlook never changed.

Didn’t hear any actual V8 rumble, but a Mercedes E550 estate, or one badged as such.

Another one of those slammed MPV’s.

Bike Itansha. Would love to know if the owner has any social media accounts.

A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7! From The Nissan 300ZX and GT-R, I suppose my little bucket list I never knew of spotting JDM legends would be pretty fulfilled in one single day.

A B120 Nissan Sunny truck. Didn’t expected to see this, didn’t know they existed at all!

After considerable struggle with trying to figure out our own location on the map and trying to use the Uber app (We couldn’t), we hailed a taxi down to bring us back to the hotel.

Oh blimey, a C350! Heck, its an estate too! The wheels were pre-facelift AMG 6-Spoke items (Which is what we used to have), which suggests to me that this is a pre-facelift estate. Sweet!

Not sure what is the context behind this, but I hope nothing bad happened to this Porsche 968.

I did miss a convoy of a silver (And possibly stock condition) Toyota Starlet Glanza V and a Toyota Supra A70 with white bodywork and white wheels. Its a shame.

Anyways, I’ll see if I have the time again to compile any and all videos I took throughout the day. For now, I think this will be it for the time being. Here’s to tomorrow!

~Linus