Japan has A LOT OF weird looking cars. No, I am not just referring car with anime stickers, nor the truck with shiny LCD. Even the concept cars by big names car manufacturer such as Nissan and Honda came out with a lot of cars that simply seem weird or feel weird.
So to narrow down to just 10, is seriously a tremendous task itself. But we have chosen the best 10 for you.
1.Golden Time
This car is an art created and owned by Yamawaki and Kisaki, who belongs to a modern art group called “Yotta”. The billboard placed on top of the car reads “Baked Sweet Potato”, yup, that’s right, this is a car used for selling baked sweet potato.
The reason they created for an event called the “Roppongi Art Night” in 2014. The inspiration for this car came when they felt that there are very little cars in Japan that sell baked sweet potato with traditional Japanese traits. Unfortunately, according to the article, it seems like this car is no longer in use. There goes your chance to get some sweet potato from them!
2. Vanning – BatmanM
These type cars are usually called “Vanning” in Japanese. Trucks that are extremely colorful or with ridiculous color schemes and exterior body parts. But today, we are going to focus only on one of these “Vannings” which is Batman. Although there is very little information on this monster although it’s quite a well-known car in Japan as it was featured on several magazines and TV show in Japan in 2014. We tried to find the story behind but we only managed to find some clips and information on this beast.
Based on one Youtube video, the owner apparently spent around $200,000 for the customization of this truck. The reason why this truck is called “Batman” is due to its bat-like design and Joker-inspired color scheme. Illustration of the Joker from Batman also can be found on this truck. The owners also apparently own a car tuning shop in Yokohama.
3.Honda Fuyajo
The Honda Fuyajo (不夜城), also literally translates to “The city that never sleeps” is a concept car showed by Honda back in 1999. The idea behind this concept is “Let’s have fun on the street”. Due to this, the interior is designed to mirror the feeling inside a nightclub back in the 90s at Tokyo.
The driver area is designed to mimic a DJ’s booth in a club. The steering wheels closely resemble a JD’s turntable and the audio and air-conditioning can be controlled by a device that resembles a mixer.
It even has a skateboard compartment where you can easily put your skateboard on. Maybe perhaps, back in the 90s, everyone goes go to clubs actually skates? Who knows.
But I am pretty sure by now, you guys understand why this concept car is named “The night that never sleeps”.
4. Mitsuoka Orochi
The Orochi or “大蛇” in Kanji which literally means “big snake” in English, is built by Mitsuoka, a small Japanese automotive company in Japan. The Orochi was debuted in 2003 as a concept car and was put in production 2006. This car was in production until the late 2014 before it was terminated.
If you have not heard of Mitsuoka, don’t be surprised, many have yet heard of it as well. They are a small Japanese famous for building unique cars with slightly unconventional style. They are mainly a coachbuilder and built their cars mainly on the Nissan, Honda and other Japanese manufacturers. If you look closely, the Orochi closely resemble the Honda NSX.
The Mitsuoka Orochi has a few different variants throughout the year.
a. Orochi Kabuto
The version that was unveiled in the Tokyo Motor 2017 as a concept car.
b. Orochi Zero:
A cheaper version of the Orachi with less metal plating and leather to reduce cost unveiled in Jan 2008. There only around 20 produced per year for this model
c. Orochi Gold Premium
Debuted in 2010, the production was limited only to 20. As the name suggested, this mode has a gold paint job on the trim and badges. The model also has an extra rear and front spoiler and the leather on steering wheels and seats were replaced with Alcantara
d. Orochi Final Edition:
It was announced on the April of 2014 that the Orochi will be discontinued. To celebrate the end of the line, they have came out with the “last” edition. It features a black wheel, new lip & wings, and some new colors for the interior. The vehicle was priced at around $125,000. Only five were produced.
e. Seven Eleven Evangelion Limited Edition :
I thought you said last! Yea, hence the quotation mark on the last just now. So it seems like Mitsuoka decided to not keep their word and start to produce another variant of the car again. And it’s only eight months after they announced they will cease the production – on September 2014. Okay, to be fair, they only produced one of them.
If you are a fan of anime, you should be able to recognize the name “Evangelion”, this edition is made to represent the giant robot in Evangelion. This variant was sold at around $151,022.
f. Orochi Devilman:
So four years later, at 2018 they decide to come out with another variant, is a 2018 edition, where Mitsuoka collaborated with Go Nagai, to create a Devilman Crybaby version of the car. And to be fair, this variant actually looks kinda cool and it kind of reminds me of the Joker’s car in Batman. But unfortunately, they only made one of this variant and it was sold for $175,364.
5.Honda PUYO
The Honda PUYO is a concept car shown on the Tokyo Motorshow 2017. This car is designed to be an environment-friendly and to be a pet-like existence to the owner.
The exterior of the car is cover in a silicon-like material which makes it soft to touch. It is also said to emit very little C2O, which makes it environmentally friendly.
The inside of the vehicle is made to be spacious. However, it doesn’t look that all spacious at the back.
6. Nissan PIVO
The Nissan PIVO is the concept car series of Nissan. To date, they have came out with three different PIVO models. The on showed above is the PIVO II debuted in Tokyo Motor Show back in 2007.
PIVO I
The first PIVO was debuted back in 2005, with a square-like chassis with a rotating body that can turn 360 degrees. This has allowed the car to change which way is it facing easily. When parked normally, it can exit the parking as if it has been reverse parked.
PIVO II
But for the PIVO II, they changed the rotating body with rotating wheels, making parallel parking at tight space at ease. This is accomplished by making the wheels on PIVO II can be turned at 90 degree.
PIVO III
The PIVO III, unveiled in 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, is probably the most practical among all when compared to the previous generation. Unlike the previous generation which has a rotating body or wheels. This version does not have fancy moves like that, however, it can turn at a very sharp particle angle within a space that is 4 meters wide.
7.Nissan Blade Glider
The Blade Glider, from the name alone, you can tell it’s a modern concept car. Unveiled in the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, the Blade Glider is a three-seated electronic car. In August 2016, they released a working prototype which debuted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ran entirely by eletricity and can go from 0 to 100 in less than 5 seconds with the top speed of 190km/hour.
Not only that, it also said that the Blade Glider has a “Drift mode”.
8. Flesby II
The Fleshby II is the brainchild of Toyoda Gosei. If you have not heard of them before, do not fret, as they are a car parts manufacturer which specializes in plastic and rubber. The Fleshby II is a concept car created to feature their next generation rubber called E-rubber.
By putting the airbag externally, the Fleshby, can move, expand and smile like an anime character. That said, it is unsure if the Fleshby can actually be driven or move on the normal road as it is entirely covered by rubber, including the wheels.
9. Yanki Cars
For the last one, it will be something special. Something commonly known “Yanki” cars. Yanki Cars, are cars that have crazy front bumper, ridiculously bright paintings and really large and long exhaust popping from the cars – usually not at the place it suppose to be.
The word “Yanki” is used to refer to rebellious teenagers and you can see why these cars are called “Yanki” car, as they are not actually street legal. English sites, these type of cars is commonly called “Bosozoku” (literally crazy racing people). This term is used to refer to motorists who ride illegally and dangerously. However, Yanki cars are actually not actually referred tas Bosozoku in Japanese. However, those sites are not 100% wrong as Bosozoku usually own these kinds of cars.
So where can you usually spot these kind of cars in Japan? They usually appear around regional towns like Syounan, Kawasaki and Yokohama. Since these are not street legal, we could not locate any interviews or articles about the owners of these cars.
10. Itasya
Last and not least – Itasya which literally means “painful car” in Japanese. They are basically cars with anime themes with female characters. And unsurprising, most of the owners of these cars are… males.
There was an interview the owners of Itasya trying to find out how many of these owners actually have a girlfriend and the result of the interviews was, out of 60 owners only two of them were found to have a girlfriend.
And according to the interview, they usually like anime and especially the female anime character shown on the cars and wish to find girlfriend/wife who looks the anime girl. Some of them also own a doll version of the anime character as well.
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