Kei Car

The 1980s and 1990s weren’t exactly my favorite era for automotive design, but the period did give us some interesting vehicles nonetheless. Among the more compelling ideas to arrive in 1987 was the Mazda Pair – which combined a tiny van and trailer and is one of the cutest concept car designs I’ve ever seen.

In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Daihatsu sold a little off-road vehicle in the US, but it has been gone from the States for many years. The Japanese automaker is showing off one of the interesting concept vehicles that will be on display at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon this coming January.

This crazy, graffiti-covered, custom overhauled Suzuki Wagon R is a vehicle that likely causes everyone to stare, including my happy ass. It’s a car that’s just too wild not to photograph. As I hastily took pics, a million questions rushed through my head.

A massive typhoon had just blanketed the majority of Japan in torrential rain, and shortly after letting-up, my wife tells me that we were going shopping. Unsure as to whether anything would be open I opted to tag along, secretly hoping to discover another interesting Japanese automobile.

The Daihatsu Copen is a car that you’ll never see on the roads in the US, but it’s not an uncommon sight on the streets of Japan. Now, Toyota’s Gazoo Racing has taking their turn at upgrading the tiny convertible into something a bit more fun.

Hot on the heels of my tiny Italian carspotting in Japan a couple of weeks back, comes a far more modern, mid-engine approach to automotive engineering. Commonly referred to as “the new NSX’s baby brother,” the Honda S660 is a Japan-exclusive two-seat roadster that fits neatly within the Japanese kei car category, so it has to have less than a 1.0-liter engine.