Finally, a mustang in Japan.

[Wicked_S550]

I don't know what the car scene is like down in Hiroshima as I never made it down that far, but plenty of Mustangs to be found up in Tokyo & Kanagawa. A friend of mine over there has owned a 03 cobra for well over a decade now, it replaced his JDM 97 cobra that got totaled.

These are all back from my trip in 2018

My rental car and his terminator

This saleen was driven by a lady, I've seen this car pop up in many of the American car meets my friend goes to

This one was at the megaweb toyota showcase

This one I saw at a late night Daikoku PA meet, young kid owned it, lots of lights and he had a Borla Atak exhaust on it. We chatted briefly, I was showing him photos of my car on my phone

From what I learned while over there, the most popular imported American brand is actually Jeep, and I saw a lot of crappy model Jeeps on the roads over there (Liberty, Compass, etc.)

Just coming across this post searching for other things…

I had my 2016 over in Atsugi from 2015-17 and was always out in Yoko, Tokyo, Daiko, and all over the mainland.

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[shogun32]

2016 over in Atsugi

My old stomping grounds

 

[diegoaccord]

Damn.

Going to Japan again, been a few times, and want to ship my GT for an October trip, but Jesus fuck it seems like insurance is going to be impossible to get.

I have quotes for shipping and quotes for a Carnet de Passages en Duane, but I can't get anything on insurance. I'm leaving Oct 4, and the only thing I can think to do is convert my license to Japanese one in Sept. As a tourist you can convert license, until Oct. This means 2 trips to Japan in rapid succession. I live in Ohio, which is one of few places that have a reciprocal agreement with Japan, so I can do the license straight across.

I don't want to drive some regular traffic, or even a sporty car that isn't mine. Literally been there and done that. Driving a rented Skyline GT-R that feels like it's going to break at any moment is more anxiety inducing than actual fun.

 

[raptor17GT]

i doubt you'd find a rental GT-R that feels like it'll break any moment but maybe ayes. Why not rent a mustang there ?

 

[diegoaccord]

i doubt you'd find a rental GT-R that feels like it'll break any moment but maybe ayes. Why not rent a mustang there ?

As I've said, been there, done that. It definitely felt its age. You gotta remember it's a 30 year old car that was never known for reliability when new, gets driven every day by anyone from anywhere, who drives any way they feel.

Secondly, it's not about a Mustang. A Mustang is the last car I would want to rent. Why would I rent any stock Mustang. The point is that the car I drive my next time in Japan needs to be my own car. I have an Evo X with big power and a freshly built motor, and an AMG C43, so I'm not taking the Mustang 'because Mustang' I'm taking because the Evo has too much done to it, and would fall into the category of anxiety inducing and the C43 blends in too much.

Other than taking MY Mustang, the only other reasonable thing is to spend the money I would day shipping the Mustang + the CPD, and buying a car over there that I will drive and ship back after the trip is over. It just has to be MY car.

What am I gonna do, show everyone my phone and say "Kore wa watashi no kurumadesu!" Yeah, no.

 

[diegoaccord]

This forum software and all the fucking 'pre-editing...WTF

 

[Nickel]

Mustang GT's to those ricers are like GTR's to us. Lol, they're obsessed about them.

 

[raptor17GT]

As I've said, been there, done that. It definitely felt its age. You gotta remember it's a 30 year old car that was never known for reliability when new, gets driven every day by anyone from anywhere, who drives any way they feel.

........snip

yeah i have one sitting in my garage, cool picture btw.

Sounds like you have a choice of options most of us can only dream about. Enjoy your trip.

 

[diegoaccord]

Welp.

Went to Japan twice since this post just got back yesterday. The first time my JAF translation wasn't done in time, and the second time, at the license office, they VERY recently added a step of needing a reservation to show your paperwork, which wasn't the case previously, and that put me past Oct 1, which was the deadline.

So, I will probably never return to Japan, and I will probably sell my Mustang. I have put 3000 miles on it in the last 2 years, and getting the ability to take it to Japan would have breathed new life into ownership.

So, I'll finish cleaning it up, as I was going todo for the trip, then it's gone, unless market sucks too bad. I'll let it sit indefinitely otherwise, pretty much as it has been doing.

 

[offroadkarter]

Welp.

Went to Japan twice since this post just got back yesterday. The first time my JAF translation wasn't done in time, and the second time, at the license office, they VERY recently added a step of needing a reservation to show your paperwork, which wasn't the case previously, and that put me past Oct 1, which was the deadline.

So, I will probably never return to Japan, and I will probably sell my Mustang. I have put 3000 miles on it in the last 2 years, and getting the ability to take it to Japan would have breathed new life into ownership.

So, I'll finish cleaning it up, as I was going todo for the trip, then it's gone, unless market sucks too bad. I'll let it sit indefinitely otherwise, pretty much as it has been doing.

Did you ship it over there and back and not even get to drive it?

Whatever the case that really sucks to hear, I always wanted to ship my E39 m5 over there as I felt like it'd been the absolute perfect car to drive in the city and out in the country. I was interested to hear how your experience went, sounds like not well.

 

[diegoaccord]

I didn't ship it.

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