JCD BLOG

Why is the Porsche 911 so cool? What is it that gives this car its undeniable special charm? Do you have a rich uncle?
How are the above three questions related?
O.K. Let’s start.
I do have a rich uncle. Built his business right from the bottom up, he did. Lots of grinding and seven-day work weeks; lots […]

But what is a “supercar”? How would you define it? Is it, in fact, even possible to come up with a definition that all car lovers will agree with? I’m not sure, but let me give you my own boyhood definition of “supercar” and how I arrived at the definition.
First off, some background. I grew […]

I’ve had such great access to supercars since I came to Japan.
Generous friends and acquaintances in the “car scene” here have let me spend time with their treasured, magic machines. And they are magic; pure mechanical magic. Even their names are magic: Lamborghini, Lotus, Ferrari, Mclaren; Countach, 348, 355, Modena, Esprit, Elise, Exege, 570S. Because […]

Many More 15 year old models available today!
Every year, more JDM vehicles become 15 years old, making them legally importable to Canada from Japan. In this article, we present four great JDM models that finally come of age. They range from an exhilarating sports car to an exceptionally practical van and we think all are […]

Many great JDM European cars are reaching their 25th birthday in 2020 — which means you can legally import them to your home country even if you live in the United States.
Japan may not be the first market that comes to mind when searching for a used European car. But there are many advantages to […]

In our first blog post here about Minitruck Options we looked at Scissors Lifts, Dump Beds, and the Four Wheel Drive systems that you can get on the Japanese kei trucks that you can import from Japan.

Now what about the available transmissions?

Transmission Options

Back in the day (wow! I’m old enough now to say things like […]

Simple. Cheap. Capable. Reliable.

A simple, traditional, (ladder-frame) truck body. Low running costs (good on gas and inexpensive parts). Good load capacity and off road ability (you’ll be amazed what it can carry and where it can go). Reliability (just goes and goes and needs little care or attention). That’s the Japanese Kei Truck (or Kei […]

Two Really Fine Post-October-1998 Japanese Kei Sports Cars
You’ll recall that in our second post on Japanese Kei Sports cars here we talked about the changes in Kei Car specification rules after October of 1998: basically Kei cars all get 10cm (just less than four inches) longer, and 8cm (just over three inches) wider; and they do […]

The Pre ’98 Exotics
I’ve been singing the praises of the hatchback-type Japanese Kei Sports cars in the earlier posts (check out Part 1 and Part 2) about these vehicles on our blog here at Japan Car Direct, and, if my editor would let me, I’d continue on and on about how great these cars are. […]