Skyline

My first car in Japan was a Nissan Skyline.

The Skyline is a nice car!

So, it was a nice surprise when I went to the shopping mall today with my family (in the car we have now, a Toyota) and I saw that they had vintage Nissan Skyline cars from the 1950s to the 1990s on display!

Here are a few photos I took:

1957 Nissan Skyline: 

1962 Nissan Skyline:

1965 Nissan Skyline:

Mine wasn’t this old. I had a 1986 Nissan Skyline Turbo years ago.

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Most popular car color

First of all, I participated in the big Fukugawa-Hachiman Festival in Tokyo again last weekend.

I wrote about that festival when I participated in it last time.

Click here to read it and see pictures and videos.

I’ll write a post with photos from this year’s festival soon. I wrote the post about the 2012 festival.

In the meantime …

I was thinking that the different cultures around the world would mean that popular colors for cars would be different in different countries.

Living in Japan, I can’t help but notice that “white” is the most popular color for cars here … and it has been for many years.

But what colors are popular for car buyers in other countries, I wondered.

Well, I checked the Dupont website — it seems that that company makes most car paint and therefore keeps track of which colors are popular in which countries.

And it seems that white isn’t only the most popular car color in Japan.
It’s the most most popular color for cars in most countries around the world.
Silver and black are also popular … in fact, black is most popular in most of Europe.

I have never had a white car … but I have had a black one and a silver one.

What color is your car? Is white a popular color for cars in your country?

A Chevy TV commercial? There’s something you don’t see everyday!!

I saw a TV commercial yesterday for a 「シボレー」 (“Chrevolet“) car.
It was a car called the 「シボレー・ソニック」 (“Chrevolet Sonic“).

This may seem like nothing unusual to you…especially if you live in America, where TV commercials for American cars are quite common.

But I realized, after seeing that commercial, that I don’t recall having seen an ad for any foreign (ie: not Japanese) cars, until now, since I came to Japan in 1990.

I realized that every advertisement I’ve seen in Japan for automobiles or electronics (Japan’s two biggest industries) have all been for Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba and other Japanese companies.

Almost every car and motorcycle on the road in Japan is Japanese. Sometimes wealthy people buy a foreign car as a kind of “status symbol”…normally it’ll be an Italian or German car that they choose.
Also, close to every single electronic product sold in Japan is made by a Japanese company. Products made by American companies such as Kodak, Polaroid or Zenith aren’t normally found in Japan. Do those companies even exist anymore?

Here’s the commercial for the 「シボレー・ソニック」 (“Chevrolet Sonic“) that I saw on TV:

Do you see many TV commercials for foreign companies in your country? Are American products popular in your country? Have you ever seen a Chevy “Sonic”?

Hollywood inspired by Tokyo

Over the years, Hollywood has remade many Japanese movies and also made original movies that were inspired by Japan.

Here’s a list of some of them that I thought of. Tell me if you can think of others that I may have forgotten.

First, HOLLYWOOD REMAKES OF JAPANESE MOVIES:

• U.S. remake: “Gatchaman”
  

  Gatchaman (scheduled for release in 2011)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ガッチャマン」 (Gacchaman)

  Original Japanese movie: 「科学忍者隊ガッチャマン」 (Science Ninjas: Gacchaman)

  

  科学忍者隊ガッチャマン

  (Click here to see my “Gatchaman” stamps.)

• U.S. remake: “Astro Boy”
  

  Astro Boy

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「アトム」 (ATOM)

  Original Japanese movie: 「鉄腕アトム」 (Powerful Atom)

  

  鉄腕アトム

• U.S. remake: “HACHI: A Dog’s Story”
  

  HACHI: A Dog's Story (release date 2009 Aug 8)

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「HACHI: 約束の犬」 (Hachi: A Faithful Dog)

  Original Japanese movie: 「ハチ公物語」 (Hachiko’s Story)

  

  ハチ公物語

  (Click here to read another post I wrote about this movie).

• U.S. remake: “Shall We Dance?”
  

  Another US remake of a Japanese movie starring Richard Gere.

  Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  Original Japanese movie: 「Shall We ダンス？」 (Shall We Dance?)

  

• U.S. Remake: “The Ring“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ザ・リング」 (The Ring)
  Original Japanese movie: 「リング」 (Ring)
• U.S. remake: “The Grudge“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「The Juon」
  Original Japanese movie: 「呪怨」 (Juon (Grudge))

  

• U.S. remake: “Dark Water“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ダーク・ウォーター」 (Dark Water)
  Original Japanese movie: 「仄暗い水の底から」 (Dark Water From Below)
• U.S. remake: “Last Man Standing“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ラスト・マン・スタンディング」 (Last Man Standing)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)

• U.S. remake: “A Fistful Of Dollars“Japanese Translation Of US Title:　「荒野の用心棒」 (The Bodyguard Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• U.S. remake: “The Bodyguard“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ボディガード」 (Bodyguard)
  Original Japanese movie: 「用心棒」 (The Bodyguard)
• “Eight Below“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)
  Original Japanese movie: 「南極物語」 (South Pole Story)

  

• “Magnificent Seven“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「荒野の七人」 (Seven Men Of The Wilderness)
  Original Japanese movie: 「七人の侍」 (Seven Samurai)
• “Dragonball“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ドラゴンボール」 (Dragonball)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

• “Speed Racer“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)
  Original Japanese movie: 「マッハＧＯＧＯＧＯ！」(Mach GoGoGo!)

  

• “Godzilla“Japanese Translation Of US Title: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)
  Original Japanese movie: 「ゴジラ」 (Godzilla)

  

  (Click here to see an earlier post I wrote about this movie).

—-

And, HOLLYWOOD MOVIES THAT WERE INSPIRED BY JAPAN:

• Gung-Ho!


Gung-Ho!

• The Karate Kid
  

  「ベスト・キッド」 (The Karate Kid)

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Lost In Translation
  

  Lost In Translation

• Ramen Girl
  

  Ramen Girl

  (Click here for my post about this movie).

• Mr. Baseball
  

  Mr. Baseball

• Toxic Avenger II
  

  Toxic Avenger Part II

• Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.
  

  Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D.

• Star Wars
  

  Star Wars

• Memoirs Of A Geisha
  

  「SAYURI」 (Memoirs Of A Geisha)

• Last Samurai
  

  Last Samurai

• Ronin
  

  Ronin

• Fast And Furious 3: Tokyo Drift
  

  「ワイルド・スピード」 (Fast & Furious) 3: Tokyo Drift

  Also, I just found this “Pixar ‘Cars’ X ‘Tokyo Drift’“:

• Black Rain
  

  Black Rain

• Blade Runner
  

  Blade Runner

• Austin Powers: Goldmember
  

  Austin Powers 3: Goldmember

• The Simpsons: 30 Minutes Over Tokyo
  (It’s not a movie…just one episode of a weekly U.S. TV show. But I wanted to include it since the characters go to Japan. And it’s funny.)

  

  The Simspons "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"

• American Yakuza
  

  American Yakuza

• The Hunted
  

  The Hunted

• Rising Sun
  

  Rising Sun