The Most Interesting Cars in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone

We got the S2000 in the United States, but they’re always a pleasure to see in the wild. This one, unfortunately, will only ever be seen in this very spot.

Do you ever think about how much better cars of this era looked in Japan? While American automakers came off as only concerned with making the largest vehicles allowable under the current laws of physics, Japanese designers actually worked to ensure their cars were pretty.

Just because you can’t take your car with you, doesn’t mean you can’t take parts. I mean, the concern here is with irradiated metal, so you absolutely should not take parts. But R32 Skylines aren’t getting any more plentiful, so it seems people are taking the risk.

Not everything has to be fast or gorgeous. Look at this HiJet and tell me it isn’t a more practical vehicle than 90 percent of what you see on American roads. Your pickup truck doesn’t impress me. A HiJet does.

Look at that face! I’ve really only seen these in white or the occasional green, but this faded yellow is a joy to behold. It even has matching fog lights!

If you thought lowriders were a purely American automotive subculture, you thought wrong. Things may look a little different over in Japan, different body styles and badges, but the desire to cruise low and slow is universal.

Americans would be forgiven for not knowing the Toyota Crown existed prior to its current generation, but it’s been a mainstay in Japan since approximately the dawn of human civilization. Maybe earlier, as carbon dating attempts on the earliest Crowns have proved unreliable.

This Acty likely wasn’t in the best shape before the Fukuhsima meltdown, and time certainly hasn’t helped it. The grime on the windshield, the lilting suspension, the discolored headlights. If Japan produced Midwest emo albums, this would be a cover.

Many cars left behind in Fukushima’s exclusion zone were typical, banal daily drivers. But some look to have been truly cared for — at least, sometime in their lives. This Datsun is rusted and rotted now, but there was a time when someone lovingly applied those decals, that livery, those fender garnishes. There’s even a Datsun sticker, which the car wore with pride until it faded and cracked. I like to think it’s still proud.

The bane of Takumi Fujiwara’s existence, the Lan Evo was a force to be reckoned with on the rally stage and the street. Now they all make 700 horsepower on YouTube, but there was a time when these could be found cruising mountain passes at reasonable, even mundane 500-horsepower numbers.