Now THAT'S a Scion, or The Influence of The Toaster on Japanese Cars

Even in the remotest backwater of Japan where we've been for the last two weeks, the popularity of tiny, square city-friendly cars is startling. Easily 25-30% of the cars on the road here in Shikoku are what's known as '1-box' or '2-box' models. 1-boxes have plenty of room for four people, and not much else, while 2-boxes often have decent storage/luggage space in the back. A couple are even minivan-like in their spaciousness.

I started calling these things toasters, but their shape--especially the 2-boxes--is more accurately described as bread-like. Loaves of Japanese bread are unsettlingly perfect cubes, with the heels removed.

The 1-box cincept isn't new, or even limited to Japan. 20 years ago, the Honda City started a micromini boom in Japan, and the excellent Mercedes A-class has been selling well in Europe for five years or so (and which I'd buy in a second). [The beautiful-to-me all aluminum Audi A2 hasn't done as well, but I used in my first short film anyway.] And of course, there's the Smart Car, which Trent Lott mocked on the Senate floor. [There are so many Smart-like cars now, it'd make Lott's blood run cold, if he had any, that is.

Still, except for the Honda Element and Toyota's new Scion/b,none of these cars will ever make it to the US, which is too bad. A surprise to me was how well designed the Daihatsu and Suzuki boxes are. Daihatsu's a 5th tier failure in the US, with their boring, personality-free, cookie cutter compacts, yet they're apparently pursuing a differentiation-through-design strategy at home. Why not become a quirky-cool alternative brand and leave the me-too Toyota-chasing to the Koreans?

I'll throw up some more pictures when I can. In the mean time, here's a quick spotter's guide, with links to the Japanese manufacturers' sites:

Daihatsu Move


Honda Life


Honda That's

Suzuki Lapin (Note to Suzuki: VW did well in the US with a Rabbit. -g.) [oops. A Suzuki, but not the Lapin. Let me find that pic.]

Honda Mobilio Toyota Scion/b (called the Toyota b/B in Japan) Nissan Cube (a prescient name; the earlier models weren't cube-like or asymmetrical) Daihatsu Naked (a favorite. 1/10th the size of a Hummer, yet just as suggestively named. Although for that hook-up-now AOL chatroom feeling, nothing beats the Mitsubishi Toppo-BJ.)

Since 2001 here at greg.org, I've been blogging about the creative process—my own and those of people who interest me. That mostly involves filmmaking, art, writing, research, and the making thereof.

Many thanks to the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Program for supporting greg.org that time.

comments? questions? tips? pitches? email
greg [at] greg [dot ] org

find me on twitter: @gregorg

post info

first published: August 12, 2004.

next older post:
Plotting Jonah Freeman on the Matthew Barney -- Gabriel Orozco Axis

next newer post:
But HBO is still the gig to get

recent projects, &c.


our_guernica_cycle_ivanka_320px_thumb.jpg
Our Guernica Cycle, 2017 –
about/kickstarter | exhibit, 2017


pm_social_medium_recent_proj_160x124.jpg
Social Medium:
artists writing, 2000-2015
Paper Monument, Oct. 2016
ed. by Jennifer Liese
buy, $28

madf_twitter_avatar.jpg
Madoff Provenance Project in
'Tell Me What I Mean' at
To__Bridges__, The Bronx
11 Sept - Oct 23 2016
show | beginnings

chop_shop_at_springbreak
Chop Shop
at SPRING/BREAK Art Show
curated by Magda Sawon
1-7 March 2016

do_not_bid_or_buy_iris_sidebar.jpg
eBay Test Listings
Armory – ABMB 2015
about | proposte monocrome, rose

shanzhai_gursky_mb_thumb.jpg
It Narratives, incl.
Shanzhai Gursky & Destroyed Richter
Franklin Street Works, Stamford
Sept 5 - Nov 9, 2014
about | link

therealhennessy_tweet_sidebar.jpg
TheRealHennessy Tweets Paintings, 2014 -
about

sop_red_gregorg.jpg
Standard Operating Procedure
about | buy now, 284pp, $15.99

CZRPYR2: The Illustrated Appendix
Canal Zone Richard Prince
YES RASTA 2:The Appeals Court
Decision, plus the Court's
Complete Illustrated Appendix (2013)
about | buy now, 142pp, $12.99

weeksville_echo_sidebar.jpg
"Exhibition Space" @ apexart, NYC
Mar 20 - May 8, 2013
about, brochure | installation shots


HELP/LESS Curated by Chris Habib
Printed Matter, NYC
Summer 2012
panel &c.


drp_04_gregorg_sidebar.jpg
Destroyed Richter Paintings, 2012-
background | making of
"Richteriana," Postmasters Gallery, NYC

czrpyr_blogads.jpg
Canal Zone Richard
Prince YES RASTA:
Selected Court Documents
from Cariou v. Prince (2011)
about | buy now, 376pp, $17.99

archives