This article is one of our DS Does Japan series from our recent trip to the land of the rising sun, courtesy of Toyota Australia. Click here for the whole set!
First, a quick fuel stop, ordered through a machine. Delicious.
On our last day in Tokyo, we headed out to Odaiba once again (the first time was Bayside Meeting), this time during the day, as we wanted to check out the giant Toyota dealership/shopping centre/museum/theme park all-in-one, named Megaweb.
The views around Japan are ever spectacular.
Landcruiser giving us a run for our money en-route.
Enter… Megaweb.
It was great to see even just the normal, everyday cars placed around the dealership. More so the ones that we simply don’t get here in Australia.
You’ve probably heard of electric vehicles and certainly of hybrids, which are potentially the future of the automotive industry. What I’ve heard a LOT less about is hydrogen power, however Toyota has been developing this technology for some time. The FCV prototype is powered by hydrogen fuel cells, making it a zero emissions vehicle.
The Mirai is the production version, one of the first to be sold commercially.
The V12 Toyota Century. It’s only available to VIPs such as diplomats, but I could totally picture one in black with limo tint, vippu wheels and filled with chain-smoking Yakuza bosses cruising the streets collecting protection money.
The interior was incredible. The woodgrain, the incredibly deep carpets everywhere, the cassette player in the headunit in a brand new car. Look at the detailing on the floor mats! It was like stepping into a library filled with leather-bound books and smelling like cigars and rich mahogany.
This is how nice family sedans need to be done. The Mark X and the Crown, both available in luxe and sporty (G’s) versions.
Lets face it, with more and more cars on the road and less space in our cities over the coming decades, we’ll eventually tire of horrible traffic, large fuel bills, expensive parking, etc. While this isn’t much of a problem yet in Australia and America, in other parts of the world this is already a pressing issue. Don’t believe me? Just step into traffic anywhere in a SE Asian city. Here’s one solution.
And another.
Vans can be sometimes be very cool, like this TRD Alphard…
And sometimes not. Then again, there were kids all over this from time to time, possibly part of the school excursion groups I saw many times at car-related activities.
Actually that brings me to another point: car culture is MUCH more pervasive, but open-minded and accepting in Japan than other countries I’ve been to. They seem to hold an interest for both young and old, for both boys and girls. It’s not primarily the realm of 10-40 year old males, like it is back home. Not surprising when there are plenty of cool things to see and do at a facility like this, from the cutting edge to the entertaining. A Toyota V8-powered NASCAR…
Japan Formula 4 open-wheeler…
Gazoo Racing Nurburgring 24hr LF-A and 86…
GT300-spec SC400…
SEMA-competitor Cartel Customs Scion FR-S…
Check out this roof!
Megaweb has a huge rotating multilevel carpark for storing extra vehicles.
What sort of Japanese car location would it be without a small store to spend your heard earned on cool stuff.
And of course Zorb balls.
Spotted this sweet Maserati on the walk home.
Along with this, which we assume to be an 86 with the hints of chrome wrap and JDM shopping lists. We can only speculate as to the ‘cool’ under the cover.
Good times!
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[…] the Crown, the Mark X and Estima. You’ll see a few examples of these Japan-only cars in the Toyota Megaweb article. We got heaps of really interesting info from the guys there, both about the company generally, as […]
[…] at Toyota Megaweb, we headed upstairs to the Gazoo Racing section and got to check out 3 of their concept […]