JDM & Beyond - The Worldwide Influence of Japanese Automobiles

Exhibition On View March 16, 2024 through June 9, 2024

In terms of cultural popularity, Japanese cars are the most popular genre of vehicles in all corners of the world right now. Like many other hobbies in Japan, there has been serious automotive enthusiasm in the country for decades, and since popular movies like the Fast and Furious saga, the world has adopted this same obsession for the special and unique cars that come out of Japan.

Brands like Honda and Subaru have humble beginnings producing cars mainly for Japan but became known internationally with efficient economy cars such as the Honda Civic and Subaru 360. In the decades that followed, the major Japanese brands extended their reach into many realms of the automotive world. After years of engineering progress, the Nissan Skyline GT-R and Toyota Supra quickly became two of the world's most popular cars after showing dominance over major German and Italian sports cars. From there, the popularity in Japanese cars (and motorcycles) skyrocketed.

With such incredible enthusiasm following Japanese cars, the people behind them, and the many different corners of Japanese car culture including drift cars and tuner cars, JDM cars stand as perhaps the most popular genre of cars in the world today.