While these may not have been the kind of massive, expensive car ads that get on national/international TV (this is just for Northern California), it’s still interesting seeing such a big company test the waters in appealing directly to the “cosplayer looking for new, compact Japanese car” market.

While it’s true that I’m not much of a video gamer, I have clearly found the classic Super Famicom (Super NES) game for me: Kat’s Run Zen-Nippon K Car Senshuken. Not only is it named after me, and involves kei cars I want and/or have owned, but it even has a joke from my favorite anime in the opening segment!

Honda has taken their CR-Z sporty-ish(?)/hybrid coupé and given it a mild facelift, with the hopes of taking it from selling like hotcakes that have been urinated on by a dog to selling like hotcakes that have hardly any urine on them at all. And, from what we can tell, the design inspiration came from a Nintendo game.

Comics are ubiquitous in Japan. Known as “manga” (漫画, マンガ), they are used not just for entertainment, but also for education and promotional materials. Many big Japanese corporations have manga for marketing purposes, and Nissan’s current CEO Carlo Ghosn even has his own! But if flipping pages is too much work for…