What is JDM? While most know that the abbreviation stands for Japanese Domestic Market, few understand the difference between a Honda in Japan and a Honda selling in the US. Because there is a difference in just about everything – speed, power, handling and of course, safety and reliability. Not to say that the Japanese are selling unreliable cars in the US, because they aren’t. It's just that the Japanese tend to hold themselves to a higher standard so their cars, the ones sold only in Japan, tend to be better.
Also, the sheer power of a JDM car, and its modularity that allows you to build upon it, are unmatchable. There are reasons why the JDM car is so much in demand, and a lot of it stems from details most don’t know. So here are 15 things you may not have known about JDM cars, and why you should care about facts over fiction.
12 Japan Makes Cars In Huge Numbers
Compared to the US, in landmass, Japan is not a huge country. And yet, the USA is the sixth-largest car-churning country in the world, with 3.03 million cars made in 2018. Japan was at number two with 8.35mllion units. Of course, there’s no beating China at 24.81 million! This is a country that knows its cars and knows them well.
11 Not Everything JDM is JDM
For many, JDM cars are not “true” JDM cars. An American-market Japanese car spruced up with JDM car parts isn’t JDM. A JDM imported car built-up with other parts isn’t JDM, either. Only JDM cars with JDM parts fall into the true JDM category, so if you are a true JDM fan, you would stick to the real stuff.
10 Japan Loves To Dump The JDMs
There are Kyusha cemeteries in Japan, where old cars go to die. Japan is rather strict about old cars. The older the car you drive, the more tax you pay on it. This is why the burgeoning JDM market in the US becomes the perfect dumping place for old high-powered cars in Japan. There aren't many people who drive them in Japan, in any case.
9 JDM Vs. J-Spec
The cars and parts Japan makes for Japan, to be sold only within the international borders, are JDM cars. The cars and parts the Japanese automakers make for international markets, like the USA, which are called J-Spec. And the difference very often lies the most in power. The street-legal cars in Japan may not be considered a road-legal in the US.
8 JDM Means Exactly That
You may love JDM, Paul Walker and the Fast & Furious franchise in any order – but unless you have bought a car you imported from Japan, you don’t have a JDM car. Driving a Honda, Nissan, Acura or any such car meant to be sold in the US market does not make you a JDM owner. Know it before you own it.
7 The Horsepower Limits Have Been Broken
From 1989 until 2004, all JDM cars had a 276-horsepower limit. In order to avoid a horsepower war in a country with a 62 mph speed limit, there was a gentlemen's agreement between the Japanese carmakers that cars shouldn't exceed this amount of power. With the advent of the Honda Legend in 2004, which later became the Acura RL, being 300 horsepower, all bets have been off since then.
6 The 25-Year Cooling Period
There is a 25-year waiting period to import JDM cars. You can import a JDM car in the US only 25 years after it was released in the Japanese Domestic Market. So until very recently, even the Skyline GT-R was illegal in America. Now, of course, they are being shipped in by the dozens, so this is the ideal time to realize your JDM dreams.
5 After-Market Turbo Kits
How do you build up a JDM car for maximum power and speed? You can thank Hiroyuki Hasegawa, the founder of the HKS Japan for it – because he built the first aftermarket turbocharger for cars. These kits could amp up a 25-year-old JDM import into giving the best it could.
4 JDM Also Gave Rise To Drifting
Other than giving us great cars, Japan also gave us drifting. In the 70s, a Japanese race car driver made an innovative move. Kunimitsu Takahashi would oversteer at corners and let the rear end of the car kick up a smoke and dust storm. Since then, young gearheads started drifting on the twisty mountain roads, before it finally became a proper sport with hugely popular events now taking place all over the world.
3 The Green And Yellow Sticker Does Not Mean JDM
Many JDM car owners proudly stick on the green-and-yellow arrow on their cars, thinking it stands for JDM. Funnily enough, it doesn’t. This green and yellow leaf or arrowhead is the Shoshinka or Wakaba mark, and in Japan, new drivers must have it on their cars for a whole year to warn people of their less-than-stellar driving skills.
2 JDM Cars Can Produce Tons Of Power
The one reason why people love to buy 25-year-old cars from Japan, often paying far more than what they would pay for a new car, is that these cars can go from 276 ponies to 500 or higher horses with little cost and minimal effort. The modularity of these engines, the amount they can be built up, is nearly unimaginable.
1 Japanese Junkyard Owners Are Churning A Profit
With JDM demand increasing in the US, along with cars, the need for JDM car parts is also high. So the Japanese junkyard owners, or rather Kyusha cemetery owners, can now churn out a regular profit on old cars, and old car parts. Of course, it's only the Skylines, the Supra and the likes that are wanted – Kei cars can go take a backseat, please.