Few things are more heartbreaking to people like us than the sight of a car you know to be great that's been left sitting somewhere, abandoned and unloved. It makes you want to save it, to dig it out of its early grave and restore it with all the TLC it deserves.

But we can't save all the cars. Sometimes all we can do is admire them from afar, or maybe get up close to them to have a look around and perform a bit of automotive archaeology to figure out the chain of events that left someone's dream car to rot.

For a lot of people, that dream car is going to be one from Japan. We love a bit of forbidden JDM fruit, which makes these pictures of abandoned JDM classics that much harder to look at. Just remember, there could be an abandoned car like one of these somewhere near you, and you could be the one to rescue it.

15 Toyota Starlet GT Turbo

Toyota Starlet GT Turbo
via jalopnik.com

The Toyota Starlet GT Turbo may have a cutesy name, but this JDM hot hatchback was quite a little beast in its prime. Its 1.3l turbo 4-cylinder was very tuner-friendly and could produce a lot more than its base 135 hp with very little modification. This one looks like a later model (likely a 1994) which you can tell by the round headlights. Jalopnik's David Tracy found this one abandoned somewhere in Hong Kong.

14 MK4 Toyota Supra

Toyota Supra MK4
via reddit.com

This name should be a little bit more familiar than "Starlet." Yes, buried under all that overgrowth is a car that has outgrown its own legend, a MK4 Toyota Supra. It's unclear whether or not this one is a coveted turbo model, but even so it's crazy to see a car that has become so valuable and desirable abandoned so carelessly at the side of a road. Whoever digs this one out will have quite the "barn find" on their hands.

13 Honda NSX

Honda NSX
via drivetribe.com

Yet another legend of the golden era of JDM cars, this silver NSX was left behind in a forest somewhere in Japan for Mother Earth to slowly reclaim all the materials that were once hers. The pop-up headlight covers tell us this is an earlier model, which is becoming the more sought-after and expensive ones on the used market nowadays. Bring a trailer, and also a few machetes, some tow straps, and some bug repellent if you want to save this one.

12 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX

Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
via juiceboxforyou.com

This Evo IX is one of many JDM classics left abandoned in the exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which exploded due to an earthquake in 2011. Residents of the towns nearby were ordered to leave immediately, and for many, this meant leaving behind their cars behind. It's sad to see, but keeping ourselves safe in the face of a catastrophe will always be more important than cars.

11 Nissan Skyline GT-R R32

Nissan Skyline GT-R R32
via juiceboxforyou.com

This is another one from the Fukushima exclusion zone. R32 GT-Rs are quickly becoming some of the most popular imports, now that they have been legal in both Canada and the US for some time. These cars have a very strongly deserved reputation for performance potential, but even in stock form they are balanced and capable sports cars. They are also surprisingly common in Japan, so we can only hope this one's owner found another one wherever he or she was able to settle after the nuclear disaster.

10 Nissan 300ZX

Nissan 300ZX
via drivetribe.com

Spotting cars in junkyards can be a load of fun, but depending on what you find it could also be pretty heartbreaking. For Z-car enthusiasts, this would be one such find. Although this generation of the 300ZX was never the most loved, it still has a fairly sizable base of fans who would jump at the occasion to resurrect one like this. If this one doesn't get saved, at least it will probably be recycled someday, and maybe the metal from it will be used in Nissan's upcoming new Z car...

RELATED: Nissan Teases New Z-Car on YouTube…Check It Out!

9 Toyota AE86 (x2)

Two Toyota AE86
via pinterest.com

These two little drift missiles were found in a back lot somewhere in Japan, looking desperate for someone to snatch them up and restore them. Both look to be in fairly decent shape, too. If you were ever wondering how to tell apart the two different models of AE86, this picture shows it perfectly. The one furthest left is a Trueno, which you can tell by the pop-up headlights (this is the one you know from Initial D), and the other one with normal headlights is a Levin - less desirable, but every bit as sweet to drive.

8 Nissan Skyline R32 4-door

Nissan Skyline 4-door
via carthrottle.com

These family-sized Skylines are a lot less popular on our side of the Pacific Ocean, but in Japan they're a fairly common sight. Essentially, you had all the performance potential of the R32 coupes, but with some extra space for friends, family or a JDM drift-taxi business. This particular Skyline is one of many left abandoned in the Fukushima exclusion zone, meaning it - like all the rest - is likely condemned to be scrapped sometime in the future.

7 Mazda RX-7 FD

Mazda RX-7 FD
via pinterest.com

Yet another Fukushima car, this time it's one of the all-time JDM greats: an FD-generation Mazda RX-7. We all know the story with these: a brilliant but fragile twin-turbo, twin-rotor Wankel engine, a delicious gearbox, and a chassis balanced blessed by God himself. RX-7s weasel their way under your skin like few cars can, and once you've had a taste of rotary power it's hard to go back to piston engines. It's too bad that FDs (even rough ones) are becoming prohibitively expensive.

RELATED: Swapped! FD Mazda RX-7 Gets A Corvette V8

6 Mazda RX-7 FC Infini

Mazda RX-7 FC Infini
via wasabicars.com

If an FD is out of your price bracket, then the severely underrated FC RX-7 could be the rotary sports car for you. These cars came out in the mid-80s, replacing the timeless SA/FB first-generation. They were all-around more competent, more modern, and better-equipped, but for some reason, they never had the same impact on car culture as either the first or third-generation RX-7s. Still, there are plenty of them out there waiting to be rescued.

5 Toyota Supra GT500 JGTC Car

Toyota Supra GT500 JGTC Car
via stevespeedza.blogspot.com

No, this isn't the first Supra on this list, but this GT500 JGTC (the precursor to what is now Super GT, the highest class of touring car racing in Japan) car is a real race car that once competed at circuits across Japan, like Suzuka and Fuji. This car, now well-retired from racing, is used as a sort of billboard for the shop behind it. According to this article, the owner of the shop acquired it for free after it was retired from racing in 1999. Imagine that: a free Supra race car, now used to promote a convenience store. Only in Japan...

4 Toyota GT86 And Honda Civic EK Track Cars

Toyota GT86 and Honda Civic EK Track Cars
via topgear.com

Here are a couple more retired track cars lying dormant somewhere in Japan. These ones appear to be in a lot behind an automotive shop, so maybe there's a chance they will be dug out again and brought back to live. GT86s aren't that old, and EK Civics are notoriously easy to work on, so really there's no excuse to let these two little fun machines waste away, like the unidentified rusty hatchback next to them in this photo.

3 Nissan Fairlady Z

Nissan Fairlady Z
via speedhunters.com

Known to us as the 240Z, this is the car that put Japanese sports cars on the map in the world markets. They are particularly good-looking cars, with loads of potential for resto-modding (see MightyCarMods' RB26-swap) or all-out performance. Seeing this one rusting away in a field is disheartening, but even with all the years of neglect, you can still make out its timeless and instantly-recognizable shape.

RELATED: Foreign Classics We’d Rather Drive Than Any Muscle Car

2 Toyopet (Toyota) Corona Mark II

Toyota Corona Mark II
via speedhunters.com

The Toyopet badge was an early attempt at separating Toyota's lineup between its premium cars and its more wallet-friendly models, long before the birth of the Lexus brand. This Corona MKII was one such car, a more affordable model in the vast range of Toyota products of its era. This one looks particularly worse-for-wear, although not entirely too far-gone to be restored to the handsome coupe it once was.

1 Honda ACTY Kei Truck

Honda ACTY Kei Truck
via juiceboxforyou.com

I saved this one for last to tug at the heartstrings just a little bit more. This adorable Kei truck is another tragically abandoned car in the Fukushima exclusion zone, and its big round puppydog-eye headlights make this thing such a sad sight. Kei trucks are weird, but they have a devout cult following all around the world. If it weren't for the risk of nuclear radiation poisoning, I'm sure this poor thing would find itself a happy new home somewhere.

NEXT: 15 Heartbreaking Photos Of Cars Forever Abandoned At Airports