Sakura on Wheels

Spring is beginning now and in Japan that means one thing...sakura. In case you didn't know, the Japanese have an obsession with the cherry blossoms that blanket the country for a short time every spring.

You could probably put together a whole CD set with Japanese pop songs that mention "sakura" somewhere. I can't really describe what the sakura means to the Japanese but it makes the bald eagle's ties to America look weak in comparison.  When the sakura bloom in Japan, many people gather under the trees for "hanami" picnics. Much alcohol is consumed and generally a good old time is hand.

What exactly does this have to do with cars? Maybe a little more than you think.

Here are few examples of sakura influence in Japan's car culture -

First off is the most recent introduction of "bloom" edition kei cars by Mitsubishi. These cars are targeted at Japanese women, who have a particular fondness for the sakura blossoms. I actually wrote a short post on this for Winding Road a few weeks ago.

This is the Mitsubishi i Bloom edition in the appropriate "Sakura Pink Metallic".

Of course the sakura has also found its way into Japan's tuning scene and aftermarket as well-

Aero parts manufacturer Veilside drew a lot of attention at the 2004 Tokyo Auto Salon with its sakura-themed demo cars like this S15 Silvia.

While that was interesting, nothing tops the use of sakura as an actual model for car parts.

This actually started quite a long time ago with these sakura wheels produced by legendary wheel company, Hayashi Racing. Nowadays the original sakura wheels are very hard to find and extremely valuable.

More recently though, another sakura wheel has been released-

This is the new sakura wheel by R-Pride . While the original Hayashi Racing wheel was designed for the Z, Skyline and other sports cars of the '70s and '80s, this new wheel is made for popular compact cars and kei cars.

The wheel is available in 16 and 17 inch with widths of 5.5 inches or 7 inches. Sorry, but if you were looking for a set of these for your S13 with wide fenders or your VIP Lexus project you are out of luck.

I'm not sure about the pink, but I actually think the black ones look kind of cool on kei cars. I think they look little bit like a Work Equip wheel. I wonder if these will be as sought after in the future as the Hayashi wheels are now?

So as you can see, Japan's obsession with sakura has even extended into its obsession with the automobile. It doesn't get much more Japanese than a kei car with sakura wheels.

Comments

[fwd]

Not sure if you know or not because I didn't see it mentioned, apparently you can still order the Hayashi's though

http://www.hayashiracing.com/yayoi/yayoi.html

The R-Pride's just don't do it for me with such a large face and more straight cut spokes :(

[iheartmiata]

more pics of the black miata!

[titus]

How can I buy these rims ? I'm in Singapore.