Total MX-5 – July 2019

20 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019

INSIGHT

WHEN MAZDA created the

MX-5, it came up with a superb

lightweight sports car for the

modern age, a genuinely fun

machine that could be enjoyed

the world over. In Europe and

the US, the magic of the MX-

has been well documented. A

major hit from day one, it’s still

out there delivering smiles 30

years on from its launch.

And how about Japan? What

is the MX-5 ownership and

driving experience like in the

nation that builds the car? Far

away, on the far side of the

globe, Japan is another world:

fascinating, exciting, mysterious

and yet hardly renowned as a

drivers’ paradise. According to

legend, anyway.

But you might be surprised.

Driving in Japan can be great,

just as uplifting as a good road

here in the UK. Plus the sheer

scale and range of cars on sale

in Japan is endlessly absorbing.

Outside the cities, open roads

are there to be discovered,

while driving at night through

Tokyo’s dazzling neons, top

down, is another kind of buzz.

Japan has its own set of fans

and tuning elite, but it would be

fair to say the scale is different

to the UK and that goes for the

whole package of car ownership

in Japan. This I discovered first-

hand while living and working in

Tokyo, where I bought a

Roadster 1.8 RS from new, and

kept it 16 years.

Yes, even the model name is

different in Japan where Mazda’s

sports car classic has always

been known as Roadster (note:

the term Eunos Roadster only

applies to the first generation

cars in Japan). Although Japan

drives on the same side of the

road as Britain, thereafter, in a

rather charming and perplexing

sort of way, model mix, names

and specs go their own way

compared with what’s offered in

the UK. Case in point. My car is

a six-speed Roadster 1.8 RS in

Evolution Orange. In the UK, the

colour’s called Racing Bronze.

Why? Mazda seems to have

created a lot of extra work for

itself with three model names:

Miata (US), MX-5 (Europe) and

Roadster (Japan). However, on

home turf, it has always been

Roadster. Full stop.

Central point of Roadster

fandom comes via the Roadster

Club, an organisation that’s been

around since the beginning and

which currently has around 1250

members. It is these arch-

enthusiasts who will be

organising this year’s massive

‘MX-5 Glastonbury’ in Japan, the

much-anticipated 30th

Anniversary celebratory

meeting at Mazda’s Miyoshi test

track near Hiroshima.

It’s taking place on October 13

and you can find a link to the

celebrations at

roadster30th.com. This will be

the third time that such a big

Roadster party at Miyoshi has

been staged. The first was in

1999 when the Roadster was 10

years old. It was such a success

a follow-up 20th anniversary

bash duly took place in 2009.

The highlight for 2019 will be

a massive gathering of

Roadsters on the banking at

Miyoshi. On this sacred Tarmac

it’s an opportunity for fans to

greet major names in the MX-

story, such as Toshihiko Hirai

and Takao Kijima, respectively

chief engineers for the first,

second and third generation

cars, plus Nobuhiro Yamamoto,

who oversaw the mk4’s

development.

Japan hosts two major MX-

events every year. In the

autumn, the Roadster Club

hosts a big gathering in the

leafy, upscale mountainous

CULTURAL EXCHANGE

British motoring journalist Peter Nunn took an assignment in Tokyo in

1988 and then stayed for another 14 years. For motoring thrills he

bought a mk2 MX-5. Here he explains what MX-5 life is like in Japan

Japanese cities have an architectural style all their own Inner-city Mazda dealerships in Japan bear no resemblance to the UK’s