In 1999, my friend Mege-san sent me a smaller magazine (Japan had a few magazines that were not the traditional size) and I remember there was a fold out that was at Daikoku PA. The fold out was of the parking lot at night and heavily featured in the forefront were those Toyota Hiace vans with the huge wings… I was immeditely in love!!!
I then was able to see these builds in person in 2003 and 2004:
We were cruising around Yokohama and we stopped by a parking area (PA). I saw these vans and had to ask if I could take a picture. Mege-san said becareful, they might want to fight. I asked if I could take a picture and they owners were actually super friendly. They even gave me a placard (the one I am holding up in the picture). I was told that them doing this was making me an honorary member!
Later I would go to another part of Japan in 2004. That was Osaka. Different set of friends/team members. Nobuo-san took me around and I visited quite a few shops and seen a lot of cars. I was able to check out this Hiace and take a picture (umbrella was intentionally a joke).
My computer at the time had more pictures and video, but it crashed and I wasn’t able to save anything off it. I was so upset as I lost many pictures. Some of them were taking pictures of the inside of some of these and that is why I saw how comfortable they could be!
Now I have a 95 Toyota Previa, 04 Toyota Estima, and 14 Sienna
