Japanese Culture and the Z
 

Some interest was shown by the guys that responded to my post under newbie in the roadster section and the more I think about it the more I believe that some of my experiences with Nissan in Japan would be of interest.
As I mentioned I was with Nissan over 27 years in various capacities from tool maintenance to Purchasing and have been to Nihon (they don't call their country Japan) 27 times.

First and foremeost is that the Z is not made by Nissan per se. They have another name (can't remember) and are considered a contractor. There are three different distinct manufacturing arms of Nissan in Japan. Passenger cars/light trucks (Infiniti and Nissan), heavy trucks and sports cars. The sports cars section only makes the Z and GTR (I think) in a seperate city I have never been to. All of the arms are allowed to use the other's assets to test and ask questions. The Z is seperated so that the bureaucracy and scrutiny of the larger machine does not interfere with their art. The hierarchy of management and decision making is not readily understandable to the western mind and that is another subject but believe me this structure is needed and can change any April (Japan's universal fiscal year start).
The Z folks are the elite and that's where everybody wants to go but few do. What goes on there is kind of private and the rest of the world, including Nissan people, only see the end result of their efforts.
The Z is a piece of technological art and represents what the human species is capable of producing right now (in their opinion). As soon as it's launched and in production the team sets out to raise the bar for the next model and starts anew.
I can go on and on, believe me.

I have to admit I have never even ridden in a Z post the 300ZX but will get my roadster as a lease from Nissan in February. Damn the time is going slow..................

Sach

That's pretty fascinating, sach!

Interesting info!

The sports cars section only makes the Z and GTR (I think) in a seperate city I have never been to. Tochigi may be the place.

Welcome to the forum.:hello:

I thought Infiniti, Z, and GTR were all made at the tochigi plant. And most of the Nissan USA vehicles were made outside Japan.

There is a manufacturer facility and test track in Tochigi. Here is the map link. I can't read Japanese so I have no clue what it says :p

OP thanks for the insider insite, it's always interesting.

I have not been to Tochigi in many years and if they made the Z there I was not allowed to see it. Infinitis are made wherever it's cheapest and the actual situation I am not sure of but will check.
For example the Inf EX is actually a dressed up Rogue and goes down the same line at Opama I believe.

I wish I could be more accurate on this but it's been a while since I was there or informed of the situation. I can tell you.

Smyrna, TN Plant - All Altimas (not sold anywhere else), Maxima, Frontier, Xterra and Pathfinder.
Canton, MS - Titan, Armada, QX and the Quest in the past (now gone back to Japan for the new one).
Decherd, TN - V8 and V6 machining with a casting plant for blocks and heads.
Mexico 2 plants - Versa, Sentra

Great information! +1 rep for you Sach!

Not all of Infiniti, just the Skyline series (i.e. G35/G37/M/GT-R to us) as I understand it. These are badged as Nissan's in Japan.

There is also a test track at Opama. I have not been on it but have watched mules run around it. I was studying plastic injection molds for bumpers there and there was always a vehicle going around the track day or night. We did one in four weeks on night shift as everyone did because the Japanese think it is cruel to put soemone on nights all of the time. The mule was piloted by a Japanese volunteer 24 hours, three shifts, 7 days a week. This one looked like something out of mad max as it was a car frame with just enough sheetmetal to keep wind and rain off of the occupant.
It's purpose was to test differen systems so they ran them until they failed. Sometimes it would be gone for two hours and then be back.
Drivetrain, A/C, power seats, windows, cruise etc were in action all of the time with lots of wires and recorders. OSHA would never allow this thing to move here. The drivers mainly only broke for lunch.

Cool to watch.

Welcome to the boards FS and thanks for the insight, good to know that there is a dedicated team that works on our beloved Z!

wow, 27yrs is a long time. wasn't much of a nissan fan at all until about 7-8yrs ago when the Skyline 350GT was released. ever since getting the G35C in the states ive been a fan of nissan. :p ive had the car the longest and still luv it like the day i bought her home.

i have the same feeling for my 370Z as well. something about nissan's sporty cars have unique character similar to wat i felt for like my MINI. they're more like a pet than a car.

i saw a Juke driving around this am...first time seeing one in person. although it's a werd looking car i felt something. i actually like it. i dont feel this way towards other japanese cars. like when i see a honda i feel 'convenience, reliability, workmanship, etc' but do not feel attached to it.

there's some kinda magic goingon in tochigi. :D

Fastsach, I see you are located in Nashville. Does that mean you work for Nissan USA headquarters now? Welcome, and try to see if you can get the head honcho there to issue build number plaques for the 40th anniversary models J/K.

on a side note, the new GTR R35 is completed on the same assembly line as the Skyline 370GT (our Infiniti G35/G37).
I've seen MANY pictures of GTR's being working on and built side by side the other skyline platforms ever since the R35 came out.

LOL. Sounds like they need to open their eyes to the outside world (or get on the internet) if they think the Z is the best the human species is capable of producing. Or just add the catch line "at this price point" to those statements.

Very interesting!

:iagree:

+ making it profittable and sustainable? :D

To address:
RuiZ - Yes, I was at Headquarters for two years with the previous 25 at Smyrna. Retired now.
Nissan is facing shutdown for the holidays and nobody is doing anything. Remind me after the holidays and we will try to get plaques. No kidding.

kenchan - That Juke is something and sales are very good. Remeber that:
MR16DDT – 1.6-liter Direct Injection Gasoline (DIG™) DOHC 16-valve
Turbocharged 4-cylinder engine
Horsepower – 188 hp @ 5,600 rpm
Torque – 177 lb-ft @ 2,000 – 5,200 rpm

ChrisSlicks
If you ever want to know what something says that is in Japanese copy and paste to this site. Remember that the Japanese (or anything else) sentence structure is backward from English and they use alot of different nature references but you can get the jist.
Yahoo! Babel Fish - Text Translation and Web Page Translation

To whoever LOL at my statement about the Japanese wanting the Z to be the best our species can produce you don't understand. No need to add the qualifier "at this price" to the statement because they believe that increased price increases complexity and does nothing to make the product better. Right or wrong that is their very arrogant attitude.

Mata (Later)

If you can do this, get build number plaques for the 40th Anniv Z, I'll give you 1,000,000 rep pts :tup: No kidding.

thanks, fastsach. :tup:

Curious, sach, how fluent are you in Japanese? Did you pick it up while working / know it prior to working at Nissan? Or am I misunderstanding, you worked Nissan North America but made 20+ visits to 日本?

Studied Japanese formally 3 years and learned two of the 3 alphabets. The third has thousands of charaters and I got 80 of those. I never got conversational but could understand some conversations and read signs and menus. Hard as hell to learn Nihongo. Very good kanji with your Japan symbol. One means origin and the other means sun. The suns or origin or "rising sun".

I miss the place and the people.

fastsach- just to let you know, phalen is a faux japanese. :D

Cool, Ari-ga-to. I'll remind you about the plaques after the holidays.

Where did you live in Japan? Tokyo?

俺は日本人の偽者ですよ。普通の会話があったら、ちゃんと日本人のように話せますが、難しい言葉が必要なら 絶対無理ですね。（笑）

:roflpuke2:

yah, you're JDM-style is still not up to par. keep studying with your wife. :tup:

google translate? :p

darn... my wife is of bahamian and japanese decent. she is learning japanese; we will probally start having our daughters learn it when they are 8 and 6.

good read thanks and welcome. i've owned 4 different nissan products
xtera,a350,rouge and a 370. and all have been soild cars...

phelan - I have been to Japan 27 times for various work assignments. The first and only time was 8 weeks on the western island of Kyushu. I stayed in Kanda which was near the Kyushu plant. It was built cpmpletely on reclaimed land and was wet all of the time. Then a 6 weeker in Yokohama commuting to Opama and then various places but mainly in Hon Atsugi where I could go to out tech center each day. About 6 months total in country.


endgame - You might think about starting your kids earlier than 6 or 8.

Fastsach--just some clarifications:
The EX is not a dressed up Rogue. The Rogue is based on the Nissan C platform shared with the sentra, and the EX is a gen 2 FM (like the G37).

Additionally, the GTR is built alongside the V36 cars (Skyline/G37, whatever you prefer).

The car is perfect - aside from a few important "tweaks"

• Needs more torque overall, i'd increase it to somewhere between 300 and 350
• Needs more HP, id make 350 the standard model, and somewhere near 400 the nismo so its actually worth buying the upgrade.
• Correct the blind spot issue by making the universal transcever reirview mirror standard on all trims (plain rear view mirror is sorely outdated and any car 30k plus should have a universal transciever from base up
• Better base sound system
• Further refine the VQ engine and make the sound quality of the engine/exhaust more on par with the mustang GT. (doesnt have to sound LIKE the GT, but the quality of the Specific VQ37 VHR sound
• Fix the Oil temp problem - its a serious issue borderline warranty/recall liabilty for nissan

Once these things get fixed, it will propell the Z into the sports car elite.

I've not had oil temp issues. You newbs are reading too much bs and not enough truth.

:iagree:

Also, why does the Z need more HP and torque to move into the elite status? The Cayman S has been called the best sports car on the planet and it has less power and torque than the Z.

HP and torque is not what is need; weight loss is. If the Z dropped another 100 pounds and refine the engine a tad more (or give it better breathing mods from the factory as all those issues disappear after that - but then that takes away the fun of modding), then it would be very close to elite to me.

How my car is set up now, it is outstanding/smashing/da bomb/awwhh yeah/word to your mother/thumbs up, and any other :tup: phrase you can think of. Well, I lie some, I need sways and stickier tires...

Endgame just called me FAT!

Where is your holiday spirit?!

:icon17:

DOAH!!! MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :tup:

:bowrofl:

Seriously, I agree with you - the Z could lose some weight. Tough to do with all the safety equipment required these days.

I dont think alot of ppl drive Z in japan, theyd rather drive cheaper and more fittable cars, since the parking lot is so crowded already..