Asylum Reports From the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show

The Tokyo Motor Show is a massive international expo packed with all the hottest coolest cars modeled by lovely ladies in skimpy leather and evening dresses.

The show runs for almost two weeks (October 23 to November 4), sucking in all manner of visitors, from entry-level consumers to mid-level buyers to flash-bulb-packing paparazzi slathering after that winning combination of cutting-edge tech and nubile young flesh. Add in the robot Asimo doing a funky break dance on the Honda stage and you've got some of the key ingredients for a Michael Bay epic.


We heard the Motor Show had been cut by up to 30 percent this year with, you know, the recession and all, and can report the conspicuous absence of the Big Three U.S. automakers. They didn't leave much of a vacuum though, with the Japanese Big Three -- Honda, Nissan and Toyota -- stepping in and amply filling the breach.

On display were electric cars; hybrids; ladies riding mono-wheeled scooters; new bikes from makers like Harley-Davidson, Suzuki and Yamaha; sports super-cars from Lamborghini and Lotus; and all manner of whizz-bang "Back to the Future"-style cars with automatic doors and funky zig-zag shapes. And lots of the aforementioned lissome girls in skimpy clothing.

On with the show.