JDM CULTURE IN AFRICA

​It has always been interesting to talk and read about car enthusiasts. They are all over the world, they may be different world apart, different races, cultures, religions and many other things but they surely are very common when it comes to their love for cars. They are like brothers brought together and united by their love for cars; yes they may be expressing their enthusiasm in way too different ways but the bottom line is that they love cars. Some are thrilled by big machines, others by the great modifications and others perhaps just love speed.

​JDM car culture has found, extended and established its roots all over the world. Most of the time, you will hear JDM in relation to its existence and popularity in the United States. More often than not, we do not stop to think of other places that the culture may have reached. Sure thing, there is very little said about car lovers in places like say Africa!

​Surprisingly enough, there are places in Africa where JDM is deeply rooted. It may not be easy to notice this of course, because probably the number of people who own real JDM modified cars are very few, maybe countable. This however, does not stop them from feeling as part of the bigger JDM society. The most interesting and maybe inspiring thing about car enthusiasts is their sense of belonging. They are constantly checking out for anything going down in their proximity that they can fit in. They even form car clubs and meet up just to feel good about their cars and go for a cruise.

​There is a Caribbean Island called Barbados whose story has spread wide by now. It is an example of a place with enthusiasts who have a car club; theirs is called JDM Squared and they do not shy off from expressing their own Bajan culture. They constantly communicate and meet up in different places, even a filling station with their highly modified cars. It usually is a very interesting parade of different mixes of cars.

​I am sure there are many more such places and we only need to take an interest, find out the places and explore them. Sadly though, it is a little of a struggle to own an imported car in some of the African countries; of course it usually is a bit of a hustle even in the United States, so you can imagine how harder it may be if you are in a third world country. There are special methods and processes you have to go through if you need to import a car directly from Japan. For some the import duty on the cars is as high as over 200 per cent.


If things are this bad and people still afford to own JDM cars in such places, isn’t this JDM culture car enthusiasm thing just a little crazy though.