The editorial mission

JDM Gems exists because most writing about Japanese performance cars is either a specification table with adjectives attached, or a nostalgia exercise aimed at people who have never driven the thing they are being nostalgic about. There is room for something in between: careful, specific, and honest about what these cars are actually like to own in 2026 rather than what they were like in a magazine in 1994.

What we cover

Five sections, and we try to keep the lines between them meaningful. Features are long-form pieces on the cars and engines that define the canon. Builds follow real projects, including the parts that go wrong. Buyer's Guides are written to talk you out of a bad car as readily as into a good one. Culture is the people and places around the machines. News is auctions, releases and market moves that actually matter.

How we work

• We write about cars we have driven, owned, or stood next to while someone knowledgeable explained them.
• We say when something is bad, including when it is a car everybody loves.
• We do not take payment for coverage, and we say so when a car is loaned to us.
• We correct things publicly when we get them wrong, and we do get things wrong.

On the clichés

There is a version of this subject that leans on cherry blossoms, neon, and a typeface chosen to look vaguely like katakana. We are not doing that. The cars are interesting enough on their own terms, and the culture around them deserves better than being used as set dressing.

The best thing about a JDM car is almost never the thing that made it famous.

Who writes it

Sam Frost writes all of it — the features, the buyer's guides, the auction market, the culture pieces and the build diaries. Currently several thousand words into an argument about wheel sizing, and has spent more nights in Japanese car parks than is entirely reasonable.

Get in touch

Corrections, tips and disagreements are all welcome — the disagreements especially. There is a contact page, and it comes straight to Sam.