Some company was showing off an exterior airbag system (as well as a laundry basket of dirty clothes in the background?). The idea is that pedestrians (scooterists?) that get smacked by a car will have a better chance of avoiding a trip to the ER.

Also on the "lesser known" tour was Dunlop's Enasave 97. Not sure if they have plans for scooter tires, but a set for your car will help reduce CO2 and oil dependency (they are made 97% petroleum free). Looks for these to hit stores in Japan in Q1, 2008.


Another item brought to our attention (Arigato to Aki for these) is the Toyota concept car with a Sony / Toyota developed micro-segway sorta gadget. You'd be better off watching this video to understand what I mean. It's a scooter, just not the type we usually see around these parts.

One last thing that Aki brought up was some new Harley Davidson financing in Japan. It seems they now allow SUPER long term financing... by that I mean TWELVE years. That's $35/mo with 2 additional $150 payments each year. Usually, a car loan in Japan is around the same length as a loan in the USA, around 5 years.

Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TheScooterScoop/~3/179342046/tokyo-auto-show-lesser-known-exhibits.html