Vanning: The Insane World Of Japanese Custom Vans
Much like the name suggests, vanning is a subculture within the Japanese car scene that focuses on vans.
You might have already seen the infamous picture of a six-wheeled purple car making the rounds online. While it's quite common to assume that vanning is only about really loudly modified Japanese vans, vanning spans an incredible range of different types of vans, with each subcategory being unique from one another.
The history of vanning in Japan is said to have started somewhere in the late 1970s, with many influences from American custom car culture. There are still a significant amount of USDM-themed custom van aficionados, with their Dodge, Ford, and sometimes domestic Japanese vans completely tuned with prominent American elements like pinstripes and whitewall tires. This subcategory of vanning takes huge influence from the California custom van scene.
On the more Japanese side of vanning, the cars are very clearly influenced by the bosozoku movement and VIP cars. In this subcategory, vans that are most popularly used are the Toyota HiAce, which is quite literally everywhere in Japan and can be found modified in just about any manner. The Honda Odyssey and Toyota Alphard are also both quite popular in the VIP genre.
One of the hallmarks of the more bosozoku-inspired style of vanning is the crazy aero kits that are done to the vans themselves. It is not uncommon to see vans with modified front and rear bumpers that double the length of the car itself, or with literal fins that pop up from the roof and the sides of the vans.
There is also often a lot of airbrushing on the vans, with many traditional and US-inspired designs, to other designs like Anime characters and portraits of Japanese idol groups singers. On the other hand, the VIP subcategory focuses on making the vans look as luxurious as possible, usually with overhauled leather interiors and sleek bodywork complete with lowered suspension and wide aftermarket wheels.
