<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"         International Editor Sam Mitani has spent the past several weeks chasing down four exciting new sports cars and concepts that we expect to be coming from Japanese carmakers in the years ahead. Thus, our this month features the hot new Eclipse Concept-E, which seems to be regaining its exciting performance edge; the B9 Scrambler, an intriguing open 2-seater that shows tremendous promise for creating a new niche for Subaru; a hybrid in a sporting body and a power output of some 300 bhp; and the , which adds even more zoom to the 4-door sports car.   When I was a young car enthusiast in the 1950s, Japanese sports cars were virtually nonexistent and even Japanese-made sedans were invisible in this country. It would be many years before Toyota and Datsun (now ) would venture into the U.S. market, along with , which first came as a motorcycle company, of course.   The launch of the Datsun 240Z (see R&amp;amp;amp;T, January 1970) was cause for much attention in that era, and in a five-page feature by Ron Wakefield, then our Engineering Editor, he concluded with the forthright statement, &amp;quot;We think Datsun has a real winner.&amp;quot; And in our road test in the April 1970 issue, we characterized the 240Z as &amp;quot;the most exciting new GT car in a decade.&amp;quot;   Over the intervening 34 years, Japanese carmakers have come up with a wonderful assortment of sports cars and many of them have made their way to the U.S. In our time, probably the has had the biggest impact on sports-car enthusiasts, bringing back the idea of inexpensive British sports cars of yesteryear, but in a thoroughly modern package.   So check out the cars Sam has been driving and learning about, and see if one of them may someday rate a spot in your driveway.   Letter From Japan   We are very pleased to introduce our readers to a new contributor to Road &amp;amp;amp; Track \u2014 Takaharu (Koby) Kobayakawa, whose initial update and analysis appears in this month&amp;#039;s Ampersand. Being an old friend and a very wise man, Koby thoughtfully sent along an introduction of himself:   &amp;quot;I feel so happy and honored that I was asked by Road &amp;amp;amp; Track to write a monthly column. After spending 38 years with Mazda, I retired in 2001 and now live in Tokyo. While I come from an engineering background, my experiences at Mazda were rather diversified, including working on the early stage of the rotary engine development, public relations and communications, product development (including the RX-7 and motorsports) and design, and two separate assignments in the U.S.   &amp;quot;Because of my continuing passion for automotive products and the industry itself, I joined the Automotive Researchers&amp;#039; and Journalists&amp;#039; Conference of Japan in 2002 and started a career as a freelance journalist. For a long time I&amp;#039;ve had a strong desire to contribute to the overseas media, especially in the U.S., which is rather like my second home.&amp;quot;   Koby is one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic automotive engineers we&amp;#039;ve known, and we are delighted to have him contributing to R&amp;amp;amp;T. During his time as program manager of the RX-7 and motorsports planning and development, he was among the many people instrumental in Mazda&amp;#039;s historic victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991, and the great success enjoyed by Mazda&amp;#039;s World Rally Championship program. His insights will be most entertaining and informative as he keeps an analytical eye on the Japanese industry for us. We are honored to have him contributing to Road &amp;amp;amp; Track. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a9935/more-sports-cars-and-a-new-contributor/>