It’s hard to hide from news of President Donald Trump’s tariff measures, which many believe will have a bigger impact beyond the economic implications. While many countries around the world have voiced their concerns and criticism, Japanese citizens have taken a slightly different approach: trolling the U.S. auto industry and making memes out of the fact that no one wants American cars.
A post from X user @mrjeffu, who specializes in “Japan’s Politics/Nationalism/Pop Culture” according to their profile, went viral on April 8, 2025, with over 14.7M views, 54K likes, 8K reshares, 4.8K saves and 526 comments.
“A viral meme summarizing decades of U.S. complaints about Japan not buying enough American cars (while not making the kind of cars Japanese consumers actually want),” wrote @mrjeffu in the caption of the post.
The post included an image of the popular American Chopper meme with English translations above Japanese text overlay.
The translations read, “Buy American cars!” “No, they’re huge!” “The tariffs are too high! “Doesn’t matter. They’re still huge!” “And the non-tariff barriers!” “No! They’re just too big!” “Just buy them already!” “I said they’re way too big!!!”
Why Japan doesn’t buy American
Comments in the post pointed out some of the obvious differences between American cars and Japanese cars, including how American cars are “too big” for Japanese roads and that steering wheels in Japan are on the right-hand side.
Others included more economic factors “1. American cars have a large engine displacement. In Japan, cars under 660cc are tax-deductible, and cars under 660cc are the best-sellers,” wrote X user @masjp72. “2. Toyota has 5,000 dealers in the small country of Japan, while Honda has 2,300. They offer detailed support. 3. Japanese cars have fewer breakdowns. If GM sells 660cc cars to Japan for 8,000 USD, and if they have multiple dealerships and fewer breakdowns, some people might buy them. Isn’t that a huge loss?”
Some saw the joke as an opportunity for the American auto industry to finally infiltrate the Japanese consumer wall.
“I think this raises a legitimate issue, but it also raises the issue of why the tariffs are in place if the cars won’t sell at any price,” wrote X user @MarkDel56079180 in the comments. “I would think that even Japan might have farmers that could use a big pickup.”
X user @hinsuke wrote, “@elonmusk: You may want to make Kei sized cars and export to Japan.”
Japanese X users poke fun at American cars
Originally, X users from Japan made memes from the latest tariff measures. @mrjeffu reshared a post from X account @Neo54911938, which was posted on April 7, 2025. It has over 23.4M views, 125K likes, 18K reshares, 5.1K saves, and 810 comments.
“日米貿易摩擦、30年以上ずっとコレ,” @Neo54911938 wrote in the caption of the post, which translates to “Japan-US trade friction has been going on for over 30 years.”
Their post also included the American Choppers meme, a series of shots from an episode involving the heated firing of Paulie Teutul by Paul Teutul Sr. “Senior.” The scene is known for being over-the-top and exaggerated in a way reality TV show viewers might enjoy, but has become memeified in recent years as a way to exhibit cultural, economic, and political issues in an escalated way.
Comments in @Neo54911938’s post included other Japanese social media users making jokes and posting similar memes, continuing the trolling.
Are American cars too big for Japan?
As @Neo54911938’s post alludes to, debates surrounding the Japanese vs. the American automotive industry have existed for decades. While personal preferences definitely play a role, it’s clear from sales that Japanese cars are very popular in America, and that even if a car comes from an American brand, some of its most important parts or manufacturing processes may be from overseas.
However, the same can’t be said about the reverse; American-made cars are rarely found on Japanese streets, and while importation exists, demand is so low that American brands don’t even bother advertising in the Asian country.
Japan’s kawaii cute culture is apparent when traveling there, but it’s not just in anime and fashion/accessory form: cities and towns are densely populated, with narrow streets that leave little room for driving and parking.
High-quality products, customer service, and eco-friendly endeavors are also of value in the Japanese auto market, with emphasis placed on innovation, technology, and efficiency over size, design aesthetic and comfort.
In a post from the r/technology subreddit, Reddit user u/randomtask responded to a comment that “Japanese drivers want compact, fuel-efficient vehicles that balance excellent safety and reliability with superior value for money,” with their own rationale.
“If the US started making Kei cars, and they were somehow slightly better than domestically made Japanese Kei cars (better than the shipping cost), then they’d probably sell pretty well,” highlighting that American cars currently produce the exact opposite of what Japanese drivers want.
“Even the dumbest business major alive is aware of the concept of product-market-fit,” they continued. “It’s a lifestyle discrepancy.”
“We tend to treat car buying as a necessary evil,” added u/WesternBlueRanger in the same thread. “We only want to interact with the dealers as less as possible. In Japan, the Japanese car dealers give you a white glove service. Even post purchase, if your car needs maintenance or a repair, they will come to you to pick up your car, do the work, wash and clean it, refill the gas tank, and drop it back off with you.”
u/scheppend pointed out that price was also a determining factor. “Can the US even produce, ship and sell a Kei car for ¥2M ($14K)?” they posed. “That’s how much I bought mine (suzuki spacia custom) for. If not cheaper (both purchase price and maintenance) or better in huge way, what’s the incentive for japanese people to buy one?”
Americans agree: No one wants American cars except Americans
@mrjeffu has been following and commenting on the Japan vs. America car debate especially following the remarks of Stephen Miller, a top advisor to President Trump, who stated on Fox News that “we protect and defend Japan, and in exchange they close their market to our cars.”
“This is false. Japan does not close its market to American cars,” wrote in an X post on April 5, 2025, which included a clip from the Fox News segment.
In an X post from April 7, 2025, @mrjeffu added that “Stephen Miller tweeted out his opinions about Japan and Europe not buying enough American cars and got community noted. A lot of the replies are pointing out the obvious: US auto makers aren’t making cars that appeal to consumers in countries like Japan.”
It included several screenshots of reactions on the social media platform, including the community note which called Miller’s statement “misleading.”
Others, like X user @FluteMagician, dove deeper into the sociopolitical implications the latest tariffs have had. In a series of threaded posts, they explained that “Trump whines because Japan and Europe don’t buy American cars, but the US buys their cars. Well how did that start in the first place? The actions of the US government.
“If anyone ‘owes reparations’ to the US, it is clearly Israel,” they added, “Not Europe and Japan.”
But even with all of the deep dives and historical analysis that exists, some chalked up the non-desire to import American cars to one thing: “because they’re sh*t.”
X user @Tsuroerusu shared a video clip from British political commentator @Philmoorhouse76, who elaborated that quality played a major role in not just Japanese preference, but worldwide as well.
“If America wants to export more cars, design ones that the world wants to buy,” @Philmoorhouse76 stated in the video clip, to which @Tsuroerusu added, “I just realized, Trump wants DEI for cars!!”
The Daily Dot reached out to @mrjeffu via the contact form on his website.
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