Has anyone ever had a dispute/confrontation because their 4Runner is made in Japan?

Exactly. Someone who gets it.

We're not making the same argument. This is how it went.

"Originally Posted by Hitman:
But at the end of the day, I make MY choices based upon MY outlook of the world.

MIKE FOXX:
Same as the person who puts a flag sticker on his car."


I was stating that THEIR freedom of choice to put the sticker there...
is the same as YOUR freedom of choice to think it's wrong.
It's not RIGHT or WRONG, it's an opinion...
especially when you base it on your "outlook of the world".
 
Going back to earlier discussions about "domestic" automakers with products that aren't very domestic, you can poke holes in someone's defense of Ford. Besides the F-Series, Mustang, 5.0L Coyote, 5.2L Voodoo, 6.2L V8, and 6.7L Powerstroke, every one of their vehicles and engines are global products created in Europe. Ford figured that nobody wanted to buy their crappy American-designed cars AND BOY WERE THEY CORRECT because ever since they switched to a primarily European inventory, their sales have skyrocketed. My Fiesta ST is a car made for Europe, with an engine and suspension package made for Europe, shipped from Europe and then assembled in Mexico. Most of the aftermarket parts require British pounds or Euros to purchase.

Thank you. The way we somehow find Germany's tactics and atrocities committed during the war less "icky" than the Japanese really is racism at it's finest. They were both nations hyped up on a God complex who believed themselves to be divinely/racially superior to their neighbors...and they acted it out with the same ferocity and determination as the Japanese. You bet your ass race is a factor as to why we regarded their tactics as more "savage" and locked up all Americans with Japanese heritage in ****ing concentration camps (because "internment" is a comfortable euphemism).

There was obvious, publicly accepted, and government syndicated racial prejudice against the Japanese, that's not up for debate because it is absolutely true. What also isn't up for debate is that they killed more civilians than Nazi Germany did during the Holocaust, they had little to no concern for human life on any side, and their tactics in warfare were far more brutal, and in many cases, fanatical. From an American standpoint, the first ground encounter against resulted in the Bataan Death March and American POWs captured by Imperial Japan had far lower survival rates than those captured by Germany. So implying that they are somehow more innocent than Nazi Germany seems very ignorant to me. I don't get why people need to use this history as some sort of contest of who is "the worst guy" because every country has done terrible things
 
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Made In Japan story

Back in the late 80's I bought a Mitsubishi pickup truck and my brother-in-law hated it. He would talk trash about it every chance he could and a few times he would put a dent in the truck bed when he was drunk.
I found out later that his Great Uncle died at Pearl Harbor on one of the battle ships and the Japanese planes used where made by Mitsubishi.
 
I can see why some people might resent imports. I don't agree with it though because domestic vehicles are generally crap. What puzzles me is people who put American flags on their Toyotas.

I'm a bit different than most North Americans because it seems clear to me that the governments and foreign policies of the western "countries", particularly centred around the US (don't worry, I don't hold the Canadian government in much higher regard) to be the amongst the most evil in history. They are brainwashing us through the media and have blatantly lied to us about significant events over the last 50 years or more. They whip us up into unwarranted patriotism to justify some of the most heinous acts humanity has seen.

Not to say that I think other governments around the world are/were much better but the sheer scale of what the western cartel has unleashed on the entire world is unprecedented. I guess this is veering off topic now so I'll end that part of the discussion.

All us westerners are in for a BIG surprise in the next few years, and it may even happen this year. Few people understand why and how manufacturing has been off-shored to China and America turned into a crap-consumption economy. It has to do with the US dollar being the reserve currency of the world since 1971 when dollar-gold convertibility was abruptly ended in the "Nixon shock". Through this system, oil could only be traded in US dollars (up until very recently, which is the interesting part and why the US dollar will soon fall...). The US issued trillions of dollars of debt through government deficits and other countries bought this to accumulate reserves with which to conduct international trade. This is why America reigned supreme over those decades, why the dollar has held its value so well despite trillions being printed out of nothing, and why the US government MUST run a significant deficit to prevent the entire financial system from imploding. It is why westerners have been able to buy cheap overseas manufactured goods, because the trade deficit is required for this system to work. It is why America has somehow been able to import roughly half the oil it consumes for the last half century (don't believe the nonsense about how the shale oil revolution is making the US independent in oil).

I'm sorry to say it but western central bankers have destroyed the economy of the USA over the last half century. The consumptive economy we see now is a mirage held up by nothing more than paper dollars which will soon vanish.
 
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But which country do the profits go to???

Are you asking rhetorically?

Because I've argued this point before with idiots defending their positions on why you should never buy Japanese (or just non-American).
Sorry, but I have always HATED this idiotic statement. The profits will go to the shareholders - wherever they are, and the CEO, Board members, etc. It's not like it's going to be distributed to all citizens of the country, or anyone who drives that brand of car!

I would MUCH rather support a foreign company that hires Americans to build their vehicles, even though the CEO may be getting wealthier, rather than support one of our "big 3" that builds their cars in say Mexico, just to make the CEO wealthy doing so.

I definitely feel buying "foreign" & keeping hundreds or even thousands employed over making one of the "big 3" automotive company CEO schmucks wealthy is better. And getting a great, long lasting vehicle is the bonus!
 
A lot of union parking lots have signs saying that cars not made in America aren't welcome. Beyond that, a confrontation could happen anywhere. I was renting a car once and the lady in front of me was returning a Honda that she had just rented because when she got it home and her husband saw it he made her take it back because he wouldn't ride in a Japanese car. That's not anything major, but still....

Just wondering if anyone has a story to tell.
I repair machines for a living. Waaay back around 1982-83, I had a call to repair a machine at the local AFL-CIO office. While working on the machine, I was told that I needed to remove my 1982 Corolla from their lot and park on the street somewhere because it was foreign. Not a confrontation, because I kindly complied. But it was obvious to me that the 'Toyota' on my car was at issue here, and not the manufactured content of the vehicle. Being a car guy, I could have pointed out all the 'American' vehicles in their lot that were mostly made elsewhere (Plymouth Sapporo, Ford Fiesta, etc.).

Things were really heating up then, car-wise. People were learning that if you wanted a car that didn't break, Toyota was a great option. Domestics were feeling the heat, and they've actually gotten better since then as a result.
 

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