In the United States of America, the only usual sop to ostentation in the face of death is that the vehicle carrying the deceased to his or her final resting place has historically been built on a luxury automobile?s chassis. Japan, on the other hand, flips the script. True, the 1983 Crown was not the most pedestrian model in Toyota?s line, but compared to a Cadillac or Lincoln of the day, it?s a spare vehicle. But on an American hearse, about the only additional nods to the postmortem sybarite are a vinyl-covered roof and ornamental carriage bars. Let?s just say the Japanese went a bit further with this one.

While American-fashion funeral coaches exist in the Land of the Rising Sun, they?re referred to as ?foreign style.? A properly Japanese hearse is gussied up like a rolling temple; it’s a machine with all the collective subtlety of an entire bosozoku gang?s worth of Hondas, Yamahas, and Suzukis. This particular model features straight-six power, a four-on-the-tree shifter, and round headlamps, suggesting it was crafted from a van/taxi-spec Crown, rather than one of the more uplevel models.
But who needs fanciness up front when such a shindig?s a-ragin? in the rear" The cargo area features what appears to be pale-gold brocade upholstery, a quartet of ornate lanterns mounted from the ceiling, and of course, the mandatory lace curtains with additional bamboo privacy shades. And won?t you dig those chrome inner fenders" Outside" What is there to say ...