Inside The Secret Japanese Hangar With $10 Million Worth Of Ready-To-Import Nissan Skyline GT-Rs

Follow the man with the keys, I was told. He pushed a small metal dolly, the size of a mini-fridge, with tiny grocery cart wheels that rattled over bumps and cracks in the pavement. I skipped nonchalantly to keep pace, but inside my stomach was leaping with excitement. The cart’s bottom shelf held oil jugs, jumper cables, and tackle boxes. Bright blue tackle boxes, full of keys. With each tiny crack along the way, the keys clanked and jangled around inside. I had traveled thousands of miles to see what they could unlock.

My hosts asked me, politely, not to photograph the man, his cart, or the building. Not that the building itself is that interesting – located 20 miles outside of Tokyo, the structure goes unnoticed by thousands every day. But inside it held treasures that, to some, are worth spending a life pursuing. My guide and I followed closely as the man and his cart moved noisily across the lot. It was a slightly awkward, low-tech parade toward something so hallowed. I had to laugh.

When we reached the structure, the man with the cart stopped by a large roll-up door. He removed the massive padlock holding the door in place, then pressed a button on the wall.

As the door lifted, midday sunlight inched across the ground, creeping into the room and exploring all its corners and walls. My guide and I ducked underneath the door and stepped into the cavernous space beyond, eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness and the hoard within. Rows and rows of forbidden Japanese sports cars. Everywhere the eye could see.

I had come to Japan to chase a ghost. At least, that’s what I thought at first.

Japan has its own world of quirky, cute, and exclusive cars. Often they’re incredibly small or bizarrely skinny, with bubbly headlights and curves that smile at you from all directions. Each reflects pieces of Japanese culture, which treasures principles like politeness, gratitude, and pride in a shared common identity. And when it comes to sports cars, no single model unites people like the golden child of the Japanese auto industry: the Nissan GT-R.

The first GT-R, boxy but shockingly quick, appeared in 1969. But the versions that came later, those that would be immortalized in