The Tokyo Car Show: The car of the future predictably had plenty of representation at the Tokyo motor show which is now in full swing on the periphery of the Japanese capital.
But at the preview days last week, there was a consensus that it was less wacky than before and that it had come down to earth somewhat.
Still, a first-time visitor might not have been convinced, such was the plethora of bizarre concepts paraded as real 21st century motoring. Leading our top ten of the wacky and the bizarre was the Toyota PM, which stands for personal mobility.
The PM is a single-seater contraption on three wheels that positively bristles with high-tech gadgetry. Powered by an electric motor that drives the rear wheels, it can talk to its driver via a voice synthesiser and can also miraculously contract in size, to squeeze into the tightest parking space. The body sides and rear wheel hubs can change colour at the driver's whim.
Perhaps the only thing conventional about PM is the grip controls for each hand, controlling steering, braking and acceleration. The seating is a far cry from that proffered on other two-or three-wheelers such as bubble cars of yesteryear. It's a lavish affair that drops down for entry or exit and for driving, there's the simple matter of pressing a button: the seat slides up into the centre of the pod while the vehicle extends itself for the chore of city streets.
Toyota people at the show were emphasising that it was for real and that it could be on Tokyo or other Japanese city streets by 2010. "Many motorists in Japan have a personal relationship with their car, like a pet or toy, and PM is very much in that context", says Paul Nolasco of Toyota. "Of course, we also see it as something of a fashion icon."
For country living or just a weekend retreat in the country how about the Suzuki Mobile Terrace? It puts in focus again our point of last week, that the Japanese do treat the car as a house or living room on wheels.
Mitsubishi adopted much the same theme for its Se-Ro - another strange name, it stands for Secret Room. There's a steering wheel that folds out of the way as you open the doors and there are seats that go into different permutations like a working desk or a relaxing settee.
At the Honda stand, water was gurgling through the interior of its Kiwami concept. Here fuel cells and a hydrogen tank are located in a tunnel between the seats. It's the transparent top section of the tunnel that has the flowing water, proving that the only emission from a fuel cell car is good, old harmless H2O.
It used to be that fuel cells took up an inordinate amount of space. But the Honda Kiwami and Toyota Fine-N are examples of just how space can be liberated, especially as their drive-by-wire structure does away with the need for the conventional bonnet.
The Fine-N comes with another quite separate technology that could be frightening or welcome, depending on your point of view. It's called biometric face recognition and the Toyota sees it as somewhat analogous to a credit card with your thumb print.
The doors of the Fine-N will open only if the car detects a familiar face. When there's recognition, the driver's preferences for seat controls, air conditioning and even audio system, are automatically activated.
Toyota and Honda keenly espouse the hybrid idea and, although also committed to the fuel cell/hydrogen future through Fine-N and Kiwami, they see the petrol/electric car as a far more realistic technology and one that can have a more immediate application.
Toyota cites its success with the recently-launched second-generation Prius - 30,000 orders and rising rapidly.
Honda's chief hybrid exhibit, the Imas, is reputed to replace the Insight, the company's first hybrid, in 2005. Unlike a lot of what we saw at Tokyo, it has alluring though futuristic looks in the form of a 2+2 coupé made in aluminium and carbon fibre. Those lightweight materials plus exceptional aerodynamic efficiency should make for very frugal consumption if or when it goes on sale.
Definitely going on sale towards the end of next year is a hybrid version of the Lexus RX 300. We can testify to its performance, having driven the vehicle for a mere 500 metres at a pre-show testing session on Toyota's test facility near Mount Fuji. Brisk, silent acceleration are the hallmarks of the RX 300 hybrid.
Most significantly, Steve Tormey from Toyota Ireland, who attended the show, does not expect a costly premium over the existing petrol versions which retail from €63,500. A figure of under €75,000 is anticipated for what will be the first performance, luxury hybrid.
Lexus shapes have always been on the conservative side but the LF-S showed a brighter, with-it look for the future. Some media were interpreting it as the next GS but at the Lexus stand - heads were shaking, not nodding.
Much more certain is the Honda HSC, a mid-engined two-seater that is set to replace the NSX super sports car, incidentally Jeremy Clarkson's favourite steed but a poor seller. (The self-deprecating Clarkson loves to point out how he gets things wrong).
The aluminium-bodied HSC has a V6 engine developing more than 300bhp. Production is expected in 2006.
Uninspiring and disappointing is Mazda's Ibuki, hailed as a study in replacement for the highly successful MX-5 sports car. Ibuki is a Japanese word that means "to breathe new life", but Ibuki is really just a rather insipid makeover of the current model. We don't believe it to be the final shape of a future MX-5: a success story like that deserves better.
Japan is a country that is ancient and modern, where kimonos and tea ceremonies and shrines somehow fit in with the garish American culture. The past or ancient bit got recognition at the show through Nissan's Jikoo concept. An electric car, it's intended as a mobile statement of old Japanese crafts. Thus there's an ebony floor, lots of lacquer work in the cabin, a tortoise shell steering wheel and seats made of deerskin. The satellite navigation system will guide you effortlessly through smart downtown areas of Tokyo such as Ginza and Shinjuku but in between the maps, there are old 17th century scenes of Tokyo's Edo period.
Forget the wacky and the bizarre. The 37th Tokyo motor show that is packing them in this week is symbolic of the Japanese motor industry's power and strength in the world today, a power and strength that is represented by manufacturing operations in all contintents. It's hard to imagine then that we hardly knew about a Japanese car a mere 30 years ago here in Ireland.