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It’s always fun seeing how the car scene is evolving in other countries around the world. Not sure how many of you noticed but “USDM” is “in” at the moment, especially in Japan. What exactly is “USDM style” though? Everyone will have a different answer to that question so what I did is get in touch with a couple of my friends from Japan and ask them directly if they can tell me what it is about USDM style that they find so appealing. The answer is as expected. Simplicity. It’s relatively cheap & simple and cops tend to not hassle you as much as if you had an obi-kyan bippu ride for example. USDM Style usually consists of a set of aggressive wheels, a relatively healthy drop, either a simple lip aero or aftermarket front bumper, and of course to finish things off you gotta rep a few stickers of your favorite blogs and brands, though not necessary. Oh, you also want to get your hands on some USDM license plates!

Photo By: Takashi Fukui exclusively for StanceNation.com

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But as you can imagine, everyone interprets the USDM style differently and our friend Issei is here to show off a few photos of his simple yet attractive BMW 330i. Rocking the California plates proudly all the way in Kyoto, Japan, Issei-san’s E46 is sitting on the ground with the help of Yellow Speed Racing coilovers.

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Exterior wise it features things like a custom carbon fiber hood, carbon fiber trunk and carbon fiber roof spoiler. Fortunately for Issei, he had the skill required to do some fender work as well so he not only pulled them properly but actually added some over-fenders which he wonderfully blended in the stock body.

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Final result is a jaw dropping fitment on a custom set of OZ Racing Wheels sized at 18×8.5 +15 all around. Who said you had to have a 7+ inch lip and double-digit negative offsets to “push boundaries”? Issei certainly disagrees and he let’s the car speak for itself.

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USDM Style BMW and VW (16)

I personally enjoy the overall appearance of Issei’s cars. Simple doesn’t usually get you on the cover of magazines or “best of show” award, there is no denying that if your car is your daily driver, simple is the way to go.

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Second car we have for you is Issei’s friend Takahiro and his 2009 Volkswagen Touran Highline. Pretty unusual car to customize the way Takahiro did but I am liking it very much. When I first saw the car I thought it was just lowered on some wheels, but I was completely wrong. First and foremost the thing that blew me away was the front bumper. It’s completely custom and features parts of Porsche Carrera 997 S front bumper!

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Even in the rear, the entire lower half was perfectly customized with a mix of Porsche Cayman lower half of the bumper. Just brilliant if you ask me. Now I am stuck here wondering if this thing sounds as good as it looks!

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This gorgeous Toucan is sitting on a custom set of coilovers and some pretty unique wheels. At least they’re unique in Japan. They’re genuine German RIAL Le Mans wheels sized in 19×8.6 +22 in the rear and 19×8.5 +30 in the front with a 215/35 set of tires all around. That stance is on point there is no denying that.

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I’ll leave you here with a few more photos of the Touran. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more of these two soon. Big thanks to our photographer Takashi Fukui for the cool photos!

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