Lovers kissing in Toyota MR2s is one of Japan’s most memorable TV scenes

So you thought the scene in Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift where Sung Kang drifts through the crowd at Shibuya Crossing was the most famous car-related clip to take place there? Well how about the time when two lovers just parked their Toyota MR2s in the middle of the world’s busiest crosswalk and started making out? The scene from the Japanese TV series You’re My Favorite in the World surpasses the drift, and there wasn’t even any CGI involved.

The romantic comedy miniseries You’re My Favorite in the World aired its 11-episode run from January to March of 1990. It was just a couple of months after the transition between the first-generation AW11 and the second-gen SW20, which debuted in October 1989.

We’ve never actually seen the show, but from what we gather it’s about the romantic interplays and love triangles between a group of friends. The group consists of men and women living in Tokyo, and the premise is not unlike that of Friends or How I Met Your Mother.

The show’s intro is a compilation of the many kisses between the Rachel and Ross of the series, played by Atsuko Asano and Hiroshi Mikami, ending with the MR2 makeout sesh. However that same scene is also the big finale of the entire series. After all the misunderstandings and roadblocks keeping them apart are lifted, they rush toward each other, meet at the most iconic intersection in Japan, and proceed to suck face. Apparently spoilers weren’t really a concern back then.

In the heyday of Japan’s automotive industry it was pretty common to find cool cars peppered into TV shows for no real reason. Whether or not Toyota had a product placement deal in place is a fact seemingly lost to time. Though the kiss a memorable visual, but we can’t help but think it would’ve been a lot easier and dramatic — while also promoting a key feature — if both cars were T-top versions with the panels removed.

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5 Responses to Lovers kissing in Toyota MR2s is one of Japan’s most memorable TV scenes

  1. 555jay says:

    Agree that they both should have been the t-top versions, but also…

    Why didn’t they line up driver-side-to-driver-side? They both veer to the opposite side of the road and then climb over not-insignificant center consoles to pop out their passenger side windows?

    • Ben Hsu says:

      Good point. I had my USDM glasses on and totally missed that!

    • j_c says:

      Perhaps that was the only way to gracefully park in the box formed by the zebra crossings?

      Pivoting both cars to the very middle of the road also minimizes the impediment to traffic. I don’t know what the situation is now but closing off public spaces for filming is rarely done in Asia. In TV dramas there are usually bystanders standing still in the background of a scene if it’s in a public setting.

  2. Mick says:

    Good ‘ol AW11 MR2 is star of Australia’s Eurovision finalist this year also…weird

    https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/australia-slays-at-eurovision-and-books-a-place-in-the-final-20230511-p5d7t1.html

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