Tokyo is losing some of its colour with the slow death of the Toyota Comfort taxi

In taxi form, the Crown Comfort was entirely business, with little flair offered. Standard variants boasted 14-inch steel wheels (later 15-inch), air-conditioning, manual windows, a two-speaker stereo, vinyl upholstery, power steering and a driver-controlled, manually openable rear passenger side door function. The latter feature was a revelation to me on my first trip to Japan when I reached for the door handle, only to have the door swing wide open nearly breaking my wrist – silly gaijin.