In common with all the cars we receive from the vendor, who is very well-known to us, this car is a Japanese import.

Now then.

What exactly does that news tell you? Firstly, it tells you that this car will have experienced the pampered and fastidiously curated existence enjoyed by nearly all prestigious, luxury Japanese imports.

It may be something of a cliché to talk about the value of ‘honour’ in Japanese society and culture.

But it’s no exaggeration to say that this tradition is alive and well in the Japanese motor trade.

This is a world in which mechanics are assiduously diligent in their work, dealers are scrupulously honest in their valuations, and owners take obsessive levels of pride in the care and attention they lavish upon their expensive European cars.

Secondly, it tells you that the car has spent its life in a country where salt is thrown over the shoulders of sumo wrestlers, not chucked all over the roads with reckless abandon like it is in the UK.

Ergo, Japanese c...