Living here in the U.S., my friend and I pulled alongside an early 1990s Honda Civic hatchback.
It had been modified with a VTEC engine and it looked to move quite fast and loud.
It also was a right hand drive, which I found very odd.
Would such a car have to be imported from Japan that way? Honda obviously didn’t make Civics that way in the US.
And it was a Honda Civic with a racing engine? Why would someone do that?
Japan does drive on the left, so yes it’s possible it was imported from there.
As to souping up a Civic - sadly, it’s something not uncommon here. Along with the low-slung double-exhaust thumping-stereo Citroen Saxo, which really amuses me.
Been living in a cave for the last ten years? 
Look up “rice rocket” on Google. They’ve been very popular for quite a while.
So you got your doors blown off by a 12-14 year old stock Civic?
Read the specs and weep:
1990 Honda Civic 1.6i VT
1992 Honda Civic VTi
This is an old Type-R
Honda Civic Type R
And this is a newer Type-R:
2001 Honda Civic Type R
Really, I’d never seen one before. And living in L.A., I thought I would have seen one before.
But people at work told me they were fairly common.
The right hand drive was weird.
Honda Civics are the ultimate lad cars here in Ireland. The type of cars young lads soup up and drive noisily revving round the town, stereo up to ninety.
And there are plenty of Japanese imports around here in general as they drive on the left as well. Mainly because the mileage tends to be lower on used cars and the spec is better sometimes too. Mine is a very girlie and quiet little Suzuki “Cultus” (The Japanese name for a Swift).