To save the hijack of someone's valuable thread, and not really wanting to make an issue of this, but...
Extracts unashamedly stolen from Wiki
Toyota Land Cruiser Origins
When the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Philippines in 1941 they found an old Bantam Mk II Jeep and promptly sent it to Japan. The Japanese military authorities ordered Toyota to make a similar vehicle but to change the appearance. The resulting Model AK prototype led to the Yon-Shiki Kogata Kamotsu-Sha (type 4 compact cargo-truck).Later in 1941 the Japanese government told Toyota to produce a light truck for Japan's military. In 1942 Toyota developed the AK10 prototype by reverse-engineering a Bantam GP Jeep. The half-ton truck features an upright front grille, flat front wheel arches that angled down and back like the FJ40, headlights mounted above the wheel arches on either side of the radiator, and a folding windshield. The AK10 is powered by the 2259 cc, 4-cylinder Type C engine from the Toyota Model AEsedan coupled to a three-speed manual transmission and two-speed transfer gearbox. Unlike the U.S. Jeep, few AK10's were ever used and photographs of them in the battlefield are rare.The postwar Toyota "Jeep" BJ is completely different from the AK10 and inherits no mechanical parts from it.Off-road orientedBJ and FJ (1951–1955)
The "Toyota Jeep BJ" Series was introduced alongside the following:
What is a Jeep? According to Wiki, it’s a brand of American automobiles that is a division of Chrysler Group LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian multinational automaker Fiat S.p.A.
Many explanations of the origin of the word jeep have proven difficult to verify. The most widely held theory is that the military designation GP (for Government Purposes or General Purpose) was slurred into the word Jeep in the same way that the contemporary HMMWV (for High-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle) has become known as the Humvee. Joe Frazer, Willys-Overland President from 1939 to 1944, claimed to have coined the word jeep by slurring the initials G.P.
Words of the Fighting Forces by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in the library at The Pentagon gives this definition:Jeep: A four-wheel drive vehicle of one-half to one-and-one-half-ton capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the ½-ton command vehicle. Also referred to as "any small plane, helicopter, or gadget."This definition is supported by the use of the term "jeep carrier" to refer to the Navy's small escort carriers.The original trademark brand-name application was filed in February 1943 by Willys-Overland.
It is also used as a generic term with a lowercase (jeep) for vehicles inspired by the Jeep that are suitable for use on rough terrain.As the only company that continually produced Jeep vehicles after the war, in June 1950 Willys-Overland was granted the privilege of owning the name "Jeep" as a registered trademark.And so on… which leads me to conclude (rightly or wrongly) that BJ stands for the US Bantam Jeep, when the word Jeep became a registered trade-mark at least 8 years before anything made by Toyota was called a “Land Cruiser”.Consequently (although I also don’t like to hear Land Cruisers being called jeeps or any 4x4 other than Jeep, for that matter) it seems quite in order to call a Land Cruiser a jeep as long as a lower case “j” is used.
These are my observations and I'm more than ready to be corrected.
Extracts unashamedly stolen from Wiki
Toyota Land Cruiser Origins
When the Imperial Japanese Army occupied the Philippines in 1941 they found an old Bantam Mk II Jeep and promptly sent it to Japan. The Japanese military authorities ordered Toyota to make a similar vehicle but to change the appearance. The resulting Model AK prototype led to the Yon-Shiki Kogata Kamotsu-Sha (type 4 compact cargo-truck).Later in 1941 the Japanese government told Toyota to produce a light truck for Japan's military. In 1942 Toyota developed the AK10 prototype by reverse-engineering a Bantam GP Jeep. The half-ton truck features an upright front grille, flat front wheel arches that angled down and back like the FJ40, headlights mounted above the wheel arches on either side of the radiator, and a folding windshield. The AK10 is powered by the 2259 cc, 4-cylinder Type C engine from the Toyota Model AEsedan coupled to a three-speed manual transmission and two-speed transfer gearbox. Unlike the U.S. Jeep, few AK10's were ever used and photographs of them in the battlefield are rare.The postwar Toyota "Jeep" BJ is completely different from the AK10 and inherits no mechanical parts from it.Off-road orientedBJ and FJ (1951–1955)
- 1950 — The Korean War created demand for a military light utility vehicle. The war put a Jeep on Japan's doorstep. The United States government ordered 100 vehicles with the new Willys specs and Toyota was asked to build them.
- 1951 — The Toyota "Jeep" BJ prototype was developed in January 1951. This came from the demand for military-type utility vehicles, much like the British Land Rover Series 1 that appeared in 1948. The Jeep BJ was larger than the original U.S. Jeep and more powerful thanks to its Type B 3.4 L six-cylinder OHVGasoline engine which generated 63 kW (86 PS; 84 hp) at 3600 rpm and 215 N·m (159 lb·ft) torque at 1600 rpm. It had a part-time four-wheel drive system like the Jeep. Unlike the Jeep, however, the Jeep BJ had no low-range transfer case.
- 1951 — In July 1951, Toyota's test driver Ichiro Taira drove the next generation of the Jeep BJ prototype up to the sixth stage of Mount Fuji, the first vehicle to climb that high. The test was overseen by the National Police Agency (NPA). Impressed by this feat, the NPA quickly placed an order for 289 of these offroad vehicles, making the Jeep BJ their official patrol car.
- 1953 — Regular production of the "Toyota Jeep BJ" began at Toyota Honsya Plant (Rolling chassis assembly), and body assembly and painting was done at Arakawa Bankin Kogyo KK, later known as ARACO (now an affiliate of Toyota Auto Body Co.).
The "Toyota Jeep BJ" Series was introduced alongside the following:
- BJ-T (Touring),
- BJ-R (Radio),
- BJ-J (Cowl-chassis for a fire-engine).
What is a Jeep? According to Wiki, it’s a brand of American automobiles that is a division of Chrysler Group LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian multinational automaker Fiat S.p.A.
Many explanations of the origin of the word jeep have proven difficult to verify. The most widely held theory is that the military designation GP (for Government Purposes or General Purpose) was slurred into the word Jeep in the same way that the contemporary HMMWV (for High-Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle) has become known as the Humvee. Joe Frazer, Willys-Overland President from 1939 to 1944, claimed to have coined the word jeep by slurring the initials G.P.
Words of the Fighting Forces by Clinton A. Sanders, a dictionary of military slang, published in 1942, in the library at The Pentagon gives this definition:Jeep: A four-wheel drive vehicle of one-half to one-and-one-half-ton capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty. A term applied to the bantam-cars, and occasionally to other motor vehicles (U.S.A.) in the Air Corps, the Link Trainer; in the armored forces, the ½-ton command vehicle. Also referred to as "any small plane, helicopter, or gadget."This definition is supported by the use of the term "jeep carrier" to refer to the Navy's small escort carriers.The original trademark brand-name application was filed in February 1943 by Willys-Overland.
It is also used as a generic term with a lowercase (jeep) for vehicles inspired by the Jeep that are suitable for use on rough terrain.As the only company that continually produced Jeep vehicles after the war, in June 1950 Willys-Overland was granted the privilege of owning the name "Jeep" as a registered trademark.And so on… which leads me to conclude (rightly or wrongly) that BJ stands for the US Bantam Jeep, when the word Jeep became a registered trade-mark at least 8 years before anything made by Toyota was called a “Land Cruiser”.Consequently (although I also don’t like to hear Land Cruisers being called jeeps or any 4x4 other than Jeep, for that matter) it seems quite in order to call a Land Cruiser a jeep as long as a lower case “j” is used.
These are my observations and I'm more than ready to be corrected.
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A Land Cruiser a jeep? I think you'll burn in Hell for suggesting such a thing Clive.
pains me every time lol even stuff like a X5 is listed like that. I can to a point live with people saying nice jeep but it's when they say nice landrover 
usually followed by me informing them it's a landcruiser lol.
