Oddly, that's "a Jap Thing"; same thing goes for my Mazdas and Hondas I've disassembled. DO note, Matt, that thread pitch is different on later model Japanese cars (Nissan, Mazda, Honda) once you get above about 8-10mm thread size; the Japanese like finer threads.

The only way I've resolved this is to have two boxes of used hardware: one for German and American stuff, and one for Japanese. And anything new I need (usually the bigger stuff, I've got tons of small stuff around) I usually buy OEM...