massively different insurance costs.
The cars are 'worth less' only by virtue of the buying publics phobia of them
It would seem with those two statements you are only perpetuating myths you read on the web.
I bought a zed not 6 months ago, i viewed many, jdm and uk cars, from ebay, gumtree, autotrader, pistonheads etc and from very real first hand very recent experience i can tell you, hand on heart, there is not a lot of difference between price and quality of either cars and insurance is a few quid here or there either way.
Just did a quote £300 for my UK, £540 for Import.
Not hating on JDM's as I said earlier on in this post its swings and round abouts as you buy cheap then sell cheap.