Top Secret - Trial Tuning Spirit Tower in Japan
If you love cars and you have never visited Japan before, I'm not sure it'll be top of your travel bucket list Let's face it, if you are a car freak or not, it is still an incredible place to experience the culture is simply fascinating, and do not charge even get me started on the food, but if you do happen to be a train you head, in my opinion, Japan is even more enjoyable.
Those of you who have had the pleasure of spending time in the country before, but understand if you've never been, Japan may seem a magical, fantasy world of dream, filled with all precious and car the treasures your wildest dreams could evoke for you if you are lucky dreams filled with shocking neon rainbow ferris wheels and movie scenes Tokyo Drift and Wangan midnight well I am here to tell you exactly what that Japan's car culture is as if you know it, it is there to find in Japan.
Before this trip, I da visited Japan twice before but I'd never managed to stay longer than a fortnight, just didn t seem near enough time to see all the cool car stuff I'd always dreamed of it so discover I decided to do something crazy, I put my beloved Datsun inspired 240ZG S30 project car in storage with 95 percent of my other property, handed the keys to my rental in Auckland, packed a suitcase and hopped on a flight to Tokyo.
Vivre hotels wasn t going to be an option this time, so after a little research, I ended up booking a rental apartment through a website called Airbnb I had six weeks to explore the country rising sun and the beautiful view to wake up every morning I finally living my dream in Japan, and it was a good feeling.
I also had the chance to share this dream with Peter aka Pedey, my partner largest husband's valet, who recently joined the team here at Speedhunters.
Anyway, getting back to what I said earlier about where to find the car culture in Japan, it is true that if you simply book at random flights and show in the city without any idea of where to go or what to do, you might not see the coolest cars of the secret to enjoy the Japanese car scene planning, research and to have friends or contacts who can help you with your adventures the language barrier can make things quite difficult, and it really surprised me the first time I went there almost no one could speak English so sometimes it can be difficult to find some information to help you your travels, which is where the Japanese friends based may certainly be useful.
Of course, not everyone has friends in Japan; I certainly did not know anyone there until a few years ago, but you should not not be discouraged, and I hope this story can give you some helpful tips Firstly, why not try learn some Japanese is actually incredibly simple and I have learned basic phrases lot mainly just listen to podcasts on this site I have not managed to find the brain's ability to absorb an even complicated kanji characters, but the two basic alphabets hirigana and Katakana are really easy last year, I remember them by writing them by hand on these flashcards while I ate every morning my breakfast.
After we settled into our small apartment we ventured in Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, as we heard about the special import Tokyo Car Show to be held at the convention center there when we went down the train, we were greeted with the strange spectacle strange urban landscapes in Japan can often make you feel that you are in a completely different dimension are we even on planet Earth again.
The show had a small selection and impressive luxury vehicles modified on the screen, including Kato-san Liberty Walk freshly modified 458 Challenge, which was extremely beautiful in person, you will be able to get a much better look this outrageous Ferarri soon as Dino has already spent some time alone with her quality with his camera.
A Lamborghini Countach on Meister S1 wheels work Some might call this sacrilege, but you got no choice but to have an open mind to the Japanese car shows in the country of the weird and wonderful, everything is speaking of shows car, I would highly recommend basing your trip to Japan around an automotive event or car meet Tokyo Special import car show was only a small event, but if you go back and look through our records show Japanese and festivals this might give you some ideas that way, you are not guarantee to see incredible cars, but you will get the opportunity to meet new people so I planned my trip around Kings Offset event Fuji Speedway, where I met some awesome new friends both in Japan and around the world.
To be honest, I have not really spent a lot of time visiting tuner shops in Japan, but for some reason, I seem to always finish the RWB seat in the current daily driver Chiba Nakai-san, it absurdly wide 964 convertibles, has absolutely nothing to help my growing obsession for black Porsches of the time nothing.
I was not really in RWB do something in particular, except to say hello to M. Nakai and Dino to help pull this beautiful build 964 IROC inspiration, you can look over here.
Oh, and drooling on the various treaties RWB Porsches in the courtyard of Nakai-san, of course, this magnificent 993 has to be one of my favorites of all time, even though I think I prefer the old protrusion 964 headlights better with visits to the workshop like this, the label may vary, but if the staff does not know you, so it is always best if you can try to get in first contact most stores set are open to visitors, but some small businesses are private, and may get a surprise if you show up with cameras flashing.
You can even print a message or the translated text and ready on your phone, explaining who you are and the reason for your visit Do not let this put you off, but it is good to remember that their studio is their workplace, and politeness is an important part of Japanese society.
As much as I love Porsches jumbo, twisted my hunger to see the strange, dark side of the car culture of Japan remained dissatisfied It was time to get into the night.
Tokyo may not be the capital of the car in Japan, but many car lovers live here But the city is so densely populated and parking prices so exorbitant, many of them choose to live a life be calmer on the outskirts of town or in neighboring prefectures, where parking is not a problem.
Although perhaps not as great as it once was, the night social scene is vibrant and thriving here if you know where to look when people here aren t take their car to the local slopes or mountain passes, they're taking somewhere else to have fun with this car as usually always doubles as their daily driver parking meetups late night hanging out with friends are a ritual, and Daikoku-Futo PA Yokohama is the most famous sacred place known for it.
On every night of the week, present at Daikoku and you will see at least some cool street cars modified around the parking lot.
More often, it'll just be a few different groups of friends to relax there, comparing their latest modifications to their cars or to perform mini photoshoots Sometimes you might stumble upon a larger scale meeting that instead, what happened to us on a Friday night when we decided to stop and see if anything was happening.
As we drove down the ramp to the parking area, you could hear the low beat of the song Crazy Frog I'm not kidding, and that we are closer, it got and louder until it was really strong a group of about 10 minivans were having a battle of takeoff, each in turn to blow on their full sound systems inside this Honda Stream was absolutely mental mounted neon.
It is not a social crime in Japan to do something with your car that really stands Breaking the norm here is expected and welcomed Of course, there are purists still there, but the majority of car guys love inject creativity and personal style in their cars if it means following the unusual style of movement, breaking trends, or from their own as the installation of a set of Feel Nissan 370Z wheels on your BMW E46 Why not.
This group of Nissan-loving friends had parked their rides to take some photos, so I crushed them sneakily shoot Parking is such an incredible place at night, with looping Highway and twisting over and street lights, creating a strange celestial glow in the hazy sky What a beautiful sight.
In recent years, police have become stricter with the repression of those who organized meeting in Daikoku PA, and therefore, other parking areas began to gain popularity as meeting places of choice Such parking is Atsugi PA, which is more in Kanagawa prefecture, west of Yokohama on Saturday evening very hot and humid, our new friend Charles Zayas kindly led us to where he arranged to meet with other local car we were not too sure how many people would actually occur.
But when we arrived, the whole car park was full These are the first cars that caught my eye a Nissan super-clean Silvia S14 3 alias a S14 with a front 180SX and Z30 equally clean Soarer They made a great pair with their brilliant corresponding systems and gunmetal bronze paint.
Music was provided by a Honda Odyssey which had a large more aggressive stance of the van I saw Daikoku The installation was seriously impressive, but before having the chance to admire more, I'm distracted by something big and farting pink.
The level of customization on this Toyota Vellfire was crazy, the van has undergone a custom bodywork on all four corners to fit a set massively wide working wheels Why do a very good family van, you ask I'm sure the owner and his family could say to his wife and children were all there.
The first Nissan Cima had an interesting mix of both drift and VIP elements being the one hand, the wheels were super large with a lot of negative camber, but the wings of the plant had been removed and left inside the rough and unequal was stripped and completely caged, with kanjo mask thrown over the front seat.
Hiding in a dark corner over to the other side of the parking lot, I came across this race-inspired cool KP Starlet rocking N2 guards and a classic set of vintage wheels RSS MkII These cars look so damn good with Flares retro box-shaped.
This C34 Laurel belongs to one of the members of the crew Lowbrain, and if its appearance makes you want to comment on how weak it is and how it should be undriveable, don t bother even his car built drift to this end, and yes, it gets driven way.
The owner of this Skyline C210 has adopted a more conventional approach, opting for a less drastic decline of working height and a set of SSR wheels Longchamp XR4 It was an interesting crowd that showed that night; slammed kei cars, minivans, own street cars and beat-up Drifters, but I did not expect this.
On the other side of the parking area, I could hear a strange noise was that the cars bouncing lowriders A team had pulled up, and the sound I heard was of earlier sound raising their Hydros and slamming their cars against the asphalt Talk about a grand entrance Fortunately, while I Dorking around the other side of the parking lot, Pedey managed to capture on video.
And then I saw the shadow of a conversion of the shark-nose hood and an oil cooler mounted in front peering from the shadows, and a metallic pink flash.
It was under the cover of darkness early in the shade of the highway above us What I said as another car pulled into the parking area off the expressway and shone his headlights, the mystery machine was turned on for me photography in all its glory Kaido Racer style lines of the original body of the car was almost unrecognizable, but I could almost recognize GX71 Chaser somewhere in foreign panels for me tuning style is the strange and mysterious side of the Japanese car scene I originally fell in love many years ago, and this was the first time I'd ever seen a car style like this in person he didn t quite make sense, it seemed outrageous even stupid and I'm obsessed with what I needed to find more.
I would have to wait a few weeks before I get another retro Shakotan set well, but I'll get to that soon the time we returned from Atsugi that night, we had less than two hours to catch some shut-eye before jumping on a train to meet Dino once more; this time we d head to Tsukuba Circuit for event idlers Games.
One thing I should mention, and it is something I see a lot of demand is that you definitely need a car to reach all these places parking areas are connected to highways, they're generally not accessible by any other transportation, and race tracks in Japan are generally based in very rural areas.
I have heard of people catching trains to Tsukuba, but after a long day in the sun around the hauling bags and equipment of the camera, it just isn t something I'd recommend car hire in Japan costs cheap, but Aren t tolls, so always allow a little more in your budget for this Believe me, events like this are worthwhile.
Every day of track in Japan seem to have such an atmosphere relaxed and happy about them, and the idle day games is no different this year there was a certain air of excitement floated for the first time as they were running a drift among the handful of sessions Watching Manji 10 cars in the central part and the tandem drift around the corner all together put a big smile on my face.
One of the cars setting the more rubber was this little MX-5 NB, which put an even bigger smile on my face as I looked past the drift cars in my sleep deprived state, I started off stun in a waking dream where I stayed in Japan forever, bought a JZX100 and became a hard girl to cook Drifter Sigh I want.
For some people, however, this is actually their life my friend Toby New Zealand moved to Japan two years ago, with this dream in mind exactly least be a part of girl I have say, I do not think I've ever met anyone as dedicated to achieving their dream Toby lives in a cramped apartment of choice because it is so full of car parts and pay a ridiculous amount money each month for parking it s working on this project for R33 Skyline drift for a while now, in case you were wondering why he's working on it on the side of the road, well, he didnt anywhere else to do so, he actually passes hours under a railway bridge in the space designated public park, working on his car in the early morning hours, I seriously so much admiration for his devotion to his passion.
We hooked up with Toby a bit during our trip, and next weekend, he drove us in Honjo circuit so that we can check the Muscle Drift event taking place there.
This was my first visit Honjo Circuit It's located in a beautiful small valley surrounded by chirping birds and lush greenery, and as I walked around the stands I felt my heart rate increase slightly at the sight of some of the present expense machines.
Honjo is a narrow track, and it has some serious bumps and pieces that made for some great spectating.
After major battles ended, each team came out and took turns making tandem tracks You can see that these drivers are getting a lot of practice together and they knew very well their driving style teammates How they drifted so closely to unison was almost mesmerizing.
After the event was over, we returned to the parking lot and spotted another four-door R33 Skyline parked the car in front of Toby, and the owner and his friends showed as we were busy inspecting before we knew it, at least a conversation hour had passed, we shared photos and began to compare engine bays.
We all exchanged stickers and the owner and his girlfriend invited Toby their next trip Touge I did not catch the name of the girl, but she showed me pictures of his car drift and I showed him some pictures of my 280Z it was funny that we could not really understand, but the message was clear always remember what I said not to have friends in Japan If you make the effort and have good intentions, it's so easy to meet new people when you share the same common interest.
It seemed that we visited Japan for a good time of the year, as there were many events every weekend throughout June but there was a particular area of the Japanese scene that my adventure always seemed to be missing in the nostalgic or kyusha cars.
We heard word of a nostalgic car festival held near Nagoya, and we of course he would be damned big budget we decided to book a rental car and get up to 4 00 hours for the trip five hours at the address we d been given, I have to force myself not to think about how we ended up paying road tolls that day, but put that way, it was more than the cost of renting car itself twice.
We passed paddy fields endless hills and beautiful mountains before arriving at a small township in the depths of Shiga Finally, we began to see more cars like this Hakosuka sedan, and we knew we were in the right place, but nothing could we prepared for the nostalgic goodness enticing that we were about to witness.
If you like Japanese cars with vintage treatment Shakotan, you will understand how it was the total automotive paradise for me after car drove by car; Skylines, Laurels, and Fairladys Celicas and each wheel believed you could ever dream it was too much for me.
By midday temperatures reached 34 degrees Celsius and 100 percent humidity, and I think it was actually the hottest I've ever been in my life It was at that moment that I realized that there was another car that I hadn t visited with even more cars, and it was a thought that I could go up 10 minutes I seriously, but fortunately there was a lot of vending machines yes, in the middle of the campaign to keep me hydrated.
Perhaps you would be interested to know that many car owners at the event were a generation older than me; perhaps in their 40s or even 50 These guys were changing cars with large wings and large wheels well before the long position has become a popular thing; perhaps before you even born Talking to some of these people and see these incredible machines in real life has given me a whole new sense of respect for this nostalgic agree culture, and strangely made me appreciate my Datsun more.
It's been four years since I got off the foot on Japanese soil, and I can now officially say that I explored all parts of the Japanese car culture that I wanted so desperately to experience Well, for yet at least.
You can experience the Japanese car culture like this for you too; It simply planning, research, and slowly build relationships with those involved If one thing I've learned, it is that the real secret to the discovery of the automotive scene of Japan lost in what you should definitely try it some time .
Taryn Croucher taryncroucher Twitter Instagram taryncroucher.
Additional pictures of Peter Kelly. Pedeykelly Instagram
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I just had a friend who moved to Japan, they are too big car fans and they said I can go out at any time, and now this post makes me want to get still worse now just to get a little money set aside.
If you arrive to Toshi-san a RWB visit, he will arrange that I exchanged a few emails with him and took a day to show a little RWB to shoot the shit with Nakai It prepping some idle cars if I have not try interfere or anything too just take some pictures with him and his cold store very cool guy and always welcoming.
I plan a first trip to Norway for a wedding, my own, but it is on my list for you.
Great story I hope you find friends willing to let you drive their Datsuns to get on desire.
Secrets of Japanese car scene, a Japanese car, scene, other, special import show.