One of the great things about being friends with guys like Tetsuya Yamaguchi from USDM Jam/Yamazstore and Takeshi Kobayashi from Type_K on Facebook is that I get to constantly see updates of what is going on in Japan. Though they don’t have as many major events as we do here in the U.S., the Japanese enthusiasts are die-hard car heads and are willing to travel 5-10 hours one-way just to attend a meet. In the last couple years, the connection between the American and Japanese enthusiasts has grown a lot stronger thanks to social media outlets and internet blogging. When I logged onto Facebook over the weekend, I noticed that Mr. Tetsuya had uploaded some photos from an event that had just happened. Upon further research, I discovered that it was the first ever Hellaflush event held in Japan at the Fuji Speedway. I don’t recall if I’ve ever attended a Hellaflush event here in the U.S. but I’ve always been a fan of Mark Arcenal and all his many projects and accomplishments. I didn’t know that there was a Hellaflush event going on in Japan because, well…I don’t live in Japan and don’t have the resources to be there. While looking through Tetsuya’s photos of the event, I did spot some really nice cars there and I really wanted to show you guys some of the builds that Japan has to offer. I mean, you guys always see photos scattered throughout the net but for the most part, you only see the demo vehicles that major aftermarket tuning companies produce in Japan…

So I hit up Tetsuya to see if he would let me post up his photos from the event. It took a couple days for him to reply, but he was more than happy to let me use them. The only problem was, the photos on his Facebook page are a bit small and it’s hard to see some of the details that the cars had. If the event were held here, then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal because you have probably seen the cars before but for an event that’s held in Japan, I really wanted to give you guys the largest photos that fit to the layout of my site. These cars you will probably never have seen before on this site and the ones that you are familiar with are the ones that I’ve posted from some of either Takeshi’s events or Tetsuya’s…  Since the photos were a little too small for me to use, I went on a search through Flickr and found some really great photos from a Japanese enthusiast named Koji Karamata or his user “Ka Ry”. He actually has all kinds of photos from events that he has attended and I spent a good couple hours looking through them. The photos that he updated were straight from his camera so it was perfect for me to use…I just needed his permission. So I immediately messaged him through Flickr to ask if he was cool with me using them. On a random side note, he even has photos that he’s taken from last year’s Nisei Showoff event, so there was a chance that we might have crossed paths at one point and just totally didn’t notice because we had no idea who each other was. I was a little anxious because I really loved some of the cars that were at the Hellaflush Japan event. It only took a couple hours late in the early morning hours but he messaged me right back and was more than pleased to allow me to post up his photos…

Since some of his photos were straight from his camera, I took the liberty of going through the ones that I liked and cleaned them up a bit before re-sizing them to fit this site. I hope you guys really enjoy these photos because it’s all completely new and foreign to many of you. VERY BIG THANKS go out to Mr. Koji Karamata for allowing me to use these photos and for giving me the opportunity to bring you guys some new shit all the way from Japan…

Make sure also to check out his blog HERE… Got some pretty cool stuff that you won’t understand at all but there are pictures…. Seriously though, I used the Google translator to try to translate the name of his blog and the translation told me that it was the “Russian Stupidity Downtown Dance” blog…haha

Enjoy…

One of the first cars that really caught my eye from looking at some of Tetsuya’s photos was this Japanese firetruck-inspired Toyota Carina. To us it’s more known as an early 80s model Corolla wagon but I assure you, in it’s original Japanese state, it is a Toyota Carina. From a quick glance through Karamata’s blog, I believe that he’s actually been a part of the build process of this Carina because he has a lot of photos of it during it’s build-up stages…

I absolutely love how this thing looks. One of my dreams is to actually build one of these one day but I don’t have the time or the funds to go out and hunt one down to do all kinds of nutty shit to it…

The outside looks great and I love it when older Japanese cars are built in this fashion but where it really shines is under the hood…

You would never expect an old Toyota to have a bay like this, with the cage running into the shock towers through the firewall and the shave and tuck job. The sickest fucking thing about this is the motor…

…which is a rare (at least in the U.S. anyway) Yamaha-built BEAM’s 3S-GE from a Toyota Altezza… I’m telling you, this Carina is the shit….I can stare at this thing for hours…

I like the old school Advan graphical livery on this car…I’m not going to lie, I really don’t know what this is…Toyota Sprinter? Someone feel free to let me know…

Speaking of cars I am unfamiliar with, this Kei-car was also nice, sitting aggressively on some BBS RS wheels…

Honda TSX with Acura TSX conversion on BBS CH wheels…

Honda Civic Ferio on BBS wheels…

Honda Integra with a Top Fuel front lip, offsetting-colored headlights (?), and original Work Rezax wheels…

The Work Wheels booth at Hellaflush Japan… I was really digging the blue Fairlady and the Skyline in the lower photo but unfortunately he didn’t get any more photos of it…

The van and wagon scene in Japan is ridiculous…Seeing vans built like this make me wish we had a similar following out here in the U.S. Instead we have Dodge Caravans, and fucking Ford Windstars and shit…

Civic on Work CR-01s…

Honda CR-X also on Work CR-01s and a hopefully an authentic Mugen aero kit…

First gen. Honda Odyssey on BBS RS wheels…

Probably unnoticeable at a glance but take note of the left-hand drive and the 97-01 DC2 front end…I wonder if this is a legit Acura Integra that they imported over to Japan…

This guy’s rocking one of my Hellasunk stickers and has a Filipino flag hanging from his rear view mirror…

Ej1 Civic coupe on Work Equip 03s…

This may not seem like anything that special but from what Takeshi has mentioned online, this was just once a regular Civic coupe in Japan that the owner converted to full U.S. EM1-spec. The coupes don’t have sunroofs over there and the owner went as far as to import a sunroof back to Japan from here and then getting the headliner and all necessary pieces to make it look like an OEM EM1 coupe. Pretty cool if you really consider how much effort was used to make it look like a U.S. car…

Civic on some aggressive Buddy Club wheels…I believe he is running wheel spacers though…

Datsun 510 with some modern touches like Volk LE28 wheels and Recaro seats…

Check the fuel set-up and the horns on the carbs…

Not 100% sure, but I believe this is a Nissan Cedric sedan…I’m usually pretty familiar with these cars being a Q45 owner but I guess I didn’t get enough sleep or some shit today…

One of Toyota’s better looking sedans that we never got here in the U.S…. the Toyota Crown Athlete… While they get all these great looking sedans, we are stuck with the Avalon and Camry…

Toyota Aristo with some aggressive body work…

Original U.S. Acura CL imported back to Japan on some Enkei Racing S wheels..

Old school Toyota Cressida…

This is probably my favorite Honda Integra build in Japan right now. I’ve had my eye on it for the last two years now and the owner recently added some BBS LM wheels to his collection. I like how he just has all kind of different LM faces chillin’ on the floor….

Honda Torneo Euro-R on Advan TCII wheels…

I have no idea what the fuck this is but I thought it was interesting enough for me to post up…

Nissan 180SX with some interesting bright green barrels…

Really liked this VW Corrado…there looks to be quite a bit of extensive modifications done to this thing both inside and out…

Gonna close it out today with this Honda Accord wagon on BBS LM wheels…On the side of the wagon it says “InfiniteGBoys”…I have no idea what that means so you can take that and do what you want with it…Wagon is a good look though…

Back with the second half of the photos tomorrow…All kinds of good shit coming up so stay tuned…

Thanks for looking….