As you all know, I wasn’t able to make the trip out to Japan this year for the annual Tokyo Auto Salon event. I was really strapped for cash towards the end of the year so it just wasn’t possible for me to make such a big trip out in the beginning of the year. I fully intend on going in 2013 though so I hope this show is still as strong as it was this year. I didn’t intend on really doing any coverage of the event either since I wasn’t there, but luckily for me and you, Yasutaka Shimomukai from Tactical Art made the trip out and was kind enough to take some photos for me. He’s about an hour or so away from the TAS show so I have to thank him for providing these shots. I mean, he didn’t go just to take photos for me but I didn’t expect him to take as many photos as he did. There is a huge mix of content in the coming parts so expect to see more than just Honda stuff…

From what I’ve seen of coverage online of the TAS 2012, I think I’m correct in saying that their automotive “scene” is going in a completely different direction from what we are doing here in the states. While we are over here doing heavy custom fabrication and focusing more on time attack and road racing, they are focusing more on wild, custom paint, and more luxury-themed vehicles. They have been building performance cars for years and doing time attack stuff so it’s easy to see why they have progressed into a different style of tuning. We are still focused on achieving that “race car look” so a lot of the stuff that you see us doing over here in the U.S. reflects that. Even our show cars are themed to look like race cars and many of our cars even pull double-duty and do both. We have our luxury, VIP-style cars but that scene is nowhere near as progressive as the rest of the automotive tuning community. Many people are still stuck on that whole “stance” deal and trying to be “hellaflush” or stanced-out or whatever and don’t focus on building complete cars. Over in Japan, they are also into the stance-look as well but that’s more of an underground thing and not anywhere near as popular as it is in America. Their VIP builds are starting to get more and more over-the-top but even still, they are very well-rounded. From simple observation, it just seems that they are more into the high-end, exotic, luxury look now more-so than ever before. It’s definitely cool to see how things are done over there though because they are always a couple steps ahead of us in a lot of ways. The culture started over there after all so we are often times playing catch-up to what they are doing over there. Whether or not we are going to eventually be as into the high-end stuff as they are remains to be seen. For now, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the crazy stuff that they are producing over in Japan…

One thing I am happy to see is how strong Rays Engineering has stayed throughout the years. Advan as well…these companies were in it early on and through all the years of knock-offs and having their wheels reproduced by other companies, they have remained at the forefront of the industry and their popularity has not wavered one bit. It’s awesome to see how many vehicles at the event are sitting on Volk Racing wheels, Gram Lights, Advan Racing wheels, etc. I hope things stay this way in coming future too. Both companies offer great wheels and it’s great to see them succeed. I don’t know why but to this very day I still find myself smiling when I see a non-Japanese car with some TE37s on them…

Anyways, on with the coverage. There are a couple cars that I have seen from other online coverage that Yasutaka missed but that’s alright. Understandably, it was an incredible busy event so it’s very easy to miss some cars just because there were so many people floating around in front of the cars. It’s kind of like SEMA, where you have to be there an extended amount of time just to be able to get the right shot of the car that you want. From what I understand, he only went for one day so he couldn’t possibly have gotten everything there at TAS 2012. I have another source for photos so if there is something that I really think deserves to be mentioned, I will follow up later with some more shots. With that said, a HUGE thanks goes out to Yasutaka and the Tactical Art crew for making this possible… Now…photos…

A very nice Nissan Y51 Fuga posted up outside in the parking lot of TAS 2012…

Much like the U.S. SEMA shows, females were few and far between…

A couple overhead shots of what a section of  TAS 2012 looked like…

Wurde Porsche Panamera… “Wurde” stands for dignity in German I believe and this is actually a Japanese tuning company that creates aerokits and exhaust systems for Porsches…

T&E Vertex R35 GT-R….I knew they had a front lip for the R35 for awhile now but the carbon fenders and that added piece at the end of the bumper makes me think that those may be widened fenders…Hard to tell because this is the only photo I’ve seen of it so far…

The Sense Brand Celsior is kind of booty-looking but I thought I’d show you guys some photos of the exhaust systems that they are producing for VIP cars….

Check out the exhaust on this other Celsior. Twisted pipes and the cut-outs in the rear bumper are some things that you will never see over here…I’m almost curious and wonder how it sounds…

Restored ’70s-era Kawasaki H2 750 Mach IV…

LXF Design Toyota/Lexus LS600…

…and the most uninterested model EVER….nothing says “come check out the LXF Design LS600” than a girl with a face that says “get me the fuck out of here”…

T&E Vertex 2JZ-swapped widebody E92 BMW…

Oh this was a novel idea…Many of you scouring online for TAS coverage has probably already seen this but it was a very cool idea. This as you know, is the new Toyota 86. Well, instead of having two different 86s representing two rival tire companies, they decided to put two different liveries on each side, one side representing Falken Tire, and the other side…

…representing Dunlop Tires… They put a make-shift wall up to make it look like a half-cut of an 86 on each side and it’s a something that only the Japanese would think of to do…

Really like the new Rays Gram Light wheel and center cap…I don’t know the exact model because it’s new but it’s probably 57-something because that seems to be the name trend with the Gram Light line…Endless brakes are looking awfully good too…

Direzza not only has tires, they also offer forged wheels…The older ones were made by Speed Star Racing (SSR) but I’m not 100% sure about these new ones…

The Mugen CR-Z RR Concept that I posted up late last week… this is actually one of two, the other is a lime greenish color with slightly different aero…

Mugen brakes and the latest Mugen wheel, a 19-inch forged wheel tentatively named “Mugen LS-Mesh”…haha…

The rear of the RR Concept…Note the center-exit exhaust and how it will differ from the other CR-Z RR Concept…

The other CR-Z RR…

As stated, the other center exit exhaust…rumor has it that this exhaust variation can also be used as a tow hitch for the Mugen Trailer RR…That rumor of course, was created by your’s truly at this exact moment…

The Rotrex-type Mugen Supercharged CR-Z engine with Mugen air box…

A closer look at the Mugen airbox for the CR-Z RR…

Mugen F1 car sitting pretty…

As Loi from Sportcar Motion would say “Aero are serious”…

Bossy Repsol bike…

Honda HSV-010 GT aka the NSX they should have made instead of the current concept they are considering…

Love how menacing the front of the HSV looks…

Mugen Honda CR-Z…making the world a better place with new, non-attractive Mugen wheels…

Rear-wheel drive, battery-powered,  Honda EV-STER concept…

From the future concept to the distant past in the form of the original Honda roadster, the S600…

Japanese patrons shopping for some Honda Goods…

Honda N-Box Flash Box….

Raybrig Honda NSX Super GT car…

The “Raven”, which looks to be a Mark IV Toyota Supra with a 350Z Veilside front bumper, Lambo-style doors, and BMW F10 5-series headlights…Quoth the Raven “I’m fucking on fire right now”….

The Nitto Tires booth…

Wild chop-top Subaru STI from Car Service Hiro…

TWS Forged…

Lexus LF-A in the TWS Forged booth…

Toyota G-Sports Mark X Concept…

Toyota Celsior from Glanz…I wish Yasutaka would have gotten a closer look and taken some shots of the interior of this thing because it looks pretty interesting…

Pregia Tissimo Daihatsu Mira…

An example what I was referring to at the beginning of this post about the custom paint work that seems to be popular in Japan…

Weber Sports Mazda RX-8…I like the custom paint work in the a-pillar and roof…

“Itasha” themed Audi S5 coupe with Lambo doors and some models that kind of creep me out…Batman agrees…

That’s all for today… Check back tomorrow for part 2 of the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon coverage…

Thanks for looking…