I always look forward to this time of year… Not only because it means that its finally cooling down because Summer is over, but also because of Takeshi Kobayashi’s annual Kday event. His event falls just around the same time as my annual Anniversary meet so it is almost like our events are linked together in many ways. Takeshi is one of my dear friends from Japan so I always am overjoyed to see that he is doing well. This is the fourth Kday that he has done now and the event continues to have a consistent level of high-quality cars every year. For those unaware, Sendai is not exactly close to the major cities like Tokyo and Osaka. It is actually a much smaller, more remote area. For guys to make the trek out there to be apart of Kday is a big deal because not only is it incredibly far, it isn’t exactly cheap to make that drive with the Japanese highway system which requires you to pay tolls. It shows a great deal of respect to Takeshi and his brand for guys to make that journey because it shows that it is an important event to the Japanese car community. Just to give you an example, our friends from Tactical Art have made the trip out to Sendai the last couple of years and it is a drive that is over 10 hours from Osaka to Sendai. Yes, OVER TEN HOURS. Hell, even Ken from Wekfest flew out there to attend Kday Chapter 4 with our friend Hiro Ueda from Osaka. Ken got an international driver’s license just so he could drive Hiro’s Odyssey there while Hiro drove the first-ever K20-swapped E-AT Civic to Sendai. You’d think that an immaculate machine like that would be trailered to and from but no, they actually drove the AT Civic. That’s crazy!….

One of my favorite things about the Kday series is the variety of great builds that show up. I guess you can say that our events are similar in that way. They’re not very big events, not everyone knows about it, but it is always packed with great cars. For guys like us that appreciate the builds more so than the hype, Kday is the perfect show to go to. Takeshi has a heavy influence on USDM car culture in Japan, but he is still a diehard Japanese Honda guy. You’ll see him execute his own cars in a very American way, but more so in the way that we build our cars with a Japanese influence. If there is anyone out there who understands timeless West Coast American Honda builds, it is Takeshi. He’s been around it for over ten years now so he has a great understanding of our community here. That and hanging out with the actual owners and builders helps too. He makes the trip out to America a couple times a year and we enjoy having him. There was a time when he came out to the U.S. so much that we missed not having him around because it almost seemed as if he lived here, haha. He also goes all over Japan for events so people return that respect by making the trip to Kday, even though it isn’t a HUGE event by any means. The people that matter are there and that is what counts in the long run. It doesn’t have to be a giant car show or meet and you don’t need over 1000 cars for people to respect it…

I couldn’t make it this year, but luckily, I have great people over there to lend a helping hand. For Part 1 and 2, we’re going to be looking at the Kday C4 event through the eyes of Koji Karimata aka “Ka Ry”. He always has great work and it is a pleasure for me to host the photos here on STICKYDILJOE.COM. I’ve cleaned them up slightly but they never require too much work. Karimata is a good photographer that has a good eye for the cars that we are accustomed to seeing. Thanks to him for making this possible and for making the trip to Sendai with his group of car guys. I hope you enjoy these great builds that you’re going to see today as much as I have…

PHOTOS BY KOJI KARIMATA aka “Ka Ry”
WORDS BY STICKYDILJOE

Masaki Fukuda from L2P decided to changes things up for the Kday C4 event and switched over to a Mugen theme instead of his usual Spoon Sports look. It looks slightly different now, but this is the same EG6 that I had a chance to ride in during my visit to Japan in January. Fukuda has a good collection of parts so he can always switch things up whenever he wants….

Kohei Taguchi’s Honda Integra Type R with a BackYard Special front bumper, Spoon Sports mirrors, Mugen Gen. 1 rear spoiler, and Dunlop Formula Hart CP-Rs…..

Seiya Suzuki’s Phoenix Yellow Integra Type R also running a Mugen Gen. 1 wing and Spoon Sports mirrors, but his has a OEM front bumper with carbon First Molding front lip and Desmond EVO Brights….

Daisuke Ito’s DC5 ITR on bronze Mugen MF10 wheels. He has a mix-match of parts like his Mugen sideskirts, Mugen rear spoiler, and First Molding rear diffuser, which you can’t see in this photo…

Hiroyuki Nakamura’s Honda Legend always looking good one 17-inch Regamaster EVO….

Tomohiro Chujo’s FD2 Civic Type R on bright red Advan Racing RGII. He also has a USDM rear FA5 Civic conversion…

Wheel combinations really help to make or break a car and this Accord Euro-R right here is one of my favorite CL7/9s ever and all it has is OEM aero and a perfect set of SSR Type-F wheels. One of the most underrated wheels of all-time and they, like Volk TEs, look great on just about anything….

Honda Prelude on Work Seeker CX wheels that looks to have an H22A motor that was prepped by WELD Technique Factory….

One of the cars that I did not expect to see at Kday C4 was this Subaru with full Varis widebody aero. Most of the time at a Kday event, you’ll see simpler Honda builds and full USDM styled cars. Rarely do you see anything with crazy aero like this Subaru. Nice to see the added variety of cars present at Kday. It must be a good sign that Takeshi’s touch has expanded far beyond Hondas….

Parked right next to the WRX STI was this Evolution X, also wearing a full Varis widebody kit. Wheels are Volk Racing Tokyo Edition TE37 wheels….

Lexus 2IS slammed on custom BBS wheels with an engine bay redone in Tiffany Blue…

S14 Silvia Zenki that you saw previously at Wekfest Japan on Panasport G7 C5C2 wheels…

USDM Acura Legend sedan on SSR Professor MS1…

AP1 S2000 on blue Spoon Sports CR93 wheels. He added a OEM S2000 Type-S/CR front lip and rear spoiler as well….

Japanese Civic coupe with USDM EM1 Civic SI look on Work Meister S1R wheels….

Shinichi Satou’s EP3 Civic Type R on Volk Racing RE30 Club Sport wheels. Thank you for representing The Chronicles!…

Masatsuga Chiba’s K-swapped CB Accord sedan…

Chang Nakajima’s Civic Ferio from UJOS Society….

Slammed Civic coupe on Advan SA3R wheels and color-matched Mugen SS front lip….

Civic Ferio Vi-RS on 2-piece Meisters….

Super rare to see a complete Mugen EK4 set-up. This EK4 had it all practically minus the Mugen front grille. I can’t remember the last time I saw the rear lip on a Civic and understandably since the styling isn’t that common anymore in this decade. Great to see it though because you just don’t ever see this kit in its entirety anymore….

Yasutaka Shimomukai from Tactical Art made the 10+ hour drive to Sendai from Osaka with the rest of the Phaze2 Japan friends….

Yasu’s HKS GT supercharged S2000 bay….

Tomoyuki Sasaki’s EK4 to Vi-RS converted Ferio from Phaze2 Japan….

His Tactical Art-prepped engine bay redone in “Tactical Art Grey” and running a catalog of US Skunk2 products….

A shot from the rear where you can get a better look at his cage…..

Keisuke Morita’s HKS GT Supercharged USDM Scion FR-S with APR aero components…..

The Tactical Art K-swapped EK Civic that you most recently saw in Super Street magazine, shot and written by myself of course….

Still one of the few K-swapped Hondas in Japan and probably one of the most thorough K-swapped bays there and here in the States….

USDM EJ1 Civic coupe with a Wings West front lip and Desmond EVO Brights….

Parked right next to it was this EG6 SiR II hatchback with carbon Spoon Sports front lip…..

Simple AP1 S2000 on BBS LM. Hard to notice since we’re so used to seeing it but this S2000 also has USDM headlights….

Takeshi Kato’s Honda Integra sedan on Work Meister S1 2-piece wheels. Nicely executed engine bay under the hood….

Kouji Matuzaka’s beautiful custom-painted AP2 S2000 from LEVEL ONE Japan on Volk Racing TE37SL….

Yusei Nakatsu’s AP1 S2000 looked great as well….

One of the best-looking street S2000s in Japan has to be Kohei Miyata’s AP2 with ASM front bumper and front fenders. Looks great on the Volk TEs and the purple roll cage is a nice contrast…..

Norifumi Kobayashi’s Honda Accord Wagon converted to look like a USDM Acura TSX Sport Wagon on Volk TEs…

Shigeaki Hosoguchi’s Lexus IS from LEVEL ONE Japan on MAE Crown Jewels…

Ryuzi Honma’s black EG6 SiR on 15-inch Regamaster EVOs. His Civic also features a BYS front lip, rear duckbill wing, and Vision Type DC side mirrors….

One of my favorite Nissan builds in Japan is Yuma Saito’s USDM 240SX hatchback slammed on Barramundi Design Grandy wheels. Love how these wheels look and love how the car sits on them with the radiused fender work. Looks utterly fantastic overall….

White EG Civic on some step-lipped BBS RS wheels….

EF2 Civic with a classic look on Work Equip 01….

Def Crew always seems to bring out some really clean builds. This is their S14 Silvia Kouki on polished Work Emotion XD9s….

Task Ogihara’s EF hatchback with Shuttle front bumper and GAB Sport wheels….

Masaki Morohashi’s S13 Silvia coupe on custom Autostrada Modena wheels. This is the same S13 that won an award at last year’s Kday event….

Always really liked the vibrant color combo on this BMW E36 M3 sedan….

Bagged Honda Accord Euro-R that you’ve seen plenty of times here on this site….

AP2 S2000 utilizing a Mugen front chin spoiler and CCW LM20 wheels….

Subaru Legacy builds always seem to look incredible in Japan. This one is nice and simple with a touch of aggression thanks to the concave Work Emotion CR wheels….

Custom-built 18-inch Mugen M7 wheels on this S2000 with Mugen front lip and hardtop….

Yasuhiro Hashiba showed up to Kday C4 with a set of wheels that are completely different from his usual Volk TE37s. These are actually refinished OEM Jeep Wrangler “Gambler” wheels. Hashiba wanted a straight ’90s look for his Mark II-to-USDM Cressida conversion and he definitely pulled it off….

Also TE-less was Teru Ito who showed up to Kday with his H22-swapped RA3 Odyssey on stock Honda wheels….

Turbocharged RA1 Odyssey with OEM R32 GTR wheels and USDM Isuzu Oasis front grille….

Kday C4 marked the debut of Ken Hasebe’s new look for his EG6 Civic. He showed-up with a Sergeant front bumper, First Molding Flugel Plate, Enkei Racing S wheels, and super rare EC Works side mirrors….

Another Kday award-winner from last year was this USDM TL Type-S conversion….

Masafumi Eto’s USDM FG2 Civic coupe has to be one of the most intricate new generation Honda builds in Japan. It has one of the cleanest FA5/FG2/FD2 engine bays I’ve ever seen and it really executes pure USDM style about as good as anyone overseas. It’s rare to see FG2 Civics in Japan since they weren’t offered there, so it’s crazy to think that one that is this well-built exists there….

Gonna go ahead and stop the coverage here for now with a shot of this EK9 Civic Type R with rarely-seen bronze Mugen M12 wheels. Definitely not one of the most attractive Mugen offerings of that era but cool to see nonetheless….

Well, that’s all for today. Thanks for looking!!!