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Written by stickydiljoe in on November 15, 2017

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https://stickydiljoe.com/since-2008/

“Passion First, The Rest Will Follow”

No Rival, No Equal. Since 2008.

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Kakimoto Racing has been a shop I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now. Over the years on my annual trips, we’d drive past this section of the highway in Osaka where you could see the Kakimoto building. It’s a huge facility with a big sign that’s designed for you to be able to see it as you sped by. Kakimoto has been around for ages but they never really found their footprint in North America. I don’t know if they even tried. Their specialty is making exhausts and not only do they offer complete systems, they even sell metal that’s pre-cut and other raw materials for anyone to make any kind of exhaust they want. We recently put a Kakimoto GT1.0Z muffler on the white EK9 back at home and boy is that thing loud. I thought it’d be a good idea to get a silencer for it, thus creating myself a reason to go visit Kakimoto Racing…

One of the first race cars I saw in my early journeys in Japan was the Kakimoto Racing NSX at TAS. I’d only seen it in magazines previously so seeing it in-person really blew my mind in 2013. It’s one of those moments that really stuck with me. I finally got to see it again inside Kakimoto’s showroom. Again, this place is massive. The showroom not only featured the NSX, but also the Kakimoto Racing 32GTR Skyline and Yoshiyuki Kakimoto’s original S30Z drag car. They had engines on display and a pretty hefty collection of exhausts they currently have in their catalog hung up everywhere. Every open space is filled with exhaust parts, couplers, V-bands, and anything else you can think of exhaust-related. There’s a workshop area in the back and a visible alignment rack which hosted their R33 Skyline democar. From seeing old photos by others who have visited, it looks like they rotate their cars from time to time. Most of the photos I saw had the R33 inside...

We stayed for a bit, asked them for the part that I needed and I was able to snap some quick photos. I didn’t want to disturb them and ask too many questions. Maybe next time I go with my other friends I’ll be able to get a more in-depth look. Kakimoto Racing is woven into the fabric of the Japanese tuning scene with their rich history so I’m happy to have finally been able to visit…

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Kakimoto Racing has been a shop I’ve been wanting to visit for a while now. Over the years on my annual trips, we’d drive past this section of the highway in Osaka where you could see the Kakimoto building. It’s a huge facility with a big sign that’s designed for you to be able to see it as you sped by. Kakimoto has been around for ages but they never really found their footprint in North America. I don’t know if they even tried. Their specialty is making exhausts and not only do they offer complete systems, they even sell metal that’s pre-cut and other raw materials for anyone to make any kind of exhaust they want. We recently put a Kakimoto GT1.0Z muffler on the white EK9 back at home and boy is that thing loud. I thought it’d be a good idea to get a silencer for it, thus creating myself a reason to go visit Kakimoto Racing… One of the first race cars I saw in my early journeys in Japan was the Kakimoto Racing NSX at TAS. I’d only seen it in magazines previously so seeing it in-person really blew my mind in 2013. It’s one of those moments that really stuck with me. I finally got to see it again inside Kakimoto’s showroom. Again, this place is massive. The showroom not only featured the NSX, but also the Kakimoto Racing 32GTR Skyline and Yoshiyuki Kakimoto’s original S30Z drag car. They had engines on display and a pretty hefty collection of exhausts they currently have in their catalog hung up everywhere. Every open space is filled with exhaust parts, couplers, V-bands, and anything else you can think of exhaust-related. There’s a workshop area in the back and a visible alignment rack which hosted their R33 Skyline democar. From seeing old photos by others who have visited, it looks like they rotate their cars from time to time. Most of the photos I saw had the R33 inside... We stayed for a bit, asked them for the part that I needed and I was able to snap some quick photos. I didn’t want to disturb them and ask too many questions. Maybe next time I go with my other friends I’ll be able to get a more in-depth look. Kakimoto Racing is woven into the fabric of the Japanese tuning scene with their rich history so I’m happy to have finally been able to visit…

21 hours ago

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1/6

Of all the photos I’ve shot this year, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say these might be some of my favorites so far in 2026. I don’t have any actual statistics to back up this thinking but I feel like I’ve shot more photos this year than the previous two. Hard to say really but I feel like I’m still getting better. I’d like to think so anyway. Back when I felt like The Chronicles was at its peak, I told myself that if I wasn’t getting any better at this I should stop doing it. But I suppose that would mean that if I had peaked it would all be downhill after, yet I am still getting better (I hope?). Then I realized that things just come and go in waves, like life itself. Is there still room to get better and reach a new peak? Probably. Perhaps there is no ‘peak’ for this. It’s just life happening and with it comes the highs and lows. And one day maybe I’ll get tired of this or I’ll want to do something else. But until then I’m just going to keep going and try to be better…

These are the things I think about on 14-hour drives across Japan to and from. Being in Japan helps. There’s no lack of inspiration there, that’s for sure. Experiencing car culture in another world is the ultimate catalyst for never settling on a ‘peak’. I can hop out of a car at 7am, on no sleep, at a coin-op car wash in a Japanese countryside and take my favorite photos of the year while my friends are smoking a cigarette. And then maybe an S14 I’ve enjoyed taking photos of over the years just magically appears at the same car wash unannounced. I can’t just leave without getting photos of that, right? Life is crazy. I hope I never find my peak. And if I did some years ago, I must have misplaced it. I’ll go try and chase after a new one…

Alternate caption: “Here are some photos I took of some car guys I know at a car wash.”

-This has been a message from my inner monologue.

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Of all the photos I’ve shot this year, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say these might be some of my favorites so far in 2026. I don’t have any actual statistics to back up this thinking but I feel like I’ve shot more photos this year than the previous two. Hard to say really but I feel like I’m still getting better. I’d like to think so anyway. Back when I felt like The Chronicles was at its peak, I told myself that if I wasn’t getting any better at this I should stop doing it. But I suppose that would mean that if I had peaked it would all be downhill after, yet I am still getting better (I hope?). Then I realized that things just come and go in waves, like life itself. Is there still room to get better and reach a new peak? Probably. Perhaps there is no ‘peak’ for this. It’s just life happening and with it comes the highs and lows. And one day maybe I’ll get tired of this or I’ll want to do something else. But until then I’m just going to keep going and try to be better… These are the things I think about on 14-hour drives across Japan to and from. Being in Japan helps. There’s no lack of inspiration there, that’s for sure. Experiencing car culture in another world is the ultimate catalyst for never settling on a ‘peak’. I can hop out of a car at 7am, on no sleep, at a coin-op car wash in a Japanese countryside and take my favorite photos of the year while my friends are smoking a cigarette. And then maybe an S14 I’ve enjoyed taking photos of over the years just magically appears at the same car wash unannounced. I can’t just leave without getting photos of that, right? Life is crazy. I hope I never find my peak. And if I did some years ago, I must have misplaced it. I’ll go try and chase after a new one… Alternate caption: “Here are some photos I took of some car guys I know at a car wash.” -This has been a message from my inner monologue.

3 days ago

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2/6

A couple of rollers and moody gas station captures from the other night when we were heading to Ibaraki for the Finest Curated Car Show. Didn’t really plan on shooting anything but was excited to see some of these on the highway. It was such a long drive that I just decided to pull the camera out which I’m glad I did. One of the EK9s on the drive was built by @exceed_jpn and the other was one that I’ve been wanting to see in-person for a long time now. That gas station we stopped to get fuel at was one of the most scenic moody gas stations I’d ever seen. It looked like it was staged purposely for photos or something because the lighting was ridiculous. I almost didn’t want to mess with it during post because it was so good as-is…

The new episode has rollers of these two on the highway and coverage of the entire Finest event, it’s up now, go check it out!…

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A couple of rollers and moody gas station captures from the other night when we were heading to Ibaraki for the Finest Curated Car Show. Didn’t really plan on shooting anything but was excited to see some of these on the highway. It was such a long drive that I just decided to pull the camera out which I’m glad I did. One of the EK9s on the drive was built by @exceed_jpn and the other was one that I’ve been wanting to see in-person for a long time now. That gas station we stopped to get fuel at was one of the most scenic moody gas stations I’d ever seen. It looked like it was staged purposely for photos or something because the lighting was ridiculous. I almost didn’t want to mess with it during post because it was so good as-is… The new episode has rollers of these two on the highway and coverage of the entire Finest event, it’s up now, go check it out!…

4 days ago

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3/6

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Shot these photos during the lead-up to Wekfest LA when we were switching over to all the Mugen components on my red EK9 while @exceed_jpn was simultaneously putting his white EK9 together. The photos of his CTR are similar to the ones I shot on my iPhone which I posted a couple weeks ago but this was before the Bride seats went in. I think this was before the exhaust was made too if I remember correctly. Seeing that first photo makes me miss the meatiness of that TE and A050 combo. I just need that constant fear of possibly rubbing fenders. When Yasu was asking me what to set the ride height at on my S2000, I told him about the “40% Rule” (which isn’t real but could be now) where no matter where I go, I want to know that I always have a 40% chance of rubbing and 60% feeling of satisfaction that I miraculously cleared some driveway even though my shit is slammed. If I don’t have that 40% constant fear then my car just isn’t low enough… Are you a believer in the “40% rule”? I just made it up and Yasu doesn’t even follow that rule on his own car because his EK9 now rubs like 90% of the time going straight. He’s a firm believer in the “I’m going back to Japan soon, so you fucking deal with it since you drive it more than I do” rule, lol. Anyways, I spent the last few days torturing my brain trying to fix Stickydiljoe.com because for the last few months, it has been inundated with broken image links which makes it impossible to see anything on the site. While fixing it yesterday I thought at one point I wiped the whole thing out. Thankfully I didn’t lose almost 20 years of CHRNCLS content. I did however, end up fixing it. Not only that, I even changed the layout completely so the site has a whole new look! It’s like a brand new site now. And most importantly, it’s fully functional again. Which means I will be able to update it again. I actually already added two new posts today too. We are so back! The NEW Stickydiljoe.com is here. Give it a look!…

1 week ago

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4/6

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You’d think that me being in Japan means that I’m out and about a lot but if anything, I probably send just as much time at my desk than I do at home. I might even be at my desk even more because I have less responsibilities here in Osaka. Being away from my every day life also gives me more time to go through all the photos I’ve been shooting the last few months and work on fixing/updating the site. I think I might have broken my site and hopefully I didn’t lose 18 years of work but in the mean time, here are some new photos?… These are from the brief moments when I had time to pick up my camera during Wekfest LA. It’s not much but it’s some good stuff. I’m gonna type multiple captions here while my internal monologue is telling me how dumb I was for possibly bricking my site… The first build we are gonna look at today is the Access Garage Phoenix Yellow EK9 Type R. In San Jose they tried something a little different by putting a while JUN-inspired livery on it but returned to basics for LA with a much more street-friendly appearance… They also through on this set of 16-inch Mugen M7 wheels with some Endless brakes lurking behind the spokes… Really enjoyed seeing this S2000 at the Mastermind booth wearing a J’s Racing front half lip with a Voltex wing and ORM hard top… Best part about the S2000 was this mint set of SSR Type-C RS wheels. Just look at that face profile… Jason Haradon decided to shock the world and also absolutely no one by trying a Spoon Sports theme on his Civic. He of course did something no one else would even think to do by running a stripped down valve cover as Spoon intended back in the day. Before they started marketing the yellow valve cover, all their covers were just stripped bare versions with the OEM wire cover on. This caption makes more sense if you slide over and see a photo of said valve cover but I actually did not get a photo of it so all this could be my imagination… I know I’m not being delusional though because if I were, Tai’s EK9 would be slammed, lol. He did end up winning Best Honda overall though with his Spoon-themed EK9, which is pretty impressive considering he had no idea why his friend was running a stripped-

1 week ago

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5/6

As a big Rays Wheels guy, I went back to Japan this time to go check-out their “Rays Fan Meeting” event in Okayama. All cars on anything from their catalog past and present are invited to attend, park with others and hang out with fellow Rays-lovers. They had some cool display cars and vendors but I went because I wanted to see builds that I’ve never seen before. It was the perfect opportunity because I’d also never been to Okayama International Circuit before. Everything was gonna feel new. More importantly, it put me outside of the car show environment where I typically see the same cars year-to-year. I went in with no expectations and was definitely greeted with cars I hadn’t been exposed to previously…

I made a whole episode about it which is up now but we can also go into multi-caption mode today to look at some of the cars I encountered…

The first car I’m showing you is one that I actually have seen in-person before, the J’s Racing “Touge Maou” S2000 from the Hot Version videos. The car doesn’t do much these days but it still looks very much the same…

It has had many variations of CEs on it over the years but currently has a Diamond Black set…

It’s hard to tell in the photos but the car is starting to show its age, which is expected. The livery is shrinking and there’s obvious wear and tear from all the time it spent competing with the FEED RX-7 in all those Hot Version videos…

My favorite from the Rays event was this very period-correct 80Supra with a full C-West half-lip kit sitting nice and low. Love the really flat, low-mount Top Secret trunk spoiler too…

Rare to see a set of these 90s-era Volk Challenge F-Zero wheels these days. A very ambitious design that never saw much evolution beyond this point…

A close second favorite would be this slammed Nissan March on 14-in concave TE37 in bronze. It had a set of Bride seats and a Saito cage along with an extra TE in the passenger seat…

Nice meaty Dunlop Direzza around those concave TEs…

This AE86 Trueno Black Limited later won an award at the end of the day. I want to say it’s a true Black Limited model but I’m not entirely sure. Very well executed nonetheless…

Custom refinished Volk Racing 84C ae

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As a big Rays Wheels guy, I went back to Japan this time to go check-out their “Rays Fan Meeting” event in Okayama. All cars on anything from their catalog past and present are invited to attend, park with others and hang out with fellow Rays-lovers. They had some cool display cars and vendors but I went because I wanted to see builds that I’ve never seen before. It was the perfect opportunity because I’d also never been to Okayama International Circuit before. Everything was gonna feel new. More importantly, it put me outside of the car show environment where I typically see the same cars year-to-year. I went in with no expectations and was definitely greeted with cars I hadn’t been exposed to previously… I made a whole episode about it which is up now but we can also go into multi-caption mode today to look at some of the cars I encountered… The first car I’m showing you is one that I actually have seen in-person before, the J’s Racing “Touge Maou” S2000 from the Hot Version videos. The car doesn’t do much these days but it still looks very much the same… It has had many variations of CEs on it over the years but currently has a Diamond Black set… It’s hard to tell in the photos but the car is starting to show its age, which is expected. The livery is shrinking and there’s obvious wear and tear from all the time it spent competing with the FEED RX-7 in all those Hot Version videos… My favorite from the Rays event was this very period-correct 80Supra with a full C-West half-lip kit sitting nice and low. Love the really flat, low-mount Top Secret trunk spoiler too… Rare to see a set of these 90s-era Volk Challenge F-Zero wheels these days. A very ambitious design that never saw much evolution beyond this point… A close second favorite would be this slammed Nissan March on 14-in concave TE37 in bronze. It had a set of Bride seats and a Saito cage along with an extra TE in the passenger seat… Nice meaty Dunlop Direzza around those concave TEs… This AE86 Trueno Black Limited later won an award at the end of the day. I want to say it’s a true Black Limited model but I’m not entirely sure. Very well executed nonetheless… Custom refinished Volk Racing 84C ae

2 weeks ago

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6/6

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