When I really sit down and think about it, the 2015 trip to Japan was probably the best, just in terms of sheer visual content and experience. I shot so much that trip. Even going through the photos now, I find it a very difficult task to really pull out all my favorite photos from that trip because there were just so many. I don’t even remember shooting that much but I guess that just goes with us being exposed to so much amazing shit. This was also the first year we started doing Vlogs of our trips to Japan and boy was it worth it. We were able to capture some shit that NOBODY got to see or capture before, and I think it really solidified The Chronicles as a major source for automotive content in Japan. I think we really turned things up a few notches with this trip. This might have been the trip when I realized that I was finally getting the hang of this photography thing. Everything just fell together so perfectly in 2015. It’s nice to be able to go over the photos again now and apply new tricks to old shots. I love reliving this stuff and I hope you guys enjoy the select photos that I pulled from my external hard drive to show you guys now nearly three years later…

I can’t believe Tokyo Auto Salon is in a few weeks. Let’s hope I see even a fraction of the amazing things I saw in 2015 on this upcoming trip…

Enjoy…

Our trips always start at the RWB Party in Roppoingi Hills. Depending on how crazy it gets on that first night there, you may or may not be able to get some solid photos in…

Luckily, I think we went there a little late that year and most of the people had already left to go inside the Hardrock Cafe for food, leaving the cars outside unattended. With little to no spectators, I think this was the only year I was able to really get some crisp photos in without people walking around…

While scouring the Tokyo Auto Salon parking lot, I spotted the first and only Ferrari F355 Berlinetta I had ever seen in person, this one modded slightly running a Racing Service Dino front lip, sitting on BBS LM wheels…

Also in the parking lot was this Mazda Cosmo coupe, which is not a very common sight in Japan in 2015. Such an oddball car but looks so cool with its very-90s styling…

…2015 also provided some really unique sights, like this Ford Mustang sitting on Panasport C8 wheels…

Keiichi Tsuchiya’s famed AE86 Trueno on a very unique display set-up by Fujitsubo on the then newly-released Work Meister CR-01 wheels…

Artis and Kuhl Racing debuted this insane R35 GTR which featured a hand engraved paint scheme. They would later follow it up with a Toyota Vellfire done in a similar scheme…

The debuting Rocket Bunny NSX at the Enkei wheels booth. This was actually Kei Miura’s personal NSX and the second to feature the Rocket Bunny kit. The first one went to the U.S….

The Kyushu-Danji R34 Skyline GT-R was quite a sight to see…

Attending the famed Robot Restaurant for the first time in Shinjuku allowed us with quite a memorable experience as well as some really cool photo opportunities…

I thought this looked pretty cool in an old film-like look in black and white…

The insanity of the Robot Restaurant is something that must be experienced for those who are going to Japan for the first time…

One more…

One of my favorite photos ever, captured inside the work space at ASM Yokohama of their time attack S2000…

My dude Robert Chew holding-up a carbon S2000 driveshaft with just two fingers, showing-off how light it really was…

It wouldn’t be Japan without the amazing eats. Gyutan (beef tongue) is my preferred meal…

Like any good meal there, it just wouldn’t be Japan without us making a trek to Spoon Sports and Type ONE. Not everyday you see an NSX-R engine just sitting on a rolling cart…

All you guys who model your builds after the Spoon Sports builds and want your engine bays to mimic their’s. There is no better example than an ACTUAL Spoon Sports engine bay…

One of the coolest things about the 2015 trip was being able to get out to Japan with my friends Robert and Yuri Chew…

A different take on the traditional Kanjozoku mask inside an EF hatchback in Kyoto…

The old IMPACT MAGIC LTD before they moved shop with the EK9 that eventually crashed and landed Sonoda in the hospital for a good few months…

I think 2015 was also one of the first trips we went to Japan with Sara Choi. We’ve made many trips back since then. On this night, she wasn’t feeling very well and rested while we ate dinner…

Hiro aka Japanese Yelp, always showing the world the #1 restaurants wherever we go….

Mecha-Dock EF race car during one of our first visits to their shop in Osaka…

One of the coolest Kanjozoku cars ever, the Red Bull EF9 Civic Si-R, then owned by No Good Racing boss Ryuji…

A bright red siren beacon lighting up the inside of the Red Bull EF…

I can still remember the excitement and awe that we all felt just hanging out at Car Make Across and seeing all these crazy Hondas…

The infamous Across EK9 Type R with its meaty Volk CE/Yokohama Advan combo in all its grit and glory…

The NSX that Joe from Across owned at one point, with LED taillights lighting up the night…

We ran the night that evening in Osaka, following the Red Bull EF9 and Across EK9 through the city until we met up with everyone at a Civic Meet, organized for us in a off-highway parking area…

A good friend later showed-up to grab some dinner with us after the meet. You should be familiar by now…

I can’t say I care that much about J’s Racing, but we wanted to show Robert and Yuri their shop so we stopped by. Good thing we did because they had some pretty cool cars there that day, including this J’s GT widebody S2000, naked and stripped of any graphical livery…

Hiding inside one of the service bays was a TODA ITB’d AP2 S2000 from Auto Produce PRINCE…

Raw beef sashimi? Okay.

Japanese Yakiniku or JBBQ is one of our favorite meals there…

I’ll save the 2016 and 2017 trip photos for another time, maybe in a few years. Let’s just say I’m ready and very excited to go back in a few weeks to see what Japan has to offer this time around. Thanks for looking…