I really had no idea I shot so many photos this time around in Japan. Granted I was there for almost two weeks but I don’t even remember having my camera on my that much. I didn’t shoot much or at all while I was in Hong Kong but then when I made my way back to Osaka, Yasu and I found enough free time to make some pretty cool shop visits. All in all, I think I totaled about 2000+ photos and almost five hours of video footage. I’m gonna start working on the next Vlog episode right after I finish this post so keep an eye out this weekend for a new video to go up on YouTube. I really wanted to keep things chronological in how I show you the photos but everything I saw was so unique to itself that I just decided it would be best if I split things up in terms of what exactly it was I was looking at instead of following a strict timeline. For the most part, it’ll still be in order of course, but just organized and separated by content-type. There’s a lot of random stuff in-between that I’ll show you guys too but there’s structure, I promise. I think just by watching the Vlogs, which is always ahead timeline-wise compared to the photos, you’ll already have a pretty good idea of what I saw in Japan. I didn’t cover EVERYTHING in video though, so be prepared for some surprises along the way. There were moments when we went to very specific places where I only wanted to shoot photos…
Today, we are going to look at the rest of my photos from Tokyo Auto Salon 2020. It was a good show this year, as it always is obviously but the crowd just seems to get bigger and bigger every year. The world is just getting so much smaller with the Internet and social media. Japan is becoming so accessible to people and everyone seems to be heading there these days because that fear of going to a new country is gone. We see so many people travel everywhere now, not fearing a language barrier thanks to technology. Nothing seems too “foreign” these days and traveling just seems so easy now. A few years ago we’d complain about the show being too crowded because there were just a bunch of old perverts everywhere trying to take pictures of models. In 2020 the perverts just seem few and far between compared to the general audience at the show. There are so many foreigners there like myself that I feel like the perverts are now the ones complaining about us, lol. Instead of creeps taking upskirt photos of the models there are just a bunch of assholes holding a camera to their own faces while they vlog for YouTube or Instagram Live. No complaints here though, I understand that I just have to learn to deal with it and go with the flow. There’s no sense in complaining or being angry about some shit you can’t control. Everybody wants to come to TAS now and the show is thriving. I can’t complain about that. It can be worse. The show could be dead and they could cancel this shit. I’m happy that its doing well. I’ll just capture whatever content I can and move on…
I gotta get back to working on all this content I have so sit back and enjoy!…
2020 marks the 20th-year of the Work Emotion wheel so as tribute, Work Wheels decided to give the popular line their own display section with Daigo Saito’s 2JZ-GTE powered A90 Supra drift car at the forefront…
Japan’s Super GT race series has recently joined forces with Germany’s DTM to merge regulations and create the possibility of joint races in the future. The merged regulations will now by known as “Class 1”, allowing vehicles to have turbocharged 2.0L inline-four engines mounted up front with power capped at 620-horsepower. Toyota has entered the new Class 1 category with this carbon-bodied 2020 Supra GR and showcased it at the Toyota Gazoo Racing display at TAS…
Center-locked Volk Racing TE037 wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza under a full carbon fiber front-end…
Here’s a look at the rear with its large-weaved dry carbon shell and swan-neck GT wing…
Deep Lifestyles came back with their product display for 2020 featuring Akira Nakai’s “Natty Dread Jr” Porsche 930 RWB build…
Shibata R31 House’s D1 Street Legal, now called “D1 Lights”, HR31 Skyline competition drift car…
For TAS 2020, R31 House debuted their new Infiniti Q60 D1GP competition vehicle featuring a TRA Kyoto-designed widebody kit and a HKS GTII twin-turbocharged VR38DETT engine that has also been stroked to 4.1 liters…
R1Titan displayed this Powerhouse Amuse GT1 widebody S2000 at their booth but all anyone could think about currently was the legal battle between R1Titan and famed tuning shop Amuse. I won’t get into it since I don’t feel I have all the information to tell you guys but from what I heard, it’s pretty ugly. What made things even more interesting was they called this S2000 the “Tanabe Heritage” build, dedicated to Hideki Tanabe, the founder of Amuse who has since passed, but the car has no actual recognition of the Powerhouse Amuse namesake…
Top Secret brought out their typically epic display of shop builds and products in the North Hall, including a couple of R35 GTRs, one which is a 1100-horsepower top-speed build wearing their new aero package…
Even with their multitude of Skyline builds, Top Secret always manages to bring a surprise or two to the Tokyo Auto Salon event annually. This year, they brought-out a C210 Skyline with a ZG-style front lip, bolt-on over fenders, and Star Road wheels…
Under the hood is a naturally-aspirated Nissan RB30 swap utilizing six individual throttle bodies…
I always enjoy walking around their display because they have so many cool knick-knacks. Check-out these Top Secret scale model cars that were actually for sale…
They also had a trio of 1/6 scale Nismo LM GT4 wheels in their different finishes for sale…
Mizuno Works’ Toyota MZ11 Soarer looked fantastic in just a very simple white motif and SSR MKII wheels…
The simplicity translates into the engine bay as well with a completely smoothed-out engine bay hosting a 5M-GE engine with individual throttle bodies…
Mizuno Works also celebrated their 19th year displaying at TAS with this 4-door Kenmeri Skyline sedan painted in the same green hue that they’ve become known for from their S30Z build…
Garage Amis had a booth displaying their duo of S2000 builds. We showed you the green one in the Vlog but here’s a better look at their white AP2 wearing their complete widebody kit…
What stood-out to me was the turbo set-up which uses a modified Full Race manifold which has been jet-coated and cut, angling the turbo to properly fit the custom V-mounted intercooler…
Here’s a closer look at the angled JP turbocharger and V-mount set-up…
One of the most interesting builds at Tokyo Auto Salon was this Nissan Y34 Gloria wearing Mode Parfume aero, Project Mu brakes, and SSR Formula Mesh wheels. While the wheel and brake pairing is unique for a Y34, the more notable customization of the vehicle exists under the hood…
…where an older Nissan L-series engine can be found, converted to fuel injection running individual throttle bodies and powered with a MoTec standalone engine management system…
The question would be “why?”, as there are plenty of engine options capable of being swapped into this Y34 but I imagine the answer would be “why not?”….
At this point on day one of Tokyo Auto Salon, I decided to leave a few hours early so I could make it down to Spoon Sports for their event. Spoon typically holds a special event at their facilities since they don’t do a booth at TAS very often, and this particular event was to showcase some of their demo cars dubbed the “Spoon Collection”. It was a display which was available to the public on Friday and the following Monday, but since I had to leave to Hong Kong on Monday, I had no other choice but to leave early to check it out. I took photos there which I will show you guys in Part 3 of this series, but I wanted to keep that photo set unique to only Spoon Sports. So we will pretend I didn’t leave the show and continue with the rest of the photos from Tokyo Auto Salon which I shot on the second day…
While I was walking out of the show to the parking lot to head to Spoon Sports, I spotted a legend in the form of this insanely wide ABFLUG Supra. I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen one in-person before but there’s no way to mistake the iconic lines of the ABFLUG widebody panels…
I don’t know the owner of this Supra but you can actually Google “ABFLUG Supra” and photos of it will appear from over a decade ago. It has remained the same, mostly untouched, and though the car shows some wear and tear these days from age, the owner has never changed it, whether it be the Work Equip wheels or any other body panel. This one isn’t a true “complete” ABFLUG car because the front is a modified VeilSide front bumper but it is still super cool. From the door gap up front and confirming in photos, the Supra also has Lambo/scissor-style doors that open upward. Sure, it looks goofy now, but ABFLUG stuff was huge back in the 1990s and this represents a special era in Japanese tuning on the Tokyo-side when you would see these cars blasting up and down Rainbow Bridge on the Tokyo Wangan. I was so shocked to see this car that I stopped and just studied every angle of it…
Not sure what side mirrors these are but judging by the indentation on the window molding, this Supra at one point had ABFLUG mirrors but the owner later switched over to this pair…
The rear wing is also a VeilSide C1 piece, as the ABFLUG kit never offered this type of wing. The rear bumper is also a VeilSide C1. I imagine the owner wanted to go a completely unique route and combine parts from ABFLUG and VeilSide, which were two very popular brands during that period in the late 90s…
It’s a shame that it isn’t a complete ABFLUG car but you have to appreciate this car as a relic from Japanese tuning car culture’s rich past…
What also made the spotting in the parking lot so cool was that there was a brand new A90 Supra parked right next to it…
Back inside the Tokyo Auto Salon show on Day 2, I made sure to get some better photos of the debuting Liberty Walk NSX with a smaller crowd converging around it. Again, I quite enjoy this kit, as it isn’t overly aggressive like some of their aero kits are known to be…
Noticeably absent from Tokyo Auto Salon this year was the massive Aimgain display, but their aero products were present at the show as seen on this Lexus LS500h at the WEDS Wheels booth…
One of my goals on day 2 was to get some more captures of some of the cars that stood out to me before the show got too crowded in the afternoon. Here is the rear of the Rocket Bunny Datsun 1200 B110 coupe…
Walking by, you couldn’t help but notice the bright green Corolla Levin wearing the new Pandem widebody kit…
Giving the Pandem Levin even more “pop” were the anodized orange Work Equip 40s….
The rear wing for the 86 hatch looks good and flows well with the boxy lines of the ’80s Japanese icon…
A higher angle view of the Pandem FC RX-7 and its new rear wing addition…
It’s a good feeling knowing that these popular ’80s tuning platforms will never die-off with guys like Kei Miura continuing to make new products for them…
I really like the Pandem V3 PS13 Silvia so I made sure to get even more photos of it…
Box flares are perfect for the straight lines of the PS13 and it features a rear wing design which is similar to the one used on both the Pandem AE86 and EG6 Civic…
Miura and TRA Kyoto now also offers exhausts for their cars, as seen with this dual canister set-up found on the Silvia…
Speedforme-kitted Datsun S30 built in collaboration with Wald to showcase Wald’s new Classics Fin 3-piece forged wheel…
This S30 uses the carbon fiber variation of the Speedforme kit as seen on their fender flares…
A close-up of the Wald Classics Fin featuring gold hardware, anodized black lip, and flat gunmetal face…
The build that I actually wanted to see most this year was a car that I almost completely missed because I couldn’t find it while walking around the show for two days. I had to pull-up photos of it on Instagram and had to study what was in the background to see what booths were around the full carbon-bodied BNR32 Skyline GTR from Garage Active. I’ve become a huge fan of their work over the last two years and had been following the build-up of this new R32. Two years ago, they debuted a full carbon fiber BNR32 in blue, hosting an RB26DET with HKS upgrades…
This new red version fit the mold of their previous Skyline build but in the engine bay was a stroked, naturally-aspirated RB30 block and RB26 head…
Instead of a more typical forced-induction set-up, Garage Active went with six individual throttle-bodies. They even went as far as to add the “RB31” to the timing cover…
The ITBs made for a much simpler engine bay with the spotlight aimed at the six velocity stacks and custom header…
The bay itself has been shaved and repainted to match the red carbon of the exterior. No matter what angle you look at the bay, it just looks incredible…
I’m bummed I didn’t get a chance to come back on Sunday to see the cars roll-out because I’d imagine this N/A RB31 would sound pretty epic once it was turned-on. Maybe some day I’ll make a return trip to Fukuoka and pay Garage Active a visit. Who knows…
That wraps up my coverage of Tokyo Auto Salon but this Japan Photo Series is FAR from over. There’s so much more to come so stick around!…
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