YES I AM STILL IN JAPAN. I am not sure when or if I will ever return. Just kidding of course because the government will definitely not be too keen about that and also, summer is coming and it is starting to get pretty hot here in Osaka. Now I know what people mean when they say the summers here are unbearable. It’s not even summer yet and the humidity is weighing on me like a heavy blanket. Do I wish I was home already? No, not really. There is still much to do here and much to see. I was fully prepared for the weather too because Yasu told me it was hot. All I brought were shorts thinking it’d be blazing but then I came to realize that Yasu probably doesn’t understand what the word “warm” means. It’s either hot or cold so his definition of hot probably just meant that it was warm. I soon discovered that when it’s hot, he just says that it is “fucking hot”.

So in Yasu’s vocabulary, it’s either “hot” or “fucking hot”. Anyways, he’s off taking care of some work stuff so I can finally sit down and get the rest of these photos from the Chicago Wekfest event up. It seems like forever ago that this event happened, to me anyway. It has been pretty crazy here and I’ve been doing so much shooting that Chicago felt like half a year ago. The rest of these photos are from the roll-in and bits from the actual show. I didn’t shoot much during the show because I was working the event as a judge and MC. It became too cumbersome to try to shoot, judge, be on the microphone, chat with people and avoid other people so I opted to keep the GoPro with me instead…

Anyways, I won’t write too much more since I have some editing I want to do before I go to bed. I’m not trying to just throw these photos up to get them out of the way or anything, but this is like, the first time in two years where I’ve had an overflow of content and I want to find some sort of balance where I can get all of it out before it ALL gets pushed back…

Enjoy!!…

Thanks to Moe from PGK for reppin’…

The one thing that is enjoyable about the Navy Pier venue in this city is the scenic backdrop of the city. The inside of the venue however, leaves a lot to be desired, especially with the poor lighting…

That’s why you’re only seeing photos of this show from the outside. Because the inside doesn’t help to produce any good results…

Rauh Welt Begriff “Nohra” 993 is one of Chicago’s very own…

I always enjoy seeing RWB builds in the U.S. running a traditional Japanese wheel, especially a Work Meister S1 3-piece of SSR Professor SP1…

James Fitzgerald from Tracker drift team in his BN Sports PS13 coupe…

One of my favorites shots personally from that weekend of Chris Debowski and Aaron Eschmeyer’s RPS13s…

Some more of the RWB Nohra 993 convertible…

I actually took this photo while simultaneously eating a turkey and ham sandwich from Jimmy John’s…

The Vanish boys making their way up the ramp…

Meanwhile, the Hondas from the East Coast were lining-up by the waterfront…

Can’t get enough of Chris’ GP Sports 240SX…

Had to get a shot of the RPS13 from the Travis Scott video of course…

Peter’s Zenki S14 from Vanish…

Kyle Palmer’s BN Sports S14 Kouki on Vienna Kreiss…

The last time I saw this S13 at Final Bout, it looks quite different so it was nice to finally return to Chicago to see what James has been cookin’ up…

AJ’s IS300 is by far one of my favorite IS builds in the country. I just enjoy the fact that he’s constantly trying to make his car look better while also thrashing and driving the shit out of it…

The headlight duct on the passenger side is a one-off piece made by AJ himself and the front bumper is a rarely seen one from Japanese aero parts company Rando Sports…

One of the reasons I like this IS so much is that AJ also runs these GTR-face Advan RG wheels with the deep concave faces…

The back side of the IS looks a little different since the trunk lights have been shaved and the trunk smoothed-out…

Andres’ Spoon Sports-themed EK4 Civic SiR running what looks to be a Tactical Art carbon front lip instead of the usual Spoon Sports lip…

A complete Mugen-equipped FK8 Civic Type R from King Motorsports arrived to be displayed at their booth…

Micah Hatchett’s turbocharged B-series Civic running a Mode Parfume front, sideskirts, and rear wing…

Here is a better angle of the front end with the Mode Parfume front and sides. It also has EK9 CTR headlights, hood, Spoon mirrors and Volk TEs…

Rocket Bunny S13 coupe complete with Rocket Bunny mesh wheels…

This Alfa Romeo Giulia was pretty amazing. I don’t know anything about these cars so I probably couldn’t give you any information on it but it looked cool. And looking cool is important when building cars, no matter the make, model, or age…

BN Sports is an aero parts company that’s a household name in this industry but here’s a look at a kit that you probably didn’t even know existed for the ZN8 FRS/GT86 chassis…

I eventually made my way inside to actually work the show but before things started to get crazy, I pulled my camera out again to get some photos. Here’s a Rocket Bunny Mazda Miata that was placed in one of the “Featured Vehicle” spaces at the center section of the Wekfest event…

Love the clean engine bay of the Miata featuring a Mandrew Made equal length header and individual throttle bodies…

RWB Nohra also had a “Featured Vehicle” spot at the show. Once inside and out of the rain, the top was also able to be tucked away…

Miguel Garcia’s AP1 S2000 hosting a Voltex front bumper, front J’s wide fenders, rear over fenders, Voltex wing, and Volk TE37s…

The coolest thing about this S2000 is the turbocharged K-series engine inside the engine bay that’s been fully shaved smooth…

At first glance you wouldn’t even notice it was a K-swapped car until you actually look at the shape of the valve cover. Even the turbo set-up looks consistent with how a boosted F20C would thanks to a manifold made by Go Autoworks…

Miguel Guerrero’s S2000 runs a full Voltex aero kit, along with Voltex flares and swan-neck GT wing…

Unlike the other Miguel, his engine remains the factory F-series but is also turbocharged…

Both set-ups very similiar, but with two completely different engines…

I really wish I had shot a photo of the engine bay of this ZF1 CR-Z. I must have been distracted or someone came up to talk to me or something but I completely forgot. This is one of the most unique builds at the Chicago Wekfest event. Not only was it K-swapped, it also featured a Mugen kit and FEEL’S Honda Twin Cam rear over fenders…

After that, it was a few hours of judging and making sure the show ran smoothly. Once we completed the awards ceremony, I did find some time to pull the camera out again to shoot some of the roll-out…

One of the more recognized S2000 builds from the Chicago area headed towards the exit…

One more look at AJ from Risky Devil…

Glad to see some of the guys make the trip out to Chicago from the Tri-State area to showcase their cars at Wekfest before the East Coast event happens later this year…

Victor Ortiz’s AP2 S2000 with Voltex street bumper, J’s Racing sideskirts and Evasive-spec 17×9.5-inch Volk TEs…

One of my favorite photos from the entire event was this shot I captured with one of the Navy Pier workers having a smoke while this A90 Supra was being loaded onto its trailer…

The Realtime Acura Integra Type R getting assisted back into its trailer after being on display…

That was basically it as far as my photos go. Hopefully everyone watched the Vlog episode covering Wekfest Chicago. I know it may seem like so long ago now with all the other episodes that have come out since I’ve been here in Japan but it’s a good one. It actually did way better than I thought it would, lol….

The final photo from my coverage this year is actually a shot of RWB Nohra that was intended to be a video still for the vlog but I liked it so much that I snapped a photo as well. Okay, back to Japan things, I’ll start getting photos up of the trip too very soon. Thanks for all your patience everyone!…