There’s a lot of things I could elaborate on when it comes to this meet. I could really do a deep-dive into each build, pointing out all the fine details that make it great, or all the minor miscues where they may have missed the mark. But, a simple statement is really all that needs to be said; The Chan-Oka Honda Meet is a love letter to the West Coast Honda community of the 2000s. It is everything this generation of Honda enthusiasts in Japan appreciate about what they saw in all those magazines, all the images on the NWP4Life forums, the Google image searches and now social media. This is them paying homage to us and completing that circle of inspiration because we were the ones originally inspired by the Japanese Honda enthusiasts that came before both them and us. It’s kind of amazing…

For me in particular, seeing this was special. For the better part of almost 15 years, I’ve dedicated my life to capturing this sector of automotive culture. I started The Chronicles because I felt like documenting the Honda community was important. It was necessary because I knew we were doing something special. All those late nights writing stories and editing photos that I put together for Honda Tuning, Super Street, and Import Tuner—It wasn’t just for a paycheck. It wasn’t all for nothing. It inspired a generation. Hell, it may inspire another generation after this one. Who knows. But I feel honored that at least some of my work is being preserved and used for research as well as examples of how to build a quality Honda…

I guess I’m just surprised because I never thought I’d see this day. There was a quote I always remember from one of my favorite TV shows, The Office, where one of the characters said…

“I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.”

And I’m reminded of that quote now because I always thought that some day, some time in the distant future, car enthusiasts would come upon my work online, long after I’m gone perhaps, and see it as a quality source of information. They’d look at it and imagine what it was like because it was such a great time in our automotive community. And they’d use those images to try to recreate that time with their friends, building cars the way we did, emulating everything that they saw in the photos…

Those were the good old days.

I guess we already left them…

I’d like to think of it as a situation where I am still continually creating the good old days as I go, but appreciative of the fact that I recognize the moments that have passed…

It’s 5 AM and I’m in Seattle now, probably exhausted and losing my mind. I’ll leave you here with some more photos from a day that will eventually some day be considered a part of someone in Japan’s good old days…

Shuhei Nara’s DC5 Integra is a Honda I saw plenty of on this trip to Japan. I got to witness its completion to its debut at Wekfest, then an appearance at Stancenation Aichi, before being on display here at the Chan-Oka Honda Meet. It’s mostly completed now but still needs a chassis harness, the custom rear brakes installed, and to finally get the car running…

Until the wiring portion of the car is finished, the engine bay will stay looking pristine like this…

As a refresher, just in case you haven’t seen all the photos I took of this car at other events, Nara’s DC5 features a K20A with AT Power individual throttle bodies, Rywire engine harness, tucked radiator with -AN plumbing, and a completely reshaped engine bay…

From this angle you can see the radiator under the core support with dual fans. You can also see the header as well…

Here’s another Integra that I got to see plenty of during my trip, featuring a JDM ITR top half that has been seamlessly fitted to a USDM 98-01 Integra lower half with Exceed front lip. The owner often has different wheels on for every event it goes to and chose bronze Volk Racing SE37K for this hot afternoon…

Inside the Integra are a pair of Bride seats, a MOMO steering wheel paired with a C’s Customizing horn button, K-Tuned shifter, Chronicles x Battlecraft shift knob, and a USDM instrument cluster…

Behind the spokes of the SE37K wheels are refinished Spoon Sports brakes…

Though this S2000 owned by Yoshihiko Hosaka is probably as “JDM” as it can get, it’s also perfect for this event because it’s exactly the type of S2000 build you’d see in North America. Some many different versions of the Mugen SS have been built by enthusiasts and none of them have ever failed to disappoint. You can’t really ever go wrong with full Mugen SS aero paired with the classic MF10 wheel…

Even the blue-tinted glass is from Mugen…

What also made this S2000 stand out is that it wasn’t your typical Berlina Black OEM Honda color, it’s a dark shade of purple that you can only see gleam under the bright sun. The rear reveals a Mugen wing, the SS rear bumper, the Mugen hard top, and even the exhaust looks to be a Mugen piece designed for the SS rear…

No Mugen SS kit is complete without the original Mugen center cap which has been integrated into the front and rear bumpers…

The Mugen SS front also features an air duct which runs straight to the Mugen intake…

Kei Ootsuka’s U.S.-imported DA Integra has been around for years now, mostly unchanged, but I always appreciate his unique take on creating a Mugen-themed build. It mixes a lot of traditional parts with a twist of style you wouldn’t expect. The exterior features the complete Mugen “Aero Line” DA aero package, fog lights and all, paired with a traditional Mugen side-stripe along with a staggered set of Mugen CF-48 wheels…

With the hood closed, the DA might look pretty traditional with its Mugen aesthetic, but a look inside the bay reveals something far from it. The B18A1 engine has a custom equal-length header, polished OEM intake manifold, a quirky intake tube, full-sized radiator and custom fabricated cooling hard pipes. The bay itself has been shaved smooth and repainted in blue/purple iridescent hue…

The Mugen CF-48 wheels look different than your average CF-48 because of the wider lips up front…

…but the rear actually looks even more unique because of an even wider lip as well as refinished aero discs mounted over the fin-like faces…

Authetic Mugen stripe, complete with randomly uncapitalized “S”. From here you can also see how aggressive the rear wheels are…

Wanna know a random fun fact? The original price tag on a full Mugen Aero Line kit for the DA Integra was ¥200,000, or the equivalent of $2000. So back in 1990-93, it was still a pretty hefty price tag. Considering how difficult it is to find a complete, REAL, kit in 2022, that same $2000 is probably nothing…

At one point during the day, I got curious and decided to see if there was anything cool to see in the parking lot of the event. After going to Tokyo Auto Salon for so many years, I’ve come to realize that the parking lots at events are usually filled with some good cars. I walked over to the lot and one of the first cars that caught my eye was this white EK9 Civic Type R. It had a Tactical Art front lip, widened front FRP fenders, and front-staggered, mismatched, Volk CE28 wheels…

A few steps away were a pair of Honda Todays, which were both lowered, one with OEM EK4 Civic wheels and the other on Sprint Hart CP wheels. Don’t know what a Today is? Well, they were made for the Kei car market by Honda for about 15 years, having two different generations that ended in 1998 when it was replaced by the Honda Life. They look like full passenger-sized vehicles from this photo but they’re actually quite small and have 656cc 3-cylinder engines…

This FD2 Civic Type R looked great on bronze Volk TE37 Saga wheels with the often-used Mugen front lip. I feel like people are so used to seeing this lip on the FD2 platform that they just automatically assume it’s an OEM Type R lip when it definitely isn’t…

Koichi’s EK9 Civic Type R on 16-inch Desmond Regamaster EVO wheels is actually a Kouki model with a Zenki front face conversion. I had no idea it was a Kouki until he messaged me to let me know after I posted a photo of it on Instagram…

If this Integra Type R looks familiar to you, then you probably remember it being one of the first Exceed Japan builds to be completed when the company first started. Yasu built this DC2 from the ground-up and I was even around in Osaka when he finished putting it together for Wekfest Japan. The car was actually sold after that and an enthusiast named Kiyo owns it now. The car remains mostly unchanged other than the addition of an Exceed front lip, the Bride seats being gone, and the Work RSZ-R wheels…

Even the engine bay is the same, with a K20A inside that has an RBC intake manifold and valve cover that was chromed here in California. The Rywire harness still operates the car, the Hybrid Racing goodies are still present and the radiator hidden under the core support…

Kenta’s Mugen-themed EP3 Civic Type R on bronze Mugen MF10…

A glimpse inside reveals a shifter swap that moves the K-Tuned shifter mechanism out of that quirky hole in the dash….

Tatsu’s Vivid Blue EP3 Civic Type R also running a Mugen aero kit but with a INGS+1 aero hood, Top1 front splitter, and polished Desmond wheels…

Red EK4 Civic running an Airwalker front bumper and 16-inch Weds Sport TC005 wheels…

The B-series set-up looks pretty serious in this EK with the custom coil-over-plug set-up, full-size Koyo radiator, oil breather set-up and header…

This mint set of Weds TC005 wheels are paired with Spoon Sports front brakes and wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE71R rubber…

Yoshida’s Electron Blue Pearl-painted BB6 Prelude on white Rays Volk Racing Fortesst wheels…

Wataru Takenoyama’s DC2 Integra Type R utilizing an Exceed front lip, bronze Volk TE37 wheels and a Mugen Gen. II rear wing…

Yoshiki Sato’s X-Point built DC5 Integra with Mugen front bumper, Mugen wing, and Desmond EVO in black…

The set-up inside the DC5 is a prime example of a what they interpret our custom engine bays to look like. The shaved bay is littered with bright red Downstar hardware, there’s a Skunk2 intake manifold in black, and there is a custom oil catch can and breather set-up…

It was definitely the hottest day of my entire trip to Japan. The sun was hitting the cars so harshly for most of the day that it actually made it quite difficult to shoot this event…

Before I ended the day, I wanted to make sure to get some good photos of Masafumi Eto’s Integra Type R. As explained in my Wekfest Japan coverage, this debuting build showcases just how much the Japanese enthusiasts understand about executing “USDM” style…

Insane to think that in 2022 you’ll still find almost brand new Comptech USA products on a Honda B18C5 engine. Yes, this may be a JDM Integra Type R, but it has a engine swap from a USDM ITR…

All this Comptech stuff was just sitting in boxes and never touched after being imported from the U.S….

Even the Comptech header is brand new and has not even been heat-cycled at any point during the duration of its existence…

I didn’t get a chance to get a photo of the outside of the car, unfortunately. During that part of the afternoon, the sun had cast a huge shadow onto the ITR and I told myself I’d come back to get a photo once the sun had set a bit more. But, I didn’t get to because I had to head over to the location where the Built By Legends EG6 was to shoot it. By the time I got back the car had been loaded-up and taken away…

I did however, get a shot of the old Phaze2 Integra in the same repainted shipping container where Eto’s ITR was displayed earlier that day. The Integra was being parked here overnight until it could be picked-up the following day and sent back into storage. The custom container set-up had such good lighting that it was hard to pass-up this photo opportunity…

And with that, we come to the conclusion of the Chan-Oka Honda Meet coverage. I don’t know if they will do another one of these events in the future but this one looked pretty successful so I don’t see why they wouldn’t run it back next year. It’s a nice intimate event reserved for only the enthusiasts that appreciate this particular style. You really leave with a deeper appreciation for it as well. I hope they do continue to do this event for years to come, and I also hope I can be there when it happens…

Thanks for looking everyone!…