Though I was originally schedule to leave Japan on the 26th, I changed my flight itinerary when I realized that there was an event I must attend. The plan was always to leave from the Tokyo-side and with a few extra days in Japan, I definitely made the most of it…
Hope you watched the previous episode because this is the second half of our journey documenting Yasu and I bringing the old Phaze2 Integra from California to its (possibly) final major event at Stancenation G Edition Nagoya. I’ve personally never been to this show before but I’ve always heard good things about this event series. There are usually A LOT of cars that participate in this series, with this Nagoya event featuring over 700 cars. Yes, you read that correctly. I went in with no expectations thinking that I’d just take this event as a new experience and I was pleasantly surprised!! I take you guys on a walkthrough of the event while also simultaneously covering all that was happening with the Integra. I don’t know how many Americans have been to this show before or how many have documented it but here is a very rare look at what a Stancenation event is like in Japan. It’s so different than what we have in the U.S. and definitely features way more than just the typical “stance” builds you’d see in North America. Japan just does it different, and more importantly, better. The quality, the details, the quirkiness of Japan…
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”.
We’ve been taking you any and everywhere the last few episodes because there was so much going on during the Japanese “Golden Week” vacation period. It seemed like there was something going on every single day because people are just happy to be out and about again. But…in this episode, we get back down to business covering what we’ve come to be known for…All things in Japan, in the Kansai region specifically, related to ’90s era Honda Civics. The weekend of Golden Week, we were invited out to see the JJ Cup event at Central Circuit in Hyogo featuring a one-make style competition of time attack Civics. I do a track walkthrough of the event, show you guys some of the grittiest Hondas that this area has to offer. A day before that however, I stop by to make a shop visit to Charge in Osaka and also stop by to visit our friends at Mecha-Dock for a good old Golden Week BBQ!…
Attention, attention, we are now interrupting what seems like regularly scheduled posts from Japan to give you some photos I’ve long been waiting to post. As most of you will have realized by now, I am currently in Osaka, Japan. I have so much content to upload as I have been making Vlog episodes basically real-time that I haven’t had much time to post anything else. Right before I left for Osaka, I had literally crammed two nights into completing these photos from Wekfest Chicago only to have them sit on my hard drive for another two weeks, lol. There’s just been so much cool shit happening on this sound of the pond that I haven’t been able to sit down to lay out this post. It’s a shame because I really enjoyed how these photos came out…
When I first landed in Osaka, Yasu mentioned that there was an Itasha-style car show happening just two days after Wekfest—at the exact same venue in Nagoya. He asked me if I wanted to go and I thought about it for a whole 2 seconds before I said “YES DEFINITELY”, lol. Why? Well, I’m here in this country that I haven’t been back to in two years so I want to experience as much as possible. More importantly, I want to see and experience NEW things that I haven’t had access to before. Itasha-style car builds are SUPER popular here in Japan and from the photos I’ve seen on Twitter, they always look to be of pretty high-quality as well. SO OF COURSE I WANTED TO GO. And if you watch this episode, you might want to go too! I think everyone experiencing car culture in Japan should try to go to one of these events at least once. Would I go back? Uhhhh….YES.
The day after Wekfest Japan, we jumped out of bed and into our friend Eishi Suzuki’s Voltex S2000 to attend an all-S2K meet at a parking area in Mie. This was a special occasion because Eishi passed away a couple of years ago and he was once the organizer of this particular meet. His close friend still hosts the meet every year in his honor and Yasu thought it would be a great surprise if we brought his car out for it! I don’t think anyone expected it to be there but everyone was stoked when we pulled-up. The car hasn’t been brought out in public since his passing so it was important that the car be there for the gathering he once hosted…
As many of you may have figured it out by now, one of the reasons why I returned to Japan in 2022 was to attend the Wekfest event in Nagoya. I’ve been to every single one since the very beginning, with the exception of last year’s due to the global “thing”. It felt weird not coming back, especially since it has long become a regular checkmark on my annual travel calendar. When I found out that there was an opportunity to return, I leaped at the opportunity. This year was a bit different for me. I decided I wanted to experience the show as a spectator and shoot the event for myself. There were so many great builds that I wished there was more time to cover it all, but I had to find a balance between vlogging and photography…so, here is the video portion of my adventures at this Wekfest event…
It’s been a while since I’ve been back in Chicago. Typically around this time I would be in Japan so I’d have to opt-out of this stop on the annual Wekfest tour. Now that the tour is back in full-force with a full schedule, we can all get back on the road to do more car things! Chicago is the first on the schedule and we are back to see what this gritty city has to offer!
It’s been a while since I’ve been out and about at a car event. Don’t get me wrong, there are no shortage of events here in Southern California. You can literally drive anywhere in the city on a weekend and come across something car-related. I just haven’t been out because I’ve been busy. If you strictly follow my social accounts you’ll notice the lack of activity, but my days are pretty full of tasks. Since I haven’t been able to go back to Japan, I’ve decided to take the time now to start planning for the rest of the year while also completing my third book. The book took me over a year to finally finish but I’m proud to say that it is some of my best work yet—and also currently available for pre-order. Let’s just say that there are a lot of things going on behind-the-scenes and you’ll realize why I haven’t been as active online when the time comes. I’m planning big things. And I’ll leave it at that. A big part of me has been itching to get out and start doing car things again though. Especially now that the grunt work for the book is done. I feel like I can dedicate more of my time now to covering automotive events and shooting cars for fun. I also want to be a supportive friend so when I found out that Round 2 of VTEC Club was happening, I thought I’d make the trek out to Buttonwillow…
