Style in EVERYTHING at Final Bout Japan…

Style in EVERYTHING at Final Bout Japan…

In my ongoing adventures in Japan, I always try to experience new automotive events to expand my horizons. Of course I don’t want to stray too far off the path of things I love so it’s all still very Japanese-tuning specific. When I found out that my friends from Final Bout were hosting an event in Japan around the same time as Tokyo Auto Salon, I knew I had to check it out. Though it may be a driving competition hosted by Americans, the competitors themselves as well as the race track it is on is still very much Japanese. I knew it would be a great opportunity to run into some new JDM builds that I have never seen before. I was stoked to also here that they were going to make this a team-oriented competition as well and that’s one of the features of Final Bout that I have enjoyed in year’s past. Yasu had already flown back home to Osaka to catch-up on work so on this day, I linked up with my friend Cody Chan. He had already made plans to go with some friends and he was able to squeeze me in last minute since i hadn’t ever been to Nikko Circuit before. One thing that stands out about this event is that STYLE is a very important prerequisite. It doesn’t matter how good you can drive, if your car doesn’t look good, what the hell is the point??!

So Much To Do, So Little Time In Tokyo…

So Much To Do, So Little Time In Tokyo…

What a difference a week makes in Japan. I started off my trip on a really chill mood, just walking around the city and exploring new areas I’d never been to. Then a week later all my friends arrived in Tokyo and it was time to get back into work mode! Tokyo Auto Salon was upon us and there were some great new builds to see, but most of the fun was had after hours! There were meets all weekend, including one hosted by Sara Choi and your’s truly. Let’s just say things didn’t go as planned, but hey, that’s just what happens in Japan….

It wouldn’t be a Japan trip without a visit to Spoon Sports Type One…

It wouldn’t be a Japan trip without a visit to Spoon Sports Type One…

I always try to make my way to Type One every time I go back to Japan. In year’s past I’d message Aaron from Spoon Sports USA to see if it was okay if I went over there, worrying we’d get in the way or something. Better to ask than to feel unwelcome, you know? Sometimes Aaron would even be there to show us around. Give us a full tour and show us some stuff the public doesn’t have access to. My friends and I have created some great memories at this place over the past decade. Nowadays I’ll just send a quick message to Daisuke Jomoto from Spoon to let him know I’m coming by to say ‘hi’, no matter how brief the encounter. It’s one of those things where when you’re in town, you just cruise by to see a friend. It’s crazy to think I can even say that today…

It’s That Time Of Year Again!! The Japan Adventure Begins…

It’s That Time Of Year Again!! The Japan Adventure Begins…

Happy new year!! 2024 is off to a great start as I make my way back to Tokyo, Japan on the second day of the new year. Unlike previous years, my trip to Japan comes even earlier as I made plans to see and experience new things before the annual Tokyo Auto Salon event. I spent time with friends, attended a couple of car meets, and went hunting for some rare gems. Then it was time to go check-out the show and see what was new. There’s still so much more to show you guys because I’ll be in Japan for 48 days!…

Dinner in Yokohama with Cody…

Dinner in Yokohama with Cody…

After spending the first few days of the new year exploring Tokyo on my own, I finally decided I needed to be social and met-up with my good friend @zerosync. He spends half of his year here in Japan and has his own car(s) so he said he would take me around. Cody asked me what I wanted to do and I told him I’m pretty much open to anything. He took my words to heart and took me to Costco so he could buy stuff for his place, lol. I mean, I didn’t mind at all. You’d be surprised how often people in Japan take me to Costco. It’s like if you take me to Costco it automatically makes the Japanese Costco somewhat more-American. I’m always there to support my friends so let’s go make a day of it…

The Chronicles Highway Attack ‘Gameplay Footage’ in 4K…

The Chronicles Highway Attack ‘Gameplay Footage’ in 4K…

Well, I figured there would be no better way to put a bow-tie on this fun project than to actually provide you guys with some footage of it in modern-day 4K. This has been such a fun project. After starting it one-day randomly two years ago and then rehashing it all with much more content in late 2023. It all started with the basis of just having fun and being creative, imagining an alternate timeline where The Chronicles would have had a 16-bit racing game on a Super Nintendo console. Obviously there were some liberties taken with how much I could actually make look ’16-bit’ but I think for the most part, it pulls off the feel of an old racing game faithfully. There was a lot of inspiration taken from some of my favorite games like Tokyo Xtreme Racer, Option Tuning Car Battle and some more obscure titles from Japan that I discovered over the years.

The Holiday Grand Finale…

The Holiday Grand Finale…

Man, it has been a hell of an amazing year. So much traveling, so much car culture to experience and I’ve met/reconnected with a lot of great people! I’ve had some big projects this year and one of the byproducts of working on these projects has been spending time with my friends at Bowls LA. They’ve been plenty busy this year with their own projects, hosting event after event at their space. It’s been a real pleasure seeing Bowls thrive. To close-out the year, we decided to take on one final project. This one is gonna be a special one though, all about giving back to the community with a completely automotive-themed holiday party. While we were planning it all out and decorating Bowls, there were plenty of other events going on as well to keep us occupied…

A Little Dose of Honda Heaven in Japan…

A Little Dose of Honda Heaven in Japan…

Next-up on my list of “Photos I should have posted a long time ago” is a good one. Last year, I extended my Spring trip to Japan a few extra days just so I could attend the Chan-Oka Honda Meet in Saitama. I didn’t know much about the event at the time other than it was an all-Honda gathering being hosted at a private compound. To me, it sounded like the early beginnings of the Eibach Honda Meet back at home, just on a much smaller scale. After I attended, I realized that was exactly what it was supposed to be. Like it wasn’t supposed to be a Japanese Eibach Honda Meet but more-so a (smaller) Eibach Honda Meet in Japan, if that makes sense. The latter is important because the Hondas that would be exhibiting at the Chan-Oka Meet were catered to those that enjoy Honda tuning in North America. The cars represented there were an homage to the 2000s-2010s era of Honda builds you’d see here at home. To me, that’s probably the best era when it comes to Honda modification and I’m glad so many in Japan seem to agree with. A lot of their inspiration comes from looking through magazines like Honda Tuning and Super Street, which I also did quite a bit of work for, so it made sense for me to attend. I don’t think that I am the end-all and be-all of information when it comes to this particular genre by any means—but I’d like to believe that I am pretty knowledgeable and have enough experience to help them curate this sub-community of Honda enthusiasts…

Golden-Era Hondas at Kday Chapter 11 in Japan…

Golden-Era Hondas at Kday Chapter 11 in Japan…

Before I go back to Japan in a few weeks, allow me to take you back to Japan to look at some more photos I collected during my last trip. My original plans abroad a couple months ago consisted of just going to Sydney, Australia for the World Time Attack Challenge. It had been a couple years since I had been back in New South Wales and I promised Yasu that I would meet him there. It was his first time and he wanted to see what Australia was like so I agreed to join him. As usual, my schedule was pretty jampacked so I totally forgot to book my flight to Sydney until a week before. I don’t know how many of you have booked international flights before but trying to book them a week before departure is usually a bad idea. Prices skyrocket last minute to target procrastinators like myself and sure enough, I found myself looking at roundtrip flights that were over $2000. On average, if you were to book in a timely fashion like normal humans, a flight to Sydney from Los Angeles would range anywhere from $750 to $1200. Anything over that is pretty outrageous but a promise is a promise, so I wasn’t going to just leave Yasu by himself in a country he had never been to…