Well, can’t say I really expected this to ever happen…
Tag Archive for ‘car meets’
Photos from the last Wekfest East (For now)…
I suppose this isn’t “good-bye” but more like a “see you later”….
Debuting our Civics at Osaka’s BIGGEST car show!!…
Giving our Mintia EK Civic race car a full makeover a week before one of Japan’s biggest car shows, what could possibly go wrong?…
Fun Osaka nights with friends…
Just one of those random nights that turns into something special…
The Battlecraft 10-Year Hyper Art Show in photos & video!!…
Happy New Year everybody! No better way to kick off the new year than to give you guys something to watch. I even updated the intro and everything. It seemed like the right time to just update everything so there are some small changes that I’m sure many of you regulars will notice. In the first episode of Season 11, I take you back to a few weeks ago when we were hosting the Battlecraft 10-year anniversary event. I can’t believe it’s been ten years already. Time really does just fly right by. The episode starts with me giving you guys some current updates, a little history on Battlecraft, and what our event is/was all about! Then it’s time to set-up, figure out where everything goes and hope for the best. We also had a special guest with us since we took Terry’s Integra out of Bowls LA to display at the Battlecraft 10-year. He decided to fly down to experience some Socal car culture and then we send both he and his car back to the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy!
Last night with NO GOOD RACING before I go back home…
Well it’s been fun Japan but it’s time for me to go back home to Los Angeles! Before I leave though, Yasu and I link-up with our friends from NO GOOD RACING for a fun cruise night! Ryuji wanted to have a get-together before I left and it worked out that I had a free weekend open for some fun. I still haven’t packed my suitcase or anything but hell, I can never turn down an evening of car activities in Osaka. You never know what to expect or what will happen but it’s almost always an amazing adventure…
Chan-Oka Honda Meet in Japan 2024 Photos…
For the past two years, I’ve purposely extended my Spring trip to Japan so that I could stay for the Chan-Oka Honda Meet. The name comes off a little weird to us in America but it’s named by and after the guy who hosts it. Chan-Oka is a very-devoted Honda enthusiast who focuses primarily on tuning and styling from the early 2000s era of Hondas from the West Coast (California, Seattle, etc.). His group of friends absolutely love this particular type of style. They study it using whatever resources are available to them online and also by looking through old issues of Honda Tuning and Super Street magazines. Many of these guys have never been to America before but it’s actually pretty surprising how good they’ve become at replicating this specific look. I guess you can say the same thing about Americans or people from other countries and how they try to replicate Japanese car builds while never having set foot in Japan…
We brought the EK9 Type R out to one of the best Honda events in Japan…
Summer is here which means it’s time to put the EK9 away for the season! Haha, yes that sounds strange considering most enthusiasts put their cars away for the winter but if you know Japan, you understand how harsh their summer season can be. It’s just way too humid and hot to be outside which means I’m taking my ass back home to a slightly-less-hot Southern California. I’ve been here way too long so it’s time for me to go back to catch-up on regular life…
With me being gone, there’s no reason really to have my EK9 CTR outside so it’s going to stay in a nice comfy warehouse in Osaka. Before we do that though, Yasu and I decided to load the car up on a tow rig so we could safely transport it 7 hours to the Kanto-side of Japan. If you’ve followed me for the last few years, hopefully long before that, you know that I usually end my spring journey in Japan by attending the Chan-Oka Honda Meet. It’s a smaller event, but the quality definitely exceeds the quantity of Hondas inside this up and coing event. This small lot in Saitama holds some of the best Honda builds in Japan! There’s a particular style that these enthusiasts follow and it’s very much the more ‘USDM’, West Coast style of building Hondas from the early 2000s. These guys get all their inspiration from magazines like Super Street and Honda Tuning from back in the day. They execute the style faithfully and I can honestly say that they do their research. The Hondas here are legit.
Late night car meet in Osaka before heading to Kyoto to hang with Kei Miura!!…
During Auto Messe weekend, we always try to host a gathering somewhere in Osaka because there are so many people in town for the show. It just makes sense to bring everyone together for some post-show activities. That way it maximizes the experience for those who come to the Kansai region and it allows them to get a taste of true Osaka car culture. It’s not unlike Tokyo, when the masses all link up at various night meets in the city. This is just on a smaller scale but with a completely different vibe. If you enjoy cars, you already know that Osaka will be thriving that weekend. On this particular evening, we decided to bring our newly-finished Mintia “Cold Smash” EK4 Civic race car out. We had friends in town who hadn’t seen the car in-person yet and even though it is a dedicated race car, we thought it’d be fun to see this thing smashing around the city. A few days after that, we all headed over to Kyoto for a fun evening with Kei Miura from TRA Kyoto. You may know him as the man behind the popular aero parts company(s) Rocket Bunny and Pandem. We all grab dinner and then head back to his shop where he shows us some of his latest projects and goes through the unique process in how each build came together….
The gang’s all here for Osaka’s BIGGEST Car Show!!…
It was starting to feel like I had been in Japan forever. I’d say I was missing home but Osaka is basically my second home so they only thing I was really missing were my friends. That is, until they finally showed-up! It was good to see their faces and spend time with them again because Yasu might have been getting tired of just seeing me every single day. Osaka Auto Messe was fast approaching and everyone arrived just days before. Nana showed-up first after visiting some friends in Gunma, then Der and Kristian landed early morning in Osaka. We grabbed some food, walked around the city, and then it was off to the biggest car show in the Kansai region, Osaka Auto Messe!…