Tag Archive for ‘car meets’

Autofashion AF Fest Japan 2023 Photos…

Autofashion AF Fest Japan 2023 Photos…

While I was in Japan back in February, there was a week gap where I didn’t have any other visitors with me. Sara had gone home, Kristian and Der wasn’t set to arrive yet, and there was some free time to just recover. January had been pretty crazy so this was the week where I’d sit down finally can create some content. Creating meant chillin’ inside Yasu’s office at Exceed with the heater blasting while inhaling nonstop second-hand smoke. It’s now April and I can still smell the Seven Stars cigarettes every day, I swear. I put a couple of Vlog episodes together during that time while Yasu caught-up on work at the shop. By the end of the week, it was time for us to resume our adventures and the event I was looking forward to was the AF Fest car show hosted by my friends from Autofashion USA. I’ve known these guys since like 2004-ish so I always appreciate what they do and try to show my support. These guys were doing big things back then and allowed a young scrub like me to tag along and occasionally show my Accord with their fleet of VIP cars. I don’t know why but they me chill with them. Maybe it was a San Diego thing where you just look out for one another, who knows. But it’s been almost 20 years now and I’m happy to say that we are all alive and kicking while still remaining pretty relevant in the scope of the automotive tuning industry. Bascailly, I fuck with these dudes. They’re homies. If they’re doing something or hosting an event, I always try my best to go and every year when I used to do my anniversary meets, the guys from Autofashion would be out to help DJ even though they were dead-tired from building SEMA cars. They are good people and I think their accomplishments translate worldwide because they’ve also created a pretty cool event series in Japan over the last few years. Cool cars, good people, I don’t have to be there all day…that sounds like a fun day to me, lol…

Kyusha Car Gathering on Awaji Island in Photos…

Kyusha Car Gathering on Awaji Island in Photos…

How about we get back to looking at some good old fashion photos, huh?? Yes, yes, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted any photo sets on the site, but there’s a huge reason for that; I simply haven’t had the time to. The YouTube channel has been jampacked with videos the past few months because it is so much easier for me to churn out new Vlogs while I’m on the road. Editing video is a much easier process for me than processing photos because I’m much more picky about how I want my photos to look. I still shoot a lot, probably more than I have before, believe it or not—I also take more time going through the photos now because my tools have expanded as have my skills as a photographer. At the core of it, this site has always been about both the written content and the photos that accompany it. That’s still my focus. It just takes a lot of time to go through the photos, organize them, write copy, and post them here. I don’t know if you guys have ever done any type of blogging before, but it is incredibly time-consuming. I used to be able to post so much more simply because I wasn’t doing anything else. As I’ve gotten older, there is just so much more on my plate now. The Chronicles started-off as just a side project for fun and now it’s my main source of income. As such, I dedicate so much of my time to everything involved with making it sustainable…

Always Up To NO GOOD In Osaka…

Always Up To NO GOOD In Osaka…

Well this was a fun one. After Der and Kristian arrived in Japan, it was time to get Act 2 of my adventures in Japan going. I had a lot planned but didn’t want them to miss out on anything so I waited for them first. Kristian had never been to Japan before to do strictly car-related things so it was important to provide him with the best experience. Being that it was the weekend of Osaka Auto Messe, and the boys were in town, we decided to host another late night meet. I didn’t want to risk getting in trouble again with over 300+ cars showing up to a parking area so we moved the event outside of the city to the quiet island of Awaji. The longer distance made for some fun driving and of course, any time you throw a bunch of straight-piped Civics into an area that’s supposed to be peaceful, a little bit of chaos comes into play. Let’s just say that we were up to “no good” again in Osaka…

Stupid Adventure Time, Naoki’s Shop, & AF Fest Japan!!…

Stupid Adventure Time, Naoki’s Shop, & AF Fest Japan!!…

If this episode proves anything, it’s that nothing ever goes as planned. Originally we had decided to help Sara get acquainted with drifting a right-hand drive car while she was here in Japan. We managed to find a car for her to drive, a track for her to practice at, and were fully prepared for the day—that is until an unexpected surprise came and changed everything. Instead of being discouraged, we just made a (really) stupid, fun, adventure out of it. After that debacle, we stopped by famed Japanese drifter Naoki Nakamura’s workshop for a quick visit in Nara before attending the Autofashion AF Festival event back in Osaka. I’d hope to get some more footage at the show since there were some pretty interesting cars there but again, things just never go as planned…

Massive Kyusha Gathering In Japan!!…

Massive Kyusha Gathering In Japan!!…

While I’m in Japan, I’m always looking for new stuff to see and experience when it comes to car culture. I know I’ve become known as more of a curator for Honda content over the years but my interests actually extend far past just Hondas and Acuras. I’m just exposed more to it than most and have built a strong following within that subculture. When my friend JC Pepino from Work Wheels informed me of a big Kyusha meet happening in Hyogo, I instantly knew that it was going to be a positive experience. I’ve never been to an old school Japanese classic car gathering before so I wasn’t going to miss this one. It just so happened that this meet was happening on Awaji Island where Sara wanted to go anyway so it all kind of worked out. I got to see some car stuff and she got to do her thing at Naruto land. What’s Kyusha and what is Naruto? Well, I attempt to explain at least one of those things in this episode…

Welcome Back To Osaka…

Welcome Back To Osaka…

So, we are back in Osaka for a few days, just catching-up with old friends and meeting new ones. I had a couple of friends from America ask me if they could possibly see some car stuff while they were in town. Hearing so many interesting stories and lore over the years from Osaka, they wanted to see if it was real. Is Civic culture as big as its been portrayed to be? I wouldn’t normally try to put anything together since I enjoy being lowkey while I’m here but Sara was in town as well, so it was a good time to get car enthusiasts together again. So, a meet happened very last minute on a Wednesday. Many of us haven’t been able to reconnect since the borders re-opened so it was time to pump some life back into the car community in Kansai! Everyone be safe out there and abide by all the rules and regulations please!!

First Time At Fuji Speedway & The Tokyo Underground Meet!!…

First Time At Fuji Speedway & The Tokyo Underground Meet!!…

Here we go! The day after Tokyo Auto Salon, I decided to skip day 2 and head to Fuji Speedway for a drift event. Normally I’d go to the show but I’ve never been to Fuji Speedway before so I wanted to get a look at the famed race track and see something I normally wouldn’t have the opportunity to. Sara is very much into drifting so she wanted to see what grassroots drifting in Japan was like. I’m always down to see new car stuff so off to Fuji Speedway we went. After that, we regrouped with friends down in Shibuya for the Tokyo Underground meet hosted by Sara and some friends from Level One Japan. She wanted to gather all the S2000s together so they were specifically parked in their own section of the meet while the rest of the underground parking garage was filled to the brim with both tuning cars and enthusiasts. It seemed like everyone from Tokyo Auto Salon gathered here after the show and the meet was an incredible success!

Grip Or Drift, WHO WINS???…

Grip Or Drift, WHO WINS???…

Just when I think things are winding down, even more events appear! Recently, the guys from Final Bout, a popular drift series, contacted the organizers of VTEC Club USA to see if they wanted to link-up to create a new one-of-a-kind event. They wanted to see if they could take their drift cars, set them up for grip, and take on some seasoned (and very fast) Honda time attack competitors. Would their skills and their cars stack-up against some of the best at the famed Willow Springs Raceway? I was intrigued myself so I wanted to see for myself! I’m sure this would present a pretty unique group of cars as well so I definitely did not want to miss out…

Stay Classick Sleighride 2022 Photos…

Stay Classick Sleighride 2022 Photos…

Just wanted to start things off today by saying a huge “thank you” to those of you who continued to support The Chronicles by watching the YouTube videos and grabbing merchandise from the store. It has been super busy lately here but in an incredibly positive way with so many orders to pack and ship daily. The last two drops have been super successful and I’m glad that The Chronicles continues to grow heading into our 15th year. Yes, FIFTEEN YEARS. How crazy is that?  I wasn’t even sure this thing would last two years when I first started it and look where we are at now. I still feel like I’m steadily improving in every thing I do here and I’m so very honored that many of you see that. I can’t always say it has been easy but through all the hard work and sacrifice, I have no regrets…