Tag Archive for ‘car shows’

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…
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Highlights from Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 in photos…

Highlights from Tokyo Auto Salon 2023 in photos…

Man it felt good to be back in Tokyo in January. After not being able to come the last two winters, for obvious reasons, I just felt like something was missing. Tokyo Auto Salon had become such an important stop on my annual calendar that I felt anxious to come back. Not being at the show threw my whole body clock off, lol. It’s just that old familiar feeling you know? When you have a routine and suddenly it’s broken or shifted, things just aren’t right. After coming back to Japan in late April of 2022, understanding all that was required for me to re-enter Japan, I knew I’d be back even if border restrictions continued to be in-place. This year, I decided to make my trip even longer than in 2022 when I stayed one whole month and a day. I had a couple of events that I had to attend here in Japan so I chose to stay a total of 40 days. Yes, 40 days in Japan. Before, I would fly to Japan for Auto Salon, stay for about 2 weeks, and then head back home because there was a Wekfest event scheduled in earlier February. Early February would usually have me in Hawaii for Wekfest and the NFL Super Bowl. The boys would usually make a fun trip out of it and have a BBQ at the AirBnB we’d stay at. When I found out that Hawaii was a no-go this year, it meant that I could stay longer. If Hawaii were to happen, that would mean that I would go to Japan, go home to California, fly to Hawaii for Wekfest, go home once again, and then fly right back to Japan. I’d make it back to Osaka just in time for the Auto Messe show and stay another week so I could attend Attack Tsukuba on the Tokyo-side. It sounds crazy but I did exactly that for the last two years before the pandemic. With no Hawaii Wekfest event this time, it saved me a lot of travel time and my body clock could stay consistent to one time zone…
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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!
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Tokyo Auto Salon 2023, But Chill…

Tokyo Auto Salon 2023, But Chill…

It’s the 2023 new season premiere! What better place would it be for our Vlog series to kick-off than in the tuning car mecca of Japan?! I’ve only been here in Tokyo for a few days so far but boy does it feel like a lot has happened. My focal point for the first part of my journey was to document the Tokyo Auto Salon event. It’s been two years since I’ve been able to attend TAS so I really wanted to do it right this time. In years passed I’ve always focused so much on doing both video and photography at the same time but I always felt like I didn’t properly cover the show in our Vlogs. So this year, I walked the show in a much more efficient manner and was able to cover most of what I wanted to see in one day! From experience, I always knew that the first few hours of Tokyo Auto Salon on day 1 was crucial. Those are the hours deemed for “media” specifically, which means that the show isn’t open to the public. No crowds equals less noise, and no models for all the weebs to gawk at. This was the perfect time to do coverage of the show because it wasn’t hectic at all. And that’s exactly what I did. That’s why this episode might feel like the chillest, most calm, version of any Tokyo Auto Salon coverage you’ll see. Those that don’t know might just assume TAS was like this all weekend. That is definitely not the case! It gets crazy to the point where you can’t even walk or breathe sometimes so consider this episode a relaxed, yet detailed, look at the show…
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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…
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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…
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Happy Honda Holidays From Me To You…

Happy Honda Holidays From Me To You…

Seasons greetings everyone! It’s the holiday season and everyone out here seems to be organizing toy drive-themed car events every weekend. It’s all for a good cause so we make sure to show up to as many as we can to give back. It’s also nice just to do car things and see friends of course so why not take advantage of time to do both? First, we stop by the GReddy Food Drive to drop-off some raffle prizes, then we head to our friend Barry Ancheta’s Stay Classick Sleighride event to drop-off some toys and see some good Honda builds!! I think you guys will enjoy this particular episode if you’ve been a subscriber for a long time here. It’ll give you guys a good glimpse of what 2023 holds….better video quality, including 4K resolution! I’m still undecided on whether or not to go full 60 FPS because I enjoy the more cinematic feel of 30 FPS but I’ll leave it up to you guys. Let me know what you guys think!! Oh yeah, and Ryan Der continues to make progress on his Civic project as well. He’s ramping up to finally make some major changes to the car so stay tuned if you enjoy his build thus far…
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The Incredible Stories And Builds From SEMA 2022…

The Incredible Stories And Builds From SEMA 2022…

I always say that I might not go back to SEMA but there is always a car build or two that brings me back. It’s always good to see the cars there but it’s far more interesting when you dive into them to see the little details and to hear from the owners themselves. This year, instead of trying to cover the entire show, I sought out specific builds that I wanted to see, that ones that caught my interest, and focused on giving you all a more thorough look at them. One of the stories I really wanted to tell was Alex Alfaro’s Integra Type R. He recently received a surprise gift from Japan just in time for SEMA and he also had a set of wheels that most enthusiasts in this generation have never heard of…
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