Tag Archive for ‘car shows’

The gang’s all here for Osaka’s BIGGEST Car Show!!…

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!…
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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….
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Barely Surviving 25 Hours In The Spoon Type R…

Barely Surviving 25 Hours In The Spoon Type R…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It’s been a hell of a month with all our friends from Japan visiting. It’s been a constant chase of giving them new experiences and exposing them to car culture here in America. For the final leg of the trip, we hit two very big events; the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas and the grueling endurance race that is the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Spoon Sports returns after a 1-year hiatus with a new Type R, a slightly different crew, and the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya!! With races like this, you never know what is going to happen, and things definitely did NOT go as planned. In fact, I think we barely made it out alive!!…
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The One Where Our Friends From Japan Experience California Car Culture…

The One Where Our Friends From Japan Experience California Car Culture…

Finally after 3 years, Yasu is finally back in America! It feels like it has been forever since he’s been back and he even brought our friend Ryuji from NO GOOD RACING with him. A lot has changed over the last few years so he definitely had a lot to catch-up on. With it being Ryuji’s first-time in America, we wanted to make sure he had the best experience here in California. Luckily, there seemed to be a plethora of automotive events happening every week here. That’s just one of the many perks of living out here I suppose. Whatever they wanted to see, we found it whether it be car shows, meets, lowriders, the American Honda Collection Hall, etc. We did it all. This episode consists of our many adventures during the past few weeks with bits and pieces of everything we experienced. I know it seems like Yasu is typically the one showing me around Japan but it was time to return the favor and catch him up on all the amazing things our car culture has to offer…
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KDAY!! Is One Of Japan’s Best-Kept Secrets…

KDAY!! Is One Of Japan’s Best-Kept Secrets…

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Takeshi Kobayashi for over a decade now but have never actually been to one of his Kday!! events. It’s an annual car show he does every year and though I’ve been to Japan many, many, times, I’ve just never made my way up to Miyagi Prefecture during Fall. After my trip to Australia, I decided to head to Japan for a few weeks and it just so happened that Kday!! was happening the same month. Yasu had planned to attend with his newly-finished USDM Civic coupe so everything just sort of fell into place. Not only would be be able to present the Civic in its near-final form, I’d finally have the opportunity to experience Takeshi’s labor of love in his hometown…
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The Return Of A Local Legend In Japan…

The Return Of A Local Legend In Japan…

You know, I’d never thought I’d see the day when this Civic coupe would re-emerge over in Japan. It wasn’t the best kept secret ever, but Yasu from Exceed Japan actually purchased this coupe about 5 years ago as a bare shell. DPK David had decided to move on from Hondas and Yasu leaped at the chance of owning it. The two-door was one of Yasu’s favorites from the West Coast and one of the builds that really got him fascinated with how enthusiasts build Hondas in America. He had planned to rebuild the car as an homage to its prime years here in Southern California but with some updated details to make it his own. As the business grew over the years, it became less of a priority to get this thing back together. This year marked the first time Yasu even had a chance to even touch the car and over the last few months, it has started to look like its old self again. After I left Australia, I flew straight to Japan to see it for myself…
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Exploring Down Under For World Time Attack Challenge…

Exploring Down Under For World Time Attack Challenge…

I was gonna say “Spooning Down Under” but people might get the wrong idea, lol. So right after New York, I flew home for a few short hours to repack because I had to hop on another flight to Australia. Yasu and I had always talked about going but just never got down to actually planning it. When he told me he was going, I gave him my word that I would meet up with him in Sydney but kind of got carried away with time–per usual, I didn’t book my flight until late. Like two weeks late. After I saw the prices of the flights, I was kind of hesitant on going but then I found out that Spoon Sports would be attending WTAC as well. Spoon, both Japan and USA, were heading down under for exhibition runs with the legendary Eiji “Tarzan” Yamada behind the wheel. I wasn’t going to miss that so I bit the bullet and booked my trip. It was so expensive that I managed to find another flight that would take me to Japan after for just an extra $100. So why not just make a big adventure out of it all, right? Let’s kick things off by exploring the two-day event that was the World Time Attack Challenge. If you’re looking for racing action, there is none of that here, lol. I spent my time walking around the event and studying car builds as I always do…
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