Tag Archive for ‘exceed japan’

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 2…

Let’s jump right back into the second half of the Central Circuit track day photos that Yasu helped me capture last month. Hopefully you guys have seen Part 1, if not, well, it’s right before this post so it’ll be easy for you guys to find. If you love Civics, these are the photo sets you want to see because Osaka can’t get enough of their EG/EKs. Honestly that’s one of the things I love about this entire region. They just have this crazy undying loyalty to the Civic and have such a specific way in how they style them that makes any enthusiast appreciate the craft. There is also this rich history that oozes out of these cars that only people from this area can showcase to the rest of the world. “Civic is culture” as Yasu puts it, and no truer words have ever been uttered about the Kansai region. There really isn’t much else for me to say other than that. The photos speak for themselves. Thanks again to Yasu for carrying to weight for me while I’m still unable to make the trip back to Japan. I hope you guys enjoy his camera work…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

Central Circuit Track Day May 2021 Coverage… Part 1…

I can see light at the end of the tunnel…FINALLY. We are in June now and things are starting to open back up out here in California. By next week I hear EVERYTHING will resume as it did before the pandemic happened and that will be interesting. It already feels a bit weird being out and about lately but I think we all experienced a pretty strange time in our lives and there will need to be an adjustment period before we all feel “normal” again. Car shows are also on their way back now with the Wekfest tour announcing several dates to close out the rest of 2021 so I’m excited for that. I’m so used to being on the road all the time that I do miss traveling a lot even though it can get quite taxing on the body. I think the next step in our return to normalcy will be when the international borders open-up and I can finally go back to Japan. Last I checked things weren’t going too well out there however, and with the Olympics looming, I don’t have any idea when the border will open back-up for tourism Until then, I thankfully have Yasu staying active in Osaka and regularly attending events. He recently shot these photos from a track day at Central Circuit and unloaded them on me so I could process them for the site. Like the other track day we covered, there’s no real back story to it. The guys just wanted to go have some fun and drive their Civics around Central Circuit so Yasu tagged along. It sounds like he’s been pretty bored at the shop lately so having events like this help to get him outside. Give these photos a look and come back for the rest later this week!…

No Good Racing Night Meet 2021 Coverage…

No Good Racing Night Meet 2021 Coverage…

Seems like Yasu has been out and about quite a bit lately, regularly attending shows and meets in his area. I don’t know if it is necessarily the best idea being that the number of cases haven’t really gone done much, if at all, lately in Osaka but he’s being careful and selective of who he hangs out with. I honestly feel like he’s just getting a little bored being at the shop every day and going a little stir crazy so he wants to be outside again. The last year and a half has probably felt a little odd for him since he’s usually either in the U.S. hanging out with us or we’re over there in Osaka with him. Hopefully in the next few months or so things get better and he’ll be able to return in time for the Wekfest tour to start here in America. He recently attended a night meet hosted by our friends from NO GOOD RACING and asked me if I wanted photos. Of course I’m always down for Japan content so I asked him to shoot some stuff. He mentioned that the meet was happening in a brand new parking area which was just recently completed and that sounded exciting since the night meets we go to are normally poorly-lit. There wasn’t a specific reason behind the meet happening, I think everyone just wanted to do car stuff and wanted to not think about the pandemic so they hosted a gathering. Here are the photos from that evening, captured by Yasu Shimomukai from Exceed Japan. Enjoy!!…

Cruising Through Osaka With Yanagi’s EG6 and Masashi’s S2000…

Cruising Through Osaka With Yanagi’s EG6 and Masashi’s S2000…

Typically around this time, the only visitors at Yasu’s shop in Osaka would be me. Wekfest Japan is usually happening during this period and I’d be over there getting ready to go to the show with him. Because of the global pandemic, and numbers still rising over in Japan, the border has been closed off to foreign visitors and I haven’t been able to return as I would usually. From what I saw online, like the rest of you, Wekfest Japan was a great event. There were less cars and the crowd was likely smaller than usual, but it was expected with the way things are going right now. With Yasu being so busy with work, not wanting to catch anything, and me not even being there, he decided it would be best if he just stayed behind this year…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 2…

Stancenation Japan G Edition Yamaguchi Coverage… Part 2…

Serious FOMO is setting in right now, especially since I’d normally be in Japan right now for Golden Week and the Wekfest Japan event. With this global pandemic still hitting some countries pretty hard, Japan in particular, the border remains closed to foreign visitors which means that I’m stuck here at home. Luckily I do have some content on reserve to show you guys as I await my eventual return. This particular set of photos is from the Stancenation Japan event in Yamauchi…which happened last year, lol. I showed you guys the first half last week and today, we’re gonna look at the rest. Some of these cars actually did make it to this year’s Wekfest Japan event so that’s kinda close enough to having WFJP coverage, so we’ll just have to be satisfied with that for now. There are some pretty cool builds in this set though, so please look through it thoroughly. Huge thanks to Yasu for attending this event and taking photos for me. He even conveniently made the photos look very similar to mine so the coverage looks pretty consistent with whatever I shoot. Enjoy and share if you dig it!…

A Quick Visit To Central Circuit 2021…

A Quick Visit To Central Circuit 2021…

It’s been a strange time for me. I mean, there’s a ton on my plate lately but it’s just been a really odd feeling just being stuck here and not being able to go to Japan. Typically my Japan trips are amazing adventures for me to capture new content but the actual traveling part of it is usually my time to reflect and think about things going on in my life. It hasn’t been easy trying to process all that is going on in my mind just sitting in my office because I think the movement is important for me. Just the physical act of going somewhere allows me this type of release that I can’t get here at home. My moments of reflection are vital for my sanity. I need to escape from my own mind sometimes but without these long flights and quiet times for me to just process, I honestly feel like I’m going a little stir-crazy…

Asanoshima FF 2021 Coverage…

Asanoshima FF 2021 Coverage…

Sometimes cool things just end-up in my inbox, what can I say? I was just hanging out in my office one day during a random weekend and I get a message from Yasu. He tells me that he’s heading to Fuji Speedway but he doesn’t really know why other than the fact that he’s going to support Masa from X-Point because he has a booth at some event that was being hosted there. I was like “what event?” and he responded by saying “I don’t know”. And then I said “then why are you going?”. This is usually how our conversations go. I should mention that Fuji Speedway is about a 5-hour drive from his shop so I assumed it must have been important. He reiterated that he didn’t know what the fuck was going on or why he was going but Masa had a booth. He told me that there was an event called “Asanoshima FF” going on but he’s never actually heard of it before and didn’t know what type of cars were going to be there.

Doghouse Garage Meet 2021 Coverage…

Doghouse Garage Meet 2021 Coverage…

It seems like there is something going on every weekend these days out here in Southern California. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad thing, because people seem to be staying safe and what not, but I do find myself just a little bit reluctant at times to be out and about too often, if that makes sense. I think maybe just being a little bit older now I’m just more precautious. When I was young, I’d probably just say ‘fuck it’ and go to everything. The want for content would triumph my own best interests at times and I’ve adjusted my expectations over the years. The only reason I’d go to something now is to either support my friends or other car enthusiasts who have supported friends in the past. It’s more for relationship building and seeing people now than just trying to flood the feed with photos…

Brandon Kim’s S2000 CR Build Photos… Part 1…

Brandon Kim’s S2000 CR Build Photos… Part 1…

I haven’t done a build feature on this site in awhile, since we typically cover most of this type of stuff on the Vlogs these days, but I decided to capture some photos of Brandon Kim’s S2000 build so both you guys and Brandon can see detailed updates as Yuta moves forward with it. It just made sense to get photos to document everything because Brandon actually lives in Hawaii while his S2000 spends a majority of its time here in California. The car was shipped over via boat a few years and is a resident here at our shop. After Yuta Akaishi came back from Arizona after working at HKS USA for a year, the two of them decided to install an HKS GT2 Supercharger on the CR. Along with the install came a bunch of other stuff that eventually will make its way onto the car. It seems like new things are being added every day as Yuta continues to go through the car. Most of the info and technical aspects of this build-up will be detailed on future episodes of the Vlog but periodically, I’ll toss up some photos as well. Here are the first batch of photos that I captured recently at the very start of the build…