Tag Archive for ‘Exclusive Content’

Did I really just buy a Civic Type R??!…

Did I really just buy a Civic Type R??!…

It’s been nice being at home. I still have a bit to show you from our last trip to Japan but yeah, it’s been really nice settling back into a normal routine here in California. After Nostalgic 2Days in Yokohama, we still had a couple of stops in Japan before hopping on a plane back to the west. Once I got back, it was time to unpack and figure out how to display all these new collectibles I got. While that was happening, I was also presented with an opportunity I didn’t think would ever happen. I guess you can say it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Here’s to a whole new adventure…

Late night car meet in Osaka before heading to Kyoto to hang with Kei Miura!!…

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….

Designing a real Civic race car in Osaka for Exceed and No Good Racing…

Designing a real Civic race car in Osaka for Exceed and No Good Racing…

A couple months ago, Yasu acquired an old EK4 Civic race car that had spent much of its life competing in the Suzuka Clubman one-make race series. The car physically was still in pretty good shape but you can tell that it had been raced a lot. It just had a lot of wear and tear, you know? He wanted to do more circuit racing and time attack events this year using this newly-acquired EK4 so he asked me to design a livery for it. I don’t know why he thinks I’m capable of it because I’ve actually never done a full livery on a real car before but I figured I’d give it a shot. He owns a body shop so if it came out terrible, we could just tear it apart and redo it. My friends had always talked about doing a “Mintia” livery because it’s our favorite Japanese mint and has long been an inside joke. I think most of our friends and acquaintances know about Mintia because we’d always share them with everyone. Der even has a credit card with a custom Mintia skin. So I studied the packaging and went into full detail trying to come-up with a way to use the EK4 as its own Mintia case. Around late October last year, I came up with a pretty rough version of it. Over the course of the last few months, I refined it as Yasu started to transform the car in real-life. He painted the Civic a custom blue hue that matches the Mintia packaging and the graphics started to take shape once I arrived back in Japan last month. Now you all can see it come to fruition…

Some RAW cruising fun in Osaka!!…

Some RAW cruising fun in Osaka!!…

they’ll tell you that every visit is a unique experience. Kanjozoku culture is a staple here, though it may not be the most accepted, and often people ask me how they can experience it. Please don’t ask. I don’t want to put your life in danger or put you in a position that could get you in any trouble. It looks fun but there are so many inherent dangers that come with it. 100% of the time when people ask about it, I try to warn them about it and express that I would rather they not be involved. Just enjoy it from a distance. On this particular night, a few friends had an incredibly rare opportunity to experience it for themselves and we cruised out after a long day of work to make sure everything went smoothly. The guys from NO GOOD wanted to return a favor and offer some hospitality that was shown to them overseas. Don’t try this at home obviously and this is all not real and a simulation okay? Enjoy!…

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!!…

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…

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…

Aussie Fun With Spoon Sports & The RAREST JDM Collector Cars Outside Of Japan…

Aussie Fun With Spoon Sports & The RAREST JDM Collector Cars Outside Of Japan…

To be perfectly honest with you, when I first embarked on this journey to Australia, I had no idea I’d encounter a multi-million dollar Nismo Z-Tune, multiple Nismo 400Rs, THE HKS ZERO-R, or a Jackie Chan custom Mitsubishi Evo. What a wildly interesting day this turned-out to be. But before I get to that, I spent an extra day with Spoon Sports at JDMYard for a gathering they hosted. It’s always fun hanging out with those guys and making memories. Later on that week, I realized I had an extra day unplanned so I hit up some friends over in Melbourne. I’d never been on that side of Australia but knew they had a pretty great car community there. I met a few of them earlier this year while we were all in Japan and they seemed like good people. When I told them I wanted to spend a day there, they took time off, picked me up from the airport, and took me to see some of the rarest Japanese imports I’ve ever seen!…

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…

Suzuka Adventures With Top Fuel Japan, Voltex & More!!…

Suzuka Adventures With Top Fuel Japan, Voltex & More!!…

Well, as sad as it may sound, the Osaka portion of our journeys have come to an end. I’m glad it ended the way it did but it was time for us to move back over to the Tokyo-side of Japan. As we approach our final major event at Tsukuba Circuit, we stop by over in the Mie prefecture to pay a visit to Top Fuel. If you watched my videos from my last visit to Japan, I had the opportunity to see Top Fuel for the first time. It was such an epic visit that I made sure to go again so that Der and Kristian could see this place for themselves. After Top Fuel, we made a stop at a local restaurant that we had previously frequented multiple times before. The food was always good considering it’s the only restaurant out in the middle of nowhere. Since the pandemic, however, it’s changed a little bit—to say the least. Eating there was an adventure in itself…