Our Kanjo Experience In Osaka - Juiceboxforyou

After already having the craziest day ever, we were keen to meet up with our new friend we had met online over the coming months leading up to our trip. He had organized a meeting with the local up and coming Honda enthusiasts who frequent the loop in Osaka.

We worked our way back into civilization, running a little late due to the distance we had driven back from the AE86 festival. We were exhausted as we had just experienced one of the best days of our lives, but the excitement grew as we edged closer to the city.

We met them in Kobe right across from city hall and ditched the van in a car park; they were all waiting for us, there was a slightly nervous tension between us all. Three foreign lads were meeting a few young Japanese guys, all of us sharing an interest in cars meeting up across the globe. The situations you get yourself into all because of the automobile. I’m very grateful for these experiences.

After a bit of chatting back and forth, the mood eased. The guy I would end up going on the loop with asked us to sign the roof of his car. I guess these lads were just as excited to take us out for a spin.

The sound these Civics emit, everything is so calm and neutral in the Japanese streets, these straight through hatchbacks awe just about to destroy that. The excitement grew with every rev, every traffic light. They all seemed possed when they were behind the wheel. It was something else!

I couldn’t believe they get away with these antics on the streets in public; It must be such a release for them from the constraints of conservative Japan, an immensely intoxicating experience.

I felt pretty damn cool rolling around with a noisy gang of stripped out Hondas, the stuff of dreams that you see online but never get to experience in real life.

What’s funny is I already thought we were racing the loop with how they were acting, but this was only the start of it. Off the clock on every straight, cracked windscreen, rattly dashes, the cars felt like they were doing three times the speed.

And then we pulled into a convenience store to meet others. Everything went from zero to one thousand and back again.

We were fucking buzzing! Adrenaline was rushing through the veins. Just when we had little hope in the younger generations in Japan to see all these lads in their early twenties, carrying the torch, it was a sight to behold.

The wallop of those B series engines disrupting the quiet Japanese streets is like nothing else, a few more lads rolled in, and we hung about for another few hours. After a while, everyone at the convenience store was quite relaxed with having three foreigners around, deep in the outskirts of Osaka, away from any tourist stuff; this was incredible.

One positive effect of all this Kanjo hype over the last five to ten years is the resurgence of cars with these younger lads who look up to the old guys who had been racing the loop for decades, and it’s cool to see them being heavily inspired and building all these cars.

Suddenly it was back to 100% madness again; the lads weren’t feeling the Osaka loop, so I decided to go along with two other cars and my driver; we would all meet at Osaka PA, afterwards.

Once again, straight into it, Eurobeat, rattly Hondas and straight pipe B series engines, it was something else.

What a scene is seeing all these lads rolling out together; you’d get arrested in any other country by now; I find it fascinating that the cops don’t give a shit.

I was so excited the camera shots are pretty shaky; I couldn’t believe the show they were outing on for us.

We broke away from the pack, three cars, two ek4s and an eg6 and headed towards the loop. The whole time I wasn’t sure if we were on the loop or not as they were weaving and having fun, and it all looked the same tbh, casually dipping in and out of 180 plus KMPH

At this point, I’m overwhelmed with adrenaline; it’s hard to explain how exciting a stripped out civic unless you’ve experienced it. With so much noise and stiffness, these super agile go-karts feel like you are going ten times the speed. Everything is amplified. Mind you; we were still sitting at 180k plus dodging people commuting home after work.

Then I saw the signs for the loop and realized we still hadn’t been on it, so cool seeing the lads hug in the bends; the roads are literally like something from a video game. I can see why everyone has been doing this all these years,

And just like that, we turned onto it, he dropped a gear and banged it was fucking madness.

I couldn’t believe we could get away with this, people driving home; it was 8-9 pm rush hour traffic, total madness.

You can see the fucking panic in me with the camera. I can barely hold it. Still, I won’t be winning any awards for that camera work; I was thinking, fuck, I’m in over my head with this shit; the road was half dry, I don’t know this guy, or if he’s a good driver, what if we crash or get caught, how would anyone ever find out what happened hahaha.

I’m usually a good passenger, but I had just met this lad, and now we were doing 200 plus kph on a public highway in Osaka! Madness, what do the public think when these cars are zooming past.

I genuinely thought to myself, fuck, I’ve gone too far this time, but at the same time, I was thinking, all the years of watching this online, and now I’m right in the middle of it! Fuck, what a rush.

So the loop is a piece of elevated highway that you can loop back around onto, almost like a perfectly high race track in the sky that has been infamous in Osaka with the Kanjozoku culture for over thirty years. I never thought id be experiencing this shit in real life.

After about eight laps, I told him it was ok, I had enough, hahaha, just in case he showed off for the camera or the cops came. I didn’t want him or the other guys to get in trouble just for my video. Fuck, what a buzz; I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited and afraid at the same time in a car.

We exited the loop and made our way back to the parking area. On the way back, I thanked the driver for one of the most incredible experiences in my entire life and told him I was so happy to see them keep the torch lit for Japanese car culture. He loosely translated on his phone that he felt it was up to them to keep the JDM scene alive; it was a nice moment!

That rasp as we entered the parking area, a place we were the night before, only to be there again rolling in with angry Kanjo Hondas. Amazing. What a car, having an ek4 myself; I don’t think I could ever look at these things the same again.

I think that was the best 24 hours of my life. I can say that with confidence, after having a shitty month previously with my dad’s passing, which kind of put me in a numb state leading up to the Japan trip; it was nice to feel this fucking excited and happy and scared it reawakened the sense. I don’t think ill ever top that day.

We just hung out for hours then; language didn’t matter, chatting about cars, pointing, laughing, just floating amongst the night; I love how language barriers vanish with this stuff.

After a few hours and settling of the nerves, we piled into different cars and converted back towards Kobe to the car park we stayed in.

We stopped at another parking area to absorb the night; it must have been 3 am; the lads looked tired, and ill forever be grateful to this bunch of sound guys for an outing on a show for three Irish strangers, all united by the love of cars.

What’s nuts is a lot of them didn’t even live in Osaka or Kobe; they had another hour to go after dropping us off; it’s crazy the distances some people go in japan to enjoy the culture.

That note bouncing off of the walls of the quiet city streets, ill never forget it.