Osaka JDM & Full Stage - Juiceboxforyou

We got up bright and early the following day after a surprising sleep in a capsule hotel and decided to head out of Osaka and head for the hills. Our fits stop was Osaka JDM, a shop that has seen extreme popularity in the last few years with the popularity of the Kanjo culture.

A slightly damaged Ek9 caught our attention.

We tried to visit it in 2016 when it was initially called Car Craft Boon, but they had moved to a new location and rebranded. They used to specialize in selling and building Kanjo inspired Hondas.

How cool is this CRX Ballade sport on CR01/ Loop five wheels?

This place gets a large amount of tourist traffic, and the guys in there were not as open as the rest of the shops we visited on the trip. I guess this is pretty understandable; you can’t win all the time.

The owner’s race, Civic, had a new few battle scars.

It just depends on the day and the person. It will be a different experience every time. You almost believe the shop owners will greet you with open arms just because you are a foreigner with a smile.

How cool is this Leyton house inspired Scooter?

Another shot of this beauty.

I love the random stuff that’s just lying around at Japanese tuning shops.

It’s not often you get to see both CRX’s in the same spot.

This EA Civic was a tease.

The front of this place is nicely packed. There’s stuff hidden under covers and enough cool Honda’s to get any fan excited.

Regardless we checked their latest version of the shop, which is now called Five Mart. Inside, the shelves are filled with American and Japanese goodies, a very cool place to visit. – almost like a mini-museum / store for Kanjo culture.

Kazuhiro Furukawa has done very well for himself out of this rise in popularity with Osaka Honda culture. He’s been one of the driving factors behind the resurgence in Hondas with the younger crowd in the area.

Scooters awaiting a bit of custom work…

The inside is very impressive. There are parts to look at and potentially buy everywhere, from actual car parts to scale models.

Stickers, hats, merch, the shop is everything you would want to see from a Kanjo / Osaka honda culture shop.

These days, he primarily races in the one-make series and enjoys collecting some rare badass Hondas, the Ballade CRX was outside, and the EG6 he uses for the race series.

We noticed that a shop called Full Stage was just up the street. They have been quite active in Tsukuba time attack in recent years with their insane looking Voltex aero FD3s known as the shark, able to get around Tsukuba in 55 seconds; It would have been rude not to stop by for a look.

We couldn’t get enough of this race-spec S2000.

This GD Impreza’s was one of the coolest Subrus we seen on the trip. Come to think of it; we didn’t see a whole of them on the journey.

Check those arches and that wing!

The grey graphics were a nice touch. Endless callipers front and rear too, I bet this thing can move.

The owner was super welcoming; he was amazed that we even called in to see the shop, which felt like a total contrast to our other visit that morning.

You don’t know what way these owners and shop workers will take you wandering in unplanned, but it looked like a quiet day here at Full Stage, and we had a good chat with the tuner who was working. Not sure if he owns the place?

He was fascinated that Ireland had a Japanese car scene, we spent a good hour showing him all our tiny island had to offer, and he asked us if we could fly him over some time to tune cars!

An experience to remember. I left a puddle of drool in front of the FD3s these guys pilot in the Japan time attack series. I hadn’t seen a full-on time attack machine in real life yet, so this FD was jaw-dropping, total insanity causally parked in the corner of the shed.

How wild is this FD! I’d love to see this on track.

What a setup. Everything in Full Stage meant business.

These lads have a rich history with the Kanjo, with the loop racing sticker on the back of the FD; I’m sure these lads used to run the loops in their youth. Very cool

The shop obviously has a rich history of motorsport, lots of engines in various stages of assembly in the back. Everything car in the workshop looked like a purpose-built machine. Exactly what you’d expect from a proper Japanese tuning shop, such a great spot to visit.

We hit the road. We set us to Zero Fighter in Nara. We had a pleasant drive out to the hills. Japan is non stop epic scenery. We found ourselves pointing stuff out a lot on the trip.