Closing off our trip with Battle Magazine Cup at Nikko PT 2 - Juiceboxforyou

What a way to see Nikko, a track I’ve always wanted to see at a dream event. The “car gods’ were good to us on this trip. It was a fantastic way to sign off our car hunting in Japan. Our 18 days of travelling from the north to the south had let us meet so many people. We had seen so much stuff, from shops to cars to scenery to tracks, engaged with many interesting people.

The N-Style Z20 looking too good. It’s hard trying to document these events, shooting photos and video footage and ensuring you don’t miss the good stuff, which in this case was pretty much everything.

That Race Factory Sileighty is owned by Ex AE86 Up Garage driver Ken Maeda.

What I loved the most about this event was the mix of cars; you had AE86 against the bigger cars. It really felt like a snapshot into the older events from the early millennium.

Everyone was in good spirits too, it was a competition, but no one was taking it too seriously.

Flip got an incredible selection of pan shots at the event, which ill throw in here.

Too many cool cars to comprehend!

This 15 was the perfect blend of old meets new—an M-Sport front bumper mixed with new-age arches, 17/18 stagger and two-tone paint.

You could appreciate the scream of an 86, followed by a 600 HP 1JZ sedan. A true proper mix of Japanese drift machines, everything we could have asked for in a drift event.

I wasn’t expecting to see this Evo at the event; I had seen it on a couple of videos before. It’s mad watching one of these cars sliding through the bends.

An unexpected SW20!

I got Takahashi san to sign one of my copies of Battle Magazine, he couldn’t understand why a random Irish person was over here asking him to do so, but I felt it was right. The BM cups were instrumental at the beginning of drifting competitions.

I’m gutted. I turned the camera off right as this little Daihatsu flipped over. The driver was joking about and fell into the dip at the first bend.

Reuben got his second pair of wings from the N-style guys.

Buzzing!

I got Takahashi san to sign one of my copies of Battle Magazine, he couldn’t understand why a random Irish person was over here asking him to do so, but I felt it was right. The BM cups were instrumental at the beginning of drifting competitions.

There are not too many places like Japan, with a car culture this rich and diverse, and to our surprise still has a pulse. As it slowly shrinks, it’s good to see people young and old still enjoying this culture that we have obsessed over for many years.

Inevitably, this stuff will eventually be nothing more than documentation in the history books. Fossil fuels are on the way out. The world is changing rapidly, our generation and our love for the 80s, 90s and early millennium Japanese cars and the culture will be something future generations will look on as madness from the past.

The automobile has brought us to Japan, giving us some of the most insane adventures filling our hearts with incredible joy and trembling our bodies with fear. My love for these inanimate objects has introduced me to some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met in my life and helped me get up to all sorts of stuff on the other side of the globe.

Who can say where this will all be in another ten or fifteen years. We keep taking cars and parts from Japan and America, and other countries are coming online to take the rest. Much like what we said in our last video, we are burning this candle at both ends. These were only supposed to be consumable good at the end of the day. I’m sure Nissan and Toyota never intended these cars to start subcultures or be the vehicle of choice for drift movements and kids in the mountains.

On a high, we bought some beer and then some more. The wind was picking up from the Typhoon, which was heading straight towards Tokyo.

The rain started to come down, but the beer kept coming. If you have seen the videos, you know what happened next.

We sat at a doorway; I snapped photos of people and cars making their way home as the rain and wind got heavier and heavier.

We found a warm step with carpet and sat back to enjoy the show.

That’s when I realised this was a dumb idea.

Reuben somehow managed to find time to fall asleep in all of this. To be fair, the carpet was lovely, and it was 33 degrees outside; the rain was warm—unusual circumstances for two Irish guys.

With that, we made a break back to the hotel, and well, you have most likely seen what happens next. What a night! What a trip.

With the younger Japanese generations forced out of the hobby by rising prices, I’m unsure if the next generation will have the same interest or lust for this stuff. Everything that appealed to us about these cars is not the same and never will be again.

As long as these older guys are still alive in Japan, the flame will keep burning, which might inspire the next generation of car enthusiasts.

I hope you enjoyed this snapshot of Japanese car culture in 2019. We scratched our itch, one that was there for fifteen or so years. We acted on our cravings so much that we ended up with ten plus hours of content! I’m not sure if we will ever top such a trip, but it was a pleasure to do this nonetheless. I hope you enjoyed watching our adventure and checking out these photos.

If you are a Japanese car enthusiast, I hope this video inspires you to taste the fruit from the source. There is nothing quite like it. You can watch videos or read all the content you want online, just like we have for many, many years. Still, nothing compares to standing up a mountain overlooking a train of Skylines bash off the limiter or hearing an N2 4A-Ge scream down the straight of Okayama circuit or a shiver to the sound of a raspy Civic dodging traffic in Osaka.

Nothing compares to the real thing; it’s these experiences that trump any material possessions. These are just the tools to appreciate life and make you feel alive. I hope every one of you gets to experience something like this. Thanks for watching and reading these articles. It’s been a blast putting this stuff together.