Photos Unboxed: Japan Parts Arrive At JDMDistro
I’m very fortunate to work in a place that imports parts from Japan. It’s as much a blessing as it is a curse. Most of our monthly wages never really leave JDM Distro but working here has enabled me to source some of the best parts for my AE86 build over the last few years.
Being able to drop parts at the depot in Japan was once in a lifetime stuff. Here was a Goodline 86 hood, which I had listed after for many, many years. We barely snugged it into the back of the Alphard and drove halfway across Japan to drop it off just outside of Tokyo.
Waiting for this container to land in Ireland was the closest I’ve felt to Christmas since being a young kid waiting for toys off of Santa. That’s the danger of working here! Suddenly you’ve reignited that feeling you haven’t felt in years, buying something or looking forward to a particular item, playing the waiting game ad then unboxing it.
We do this a lot with stuff we buy online, but those items usually take a shorter amount of time to arrive. With our container, it was a three month wait time until the pandemic kicked off, and now it’s every four or five months or more, depending on the container circulation around the globe. So the excitement slowly grows as you wait.
I don’t think any other container day at JDM Distro will top this one; these items meant a lot to me as I already had an emotional attachment to them. I had lusted after the magazines for well over ten years, a few bits in Japan, the battery box and that gold hood. Oh boy, how happy I was to see this stuff when we opened that container; even looking back on these photos or the video on Monday, it had me cracking a huge smile again.
It’s been a blast meeting people from all over and sourcing parts from every part of Japan. I met Robbery through chatting online, and one way or another, Rob ended up buying the Goodline Hood on Yahoo after we had a failed attempt at work, the owner was accepting collection only, and we couldn’t get someone to get it in person.
After I told Rob this, he told me he had picked it up, passing through Tokyo on his way back to Osaka! What were the odds? After a bit of chatting, he offered the hood to me on one condition, that id come and pick it up in person in Japan, and that was the start of our Japan in a van trip plans!
An epic day at work and remnants of the most incredible holiday. Another piece to the Puzzle!