The post will be the final instalment from our Japan with a Plan series. There’s probably no reason to get too deep here, as I covered it in the video, but this was perhaps the best and most terrifying 24 hours I’ve ever had. As we slowly got closer to the realisation that I was going to be driving an 86 at Bihoku, my nerves were in overdrive.

The day before, we washed Robs Te37 and then went to collect the 86 and load them on the truck. It was such a surreal experience with this Levin; it still hadn’t hit me that this was mine, and we were about to go and use it. The whole trip had this cloud hanging over us because it was disaster after disaster on the 86, from Covid to the whole quarantine and then things going wrong with the car. It felt like I would wake up from a dream at any moment.

With the last few of these features, this is photo heavy; I shot as many pictures in fantastic Japanese scenarios as I could, as these would be the very photos I would save online if I found them. I hope you enjoy the pictures from this event. I didn’t shoot as much as I had hoped on the day, as I was shitting myself until it was all over. It’s a severe bucket list thing to do, a situation I could have only thought about as a fantasy a few years ago. To be honest, I’d love to go back and do it again.

Continue Reading

Unlocking the Ultimate dream, drifting my new AE86 in Japan

With the lads gone home, I got a train back to Osaka and hooked up with Alex from Circuit Soul. I was meeting up with Rob later in the evening, so I decided to make my way into Dontonbori to wait for Alex. I had a look around and somehow found the 4A-GE vending machine! This little vending machine was so incredible to see in real life. I spent about twenty euros in Yen trying to find all the engines.
Once I linked up with Alex, we made our way to Aslan to Kill and checked out their shop; there are still quite a few Honda shops in Osaka, which I haven’t had the chance to see, and this was one of them.

I love their EG time attack car; it’s incredible. The owner was busy, so we only poked him a little. We left after half an hour of looking around and buying some stickers. That night, I hooked up with Rob, and we got some grub and drove around Osaka in his TE27.

The next day, we went to the USS Tokyo Auctions to pick up a low KM R34 GTR, which was quite the experience. I took a few photos that day as we walked the auction lots, and I’ll post them below with the rest of the images from this couple of days. It was truly unique stuff that I had the chance to see, which, funnily enough, was just another day in Rob’s life.

Continue Reading

I’m going to let the photos do most of the talking here. An all-AE86 4AGE event at Meihan was a severe bucket list scenario, and it was incredible to witness this. Taking the chance to stay in Japan for another week to drive my Levin and experience this day was one of the best choices I’ve made in life! It financially did a number on me but being honest I wont look back at that aspect of it in years to come. Please enjoy this sizable gallery from that event, and if you have any questions, drop them in the comments below. Most of you will have seen this episode on our YouTube channel, so these photos are for people like myself who enjoy the slower pace and look at Photos of cool cars at events in Japan. Enjoy.

Continue Reading

We head to Meihan for an AE86, 4A-GE-only drift battle cup and collect an R34 GTR from the USS Tokyo auctions.

We returned to Tokyo; we met with our friend Alec, who works for speed hunters at Daikoku. Unfortunately, the spot was a bust, so I was offered a seat in Alan’s 86. Some older heads might remember this car from years ago; Alan worked for Tomei years ago and helped develop the Poncam for the 86. It was wild tearing around the streets of Tokyo in his 86. Eventually, we made our way to another parking area packed with Hiace vans and a few dotted 86’s. If you’ve seen this video, you’ve probably seen how wild this place was.

After we spent some time at this PA, unexpectedly bumping into some channel fans, which is a rare and exciting thing to happen in Japan, we made our way down towards Shibuya, as we had heard there was a low rider meet happening.

Sadly, luck was not on our side with this. The meet had been cancelled, but we stuck around with Dino and Alec to watch a very diverse selection of traffic, from American cars to traditional Japanese tuned machines, roll through. Enough rambling from me; enjoy the photos from this night below.

Continue Reading

Here is a somewhat extensive photo dump from visiting a Fluke event at Nikko. This had a much more locals-only feel; we were the only attendees. First, we made a trip to the gigantic statue out by the Tsukuba circuit, as it is impossible to avoid if you stay near it. The statue is called Kamakura Daibutsu, and it’s a must-see if you are up in that area. The Nikko day was fantastic; I shot a few photos of Tec Arts and friends who looked to be having a day off from work. Winds Auto’s Hiromi and her husband Obata were there too. Nikko events never disappoint; there is always something to see.

Continue Reading

I will only do a little talking or writing for this day; this was a lucky event that we chanced, and it turned out to be one of the most incredible days of my life. It was like a window into our future because it was related to all the cars we love and their older brothers. I love Tsukuba, too. It is my favourite track in Japan, so to have this experience, seeing all these essentially priceless cars racing around, was a lot to take in.

The JCCA meet at Tsukuba should be on your list if you go to Japan; this blew our minds. Let the rest of the photos talk for this one; I’ve left many of them in, as cutting them out is hard. One of the biggest things that drive me up the wall about old blogs is the little amount of coverage from an event like this; maybe im old school, but I want to see everything, so I’ve done the nice thing and put a gigantic amount of imagery in here for people who enjoy that sort of thing. I hope you like them.

Continue Reading

We strike Gold at Tsukuba and witness one of the most incredible classic track days in Japan.

The next stop on our adventure was Weld, a shop we had wanted to see for years. We had a reason to go there, as we would buy some TC stuff. Weld has a huge RC drift presence with its brand Overdose, and we wanted to check out its workshop and pick up some small parts, too. They do officially licensed wheels from work and other companies and brands like Voltex, so it was super cool to see this place in real life.

Continue Reading

Drifting Japan’s Smallest Touge and Car hunting in Tokyo.

Once we got back to Tokyo, the most important thing on the list was to slam the Probox for the upcoming event Andrew had organised for us. He had gathered a few people to throw the first-ever Juicebox meet in Japan, which was insane.

Continue Reading

Andrew and friends put together a Juicebox car meet in Japan, and many cool machines came out of the woodwork.

Day four of our journey was true freedom; we decided to stay in Gotemba, as it was getting us down the road towards Osaka, and we needed to head down to try to remedy the plan and see where to go next. We didn’t realise that Gotemba was close to Fuji Speedway, so we decided to have breakfast at Fuji as it would have been rude not to. Waking up with nothing to worry about, getting into our newly acquired profession and hitting the road were some of the best feelings we’ve ever had.

The trip was starting to feel like a proper adventure. Our first stop was Breakfast at Fuji, which we hoped wouldn’t take too long, but we got easily distracted.

Continue Reading

Our next adventure was to tick a few places off the list. We had never been to Revolver, and the owners seemed hesitant with foreigners. However, we decided to take a look anyway. Thankfully, we had Alex with us, whose presence was instrumental in breaking the ice and making our introduction smoother.

Continue Reading