Anyone been to Japan?

[lococard]

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone here has been to Japan?

I am hopefully going over in Jan/Feb next year and was looking for some advice on the drifting scene in Japan.

I'll be in Tokyo for around 3 weeks, but only really wanted to spend one day or two looking at cars. Preferably a day trip to the track, and then a half day looking at a car show/Up Garage/nissan dealership etc.

What are my options of seeing real drifting with only a day to spare? Was hoping to leave around 6am and get back to the hotel fairly late, but it has to be within one day. As in, I don't want to book another hotel for one night.

Which would be the easiest track to get to? I've found a few maps of how to get to Ebisu but the trip takes like 5 hours or more, which can't be done within a day. What track is closer to Tokyo?

What else is worth seeing regarding cars? Was looking at Up Garage, that looks really cool. Are there any other second hand parts stores worth seeing? How about the auctions?

Are posting parts easy? Will most likely end up buying a few things, but I don't know how I will bring it back. An EBC or turbo timer will be easy but what are the chances with something a little larger? Like a turbo?

(May have to leave the wallet at home when I go to these stores)

Thanks for the help.

 

[JapanS15]

Um...I live in Japan now. Have now for 2+ years and 3 different years prior to those.

UpGarages are all over Japan and they can get items from their other stores (you just pay shipping for that). There are post offices that you could mail items back to yourself. Ebisu is going to be your best bet for drift tracks. Another option is to ask the shops around where you're at and see where the locals go to drift. Not sure about the auctions as I'm trying to find out for myself. Some other auto stores include Autobacs and YellowHat. Their prices are a little steep, but its all new stuff.

 

[lococard]

How long does Ebisu take to get to?

 

[JapanS15]

It all depends on what your transportation is and where you'd be coming from. If you haven't looked at www.hyperdia.com, check it out. You can get travel info on there.

 

[trommie]

if you get time, go to daikoku futo, its just out of tokyo basically under the yokahama bridge. Other places are the shibaura parking area as well as tatsumi parking area. lots of guys meet at these locations to go for a bit of street fun.
This blog here, go back through it, lot of info etc you many be interested in
http://shirtstuckedin.com/?paged=2

 

[kababaka]

Yokohama: You can visit Garage Weld, vertex, Suivax which is very small but worth a look and SuperAutoBacs shop is there.
There are a few car shows there too but no idea when they are on.
What else are you planning to do whilst there? I've only been to a few car places but lived in Yokohama/Tokyo area for 3 years.

 

[lococard]

Would really like to see some drifting as well, not just car parts.

IS there any other options besides Ebisu?

 

[kababaka]

Would really like to see some drifting as well, not just car parts.

IS there any other options besides Ebisu?

Honestly, I don't know. I have been to the D1 in Odaiba which is in Tokyo itself but that runs around the same season as Drift allstars here. Jan Feb isn't comp season.

I would have a look online see what info you can get for Odaiba. It's a huge car park, but there might be some demos or shows around the time you want to go.

 

[mitto]

i think your best bet might be the 1.5 hour shinkansen ride to nagoya, then head to suzuka, suzuka twin, YZ, mikawa or if you are feeling extra brave... 2.5 hours to osaka, then head to meihan... the driving there is pretty mind blowing. tbh though, anywhere you attempt to go to, you will need somebody to collect you and help you get to the actual track, apart from suzuka or maybe tsukuba, which is around an hour north east ish of tokyo (infact not too far away from Narita airport)

shops tend to be large distances apart, its a bit of a pain... i'd say you'd be better off just making shop visits part of your "touring" days, and juts hitting up the local ones. When me and Kababaka went out to WELD, suivax, it took us a long time to find it and we speak a solid amount of Japanese between us both! I'd suggest maybe heading to Chiba, you can hit Top Secret, Crystal body tuning and upgarage on one street. Autobacs Yokohama is also worth a visit, it's mind boggling awesome! About the size of an ikea store, but only tuning parts

If you head the Nagoya route, you can visit several awesome shops within about two miles of eachother all on one road. i could *maybe* arrange for somebody to collect you in Nagoya and drive you about - no promises... but on ONE STREET you will find -

Kids Heart - the people that made the sil80's for nissan
Autobacs - parts store
Garage Defend - famous GTR tuners
Mind Control Racing - Number 1 drift crew in aichi
MHC - badass ghetoo drift tuners
Garage cronos - subaru / evo rally specialists, AMAZING painters

and

3 VIP car shops, an american muscle car shop, an american VIP car place that only sells black / chrome cars (they have a LOT of them), a lowrider shop, MX5/AE86 super NA tuning garage thing, 2-3 used tuning car shops...

basically, go to Nagoya, it's the ****.

Hope that helps!