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Fat Five Land, Tokyo Underground, & Fuji Track day. Now we have Japression. Ep.53
Fat Five Land, Tokyo Underground, & Fuji Track day. Now we have Japression. Ep.53
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About this episode
Bobby and Aaron share their exhilarating experiences from their recent trip to Japan, packed with adventures in car culture. They recount their arrival at Haneda Airport, meeting up with friends, and visiting Daigo Saito's shop, where they got to drift Miatas and witness impressive builds. The duo also attended the Tokyo Auto Salon and an exclusive underground car meet, highlighting the vibrant automotive scene. Their trip culminated in a thrilling track day at Fuji Speedway, where they interacted with notable figures in the automotive world, reflecting on how cars unite enthusiasts across the globe.
Topics:
japan trip
daigo saito
fuji speedway
tokyo auto salon
underground car meet
drifting
car culture
automotive community
travel experiences
We had a blast in Japan, visiting Fat Five Land, Participating in the Tokyo Underground Meet, and running 30+ Laps on the iconic Fuji Speedway with legends. Now that we are back, its hard not to have Japression.
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Nissan R35 Gtr
"Yeah, I mean, I was--Oh, there's stuff. It was an R35 GTR drift car, which is kind of--Not really done much..."
Car
Nissan R32
"He opens that up. And it's this R32 that, believe it's 2J swapped,that he had like tu..."
Car
Mazda MX-5 / Miata
"...n expect that. We just blew out some tires on the Miata and they had to changeof it. And that's where the..."
Car
Nissan Gtrs
"...e're just pretty much spectating. We lined up the GTRs in front of his garage with all of the red cars i..."
Car
Mazda Rx7
"Yeah, with the EVO. And he parked next to the RX-7 that had the fortune kit and painted up like a horse. Yeah, yeah."
Select text to request an explanation
Welcome back to right hand drive guys.
I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
- Yeah, yo.
- And this is episode 53.
And why do I sound so pumped?
- Why?
- Because we just got back from Japan, man.
- Yeah, we did.
- Although I do have a bit of depression, you could say.
You know, depressed, I'm not in Japan still.
- Yeah, 100% dude.
- But we had to come home.
There's always work to do.
But let me tell you, we really packed some stuff into this trip.
- Dude, yeah.
- Like, we're gonna do our best not to make this super long.
But we had a blast.
And if you've been following along on Instagram or Facebookor any of the other socials, then you kind of gota little sneak peek into what our trip was like.
And dude, it was wild.
And really, I want to real quick, rate off the bat.
I want to shout out Jesse and Jay.
Because we kind of went with not as if you listento the episode about where we're going to Japan.
We didn't go with like a huge itinerary of things to do.
You would have thought we did with the way that,you know, like everything that we did, you would have thought.
There's no way that some of that was just on the fly.
- Right.
- But it really was.
So if you remember from episode 51,Aaron had searched high and low for a great deal on a flight.
And as I said, I had points.
So my flight was straight.
I knew what to expect.
No surprises there.
But Aaron ventured out and did something a little new.
How to go.
- Yeah, I had to do a little bit of hustling,but nothing's wrong with that.
I ended up flying out of the local airport,rather than as you did drive a couple hoursto the bigger city, get the straight flight.
- Yep.
- I flew out of the smaller airport, flew out of Portlandand flew into Detroit.
- Detail?
- And from there, straight to Haneda.
- Yeah, which was definitely new because I only fly inin Nareda because that's just where they fly out of Boston.
- Right, right.
So that was new.
What's Haneda like?
- Dude, it is insanely huge.
Like, I got a window seat on the way there,so I got to look out and, you know,kind of see the way of the land as it came into view.
So that was cool.
- Waiting the whole time.
- Yes.
- Nine hours later.
- Yes, oh, I see it.
I see it.
Exactly.
So first thing I noticed, dude,it seemed like half the airport was on the water.
Like, it was, you know, on, like built up on the water.
And it was just like, dude, it was just insane how many runways they had,and how many planes were flying in and flying out.
- Like all at once, pretty much.
- All at once, dude, just so many moving pieceswith these giant freaking planes, dude.
It's, it was kind of like, I was like,oh, okay, I kind of understand why those planes collided therebecause there was just so much going on.
- Yeah, it has to be very on point or else a mistake can happen.
- Right.
- Yeah, so he flies in the Hanedaand then what you took like a limousine bus?
- Yeah, yeah, the limousine bus.
And that was, dude, that was pretty easy.
- That was a way to go.
- Yeah, I was, I'm not gonna lie, I was stressing about it,just getting on the bus, going to the correct airportand getting on the correct bus and all that.
I was just kind of nervous about it,just because I've never done it before.
I've never had to experience it.
But yeah, dude, it was a breeze.
There's a terminal, a bus terminal right outside.
You can buy tickets at like a little kioskor you know, go straight to the deskand the lady was super helpful.
You just say, "Norita."
They know where you're in.
- Norita. - Norita.
- Norita. - Norita.
- True.
- And you know, confirmed that the time was goodand yeah, it's simple.
Is that 15 minute or about half an hourfrom getting off the plane?
I was on a bus and headed north.
That's definitely quick.
The Japanese are for sure very efficientwhen it comes to getting through the airport.
Like I have never been such a big airportleaving and walk straight through security.
It's so wild. - It's so crazy.
- Like there's not a line to be seen.
It's like really blows my mind.
So he jumps on the bus.
He heads over to Norita.
I get off the plane.
I get through customs.
I'm on the other side.
He's already there.
I exchange some cash.
We get out.
We jump in a taxi immediately'cause we got ahead to Nodaand pick up the car from Yasu at Top Rank.
So that was like the taxi ride was what hour and a half,- Yeah, yeah.
What happened?
When every first gave you the time,it was two hours.
Would you slip him a tip?
And he said, "Oh."
- Yeah, yeah, that's right.
- Yeah, yeah.
You got a little cheat code there.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So he's like trying to tell me it's gonna be two hours,and then I'm like, no, there's gotta be a faster way.
I don't wanna keep Yasu at work past six,which is when he gets off from work.
I've done that before.
He's great about it, but I wouldn't want to waitafter work even if I did.
So, but I was like, no faster way.
Like is there a faster way?
Can we get there faster?
And then yeah, an extra 500 yen,I'll get you there a little faster.
- Dude, that's it?
- Yeah.
- That's all that talk.
- Yeah, it was pretty crazy.
We ended up getting there in like an hour and a half.
- Yeah, that was nice.
- Yeah, and he was whipping.
He was doing his thing.
So, we get the car from top rank.
You know, of course we hit a convenient immediatelybecause that's-- - At first 7-11 inside.
- Yeah, that's what we're waiting for.
We're trying to get me personally.
I'm trying to get the on-guiri with the tunaand the mayonnaise and then I also go for the porkand cucumber sandwich.
And so, and then of course we hit the coffees.
I can remember specifically like being back in thereand looking for them immediately.
Like it's like the best feeling.
And so we had a quite a long drive,like a two, two and a half, almost, you know,our drive over to the Yokohama Weston,which is where we stayed our first four nights.
Yeah, four nights.
So, we kind of got over there, we got settled in.
And I think we just kind of ended up like taking it easy,passing out just because it had been such a long travel day.
Of course, woke up at 5 a.m.
decided to hit the gym.
(laughing)Only day we hit the gym on the trip,but whatever do we get the gym in Japan.
I think if those lines were going to have to have that plane ride,you know, had to set us up right for like the days aheadbecause I mean, I feel like after sitting for that longon the plane, like you got to do somethingto get back moving right.
Oh, for sure.
I think it definitely did us some good.
So, you know, at this point,we kind of hit another convening.
Or no, we hit city bakery actuallyand we got breakfast, which was somewhere I had hiton the previous trip and I really thoughtit was great.
We, you know, very affordable,have everything you need, not a bunch of extra stuff.
Yeah, dude, they had this loosely described it as a hot dog.
Rapt in a croissant, dude.
Yeah.
The best thing I've ever had for breakfast in my life.
Oh, man, 'cause it was, yeah.
So crispy and just great.
Yeah, so we ended up hitting that pretty much every morningthat we were at the Weston just because they had so many optionsthat we could just kind of try everything.
But at this point, we had, you know, two friends,two internet friends, you could say at that pointthat we met on Instagram, of course, similar interestsand they were gonna be there at the same timeand they were definitely gracious enoughto pretty much let us tag along with what they were doing.
And we met them over at the Hiltonand lined up all the cars and they're like,"Yeah, we got something real cool going on today."
And I'm like, "All right, sweetie, they're like,"Oh, we're going to Daigo Satoes."
Yeah.
We're like, "What?"
Yeah, that's what I said.
I was like, "Wait, what, like the Daigo?"
Like the Daigo Satoes?
The man.
Yeah.
"Oh, we're going to the man's place."
Yeah.
So, you know, whatever we jump in the car and fall him overand we pull into Daigo's shop.
And we're just like, "Oh, damn, okay."
I mean, it's like an unassuming metal building.
Like you wouldn't really think that insidehe's building full carbon kevlar Toyota Suprasand, you know, all kinds of--With going doors?
Yes, and all kinds of other stuff.
Yeah, I mean, I was--Oh, there's stuff.
It was an R35 GTR drift car, which is kind of--Not really done much.
That was wild to see.
And then, yeah, you look inside and you just seetrophies all over the wall.
And big checks.
Big checks, too.
A box of metals, like just thrown about.
Really?
It was crazy.
Right next to his JZX100.
Yeah.
Like--Yeah, he had the monster, whoever else that was sponsored by.
Yeah.
But he had the car in like the office side of the shop.
And then, yeah, I was showing my wife earlierbecause she's like, you guys went wearing.
I'm like, I pull up a picture.
And I'm just scrolling across the picture,just huge trophies just lining every wall.
Yeah.
Every wall, dude.
And he--And you look at it.
And it's not just, you know, like form of the drift Japan.
No, dude, it's like Indonesia, China.
Like all these crazy, like, it's world-renowned, dude.
He is a world-renowned driver.
He's a beast.
And he welcomed us with open arms.
Like, he was totally--He was there too.
A regular dude.
I was like, whoa.
Yeah.
And so what I didn't realize is their planwas to go to the fat five--or fat finger, fat five.
No, fat five, man.
Fat five.
Yeah.
The fat five land.
Fat finger land.
Yeah.
And actually drift some of the Miyadas,which I had just seen like two days prior on Instagram.
And I'm like, dude, this is full circle.
Like, see this on Instagram.
And I'm like, wow, this is so cool.
He's got like a small drift pad.
But, and then to be standing there two days later.
And if you haven't seen it, follow him on Instagram.
And it is just--it's a beautiful style.
Dude, it's insane.
You pull up.
And the first little garage is like this full glass front.
Like floor to ceiling.
Floor to ceiling.
And it's just like, I forget the complete models.
But Ferraris, Lamborghini, all bagged, slammed.
They're all red.
They all look like two lambos and three Ferraris.
Yeah.
It was just insane.
And they're all the older ones.
Not nothing new.
It's all the older ones.
And yes, every single one is tucking tire.
And just looks so nasty.
Like so nasty.
And then he had two red bikes over there.
He had an MV Agusta and Ducati just chilling on the corner.
It was wild.
But I was just because they were red.
Right.
Yeah, because they were.
And so on top of this is almost like an observation deck,slash patio, cookout, spot, whatever.
And so I can imagine they probably have some partiesor have a--Yeah, dude.
I mean, and across the way from that was--they had a grotto and hot tub with a slide going into itand like a full overhang.
That was supposedly designed and constructedby the Disney engineers.
Yeah, or something like that.
Yeah, that's what they said.
I was like, dang.
And you could tell, like the way the rocks were formedand everything, it's like--I literally, when we got there, I said it looked like somethingfrom Disney.
And then like 30 minutes later, they'retalking about that.
And I'm like, wow.
It was a beautiful place.
And then beyond that, he had a huge bar hangoutplace that was all designed and decorated in like someAmericana type stuff on the inside.
And he had all the cars sitting there.
Yeah, it was like a vibe all in its own.
Oh, and then there was this random garage right offto the side.
He opens that up.
And it's this R32 that, believe it's 2J swapped,that he had like tubed out the entire front end,moved the engine back--Way back.
Like the probably cylinder 2 was at the firewall.
Yeah, it was--It was converted to left hand drive, which was kind of like,what?
Yeah, it was a wild thing.
It was a whole--Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of fab and a lot of fun.
We didn't even expect that.
We just blew out some tires on the Miata and they had to changeof it.
And that's where the jack was.
Yeah, it was like--And they pop it up as like, what?
Holy moly.
That's a 32 for sure.
So yeah, I mean--And so when we went there, the whole pointwas is because Jesse was going to drift one of the Miatasbecause he knows Diago and had set something up with him.
So it was like an hour, hour and a half.
And he took everybody that was with us, Sandy, Jamie, Aaron,all of us.
We all got to take some rides.
And he whipped us around.
And I mean, he was getting it.
Like, he was doing pretty good.
And of course, he had snow tires on the pig.
So that--they're soft and smoky and all that.
So that made it, I think, a little bit more fun.
But so when we went there, they had dropped off this 86.
Like, they had brought the tow truck over.
They dropped off in 86.
And we're like, huh, we were just speculating.
I wonder what that's for.
Right, right.
He think he's going to come later.
Not knowing what the plan is whatsoever.
Yeah, yeah.
And so we're getting done and all of a sudden,all these bends is start rolling in, like left and right.
Dude, one of them was a completely stock seven series,BMW, convertible, with a welded diff.
I was like, what the heck is going on with that?
That's it.
And then Jesse or Jamie was like, yeah, that's a di go for it.
Yeah, yeah, that's a di go car for sure.
He's got to have everything with a welded diff.
Yeah, and slammed.
Yeah, so these guys start coming in, pulling in,and we're like, oh, he's here.
Yeah, yeah, the dude.
That is what the 86 is for.
And so he pulls it out and starts it up.
And he's like, jogging it a bit.
He's trying to get her warmed up up to 10.
You know, he doesn't want to blow anything up.
And we're like, dude, we're about to see this man just go ham.
Well, little did we know he's actually selling the car.
And it was a test drive for the drifter who was buying the car.
Right, right.
And dude, yeah, the car was nasty.
It had the craziest sound in 2J that I've ever witnessed in person.
I mean, it just sounded insane.
Oh, yeah, it did.
Dude, it had 20s on the back.
And it was spinning them up like it was nothing.
Oh, dude, dude, this thing was like, manic, dude.
It was like, yeah, it was just like the craziest display of a car that I've seen like that.
Yeah, it was wild.
The dude took one run in it and it sounded, I mean, it sounded crazy.
But then he pulls over to Diego.
Diego does something to it.
And it starts idling different.
He takes back off, dude, and just it's making these crazy crackles and bangs.
Oh, yeah, dude, they put the pop to you.
I was like, dude, they must have turned it up, dude.
Oh, yeah.
This must be like the kill mode.
Like, because he was just salinging that thing, dude.
He had to stop because he couldn't, like, he only, he only like, like, went around liketwice, maybe three times.
And the whole place was filled with smoke, the whole inside of the car.
He's like, getting out, coughing, like, waving the smoke away and stuff.
And I'm just like, dude, now that is a car built, like, purpose bill, for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Dude, the Miata put, you know, compared to that, put out no smoke.
Oh, dude.
Like, it was like the Miata was a tricycle, dude.
Like, wow.
Yeah, it was, it was a blast, though.
And so, you know, this guy tries it out and we're just pretty much spectating.
We lined up the GTRs in front of his garage with all of the red cars in it.
And then we took our pictures and then he came over and got a picture with us.
And we're like, oh, shoot.
Yeah, absolutely, man.
Like, let's take this picture.
And so that was like, for sure, you know, bucket list type event, you know, where, dude, he'sthe man.
Oh, well, yeah, obviously.
I mean, I didn't even realize the extent of it until I saw all those trophies and checks.
And I was like, dude, this man has like, attended some events and walked away with the hardware,like, every time.
Yeah.
And I remember when we saw him at Matt Surrey.
And it was just like, oh, yeah, he's like famous, Drifter, whatever.
But like, he wasn't out there, like, putting on a show.
He was, I don't know if he was there for support or what he was doing.
But so, yeah, to like go there and like, see all of his stuff and just like hang out was.
Dude, the best way I could put, he's the Japanese Dullard heart.
Right.
Yeah, for sure.
And he had, he drives like a two.
Yeah, he had the, the Dale Earnhardt memorabilia in the garage.
Yeah, he did.
He did.
He was pretty wild.
But yeah, I mean, I would say, you know, and then I noticed whoon again went a few daysafter us and hung out with him.
And that was just, yeah, that was pretty, pretty wild moment.
I was for sure taking up.
Yeah, and that's something we didn't even plan of.
We didn't even know that was going to happen until that morning.
Yeah, that was just like for sure, he hooked that up.
And again, he took us along for all of his stuff.
So, you know, after a little bit, the sun was going down.
We peeled out of Daigos and we went to a pit, Shinomi.
And we hadn't been there before.
We for some, somehow, over a period of four weeks that I had been there.
I had never stopped at this.
I don't think it was open the first time we went.
Oh, because it's.
It's pretty new.
Oh, it's, yeah, it's a new.
I guess it looked it.
Yeah, I mean, it has a Starbucks in the middle.
Yeah, and a whole bookstore.
Yeah, it's kind of wild.
Yeah, like in tons of apparel, like North Face and just different brands.
So, but the top floor is, the top floor is, was like our spot.
That's where they had like, from wall to wall, everything that, there was something foreverybody.
Right.
Yeah, dude, every major Japanese manufacturer had its own little section.
You know, they had the STI stuff.
They had the TRD Tom stuff.
They had HKS endless.
And then, yeah, beyond that, they had HKS endless, like, it was just racing, racing helmets,racing shoes, um, not a full assortment of Nardi wheels.
Even little key chains that looked like the wheels.
Yes.
Yeah, they definitely had an awesome selection.
I would recommend going there.
They have wash bays.
They have detailing bays.
They also have different pays for fixing things and they'll do it right on site.
Yeah.
I mean, I wish we had something like that.
Dude.
It was sweet.
It'd be cool.
I'd go there just thinking, I was just like, they did, right?
Yeah.
And so, I went inside to check it out.
And apparently, while I was inside, there was, I mean, there was already one.
And when I came outside, there was like six or seven, you know, different cars.
There was some GTRs.
There was some different stuff.
And apparently, while I was in there, there was like another five or six that were thereat the time.
Yeah, I guess so.
Yeah.
It was just wild.
That's the stuff that would come through.
Like, at one point to our 35 Liberty Walk, our 35s pulled up, just parked air now.
Pretty crazy.
You walked away.
You walked away.
Yeah.
And then, beyond that, you know, just,just random other, these just JDM classic cars, dude.
They're just there just in and out or coming in, getting whatever they need, getting theirStarbucks.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I would go there just for the Starbucks.
Yeah, I would too.
That would be like mine.
Yeah, because then you got an excuse to go.
Yeah.
And if you're walking out with a little more Starbucks, where like, well, babe, I got you Starbucks.
Yeah.
You know.
But after this, we went to Akibara.
And I hadn't been there yet.
Right.
I haven't either.
So this was another like new thing that Jesse and Jay kind of introduced us to and wewere able to experience.
And so we, there was a parking garage that they had already pre-organized and I didn'teven realize this.
And so it was a whole shoot of all three of our cars together and then individually.
And you know, it was like a super dope experience because the cars were getting like full focuson them.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, at one point, like when we pulled up, they were like, all right, yeah, we're justgoing to shoot.
We were like, all right, we're going to go eat.
Yeah.
They just did their thing and then they were still shooting when it's we got back out.
And yeah, they were for like, hold out all the cars and one by one, do just taking moreand more shots of them and they were stoked.
Yeah.
It was, it was a sweet experience.
And then, you know, three days later, they started posting them.
And like, you know, obviously we were sharing and whatnot.
But like, I was like, whoa, like, that guy was actually really good.
Yeah.
I, I don't know who they are, but they definitely did a great job.
Yeah.
100%.
Um, those dudes killed it.
So yeah, that was, that was a pretty cool experience just as far as, you know, going withsome friends to this parking garage and getting your car shot.
Yeah.
Doesn't happen all the time.
No, not at all.
But it's all the time you're driving an R34 JD.
Yeah.
I guess you're right.
Um, at this point, it was like late, late.
And so we went our separate ways with Jesse and Jay and, um, made a plan to kind of meet him at Tokyo,Auto salon.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cause we went early.
Right.
So we got up.
We went to Tokyo Auto salon the next day.
And that morning to just kind of do our thing, you know, just get ready for a long day becausewe also knew we had some other stuff coming up that night.
Yeah.
But we got there right around to, um, I mean, I thought that it was busy, but then when wewent the next day, I realized that that actually wasn't busy.
Um, but so we checked everything out and then Jesse, Jay and Sandy came and we kind ofrechecked everything out with them.
Yeah.
But we were on a pretty strict time limit because we wanted to make the Tokyo undergroundmeet.
That was for sure.
The, like, that was the priority.
Right.
Um, so yeah, around like, I believe 536, ish, we like all rushed to the underground meet,which was at a a on mall at the parking garage.
And I mean, they had a, a pretty decent setup as far as getting people in there, gettingpeople parked.
We were luckily there earlier than a lot of people.
So we got like a primo parking space in like the main event.
Yeah.
Whereas some, you know, so basically the way that this worked is it's like invite onlyin order to be on like the main floor.
Right.
And otherwise you park the floor down on the floor under that and you're spectating atthat point.
And we originally were told we were going to get to be in the main event and then we weretold, no, I don't think there's enough room for you, which I also got because we were ina 34 with wheels and like, that's cool.
But yeah, there's a lot of cool cars in Japan.
Yeah.
We got there Jesse, wheeled and deeled and he got us all in there.
He did.
So again, shout out to Jesse because we wouldn't have been in the main event if he hadn'tgot us in there.
And that was in itself like man, it there was some cars there.
Dude, yes.
I mean, there's cars that I 100% did not expect to see.
Yeah, I would say.
Like the R31 or the new hyper force concept.
The hyper force that I didn't even know was a thing to be honest with you.
Yeah.
You're like, what is that?
That's the thing that was out of whatever R's day.
Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, dude.
What are you talking about?
That's a fully electric skyline.
And so yeah, it was wild to see that we never would have thought that Nissan would have broughtout two of its treasures to this underground meat.
But that's how exclusive and how hype this meat is.
Is that Nissan was a part of it without being a part of it.
Yeah, 100% that it's like, I was thinking like, how do they even get this?
How?
Who set this up?
How does this even make it?
Why is this here?
Yeah, why is this here?
So it come to find out it was Larry Chen who like hooked that up and he was actually shootingthe hyper force earlier that day for something else that he was doing.
And of course, Nissan somehow to be involved in.
So insane.
Yeah, and so there was a ton, you know, Albo was out there, you know, Mickey and Dreadywas out there.
There was a ton of people, Dustin Williams was out there.
Yeah, with the EVO.
And he parked next to the RX-7 that had the fortune kit and painted up like a horse.
Yeah, yeah.
And they also had a Brian's R34 from two five years.
Yeah.
So seeing those three cars together was just like, wow, this is like a movie.
Yeah, for sure, it came full circle like absolutely.
So there was a bunch of cool cars downstairs too.
I mean, there really was like so many cool cars we could go on for days about the Tokyoon the underground me.
But all I can say is that it was, I hope not, but I would say once in a lifetime, like opportunityto be in Tokyo on top of a parking garage with some of the best cars that you ever wantedto see.
100%.
And dude, yeah, I see people complaining about that meat and the lighting and how they couldn'tget their cell phone pictures and stuff.
And like, dude, they need to put their...
They need to put their...
Yeah, dude, put your phone down and look with your eyes and just take it in.
Like, dude, forget the picture with these things.
You know what I'm saying?
Like just fully immerse yourself in what you're doing and like realize that this isn't athing that's going to happen all the time.
Right.
Like, yeah, it's cool social media.
Yeah.
All right.
You're the first one.
You know, whatever.
Yeah, those mental pictures and memories and the discussions that you could have, like,the people we met that night, if we had just solely been worried about photos, it neverwould have happened.
Right.
So, yeah.
I mean, I think some people need to chill on that.
It was the vibe that they were going for.
Right.
You know, I mean, yeah, could they have used one or two more lights?
Sure.
But they were using what they could with what they had.
There was not many outlets out there.
Right.
They had to use the outlets for other things.
So then they're running these big balloon style lights off batteries.
Right.
Batteries are dying.
Because it's so cold.
Because it's free.
It was freezing.
Dude, I was an icicle.
Yes.
Like, you were so cold.
Yeah.
Your teeth are chattering.
I heard it.
But yeah, I mean, it was, it was for sure a blast.
And we didn't get home that night till 1.30, maybe 2 a.m. like it was, that was a late one.
But well worth it.
Had a conveny dinner for sure.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, we, then the next day, we hooked back up with Jesse and Jay.
They were like, hey, we're hitting a Maori factory.
And we had already went, right?
No, no, no.
No, okay.
So that was the first time.
Yes.
We went a second time?
No, just once.
Wow.
I'd see that trip was so crazy, man.
I can't hardly remember.
We were there for a long time.
Yeah, we were.
We were there.
Jay got a new Nismo Carm Fiber Blade for his car.
I picked up a new steering wheel and some other bits for my car.
And we just looked around and stared and drooled and.
Yeah.
He's the bathroom eight times because it's so cool.
Seriously.
Yeah.
And so that was cool too.
We got some pictures of the cars and, you know, the iconic Nismo sign and all that goodstuff.
And so at that point, we kind of had to split off.
We went back to Tokyo, Auto Salon.
We had to record the episode that you guys heard last week.
We went.
We did that.
And then we met back up with Jesse and Jay.
And so that night the plan was there was this parking garage meet, which I figured Ikind of got because obviously in too fast, too various they show it, you know, but thiswas a lot different in the sense of the parking garage layout.
Like what you of course would love to see is this big wide open parking garage where likeyou can park all the cars together and basically have a meet.
This was different.
This was like single and double spots on the right and left of like a hallway kind ofthat.
Yeah.
That went like a big circle.
And so then you could go up to the next level and it's like a big circle.
And so this was two levels of a car me.
Yeah.
There was so many people in some spots like you would you've never seen so many people ina parking garage like shoulder to shoulder, not the butt.
Like there was people everywhere.
Yeah.
And then ever once in a while a normal car would try to drive through because it's where theyhave to pay to park or whatever.
Like they were in the shopping center all day and then they come out and they're likewhat?
What?
You could just see the looks on their faces.
They're like, what the hell is going on in here?
Yeah.
You just slowly have to come through and the crowd would like peel to each side like aroundthem.
Yeah.
Like even.
And so if you're watching on YouTube, I'll definitely overlay some of this footage and stuff.
And you can see that it was just absolutely crazy.
Yeah.
I mean, dude, and it was a pretty tight lot because like even, even normal cars or some of thesecars, even they would have to do a two, three point like pull out.
Yeah, they would.
It was like, it was and it wasn't just because of the people.
It was just this narrow hallway.
It was, dude, it was like one of the worst parking garages I've ever been in.
I was just so confusing.
The vibe overall.
Oh, 100%.
I didn't.
Yeah.
Wild, dude.
Like it was just, we unfortunately didn't get to get our cars in.
You know, Jesse did us right on everything else, but he just couldn't manage to get us entryinto this one.
Yeah.
But I mean, much love to him anyways.
We still had a great time.
We were, we also met up with Robert Frost, the guy that we bought the S14 from.
Yeah.
So that was cool.
We met up with my buddy, Jascer, who I've always been friends with.
He was from where we're from and then he moved down to work for NASCAR in North Carolina.
So he was also there.
That was super cool to see him.
And then we also saw Chris, right?
Yeah, yeah, Chris, which we've talked a bit on Instagram.
He's from this area, but he's living in Japan.
Yeah.
And he's about to move back and bring his FD.
So we're pumped to have another local guy with a right hand drive car.
And so, you know, this like small world, like we have this like interest like this.
And they're the super desirable events.
It brings everybody out and you wouldn't even realize it till you're there.
And then also Jascer knew Jesse as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Just everyone kind of like everybody knew each other and someone was a friend of a friendor like it was so insane because like we're so far away from home and like so far.
Yeah.
And just seeing people that I don't know, just that we're familiar.
It was just crazy.
Yeah.
I know.
But I mean, the cars they bring people together.
They really do.
And that's like the biggest I always knew, but that's definitely the biggest thing I'velearned over this past trip was that the cars really bring people together.
And there really isn't much like I don't know.
I'm too cool for you or your car's not cool enough.
Like it's it's pretty legit.
Yeah.
Like it really makes you feel good.
So yeah, we had a blast there.
Then we had to get our car out of the upper parking lot by 1130.
So then we parked them outside of that on the side of the road.
And there was like, you know, Jesse, Jay, me, there was Albo, there was other, you know,some other guys and there's just the dopest cars with their four ways on just on the sideof the road in Japan.
Yeah.
Like it's just stuff we don't ever get to see until we're exposed to it like that.
And so at this point, you know, it's again super late and we knew that the next day we hadsome stuff we're going to do.
Jesse and Jay went down to space auto.
I guess they brought Amelia Hartford down there to check out a car that she was interestedin and then dropped her off at her hotel.
And we all, you know, Aaron and I went and did a little souvenir shopping, checked outA-Pid again, you know, just kind of did our thing.
And then we all met back up at Fuji Speedway Hotel.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, that was a beautiful spot.
Dude, it's mind blowing.
Yeah, not just like the track view like that's dope, the Fuji view, just as dope.
But just like the amenities and like the place itself, the museum.
Like it was all really nice and new obviously.
Crazy.
If you're a car, dude, like in your into Japanese cars, in your in Japan, just go there.
Shoot, they got an ass car in there.
Dude, they got an ass car in there.
Yeah, it's pretty well.
Yeah, the museum and just like the experience of the room and like the little twigs, likethe like all the switches were on this like switch board that looks like it would be ina car.
Yeah, it was cool.
Just the little touches like that.
That place is definitely cool.
And not super expensive to be honest like it, it's really quite the value.
Yeah.
And if you're on there, if you're there the right day and you get the track view, younever know what you might see on track just ripping around because it's right rightover the final turn.
Panasonic corner.
Yeah.
So I mean, I can't imagine the people that were there for that weekend that didn't knowanything was going on.
Yeah, and then we're all just like whipping around.
Yeah, that is cool, right?
Because even if it's not some, you know, super GT race, it's like a legit, legit, you know,so we had our first real dinner there.
The whole trip, we only literally had one sit down dinner.
Yeah.
And we pretty much ate at convenience.
Yes.
Which is what we said we're going to do when we stuck to it.
Yeah.
And so then we got some rest because we knew the next day was going to be extremely epic,which it was the Fuji or the top rank Fuji speedway track day.
Yeah.
Like in top rank really, really brought it like they definitely did it.
And the surprises didn't stop coming pretty much.
And so, you know, we pretty much got there.
We did a safety meeting, signed up for insurance, checked the pressure and the tires and thenit was pretty much time to go out.
Yeah.
And so I did two like 30 minute sessions.
Aaron did one like 30 minute session.
And I mean, the car for the most part held up at that point it had mostly held up.
And but we did run out of gas and unfortunately the gas station in Fuji was not operating.
So we had to go outside the gate and we kind of drag our feet a little bit because we didn'tknow if that was the only one.
Right.
And then I remembered there was a 30 minute media session after that.
And I was like, "Oh, dude, we gotta go, we gotta get fuel because this isn't gonna work."
Right.
And so when he came off the track, there was the ABS and the battery light was on.
And we're like, "Oh, whatever, the ABS probably just because we're mashing on it."
And the battery will, hopefully, the alternator didn't go, right?
So I grabbed the car, I pulled it through the pits and well, I took it around a slow lapand then I pulled it through the pits and out into a parking space.
And as I'm pulling through the pits, I noticed my MFD, which is a multifunction display.
It's that little screen on the 34 GTRs.
I noticed it go out and I'm like, "What the heck?
All right."
And then I noticed like, keeping amounts of smoke coming out of like the plastic, like,kind of retainer that keeps it in there.
And I'm like, "Holy shit, what is going on?"
And I'm like, "Is this thing on fire?" and I immediately like turn off the car and sit there
and like, the smoke was obviously just from some sort of capacitor or something blowingout.
There wasn't an actual fire.
But I was like, "Dude, what is going on?"
So at this point, again, I realized, well, we need gas in order to be able to do this mediaday regardless.
And the battery lights on.
And the MFD is burnt out.
And I'm like, "Dude, if you just want to go grab some gas, that would be really cool rightnow."
Because I don't even want to be around this car.
So like, you know, you came up to me and you were like, "Dude, the MFD just caught on fire."
And I'm like, trying to think of what car was the MFD that was on the track.
And I'm like, "Dee me."
What?
What?
The FDR exam.
Like, what do you say?
You're like, "No, dude, like the screen is just burnt."
I'm like, "Whoa, no."
So he goes and gets fuel for it, brings it back.
And then I ask Manuel, who is the sales advisor for top rank.
I'm like, "Hey, can you get one of the mechanics to come check this out?"
Because they had a full service, like mechanics and tools and everything at your disposal tomake sure your car was running tip top so that you could get around the track.
And so they check it out and they're like, "Yeah, no, it's overcharged.
You need to run electronics, turn on your headlights, pretty much recharge the batterya bit if you can."
And we're like, "Oh, yeah, cool.
Like, now this makes sense, right?
It was an overload on the MFD, an electrical component that's 25 years old just couldn'thandle it.
Yeah, yeah.
For sure.
And just run the car at high RPM like that.
Probably hasn't been ran like that in a long time if it ever has.
So, yeah, thanks a lot.
So we're beating on the 34 GTR pretty much.
But it is what it is.
Sometimes to have fun, you get to spend a little money or fix something.
That's how it goes.
But man, again, like, June from Kido House was there.
Dustin Williams was there.
Mickey and Dready was there.
Brian Janish was there.
Mike, the built by legends guys were there.
Everybody was there.
Yeah, Mary Gin was there.
Garadio Shita, the guy that runs that was there as well.
Yeah.
So you had like, and then the founder of mines was there.
All of a sudden, the founder of mines comes out of this back room.
Yeah, with his Bridgestone jacket.
With his Bridgestone jacket with a mask on and some loafers, dude.
Soats up into the legendary mines race suit, dude.
Yeah, I know.
Put it on the mines helmet and gives Larry Chen a hell ride in the built by legends 34.
Like what?
Yeah.
Like what?
What are you even talking about right now?
Like what?
Like that, that was mind blowing because I saw a few other guys just take some laps in thebuilt by legends card.
Dude, one of them passed me like he would like was hammering so hard like I tucked aturd because I was like, what the hell was that?
And it's just that thing just full out just rip and dude.
Yeah.
So then to see like the mines founder jump in there and and run his creation around thattrack was just like, damn.
And seeing the Tokyo, Tokyo Drift Evo out there was like, damn, like it was that track daywas for sure for me at least the highlight.
I mean, like, die goes was sweet, but like that was like, wow, like these are all dudesjust like us that just love these cars like us.
And in their own way have found their way here today, right?
And like again, there was no, I'm cool, too cool for you type thing.
We had conversations with just about everybody asked Dustin Williams about his Mississippi plateson the on the Evo, which was which was while he explained it to us basically, he appliedfor a pass for a year, which allows him to use the car here with his plates.
We just assumed he had diplomatic immunity because he's doesn't Williams, but I guessnot.
But yeah, Larry Chan cool to talk to like everybody was really sweet.
So that right there was like, okay, wow, these cars really can bring somebody who 10 millionpeople know and 10 people know together.
And it's like all good.
And it was cool.
We got to hear the story of Kido House.
Oh, yeah.
And we'll be bringing him on the podcast.
That's I'm really excited about that.
Dude, that's awesome.
Yeah, it really is.
And so yeah, that track day was great.
Like shout out to top rank for that.
That was like super legit of them to let us all experience that and have Fuji to ourselvesfor a whole day.
So sick.
And so, you know, at this point, it's it's pretty late in the day.
It's like 5 p.m.
We wanted to hit the museum before it closed over at the hotel.
So, you know, we said peace everybody and we jumped back in the car and went over to thehotel, saw the museum, you know, whatever took a shower did our thing.
And then went back downstairs to go hit our dinner convenience.
Oh, yeah.
Which was a Lawson's out there.
Right.
And we saw Brian and Yasca and Yasca is like the general manager of top rank period andthey stopped and talked to us.
And so we're in the car.
I had it started.
Started up great.
Battery light was still on.
I turned on my lights.
You know, I tried to do the whole thing.
Turned it off so that I could hear Yasca.
And then when I went to turn it back on, like it kind of took long to start.
And I like had to use the gas a little bit and like I tried to in my head just chalk itup to, oh, I just turned it off and maybe it's loaded or whatever.
And you know, we went and got our convenience and came back and that was like kind of ourone chill night because every other night we had gone a bit super late.
And so the next morning we wanted to because that was our last day, you know, this was Tuesdaymorning or last day.
We're like, all right, we should get up.
We should go.
We're going to stop back at A-Pit.
We wanted to still put on my steering wheel.
We had to get a what T20 like a T 30.
It was a T 30 tamper proof.
Tamper proof to swap that out.
And we go down and I'm getting my 360 camera already and go to go to start it straight flat.
I'm like, dude, did you not connect the battery?
Just tell them myself stupid stuff.
No, dude, the car is dead.
So we're like, oh, dude, we'll jump start a pretty big parking garage, but we definitelydidn't have the umph to get it what it needed in order to like pop that out.
So now we're kind of freaking out because we're like, all right, we actually do have flightstoday later on.
We have a few people here, but we have none of them have, you know, jumper cables.
So we go up to the front desk and I'm just like, is there any chance that you guys gotjumper cables or whatever?
It takes like 10 minutes and then she's like, yeah, they're going to meet you down thereand I'm like, oh, sweet.
Okay, yeah, we'll have to jump it from this.
I don't know.
No, they literally have these same exact jump pack is there and like different color.
Yeah, they pulled that they had this little case and they're like, dude, is that the samejump pack on zip set and guy hands it to me.
And I'm like, dude, this is the same one.
Dude, like this is legit.
So this guy's trying to get Aaron to read the directions.
He's trying to figure out how this thing works in the whole time because we're so anxiousabout this car not starting the whole time me and him are just like, yeah, yeah, yeah,how to freaking use this thing just handed it is like trying to plug in the USB chargerfor whatever reason to it.
I'm like, dude, no, just hear it.
Like finally, like gets it from him and he does it and dude, she starts right up andright up.
So they are. I mean, then we got our competing breakfast and we headed in and then we went
to a pit again, got our tamper proof thing, get a little last minute shopping.
And I went to get a Machiato from the Starbucks.
I give Aaron the T30.
I come downstairs literally after getting my drink and the dudes already got the steeringwheel almost all the way changed.
And I'm like, holy moly dude, all right.
I got it.
I guess the airport man.
I gotta get out of here.
There's nowhere in this plane.
And then yeah, we had some other guys come and talk to us and really spend more time havingus talk to them than it took to change out a whole 34th year.
Yeah, seriously, just swapped it out, cleaned the interior.
Yeah, I do literally.
Bit shine the exhaust out of like, but you know, it was cool.
They're other enthusiasts and you know, they were just into what we're doing.
And so at this point, it's time to bring the car back to top rank.
They are gracious enough to have a cab there waiting for us pretty much.
We check out a few of their cars.
We turn in our car and we're on our way and hour and a half hour and 40 minutes back toNareta.
And then he takes his limousine bus again back to the Nade.
And at that point, you know, we're pretty much done the trip.
I'm like, hey, I'll see you in Maine and we kind of win our separate ways.
He had his flight to Atlanta and then Atlanta up here to Maine.
By the way, worst airport ever.
Yeah, no, no, go on.
And you're just hoping don't have to stop in Atlanta, holy cow.
That is the worst reintroduction to the United States ever.
Ever.
You walk out and you really get your pressure.
Yeah.
Oh, man.
Can I jump back on the plane?
I know this says no, but like, can I still wait?
I don't care.
Whatever.
No.
And that is the hardest part about going to Japan is we have these amazing experiences thatwere obviously totally blessed to have because other people could go to Japan five times andnever do some of the stuff that we've gone to do.
And so yeah, we definitely realized we're super blessed.
But in being blessed, we have met some really cool people that have brought us even moreopportunities that hopefully continue to come for sure.
And yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back.
I'm already like, when's the next event that's worth going and whatever.
And I wish we could have stayed a little longer because there was a final bout going onthat would have been a really awesome time.
I would say like overall because we went last April, May, I went in October, November andnow January.
Yeah.
Yeah.
April, May is whether, well, October's weather was actually the best like all around so far.
You know, I mean, it wasn't bad this time, but it did get a little chilly sometimes andit really had to be prepared for it.
Yeah, and it was a different cold than up here in Maine.
It was a weird.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, that kind of wraps up this episode.
Feel free.
Hit us up in the DMs.
Follow us at RHD, G U I S. He's at Blunk Garage.
We'd be glad to answer any questions you have about Japan, Fat Five Land, anything, you know,Fuji Speedway, whatever you got.
Hit us up.
You know, make sure to subscribe on the YouTube so you can get the video version of this, youknow, sometimes we can put in some cool clips that really bring together what we're saying.
But for episode 53, with a little bit of depression, I'm Bobby.
This is Aaron.
See ya.
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