We Went To Japan & It Was F*&%ING INSANE
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LIVE
Ladies and gentlemen welcome back to the martini works podcast the official winners of a podcast award
Did you guys already talk about this? No, no, I don't know if it's public knowledge yet. I don't know
Yeah, guess what boys and girls. We won an award. We won an award
Award was an s3 magazine. P. A. S. Oh past mag. Yeah, yeah
Past mag heck. Yeah, so that was super cool. We have no idea if we're supposed to tell you that but guess what podcast boys and girls
It's my first award. I've ever won. So I'll take it get it first
Thank you so much for the support listening in on automotive news the aftermarket car culture and of course
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Plus michelin tires continental tires some toyos
So that if you pick that stuff up and it's in stock it can actually get over to you in like
Two to three days pretty dang quick. So with that being said we actually just returned
From japan we did for this video right dakota. What do you want to talk about today? How you doing back in the united states?
Sumimasen
We got a man. It was a trip of a lifetime. We got a lot to unpack here. I'm excited to talk about it
Um, I think first things first we just kind of talk about that first day and rolling in and travel and holy cow
It is a
A mission to say the least to get to japan. That is a whole endeavor in itself. I don't think people talk about that
The travel the travels a bit and in the middle of the united states to the other side of the world
It takes a minute. Yeah, I think the the first thing I ever learned when I first left
I remember because they have the the map where you can see the where the plane is at one point. I remember
looking at I'm like
Where the hell are we because like I could see land outside and I'm like
Where could we possibly we're like six hours into this thing?
How could I still see land and then I realized that's not how planes work
They don't just go straight across they go all the way up shortest all the way to alaska and then they pretty much just follow
Like the skirts of russia through and then they land on the other side of japan. That's an interesting route
But man, you got to be prepared for that 12 hour plane ride. Holy cow is a bigger man in economy
Holy, but it honestly wasn't bad especially the way there because there's so much adrenaline like so excited
Yeah, um, you don't care about being uncomfortable. You got movies and stuff and you just have hour 10
I started here how they they feed you though like it's like pretty consistently like meals come by so it was like
it was
I found it impossible to sleep on that damn plane because every five minutes a fucking cart was coming down the aisle was something
Yeah, it was like I had an aisle seat and usually I'm like, you know pretty pretty bigger dude
So it's like kind of tucked in a little bit and it's like even then I was still getting smoked by flight attendants and carts and
Oh my god, and yeah, it was like the first like three hours of that flight
It was just non-stop back and forth and they chilled for like a couple hours
And then it was just all over again back to chaos. Yeah, but then landing and getting to tokyo
I'd say that airport's pretty smooth. Yeah, like for being in another country in another language
Honestly was not bad at all immigration was easy
Yeah, Haneda. Haneda is really nice and as long as you have everything ready, you're good to go
That was I think the key because the line that didn't have everything ready. Those people were very long
Yeah, that'll take two hours two and a half hours to get there because if you go to japan if you ever been
You have two big things that you really have to do one is like a disembarkment paperwork
um, and then another one is essentially a
Uh, like a travel memo that you have to also send to the government. You can do both of those in the same
Uh online like resource, but a lot of people don't know that they need to do that
They just think they show up with their visa and you go through immigration kind of like any other country
But japan takes their tourism stuff like super serious on how many people are coming in and coming out
And so everything is documented. So like you need to tell them where you're staying. How long you're staying
What are you doing? What city are you staying or what prefecture you're staying in and then you get a little qr code
And as long as you have your qr code in your passport
You can get through it in like five minutes like it'll take you the same amount of time to get through the
Detroit tsa is yeah, I think I waited longer for my bag to roll out the carousel than actually getting through immigration
So that was super easy. I've got a really important question for you guys
I know this is an automotive podcast and I apologize for distracting us so early into it. No, please do
How long did it take?
for you boys
To try the toto
The bad toto. No the bad day. Um, I will say their toilets are so superior. Yes
Better in every way. It was every single way. It's you were really hyping them up when you came back
I was like, dude, it's a fucking toilet. Right. Right. No, it's not just it's an experience
Did I get it? You walk into the room and the toilet opens up. Hello
Sometimes they even play little songs kota literally said hello toilet every time you walked into the I felt like I had to
I didn't know what was going on. It's gonna be like four a.m. Because we're waking up because we're jet like
Oh
And then you sit down the toilet to warm. Yeah, immediately. I used it immediately because he hyped it up and uh, yeah
It's uh, they got the toilet thing figured out. They got the they got some stuff to work on
I won't lie, but the toilet stuff
What was your what was your number one thing that surprised you about going to japan that you were just not
Prepared for even though you thought you were prepared for it. Hmm. Let me the trains a hundred percent airs
Yeah, I was warned dearly about the stairs specifically for magies brother who was actually um
Servicing our flight, which was really cool. So that that kind of made the trip even more fun. Um
But he he was like, oh, how are you guys getting from the airport to your airbnb? I'm really oh, we're taking the trains
He's like with all your luggage. Yep. He's like, okay a lot of stairs
You guys guys were prepared. Yeah. Yeah, we're good. I was not prepared
I thought I thought maybe a couple flights of stairs or two. No, no like couple flights per station
Yeah, yeah, the trains are they're they're like
Own thing it's a it's own area with its own rules and its own guidelines and its own responsibilities
Works really well. Yeah, it's just a bit of a learning
I just feel like that's the place or if you're gonna get judged in japan
I feel like it's mostly gonna be in the trains and it's like if you are planning on taking the trains because like
Ubers and taxis
Especially like to and from the airport expensive
So it's like trains are usually like the option. I feel like people go with it is
You do just get thrown into it like it gets wild real quick. Shinjuku station. Oh my god. That is the the
Most chaotic neutral thing I've ever seen in my entire like everyone's calm everyone's peaceful
But there's a billion people and there's a billion signs and there's a billion exit or well. No, there's like no exits
It's really hard to find the exits
The exits are probably like the most confusing thing no matter how many times I go to japan
It's like the most difficult thing for me is always understanding
Train station exits and entrances because it even threw us off when we were going to to tas from where your bnb was which was
Get off at this, uh, you know, okayu station
Get back on on okayu station. You're like, okay. Well, I'm already here
Yeah platform 3 is right there platform 3 is right here
But then it's like no you have to exit out of 2a
Go back into the other side of the okayu station of 4b
Which is like a block on the corner this way
Which gets you access to a different platform 3 and that's the platform that you need to be on and it's like
Son of a bitch. Yeah gulmamps
Works really really well
Unless you're underground. Yeah as soon as you go down those stairs
You're kind of you know, you better have the right space. Otherwise it does get really funky
I notice I think we all kind of got the hang of it by the end of it. We were cruising
There's still areas where it's like you kind of guess and you're just like if I miss it
I miss it, you know, I'll end up somewhere else and we'll just try it from there
So you guys it was your first time going there's probably a ton of people listening to the podcast
That have always wanted to go to japan if not for the cars then the food if not for the food
Nature and if not for nature the culture, right?
What do you guys think was the one thing you experienced and enjoyed the most from your week of being in japan
During tokyo autosalon. What was like the one thing like man if I could go back and do it
I would man
Is everything dude every single thing we did like
I think the best advice I could get there were so many times because of like jet lag how much you're walking
You want to sit down and you want to rest and it's completely understandable. You are tired
Don't just get up and go do something. There was nights where we it'd be like
8 9 p.m. And it's like you know if you hit your head on the pill you're out
So we'd be like just get up. Let's like go to the kombini
Get some food a snack a coffee whatever and then we just went and walked and we just went and explored
Um, so it's just like just keep doing something use your time as much as you can while you're there
And uh that that made for some awesome memories time flies when you're there. I noticed it's like, you know
There was like the one day we went on it was like one of our last days
And uh, we hit up like akihabara and then we went to like kind of like near tokyo and then
Back to shibuya and all that sort of stuff and it was like dude that day flew so bad
Like we we went into like one store. We come out was like two hours past like holy shit
Like the time flies there and I think we did a really good job holding kind of all of ourselves accountable
It's like I know we're tired
But like it was like a once in a lifetime
I like we just we just got to push through and it kind of you did get kind of like a runner's high
essentially of like catching that second wind
Um, because yeah, we we'd get back to like drop stuff off at like the air bmb or something like that
And it's like, I'm just gonna late. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. We're going we're going because if you fall asleep
You're done speaking of which the air bmb was so dope. That was really cool the location the air bmb itself
We could go on the roof it had multiple levels our room was nice and big
We had comfortable beds like all of that. I love the air bmb. Awesome. Yeah, it was perfect
Yeah, it was uh, essentially a little motel. Yeah, a little motel. Yeah, we just kind of rented the whole rented the whole gosh
The is like what four five rooms. I think total. Yeah, if you guys are if you guys are hosting a big group
They didn't pay us to say this
Hotel magnolia
Shinjuku, I think is what it's called. They were absolutely fantastic hosts
They were they were they were very very nice very sweet very accommodating
They had spare toothbrushes pretty much everything that we would need in case we forgot something and then they were super
attentive to the requests that we had because we had 12 people in there and
Obviously a lot of people in Japan. Yeah, and check out was 10 a.m. And you know flights don't leave until five
And so we asked if we could keep our bags there and they let us keep our bags there
Which is something that typically people don't do because they don't want to be responsible for your stuff
That is something to keep in mind
Like carrying your stuff around japan is kind of a pain in the butt like the trains the trains get pretty wild
Yeah, um, even a backpack can end up being really heavy over time
And it's like we you know when we were leaving we had obviously more stuff than when we came
And yeah, it's like a lot of times checkouts are like early in the morning
But our flight was at like six o'clock. So it's like, okay
You're kicked out of your place with eight hours
To manage two suitcases each in a backpack
What are you doing with that because everywhere you go is like this big
They do have lockers, but they sell out like instantly, but I did just see a post
It's starting like now 7-elevens are storing. Oh really? Yeah, that'll be cool
Which that was another awesome thing right next to our airbnb was a 7-eleven like a few steps
It wasn't far at all. It was so nice because never very far from anything family mart or 7-eleven
Well, like that's I think that's like tokyo for sure
But it was it was a really cool spot because we were in a really nice area
And I was a little worried about it because it was north of shinjuku
um, but it had everything we had
Uh, a couple streets that had a bunch of food stalls that we went and we explored dust and I in the last night
We went to just go find a random place to have a drink found said random place had said random drink
And it was absolutely awesome. And then the guy, you know, we asked the individual we're like, you know
We noticed that you make ramen and and he's like, oh, absolutely. Would you like some and we're like sure
He's like, yeah, you know, I learned it from my family. This is how I make it and then he made us
Like literally on this little, you know, little pot steamer like just like this little tiny kitchen set
I was like this guy just randomly decided to make it for us and it was so fun because then there's darts
And there's like the the seven elevens and family marts and all
But then there was like that coffee place that we were able to explore that was just on the other side
That was unity cafe and he was really nice. Oh, he was so hyped every time we came in
Any of the food was fantastic
Yeah, and that the on the first night when we got there we're like
All kind of stammering around trying to figure out what's going on and we're like, let's go find some food
And we stopped at that little tiny ramen shop
We hit that spot up multiple times because it was so good
And it was the tiniest little shop ran by like one guy maybe two two at the most
I usually seen one guy in there and uh, dude, lemon sours are my new favorite
Drink of all time. Oh my god, I love them
But the ramen was phenomenal and like
I I don't know if I was expecting them to
Speak a little more English since we were in the Tokyo area
And most would get by but like it was pretty straight
No shooting Japanese and the menus didn't have English on them always and where we were felt more like
Small time. It was a little further away from the required English. I liked that
I really did like that and we were able to communicate and figure it out and there was a couple times you actually put me on the
The translate with the air pods. I don't like having air pods in when people are talking to me
I hate the way it looks, um, but I wanted to try it out a couple times
And so on the the final day we went to go check out this like
Kuchigi
Cat cafe on the north side of town and we went to the peaches meat, which we'll talk about in the next segment
Um, and and all of that and there's somebody who's trying to talk to me
It was our uber driver because I threw him in and I just said like sumi mo-san and then I pulled up my phone
And I just said could you please repeat that with my with my translator app?
And he went and he repeated clear his day. Nice crazy
It was so it was so neat and I wish there was a and I like repeated it back in my phone
And like but it was really cool because typically I would just like show the phone
And then they would like smile and nod and then they go on their way
But he was actually able to have
Not conversate but say a couple things that was really really cool
And the thing that he was talking about is if he was like, are you going to that cat cafe?
Um, that's up up in that area and we I was like, well, yes, and they're like, it's really cute
I think you'll like it. I was like, that's really cool. You know, um, but it was absolutely fantastic
So I have to ask you guys because again, you know, there's probably people that would love to love to go to japan
um
Three tips three tips you have for somebody that hasn't gone to japan
It's your first time going so now you know everything about japan and they know nothing
What would be three tips that you'd give them one right away pack less pack light people say it
And you think you pack pack even lighter than that. It'll just make your life easier
There was even our airbnb
We had like a washer dryer and stuff, but even around the core. I it was like three or four
Washer your dryer areas too. So like really utilize it. I know it kind of sucks to like do laundry really there
but like
You're gonna buy stuff suitcases are so heavy if you're traveling with them. It's a ton. Um, also
Uh, number two, I would say don't be afraid if you need to to uber
It can be more expensive, but some areas aren't as bad and depending where you're going
It can it can be quicker and it can be a lifesaver
You know if you're getting trapped in the train stations, you know, or sometimes it's just easier to uber and everyone
We worked with was so kind and so nice
And that that worked really well. So don't be afraid to use that option. But also
Use the trains. I think it's a super cool. It's like part of like the culture almost definitely part of like the experience
Yeah, yeah, so 100% so use them don't just uber everywhere, but don't be afraid to use it if you're in a pinch
I think that works well and then number three for me
Kind of leaning back to us talking about earlier
Explore go out. Uh, get uncomfortable
Uh, tokyo is a really safe area. Um, not to say like don't be smart. Yeah, obviously be smart. You're still in another country
They have different laws and they're still dangerous people out there
But like if there is a city to explore and go out even at night, go do it like tokyo is so fascinating
And there's so many cool spots and the people are so nice too
And if they see you trying to use
Japanese that'd be another tip learn a little bit of Japanese a little bit goes so far
There so
Gels, what do you got? I'd say definitely definitely 100%
If you think you have good walking shoes, you don't um get better walking shoes new balances my feet and back
Killed me the pretty much the entire time we were there and I was relying on uh
I did get a little bit of like a head cold while we were there too
So I was like kind of like relying on some like just like aspirin or like a set of metafin and stuff like meds
Just to like kind of keep me going so that did help
Uh, definitely proper shoes we put on well over 20 25 000 steps a day
Um, even outside of the show. Uh, so we were we were moving we were moving around. Uh, number two, I would say
Places do like food places, especially especially like kind of like in the downtown areas tend to close a little
Early, yeah, um, so like we spent a lot of the day like walking around and doing stuff
And then we're like, oh shit, we should probably go find something to eat
And there was a couple times we ran into like there's not a lot of places open
Yeah, um, so it's like nine o'clock like stuff really a lot of major stuff closes at
Yeah, nine o'clock that you can find like late stuff, but the majority of stuff
Yeah, so just keep that in mind and then the last thing
Try stuff definitely go and try stuff
Um, it was really cool to see, uh
Like man, you go out and like try some like different foods and things like that and some stuff
We really like and some stuff we're like, I'm never doing that again beef tongue dude not a huge fan of we
You have cow tongue. I did cold or hot. Uh, it was hot. Okay, but here is the thing like seared. Yeah
We were walking around and we were trying to find food and we were in like a mall area
And finally we find a place and they have pictures out front of like grilled steak and we're like
That looks pretty freaking good. Hell. Yeah, let's do that. So we sit down grab the menus open it up and uh, it's just like
Wow, it's like, okay. It's like all steak. Okay. I use my google translator app the entire restaurant
The only thing they served was beef tongue and that was it
And that's a thing I didn't know that was a thing in japan like there's beef tongue restaurants
It was like after world war two
Um, obviously food was harder to come by and stuff like that
So they started utilizing like beef tongue and it got really popular there and then
Thus beef tongue restaurants were born and they carried on and so just to coat it looks up
He just has this like it's like it's all tongue
This entire restaurant tongue
And I'm like you're fucking he's like no, I've literally translated the page
Everything is tongue and we're like
Well, I guess we're trying to good news is I don't mind it like I eat lengua and stuff
Yeah, yeah, and so I'm like I had no mind. I'm like screw it. That's fine with me
I'll get some the girls and several
Yeah, only try beef time. They did they had like a like beef tail like ramen or something like that
Maybe so it was really good. She really liked the beef. I loved it. I thought it was super good
I ate the whole thing. Yeah, I I tried my best the texture really got to me
It does it was like the taste was good and it was like with like a nice like rice and it was like kissing a cow
Yeah, it was it was it was tough
Yeah, I think lengua was good
I last time I was in japan I was in Osaka
I went to a restaurant that that served only tongue and it was with a friend of mine and it was it was good
But it was it's like a lot, you know, it's like a concentrated dish to only have that, you know
I get it definitely any other tips
um
I think kind of like dakota mentioned too. It's like
You know, you're gonna be tired. You're gonna be jet lag like don't keep that from it sounds so easy
I'm just gonna like rest for a little bit. It's like don't do that. Just go do stuff
The like time flies so fast. I'm telling you you lay down. You're done. Yeah, you are done
um my three quick tips before we uh take a quick break number one
um
The worst they can say is no
I think a lot of times people get really nervous going into places and like sitting down or like exploring because everything is busy
So you feel like an inconvenience pretty much walking into anywhere
Um, but the good thing to remember is is there there are literally millions of people
In that city doing exactly what you're trying to do whether that's going to a store go into a restaurant eat
Have a drink do anything
So the worst thing that somebody or like a host or an owner of a business can say is like no, you know like no
We can't you know accept you and they will they will 100 they will 100% say
If they look at you and they just don't want to deal with somebody who can't speak they might just say no
No, no, you know, and you kind of have to check your ego a little bit and be like, okay
And then you just literally go to the next place that is six feet away
And nobody's going to care. I think just being okay with that second big thing is is like 7 11
And family mart and like the ichiran the ramen and stuff. Those are all great places. Everybody should do ichiran at least once
But try other things like there are a million different restaurants. Don't fill yourself up just on like sugary bread
Do they're everywhere and and and sandwiches. They're really good. They are really good. They are super good
It's like amazing, but I think there was one time we had something
Oh, yeah, we we did japanese taco bell on the last day of tokyo out of slon
And I was a little peeved about it because I didn't want to eat it and then we ate it
I remember I think I was talking to dakota. I was like that was such a meal wasted. I could have eaten something else, you know
Um, so just don't be afraid to try, you know things outside of the the norm
And then finally I think the third thing is is like
Attempt you talk about the language barrier and things like that like don't start with english try to use the translator app
Don't start with like not responding to people like if they smile smile back like a lot of times
I think people are just so fearful of things that are so different
The worst thing they can say is no the worst thing they can do is look at you and like
Roll their eyes and that's going to be such a rare experience. I feel like a lot those all those areas that we went like obviously
tons of tourists day in day out
It's there's a bunch of australians there. Don't you worry about it?
With that being said we're going to take a small break but not before talking about our partner of the martini works podcast
Which is of course continental tire
They've been an incredible partner for the podcast for a number of years now
And we've actually been blessed to help work with them on the viking contact eight
We've got uh some cars on those right now here in the wintertime
And there are some more sets actually sitting right to the left of me right now
Which we're excited to get on a bunch of different platforms
Continental does a great job with their tires. Obviously we're heading into that springtime season
So if you guys are saving up highly recommend saving up for some continental dws
Oh six pluses if you're looking for something more track oriented the ecso twos are
Incredible finally if you guys are looking for something that's a little bit more on the budget side
Maybe the the continental they're a little bit pricey. You're trying to save a couple bucks
We've had a ton of experience now and a ton of really great
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Absolutely incredible tires both of them
So if you guys are looking for a set of tires to pair with your wheels on martiniworks.com
We definitely recommend those brands and we want to say thank you to continental and general tire for being a sponsor of the martiniworks podcast
So the 2026 tokyo autosalon came and went there were a few highlights
That obviously we get to talk about today ladies and gentlemen
The japanese car culture is always a super exciting one to be a part of
Because it is a very creative
Group of individuals you really do see so cool a very wide variety of cars from
Garage active released their narrow body full carbon kit, which looked I think better than their wide body kit absolutely incredible looking car
Liberty walk launched liberty walk kids
Which is a really cool thing that they're doing to try and get like the younger generation of of automotive enthusiasts into the car culture
They also released a chop top r35
With supercar advocates that looked I think really
good
Every version of a k car had some sort of wide body super cool kit on it
It was like mini car central over there. Yeah, they love making I don't know if that was a thing last year
But like dude every freaking mile I went down there was like a tiny version of nnsx or r35 supra
Done so well. Yeah, it looked like if a car was
The one ns so we were walking through there was uh, I don't know what it was
But it was some little k car and it was turned into an nsx
I thought it was a legit nsx because nsx are typically like they're already like pretty small
And like we were coming down the escalator. It's like oh the nsx are there in dakota. Oh, we gotta do a video on that
We gotta do a video. I'm like, okay
It's just like a like looks like a normal nsx quote-unquote and then we walked out
I'm like, dude, this thing is like half the size of what what the hell's going on
It looked that good
I think I I told you guys like when you go there and you see these cars like they
They're so well done, dude that it just looks like a production car like all those little mini cars even like the
There was a copin dihatsu gtk that had a nsx on r35 body kit on it from liberty walk
And like you're looking at it and you're like
That looks really good. Like that doesn't look bad at all like the proportions are a little bit exaggerated
Yeah, but like it all looks good. I think the the mini r32 that pandem did was super sick
If you guys are wondering that's a shizuki twin that's hiding underneath
That body kit and it's using real r32 tails, uh, which I thought was really cool as well
But the thing only has like 60 horsepower. Um, but it was really cool. You know, you get to see these
It's so neat because there's so many
Body kit companies over there that are that are true
Originators of body kit designs, you know, uh came here. I got to run into and we got to talk about some builds and stuff and he's awesome
Um liberty walk, you know those guys like toshi and all those guys over there
these guys aren't like
Getting the kit from somewhere else and like rebranding it and selling it in japan like they're designing it there
They're releasing it there. This is their thing
And I think because you have to be so creative again because of the constraints that japan has in terms of
car size engine size
How many cars you can even register and own underneath your own name like there's a restriction for that
It just forces you to be so creative with such a limited amount of tools
That I think you do get to see cars that you just would never see before. Yeah, I you know, obviously going into it like the
idea behind like japanese car culture and like the modification scene over there
And obviously is like held to suck like probably like the highest standard, right?
And so it's like going in it's like all right
I wonder what it's going to actually be like dude it blew it out of the water like it was just
insane like the caliber of builds quality
Just style the new releases like being able to walk through
Like the work wheels booth and the blitz booth going to see like all like the top secret cars and like they're crazy builds
Liberty walk doing like these unveils like they're 180 sx like super silhouette
Gorgeous. Yeah, I don't have probably like 50 grand to do that to my 240
But I wish I did because it looks absolutely insane
And like dude just every single stop was just something mind-blowing. There was no I don't think there was like one thing
That I stopped and be like, oh, why is that here?
It was craziness and yeah, that was one of the coolest parts too was to finally go to these booths and vendors and it's like
You're at work wheels. Yeah pan bbs. Japan rays blitz
Hk top secret up garage like all these japanese brands. You've always looked up liberty walk that booth was insane
There's so many people there. They're just as hyped about liberty walk there
Probably more so than we are here. Um, so that was really I didn't I guess I never like thought about like the perception in japan
Like we think it's cool here, you know, obviously we love that stuff proud of it because it's there
Yeah, they're there and they are just freaking out over this
So it's hard to like get photos of like I was trying to get photos of like the r35
It's like you're fighting people you're kind of elbow and getting through
Um to get to a spot and it was so cool to see in person and you can see how proud everyone is and how
Happy they are to be there and I thought that was really cool. I thought that was super cool. That's like that's the culture
that's what makes it so
Like why you get so excited about supporting real brands that really care about what they are delivering out to
You know aftermarket automotive enthusiasts because it's like it costs money to to do that and to host that to develop an rnd
Like bbs just released the rev 7. I think it's called
It's a forged magnesium wheel that they released at tokyo autosalon
You know and it's like that is a wheel that took them a ton of time a ton of research ton of development time
all of that stuff and like people are like
Well, I'm just gonna go get the the the cheaper one that looks the same
I'm gonna go buy the counterfeit version and it's like dude. That's so fucked because bbs is like investing all this money into tokyo
Autosalon all this money into motorsports like they're the official partner
For formula one. They're the official partner for nascar and they're doing all of this stuff and pulling all this data in to make this wheel
It's like support the real thing because like when you go there and you see all those brands
It's it's them. It's authentically them trying to create something new most of them
I would say obviously there's still some that that may not be like yeah, but a lot of them are
I mean, did you guys see how crazy the valeside booth was with sun kang in it? Yeah nuts
That was another area. It was like you almost had to unless you were going to that booth
You had to like avoid that hallway because it was so just dense and packed with people
But did uh see that and they had the drifter movie up and they were like uh interviewing people and stuff
That was so cool. What did you guys think of the difference between you guys have been to sima? Yeah, you've seen how factories oems
support sima
And now you've seen how manufacturers support tokyo autosalon because you were in the the the honda booth
I think you guys were in the nissan booth or they saw the nissan booth
um racing to yoda and yoda g r nismo
What did you guys think was there any difference that you noticed between the two?
That's a great question. Um, I think it was fucking absurd that we got to see the reveal of the g r g t and g r g t
gt3 uh prototypes like
We were there that's where it was unveiled to the world like into the public
You know like that was so insane like I said they're just jawing the floor for a while, but cars
It's insane in person. It's perfect. I think of the the big booths at sima as well
It's like they do really cool shit there too, you know ford and stuff like that has always
Pulled out the stops. I don't know. I so in my mind it was like
They really kind of leaned into
The modification aspect of it and like the racing and stuff like I'm thinking back to
And I'm not saying like you go to like sima and stuff and you're not going to see like modified cars in those
Because you do you do 100 but for every modified car. There's like six
Stock versions next to it all like trim leveled out, right? I remember. I think what was it the like toyota at
Sima was like oh here's all of the the new like land cruisers
And here's every single fucking trim option for it and every color. It's like, okay, cool
But then you go to like toyota and the whole thing is gizoo racing
Yeah, it's already so focused and it's like dude. They had like the g r gt the gt3 they had like modified supras
They had time attack cars in there the sc 300 was just absolutely crazy
to have in the back of that booth
Just stuff like that. I feel like even like the honda booth too like there were so many
Like actual race cars in there too based off of
What other cars they were and I would say even like they're their main like
Primary car that they had was at least on some set of wheels like like rays or ad vans or something
Oh, yeah, those many at least had like good wheel and those manufacturers get down
Like they do like bbs if it's not bbs, it's work and if it's not work
It's bulk and it those are like the three that are on every lot of advance a lot of ad vans yet true
I think what's cool. I tried to like ask myself that question too
And I think the difference was is in seamen the united states you have the aftermarket automotive, right?
They sell wheels or exhaust or something like that
Um, but like any presentation level at at the factory or oe level is typically like very
non-existent
Any sort of a seminar or thing that's happening at seamen is usually like a seema hosted thing that brings people in to talk about a subject
Yeah, and then if you go to like
The new york auto show there will be
announcements at the auto show where that's displayed at the booth that's usually vehicle specific like a new car sv
um
I think tokyo auto salon kind of takes those things and like merges them together and also removes an element where it's like
They almost treat motorsport and aftermarket as if they're the same thing. Yeah, because
Every booth I saw
They had this huge emphasis on the cars, right? But they always had a stage. They always had people talking
They always had people watching there were people sitting and listening
And you could hear because I use using the translator app again when I was standing outside
Mazda's and they were talking about the cx 70 and then there's I went to the other booth and they were talking about
The new gr car development and it's like these guys will spend
Every hour on the hour 20 minutes talking about this like performance car
And hundreds of people will sit there and watch
And then those guys will leave and then a couple more hundred will come and they'll sit and listen to the same
Presentation there's so much of that at tokyo auto salon that I started to think about i'm like
They don't really don't do that. You know like at seema. There's not like a motorsport side of it
It's in like some right random like conference room kind of thing that you have to go find
Yeah, it's it's different, but it was really cool to see because there's there is like a it's cool to see
Factory backed support. Yes at the ground level towards racing. It's it's not a intermediary between nissan and racing
It is nismo. Yeah, they're right there. It's kazoo racing right there. It's like these are the guys
That are racing like these are the people, you know, dude, like they took up like the whole back wall of those convention
Huge sections like just absolutely massive
I finally got my sweatshirt too from nissan, which I was very happy
Becca took it and I don't know where it is now. So you don't have it. You should have wore it
I should have those were his top secret
It's sick. That looks like a NASCAR shirt. No, that's why that's what they went for heavy
I was like, dude, that looks like straight out of the 90s. I love it
What do you mean? I can walk up to like smoky negata's booth and talk to his employees
Like that is so mind-bending to me still. I legit I bought a top secret trading. Did you open them yet? No, I'm too scared
I know me too. I look at the box and I'm like, I don't want to keep a zoom
I will because like they have a there's cards in there that are signed by smoky negata
It's like or there's potential to have cards in there that are signed. That's cool
But like to see those brands all real time like blitz like to walk into the blitz booth and like all the employees are coming
When they're acting so nice. It's like you're blitz like I'm scared to even talk. I know this is crazy
Like you are like being the hk
It's so surreal and it it's exactly what you think it would be
I was surprised like how like active and big and stuff they are like these boots are massive the cars are insane
All their apparel and stuff. You think of these as like such old like brands like from like the 90s early 2000s
Like they're still very much active dude over there top secret booth was one of my favorites
I was to see that in person like they had like their modern new gold builds like they had the
uh mark 4 supra with the r35 gtr engine swap was a vr 38 or whatever it is
um
That was insane and then they had like their older cars like the fdr7 another mark 4 supra and to see that in person was just so
Wild like you always see these cars on the internet and stuff and to be there. It's it's hard to put no words
It is just absolutely wild
Trying to think of what else was happening at tas that we really enjoyed dude so much
We got to see i know kind of leading up to it the uh, the gr 86 with like the 80 86
That was huge and the neo 86 i think they're claiming i think that was the hardest area to walk
That was that was the one area where i was actually just like i'm just going with the flow because like i i'm getting shoved
Like i'm getting like it was everyone around was moving together
It was and like kind of just like a
Like back up against a wall like really like narrow alleyway and that car was so popular
That car super sick by the way very well done very well like it works
Super well it works way better than it should yeah, and it was like
Over like if you were to buy it in japan like without like shipping costs and import costs and everything like that
I think it came out to like $5,500 for that full conversion. Yeah, usd usd. Um, which is crazy
For those listening that don't know of this kid does someone want to go?
Yeah, so somebody decided to take a the frs brz platform first generation
and uh
essentially equip it with a
80 86 styled uh front side and and rear
Pop ups maybe it does got pop ups which initially like it
We didn't really know how it was gonna look
Uh, because there's one there's one you can make anything look good online like with right you can make anything look good
Uh, but seeing it in person the proportions are are darn near perfect. It worked. It looked pretty natural
It looked really natural, but not just that like we've seen a couple kits
I saw a couple kits at tas that were like these old resto
You know pullbacks to to vintage styles that did not look good like the this the the way the kit worked in 1970
When the car was like, you know six feet long does not look the same on the cars that are now 17 feet long
Right, right, uh, but the g-86. I mean that thing looked perfect. I was very impressed by that car
Yeah, it looked really cool. I was very impressed just with the overall fit and look of it. I thought they nailed it
Yeah, that was that was a pretty cool. Uh, pretty cool build to to see it makes me kind of want to buy it by a shell and
Do something cool with it, but uh, let's see what else was in there that I thought was really interesting
Vans
Yes
High aces they mod vans like no other I went in to japan knowing I like vans
I fucking love vans. Oh, that country love vans for real
I was like everyone's oh japan. They have such small cars at it dude everywhere
I looked there was giant fucking high aces and alfards running around their vehicle
Over there, and they're huge alfards are nice. They are dude. They are vip
Holy cow. You're climbing seams. I was just gonna say when you did the uber. Did you get like did you get a loaded one?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's got like the lights in the ceiling. You got like these freaking massage captain chairs
They're so good. Holy cow. I've never seen anything like but at tas
The modified ones were in dude. It was crazy. We we did a short on one
Because we're oh like oh look. Yeah, that's dope. That's dope and we're looking at my dude. This guy like uh
Like some interesting mods done to it like I kept seeing like impala badges like all over and it was like tub
And I'm like what the fuck. Yeah, like this thing is like crazy crazy
And I like took a peek on the inside and the guy came over the owner
I must have been the owner or whatever you like can it came over and he flipped up the one seat and there's a
Fucking ls under the seat. It's a corvette engine and I'm like oh that adds up so insane to see it was so wild
It kind of you just reminded me too
Corvette had a booth there for the very first time
And that was really interesting because people were really jazzed about a c8. I thought that was cool
And I was like you really like it that much, huh? And the people are taking pictures and like oh
Looking at everything. It's so funny because like we're walking by the corvette booth
I'm gonna go check out the vans. This was just as popular as everything else. Yeah. No, it was really cool
If you guys have a chance uh to go out to tokyo out of salon
Um, I definitely recommend it like and go on Friday. I would I would uh and go early go early
I would say it is it is not the trickiest or i'm sorry. It's not the easiest to get out to um
You definitely have to like plan the trip
Uh, but it's it's definitely worth it. I think it was a lot of fun plus
The afters that were happening like all across the city. I think you guys mentioned we'll talk about in the next segment
But like the cars that you guys got to see drive through shibuya and the peaches after meat that I got to go to
And I know bed secchi uh something that sarah choy actually she was a guest on the podcast a few months ago
She just launched her brand that has like kmyra and uh a bunch of those guys and gals that are a part of that
So a lot of really cool stuff dropped over the weekend
I think even ben got to see uh, you know a little bit of the aftermath of the pop-up meat that happened at the tokyo tower
Which was
incredible
Just memories, you know, it's like if you guys have ever listened or watched a video of those meats that happen at like time
Square and it's just like an ethereal experience. It's like that in a different country
I mean, it is just the most incredible just constantly
Experience of all time. Yeah, I met so many friends just standing outside of shibuya crossing because there were
So many cars driving by. Yeah, it was and we had so many friends from australia that were there
Because that's where australians go if you like cars, you just go hop right on over to japan
and I had like
Seven or eight cars like pull off to the side get out and australian introduced themselves to me
And then the japanese owner of the r34 come over and be like, hello
and he's like
You know, you know, it is like yeah, yeah
No language can't speak to each other. I'm using the transfer app and I'm like, excuse me
Can I take a video of your, you know, your s13 and that's how I met akito, which I thought was really really cool
And we'll talk about that in the next segment
But I'll say there might have been a language barrier, but cars transcend that language barrier. Dude, I'm in ground
Dude, it's it's the most easy way to connect
Global culture really it is because that that feeling is universal the feeling of
Having a car that you're proud of that you get to share that kind of expresses who you are like that's
That's the magic, you know, so with that being said, we're going to take a small break
But not before talking about our next partner the martini works podcast gels
Gels is not the the the sponsor
I was like, damn, I was just sponsoring the segment just shallow money for my own podcast
It just so happens to me my favorite beef jerky company that also makes coilovers, which is fortunato
I say that as there's more bags of beef jerky sitting here
I should have
That that looks really dang good. No fortune. I don't they've been a
Very very strong partner of the martini works podcast since the beginning
When we were looking around to bring people on board they hopped on board immediately
We can't thank them enough as well as thanking them for making some fantastic freaking coilovers
I'm running them on my 240 have been for a few years now
Fantastic for just street driving and of course getting down on the drift track
Dakota's been running them multiple cars for probably over a decade now
Multiple different platforms have absolutely nothing bad to say about them. They are hand assembled right in virginia
We got to go down and see it from start to finish when it's just a pile of parts to being assembled to being
Dino tested and then torn down if it doesn't meet the exact specs and redone all over again before they go in the box and get
Sent out the door. They truly are a quality hand assembled coilover
That they have a ton of options for and they're getting more and more every year
It seems like even moving into the off-road side of things was your thing is pretty neat
Kind of more like the overlanded stuff with like the toyotas and things like that
But if you're looking for just a solid all-around coilover 500 series
You can't go wrong with you want to step up from that do some more track dedicated driving 510 series
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So thank you for Fortunato for sponsoring the podcast and we want to check out a set of coilovers for yourself
Make sure to do so over at pertainingworks.com
All right, this can be one of the hardest things to say
But what was some of your favorite parts of being in japan the whole trip was the favorites
Seeing my friends
Honestly seeing my international friends makes me so happy
When I was at peaches, I got to which was a fantastic meet very fun got to see a really cool vans got to see
You know the bmw that won its class at the texas 2k got to see a twin turbo frari testarosa
That was built one gun style that the owners rmc miami, which is super cool
Um, but I also got to meet
The man who helped facilitate the sale
And import of that car that we have not showed you guys yet
He came up to me and he's like, hey, I'm like, hello
He's like I'm mark. I was like, I'm alex. He goes. I helped you with a car and I said
uh
And uh, no, he was absolutely awesome
So got to meet up with him and then got to meet back up with uh, suzuki who helps
Sun Kang with a lot of the kind of like promotion work for the drifter movie
So I saw him on monday. He was also at the veil side booth helping facilitate the mob
Um, there was quite a bit there was and then obviously seeing like, um
Dustin williams at fuji speedway seeing brian at that's fuji speedway
Oh, yeah, because you you spent an extra day out there to go up there and do that
I did. Yeah, I got to spend uh, an extra day at fuji speedway. Um, got to drive
The top rank importers built r34 gtr. How was that insane? Lovely
Um, really enjoyed that really excited to kind of post more content about that day. Um, but got to see some awesome people got to see
Those guys ran into tommy
Um, got to see all the incredible cars that that company like brings in and and kind of takes care of
Got to see built by legends cars and lines cars and oh my god
I mean just got to getting to see a fully track built
Side exit exhaust r34 gtr fly by you down the streets of fuji speedway when there's maybe 50 people on that entire building
Or in that entire like track
Is just that's wild
Just crazy. Um, so that was really cool. But yeah seeing all the friends
Um, meeting new ones is is always kind of fun because I feel like
If you can make a friend over there like that knows a little bit of english and you also have like a
Kind of like a I don't know just an attitude of like let's just figure it out together
You can have so much fun. Like you can go anywhere. They'll take you to places
You have to try new foods. They kind of act as your like impromptu translator, which is always fun
Um, but yeah, I would say like just hanging out with friends
What about you?
Oh man, dude
I think like just going to all like the
Like the big areas and just hanging on and I remember like we were coming back from
TAS, I think
Saturday night when we went to shibuya and it was like TAS like obviously like is crazy
With all of the people and everything, but it's like out in this business district
Yep, so it's just like a couple big skyscrapers here and there
But most part of it was like pretty open like a lot of like just empty road and parking for businesses
And we were trying to get our way back to meet up with uh, everyone else in shibuya
We're getting messed up with the trains a little bit. We said screw it. Let's just hop in an uber
Dude when we hopped out of that uber like right at shibuya crossing
We got thrown into the thick of it and it was like dude. This is just absolutely insane
So it was like going to all of like those locations and I would say like
Out of all the places that we went shibuya, we probably saw like the craziest like cars and stuff just rolling around
And it's like that was where it was like, dude, this is this is everything that I thought
It would be you know with all like these like dude
We got out and there was just an r34 like purple r34 gtt
Just like sitting on the side of the road
Not too far up from that was like a couple r35s and then there's s15s driving by and just like all the craziest shit
Going on at once
Yeah, and then just going to like experience all those like different areas like akihabara for instance
I thought was really cool because it had like a lot of like the like gaming stuff and like other hobby stuff
I got to go to like a hobby shop
In in japan and it was like on the third floor of like this tiny building
And it was just packed with like model planes and cars and rc stuff and parts
They actually had like a race going on up there with like the the minis ease and things like that
So I thought that was like just super cool
Um, yeah, dude, there's there's just so much to boil it down to but just overall like just the general like
experience of those big locations
I would say uh, if you guys haven't had a chance you guys actually found a really cool place to hang out in shibuya
Oh, dude, it was yeah, you share that. Yeah, that didn't even know that existed one of my favorite parts me and uh
Maya we're looking around going through different shops and on one of the floors because
In japan you shop vertical. It's so weird
There's just a billion stores in every store and you go up and one of the floors it
Seemed a little sketchy in may that's the american enemy like just not trusting something that seems too good to be true
But it was 2,500 yen per person one hour
and
You get free food free snacks free alcohol free drinks red bull
Like all this stuff and then you have windows facing shibuya crossing
That like have chairs all on them lounge area
So we're like we got to try it like on paper. This all sounds so good
I was like there's probably some hidden fee for like how much you drink or whatever, but fuck it. We're in tokyo
Let's do it and uh, we do it and we're just grabbing drinks at will we're slamming lemon sours
We're grabbing snacks and eating them and trying goofy shit and the whole time we're doing this
We're looking out the window and just watching the most insane cars drive by
Constantly and we are like how is this like this is so nuts like every car is modified so well and looks so
Dope like this doesn't even seem real
Then we're seeing like fast and furious replica cars go by the r34 is constantly are just you know the silver and blue iconic
But then uh, it's like we see the the evo from too fast too furious drive by and we're like what the fuck this is crazy
Then we see alex and he's filming a video on s32. We're like what?
We're like wave into him. Oh, yeah
Yeah, that was like that was a keto is that we saw it. We saw his car
Which is an insane looking car by the way
We thought it was a
Skyline at first when it rolled up and I was like, oh shit. That's a that's a s13. It was like a coop silvia
And uh, he like parked up there and like dude that car looks so good
We're watching everything else and the next thing we know i'm like dude fucking alex is like filming a video
Like out in front of it. I was like what is going on
That was so surreal to just like eat and drink as much as you want for 2500 yen, which is what like 10 bucks
It's not much. Yeah, it's around. That's not much for an hour and it was like, I don't know
It was empty. We were like some of the only people there too
So it was like we had our choice of what window we wanted to see as much drinks and stuff
I know that was the thing too and we were like what like three or four floors up
Yeah, it was like it was a great view. Oh fantastic view. It was a perfect view
So just be chilling with your homies relax and at one of the coolest spots most iconic spots in the world
And just car spying people watching like there's a trend right now where you run out for the shibuya
You try to be the first one out. Oh my god. Do you like a dance? It's a thing going on. It's kind of an epidemic
And um, it is easy to be cured. Well, it's happening because we watch someone eat
Shit so hard they full sprinted and they tried to turn for the camera when they turn they just got crossed up and they
Wham! So this actually brings up a good point. Something that's really interesting
I don't know if this is why but Brent was trying to post a video
In that area and it like didn't let him do it. It denied him. Tiktok specifically. Yeah tiktok denied him the ability to post
In that area and a part of me has a feeling it's because of that that trend
So in case you guys don't know
The japanese are very polite. They're very respectful as long as you respect, you know, their their culture
But they are many rules. There are
Lots of rules. There's rules upon rules upon rules upon more rules unwritten rules and unwritten rules and written rules
And because you're a tourist
You just kind of go with the flow and they put up with you that you don't know them
But if you live there or you happen to be japanese, there's a whole new like level of rule books
And one of the things that I know is generally pretty frowned upon
Is like being a nuisance in public
Like creating attention to oneself for the sake of like safety
And so I would not be I would not like put it by me if the japanese government like sent tiktok and emails like
We're not letting people post that in this area because it is distracting to our drivers. Tiktok is nerf there. You cannot upload
It's crazy. Um
No, that was pretty cool. The shibuya thing I thought was was pretty nuts. Fuji speedway was was really cool
Did you guys get a chance to go check out any?
Any rc shops or any car stuff? Would you snag?
What was your what was your one thing that you picked up from japan?
That you're proud of oh, man, dude. We brought a lot of stuff back
Do we of course hit up like all of the pokemon centers, which was really dope
We hit those up multiple times actually there are so many goddamn plushies at my place
Because every time we went I think magi picked out like five more. Um
That was dope bought a lot of stuff at the show
I was really hoping to find something I could I think I said when we were gonna go
Bring something back for the s13. I really didn't find anything that would fit
That would make sense
Unfortunately, but I did manage to buy an rc plane to bring back
I don't know how you know
The box got a little beat up
But the plane made it it's a it's a it's a kit. Um, but it is a made in japan
Balsa kit and it's a it's a little glider actually so
Really looking forward to building that I was like dude
That's I we were going through because like I said it was a the tamia
Hobby shop essentially it was like they're like big shop or like one of their big dealers for it
Um, it was an akihabara. It was about like an 11 minute walk from like the downtown
I'm like I want to go check this out
So like every time like I search stuff like people like you got to go check this place out
So we did it was like a couple floors of stuff and the one floor like the whole one aisle was just like
kiyosho model planes and a couple other ones and uh, I was just like walking down there
I'm like, dude, this is so sick
Like some of them were like old too like that I remember like my dad like having in the hobby shop and stuff like back in the day
Or like he'd be on the lookout for my dude. These are like sitting like right here. That's so crazy
But they're big right there like big
RC planes and then like we hit this one section and there's just like a bunch like from like florida ceiling
Just a bunch of like little boxes
And I was like, what the hell are they? I thought like they were just like parts or like maybe like a wing kit or something
Like that or like spare part whatever
And I like it was like pulling them on it was like translating like you save their full kits and they're like 30 bucks
I was like
This one looks like I could fit in a suitcase. We're gonna try it
I snagged it. Um, we got it home. So I'm looking forward to to building that but dude
Uh, the amount of like RC cars stuff over there is just insane too, bro
I bought you bought a model kit didn't you? Yeah, I brought four
Oh, I don't know you got four. Yeah, I just I bought four. I've probably a mistake to be honest
I I went out there. I bought it brought it back
And I'm like looking at it and I know I have to paint some stuff. Oh, yeah
I don't know how much stuff right so the whole thing. Yeah, so I opened the kit
There's well, some stuff is black and some stuff is blue and some stuff is silver
And I'm like, oh some of it is painted, but I know some stuff
Needs to be painted everything's in Japanese. Yep surprise
Uh, and it's a to me a kit
I got all these like motorsport related cars because I wanted to do like a video of like assembling it
I go online. I type it in. I'm like, what colors do I need to buy? Well
There's Jesus. Yeah, I didn't know
The kit's 35 dollars, but I just spent like a hundred and fifty
Yeah, I spent like 200 bucks on it all and it's like you need orange gloss flat black matte color gloss black
anthracite
Shade shadow how many different silvers there are shadow silver
uh
Mika blue
Um
Flash yellow. I'm like, oh my god and every single one of these little tiny things is like eight bucks. Yep
And uh, so then I'm like, okay, so I get all this
But I have them and then I go to the directions and it's like
You need those and then if you're going to like use a spray gun
You need like a lacquer thinner to like yep mix it up. Yep. Don't even know how to do that. Whatever fine
Then I'm going through. I'm like, okay got the lacquer thinner got the paint
I'm going to go buy this gun so that I can get the second spray it then it's like you also need
Another type of paint for like the little like yeah, like an enamel. Yeah, like an enamel. I'm like, okay sounds good
How much enamel do I need and it's like you need these six things and I'm like, okay
And then I get that done. It's like oh also
You need to have a there's like uh, not a primer, but there's like a type of primer that you use on you also need to get that
So I'm pretty sure this like $40 car
RC model thing is going to be like $300
Well, that's going to be sick. That's what it will make you like it so much though
If you finish it if if you finish it, so we'll you got four to build so I'll let you know how it goes
Got four years worth of live stream. Yeah, dude for some plastic models. Yeah, it's time consuming, but it's fun
Yeah, I bought a couple plastic models too. Um, I found a huge ace combat fan
I'm playing ace combat games growing up pretty much religiously
Um, and there was a couple collaborations that hasakawa did with ace combat recently
And I picked up a couple 30th anniversary model kits from that were like collaborated with them
And I thought that was super sick. Oh, so I'm gonna build those up
Maybe do it do it up, dude
But that being said we want to thank you guys for listening into the martini works podcast
Yeah, what the hell yappers over there never let me talk
Uh, I got to pick up some cool things. Yeah, what'd you bring? I'll be quick about it
I'm like these guys that's here and yeah
Uh, no one of my favorite core memories is going to the pokemon center with maya
Um, that was something that we've wanted to do for years and years and we've watched videos of people going
So it's surreal to do that
So we picked up some goodies from there also went to some vinyl shops and uh got a so cool
Baby metal vinyl which is sick if you haven't listened to a baby metal go do it. It's awesome
Had a pop-up shop over there. Yeah. Yeah, which was super sick in shibuya. And then also I got the
Super mario theme on vinyl officially from nintendo, which I thought was really cool
I was so nervous about getting them back, but we got them back and then um, just a bunch of trinkets
I got a lot of stuff at like at this blitz hat
I'm wearing in like
The top secret stuff and then I also went to the raze booth and sat in line forever to get through their merch
But I picked up some um
Decals for the forerunner and stuff that were like bulk racing in japanese and carbon fiber keychain that's raze
Because it was significantly cheaper there than when you try to order a
Actual authentic raze sticker online. Oh my god. It's insane, but there it was like a normal sticker. So
Oh, yeah, that's cool
Well, then there you go, you know
Finally dakota lets us finish up the podcast after talking that whole time. No, it was an absolutely incredible time
We really hope you guys enjoyed the content if you guys haven't yet check out the instagram
Or youtube if you're out there to see all the shorts that the the team did and all the cool car
Cars that we got to see at tokyo out of sun and also just like outside of tokyo out of salon
And if you guys are looking to to get car parts, you know, obviously your support on martini works allowed
You know this team to to be able to go and to to be able to share those stories
So thank you so much for your continued support. It means the absolute world
We see the notes section when you guys do place orders and you mentioned the podcast
That always means the world to us. We love we love reading and hearing those things
So thank you very much and we do want to give one last shout out to actually a new
Sponsor of the martini works podcast for the next next couple quarters. I would say
But it'll be forever because once they join they usually never leave true
We've talked about melco automotive for a good long time. Absolutely fantastic detailing company
And we're going to continue to talk about them in different pieces of content and some of the builds that we do throughout the year
And we highly recommend their kits if you're looking to keep your car clean
For the 2026 car show season
But we also want to introduce another partner and that is motegi racing wheels motegi
Motegi's been uh coming on board recently. I'm getting more active in the aftermarket automotive scene
There's one right behind a few of them behind the coda. There's one right there connects four with them
Yeah, yeah, the red one right above me is their new battle six, right and awesome finishes
And motegi's uh, they're kind of coming out of the game super strong
They've been a part of the industry for a good long while now
But they've really been trying to figure out what makes them special and how they're going to go about
You know marketing in 2026 and beyond and we've actually ran some of their wheels in the past
We like them, but they're coming out even better uh flow formed
And one of the really special things about their wheels that is different than other wheels
Is that they actually use an automotive grade paint for their wheels and then they apply a clear overtop of it
So there are different types of wheel paints that you can use but wheel paints are typically a little bit more of a flatter
Finish and that's because it's just a more resilient finish because if you want to have something that's more glossy
You typically have to apply a stronger clear over it and at the factory anytime a wheel is sitting on the production line longer than normal
It costs more money. Oh, yeah, so motegi did that and they said screw it
We're going to do it anyway
And that is why you see these really interesting colors like this green that's got a really really nice deep finish to it
And then this red that's got a
Massive amount of flake on it. You can't actually see it on the camera
But it's a really nice candy red. Yeah, and then they
They actually carve into the the lip for the the battle six and the motegi
And you've actually seen volk do that stuff now too because it helps prevent counterfeits
But overall super excited to have motegi a part of the martini works podcast
If you guys and gals are looking for something that's different. They've got three spokes
They've got six spokes. They got really cool stuff floor formed lightweight super strong
And in stock really good price as well
So if you're looking to get a different set of wheels this the spring or summer you can hit up motegi over at martiniworks.com
Heck yeah ski you later
About this episode
A thrilling recap of a recent trip to Japan, where the hosts share their experiences at the Tokyo Auto Salon and the vibrant car culture. They discuss the challenges of traveling, navigating the train system, and the unique aspects of Japanese toilets. The episode highlights the excitement of exploring Tokyo, meeting friends, and discovering hidden gems like ramen shops and 7-Elevens. The hosts also provide valuable tips for first-time visitors, emphasizing the importance of packing light and embracing the local culture. The camaraderie and shared passion for cars make this trip unforgettable.
Original notes
Best way to support the Podcast is by modding your car at https://martiniworks.com/WE DID IT! The entire MartiniWorks team flew out to Japan to experience the cities, the food, the culture, and Tokyo Auto Salon 2026. Sit back, relax and enjoy as the boys go over the best and most memorable parts of their trip along with experiencing Japanese car culture first hand. Pick up our Coffee here! https://martiniworks.com/products/other/show-merchA HUGE thank you to Continental, Motegi, and Fortune Auto for being the official tire, wheel, and suspension of the MartiniWorks Podcast! Let us know if you need a set of tires or coilovers. Shop Continental tires here https://martiniworks.com/products/wheels-tires/tires?brands=continentalShop Motegi wheels here https://martiniworks.com/aftermarket-car-parts-brands/wheels/motegiShop Fortune Auto suspension here https://martiniworks.com/products/suspension/coilovers?brands=fortune-auto🏎️Check out the main channel!🏎️: @MartiniWorksOfficial 📦We also have an unboxing channel 📦: @MartiniWorksUnboxed Follow Alex @alexmartini__Follow Dakota @dakotastoneeFollow Gels @akagels
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