This article is one of our DS Does Japan series from our recent trip to the land of the rising sun, courtesy of Toyota Australia. Click here for the whole set!
Welcome to Japan, home to the most diverse, interesting and exciting automotive culture in the world. I know that’s a big call, but I’m confident that it’s the truth. However let me start at the start.
It was Saturday night in Tokyo, and we were scheduled to head out to Daikoku Futo to check out the epicness that usually takes place there on weekend nights. We piled into the van and headed across the bridge crossing Tokyo Bay to Odaiba, which is the locals’ weekend getaway spot. On the way, our driver suggested we check out the giant Gundam statue, which was SO incredibly detailed and well done, I was waiting for it to start running or fly away.
As we were heading over, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a gathering at a rooftop carpark which seemed familiar. You see, I came to Tokyo once before, and through a completely unlikely and random series of events involving being lost in a foreign city, I had stumbled upon that exact carpark on foot on a weeknight 7 years earlier. If you’ve ever been to Tokyo, a giant metropolis of 13.5 million people, you’ll know how unlikely that is. There to my great surprise, I found a small car meet including 2 then-as-yet unreleased and brand new R35 GT-Rs. Being able to speak exactly zero Japanese, I lurked in the shadows, quietly losing my shit.
Tonight 7 years later, the place was full. A great variety of cars had turned up, all the way from a Nür Spec R34 GT-R to stock commuter cars.
Bayside Meeting x Downshift
RX-8 on qualty chromies.
I loved this Nissan Cube with neons and an anime wrap. So boss!
There were a couple of classics too, like this Z31.
Drift-spec.
Unfortunately the lights were terrible, so the images are not as fantastic as I hoped. Still, I don’t mind how they look with a bit of blue in them, reflecting how insanely cold and windy it was.
While the attendees were well behaved, Police turned up about half an hour later. I guess some things are the same the world over, right? In contrast however, they didn’t look to be hassling or fining anyone, and were quite friendly. They simply asked the crowd to move on, and everyone did so, taking their time.
After having a quick chat to one of the locals, we figured out that Daikoku Futo had been shut down by Police and everyone was heading to Tatsumi PA, only accessible by one of the epic elevated highways that circle and criss-cross Tokyo.
Obviously we weren’t going to miss it! Click here for that feature!
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[…] our last day in Tokyo, we headed out to Odaiba once again (the first time was Bayside Meeting), this time during the day, as we wanted to check out the giant Toyota dealership/shopping […]
[…] stopping for a pineapple pastry and green tea, we headed out to Odaiba for the Bayside Meeting and Tatsumi […]