For those that know me fairly well, you know how much I appreciate a sleek body, four wheels, and a combustion engine. Those of you that also appreciate those things know that Japan is a field of Eden for car culture. And yet, I really haven't touched any of that in the writing of this journey. Well fear not because today was the day we went full throttle. So strap in, rev those engines, and put the pedal to the metal as we take a peek into Japan's car culture.
Ryan and I started the day by taking multiple modes of transportation to a rural part of Tokyo. Out here where the main flow and noise of Tokyo cannot be found, stood a Subaru dealership, with an STI gallery. It is here both the Subaru and car enthusiast can enter an up close and personal experience for this brand of car. Upon entering the doors, we were greeted by a young woman ready to welcome any visitor to the gallery. She provided us with a booklet that contained a treasure hunt designed to make you visit every section of the gallery. We thanked her and began exploring. Two things immediately caught my eye. The first is that they had actual Subarus used in professional motorsports sitting right there for you to see. And not only to see but they made sure we new that we were allowed to climb inside. I have seen race cars up close many times, but this was the first time I was able to climb inside one, feel my body conform to the seat, let my hand hover over the shifter, and for a brief moment, picture myself flying down the track or kicking up dirt from a rally course while chasing the checkers. One of the cars on display was that of renowned rally driver Colin McRae, who tragically died in a helicopter crash. So it was a surreal experience to be able to see that car.
The second thing that I noticed early on was a couple of the cylindrical beam poles that had names written in sharpie all over them. The showroom allowed visitors to autograph those beams. So given the opportunity to note my presence in a foreign land, I signed one of the beams. If you ever happen to find yourself in the STI showroom in Japan, see if you can find my name. Other highlights a timeline of toy Subaru cars from the beginning until present day, a racing simulator you could play with a full chair and wheel setup, as well as the mini scavenger hunt they provided.
Eventually we had our fill of the showroom, but before we left, we met a dude from Australia who started conversing with us. We talked cars, travel, and whatever else was on our minds. It's always fun to meet other travelers and discuss shared passions while in another part of the world. After a brief, but fun interaction, we said goodbye to STI and made our way back to the heart of Tokyo.
After a bus and a handful of trains, we were back in central Tokyo. The skies opened up and the rains began to fall. Luckily, our next destination was inside. We were at the Nissan Crossing. It's a multi-leveled, glamorous showroom, for Nissan cars. I'm talking the eye candy of Nissan vehicles on turnstiles. We climbed level after level, stopping to see the new toys on display, including a formula 1 car. I must add that I was multi-tasking at this point. There was a Pokemon Go raid event going on and like I've said before, playing Pokemon in the country that birthed it was something else.
After we left the Nissan Crossing, we went back to the hotel to wind down for a bit as we had a big evening planned. You see the STI showroom and Nissan Crossing were only the tip of the motor iceberg. Before we left the good ol' USA, Ryan proposed we do something a bit off the cuff. What was it? The Daikoku car meet. Let me preface this by saying that this is not an official event. You can't buy tickets to it, your taking a chance on whether it happens or not, and it's not easy to get to. So what is it? It's actually a truck rest stop about 30 minutes outside of the main city. Sometime way back when, Tokyo's car culture decided it would be a cool place to meet up and show off your ride. Because it can get crazy and it is a rest stop, the police usually come after a couple hours and shut it down. It was originally just the locals, but once word got around that you could see a ton of sweet rides, non locals and tourists started flocking there.
There's no public transportation that will get you there except a taxi which will be expensive. But trying to get a taxi to come back and get you is even more difficult. One option is to get a rental car and drive yourself out there, but we chose the only other route. That was to pay locals running a van and mini tour to get us out there. It's not like an official tour. You get in contact with the people through a messaging app and they give you a meetup point and time. Then there was a van that would pick you and other strangers up to take you out to the Daikoku rest stop.
When the sun had gone down, Ryan and I made our way back to Tokyo station. There, on a side street, was a small line of vans. A crazy thought ran through my head that this was one of those movie scenes where you get in a black van and bad things happen. But thankfully, the host and the driver were two, young, chill, and very friendly dudes. One spoke English and was originally from Vietnam. The other was our driver who was a local and was apparently part of the underground scene at one point. After some conversation and the rest of the people who paid for this experience arrived, we piled into the van and off we went.
This adventure had four main points. The first was that we would be crossing the renowned Rainbow Bridge. It provided epic night views of the skyline and looked incredible lit up at night. I will note that the rain had let up a bit ago, but there was still some in the area. If the skies opened up, that would be bad news for us. Our guide mentioned that if there's a little rain, folks still meet up with their cars, but if it's pouring, then most don't show up. We crossed the Rainbow Bridge and were getting closer to our main destination.
It wasn't long before we could sense we were close. Cars that you don't see everyday started to appear. We took a ramp a pretty soon we found ourselves in a super crowded parking lot. The van weaved through people and cars until it found a space to park. We all got out and the guide basically told us to have fun, go explore, and be back to the van at a specific time. As my eyes tried to take everything in all at once, I felt like I had entered a Fast and Furious world. Everywhere my head swiveled was another car to drool over. There was a BMW of the exact model and paint scheme from the Need For Speed Underground video game, a mazda with a Lightning McQueen paint scheme, a bedazzled Lamborghini, and even a midnight black Dodge charger running the red and blue police lights found on police vehicles in the US. That's not illegal here as Japanese police run a different light scheme. So if you every want to zoom around in a replica of an American cop car, come to Japan.
I really can't describe the car meet in enough words to do it justice. It's something you have to experience for yourself. I will say that it did feel like being in a movie. People and sweet cars as far as the eye could see. Even in the dark, with a bit of rain, the motors ruled the night. Eventually people started to disperse, knowing it would likely be shutdown soon. Ryan and I made our way back to the van and everyone else soon followed. We loaded up and headed out. There was a crowd standing on the corner of the entrance ramp, cheering on the existing cars to see them one last time. Our driver, who I mentioned used to be in the underground scene, revved the van engine and peeled out around the curve right in front of the crowd. We cheered and laughed knowing the crowd was not expecting a simple van to do that.
Our third stop was at a popular JDM (I don't recall its name) store where a lot of folks went after the car meet to shop for souvenirs for car lovers everywhere. It was a huge store with a lot to offer and still bustling at a later hour. This stop was shorter than the Daikoku car meet and I didn't pick up anything here, but it was fun to explore. We once again loaded up the van and headed for our fourth and final destination. The Tokyo Tower.
While not as tall as the SkyTree, it still stood out in the dark of night. And one look would tell you that it was modeled after the Eiffel Tower in Paris. With the rain falling lightly and a foggy mist lingering all around, the tower's orange glow cut through the night. It made for an incredible site and a very opportunistic photo. Our guide took one of Ryan and I in front of that tower, a memory captured in time. This was pretty much where our night would end, but one last thing of note happened. Our guides were kind enough to drop everyone off near train/subway stations close to where they needed to be. After we said goodbye to our guides, Ryan and I walked under the glow of Tokyo's many lights towards the station we needed to get to. Then, a voice of a stranger called out through the crowd. He said two words that my ears instantly recognize any time they're spoken. "Go Birds!" I turned my head and saw they had come from another fellow American. "Go Birds!" I called back ecstatically. For context, I was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles athletic shirt. That's how he knew. One thing that never fails is that I can sport Eagles gear nearly anywhere in the world and someway, somehow, I will bump into another Eagles fan, just as I did here in Tokyo. And it warmed my heart even more. And with that, we can conclude the penultimate post for this adventure in the Land of the Rising Sun.
