Your Guide to the Tokyo Car Scene #Blogpost

Welcome to Akihabara, Tokyo

When visiting Tokyo, the place to find car culture is Akihabara, Tokyo’s electronic district. Surrounded by a vast amount of Anime shops and SEGA game arcades lie many backstreets where, late at night, groups of car enthusiasts will gather to show off their rides, after which they’ll leave either to return home, or go off onto the surrounding highways to hoon. Here are some interesting things about Akihabara’s car scene you need to know.

#1 Where to find popular meeting points

The main meeting point (that I have found) in Akihabara is in a side street from the main road, next to the massive Bellesalle Akihabara hotel building, below you’ll find a google maps image with this street highlighted. Every night, at around 9~12PM, local petrolheads gather here to show off their pride and joy. Tens of cars are parked on the street and many more drive past to park in the backstreets close to this road. Here’s where you’ll find a lot, and I mean a lot of what’s called ‘Itasha’ cars. Itasha is Japanese for colourful, artwork, creativity and in car terms usually means lots and lots of anime. The Nissan March you see above is one of many Itasha cars I saw that night.

#2 The police are everywhere

After finding the main meeting spot in Akihabara, you’ll quickly start to notice the ever-present police cars. But fret not, they’re not here to shut down the meet, they simply patrol the area every 5~10 minutes, just to make sure everyone is behaving as they should. The way the police drive by is very distinct, slowly crawling through the street, making sure that everyone has seen them. Most car modifications are allowed in Japan, from wings to neon, to charms that hang from the bumper, so the police won’t write you up for any ‘dangerous’ modifications.

#3 Anything goes

From the bizarre Mitsuoka Orochi to stanced vans, from clean Daihatsu’s to Itasha cars, anything is possible. The most beautiful part of Japanese car culture is the sheer creativity and effort that these enthusiasts put into their cars. If it can be done, it has been done. It’s not about “who’s the fastest” or “who’s got the cleanest ride”, it’s not about “should I put this on my car” but rather “what else can I put on my car”. And every single one has got their own style, their own creation. The best part: everyone respects that. Words like ‘ricer’ and ‘hideous’ don’t exist in this world, everyone respects each other’s ride. The most important thing to keep in mind when visiting Japanese car meets is you need to be very open minded. Don’t think “Why?”, but rather “Why not?”

#4 It's all about having fun

In the end these car meets all serve one and the same purpose: to have fun. Car meets are a great way to meet new people, make friends for life and talk about cars. We all share the same passion no matter what car, which style or what budget. If it has two, three or four wheels and you love it dearly, then you’re in. The Japanese car scene doesn’t know what “negativity” means. Each and everyone can join in on the fun.

You might not speak Japanese and they might not speak English, but we all share the universal language of cars.