Japanese underground car meets have been enshrined in modern automotive pop culture. But here’s the thing – the visuals really do not tell the full story. There’s not a single photo or video that properly encapsulates the sights, sounds, and of course, the atmosphere.
I’m sure it is on every car guy’s bucket list. I was accompanied on this trip by two other friends/colleagues, for the main purpose of covering the Tokyo Auto Salon. It was a Saturday night, and we just finished covering the event for the day, and decided to head to Shibuya for dinner, and a long overdue shopping session (I deliberately underpacked so I had less to lug around).
There was this desire to just unwind and relax, and experience life as a tourist in Japan. As we approached Shibuya’s central region, we found a back road leading to an underground carpark. Parked at the entrance were a lineup of JDM royalty. It didn’t take us very long to put two and two together.
Pulling Up
As we genuinely wanted to grab a proper meal for the first time in days, we actually entered the carpark before any significant shenanigans kicked off. Car spotters and photographers roamed this seemingly desolate carpark, contributing to the feeling that something was going to kick off.
And kick off it did. Well, eventually anyways – a friendly local told us to return later in the night, as they had news that some genuine icons would turn up. We therefore parked up in our rental Nissan Note e-Power, and headed out to grab a quick bite.
There’s so Much to Take in
At the very least, and at first glance, this meet certainly lives up to the hype. But it was legitimately a gift that kept on giving.
It wasn’t just the the quantity of attendees that is impressive – it is the variety as well. There was something for every type of car enthusiast, from your usual JDM legends such as the R34s, to engine-swapped Euros and even low-riders.
In the company of numerous iconic JDM cars, it is easy to get desensitised to their presence. But Japan seems to always have something up its sleeves. You start to notice that there are familiar faces in the crowds. Influential people like Larry Chen, former head of Hotwheels design, Jun Imai, and the respective big wigs of Greddy Japan and USA all rubbed shoulders with the throngs of car enthusiasts.
We had quality banter, talking to the locals about the car’s present, also sharing about our respective experiences with the automotive industry as a whole.
The cherry on top of the Japanese car meet cake was delivered with the arrival of some truly special automobiles. A highly tuned silver R32 GTR accompanied THE Liberty Walk Ferrari 360 into the car meet. Yes, it does appear that we had an actual magazine feature car in our presence.
As an early start was needed the next day, we opted to leave shortly after this LB Works Diablo rocked up.
I wanted to capture a clean image of the enthusiasts mingling with each other and having a visual poke around the car, but it does appear that my plans have been scuppered because I was photobombed by some purple Nissan.
(Yes, I’m aware that the ‘Nissan’ in question is an R34 GTR.)
We left tired, but satisfied. It was an experience that we’d never forget, though the fumes did get a little much towards the end of the night. If you happen to be in Shibuya, do swing by some of the legendary carparks on Fridays/Weekends. You’ll never know what you can find.
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