Anyone into JDM car culture should know what Daikoku Futo is, but for those that don't, It's probably the biggest meeting point for car enthusiasts of all types to hang out at in Japan. On a normal day you'll find anything from JDM legends to Euros and American muscle! If you've ever played a Japanese car racing arcade game, You would recognise Daikoku Futo as a map option!
My name is Jakob McDonald and you can check out my blog here!
You are reading part 2 of this story. I recommend that you check out here for the first half of the story and for more cool photos!
This next car was something I thought to be very interesting! Seeing this amount of wideboy and aero modifications on a registered car back in australia is extremely rare and I thought it would be the same in Japan! Unfortunately I couldn't really tell you much about the car as the owner didn't speak much English, but he wanted me to block his plate from photos so its clear that this car has a bit of a reputation on the street! If you want to see cars like this, I definitely recommend visiting late at night.
Meeting this group of people was easily the highlight of my visit to Daikoku Futo! A BMW club had been taking rolling shots of eachother's cars on the highway above so they decided they would meet there and hang out for a while. Most of them didn't speak much English, but there were a couple who spoke enough for me to communicate with them (with a little bit of help with google translate)! You could blame these guys for the lack of images as I spent most of the night talking to them and exchanging stories on Australian and Japanese car culture! I don't regret it though!
They were all very proud of their cars, showing me around each one and arguing over who's was best! I don't know much about BMWs but they were all very impressive! I spoke to the owners of the light blue E34, the greyish wagon and the dark green E36 at the end. Each of their cars were unique and represented their owners in a different way. They were all very friendly and welcoming. It felt amazing experiencing how cars brought together two different cultures!
They all added me on instagram and we are still in contact even today! I got to the island via taxi, but because it was only a rest stop, there wouldn't have been any taxis to pick me up. I hadn't even realised this, but the owner of the white Beamer did and offered me a lift back to the train station, which I gladly accepted! I gave him an Australian $10 note as a thank you gift as he would not accept any payment!
Their instagrams are:
Give them a follow!
As well as these cars, I also saw a baby blue NSX that must have been bagged because it was on the ground, A Soarer/SC300 with scissor doors, multiple s-chassis complete with broken panels from drifting and many other amazing cars that I didn't get the chance to shoot! I also saw a guy pull into the carpark in a 180sx, walk into the store and shop for about 5 minutes while leaving his car running with the keys in the ignition! If that was in Australia the car would have been stolen for sure!
HOW TO GET THERE:
there are plenty of guides to get there. This one here explains how to hire a car and provides some directions to drive there. However, if you feel confident or lucky (like me) here is a fairly detailed guide to get there via public transport. It also includes what to say to the taxi driver and how to say it, which is important because it took me a good while to explain it to him!
I would also recommend doing a bit of research to find out if there are and events coming up before visiting. Unfortunately there isn't really a set 'schedule' as it is just a carpark after all! The best times to go if you can't find any events are late at night (9pm at the earliest) and on weekends. You can't really expect someone to drive their full blown race car there during the day!
I apologise again for the quality of the photos, like I said it was quite spontaneous and I didn't have the right equipment! I hope you enjoy my story as much as I enjoy looking back on it! I also hope I've encouraged some of you to visit yourself as it is definitely worth it! Let me know in the comments about your epxperiences or if you have any questions! Thanks for reading!
BONUS PHOTOS!
Disclaimer: These photos were taken by me, Jakob McDonald, on the 24/11/2016 at Daikoku Futo Parking Area.
If you enjoyed this post be sure to check out my blog for more automotive content @jakeyboy
This post was written by JDM Writers Guild. If you would like to be part of the guild and earn for written content please be in touch with @nelkeljdm on discord