In my late teens, I visited Japan almost every year to satisfy the anime geek in me by checking out Tokyo’s Akihabara. But it’s not just anime that I love, as I’m also a huge car enthusiast.
Japan is like a Mecca for me, but as I’ve grown older, my anime craze has died down. However, the car enthusiast in me has grown significantly since I got my license.
Now I’m in my 30s. And this year I went back to Japan after a decade. In my teens, I always only visited Tokyo. This time I decided to visit Osaka with the mission to purchase some more camera gear, but only on my last night of the trip did I think that I should check out the car scene around me, given Osaka’s famed Kanjo racers.
So, it being my last night and with no contacts to help me find the car spots, I desperately searched online on social media and YouTube for pointers. Over my hours of searching, I kept seeing the word ‘Amerikamura’ – a small, vibrant hub where younger crowds hang out. During the day, it’s a bustling American-themed retail and entertainment area filled with wall art, but at night, Amerikamura turns into a hangout spot for car enthusiast.
It was only a 25-minute walk from my hotel, so I quickly grabbed my camera gear and headed down to the area. What I saw made me so sad that it was my last night in Japan. Hondas ranging from Preludes to the Osaka staple Civics, two R32 Nissan Skyline GT-Rs and stanced Toyota Crowns.
As it was my only night left, I walked up and down the street capturing as many photos as I could. Pacing down the main street, I also caught a glimpse of the Bosozoku bikers revving, and one even parked in the middle of the busy street taking advantage of a red light to take a selfie.
Walking back to my hotel, I spotted a few other cars like a stock Toyota GR86, Honda S2000 and some more bikes. It made me relive my teenage days, walking the streets of Tokyo seeing the JDM cars parked along the streets of Shibuya and Ginza and the Itashas in Akihabara.
It also made me realise how the car culture in Japan hasn’t changed, and is still going strong after all these years.
