Summer in Japan brings a different look to the car scene in Tokyo – the warm, balmy nights bring out the car gangs in droves. You ever seen a LibertyWalk gang rock up in GTRs and Z cars, make enough noise to attract police attention, and then hide their cars behind trucks away from the crowds? Daikoku is where you come to satisfy your ‘Fast & Furious’ curiosity and more.

It was my 2nd time back in Daikoku in 4 months, and this time taking 2 rotary-enthusiast friends from Adelaide to check out this famous car meet on Saturday night. Our ‘short’ 1-hour drive from Gotemba near Fuji, turned into nearly 2.5 hours of crawling on the Tomei Expressway into Yokohama with Matt driving, due to bad weather and cat accidents along the way, including seeing the aftermath of a van hitting another van. Despite the grumpiness and frustration and Emily needing to use the bathroom, we all perked up as we saw the familiar and beautiful setting of Daikoku PA and JDMs and other exotic cars coming in from the expressway.

This time, I wanted to focus more on the faces behind some of the cars, and despite broken English and poor Japanese, we met many friendly owners who were more than happy to pose with their pride and joy. From a preppy businessman who was proud to show off his rare BMW Z8, to a middle-aged man displaying his neon-lit van, this was a microcosm of everything endearing about the car scene in Japan and influences from other parts of the world.

As usual, around 8PM the police usually arrived, and the Liberty Walk gang wasted no time in making a lot of noise, joined by other cars such as Chasers backfiring as much as possible as they exited. Tonight was cut short with a rain shower arriving, and many owners decided to leave, including a Ferrari F430 owner with dyed red hair to match his car, closing his roof immediately and departing before I could chase him down for a photo.

It was good to be back at Daikoku again.