Its the big show for us and payola for the bus full of Japanese booby-chicks. The Tokyo Auto Salon is all things JDM that makes it almost OK that we had to sit in an airplane for 13 hours. Hey, at least nobody tried to ignite their shoes.
We landed at the Narita airport and our video producer was immediately detained for having a six-inch hunting knife that belonged to his Dad. Barefoot, while a Japanese soldier x-rayed our underwear, staffers watched as our batteries, tripods, and copy of "Kill a Man with Chopsticks" were rifled and dropped into a bag marked restricted articles. The knife is gone; Dad was pissed when we told him.
The day lasted 42 hours and the sun was still up when we arrived so we went to the show. As we struggled for breath in the smoking-section over looking the Makahari Messe (convention center) we got an idea about where the scene was going in 2002. Drift and rally cars are king with the Sylvia and Skyline leading the way. Big-inch rims, bigger turbos, and rear-wheel drive. Several hard-core tuners showed up with the Honda Integra Type R (RSX) and everyone had a Skyline but us.
We shot tape, warmed up the Cool Pix, and tried to understand what we were being told. We got it all, chicks, cars, and new gear. We will update this page over the next week so come back often.
Tokyo Auto Salon Part 2
Tokyo Auto Salon Part 3