Destination Drift - Japan

Ed note: Just how big of a drifting fanatic are you? Probably not as much as Antonio Alvendia is. This guy lives, breathes and would die for drifting-after all, it did change his life. Having attended nearly every U.S. event ever conceived, from D1 to Formula D, the funky Filipino also managed to put together a book dedicated solely to drifting, and he titled it-yep, you guessed it-Drifting. His recent travels took him all over the world, from Japan's familiar stomping grounds to the Parthenon in Greece to the glamorous realm of Compton. We asked Antonio to throw down a blog for us, highlighting his favorite moments.

WTF! Leah Dizon's blowing up in Japan!
My friend Shinji Minowa is well known in Japan for driving his blue AE86 in the D1 Series. He and Robbie Nishida are both from a well-known drift team called "Hey Man" and Shinji has a tuning shop in the Yokota area called Hey Man Products. Shinji's girl, Masayo, was looking through their magazine rack, when I spotted a magazine with Leah Dizon on the cover! For those who don't know, Leah started as an import model, and was featured in Super Street, Import Tuner, and other mags. But now she's blowing up with a professional singing and modeling career in Japan! Congrats, Leah! I was trippin, that's crazy! See ladies? Don't be shy next time you see us taking photos of you! We'll make you famous!

Destination: Japan
Getting schooled by Kumakubo at Ebisu
First stop on the agenda was Dori-Goya, D1 Series Champion Nobushige Kumakubo's drifting school at Japan's legendary Ebisu Circuit. My good friends Robbie Nishida, Calvin Wan and Ben Schwartz, professional drifters from America's Formula D series, went to Ebisu for higher learning. Here, they were able to get drifting practice with tutorials from Kumakubo and Team Orange, who are world renowned for their tandem drifting ability.