Oyagi's TAS trip: Daikoku Futo

[Oyagi]

One thing I absolutely HAD to do before I die was visit the infamous Daikoku Futo highway rest station in Yokohama.

http://www.japanscenery.com/jpst450.jpg

This is the place of the dreams, the place where legendary tuners like Top Secret, Tomei, RE Amemiya earned their street cred before they became household names bu challenging each other to high speed runs on the wangan (highway). Bets are made, challenges are set, the entry toll is paid for the wangan and the legends of the "Midnight Club" were created. If you've ever seen those eerily orange shots taken of 1000hp jdm cars ripping through the tunnels, thats daikoku. The tunnels are where most runs are made since they have no speed cameras or traps there. 200+mph, no problemo. :cool:

We rolled in after a day at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Oddly, there were ALOT of white guys there since tour groups were stopping by daikoku, and the local US GI's were holding a GTR meet of their own. Nothing like white guys with GTRs at daikoku to mess up your head ;)
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00270.jpg
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http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00286.jpg
Me in my official D1 GP Jacket :P
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00275.jpg

http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00278.jpg
There was a minivan meet. Behold, Mitsubishi Whatevas!
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00280.jpg

Then we wandered to where all the noise was:
Little Kei-class minivans pumping out the DBs...and the neon....
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00287.jpg
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00288.jpg
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This dude was busy DJing the tunes...
http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00293.jpg
Local wildlife. They were all busy dancing something called the "para para", kinda like what you see on those dance dance revolution games in Pac Mall. Nuts, all of them. It was so loud, I was standing 20 feet away from these cars and my ears were killing me. One guy actually stuck hi head INSIDE the van to hear them. WTF?!

http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00294.jpg
Parting artistic shot:

http://www.neo240sx.ca/johnnyz/TAS2006/Daikoku/Image00296.jpg

[antbo]

cool pics! got anymore?? i bet you had a shit load of fun there.

[dvp]

:smitten: awesome, I too want to go to Daikoku and see the wangan and sooooooo many other great automotive spots in Japan, I am jealous.... more pics? ;D

D.

[V8_Aristo]

Some day I'll make it out there :-\

Thanks for sharing your pics!

[jbo]

Visiting Daikoku Futo was the one thing I wanted to do badly but the cities I visited were Nagoya,Kyoto,and Tokyo and I had no idea how to get there :'( the trip was still incredible dont get me wrong but I must definitely see this in person on my next adventure, super nice pics bro.

[137]

nice. the "mitsubishi whatevas" as you put it, are actually nissan caravans from Club 24. i love em :smitten:

[CharismaY33]

damn mee so jealous. i swear haha also before i rest i will go to japan and see all that ish. i will be in my glory when it comes. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

[Oyagi]

Thanks for the kudos guys.

...Just trying to make up for lost time from the club. I was actually trying for a while to find my orig account but can't find it! Did you guys change servers or purged inactive acounts at any point? I was looking for something along the lines of JohnnyZ, JZ or Gojira.

Daikoku is in Yokohama, which is basically a burb of Tokyo, so jbo if you were in tokyo you certainly coul have gone. Its only about 20 mins away by car from Shibuya.

I go to Japan about once a year, mainly because I have family and some property there. I've been going over Xmas break the last few times, jut so I can attend TAS but next time will definitely be spring...hate their cold weather there I live in Canada and it gets colder here but we have something called central heating! ;)

I have some more pics but it will have to wait until I am home and can upload them to my FTP.

Also, sorry for the GTR bias. I owned one and still own and run the Canadian Skyline Club, GTRCanada.com. This last trip to TAS was basically *ahem* a business trip. 8)

[firelizard]

Wow, you just lived most of my dreams.

[jbo]

So I couldve takin a cab is what your saying, this is making me sick now >:( Im an idiot for not just going for it.Oh well Ill be there again someday hopefully soon.Heres as close as I got the Toyota MegaWeb not Daikoku but very cool.

[Oyagi]

Oh yeah, megaweb is cool. I was there back in 2000. Love their history museum. 2000GT=teh sex.
8)

[jbo]

Yeah and dont forget the original Skyline down there too not a Toyota but there.

[uncle_el]

nice pics and description oyagi. you make me feel like i just made the trip with you!

[JDMJim]

you could take the train(Keikyu line) to Yokohama station and then switch to JR line to, maybe Sakura Gicho, And figure it out form there. Chinatown area is good to walk around too. There is a lot going on auto wise. popular to cruise by Yamashita-Keon. Mega-web

[zoompv]

Also, sorry for the GTR bias. I owned one and still own and run the Canadian Skyline Club, GTRCanada.com.* This last trip to TAS was basically *ahem* a business trip.* 8)


are you from toronto?? ...the reason i ask is that i just saw an R32 lefthand drive parked at lawrence and bathurst area... it was gray with i believe an HKS muffler..i was going to take some pics but it was a last minute surprise thing :o didnt have time to grab my cell phone.......i know itwasnt some kitted civic perpetrating a GTR it was the real deal....WOW a R32 GTR in toronto...just wondering if you knew the guy??