I was not even looking for it. It just revealed itself to me. Like watching a movie you have never heard about, but within minutes realizing that this must be a Quentin Tarentino movie. There are just signature cues that transcends throughout. The same thing happened for me while visiting Japan – well minus the Tarentino part. But while the goal of my trip in no way was related to car culture, it just kept appearing before me.

Looking back I should have arranged more car- or motorcycle-related activities for the trip. Japanese people are some of the most passionate and nerdy I have ever come across. And to be clear – that is meant in a very positive way! Whatever they do, they do it 100%. You can see and find people who are into things that seen from my perspective seems strange, but they love it and they devote their life fully to it. I have nothing but respect for that!

But this trip to Japan was meant to be a “normal” holiday, without my interest in cars or motorcycles derailing it. What quickly became apparent however, was how ingrained the custom car and bike scene is in Japan. I live in Denmark, which is one of the worst countries to live in if you are into custom cars or bikes, given our high registration fees and strict rules around modifications. Twenty years ago I was deep into the scene of modified cars and even won some legal streetrace events, but since then it seems like the tuning/modifying scene has receded. I live in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and the last couple of years I have thought about how rarely I see modified cars. There are still loud exhausts and the annoying pre-programmed pops and bangs on overrun. But the modified car scene seems to have been shrinking. Or perhaps I have just gotten older and no longer go to the right places? But looking back with full rose-tinted glasses I remember it as being a daily occurrence running into modified cars.

But what struck me in Japan is how omnipresent modified cars and bikes are. These first three pictures are literally taken 100 meters into the first walk we took from the hotel the morning after our arrival. Casually sitting in a fenced car park are these two beautiful cars. The best year Porsche 911 and a properly modified JDM classic. I mean – how cool is that!

The morning after we were greeted by a McLaren driving past just outside the hotel. This could have happened in Copenhagen as well. There are not many, but there still is a good amount of supercars driving around. It was however not to be the last or in anyway the most cool McLaren we were to see that day. Later in the day we were in for a treat.

But first we stumbled upon a great example of the motorcycle scene in Japan, when we saw this guy driving his very cool modified shovelhead chopper. They just do every style a little better in Japan.

I cannot really remember the area we were in. But we had just exited the train station, walked 50 meters and then I could hear the unmistakeable sound of an interesting engine. Thirty seconds later I could see this bright yellow wide-body McLaren MP-12C drive past me and park 10 meters from where we stood. If anything is peak Japanese car culture – at least as a fan of speedhunters.com then it is wide-body supercars. And here was one just casually parking in Tokyo.

What made the encounter even more memorable is that after the guy parked, he opened the scissor-doors, exited the low car and brought with him a big bag full of coins. To us this was somewhat paradoxical and funny. I am sure it has something to do with parking meters only accepting coins, but having a large bag of coins is somewhat inversely related with wealth in Denmark. Most transactions are done with credit cards or your smartphone. Cash is rarely used and with our lack of patience, we Danes have a hard time accepting the additional delay of having to wait for people looking through their selection of coins to pay just the right amount. So seeing this expensive modified supercar and the owner with a bag full of coins just seemed like a hilarious paradox.

Later that evening having experienced the madness of the Shibuya crossing we found this icon of Japanese motoring parked outside our hotel. That is what I call traveling in style.

The next day we took the JR line as close to the Tokyo Skytree as possible. This still left us with a good kilometer or so of walking. As we walked down the narrow streets we were greeted with one small repair shop after the other.

The most interesting one was the last one where they had this wild wide-body car stacked away. It looks like some old VW Corrado with a Kamei or Irmscher wide-body kit on it. But someone can probably correct me on that one.

Finally while walking around the Ginza area of Tokyo we stumbled upon this “Liberty walk”-inspired BMW M3 at a pedestrian crossing.

After Tokyo we took the Japanese bullet train (Shinkansen) to Kyoto.

For a train that is famous around the World it primarily surprised in how unremarkable it was. It just worked. Flawlessly. Running on time – of course. Covering huge distances in style, comfort and faster than anything else with wheels that keep in contact with the ground. And yet as fast as the train goes, you do not feel anything at all from inside the train itself. The tracks are super straight and both acceleration and braking happens gradually, so you never feel the speed at all. It is only in the rare cases where you pass something that is close to the train tracks that you get an indication of just how fast you are traveling.

Kyoto

Arriving at the central station in Kyoto we had a few kilometres to walk before arriving at our hotel. On the way there it became apparent why a manual focus lens like the Voigtlander 27mm F2 is not the best tool for car-spotting. Standing at another pedestrian crossing I could hear something special arriving before I could see it. So technically I had time to adjust aperture and focus, but with all the bags in my hands I did not have time to do so. Hence while I did manage to take the camera to my eye, I very clearly did not manage to nail focus.

To add injury to insult, I even had yet another opportunity to catch the very same car a few blocks further down the road. But the second attempt did not bring me any closer to having the car in focus.

If anything I could stitch the two images together at get both the front and the rear of the car – just still not in focus.

Walking around the narrow historic streets of Kyoto at night we stumbled upon this beautiful classic mini. In other cities it would look small and maybe even out of place. But here in Kyoto – it just fit perfectly.

The next day while walking around the small narrow streets of Kyoto I found this old Fiat Abarth parked in what could almost be a small temple. I am sure it is just someones front yard, but the cleanliness and the orderly laid out stones makes it feel like a temple to a simple westerner like me.

I am a bit sorry that I did not capture the full car in any of the shots, but I guess I was too busy trying to make clever or artistic compositions.

Then sadly we are arriving at the last day of the trip. I can see from my pictures that I saw a few more supercars, but nothing too out of the ordinary until I saw this one. If you just take a quick look then it will seem as just a “normal” Lamborghini. If you spend a little more time looking you can see the front and rear spoiler might be special. And then if you really look close you will see the pipe going from the side window angled forward. Surely there to provide the drier with a bit of air when driving. That detail is taken directly from race cars. And here it was, just driving slowly in traffic down a main road in Kyoto. I just love Japan.

We will leave Japan, not with a picture of a car but of a motorcycle. Even though I am somewhat of a car nerd, I am even more involved with motorcycles currently. The perfect picture to end should have been a vintage Triumph as I am more into those than Harleys. But I can only end with what presented itself to me and in this case it was a very good example of a vintage Harley.

So goodbye for now and I hope you can have the privilege of visiting Japan if you are into cars or motorcycles. Their passion really shines through. I do not think it will be the last time I will be visiting Japan. It is too special for me not to come back.