THE TON Goes to Japan

I have been fascinated with Japan since a young age. Perhaps that is my age, as Japan was a powerhouse economically and culturally throughout the late 70s and through the 1980s before the great stagnation. Movies like The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, news casts about the neon light nights of Tokyo, and my third grade teacher’s Japanese exchange students clearly formed an impression on me.

I remember folding paper cranes and trying sushi for the first time in the mid 1980s. As I got older and in high school I took Japanese for my foreign language class. Japanese movies, books, and comics were a big part of my life - and this was a time before manga and anime became ubiquitous in America.

So, of course, I had to go there. What you learn on your first visit to Japan is much different than what you experience on return trips, and perhaps that is a story for another day. Today I am writing about experiencing Japan’s biggest hotrod and motorcycle show, Mooneyes, traveling the Japanese country side in a 1969 Dodge Dart, and learning what true cultural exchange can be through the lens of motorcycles and cars.

This of course is not my first trip to Japan, however, it was the first time I had made the journey solo. This presents a different set of possibilities - and what I found few limitations. Navigating customs at both major Tokyo airports is very similar. It can feel like a wild gauntlet, but also like most things in Japan there is a pretty strong order to the chaos once you go with it.

After a cheap bus ride to Tokyo Station, I had a day to adjust to my jet lag before heading out to Yokohama and the set up day for Mooneyes. I will say, I should have added one more whole pad day before trying to work and travel - that was a mistake. My first day at Mooneyes and the pre-party I was pretty wiped out, and frankly it kind of feels like a blur.

But the jet-lag blur was nothing like experiencing Mooneyes for the first time. While I will go into this in more depth in issue 18 of THE TON, I can say that there are few words that describe the complete and abundant amount of stimulation at this show. The crowds are big, but rather orderly, there are more bikes and cars then you can see in any sense of depth in one day - the entire operation is massive and impressive considering it is a single day show. To say it is a Disneyland for car and bike enthusiasts would be underselling the event.

From Yokohama I took the Shinkansen to Osaka to visit some friends, and enjoy what is so far - by far - my favorite city in Japan. It has a grit and underground vibe that can only be compared to 1990s San Francisco, Seattle, or Portland for west coast US folks like myself. There is no shortage of things to do - whether it is searching for records, hitting the high end stores, or digging for vintage Japanese goods.

From there I met up with Hulk and the Gent-X crew for a cruise to Shirahama for the night to stay at a unique motorcycle motel/hot spring. The trip was made in a 1969 Dodge Dart restored by Speed Research. The trip was a highlight for me, The conversations ranged from life, to Japanese pro-wrestling, cars, motorcycles, punk rock and more. We talked, ate, and drank well into the night. It was a truly magical time.

It was just too bad that my time was limited. Really I wish I could have added a few more days to the trip, but work and life had other plans. After returning from Shirahama, we headed back to Osaka and Kobe to visit Bad Ideas Chopper Company and Mako Seadog. I was honored to spend time with them - and will be writing about them in a future issue of THE TON magazine.

After an epic Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo I had a day to see some sights I wanted to catch before leaving and heading home. And that is it. Your home, and all you think about is going back. Only so many places hold that kind of power. That is the magic of Japan.