We’ve already established that Speedhunters quite likes Japan, and Why Car Meets are Better than Car Shows, so a car meet in Japan should be not bad at all.
On Thursday before Tokyo Auto Salon, the RWB meet kicked TAS festivities off in Kashiwa. With the Tokyo authorities conveniently carrying out ‘roadworks’ at all of the popular car spots during TAS weekend, the organised meetings get pushed further out or shut down.
Nakai-san threw this wide-bodied party across multiple small public car parks, so you ended up having little pockets of RWB cars scattered amongst minivans, hybrids and kei cars. This actually worked very well, because you got to see how bonkers these RWB cars really are when parked next to a Honda Civic, which you don’t get at car events like SEMA.
Nevertheless, there was still a car show feel to the event because of the sheer amount of people shooting video and taking photographs. It was fairly hectic, so after about an hour we left and headed to get some food with the guys from CSF and Rywire.
On the way back to Tokyo, I processed what I like the most about cars and meets. It always comes back to one thing: the drive to and from the destination is the best part of these gatherings. It sounds cheesy and cliché, but after all, that’s what cars are all about. Seeing a RAUH-Welt Begriff 911 at a car meet is pretty special, but to see an RWB unexpectedly in the ‘wild’ is just something else.
In a you-couldn’t-make-this-up-case-in-point-kind-of-way, with the food mission complete and our car parked up in the hotel’s basement, Mark and I made the short walk to the elevator, only to round a corner and see the satanic Baphomet car just casually sitting there. Weirdly, we lost our minds and spent about 10 minutes taking photographs and talking about the car. Time stopped for a moment, and the mild food coma I was experiencing was quickly forgotten about.
What does this all mean? Well, for me, less is better than more. Akira Nakai is a one-man machine behind the movement that is RWB. There’s no big corporation, no gimmicks or tricks, and Nakai-san is the realest of deals when it comes to his hands-on approach to building cars. In a weird way, RWB personifies the ‘keep it simple’ philosophy.
Excuse me if I sound slightly mad, because it would appear that my brain thinks that less sleep is better than more, too. Quite simply, Japan is the place where my mind is so excited by the sensory overload, that I can barely power down for more than two hours at a time.
In 2020, I am all for small car meets, a few track days and keeping it simple. Less is more. What do you enjoy most about car culture? Let us know in the comments section.
Ben Chandler
Instagram: ben_scenemedia
ben@speedhunters.com
Photography by Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@speedhunters.com