My old RWD cars minus my 90 Cressida. 2006
While I run F31club website, anyone knows that when it comes to Japanese cars, I am actually inclusive. I love all aspects of the Import Car scene. While I never made it to the level of a race car or a show car, I have always enjoyed taking pictures, visiting shops, conversing with people and learn history.
Many of these meets came about from car specific/enthusiast forums. I went to rx7club.com monthly meet, Honda-tech, NorthwestNissans, Nissan Pacific… any meet I found interesting or when friends invited me. Forums were the social media back then and it was pretty cool to get people together at those meets.
When I started going to Japan, it was out of my own pocket financing. I was not military, There was no translation software on cell phones and the cell phones back then were regional. It’s different than it is now.
Car Events:
2023
- Hot Import Nights, San Mateo 2023
- JCCS 2023
- Greddy – Nostalgic Classics: Honda Edition 2023
- Meeting up with VK Canada 2023
- Printing YES! 3 year anniversary bbq 2023
- Visit to Fusion Autoworkz 2023
- Wandering Leopard in BC – VanKulture meet up, Richmond tour with JDM cars and visit to Printing Yes – June 2023
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Working on Project Leopard (Hung and Roger V) – May 2023
- Back in the Philippines – Carspotting March 2023
Wandering Leopard Japan 2023
- Day 1 – Osaka with Leopard brothers (Inuoe san, iishi-san, Tanaka san)
- Day 2 – Kyoto adventure
- Day 2 – KW Exchange/ Thrash Racing x EK Motors (Yusef and Eiji an)
- Day 3 – Himeji Castle
- Day 3 – Takamatsu adventure – with Leopard brothers (Noguchi san and Ikuta san)
- Visit to Square Sports 2023
- Day 3 – Shinsekai nights
- Day 4 – Kagoshima and Sakurajima adventure
- Day 4 – Minamata meet up with Bradley
- Day 5 – Nagasaki adventure with Noguchi-san (abandon cars/Kaido Racers/Funny cars)
- Day 5 – Fukuoka Nights ( V Gundam)
- Day 6 – Kitakyushu/Kokura Castle
- Visit to Aimgain 2023
- Day 6 – Hiroshima adventure, Hiroshima Castle
- Day 6 – Nagoya nights
- Visit to Veilside Nagoya 2023
- Visit to Back Yard Special 2023
- Day 7 – Nagoya adventure, Nagoya Castle
- Day 7 – Tajimi meeting with leopard brothers (Sugiyama-san and Mr. Teranishi)
- Day 8 – Mishima adventure and leopard brothers meet up (Sano kun and Tetsuya kun)
- Day 9 – Exploring Yokohama Chinatown
- Day 9 – Yokohama Leopard brother meet up (Shimizu san)
- Day 9 – Day of Giants with my kids – Gundam Factory, Kamakura Buddha, and Godzilla in Shinjuku)
- Day 9 – Surprise meet up with Ogino san (Wed Sports)
- Day 10 – Itsunomiya meet up with leopard brother Iza san and DRIFTING AT NIKKO CIRCUIT!
- Visit to Tokonatsu Factory 2023
- Day 10 – Itsunomiya meeting with Haiso lawyer
- Day 10 – Itsunomiya Leopard meeting (Iza san, Sugiyama san, and Oinuma san)
- Day 11 – Saitama adventure with leopard brother Suenaga san (abandon drift shop, abandon cars and work shop)
- Day 11 – I’ve become an Estima Owner!!!
- Day 11 – Kawagoe meet up with Leopard brother (Qaz)
- Day 12 – Chiba Adventure and meet up with Leopard brothers (Umezawa san and Taguchi san)
- Day 12 – Exploring Funabashi
- Revisit to N Style Customs, Tochigi 2023
- Day 13 – Tochigi Leopard meet up (Itabashi san, Matsuda san and Ogawara san)
- Day 13 – Surprise Leopard meet up in Yokohama (Satoshi san)
- Day 14 – Kanazawa Adventure/ Kanazawa Castle
- Day 14 – Shibuya and Akihabara exploring
- Day 15 – Tokyo Exploring (Odaiba, Nakano, Ikebukuro and Ginza) with Leopard brother (Makoto san)
- Day 15 – Suprise meet up with Leopard brother (Kimura San)
- Visit to Nissan Crossing 2023
- Visit to Palacios Motorsports – Philippines Jan 2023
- Wandering Leopard in the Philippines – Jan 2023
2022
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Victory – Project Leopard x Rb25det together – 10/2022
- Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) – Limited and I showed my blue M30 – Long Beach 2022
- Visit to Evil Co JP and J Up Fab in Watsonville – Sept 2022
- Japanese Automotive Invitational + Lexus display, Pebble Beach – August 2022
- Morning breakfast with VanKulture Canada – Richmond BC – August 2022
- PNW Summer Touring hosted by Rude Boy Special, BC – August 2022
- Drove the Vert and met up with Albert to cruise in the Gold Dragon drift M30 – Washington – Augut 2022
- Visit to Rudeboy and PNW Summer touring Prep – Abbotsford BC – August 2022
- Visit to Serial Nine – Coquitlam BC – August 2022
- Wandering Leopard in LA – A’pexi headquarters, Moonlight Runners and JDM Carboy – July 2022
- Driven Aftermarket car show – Vancouver BC – June 2022
- Wandering Leopard in LA and SD – May 2022
- Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS – April 2022
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Project Leopard moved – March 2022
- Wandering Leopard in LA – SSA Haus, Moonlight Runners, and meet ups – January 2022
2021 – Pandemic
- Project Leopard returned to LA (paint unfinished)
- Wandering Leopard in Tacoma – Tuan and Orion meet up – November 2021
- Wandering Leopard in New York – November 2021
- Convertible door change milestone – October 2021
- M30 Convertible retrieval from 2yrs in Vancouver BC – August 2021
- LA meet ups – Ozzy, Edrik, and Hung – June 2021
2020
- Revisit to Fastlane Tacoma WA
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Leap of Leopards – May 2020 – Day 1 – Meet with B3tuning Bucky and Sid
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Leap of Leopards – May 2020 – Day 2 – Project Leopard/SR20 Store with Edrik, Roger V, Hung and Sakura Garage
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Leap of Leopards – May 2020 – Day 2 – S12s, Miata, Jspec and Ultra Arcade
- Visit to JDM Carboy shop and meet up with Cameron B.
- Wandering Leopard in LA – Feb 2020
- Visit to SR20 Store, Gardena, Los Angeles
Wandering leopard in Japan 2020
- Planning of WL 2020
- Visit to Nissan Crossing – Ginza(closed)
- Visit to N-Style Customs – Tochigi
- Visit to Nissan Gallery – Yokohama
- Visit to Vary Valiant/Jun Racing – Tochigi
- Visit to Kuhl Racing – Tochigi
- Visit to K-Staff – Saitama
- Exploring Kyoto
- Evening in Yokohama with Satoshi-san
- Tajimi meet up with Sugiyama-san
- Takamatsu meet with Miyama and Noguchi-san
- Running around Fukuoka with Dustin of EXite Video magazine
- Saturday Night Kaido meeting in Fukuoka and Sasebo with Showa Racing, Noguchi-san and Route202
2019
- Wandering Leopard: Project Leopard Recovery – SR20store meet
- 7th Annual Shukai – San Jose 2019 – Adam Saruwatari!!!
- Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) – Long Beach 2019
- Japanese Automotive Invitational – Pebble Beach 2019
- The Leopard with the Golden Ears – August 2019
- Vandalized M30 convertible (lost momentum)
- VANKulture Canada Spanish Banks BBQ
Wandering Leopard in the Garden – July 2019
- Day 1 – M30 Vert drive from Olympia to Vancouver BC (Visit Nissan Leopard, meet with Jim and Albert)
- Seeing 1st Nissan Leopard on US soil
- Meeting with Jim and Albert
- Day 2 – M30 convertible in Vancouver BC (Stanley Park, Granville Island and Infiniti Dealership Challenge)
- Day 3 – Wandering Leopard in Victoria BC
- Day 4 – Deuce Days (Old school American cars from the Ford Deuce coupe)
- Meet with SpeedHero!
Wandering Leopard BC Prowl – June 2019
- Driven Car show – Vancouver BC
- VANkulture Canada late night
Wandering Leopard 2019 Japan – May/June
- Day 1 – Osaka – Arrival and Kansai brothers
- Day 2 – Osaka – Wandering around Kobe and Osaka, meet with Uchida-san
- Day 3 pt 1 – Nagoya – Breakfast with Sugiyama-san
- Day 3 pt 2 – Hakone – Arrival to Carshop Friend meeting
- Hakone Touring Information
- Day 4 – Hakone Touring – Leg 1 – Ashinoko Skyline Rest house
- Day 4 – Hakone Touring – Leg 2 – Ashinoko Skyline toll plaza
- Day 4 – Hakone Touring – Leg 3 – Izu Fruit Park
- Day 4 – Hakone Touring – Leg 4 – Atami Beach line
- Day 5 pt 1 – Shinjuku Niagara Falls, Tokyo Metro building observatory, Meiji Shrine
- Day 5 pt 2 – Odaiba, History Garage, Toyota WRC and Megaweb Toyota with Kimura-san
- Day 5 pt 3 – Saitama, Truck Shop Jet and VANkulture Japan with Suenaga-san and Taguchi-san
- Day 6 pt 1 – Gunma – Ikaho Toy, Doll and Car Museum
- Day 6 pt 2 – Gunma – Ikaho Toy, Doll and Car Museum – Kei cars
- Day 6 pt 3 – Gunma – Ikaho Toy, Doll and Car Museum – Initial D
- Day 6 pt 4 – Gunma – Ikaho Toy, Doll and Car Museum – Classic JDM cars
- Day 6 pt 5 – Gunma – Ikaho Toy, Doll and Car Museum – Race Cars collection
- Day 6 pt 6 – Visit to Craft Z sports, GTR shop
- Day 6 pt 7 – Toy hunting, Tochigi dinner with Itabashi family and Oinuma-san arrival
- Day 7 pt 1 – Takamatsu meeting up with Miyama and Noguchi-san
- Day 7 pt 2 – Takamatsu nights and VANKulture
- Day 8 – Fukuoka Nights – No meet ups.
- Day 9 – Nagasaki arrival, Stage 1: secret base, and Stage 2: Red Kaido Leopard
- Day 9 – Drive between stages and Nagasaki Nights
- Day 10 pt 1 – Hells of Beppu with Dustin (Excite Video magazine)
- Day 10 pt 2 – Shunan Rush with Taguchi-san
- Day 11 – Toy hunting.
WL LAX Nights May 2019
- Meet with Edrik (nightmoves)
- Meet with Roger V (hatchiboy)
- Infiniti Dealership Challenge – Glendale and Tustin
- WL Hollywood
- WL Universal Studios
- WL The Marathon Clothing Store
- Summary
- RADwood Hooptiecon @ Sonoma Raceway March 2019 (my F31 participation)
2018
Wandering Leopard – The Saga continues!
- VANKulture Meeting and DIY or Die shop 2018
- Emerald City Prowl with Jim P and my Convertible acquirement
- Night visit to Fastlane 2, Tacoma 2018
- Visit to Garage Tuner Automotive, Seattle 2018
- Lake Suwa Old Car Festival — Massive car gallery! – Japan 2018
- Lake Suwa F31s, Leopards and brothers – Japan 2018
- 4 Brothers, Different Locations in Japan
- Visit to Wing Works, Tochigi – 2018
- Gundam and Leopard house
- Ikebukuro dinner with Qaz and Tomica Leopard mission
- Dinner in Osaka with Le Ciel Blue
- Visit to Jenesis Skyline shop, Osaka – 2018
- Visit to Five Mart (was closed for the day), Osaka – 2018
- Visit to Auto Select, Osaka -2018
- Kyushu missions
- Visit to Barw’s Design, Fukuoka – 2018
- Takamatsu Udon meeting
- Visit to RS Aizawa Roadster shop, Yokohama – 2018
- Visit to Z32 Proshop Zone, Yokohama – 2018
- Surprise meeting at Narita Airport
- Wandering Leopard: Vancouver BC x2 – Infiniti BC dealership challenge – August 2018
- Wandering Leopard: California Love (LA, Sac town, Bay area and back down) – August 2018 *Important historical moments
- Wandering Leopard: In France
- Japanese Automotive Invitational gallery – Pebble Beach 2018
- Petersen Automotive Museum Part 1 – Japanese Cars
- Petersen Automotive Museum Part 2 – Non Japanese cars
- Y31 Cima/Gloria/Cedric + F31 Leopard 31st celebration meeting – Sendai, Japan 7/1/18 – submitted
- Wekfest – San Jose 7/1/18
- RADwood – Oyster Point, San Francisco 6/24/18 – and I showed my M30!!!
- Random cars/vans around Paris, France
- Renault on Champ-Elysees
- Peugeot on Champ-Elysees
2017 – 3x in Japan
- Datsun mini meet – Hayward – December 2017
- Odaiba Old Car Heavn – Odaiba – November 2017
- Shukai – Japantown, San Jose – October 2017
Wandering Leopard Saga 9/2017 – 5 days around Japan
Thursday – Matchless Crowd Racing, Tec Arts, and Saitama meeting.
- Visit to Matchless Crowd Racing – September 2017
- Visit to Tech Arts – September 2017
- Saitama mini meeting – September 2017
- Mizuno Works
- Art Planning Youma (Dekotora Truck)
- Refresh 60 (Datsun 510/ Bluebird specialist)
- Enoshima Island meet (with Satoshi-san)
- Shinjuku meet with Original JDM Guy
- Sunrise Express meet (with Kuze and Kubo San)
Saturday – Okayama, Gigantor/Tetsujin 28 statue, Fushimi Inari Shrine (Kyoto), Fujinomiya hotel
Sunday – All Japan 31st Leopard Festival – October 1, 2017
Wandering Leopard and Cub 8/2017 – 5 days in Tokyo
- Thursday – Narita Airport, Shinjuku (Godzilla head), Reiyukai Shakaden Hall, Tokyo Tower, Zojo-ji Temple, SL Plaza, and Hakuhinkan Toy Park.
- Friday – Akihabara (Tam Tam, Golden Age Toys, Trader 3, Animate, Mandrake), Shikansen Festival, Ryōgoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall), Odaiba (Trick Art Museum) and Iidabashi mini meet.
- Saturday- Yokohama – Pokemon Festival, Yokohama mini meet and Iidabashi mini meet.
- Sunday – 47 Ronin gravesite, Tokyo Dome City, Sunshine City (Pokemon Mega Center), Nakano Broadway, and Akihabara (cars)
- Akihabara Night – 8/13/2017
- WekFest – San Jose – June 2017
- Hot Import Nights – San Jose – June 2017
Wandering Leopard Pilgrimage 2017 – 9 days criss crossing Japan:Yamaguchi, Takamatsu, Hiroshima, Okayama, Osaka, Shiga, Gifu, Nagoya, Sendai, Tokyo, Yokohama and Hakone.
- Cruise to Mishima Skywalk – May 2017
- 31st Anniversary Leopard meeting in Hakone – May 2017
- Leopard gathering and to Daikoku Futo – May 2017
- Visit to Bee-R – Yokohama – May 2017
- Visit to Avante – Yokohama – May 2017
- Saitama mini meet – Van Kulture, bB, and San Ichi club – May 2017
- Visit to Spoon and Type One – Tokyo – May 2017
- Visit to JUN Engine build shop – Tokyo – May 2017
- Visit to Blitz – Tokyo – May 2017
- Visit to T-Crimb – Sendai – May 2017
- Visit to T-Selection – Sendai – May 2017
- Visit to Toyota Automobile Museum – Nagoya – May 2017
- Visit to R31House – Gifu – May 2017
- Visit to Miyoshi Racing RE344 – Okayama – May 2017
Visit to Japan 2016
- 2 Events, 1 Day: All Japan ES meeting (Shizuoka) and Stance G Nation (Tokyo) – October 2016
- 30th Annual Nissan Leopard meeting – Hamamatsu, Japan – October 2016
- Suzuki Cappuccino meeting – Hamanako Garden Park – October 2016
- Visit to Carshop Friend (Nissan Leopard shop) – Kanagawa – 2016
- BAM – Bay Area Subaru meet – Fremont, CA – 2016
- Blox Evolution – San Francisco – 2016 – Meeting with Van Kulture!!
- Berserkaru World Tour – 1 on 1 meet up – 2015
- Velocity Motorsports – Vancouver BC – 2015
These pictures from 2006 were from my birthday trip to Yokohama. I spent time with my friends. I was suppose to comeback in 2007 and we were suppose to meet Simasima and go to the Leopard meeting.
- Parking lot – Corolla meet – 2006
- Parking lot – VIP cars – 2006
- Visit to R30 Skyline Pro shop STS – 2006
- Visit to Nismo – 2006
- Visit to RE Amemiya – 2006
- Visit to R Magic – 2006
These pictures from 2004 were from my Osaka trip with Nobuo. He took me around to various shops and I met with the owners. This is where I learned “Japanese tuning shop” etiquette.
- Trip to Osaka, Japan – 2004
- Impreza meeting and Six Star Magazine photoshoot – 2004
- Visit to Bori’s Factory – 2004
- Visit to Wald – 2004
- Visit to Trial – 2004
- Visit to Kakimoto Racing – 2004
- Visit to Signal Auto – 2004
My old computer crashed and a long with it were many of my 01-03 photos. But They were all in Yokohama and Tokyo.
- Trip to Japan – 2003 – Club Honey
- Team Reaction Yokohama meet – 03
- Trip to Japan – 2002
- 1st Trip to Japan – 2001
- How I met Megesan – 2000
- JDM Theory – San Francisco – 2007
- team-integra.net meet – San Francisco – 2007
- MB meet and BBQ – 2007?
- MotorFX shop opening meet – 2006
- Freakmont Nissan meet – 2006
- Elk Grove Nissan Opening – 2006
- Norcal240sx.net Cruise – 2006
- Southern California F31club meeting – 2006
- Field of Dreams – drift practice – Belfair, WA – 2005
- NW Maxima meet – Renton, WA – 2005
- Small TR meet – 2005
- 1st Formula D in Seattle – 2005 (I was a staff member)
- Cannonball – R A31 Cefiro (I almost bought) – 2004
- SCCA club rally and SCCA Rally event (2 events, but mixed pictures) – 2003
- Visit to Motorex – 2001
- Visit to Stillen – 2001 – (lost pix)
- Visit to VIS Racing – 2001 (lost pix)
- Visit to Wings West – 2001 (lost pix)
- Visit to Bomex office – 2001 (lost pix)
- Nisei week – Little Tokyo – Los Angeles – 2001 – Probably one of the coolest shows I’ve attended.
- Hot Import Nights – Delmar Fairgrounds, San Diego 2001
- Import show off – Irvine 2001
- Canadian Tuning shops – AJ Racing, Garage 5, Revolution, Next Level and Minnam Racing – 2000
- Boom 2K – Vancouver BC – 2000
- NIRA @ Seattle International Raceway – 2000
- Northwest Shops – Fastlane, Speedline, IMS, Ultraspeed, Drift Office and Speed Concept
My 2000 civic hatchback in 2003 before attempted theft/damage.
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To enlarge, click on image, when single thumbnail, click again.
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All pictures from the early 2000s were from my SLR with film. Rolls of film (I got 24 shots per roll) and getting them produced were not cheap. So I had to make sure my shots were good. Unlike today’s digital imaging, you can easily take 100s of photos and the cell phone does good enough in both dark and motion.
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Free webpages and slow internet at those times had limitations to space. So images were always reduced.
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The early 2000s was a different era to tuning. The mindset, the creativity, custom modifications (both done professionally and DIY), there were tons of companies offering parts… It was simply a different time. The style of cars can be different.
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Communication was difficult back then. I met many people from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan through their homepages (everyone made free homepages). There wasn’t translation software or Facebook to connect. It was direct language and emails.
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I had tons of photos from the 2001-2003 era that I lost pictures when my computer fried. Many of them from Japan.