Aloha race fans! This month, the Drift Session is heading back to the
motherland: JAPAN! Join us in our first-ever, multi-part series documenting
our trip to the Tokyo Auto Salon as we check out some of the fastest cars,
hang with some of the coolest drifters, and perv out on hot asian girls.
Okay,
so day number 2 of the Tokyo Auto Salon: Saturday January 14, 2006. After
taking care of the stuff we needed to do on the first day, going back on the
second day was pretty much just for entertainment. We had a little more time
to check out the various displays and vehicles at the different booths and
checkout anything else that we found entertaining.
First stop of the day was the D1 Grand Prix press conference. Quite a few
people showed up at the main stage area for an on stage press conference in
which D1 Grand Prix hosts Keiichi Tsuchiya (aka the Drift King) and Manabu
Suzuki (aka Mana-P) did some question and answer type stuff with many of the
top drivers in the D1 series.
It was amazing to see drifting having such a big fan following in Japan.
There were a group of girls in front of us that literally had multiple photo
albums of D1 Grand Prix action shots. They compared the pictures and
discussed their favorite drivers while we all waited, seated on the floor
fronting the main stage. Gaijin looking Justin Carvalho took advantage of
his non-Japaneseness and easily eavesdropped on their conversation and gave
us the full scoop after a quick Japanese to English translation.
Just
before the press conference, some loud J-pop type music came up and a group
of skimpy dressed girls took to the stage and broke into some kind of semi-stipperish
dance routine. My camera doesn’t have a zoom lens, but I’m sure
Otaku-Mike got good video to be posted later. The dance routine was silly
and kind of out of place, but then again most hot chicks at car shows are.
After the dancing girls cleared the stage, Tsuchiya and Suzuki came out,
flanked by their hot umbrella girls. Then the top D1 Grand Prix drivers were
introduced one at a time and brought out onto the stage. Amongst the
featured drivers were 2 of the guys that visited the Drift Session in 2005:
Katsuhiro Ueo (Car Boutique / Sift AE86) and Tetsuya Hibino (Sunrize AE86).
Tsuchiya and Suzuki began talking and
questioning various drivers that they had on stage, asking them about their
vehicles, their performance in the past season, and what they anticipate for
2006. One crowd favorite, Youichi Imamura, seemed to dominate the
conversation, taking the microphone several times to go off on tangents and
pepper the conversation with ridiculous comments. Before long, the
microphone slowly made its way around the pack to Ueo and Hibino, both
immediately handing off the mic to other drivers and not wanting to talk.
Ueo was finally cornered with the mic and briefly talked about his
experiences in the D1.
After the press conference ended, it was back to
walking around the show and perving out on the various promo girls in
attendance. The show was much more crowded today since it was open to the
general public, and walking through the show was a challenge in itself for
the three of us. Luckily, we remembered to bring the Drift Session
pack-and-roll box with us. The pack-and-roll is a small, portable container
that can be folded up when not in use, or opened up to about the size of a
milk crate to carry belongings. The wheels and extendable handle allow the
pack-and-roll to be easily toted along at the show. These boxes are
must-haves for car show-goers to carry the various pamphlets and brochures
that you receive at the show.
However, the Drift Session pack-and-roll box
served a dual purpose for us at the Tokyo Auto Salon. Not only did it carry
our jackets and camera equipment while indoors, but it also acted as a
crowd-parting device allowing us to smoothly cut a swath through the
thousands of people in attendance.
Many a shin of a passerby met with the edge of
our pack-and-roll box. Most times the casualty was delayed, the victim
hitting the box with their shin, mumbling “Sumimasen,” and then taking
about 5 more steps before shouting out “Itaiiii!” and going down for the
count. Before long, the sea of Japanese people learned to part when they saw
us coming. Thank you pack-and-roll!
Book your trip to the next Tokyo Auto Salon
through Travelocity. Check below for the best plane fares to the land of the
rising sun!
Video
of some dancing girls at the Tokyo Auto Salon
