When I first moved to Japan, I was not thinking about cars at all. Definitely I was not considering getting involved in the Japan car scene both underground and “above ground” as I am now.
 
So, what happened?
 
Well, upon moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, I had big plans, a solid business idea that was about to take flight, and was focused exclusively on “making it”. Then a pandemic happened, and it turned my “solid” business idea (all centered around tourism) into a big pile of bills.

At that point I took any and all freelance jobs I could, sold a few things here and there, and here I was, living a normal life (which for me felt like prison).
See, the fact was that by being focused so much on a financial success, I completely lost track of any shred of social life and fun I used to have years back, or could have had, had I not been so zeroed in on one solitary goal.
 
Around that time, is when I decided to never again put all my eggs in one basket. This is why when people ask me what I do, I simply say that I write, so to spare them of a 5-minute list of all the things I do as a freelancer.
Simultaneously I consciously decided to get back out there and remember what it is that I liked about Japan, and if I’m honest, about life in general. I linked back up with old friends, went out more, and spent some time on the internet just for leisure, not research.

And there they were: those car videos I used to like 15 years before. A few youtubers and content creators, helped me dive back into the car scene, especially in Japan.
I remembered how much I liked cars, how I use to day-dream with my friends about what we would drive one day. I watched videos of meetups, night drives… and then, suddenly, I though: and why da hell are you not there? You’re literally watching content that happens within 30-90 minutes driving from your house.
So I started going, meeting people, talking, spending hours doing nothing but hanging out around cars.

I made friends and connections that well transcended the car space. I was able to relate, in a very short time, to many people from all walks of life.
We all tied around one interest: cars. Yet, that was not what made me want to visit more and more places and events. It was the people behind the cars that made this more fun that I’d thought, and that seamlessly took me into developing a hobby I did not know I had: making car-related content on social media.

The car scene in Japan sits strong on a generational passion that sprung from movies and anime of the 80s-2000s, but in reality, that is only us sitting on the shoulders of giants: the people who truly CREATED the scene when there was none. The tuning, the drifting, the night drives, the manga, music, and culture that came from all that.
I found myself feeling a connection that I could not and did not want to ignore. So I took what little I knew of cars (I am passionate about engines and car engineering, but I quickly learned I knew nothing compared to a lot of the people I meet), and I started posting, sharing, chatting, and now look forward to some events, because I really wanna start making some!