Nowhere does car culture quite like Japan. In the grand scheme of things, its car industry is a young one, but in a relatively short span of time, it’s become one of the most globally successful, revered car-making nations in the world.
Especially in the 1980s and 1990s, when its economy was on a seemingly unstoppable upward trajectory, it produced a series of absolute icons. Just naming them will elicit excitement from a certain kind of enthusiast: Supra. Skyline. NSX. RX-7. Impreza. Lancer Evolution. They won plaudits the world over for their technical prowess, supercar-baiting performance and near-endless tuneability, all for a chunk less cash than the kind of machinery they were beating in the real world.
Even outside of these icons, though, Japan has always ploughed its own automotive furrow, regardless of market segment. From the kei car regulations designed to meet the needs of crowded Japanese cities, which have produced miniaturised sports cars, 4x4s and more; to the likes of the ultra-luxe Toyota Century, chauffeur-driven chariot of choice for the high-flying Japanese exec, which eschewed leather seats in favour of soft, cossetting wool, Japan does things differently.
This is reflected not just in the cars it produces, but the way its enthusiasts approach modifying them. Drifting, now one of the biggest spectator motorsports in the world, was invented on its backroads by law-flouting thrill-seekers in tweaked AE86 Corollas and S-chassis Nissans. It’s the spiritual home of time attack, a discipline that’s produced some of the most bewilderingly rapid track machinery ever seen. The comically exaggerated proportions of bōsōzoku style have crossed over from the fringes of outlaw biker culture to become a staple of the customised car scene.
Even if you give Japanese enthusiasts a car built elsewhere, they’ll find something wild to do with it. Take the wild and wide RWB Porsches created by semi-mythical tuner Akira Nakai, a new take on an almost ancient shape that could only have come from Japan. Or, head up into the mountains, and observe the enthusiasts of Dajiban; visionaries who looked at the big, lumbering profile of a ’90s Dodge van and thought ‘yep, we should slam those, stick them on a set of Watanabes and race them.’
If tuning’s not your thing, you’ll still find something you like in Japan. The nation’s addiction to anything with four wheels, combined with their policy of not salting their roads during winter, means that Japanese market imports are some of the most coveted examples of any car, regardless of country of origin.
Oh, and did we mention bikes? The brain-scramblingly quick sports bikes of Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha are one thing, but let’s not forget that the single most produced motorised vehicle of all time – arguably the machine responsible for enabling freedom of mobility more than any other – is the humble little Honda Super Cub. If that doesn’t sum up Japan’s importance in the grand scheme of car and bike culture, we don’t know what does.
When we decided to start running themed Wednesday evening events at The Hill all the way back in November 2019, it was a total no-brainer for the first one to be a celebration of this brilliant, sprawling culture. Running under the subtitle ‘Noodles and Neons’, the first Daikoku Nights was an instant smash, and it’s been a monthly mainstay ever since; almost always a sell-out.
Almost four years on from that first event, we brought it to our second venue, The Bowl, in October 2023, running simultaneously at both sites. Whether it’s a balmy summer’s evening or the depths of winter, Daikoku Nights packs out the Yard. Clearly, the appetite for Japanese car culture runs stronger and deeper than ever.
Oh, and the name ‘Daikoku Nights’? To find the origins of that, you need to head to Tokyo and take the famous Bayshore Route south from Haneda Airport towards Yokohama’s sprawling docklands. After a few miles, you can descend the spiralling sliproads to the Daikoku Parking Area, an innocuous-looking highway rest area that, on any given night, becomes the pulsing heart of Japan’s car scene.
It’s here that you’ll find a microcosm of the country’s endless love for anything with wheels. If it’s a little far to go, though, you can experience a slice of it at The Hill and The Bowl on the first Wednesday evening of every month.
Get tickets for the next Daikoku Nights at The Hill and The Bowl.
