Since we have so much coverage, I couldn’t possibly fit everything into one post so I’ll be breaking up some of our days into a few parts. If you missed Part 1, click here to check it out.
Day two started pretty early even though my jet lagged body was adamant on sleeping. We met Tim downstairs in the lobby to grab breakfast before went off on our first real Japanese adventure. I knew we were in for a surprise when our hotel offered a complimentary “breakfast buffet…” surely they didn’t have pancakes right?
Nope. What we have here is a sample of mostly what was in the buffet line. Top to bottom, left to right, we have traditional glass of orange juice, bowl of white rice, slice of green tea bread, chocolate croissant, scrambled eggs, Japanese egg slices (served ice cold,) sausage link (aka mini hot dog,) fried potato pieces (aka McDonald’s hash brown.) In the bowl I had some corn, lettuce salad as well as a scoop of potato salad. Stick all of this together with seaweed paper and strawberry jam and you’ve got the weirdest combinations of food possible for breakfast. It wasn’t bad.
We went into the parking area and gave the attendant our parking card, a few minutes later the door opens and the DC5 appears seemly unharmed. We packed all of our junk into it and sailed off to our first destination of the trip, Super Autobacs.
J’s Racing was having a demo outside of Autobacs, they had a few tables with some merchandise, as well as their demo CR-Z. It was funny to see people walk by it on their way into Autobacs, mostly uninterested.
J’s Racing brake kit, Volk RE30 wheels.
A “Save Japan” sticker… I’ve seen some of these stickers floating around on cars in the USA.
J’s Racing signature titanium exhaust was also equipped.
Fairly stock interior except for the Recaro bucket, rear roll bar, J’s shift knob and a few other gauges. This car even has a working radio and AC.
We started talking to one of the guys behind the table and he offered to show us the engine.
Again, pretty standard setup for a CR-Z but with J’s goodies. J’s strut bar, cooling panel and carbon fiber air box.
This car also used their “hyper ECU” which is what the guys at J’s are pushing pretty hard right now.
The rest of the interior remained stock except for the seats, harnesses and rear roll bar.
One of the tables they had set up showing off their parts.
J’s Racing Oil Smoother, their engine oil additive.
J’s Racing Maxflow air filters
Miscellaneous J’s stuff
We spent a little more time talking with one of the representatives of J’s Racing and he was telling us about the CR-Z. Really cool guy, he spoke English as well which was great for us. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on the CR-Z and the hybrid power train. The impression that I got was that it isn’t very impressive… I guess it’s a good thing the K-Series motors fit into them. We had planned to visit the J’s Racing shop later in the day, so we hustled off to bask in the glory of what they call Autobacs. I took nearly 150 pictures inside of the store and unfortunately all of them can’t fit in this entry, so if you want to look at all of the Autobacs pictures be sure to check out our Facebook page, we will have a full album up shortly.
Autobacs is the place that many people know of, but unless you’re in California (which I’m not) or Japan, you don’t have access to the awesome stuff they sell. I was super excited about going here so, naturally we spent a few hours just walking around looking at all of the stuff. Trust me, it was sensory overload in this place. Tons of strobe lights and loud ass, uncensored American gangster rap music blaring from the audio section. Imagine Pepboys with less OEM replacement parts and more accessories, a selection of J’s Racing, Project Mu, Endless, Cusco, HKS, A’pex, Nardi, Works Bell and other famous Japanese tuner companies.
Stuff on clearance as you walk in. It was the same as in America, nothing really worth buying.
Accessories and random stuff
A wall of speakers… it seemed like all of them were on at the same time.
More audio stuff…
Garson car accessories. This stuff was all over the place and super expensive.
More Garson stuff, along with some American DUB accessories. Funny, I didn’t see a single car in Japan that could wear the DUB stickers proudly.
Moving on to the used wheel/tire section. There were some good deals to be had for sure, like these OEM Honda FD2 Civic Type R wheels and tires… just $500.
I spotted a full set of bronze TE37s in 19×9.5 +5 and 10.5 +5 for $2500, and a set of 14×5′s for just over $500.
OEM Stream optional wheels for sale… pretty cool design.
Recaro seat display area.
Mugen edition OEM Honda wheels which appear to be from an Odyssey or some other larger car.
Work Emotion CR Kai wheels in bronze, just over $800 with tires.
Another set of Volk TE37s with tires in what look like S2000 spec. $1300
BRZ and FRS/FT-86 stuff was all over the store, I guess manufacturers are pushing out parts as fast as they can.
A wall of various parts from quality companies.
Endless brakes in a clear case for all to see, with no lock.
Don’t mind if we do…
More used wheels; good prices on a lot of these sets.
It seems like Japanese people LOVE car air fresheners, in fact, Autobacs has an entire isle of the store dedicated to air fresheners. Every car I got in while I was there smelled great, but I guess all of them can’t be winners
Some of the more attractive scents were Whity Musk, Samurai Man and Tonight. I’m not sure what tonight smells like, but if it’s anything like the picture, I’d rather my car not smell like a club. I didn’t get a shot of it, but the one to the left, just out of frame, was called Gold Shower. -__-
This is probably one of the best things I saw while browsing the store. A McDonald’s fry holder that slides into your cup holder. Genius!
Here is another product that blew our minds. A slip on tray so you could eat in your car. I showed this picture to someone in America and they asked, “how do you turn?” That is why these could never be sold in America, someone would buy this, install it and instantly crash.
It was rare to see oil in plastic containers, the majority of them could only be found tin cans. It was really cool, not to mention that you certainly can’t buy ANY of these brands at your local car parts store.
Replacement JDM road flares. Since these things expire, you have to have a current flare to pass inspection. I thought about grabbing a few of them but I didn’t think the airline would approve.
Autobacs was a really cool place and I didn’t realize it at the time but there really weren’t any replacement parts there. It is because common people don’t work on their own cars. If you want something done, bring it to a mechanic and have them install it.
Part two will include some pictures of traveling to J’s Racing, and then images of their shop, cars and some other cool things.
Thanks for reading!
-David