2009 is starting off pretty nicely- Tokyo Auto Salon (TAS) this year happened to coincide with one of the weekends I was in Japan with free time to be able to check out the show. I am in Japan every couple of months it seems, but free time has been hard to come by…
Last time I went to TAS was in 2003, and although this year’s show seemed to be smaller overall, there were some real stunners and literally hundreds of hot rides there.
Yesterday (Jan. 9) was the first day, and even though I’m in the western part of Japan (Mie-ken, east of Osaka), about 250+ miles away from Tokyo, I made it a point to buy a ticket online and head on over to Tokyo for the opening day.
My ticket
Although 250 miles is no big deal in the US, let me point out that transportation costs are pretty high in Japan. My choices were to 1) fly 2) take the shinkansen (bullet train) 3) rent a car and drive or 4) take the night bus.
Basically 1) and 2) would cost me around $400-$500, renting a car for a day would cost only $80, but figuring on the ridiculous tolls, high price of gas, and lack of parking at the venue, I estimated I’d be out about $300 to make the 500+ mile round trip. Yes, tolls are THAT expensive.
So I was left with the night bus (round trip cost: approx. $200). I’ve taken it before so it’s nothing new. Basically you get on at 9:30 PM and then arrive in Tokyo around 6:30 the next morning. Since the show opened at 1:00 PM I figured I would just go to an internet cafe and chill for awhile to kill time.
Night bus interior
You can see the bus seats only three abreast, so there’s a good amount of room and you can lean the seat almost all the way back to catch some real Zs.
Night bus exterior
After chilling at some shady internet cafe in Akihabara from 7:00 to about 10:45, I went to one of my favorite Japanese curry spots and then stopped by Super Rajikon (Radio Control) to kill more time. Super Rajikon is just crazy in terms of all the R/C stock they have. It’s a huge store with all sorts of kits and parts. If it’s a part from a Japanese kit, and you can’t find it here- it doesn’t exist. Nuff said.
Super Rajikon interior
(Pics courtesy of http://www.super-rc.co.jp/tokyo.html)
I had to pull myself out of that store after spending an hour in there without buying anything (perhaps a new personal record).
At 11:15 I headed to Tokyo station. Then I walked over to the Keiyo Line and took the train to Kaihin-Makuhari, which is the stop for Makuhari Messe (International Convention Center, kind of like the Javits Center in NYC).
The center is actually in Chiba, which is another prefecture located just east of Tokyo.
Da 11:53 to Kaihin-Makuhari
I made it to the venue by 12:35 and man, was it getting hard to contain my excitement. It was pretty wet and damp out but there was still a fair amount of people heading into the convention center. Pushing past some scalpers I made my way to the entrance for the Auto Salon. There are actually two parts to this show.
The Auto Salon is a showcase primarily for Japanese manufacturers, and the Import Auto Salon is for European / American cars. Naturally, the Auto Salon is the focus of this show so I hit that first. (Unfortunately, my camera batteries gave up the ghost after 350+ pics so I only have pics of the Auto Salon.)
Da Venue
There wasn’t much of a line to get in so I found myself in the building at 10 minutes to 1. Japanese are always super punctual, which is a good thing, but the ten minutes of the boring a$$ opening ceremony lasted forever. I could see the people around me in the sealed off area near the entrance were antsy as well… Finally, we were let in at 1 on the dot.
It was worth the wait-
Initial View
Now, I don’t go to a lot of shows in the US (I think I have been to maybe two HINs?), but I know in terms of outright scale, noise level, and jailbait chick booty clapping, HIN straight up owns TAS… But in terms of the quality of the machinery- well, that’s another story altogether.
You be the judge…
TAS Top 25
I took over 330 pics, so no way am I going to risk carpal tunnel pasting them all in here. Instead, here’s the top 25, in no particular order. Enjoy!
(1) Cyber Evo
(2) L28 from GC111 (KenMary) GT-R
(3) AVO/Motec 240Z (twin GT3540s + RB30)
(4) Rauh Welt 930
(5) Mugen NSX RR
(6) Mugen Civic RR Advanced Concept
(7) J’s Racing Fit
(8) Impul Z34
(9) Garage Yahata R35 GT-R
(10) Voltex Evo X
(11) Powerhouse Amuse R35 GT-R
(12) Feed FD3S
(13) Sun Line Racing Z34
(14) Maserati on Work display
(15) Junction Produce VIP Lineup
(16) Gazoo Racing LF-A (Nur 24 Hr)
(17) Ralliart Galant Fortis (Sportback)
(18) Ralliart Evo X
(19) Soarer on Nitto stand
(20) Abflug MR-S
(21) Top Secret R35 GT-R
(22) RE Amemiya FD3S
(23) Mine’s R35 GT-R
(24) Zele International R35 GT-R
(25) Zele International Z34
My favorite car of the show- the Zele Z34 above. The color scheme just sets it off beautifully- it had just as much, if not more presence as the GT-R beside it. Definitely better proportions… Zele did a nice job masking the awkward (to me) C pillar on the R35 GT-R with their choice of color and trim. Both cars are just superb.
I have to say, on the whole the tuned Z34s just really impressed me. Nissan took the right steps with the base car- making the new Z smaller, adding lightness (200 lbs worth) and power at the same time. Sounds logical but how many manufacturers have done that recently?
It really looks nice in person- I didn’t like the Z33 at first but it grew on me. But the new version- Nissan did right with the proportions and styling as well.
Want more?
Check out my album below
http://s333.photobucket.com/albums/m380/ajg914/TAS%201-2009/
