Here we are again, wandering a parking lot in an industrial area of Tokyo on a cold day, looking for old iron and rotting rubber. Sounds grim, right?
wrong. Because this isn’t just any old parking lot. This is the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon parking lot on Saturday afternoon at the show.
Car parties are great in Japan, but TAS parking is the best. During the three-day show, car enthusiasts from all over Japan will walk through the expansive grounds of the Makuhari Messe parking lot.
This being Japan, you really never know what you’re going to find.
The TAS car park is very different from the car park inside the Messe, where frantic cars dazzle guests with Eurobeat’s relentless soundtrack and promotional girl paparazzi shutters. Give me a super clean Nissan Skyline GTS-R in a cold parking lot any day of the week.
Last year, I wandered the parking lot early Saturday and Sunday mornings, looking for the weird and wonderful. I wanted to do something different this year and I’m so glad I did because the soft afternoon light is so beautiful.
As a big event on the annual car calendar, I recognize a lot of cars from 2022 onwards, so if you haven’t seen last year’s gallery, take a look.
As in 2022, many JDM icons are in normal and/or OEM+ status. No sausage in sight here.
Case in point, this Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII sits among the grocery store SUVs. I spotted it from a mile away.
this itacar Pairing is also hard to miss.Covering your car in it is a very bold move Japanese animation role, but hey, someone has to do it. The older I get, the cooler Stagea gets.
It seems a bit dark, the GTS-R just now, this JZA70 Toyota Supra and Mitsubishi GTO are super cool.
But my pick is this stunning ST205 Toyota Celica GT-Four.
These might not be as wild as the cars on display in venue, but their simplicity calmed down after the bustle of Japan’s biggest tuning show.
Next time I will show you what I found in the warm hall of Makuhari Messe. But for now, I’ll leave the rest of what I found in the cold in the gallery below.
Tobyer
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