Tokyo Auto Salon 2013: Wow!

I love cars, and I love all types of cars, but I do have a personal fondness for imports, and especially modified imports. I have little doubt that growing up with the Fast and Furious movies and games like Need For Speed Underground, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. I’ve had a lot of exposure to modified cars and especially modified imports. As such I’ve always followed coverage from car media outlets about these kinds of cars and some of the biggest shows featuring modified cars.

Two of the big shows that stood out to me over the years have been the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, and the Tokyo Auto Salon in Chiba. Of course both shows had some inherent obstacles for the average person to overcome to see either show in person. SEMA (Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association) is closed to the public so only members of the industry and press can go to the show. Tokyo Auto Salon, although open to the public, has the issue of being very, very far away from central Indiana, so is expensive to go to. However, in a fortunate convergence of events over the past year, I was able to earn enough money, as well as be able to take time off from school in order to go to the Tokyo Auto Salon. And let me tell you, the trip was worth every penny.

The show is at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba and lasts a weekend in January from Friday to Sunday. Friday is reserved for press and people who have purchased special preview tickets, and Saturday and Sunday are open to the public. So I set off Saturday morning for the first public day of the show. Fortunately that day, as well as the next, had quite nice weather. In fact it was right around 50 degrees fahrenheit so I was unencumbered with heavy jackets or coats. Immediately upon stepping off the train and into the main part of the station, I saw signs pointing toward Makuhari Messe. All things being said though, I think I probably could’ve followed the very large crowd to where it was headed and still made it just fine.

The main path from the station to the convention center was mostly on an elevated walkway and on the roads below you could see the occasional Japanese sports car: a Nissan Silvia, a Toyota GT86, a Subaru Impreza STi. And as you got closer to the convention center, you could start to hear the sounds of engines echoing behind the building from the demonstration area.

After a short walk through the somewhat drab hallways I entered the first exhibition hall. Before me lay an enormous room covered in cars. Once down the escalator, all that I could think was, where should I start, and where do I go next? So without any sort of plan, I just started off with whatever was right in front of me, and sort of snaked my way through the halls, booth by booth.

And good grief was there a lot to see. At first, having not read the map, I thought that it was just going to be one major exhibition hall, maybe one other. However, it turned out that the first exhibition hall was just one of four, and that’s not counting the outside exhibition area. It was unbelievable, not just in size but in the fact that it was only a three day show. And the reality is, it would be absolutely crazy to try and cover everything I saw at Tokyo Auto Salon in one post. So over the next few days, I will be putting up posts that cover highlights and help show what this amazing event was like. So stay tuned!