We went to a secret underground car meet in Japan to show that the JDM scene is alive and well.
We’ve all seen that scene in The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift. Driving along to the beats of the song that needs no introduction, Sean and Twinkie arrive in a parking lot to join what is Sean’s very first car meet in Tokyo. With revving, drifting, loud music and a countless number of modified JDM cars, this is pretty much the car meet every JDM enthusiast would dream of attending.
Despite the movie’s gathering being fictional and exaggerated for plot purposes, this isn’t far off from what you could expect to find in real-life Tokyo, Japan. Remove the drifting, the revving, the overall chaos, and a much smaller female audience that actually wears proper clothing, and you get a real life ‘Fast & Furious’ meet. Although a rare occurrence, these car meets really do exist, if you know who to talk to. From JDM GT-R Skylines, Supercars, to RX-7s and Porsches, this garage is the place to be for true enthusiasts.
A Secret Underground Car Meet In Tokyo: Setting The Scene
Back in January, we received a message about a secret underground car meet happening in Tokyo, with one simple instruction: “just don’t share it on social media.” No one really knew what to expect and how this meet would turn out to be. And no one certainly expected to step into what felt like a surreal (yet very real) Fast & Furious-like car meet.
Coinciding with the 2023 Tokyo Auto Salon, this secret meet took place on a Friday night, after the first Tokyo Auto Salon day. The location, an underground parking lot in the Tokyo Bay Area, was only disclosed on the morning of the meet in order to keep things as secret as possible. Further away from busy central Tokyo, the parking lot was in a quieter area of the city. All building lights were off, and if it wasn’t for the few people gathered outside with vlogging cameras, you would wonder if you had arrived at the right place.
The parking was only accessible by one small elevator that led to the underground floors, as all other entrances were closed during night hours. Stepping in the elevator and pressing the B2 button, the doors finally opened to a bright orange Lamborghini Diablo, so low that it was scraping the floor. A heavy smell of exhaust fumes due to poor ventilation engulfed the elevator and as we walked into the underground parking, it felt no different to stepping onto the filming set of The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift.
About 70 cars were there, and each owner had received an invitation to attend the meet, with specific instructions on what to do and how to keep a low profile in order to avoid the meet getting shut down. Instructions were also given to keep information out of social media. Word of mouth spread the information around and a much larger crowd than expected showed up to the supposedly secret car meet, which perhaps made the event even more vibrant and thrilling than what it would have originally been.
These Cars Stole The Show At The Secret Underground Car Meet In Tokyo
When it comes to the cars that joined the secret underground meet, there was a large selection of JDM cars, including countless Nissan R34 GT-Rs. Drift cars also joined the party and modified RX-7s were also present. Most importantly, the Instagram-famous R34 –modified as a replica of Paul Walker’s R34 from 2 Fast 2 Furious– joined the meet, giving a real Fast & Furious vibe to the event. There were notably two cars from the Anija group – respectively the Lamborghini Diablo mentioned earlier and a lime green Murcielago – and these were the only two supercars present that night.
A selection of RWB Porsches stopped by as well, alongside a modified Porsche 930 Turbo Slant Nose with its headlights modified to resemble the Ferrari F40’s square headlights. German cars also extended to BMWs and a pair of Mercedes 190e 2.5 16 Evo II, which got quite a bit of attention.
Some cars from our previous coverage of Japanese car shows were also there, such as the Pandem R35 GT-R and the one-off modified NSX, both present at the Stance Nation Japan held in October last year.
Tokyo’s Secret Car Meets Are Not Announced Except For A Chosen Group
This secret underground meet isn’t an accurate representation of “how they live in Tokyo,” as it goes in the Tokyo Drift song. Such a secret and exclusive meet is a rare occurrence, even for Japanese car owners. Organized by a local, well-connected R34 GTT owner, the meet was mainly catered to the foreign audience present in Japan during the Tokyo Auto Salon. As many YouTubers and Instagrammers later posted on their respective platforms, all praised the respectful behavior of Japanese car owners who did not engage in rev battles of drifting –unlike in other countries where such a gathering would unfold differently, which allowed for the event to go on peacefully. And even without any drifting, this Tokyo Drift feel to this underground meet was very much real, thanks to the underground location, the selection of cars, each and every passionate car enthusiast there, and perhaps even the heat and heavy exhaust fumes that left everyone feeling lightheaded.
This secret underground meet did wrap up earlier than the officially announced 10pm time, as the parking lot staff kindly asked the organizer that people leave the premises. And despite the likelihood that no such meet will be happening again this year, we are very much looking forward to the next message in our inbox that will be telling us: “just don’t share it on social media.”
