What up?! I’m Edo, nice to meet you! Pleasure to be here and very happy to share a few Tokyo Auto Salon 2016 photos with you via this special guest post. A bit about me: Born, raised and living in NYC, love cars, Japan, graphic design, bass music and chillin’. I’ve been following the fatlace brand since it was still a flash website pre hellaflush days. Very honored to have met Mark and Kenta of Tokyo Drive in Japan a few weeks ago while rolling with the Bulletproof Automotive crew.

This year marked my return to the halls of the Makuhari Messe after a 5 year hiatus. It was so great to be back. In 2011 and 2012, the last time I visited, the popularity of TAS was actually on the decline, which was a bit depressing. Fast forward to 2016, TAS is back! (Although a bit different) Now attracting huge crowds from all over the world, TAS, like SEMA, is an amazing and interesting place for celebrating car life. As you may know TAS is a massive show spread over 4 halls and more. Here’s the first of a couple of posts I’ll put together displaying what I came across. Hope you enjoy!

The very first cars that welcomed me to the show. STAR ROAD. Perfection.

TOMEI Powered made it’s return.

Rocket Bunny pushing their new Pandem style kits. What are your thoughts?

Loved this ENDLESS FD. The R-Magic kit is a favorite!

Still bumbed that Yokoi wont be competing at Formula D this year. Great to see his car at the D-MAX booth.

Loved this Supra at the UP-GARAGE booth. Full Ridox kit with an interesting color choice. I hear it’s female owned as well.

Surprisingly only 2 RWB cars at TAS this year. Seems SEMA is now the home of these builds car show wise anyway. Even after experiencing the RWB new years meeting, it was great to see these at the show. That is, when there wasn’t a huge crowd of those pervy photographers shooting the models. Check the Thai plates too. Dope.

Speaking of pervy photogs. One of the realities of TAS that hasn’t changed over the years. These guys go absolutely bonkers for the models. Most of them show up on Saturday and Sunday ruining your chance to take decent photos of cars or simply be able to walk. They push you and each other around in order to get that perfect capture of Kawaii overload. Almost makes you feel awkward yourself for taking a photo of the models, haha. I sneaked one in anyway…

The Yokohama Advan booth is always a favorite. Clean and classy.

KUHL-Racing. One of the more crowded booths and not because of the models for once! What can I say that hasn’t been said? It is impossible to not be amazed by this work of art. Builds like these are what make the Tokyo Auto Salon an amazing place to be. I probably spent way too much time taking photos at this booth but for good reason. These would be at home at one of the high end art galleries in Tokyo or even in NYC. Check out the previous TAS awards on the wall in the photo below. Definitely a show favorite.

Last year’s silver version also made an appearance along with a “subtle” red example.

CAR MODIFY WONDER holding it down for the S-Chassis fans! Great to see new kits being developed for these platforms. Personally, I loved all of them. I may be a bit biased being an S14 owner myself, but this booth made me think of what TAS was probably like in the mid 90’s. Real JDM sports cars for everyone.

RE-Amemiya. Already legendary status, this brand has nothing to prove, yet somehow, never fails to have an impact after all these years. The main booth car was the Mazda Chantez from the 70’s that Ama-San created. While it was an interesting build, I was personally a lot more interested in the FD! This Moccomans X RE-Amemiya time attack build is also, in my opinion, perfect. 3 Rotor + an updated version of their D1 aero and that unmistakable color. Hope to see this thing hitting up Tsukuba soon.

And for the old-school rotary fans…

After only seeing it online all these years, the Spirit-Rei 180sx is another work of art. So clean, so much style yet decades old. Proof that you don’t need a modern platform to stand out at a massive show like TAS.

Race VS Street. MOTUL Super GT R35 VS the new Greddy Rocketbunny MX5. Different purposes, same passion.

That does it for the first post! Up next we’ll have a look at some of the other areas including Liberty Walk, Varis and some VIP action. Stay tuned!