Back in 2023, my friends and I were visiting Japan during Golden Week. Golden Week refers to a week somewhere between April and May where a lot of Japanese holidays happen in succession. Many employers give their employees a week off so they can celebrate these holidays. Many different types of events happen during this time since most people have the ability to travel and visit these events. If you are looking to visit Japan and want to hit a car show, this would probably be an ideal time.

During this Golden Week, Moonlight Runners team made a trip out to Japan along with a few other foreigners who are also building kaido racers outside of Japan. A few kaido racer teams inside Japan decided to plan a night to meet us at the service area. Many of these meetings happen far outside of Tokyo proper and at a service area only accessible by car.

This is a really good example of some of the extreme vent work and fiberglass customizations found in the early 1990s.

Continental Autoworks president Yoshi brought his super silhouette kaido racer with Inazuma Line (イナズマライン)

This Daihatsu Mira pays tribute to the Omiya Madonna Racing cars, with some of the owners personal flare.

This Mazda Cosmo pays tribute to the Mazda 787B race car, sporting the same livery. It also has a deppa, works fender in the front, and silhouette fender in the rear. To top it all off, some super aggressive Devil Japan Shadow Spoke wheels.

As a Nissan S30 fan, it was fun to see cars like this in person. This Fairlady Z has a lot of inspiration from American Datsuns. It has the 280z badge on the rear, the plate also references 280z, the owner added the rear reflectors onto the car, where the Japanese version didn’t have them. Other notable parts include the vertical twin exit exhaust, 3 peice spoiler, Airone Gate, works fenders, Vitaloni California mirrors and half cage. A very typical formula for building a kaido racer S30z.

Electronic music producer, DJ, and kaido racer enthusiast Souki showed up in his latest build. The Nissan Leopard went through an intensive build that was documented on his YouTube channel. This night was also covered in one of his vlogs.

Chiba Kara Kitano team leader Hayashi showed up in his Nissan Skyline Japan. This coloring scheme imitates one of the popular designs found in 1985-1986. There were many cars back then that had a white car body with color accents (blue, pink, red), along with the trust decal on the door.

This Nissan Skyline R30 is imitating the 1987 Leyton House Nissan R30 driven in the 1987 Japanese Touring Car Championship. It has the split works + silhouette fender that was very popular in the mid to late 2000s. The door number is 23, which is goroawase for Ni-San.

I really enjoy the two tone paint jobs on 70s era cars like this Toyota Corolla. Where the aftermarket fiberglass parts are emphasized with a brighter color than the stock paint. Wheels are factory steel wheels that have been widened, possibly by Kamagaya Wide Wheel. Other parts include the chin spoiler, Savanna works fender flares, and Jaguar Meiwa mirrors.

This is a difficult one to spot, but it appears to be a Toyota Soarer. The hood and fenders have been extended to give it a long nose, front lip was added. Celica works aero, roof has been cut off to make it open top, and was repainted with a “rame rame” finish with flames.

Toyota Celica with a silhouette fiberglass body kit and a paint job reminiscent of Schnitzer’s Group 5 Toyota Celica race car. Some other notable parts are the Speed Star Racing MK-III wheels and Vitaloni California mirrors.

Another heavily modified Toyota Celica also showed up with a works + silhouette kit. The blue inazuma line is really sharp on top of the rame lamé-lamé (or ラメラメ) silver paint. Other parts include the Speed Star Racing MK-1 wheels and Napoleon Bacca mirrors.

This GX71 Toyota Chaser is another great example of some of the vent work that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mixing elements from haiso styling and chibaragi, this car was a joy to see in person.

It was also fun to see my friend’s Toyota Crown with the open top. Cars like this one showcase some of the great details of Chibaragi styling. The long deppa, hood vents, work fenders, side steps, rear spoilers and takeyari all add up in the standard formula.

A work-in-progress “fun” car also showed up. I didn’t take a close look at it to figure out the base, but it was still fun to see how long it was in person.

This Nissan Leopard F30 from the team Success had two different themes on it. The sides of the car had Lotte’s Juicy & Fresh logo for their older chewing gum. On the hood there is the logo of the variety TV show called Weekender. This show covered extreme news topics like murders involving lust and sexual crimes. This show was broadcast live on Saturday nights between 1975-1984.

The rear end on this Toyota Crown was customized to make this unique single tail light. The Nissan 240ZG flares, extended RX-7 wing, and Nissan Leopard vents really tie the rear end together.

A very simple but also very cool Toyota Mark II GX61 in a vibrant red. It appears the rear fenders have been shaped with a metal fender lip. Sitting on Speed Star Racing MK-1 wheels.

Team Success lined up together. From left to right, Nissan Sunny, Nissan Leopard, Toyota Mark II, and a Mazda Luce.

There’s something really special about meetings like this. Seeing so many different kaido racer styles lined up side by side is amazing.

A few of us foreigners posing next to Park’s car from Izanami Wheel.

It was very nice of everyone to show up and share their cars with us. It can be difficult to visit one of these meetings while visiting Japan. A majority of the planning is done in private messages with people in this scene and isn’t shared publicly. Typically, an invite-only event. So I am thankful that we got the opportunity to meet new people and see these cars that have only graced my cell phone feed.