roinjapan – Royal Origin

Toyama Living | RO Explore

I’ve been to Toyama many times, but I’ve never been here with Ryo. When we decided to go to Japan during golden week, Ryo offered us a place to stay in his hometown of Toyama. We didn’t want to miss the chance to live in the countryside for a couple of days and see the life of the Lowballers Japan.

Masao bought this Verosa for like dirt cheap. I think it was $500 because the owner thought it had a transmission problem. It ended up being an easy fix and now he has a 1jz equipped vehicle for $500.

Ryo’s Lexon GS430, so cool to see this thing roaming the streets of Toyama.

We made our way to a okonomiyaki(Japanese pancake) place where you make it on your own. This place is kind of like a Denny’s to the locals.

Hiroki and Masao showing us how it’s done!

Math and John mixing and laying out the pancakes to cook.

The finished product. Bone apple tea.

We slept over at Ryo’s parents spare house and it had a legit Hawaii theme throughout the house.

Woke up to Ryo starting up his Integra that he hasn’t seen in months. It still looks super clean.

We wanted to get some photos in before the day started of both of Ryo’s cars.

We met up with Hiroki and they took us to this amazing park with a river going through it.

This was rated one of the most beautiful Starbucks in the world. I’ve never seen such a long line for Starbucks before.

This was rated as one of the most beautiful friendships in the world.

Hiroki and his family.

For lunch, we went to a curry spot that is famous in Toyama.

I shit you not, this was the best curry I have ever had in my entire life. Seriously perfect in every way! I am literally drooling looking at this picture.

Next stop was Super Autobacs, we wanted to go to an Up Garage, but all of stores were closed for Golden Week. I don’t even know what kind of car this is.

Clean S13 on some Advan TCIIs.

Big boss Job Design LS460.

Julia so over this car shit.

Getting around in Ryo’s GS felt so cool.

For dinner, we got sushi and for the longest time Ryo has always said the sushi is the best in Toyama. He was not wrong.

We ended the night, Initial D style by going up the mountains, looking over the city and talking about fuck bugs.

Thank you Ryo, Masao and Hiroki for the hospitality! I can’t wait to come back to have more curry!

-NGUMINH

July 7, 2019

Japan Again | RO Explore

Ever since I went to Japan in January for Tokyo Auto Salon, Julia has been bugging me to take her. So on Valentines Day I bought her a ticket to Japan to shut her up. Just kidding, but I did buy her a ticket because I love her and now she won’t shut up about going back.

Caught this rare glimpse of another airplane flying with us on the same route.

For this trip, we traveled with Krstina and Abbitt and it happened to be Krstina’s first time too! Here we have two tourists posing with a rock that looks like the famous Hachiko.

Night exploring, looking for something to eat and we then decided to go to Yakitori Center where Abbitt fell down a flight of stairs and broke his hand.

Cold chicken wings, beef and chick skin! So bomb.

Our next stop would be the World’s Second Best Freshly Baked Melon-Pan Icecream. It’s literally called that and one can argue that it might be the best!

The melon bread is so good and the ice cream combo just makes it better!

The look on their faces says it all.

The next morning we woke up early and got some cold udon that Abbitt found near our place.

It was my first time eating cold udon and it was delicious! Full of flavor and it was easy to eat.

Most of the shops and places we wanted to go were closed, so we got some coffee at Streamers Coffee in Shibuya.

Coffee lovers.

Shout out to Streamers Coffee for letting us put our sticker on their wall!

Julia is an avid cat lover and no one loves cats more than the Japanese. They have cat cafes all over Tokyo just so you can spend time with like 20 different types of cats. The cat cafe we went to was in Shibuya and it’s called Cafe Mocha.

So many pretty cats in this cafe, too bad I’m allergic.

A munchkin cat!

You pay about $10-15 USD to hang out with cats and some cafes offer beverages. For foreigners this might seem like a waste of money, but for the Japanese this is a place where you can relax and calm your stress by playing with cats.

We spotted a park with a bunch of cherry blossom trees and we had to stop by to take photos.

We got lost in Shibuya and came across this crazy looking building.

Passed by Genki Sushi and saw the RO sticker I placed the first time I came to Japan. Crazy how it’s already been 4 years. What a life.

We took a long train to West Aoyama Garden where they have the interesting fluffy pan cakes.

I also ordered this ham grilled sandwich that was pretty basic just like the pancake. I would not recommend going here, unless you’re just going for Instagram photos.

That’s all for today, check back for more on this 4 part saga of Japan Adventures Again.

-NGUMINH

June 8, 2017

Tokyo Night Meet | Event Coverage

We decided that after TAS, we would go check out Joey’s meet in Akihabara. We had nothing to do and decided to hang out in Akihabara until the meet started.

Seeing otaku cars like this in Akihabara was very common.

Me and Abbitt decided to get some Ikinari steak and damn it was such a good choice.

Aged beef never sounded so good.

We started to see cars coming from the wood work headed to the meeting spot.

Wanted to test out the bokeh on the 55MM and damn the bokeh looks so good.

Abbitt got some mini Pablo cheesecakes and they were so good!

Dessert porn.

While waiting a Veilside FD with under glow pulled up right in front of us. Check out the photos I took here..

http://royal-origin.com/2017/02/06/veilside-in-akihabara-car-porn

Cars were stuck outside the parking structure because they closed it down.

Surprisingly at 7:00PM there were already cars parked inside the structure.

I wish this NSX was outside and I caught it rolling in.

Caught up with Danh in the restrooms.

The homies over at Level One Japan.

Kazuki took at shinkansen just to meet us up tonight. HOODRATstuff reppin!

Joey decided to move the meet to another spot, but it ended up being shut down too because of the police. We didn’t have a car to go to the next spot, so we decided to go get trashed.

We went drinking with Yuya, Vinh’s new drinking buddy and we met up with Jason, Sparkle and our new friend Monica. Monica was travelling by herself and just randomly went up to us and asked if we spoke English and now we’re BFFs.

Thanks for the hospitality guys, it was a fun night!

-NGUMINH

February 3, 2017

Tokyo Auto Salon 2017 | Event Coverage

Tokyo Auto Salon 2016 was so awesome, Abbitt and I decided that we would come back again. After months of looking at tickets, the price finally dropped down to $465 round trip. We decided at the moment, 5 months before TAS that we were going. That gave us time to convince a crew of nine people to go to Japan with us. Why did we commit so early for Tokyo Auto Salon? Because it is one of the best car shows in the entire world. When you go to SEMA, you probably go through a see of vendors to find a car that you will like. At TAS, 75% of the cars are cars that you will make your pants wet. That’s why Japan is an island, they build such cool cars that guys get so wet that they surround themselves with water. If they stopped building cool cars, they would be reconnected with China and Korea again. So make sure you bring extra pants to TAS!

Check out the backpacks, they had extra pants ready.

Entering TAS can be overwhelming, it’s just like using the train here during rush hour. Your butt is going to be touched.

Sick S15 from UP Garage. I’m sad I didn’t go visit one on this trip.

Someone forgot to tell Wanli that the Step Up trend died in 2010 when Channing Tantum decided not to do Step Up 3. Also check out that FRS, it looks like such minimal effort for a TAS car. This is the wanli booth I have criticism for at TAS. Say that fast.

Caught this guy in the left corner salivating over this Lexus IS.

Glad I was able to check out the T-Demand GS in person. So flawless.

Crazy how most of the crowd was here for the models instead of the cars.

How Ariel from the Littler Mermaid would’ve modified a car.

Never thought of Nankang as a performance tire, I’ve always thought of Nankangs as cheap and easy to stretch. They need to sponsor the stance scene in America.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the cars of the future looked like this van. Those headlights are so ridiculous.

Glad to see BN Sports back on the map at TAS. In my opinion, they make the most stylish kits for drift cars. This FD is what I needed to see at TAS for my SC, such a big inspiration to work on my SC. This is what I miss about the car scene in the states. I haven’t seen a car that inspired me in a very long time. It’s been a influx of the Pandem kits and AIRLIFT combo on a majority of cars at meets and shows in the states.

How to get the attention of 100 Japanese men, put a girl on a stripper pole. Ya’ll know you guys have Soap Land and Pink Salon right?

Wish we went on a Friday because this was what my view consisted of 90% of the fucking time.

Fuck The Police in a good way.

You know when looking at this car it looks pretty basic, but Spectra Grafix picked a really good car to show off the quality of their products. Look at he curves, the basic bumper with no fog lights and wheels with no design, so you can just focus on the paint quality only.

Big boss Nakkan putting on a HOODRATstuff sticker on the Old & New Porsche. Thanks Nakkan! It’s a big honor that you put our sticker on.

Is it a chrome wrap? Nah son, it’s paint.

Man this Crown from Aless would be perfect if it didn’t have the chicken wire bottom grill. Chickens aren’t suppose to be in coops, they’re meant to be free.

Next level show queen trailer.

More chicken grille. #chickenlivesmatter

This widebody Miata NC tho. Man that rear does it for me, I wish the front fender went down more towards the bottom of the door.

Spotted Sara being a star girl at the Old & New x Spetra paint booth.

Aimgain bringing the heat with a whole range of cars kitted with AIMGAIN. This is the new Stance Nation x AIMGAIN collab FRS kit.

My God this FD is absolutely amazing. It’s called the Humbul and fuck it made me humble about my car real quick.

The new Pandem R32. It looks pretty cool, I’m waiting for the 10 other people who pre-ordered the kit and to see it in 10 different colors at the same meet to decide if I’m in love or not.

God damn is all I have to say about the AIMGAIN NSX.

Liberty Walk Lexus LS? Wow.

Visited Ty from Hectopascal at the GMG booth and met Diana who ends up taking my phone to text random shit to Sara.

It ended up being Sara and Diana’s lunch time, so we met up with Sara at the food court for some fast ramen and soft serve.

We escorted Sara back at her booth and I thought it would be a good time to shoot her.

A hoard of Japanese men ended up falling from the sky and got in the way of my shots.

I didn’t really like how the wide angle made Sara look, so I decided to see what my portrait 55mm lens that I got from Russia could do. I love how these came out.

Varis GTR on Advans. This is the kit I would get if I owned a GTR.

Man FDs were catching my attention very easily at TAS. I think it’s a sign for me to go buy one.

I can’t believe Vertex brought out their SC to TAS. This SC is fucking goals.

*heavy breathing*

Got to be on Joey‘s live stream and show everyone how awkward I am in front of the camera.

I hope the rivets on this kit are strong enough to hold her weight.

This girl was trying to give away lanyards, but everyone was zooming so close to her tits that they couldn’t see what was in her hands.

Awesome to still see an Aristo at TAS.

Wish I owned this car when I was playing Pokemon GO.

TAS even had a concert hall where the pineapple pen guy performed.

Recaro seats are so comfortable, they made this room into a movie theater with Recaro seats only.

Abbitt checking his phone to see if Mace and Maui are working or not.

Another year of amazement at Tokyo Auto Salon! I hope you enjoyed the photos and I recommend everyone to go sometime in your life. My tickets were only $465 round trip when I checked early in August. It will be a memorable experience for any car enthusiast. Check back to see all the tourists stuff that we did.

-NGUASS

February 2, 2017

Random Night in Daikoku | Parking Lot Finds

We continue our journey in Japan with us departing from Vinh and Rica and us heading to Sagamihara to stay with Ryo. He’s been living here for the past year working with Lexon Japan. He didn’t have time to take us around, so we decided to go out and explore his area.

We went to Machida and found this small ramen shop that sold meals for cheap! Spicy ramen that was only 580 yen.

Add a combo for only 200 yen!

Spotted a small stand that sold this strawberry and chocolate custard dessert. Pretty good!

Exploring a bit of Machida.

After exploring Machida, we went to Yokohoma station to meet up with Shavi’s friend, Kato.

Kato’s slammed Mazda 3. He took us to Yellow Hat, an autmotive chain service shop.

We came here to meet up with his homie, so we can head out to Daikoku parking area together.

Chaser on some 3 piece wheels in the parking garage of Yellow Hat

People working on their cars in the parking structure.

This sick chaser came out of no where in the parking structure.

First car that caught my eye was this slammed VIP Cima from 502 Factory.

Daisuke’s Altezza.

So jealous that GTRs are a common thing here in Japan.

GTR meet ups.

Bee Racing Aristo chilling in the parking area.

S14 on classic Work Equips.

Always great to see a S15 in Japan.

Me and Abbitt went inside for some soft serve ice cream. Thanks Abbitt!

Van culture is huge here.

Big green machine.

Kanjo racing?

Vending machine heaven.

Shavi and fans.

Itasha style is huge here.

4 dour bangers.

My favorite car here was this R32. Jesus Christ it was so nice and it had stickers from all of the HKS Premium events it attended.

I wonder if you know…

Crazy 350z from Freakin Works that was just welded together recently. Still has a lot more work to be done..

It started to pour and it was freezing, so it was time to head back home.

Thanks Kato for taking us around!

-NGUMINH

February 11, 2016

The Show | United Royals

The United Royals photo drop by @nguminh.

September 23, 2015

Osaka Hangs | RO in Japan

The first morning in Japan was an early one for me. My hotel was 40 minutes away from the airport and I had to be there at 6:00 AM for the flight at 7:30 AM. After a long taxi ride to meet Sara and Amy and being at the wrong terminal we were finally on our way to Osaka. Thank you to Japan’s airport system for getting us on our flight on time. They have a express line for people whose flights are in 40 minutes or less, so you don’t have to go through the long check in line.

See ya Tokyo.

After a hour flight, Ty picked us up from the airport to go eat at Umeda station. Sara and Amy looking awfully happy to finally be where we’re suppose to be.

Fancy food court.

There’s always a photo opportunity.

Teas on deck.

Cold udon.

Sara and Amy on that healthy diet.

While me and Ty were grubbing on some delicious chimichurri meat and fries.

We went to the Pokemon Center, so Sara can nerd out.

These balls were actually made for stretching.

Ty trying to win Amy a dog in the famous Japanese claw games.

Later that night we met up with the J Spirit crew who just flew in, Osaka JDM, AP Garage and so many more for some exotic fish. Reunited with this E36 that I saw on my last trip to Osaka.

Sushi boat.

Ty and Ross.

Look at all these peoples.

Love walking through these streets.

Thanks United Royals for dinner!

Subaru on Volk TE37s. Made me sad that Vinh always wanted this kind of setup for his car, but is now parting out his Subaru because of his ref ticket.

Anywhere we go, we always seem to be hanging out in parking lots.

And everywhere we go, Sara is always modeling.

It wasn’t enough food for me, so I had to stop by 711 for some more snacks. The next day we will be going to D1GP, so make sure you come back and check out the coverage for that!

September 19, 2015

Masaki’s USDM Inspired Nissan S13

After KDAY C4 show, we pulled Masaki’s S13 to the side and did a little photo shoot to get some more detailed shots of his car.

We met Masaki in the States back in 2012 when he came to visit. It’s great that we can finally see his car that we’ve been drooling over online for so many years.

These Autostrada Modena were rebuilt in the United States by SteebSpecd. That’s some serious dedication by Masaki to make it an authentic USDM style wheel.

Masaki kept the lines on his car clean as possible converting his car from the pig nose front end to the Silvia front end.

Masaki has owned this car for 10+ years and has kept it extremely clean, also even painting the car himself.

He’s even rocking a California license plate!

Keeping it simple is always best.

Crazy how he drove this low for four hours to get to this show.

Wheel porn.

Reppin’ all the homies.

The whale pose inspired by Pogifresh.

Thanks Masaki for letting us shoot your car and giving us a ride back to the station!

– NGU ASS

December 19, 2014

RO in Japan | Ramen Nights

One of the best things about traveling is making new friends. Our new friend Kevan who is originally from San Bernardino was one of our new friends made in Japan. We were introduced to him by Zee and he was one of the drivers that took us around for the day we had the car meet at Daikoku PA. After the meet, he suggested for us to come down to Yokosuka, so he could show us around on the base.

We woke up and once again took the first train down to Yokosuka. JR pass is key to worry free traveling in Japan.

Yokosuka is home to a United States Navy Base which makes the surrounding areas pretty Americanized with burger joints and taco restaurants.

Kevan picking us up in his gangster Chaser.

When we arrived on to the base, the first thing Kevan did was take us to the Auto hobby garage where most of the people on base can get their car worked on.

Inside the shop you can expect to see some cool Japanese vehicles being worked on like this R32.

This is where you can spot some nice rides like this mint S14.

Here is Kevan openly rocking the FTP shirt and showing us his little shed of cool JDM parts.

This is parking lot is literally JDM as fucked.

The combo breaker.

Jeremy’s Chaser who has been living here in Japan since the 90s. He even met his wife through the drifting scene here in Japan.

Jeremy is the king of Yahoo Auctions and is the go to guy for some of the guys here to find parts.

After exploring the base, Kevan took us to go get some legit ramen. It was so good that I forgot to take a photo of it, but here are some cool shots of Kevan’s chaser.

Crazy to see kids walking in the middle of the night and not worrying about getting kidnapped or cops beating them up.

Goodbye Yokosuka, you were good to us. Thanks Kevan for showing us around!

– NGU ASS

December 18, 2014

RO in Japan | Nagoya Exciting Car Show Parking Lot Spottings

Whenever I saw online photo coverage of an event in Japan, there are always cool cars in the parking lot. After spending a couple of hours inside of Port Messe Dome, we ventured out to the parking lot to see if we can find anything special.

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The parking lot did not disappoint, there were cars out here that should have been inside the show. Check out this Supra on TE37s with 326 Power extended lug nuts.