RPM Generation

“How do I find car meets in Tokyo?” “How do I join an underground car meet like in Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift?”

These questions and others like these are by far the most frequent ones I find in my DMs across social media.

Today, I decided to sit here and tell you exactly how to find car meets in Tokyo, but also what to expect, what NOT to do, and how to approach me and people like me in DMs to increase your chances of us showing you around and introducing you to the car scene in Tokyo and Japan.

And in case you’re wondering who the heck I am, please take a look at this blog entry where I introduce myself or at my links here!

First of all, I will give you the same TLDR answer I gave on my TiKTok when answering this question (but don’t worry there’s a lot more to it, so keep reading):

“How do I find car meets in Tokyo?”

“You don’t!”

IT MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK IT’S LIKE

That is, in most cases, the sad truth. Too many people expect to come to Tokyo, stay here 2-5 days, and join that “Fast and Furious” life. Well, let me tell you, there seems to be a misunderstanding.

Tokyo is not entirely what you see on social media. We creators do post frequently, and it may give the impression that from the moment you land, you will be immersed in a sea of tuned cars, with loud engines, sexy people checking the motors, gatherings of hundreds in secluded parking areas which somehow everyone knowns about.

Let’s burst that bubble so we can get to the reality of things.

Compared to most other places, Tokyo does have frequent gatherings. Japan as a whole also hosts an incredible number of events ranging from car shows to drifting, racing, drag racing, low-rider shows, and more.

If you want to find public events and public meets, all you have to do is look at this calendar or follow my IG (many others will also repost meets and events).

If you want to see is those “Fast and Furious” meets, those are harder to find, and for good reason.

SECRET MEETS

Private or invite-only meets, is where things are harder because, well, they are private. The cooler more “underground” meets are fundamentally gatherings of friends (often many groups of friends) in the same place. These friends happen to share a passion for cars, and many have pretty cool cars.

But you don’t just stumble upon these places. Well, you might, but that’s mostly luck.

Since tourism re-started rampant here in Japan, it’s become hard to host or participate to meets and enjoy them. The large influx of people flags the police which usually promptly shuts the meets down (yes, meets are illegal in Japan, regardless of how peaceful and quiet they may be, and regardless of the fact that all cars parked are paying for parking).

There used to be a time when “secret meets” were extremely rare. Most of the time, people would post meets’ times and locations online for everyone to see. Now, that is not the case. They may post that there will be “a meet next week” but not where or what time. That information usually gets released the day of with the request to not share that information.

Why is that, you may ask? Because if organizers didn’t do that, literally thousands of people would show up and the meet will get shut down before it starts.

Times change and what used to be a gathering of passionate people and friends wanting to share their love for cars, is now a tourist attraction (a prime example being Daikoku PA – but we’ll touch upon that later).

So, local car people started feeling like fish in a bowl with tourists camping certain parking areas like UDX in Akihabara, or parking areas in Shibuya where they think meets happen every week. The result? The police have those areas on a watchlist. Meets there are now almost impossible (especially in Shibuya).

Locals have then decided to make the meets more secret and yes, they are still the coolest ones, even more than Daikoku, but not many people get to see them. And this brings us to the reason why you’re all here. How do we get into these secret meets?

HOW TO GET INTO SECRET MEETS

You need an invite or you need to be with someone who has an invite and knows the location. The information usually leaks online but not fast enough for many people to find it.

Generally, as a tourist, you’ll have a hard time finding secret meets because you will not have had enough time to try and meet people, talk, ask of any meets and maybe join.

It sounds crazy in this time and age, but you won’t find secret meets information on google.

Of course, many of you will still want to try so, the next logical step is contacting someone you follow online (yeah, someone you follow. There’s little more annoying than a message like “hey, I’m in Tokyo for 3 days and I wanna see some car meets” from someone who doesn’t even follow you).

The best way to do this is to choose your target well. Bigger accounts on IG or TikTok will have a lower response rate and will receive hundreds of messages just like yours (even if you’re polite). With smaller accounts, you may have a different experience.

Now, don’t just hit people up and be like “I wanna see this, take me there.”

We don’t want to. We don’t know you. We don’t care whether that is your dream.

What may have a different result is trying to establish a real line of communication. Exchange some messages if the other party is interested. Be polite and respectful; don’t make people feel like you think they owe you something.

People contact me very frequently about car meets. Dozens of times a week.

For the most part, I don’t give information and surely, I don’t drive people around BUT there have been times when I broke those habits and it was because people were nice, understanding, not pushy and respectful.

My first answer is ALWAYS “no, I won’t take you” or “I won’t give you the information.”

Sometimes people understood and we connected differently, maybe met in a different context, and then finally went together to a car meet or something like that.

If this is not something you have the inclination or time to do, don’t despair, there’s more that can put you at the top of the list.

Offer value in exchange for value. You want someone to go out of their way and take you somewhere you can’t reach or even find. That is their value. So, maybe you’re a photographer or videographer and could offer to shoot some videos or do a collaboration.

Maybe you’re a writer or editor.

Maybe you’re a model willing to shoot with the car owned by the person you contacted.

Maybe you’re an influencer willing to exchange content for content.

Maybe you’re none of the above, so you could find someone who might want to make an extra buck.

Don’t get shocked when people ask you for money to take you to Daikoku, for example. It takes money (tolls and gas are more expensive than you think). It also takes time, and finally, don’t forget that a lot of times we don’t pay just for time and expenses; we pay for expertise and knowledge. You don’t pay a doctor, or a consultant, or a lawyer purely based on their time spent with you. You pay them because they have knowledge and expertise gained through time and experience. That expertise is now of value to you.

This brings us to Daikoku tours.

DAIKOKU TOURS: FOR YOU OR NOT?

I don’t hate Daikoku tours, but I do believe a few of them have contributed to ruining Daikoku weekends. You will find many tours to Daikoku, in many price ranges. For the most part, it’s individuals trying to get some extra cash by showing and sharing something they are really passionate about. One-two cars, an in-depth cool experience.

Then you’ll find tours that bring 50-100 people per trip with minibuses, vans, caravans of dozens of cars. These are the more “corporate” tours.

Most tours will usually take you to Daikoku and maybe one other parking area, and a drive to Tokyo Tower, but they usually won’t take you to invite-only meets (or at the very least they shouldn’t).

However, Daikoku is the starting point of almost everything related to car gatherings in Tokyo. That is where you meet people, make friends, learn of different locations and events (and of course, secret meets).

You can get to Daikoku via tour, or rent your own car. I’ll write a full guide on Daikoku soon, but for now let’s go back to secret meets.

YOU MADE IT THERE. NOW WHAT?

So, let’s say you follow the right people, or made friends, or got lucky. One way or another you made it to an underground meet. Now what?

Well, enjoy your time! But don’t be the person who sits on other people’s cars, opens their doors, blocks cars from moving around because you need that shot for the Gram.

If you’re thinking now “who the hell would do that?” well, thank you, but also, you’d be surprised.

An analogy that I often use is this:

Imagine you’re having dinner with friends of yours at a large table. You’re enjoying your food, chatting, and all of a sudden a bunch of strangers come and sit between you and your friends and start taking pictures of your dishes.

Understand you’re entering someone’s “happy place,” their passion, their hang out spot, even their professional networking opportunity. So be respectful.

And don’t be worried about approaching people and talking to them. Ask questions, talk cars whether you’re an expert or you just like the color. We are all there because we love cars.

Take your pictures, videos, and viral content, but at one point, put the camera down and interact with the scene that you like so much and you so looked forward to seeing.

RECAP: the real TLDR

So, here is the actual TLDR:

• Find public meets and events on RPM Generation’s Calendar or my social media
• Get to know people in the scene before you try to get into secret meets (you can easily do that at events and public meets)
• If you really want to go to Daikoku, consider the best way to get there: rent a car, join a tour
• If you contact people online, be courteous and take some time to chat, instead of DEMANDING they take you places
• Once you’re at a car meet anywhere, be respectful, don’t invade other people’s property, and try to get to know the locals. It goes a very long way towards finding more meets.

And this is all for today, but it may not be fully all. Feel free to comment here and ask questions. Let me know if you’d like more guides like this. Write down what you think I missed. Take a look around the website and let me know if there’s something you wish were or were not there! I’m all ears!

Until next time and stay tuned! (get it?)