[Previous entry: "Midterms = Pain"] [Next entry: "Izakaya with Tokyo Josh and Ray"]

I know this is a little late as I did this over a week ago but here it is anyway. Before leaving I used to sing the praises of Up Garage on a daily basis and share the stories of amazing parts for cheap prices. As a favor for friends back home, I promised to open up this resource to them so they could get what they wanted for cheap.


What is Up Garage? Oh, I suppose I should explain that part first huh. In Japan there is little value held on used products of any kind. As a social quirk, if it isn't new, it isn't worth having (which is strange because they hold incredible value for their tradition and their past). Because of this, used goods depreciate amazingly quickly. This fact is true whether you're refering to car parts, cars, books, movies, or anything else. To give you an example, I went to a used book store and bought a stack of famous car-related books for 1/5 their original cost even though they were in perfect condition. What does this mean for you and your tuning parts needs? It means you can get brand name performance parts, in good condition, for insanely cheap. That in essence is the business model behind the Up Garage store chain. Up Garage has locations spread out all over Japan, all linked together with a massive online website where they keep close watch on stock on anything you could possibly need/want.


This of course meant I had to find a location near me and go as soon as humanly possible. Last weekend I headed out to Neil's house for a night of tomfoolery with a saturday packed with car parts shopping to follow. After a quick morning install of a boost controller on his Laurel, we set out for the Up Garage in Koshigaya (a location 3 train stops from my station).





Immediately upon entering the parking lot I was in need of new panties as I had soiled mine from joy. Outside, different zesty cars were parked with enthusiasts tinkering around in the engine bays.





Here is the entrnace to Up Garage Koshigaya. This specific location is one of the smaller locations compared to the ones I had visited on previous trips, but, it still had a large stock of awe-inspiring goods. You can see Neil's shit-eating grin as he walks without looking where he's going into the store.





Half of the entire store is wheel and tire combinations with everything you could possibly want from oldschool rare wheels to newschool volks, works, and gram lights. The prices for the wheel and tire setups were ranging from $200 to upto $1100 (for options like 19X10" Volks).





This is the wall of sexy. Bride, Racaro, performance stock, etc; all found for price less then half of retail. Also, they had a pile of seat brackets and sliders for every application for pennies.





Want an exhaust system? want a brand name like HKS or Trust with dyno proven performance? Got $100-$200 bucks? Done.





Hallways full of intercooler kits littered the store. Stacks of blitz, ARC, and trust sold for $300 bucks to whoever would want them. It really is quite amazing seeing all the parts you used to only being able to shop for online, stocked on shelves like it was Walmart. Being in the presence of such quality parts all the time has desensitized the Japanese as they kept giving me weird looks everything I'll let out a squeal of excitement.





An aisle entirely full of coilovers for every car was also on point.





And on the other side of the aisle, performance springs for pocket change. Interested in lowering your car? A $50 bill can get it done with brand name springs.





I know a certain few who have a special place in their heart for Kazama suspension pieces...so this picture is especially for you. Yes, it's cheap, yes it's in stock and ready to pickup that day. Still, the idea of wanting something for your car, buying it that day at a store, then having it on your car by the end of the day...fantastic.


After I got kicked out of Up Garage for dry humping some S13 aero parts, Neil told me that Autobacs also had stores devoted to second hand parts. The location nearest to us was also much larger in size compared to the Up Garage in Koshigaya.








Whenever I get a chance, I always snap shots of Skylines cruising down the road. I think it's fair to say you'd probably do the same thing if you were me.





In a previous post I shared a trip to Yashio Factory. Yashio is the city Neil lives in and is about 20 mins from my house as well. Yashio is simply the name of the city Yashio Factory is located in and has no special or myserious Japanese meaning behind it.





And viola, here we are. A cool thing about second hand parts stores in Japan is that after you buy the parts, you have the option to then have them perfessionally installed on your car right then and there. That's what the service pit you see before you is for.





Here is their much larger wheel selection. That sign up top denotes RWD wheel sets. They're sorted in inch size (17", 18", 19", etc.) along with the type of car they should be put on. Again, all these wheel and tire sets are cheap as all hell and installable right there on the spot, same day. MMMMmmmmm.





Here is Autobacs wall-o-sexyexhausts. I found a an Apex'i N1 catback without a single scratch on it for an FC3S for $175. It's like a magical world where all the cheap low quality american performance parts have been changed out for Japanese performance brand name parts without a price change *Glee*. I suppose to them though, these are just domestic manufacturers so what's the big deal right?





Strut Bar aisle. Cusco strut bars going for $20-$50.





I actually liked this selection of racing seats better then the one at Koshigaya Up Garage because of the amount of Bride seats they have. If you knew me back in the states, you knew I have a great love for Bride seats (evidence of which is a pair of pants with a Bride patch affixed to it). Oh, those R32 GTR stock seats you see on the ground, those are $100 (price in the states is like $600 or some retarded price).






This aisle is dedicated of performance ECUs. Mines tuned, Power FCs, whichever, all here. I didn't buy much except a present for a friend of mine who just had a baby (CONGRATS SHEM!) back in the States, and a set of S15 tailights for $20. Heh, funny thing about the S15 tails is that it cost me less to buy these tails and turn them into a lamp for my room, then it would for me to actually buy a real lamp at a store.


After we were done shopping we headed out to the highway to do some cruising. Due to rain though, most highway racers and car enthusiasts stayed home. We decided to go to Daikokufuto (see previous post for my last visit there) to see if anyone was hanging out there. We were in Luck! There were a few performance cars but mostly performance sound system cars and trance heads where hanging out.





This guy has way too much money in his little girl van. He was also playing California rap videos at obscene volume levels. I guess snoop dog is well received out here in Tokyo....even though these Hip Hop kids have absoultely no idea what he, or other rappers, are saying in their music.





This R33 gave my loins a quiver when he decided to rev it up. Actually...I recorded it. There was some failure with the audio but you still can get the general idea of his fire breating RB26.