visiting tokyo and possibly osaka.. what to buy?!

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Trust86

Visit “Upgarage”
You’ll thank me later. Depending on the yen rate, you can get a set new defi gauges for like $500, would be close to $1000 stateside if not more. You’ll thank me later. Stay away from autobacs. The big ones sell nice shit but it’s way over priced.

The problem with Upgarage is that you have to go to multiple ones to find good parts.

More importantly, decades of Americans stationed in Japan has resulted in the regular locations w/ goods already raided by those living there. The US military personnel regularly buy stuff, post it on eBay, and use subsidized shipping to send it back to the US mainland for a hefty profit. The smarter ones (I know a few) buy parts, but wait to sell it when the yen is above 115 or higher vs USD to maximize profit due to people in the US "thinking" they got a better deal.

Don't forget, Upgarage has 3 types of shops: auto parts, (mostly) auto wheels, and motorcycle parts. Go to the wrong one (especially ones in the Tokyo area) and you've spent a ton of time going to the wrong shop.

As for Autobacs, no one truly understands what they are.

Autobacs = Pep Boys
Super Autobacs = Pep Boys with aftermarket performance parts. Everything is "overpriced" because they only sell for close to retail.

People tend to take pricing and sales strategy here and apply it to Japan, when almost none of what we are used to in the aftermarket works over there.

Originally Posted by ap3x

thats what i figured.. yeah im sure japanparts has anything i could ever want.. I just want something I can install in my car back in the states and remind me of my trip in japan.. I am already planning on checking out some of the car meets there as well.. thanks for those suggestions! will look into them

The only thing you need to know about car meets in Japan is the location. If it's in a "PA" (parking area), it will be on a toll road, and this means you need to drive to get there. No way of walking or taking a bus/train.

Originally Posted by krayzie

Exactly this since the internet has allowed us westerners access to a wide variety of JDM products the last 10 to 15 years to the point I don't even find visiting big city centers all that attractive anymore. Japan truly has a lot to explore other than shopping.

I don't know about car parts but for most other things in Japan, rare these days is usually associated with discontinued deadstock items and the prices are astronomically high (that's if those Chinese resellers haven't raided them already like how Japanese resellers used to come to America to buy up vintage clothing).

I've done this "auto parts shopping" thing since 2005, in hopes of finding stuff just like everyone else. At some point it becomes a futile exercise, mostly because it takes some time to understand where to get parts from.

[Trust86]

At upgarage they have access to look at their entire stock across all their stores. So if the upgarage you go to doesn’t have it but one 8 hours away does, they will ship it to your store for free. Atleast that’s how it was when I was there. Yes there are 3 different types I should have specified that, I forgot all about it. I have zero complaints with upgarage, the staff have always been friendly and excited to help you out no matter what. And if you go to the store in Atsugi/Yokohama area, the D1 drifting driver works there, he competed in the states this season driving the gtr
Best to know someone out there to get new jdm parts cheap.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by Trust86

At upgarage they have access to look at their entire stock across all their stores.

Yes but this also assumes 1) you have staff or friend that can speak English that can translate for you, and 2) you know exactly what you want.

Considering OP doesn't even know what they are looking for, it's not exactly the easiest to look for parts this way. Google Translate may help but it's a slow and tedious process.

[Cal3000]

Go to Super Autobacs. They sell turbo kits in store.