Historic Japanese Classic Car Gathering
Some may call it “NorCal”, some will call it “The Bay Area”. I’ll just refer it as “Northern Cali”. Historic Japanese Classic Car Gathering “Shokuji J-Tin” (HJCC) was held on April 20, 2012 at San Leandro, California. For those unfamiliar with HJCC, their goal is to gather old school Japanese car enthusiasts from the area into one central location for people like you and me to enjoyJayson (DaYUUMJayce) and I flew to San Francisco Airport (SFO) early Saturday morning, to meet up with our good friend Patrick. As many of you may (or may not know) we featured Patrick’s Corolla back in November as one of our top car choice at SEMA 2012 due to its elegance and quality under the Enkei booth.We started our morning “in awe” just admiring Patrick’s work of art as it came out of hiding.
We finally hit the road with the Corolla hitched behind us. We cruised along San Mateo Bridge while people slowed down and stared... not because of Patrick's Filipino driving skills nor was it because of our stunning good looks but to admire the appeal of the Corolla SR-5. For a minute or so, we felt like celebrities of the highway.
As we near the event, we started to see more and more Japanese classics. The excitement and anticipation grew as we got closer to the the event which had a great setting next to the waters of San Francisco Bay.
At the event there was an abundance of old school Toyota's, Datsun's and Mazda’s, it was truly amazing to admire these cars which are 40+ years old. To be honest, I didn’t know there were so many of these Japanese classics around the bay area.
This venue was like a miniature version of Japanese Classic Car Show (JCCS) down in Long Beach, California. The parking lot was right next to the water and had a gorgeous view of the Bay, perfect for taking pictures.
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We also had the opportunity to have small Q and A with one of the event coordinators, James, of Historic Japanese Car Gathering. Though it was brief , it went a little bit like this…DaYUUM: What does Shokuji J-Tin mean? And what is the theme behind this event?James: Well the theme behind this event was to gather cars and food. "Shokuji" in Japanese means meal and "J-Tin" is what people called classic Japanese cars.DaYUUM: How did it all start?James: These events started about 5 yrs ago, I owned a classic car but at the time there was really no seen for it where I could just go out and meet fellow car owners and just hang out. There were probably few events out there but none that really brought all of the car brands together. Usually the Toyota owners stuck with the Toyota owners and the Datsun owners stuck with the Datsun owners. I owned a Honda an there was no crowd for me and I like all classic Japanese cars. So for some reason I decided to just hold an event. “cause if u want something you gotta just do it lol” Then later along the road I meet my partner Ivan and asked me if I wanted to do this stuff at a larger scale and told him sure. The first thing we did was gave our selves a name and its been a hit ever since lolDaYUUM: So James, when did the first gatherings start?James: My partner Ivan and I have started doing these events as a team about a year ago.DaYUUM: Does your show mimic other gatherings in Japan?James: I think the event is unique in its own way but has the same camaraderie as the events in Japan. I would actually be really honored if it where to be compared to any events in Japan. LolDaYUUM: Why did you choose San Leandro as your location?James: Well the reason why we chose this location is because it was right off the water and we knew that it would give it a nice background for the photographers.DaYUUM: Do you see a large support of old Japanese classics in NorCal or is it still bigger down in SoCal?James: I think that there is a big following of classic Japanese car enthusiast in NorCal and the following is growing cause there is more exposure. SoCal scene is a bit bigger because I think there is more exposure down there for instance JCCS plays a big role in that.
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Being that this is my first time attending this event, this experience was not to forget. We spent the majority of the time floating from car to car fascinated on how some builds were. Every build took time, patience and passion. Just as you enjoy being around your car, you will always find a way to get inspired and looking DaYUUM Fresh!
Finally, as we round up our coverage of HJCC, we just wanted to give a special shout-out again to Patrick Ng, Ed "Boogie" Dizon, Ricky Silverio, James Vorasane, Ben Hsu, and the crew at Japanese Nostalgic Car as well as Historic Japanese Car Gathering for their hospitality. Till the next meet!-Scottie
