the custom car world of Kansai, Japan – Osaka Auto Messe 2023 – similar to Tokyo’s Auto Salon – Osaka has its own kind with a little twist of style and presentation. the last time this event was held was early 2020 right before the peak of COVID and the world closing. back again after 3 years it was very warming to see how many people were out and about attending the event. i made sure i was there at a decent time on saturday morning with my camera loaded to make effort to go through most of the halls and shoot.

this event is held at the port of Osaka near Nanko – Intex Osaka. This event has been running annually since 1997 so has plenty of returning and renowned car shops and business’ showcasing their cars and art every year. It’s estimated that well over 200,000+ people spectate this car show event over the course of the 3 days. If you’re into cars new and old just like the Tokyo Auto Salon i highly recommend visiting this show at least once in your lifetime.

below is my selection of photos from what i captured over the course of the weekend, enjoyyy x

late 2022 nishi nihon (all west japan shootout) down south at the very infamous and weathered setonaikai circuit located in ehime prefecture on the island of tokushima.

this competition in short ranges from mie prefecture all the way down south to kagoshima including the entire island of tokushima where the top 16 drivers of each prefecture go into battle with one another spread across the whole west of japan annually. the competition is spread across 3 titles, tanso (single runs), twin (twin drift paired with a partner of your choice, not a battle but to put on the most aggressive and closest performance possible) and finally an overall, regional winner from a prefecture.

below are some videos from the day, spread across 2 separate ones dividing saturday’s practice and sunday’s competition day. plenty of onboard and outside RAW footage for you to enjoy

final results
tanso (single) overall 6th place
twin dori (twin) overall 3rd place
regional winner (nara) overall 1st place

a very large thank you to drift tengoku for the amazing action photos, also featured in this month’s 2023 february issue. love alwayssss x

despite the extreme amount of people here conducting taking photos of cars extremely hard this was my perspective from this years 2023 tokyo auto salon held in makuhari messe, tokyo, japan. enjoy x

the 2022 season of D1GP has officially ended with the final round of the year being held at the newly constructed bank circuit over the back of ebisu’s infamous nishi course.

just over 12 months ago there was yet another horrific earthquake that struck the northern part of honshu (japan’s main island) up in fukushima prefecture – close to ebisu circuit causing an extremely dramatic landside from school course all the way down to the west course. converting a natural disaster into something quite beautiful within ebisu circuit the bank course was created from the landslide area. a very surreal experience to be one of the first to stand and shoot at this place especially for the concluding rounds of the 2022 D1GP season. yet another amazing year capturing thousands of photos, building more relationships and sponging up even more image training for future driving and practice.

2022 D1GP series
1st: Masashi Yokoi
2nd: Masato Kawabata
3rd: Naoki Nakamura

looking forward to the 2023 season. love alwaysss. caseyy x

2022 D1GP autopolis last weekend. enjoy x

2022年10月のドリフト天国表紙やりましたー
2022 october issue of DRIFT TENGOKU featuring my SHIRTSTUCKEDIN 3037 S13 on the front cover x

beyond words. drift tengoku september 2022 full feature on my 1号機 3037 S13 silvia.

a giant thank you to:
– N-STYLE
– STACKED RACING
– KOYORAD
– STANCEUSA
– SKY MOTORS
– PRO SHOP DIVERSION
– REMS
– D-MAX JAPAN
– JESSE STREETER
– GCG JAPAN
– GP SPORTS
– D-MAGIC
– SUPERWOW FACTORY
– PARTS SHOP TAKA
– LACK OF COLOR
– I DREAM FOR YOU
and of course SHIRTSTUCKEDIN (each and every single one of you!) x

the lead up to summer every single year in japan is by far without a doubt the busiest and craziest time of the year due to multiple events clashing together, one being kansai all stars in which for the most part everyone involved in this sport does what they can to prepare both the car and mentally for this event.

this year is my 4th year in a row driving this event, qualifying 1st for nara prefecture 2-3 weeks prior to kansai all stars at the end of july had put me in a good, somewhat confident mood for this years all stars!

i have stated this before on the blog but want to re-write it to give a little insight on how the event works and ran over the course of the day:

roughly 128 cars who attend the event.
– 5 minute practice sessions within your prefecture
– 1st session of qualifying which runs for 10 minutes (approximately 12-15 cars in each group and a total of 3-4 go through to the next round)
– 2nd session of qualifying pending you made it through the first round which once again goes for 10 minutes and 3-4 cars once again go through to the 3rd and final round of qualifying.
– lastly before the tournament (top 12) is the 3rd and final round of qualifying
– tournament (top 12) which is the battles but tanso (single runs only). this is the part that is usually shown on the kansai all stars videos on youtube released every year.
– prefecture dantai (5 cars together)
– super dantai where anyone is free to go out and take place in the extremely high number of cars running all together sun as the sun sets and the event is finished.

this year i managed to get through practice, 1st, 2nd and 3rd qualifying into the tournament (top 12) up against naoki nakamura then into top 6 against fukuyama and then into top 3 (finals) with nakagawa, hiro and myself finishing in 1st place.

below is the youtube video from the day – all outside footage from morning to PM – giant thank you to macey and keisuke for all the footage. photos are by keisuke, drift tengoku & cooper. i will do my best to be a little more mentally prepared next year to get some onboard footage.

a very large thank you to each and every single one of you lovely customers, fans, supporters globally who watched the kansai all stars live on youtube along with the insane amount of lovely messages showing love and support. this was a day i will never forget and i think will never feel real no matter how much time goes on. i will continue to keep pushing the limits with this brand and driving along with day to day life. level up forever, loveee always, caseyyy x

trying to put a lot more effort into onboard filming for my training and memories for sure however also each and all of you’s viewing pleasure. there are lots of RAW onboard and outside videos on the SHIRTSTUCKEDIN youtube including this first day back at meihan sportsland c course in the 3037 S13 in 10 months. another complete RAW edit with some outside footage to match some onboard runs. summer is definitely here in japan, drove the entire day slowly trying to ease back into the groove of how responsive and quick the car only running the car on low low boost for the entire day. as always, enjoyyyy! thanks @macey14 for the outside videos you legend! x