Driving in Japan β 300KM in a Lotus Emira to Daikoku PA ππ―π΅
Today we’ll be driving Japan. That’s right. Driving through Japan. [Music] [Music] What’s up everyone? Today back for another adventure, but not no ordinary adventure because we’re going to go 300 kilometers traveling through Ebina to Hakone and then ending up at a very very special place which is the Daikoku parking area. A place that’s very beloved by many many car enthusiasts here in Japan. And the only way to get there is you need to have a car and you need to drive on the expressway. So in order for us to get there, we’ll have to earn our wings. And joining me today is my good friend Javi. And he is going to take us in this. Today we’re riding a style in this Lotus. So here we go. Off to our little adventure. [Music] This is my good friend Javi. Why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about your Lotus Amira? What makes it so special? This is a Lotus Amir. It’s the first edition. It’s the 3.5 L Toyota V6 with a manual transmission and sports suspension. I’ve been a lotus fan for many many years and finally I’ve been able to to buy one here. Bunga knows about that. A man and his dream and the dream has come true. And now I get to share the dream with the man. We get to cruise today. Yeah, it’s a very very beautiful car. You said the mirror is there’s not too many in Japan, right? Well, there are not so many meters. There’s not so many meters. Yeah. And but for now, we’ll just uh cruise on the expressway to get to our first stop. And then, of course, food is what the body needs, and that’s what we’re going to have first. Okay. Okay, so we’re going to have lunch up at the Hakone Turnpike, and that’s where we’re going to be heading towards now. And then after that, we’re going to go take in some views, uh enjoy some mountains, some road, and have a little adventure. [Music] All right, we’ve made it to our first stop. We are at Taikonzan Observatory and beautiful view of Lake Ashi and a great view of Mount Fuji today. Uh, believe it or not, Mount Fuji is right here, right behind me. And it’s a gorgeous view from up here. And then up here at this observation deck is where we’re going to have lunch and just take a moment here to just chill and relax before we go to our next destination. And I think we’ve worked up quite the appetite. Uh, we’ve driven I think we’ve easily driven easily over 100 km already. Wow. We’ve driven about 140 km so far. Uh, Anest Iwata Sky Lounge. This is where we’re going to have our lunch. So, it’s lunch time. What better way to enjoy lunch than my favorite meal, ramen. That’s very good. I have a very carbheavy lunch today. We got ramen and we have fried rice. Yes. Gave us a lot of energy to get through the rest of the day. So, we’re up here in a little place known as the Hakone Turnpike and we’ll probably drive a little bit more around the Hakone Turnpike. Luckily, today we got a beautiful view of Mount Fuji. So, what more can you ask for? You got a lotus, you got Mount Fuji, we got Javi. It’s all you need, which is great. We’re going to enjoy our lunch and then after this we’re going to get going and go do some more exploring. [Music] All right, we just had lunch, filled the belly, and we got the bird up in the air. We did some flying, and now we are headed off to our next stop, Minoi Hakon to Yeah. So, we’re stopping at like a roadside service area and then we’ll go check out what’s down there a little bit. Part of getting to the destination is the journey. We get to go down this beautiful nice winding mountain road. All right, we made it to our next area. This is Hakon. It’s just a parking service area. We’re just going to have an ice cream, take a short little break, use the restroom, and then uh get get going on our way after that. Got to make sure to keep the window nice and clean. Yes. At least right. Yes. At least try to nice and pretty madness. They have mango soft cream. You know what? We’re going to get one of those. We are on our ice cream and coffee break. Ice cream. Coffee break. Yeah. Then we got this beautiful view of Lake Ashi. Oh, you can actually see part of Hon Shrine over there. I seriously think one of the best ways to experience Japan is in a car. And you can see a little bit more beyond where most people are normally going. Hopefully not in the back of the cop car. Hobby says, “Hopefully you’re not enjoying it in the back of a cop car.” That means all you nuisance people out there when you come to Japan, be respectful. Where are we going next? Oh, the shrine. Yeah, we are going to where the where the boat is going to stop. Oh, okay. That’s basically where we are. We are going to go to the pier next. [Music] But I know we are at Lake Ashi in Hakone. So beautiful day. If you’re planning a trip out to Japan and you need help in setting up your itinerary, you can connect with me at farsidjapan.com. Or if you want to check out my tour packages, you can just click right here. Just remember, if you’re planning a trip out to Japan, you can connect with me at farsidjapan.com. And now back to the video. If you wanted to come to Hokon, I can actually bring you out here. It’s a very it’s a very beautiful place. I do have tours that come out here. If you are planning a trip, this is where you want to be. Right over here, Hakone shrine. The big the big old Tori gate is right over here on the lake side. And then right by the lake, you actually have the shrine itself. It’s going to be up on this side. Hakone is actually pretty easy to get around. If you’re just in this area, you can walk around. But I definitely recommend if you can do it in a charter car, it’s usually recommended. It’s best. So, right now we’re at Hakone and then we’ll probably walk up here by the shrine and then after this we’re going to go to our final destination, what you’ve been all waiting for, Daikoku parking area. That is the place. And then from here to there, it’s probably about about another hour, hour and a half drive, right? Yep. So, let’s take in the sights and sounds of Hakone. And then when we’re done here, we’ll make it to our goal, which is Da Koku parking area. [Music] So this is the big toy gate that sits on the lake right in front of Hokone Shrine. And here you actually get a lot of people because this shrine is very very popular and there’s always a long line of people waiting to take a picture in front of the Tory gate. off to the grand finale. Daikoku parking area is where we’re going to go. This is gonna be my first time going there. So, I really don’t know what to expect. All I know is that there’ll be a lot of cool cars. And for all of you out there who love cars or car enthusiasts, this is the place to go. But if you’re going to go to a place like this, how do you get there if there are no tour buses or anything that goes out there? You need to have a car and you need to go on the expressway. So, it’s a very exclusive spot if you think about it, right? Now we’re going to hit these curves on this mountain. Look at these roads. Look at these curves that we’re going down. See the curve and now experience the curve. Yeah. Super tight corners. [Music] Oh, 10 km. So, let’s try and spot. All right. So, we’ve been driving for the past several years. Years. Several years. No, actually, no. It’s been a really, really good drive. We’re very, very close to uh Daikaku parking area, and the anticipation is now building cuz for me, this is my first time. Jav, you’ve been there many times. It’s almost every weekend. Almost every weekend for him. So, this will be a very uh fun experience. So, everybody just look ahead of us, enjoy this ride, and we will be there in just a moment. You’re coming to Lake. Oh. [Music] So, we have just made it to Daikoku parking area and there is quite a crowd of people you can already see all around us. The cars here are amazing. All the cars that we see here, a ton of mod Mazda roadsters. I’m going to say right now, I think we have one of the sexiest cars here, though. Looks like we have found our parking space. This is definitely a car enthusiast’s dream. Okay. So, everybody, we got to be very careful. Parking space is quite tight. So, so here we are. Here we are. Thank you, Javi. Thank you for bringing me to this amazing place. That right there, that’s our ride. We did it. Everybody had quite the journey to get here. We’ve uh and we finally clocked in and we have finally made it to Daikoku parking area. Thank our little Lotus and thank Jav for taking good care of us. Because of him, because of Javi, we can be here today. Let’s just walk around and just see what’s here. It’s quite impressive. Look at all these cars. I’ll film this lotus, too. [Music] It’s very, very nice. [Music] My impressions of Daiko Daikoku parking area. It’s like a gigantic car show where people just come to show off their cars. And if you come here and if you love cars, they have quite the variety of different cars that you can see. And there’s quite a mix and mash of a variety of all kinds of different cars. And most people are coming here to just cruise and just kind of like just hang out. Yeah, it’s very very impressive. Like nice. I like these little pants. These are really cool, too. Yeah. What? It’s a nice clarity. Look at that. All right, everybody. As we come to the end of our fantastic journey, let’s give a good thank you to Jav. Thanks, Javi, for taking us out today. This was fun. Yes, we had a really good time. It was a good adventure. We’ll definitely have to do it again. Do you have any social medias we want people to find you? Your Instagram? Yeah. Well, I guess that Bunga is going to be tagging me, hobby_land. And then you can follow him and his Lotus Adventures on Instagram. And truly, truly a great pleasure driving with Jav today. And we made it here to Daikoku parking area. And we were able to enjoy all the mini cars. And not only that, we were actually also had a really great adventure driving from Abina through Hakone and then just checking out the area and just wandering around. It’s been a wonderful day, a great adventure driving through Japan. If you’re a car lover and you enjoyed today’s video, hit that like button, show me some love. And if you have any questions or comments, don’t forget to comment below. We’d love to hear from you. And if you haven’t already, do subscribe to the channel. And if you want to learn more about Japan, you can watch more videos here. And of course, last but not least, thank you so much. Yeah, we’ll see you on the next round. Yes, the next round. We’ll see you on the next round. Now, we’re going to go check out more stuff. [Music] And I was just told, if you’re wondering what Daikoku means in Japanese, it means big black. I’ll leave it at that. I’ll leave it to your imagination. You can figure it out. That was his joke. That was his joke, not mine. [Music]
In this video, weβre taking the Lotus Emira on a 300KM journey through Japan, from Ebina to Hakone, winding through the famous Hakone Turnpike, stopping by the Taikanzan Observatory for unreal views, and visiting the iconic Hakone Shrine β before wrapping it all up at the legendary Daikoku Parking Area (Daikoku PA).
Daikoku is Japanβs most surreal and exclusive car meet spot β and the only way in… is by car.
If you’re into Lotus cars, driving culture in Japan, or just want to see what itβs like to cruise through Japanβs mountains and highways with friends, this oneβs for you.
πSTOPS ON THE TRIP:
0:00 Ebina
01:55 Hakone Turnpike
02:30 Taikanzan Observatory
04:20 Hakone Shrine
08:45 Daikoku PA
π Featured Car: Lotus Emira 1st Edition
Big Thank You to @javi_lavandeira (instagram)
Plus sightings of: Toyota Supras, a McLaren, Mazda roadsters, Lamborghinis, and more at Daikoku.
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3 Comments
Nice car dude!
Thanks for the video, Bunga!
Quiet Gentleman LOL