Tokyo Tuning Legend: A Visit To RE-Amemiya
Tokyo adventures

If you were to head to Tokyo as a normal tourist, there are several things you’d want to to see. You’d definitley want to go to Asakusa to see the historic Sensouji Temple. You’d want to see the world famous Tokyo Tower, and its newer counterpart the Tokyo Skytree. Don’t forget the giant Gundam in Odaiba and the nerd paradise known as Akihabara.

Car enthusiasts though, might have a slightly different itinerary for visiting Japan’s largest city. If you live and breath automobiles, your ideal Tokyo trip will probably include visits to places like Super Autobacs, Up Garage or some of the famous tuning shops that are spread across the city.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-4 copy

Of these shops, few are more well known than RE-Amemiya. If you are a fan of the rotary engine, the name Amemiya is legendary – and even if you’re not, it’s impossible not to respect what Amemiya-san and his company have done for the tuning and motorsport world.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-10 copy

During the Speedhunters Japan Expedition earlier this year, I had the chance to visit RE-Amemiya’s Tokyo shop with Dino and Sean in the days following Tokyo Auto Salon. One cold afternoon we hopped into our borrowed BMW press car and set off across a city that was still recovering from an unexpected large snow storm, bound for the Amemiya workshop.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-22 copy

RE-Amemiya actually has two facilities in the Tokyo region: a large shop in Chiba, near Narita Airport and a smaller garage located in Tokyo’s east side on the banks of the Arakawa River. The latter would be our destination on this particular day.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo copy

The primary reason for our visit was to shoot RE-Amemiya’s rotary-powered Lotus Europa that had just debuted at TAS, but being Speedhunters we knew there would always be other cool stuff to uncover.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-2 copy

So while Dino and Sean got to work at shooting the 20B-powered Lotus, I decided I’d have a little peek around the shop to see what I could find. Dino had visited the shop plenty of times in the past for various photoshoots, this was my first time. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-21 copy

Our original plan was actually to have a chat with Amemiya-san himself to get his take on the state of the industry and hear some more about his background, but unfortunately he was at home recovering from a post-Auto Salon flu bug. No worries though, there was still plenty of Speedhunting to be done.

Backstreet legend
RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-5 copy

Before I get into the shop itself though, I wanted to talk about its location. RE-Amemiya isn’t located in a busy commercial area or an industrial district, it’s tucked away in a quiet neighborhood full of apartment buildings, houses, small businesses and side streets.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-6 copy

Just walking around, you’d have no idea this unassuming neighborhood was home to the builder of some of Japan’s wildest and fastest cars.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-3 copy

Then you come across the Amemiya Building, which houses the workshop on the ground floor, and apartments on the floors above it.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-7 copy

That’s right. If you wanted to, you could rent an apartment that sits directly above one of Japan’s most famous tuning shops. The sign says “tenants wanted”.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-9 copy

As for the garage itself, it’s smaller than you might expect – as is the case with a lot of Japanese workshops. There’s room for just a few cars in here, along with tools, spare parts and equipment.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-14 copy

On the particular afternoon we visited, there were a pair of FD3S RX-7s in the shop. One was a complete Greddy Super 7 with its distinct Porsche front end…

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-8 copy

… while the other was little more than a stripped down chassis, lacking any sort of drivetrain or suspension components.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-27 copy

It’s actually a little strange just how unromantic the shop is. There couldn’t be a bigger contrast between it and the flashy, ultra-fast cars it works on.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-15 copy

If you just took a look around the workshop without seeing the cars, you could easily mistake it for any of the thousands of little industrial workshops spread across this part of Tokyo.

Rotary Heaven
RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-20 copy

But as you look closer, you begin to see things like tuning magazines stacked on top of lightweight wheels and sticky tires.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-16 copy

You also begin to notice the incredible assortment of car parts that are crammed into every corner of the small building.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-11 copy

Complete FD3S hatch assemblies hang above the garage floor…

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-17 copy

… while shelves are packed full of coilovers, turbochargers and other parts in piles, resulting in a monument that could be someone’s Burning Man art project.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-31 copy

Here you can see a Bride seat floating above a sea of other spare parts. No big deal.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-30 copy

Another work bench is home to turbo manifolds and other goodies.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-33 copy

Head upstairs and it gets even better. Shelves of rotary parts leave little doubt as to what RE-Amemiya’s speciality is.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-32 copy

Despite its modest size and unassuming atmosphere, this is anything but your typical Tokyo workshop.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-36 copy

Even the scrap pile outside the shop is full of cool stuff…

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-34 copy

Here, you can spot an old racing helmet and couple of FD3s doors in this pile. As they say, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-26 copy

RE-Amemiya’s Tokyo workshop might be one of the smaller and less extravagant of the many garages I’ve visited, but that’s what makes it so special.

RE-Amemiya-Tokyo-12 copy

It’s the whole idea of having such a famous workshop hidden away among apartment buildings and quiet alleys that makes RE-Amemiya such a fascinating and uniquely Japanese place. The tourists can stick with the crowds and souvenirs, while we explore the real gems of Tokyo.

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments



Comments are closed.

28 comments

by Oldest
by Best by Newest by Oldest
1

BRAVO!! Been hoping you guys would stop by here since i first heard of Mike making the trip to Japan. Seeing these pictures made my day, seriously appreciate it. Would be killer to live right above them haha

2

I'm reminded of why they say you shouldn't meet your heroes...  I knew they were a small shop compared to Knight Sports or FEED, but I really had no idea...  Kinda underwhelmed to be honest.
However, what I'm really drooling over though is just how much MONEY is just sitting around in that shop.  There's like $25k just in rotor housings sitting on the shelves and strewn around the shop.  If even half of those PP housings are genuine MFR housings, its closer to $30k+.  And why does there appear to be a 4-rotor just chillin' on the floor?  That's just showing off lol.  
I'd love to build an RX-3 around an MFR P-port engine someday, sort of my answer to an S20-powered Hakosuka.  If I get the money, I at least know who's got some housings for me.

Nice post as always.

Author3

Simply P Well keep in mind, this is the smaller of their shops. The Chiba location is probably more what you'd expect :)

Author4

@DZD Thank you!

5

Mike Garrett Gotcha.  My faith has been restored :)

6

Well I know where I'm moving after Uni!! Hmmmm, Tokyo, Osaka, Tokyo, Osaka........

7
turbo BEAMS ae86

make more shop features like this, esp japan.  thanks my man. amazing.  Love ROTARY power

8

I actually prefer smaller shops like this. Some of the best shops are small, they tend to worry about whats more important instead of "looking pretty". Keep the shop features coming!

9

Thanks for sharing more pics of the Europa. I think its one if my favorite feature cars on SH along with the LaSupra and Franks Exige.

10

Mike, please do a few more on the tuner shops around Tokyo!
 Im making the pilgrimage in January and it would be great to have a few more cool places to go !
Keep up the good work

11

Rotaries! Rotors everywhere! Hehehe! Love this article!

12

Autobach is the autozone of japan

13

I wouldn't mind renting an apartment there.

14

Would it be rude to dig thru the trash?

Author15

PaulDYuen Will be sure to do some of that the next time I'm in Japan :)

Author16

Chris Nuggets Thanks. I'm not sure how much those apartments run. Probably not cheap since its in Tokyo, but then again its sort of on the outskirts and not in the center of the city.

Author17

bmxatv10 You got it.

Author18

@turbo BEAMS ae86 Thank you!

Author19

Omnigear Not sure about that. I haven't been to SA for a while, but they usually have a ton of cool wheels, parts, audio equipment etc.

Author20

LouisSoon Hmmm....

21

The one here reminds me of autozone. It might be different in the bigger cities.

22

i love this car. I like chip foose's build on this model of the car as well.... but having the car gone rotary... #mindblown. One of the coolest cars from TAS

23

Omnigear I wish our autozone sold bodykits, brodway mirros, and other JDM stuff =P

24

LouisSoon I'll be joining you dumpster diving at RWB, Tomei, HKS, Spoon, and every other shop featured on SH lol.

25

Simply P I think it's a rotary kinda thing. I've worked for Hayward Rotary in the UK and their workshop is similar, just a small industrial unit which looks kinda messy from a distance. When you take a look inside though you come across all kinds of cool stuff, just like that 4-rotor that you spotted chilling on the floor. I guess it's not a matter of what your workshop looks like but what you do with it that counts ;)

Great coverage Mike, I love the intimate setting in which a lot of Tokyo shops seems to be built!

26

d_rav LouisSoon sign me up

27

d_rav Reminded me of the Foose Europa too.  Each car is brilliant in its own respect

28

wish I could visit.  thanks for the report!

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS