Doshisha's Car Club Newcomer Event

This past Saturday, I went on an adventure with the Doshisha car club and three of my friends from my dorm. We traveled down to the Kyotonabe garage and then departed on a two hour drive into the mountains. Nestled among the hills lies one of Japan's most famous drifting tracks, which my friend Ethan said he immediately recognized from some of the racing games he had played growing up.

The day was a special event to celebrate the new freshman joining the car clubs from various schools but then the Kansai area. Pro drivers and drifters were at the event, and they took students along in the cars on the track! I even got to go, which was an exhilarating experience to say the least. Video credit to my friend @bdrhn_demir . Many companies were also at the event as sponsors, and they had a small period of time where each student group went around to the various booths for recruitment purposes.

At the end of the event, there was a raffle where lots of random prizes were given away. It was a lot of fun talking to all the Japanese students in my club about which cars they liked the most, and which they wanted to own when they are older. I may have stated in a previous post, but I absolutely love the car culture here compared to America. Everyone is so supportive and appreciative of each other, unlike the showboaty, competitive and cliquey culture back home.

The drive back to the garage was beautiful with the sun setting. Thankfully our driver had a playlist that was pretty much the same as mine, and took us through some twisty corners on the mountain at an exciting pace.