“YOKOHAMA CAR SESSION-Car Life for Young People”
On Sunday 20 March 2024, an event called “YOKOHAMA CAR SESSION-Car Life for Young People” was held for the first time at the Yokohama, where car lovers under 35 years old gathered regardless of their car’s nationality or year, and a colorful one-day car museum The event was organized by three young people in their twenties. We asked the three young people in their twenties who organized the event how they made it happen.
He met fellow car enthusiasts of his generation
The plaza is filled with a colorful array of cars. In the square, where 105 cars of various nationalities, years, and makes were lined up, “Thank goodness it’s sunny!” One of the organizers of the event “YOKOHAMA CAR SESSION”, 26-year-old Kazuki Goto, smiled broadly.
Mr. Goto fell in love with the beautiful yet functional design of Giugiaro’s designs and chose the Isuzu Piazza as his first car in his first year as a working adult. Since then, he has made many car friends as he has enjoyed various car events, and has met two car enthusiasts of the same generation, Hirotaka Honda (29), owner of a Citroen BX, and Daisuke Kono (27), who brought his Honda S2000 to the event. The friendship with these two men was stimulating.
“When I started hanging out more and more with these two guys who had been enjoying the car hobby since their school days, I felt like I was behind the times ”
A Trio of 20-somethings who grew up in Yokohama planned an event
While Goto-san says he started playing with cars a little late, Honda-san, who has been a BX enthusiast for 11 years counting from his previous BX, is well-versed in the mechanics and has taken care of most of the problems with his beloved car himself, keeping it in excellent condition. Kono-san, who is also a member of the university’s automobile club, has a brilliant history of 12 cars and is already actively enjoying his car hobby as an organizer of other events.
“When I started to think that I wanted to use my youth to create events that I could enjoy with my friends, I asked Kono if he would like to hold an event in his hometown of Yokohama.”
Mr. Goto said. Then Mr. Kono initially replied, “It would be nice if we could do it”. Then Mr. Honda joined in, it became “Let’s do it!”.
Senior members of the car hobby backed up the realization
When Mr. Goto discussed his dream of holding an event with me, it was Mr. Ariyama, who organized the Yokohama Historic Car Day at the same Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse for more than 10 years, who was happy to support me. He encouraged the realization of the event by sharing all his past experiences.
“This plaza in the Red Brick Warehouse is under the jurisdiction of Yokohama City and there is a screening process, but I wrote a proposal and submitted it with the advice of Mr. Ariyama. When we successfully passed the screening, Mr Ariyama was as happy as if it were his own.”
As Mr. Goto, a Piazza rider, looks back in this way, Mr. Honda of BX continues:
“That made me feel prepared. I and Kono split up the invitations to people who had participated in the event in the past and owners of the same generation who were active in the event, and we invited the participating members.”
According to Mr. Kono of S2000, the recruitment process was a struggle.
“We were worried about the choice of cars, or rather the selection of people, and we wanted to recruit from the general public, but with three people we might not be able to cover it and cause trouble, so we approached three people we knew.”
“We want to connect car culture with the theme of youth”
As a result, the venue’s capacity of about 100 cars was filled with their acquaintances and friends, which means there are many people of the same generation enjoying the car hobby. The fact that the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse was chosen as the venue for “a place to display the cars of friends of the same age” was also inevitable for them, as all three of them grew up in Yokohama.
This is how the YOKOHAMA CAR SESSION brought together 105 cars of various genres from owners under 35 years of age from all over Japan, including as far away as Shikoku and Hokuriku. We spoke to the three leaders, Mr. Goto, who looked refreshed after the event.
“I would like to thank everyone who made this event possible, including my fellow entrants who took part, everyone who helped guide us, those who helped with transport, and everyone who supported us and set up a booth. “The theme is ‘youth’, so there will come a day when we will pass the baton to the next generation. Until then, we want to make it the best it can be.”
translated by DeepL