Japfest Riga: A Meeting of Japanese Car Fans in the Baltic Countries

On Saturday, April 22, the meeting of Japanese car fans, Japfest Riga, organized by jdm.lv, took place near Arena Riga. More than 250 members of Japanese car clubs from the Baltic countries have come to Riga to share knowledge about car history, technical specifications, show their JDM projects and have a good time.

JDM cars are specially developed and designed for the Japanese market, but many car enthusiasts from all over the world buy these cars for their power, equipment, engineering, unique design and also the car’s cult status. It should be noted that importing JDM cars can be difficult and expensive, as the cars are not manufactured to European standards.

Japanese car tuning styles have greatly influenced the world of car tuning. These styles reflect the Japanese car culture and internal competition to stand out from the rest in a positive way, such as drift culture, VIP tuning, Time attack and others. Some of their elements, including the rim design, have become part of global car culture.

In the “VIP” nomination, the 1992 Lexus LS400 from Lithuania won the prize, which stood out with its unique coloring, high-quality car seat and authentic rims. In the nomination “JDM Poster Car”, the 1998 Nissan Skyline R34 GTT from Estonia won, which has become one of the most popular JDM cult cars in the world thanks to the car’s design and performance. The 1977 Datsun 280z from Lithuania gained the most popularity in the audience vote. In the nomination “JDM Unsung Hero”, the award went to the 1995 Suzuki Cappuccino from Estonia, this is a car that belongs to the very small car category, or Kei Car, which is a separate small car category in Japan. The width of this car is only 139 centimeters. The 1990 Honda CRX from Latvia was recognized as the lowest car, and the 1988 Toyota MR2 from Latvia won the award in the “JDM Classic” category.

Jdm.lv is a social project of car enthusiasts with the aim of uniting Japanese car owners, users and supporters to organize joint recreational events. To promote young people’s interest in technology and technical sports, motor sports.

Supporters of “Japfest Riga”: Arena Riga, Inchcape Mazda, APE motors, Trackday.lv, Flancis.skrvube, JDM Emergency, Viartcanvas, Meat Chef, Rolling Coffee, Pandemonium, Kidstopcars, Volkovmedia, Designs.media, Coolcardrawing.