Detour Pit Stop #37: Daikoku, Tokyo, Japan
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The best car park in the world sits below an expressway intersection on a man-made island in Tokyo bay.
Why the superlative? It’s not because of the vending machines or its location beneath the elevated concrete noodles that form part of the Tokyo Shuto Expressway Bayshore route. It’s because of the cars and owners you find there.
The Daikoku parking area has been the venue for organised and impromptu car gatherings for over three decades. It was a meeting spot for the infamous Midnight Club that turned Tokyo’s expressways into street circuits in the late 1980s in their tuned Skyline GT-Rs and you’ll often see the local law enforcement (wearing crash helmets inside their Toyota Crowns) discouraging bad behaviour.
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That said the atmosphere is alway welcoming, car enthusiasts gathering in branded tribes of European exotics and JDM heroes and all eager to talk about their machines. You might find a row of Nissan Z-cars next to Fiat 500s, a line-up of 911s beside Lancias.
Almost any time of the day or night you’re sure to see something interesting, but it’s at weekends or after dark when the biggest groups tend to appear. So breathe in the atmosphere, the smell of oil and cigarette smoke, swig a Pocari Sweat or a Boss coffee from a can to keep yourself awake and enjoy Japanese car culture at its very best.