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Tokyo Auto Salon is like candy for your eyeballs

Weird and wonderful mods and customs cover the floor of this eclectic show

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Tokyo is the home of two major automotive events that are opposed in almost every way. One, the biennial Tokyo Motor Show, features the latest creations of all the major manufacturers, immersed in their visions of the future. The other, the Tokyo Auto Salon, is all about aftermarket parts, tuner shops, car magazines, race car builders and luxury car modders, and the latest iteration took place just last month at Makuhari Messe, just a few kilometers east of Tokyo. 

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If you are exclusively into cars with matching serial numbers, original paint and detailed history, this might not be the right place for you. On the other hand, you don’t have to be into flashy cars and custom kits made of body filler to enjoy the Auto Salon. Anything goes there and the extreme modifications that cars can receive will never leave you indifferent. One can only be in awe in front of a Lamborghini covered in Swarovski crystals, or a 400km/h street legal V12 powered Toyota Supra that has got its owner arrested all over the world. It might be stupid for some, interesting to others but, like a train wreck, looking away is hard. 

The Tokyo Auto Salon mixes all kinds of people and all kinds of styles – and a lot of weird.

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