Tokyo
Tokyo, as Japan's capital with a metropolitan area exceeding 37 million people, embodies a fundamental contradiction: being "the most difficult city to own a car" while serving as the nation's economic center. Monthly parking exceeding ¥50,000, garage certificate acquisition difficulties, and narrow urban roads suppress automotive culture, while distances of 90km to Fuji Speedway and 380km to Suzuka Circuit create "urban circuit refugees." Late-night meetings at Daikoku PA and Tatsumi PA serve as the only liberation zones—in Tokyo where simply parking a car for viewing costs ¥50,000 monthly, the culture of "displaying cars" dominates over "driving cars."
Tokyo's motorsport enthusiasts form a peculiar class: "money but nowhere to drive." IT executives earning over ¥10 million annually commute weekends to Fuji Speedway (90 minutes via Shuto Expressway and Tomei) in GT-Rs, bearing daily track fees of ¥30,000-50,000 plus fuel and tire wear. Suzuka is too distant (5 hours one-way), spawning the self-deprecating term "Tokyo people who settle for Fuji." Tsukuba Circuit (80km via Joban Expressway) is "affordable but too technical for beginners," while Motegi (120km via Kita-Kanto Expressway) is perceived as "oval-focused with road course as afterthought"—from Tokyo, every destination is "neither here nor there."
Tokyo's vehicle culture skews heavily toward "modifications for display." GT-Rs, Supras, and Fairlady Zs gathering at Daikoku PA invest hundreds of thousands of yen in exterior, wheels, and coilover suspension while "never having circuit experience" is not uncommon. Tatsumi PA (directly under Rainbow Bridge) retains vestiges of its past as "street racing holy ground" at the origin of Shuto Expressway C1 Loop, but now under strict police surveillance, "stopping results in questioning." Young Tokyo residents rebelling against "rich people's exhibition culture" migrate to rural circuits—the economic rationality that "money for buying a car in Tokyo can buy both house and circuit annual pass in the countryside" generates "Tokyo exodus groups."
Fuji Speedway represents Tokyo residents' "only realistic option," but Toyota ownership, rivalry against Honda's Suzuka, and the 1.5km straight create personality that spawns "Fuji faction vs Suzuka faction" debates. Tokyo residents assert Fuji's convenience, but suffer humiliation when Kansai people mock "Fuji is only straights, Suzuka is comprehensive ability." The Fuji Speedway Hotel (Hyatt-operated) opened in 2022 offers "luxury of sleeping at the circuit" from ¥50,000 per night, attracting Tokyo's affluent—the pattern of "Saturday night hotel stay → Sunday morning driving → evening return to Tokyo" has taken root. However, Suzuka fans criticize: "Hotel camouflage can't fill the course layout gap."
Tokyo's dilemma is cohabitation of "Japan's greatest financial power" with "Japan's worst driving environment." Despite possessing the largest concentration of motorsport company headquarters, flagship tuning shops, and imported car dealerships, there's nowhere to actually drive. This results in "armchair theorizing" proliferation—the majority of "Tokyo supercar culture" discussed in magazines, YouTube, and SNS is vanity without actual driving, as rural circuit regulars cynically observe. "Tokyo is where cars are consumed, rural areas are where cars are driven"—this role division solidifies Japan's motorsport hierarchy.