How to get there? ASM, Mooneyes

For those wanting to head back the Yokohama area for more automotive places to visit, there is always ASM and Mooneyes. These 2 are pretty much along the same road (Although about 30-40 minutes walk apart), so i'll compile their guide together.

Starting off from Shinjuku station again, take the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line straight to Yokohama Station. Switch to the Subway Minatomirai Line and head towards Motomachi station.



Head out towards the European-inspired Motomachi shopping area after you've reached the subway station. If you have the time, induldge in some fine shopping. But i was in a rush, so i skipped.


Make a left turn when you see the shopping area and continue walking along the path, along the way you'll be blasted by cold air from the "Bay" and see some American Surf-style shops too.

After about 20 minutes of walking, you'll soon see the ASM building to your right. To be frank, apart from the Wall of Recaros, you won't find much to keep you occupied.

From here on, i would seriously suggest you consider taking a taxi to Mooneyes Honmoku. The Mooneye's site has some directions if you want to take a taxi. A reason why i did not put the Google map image here is because well, it's really quite far from the station. Walking from ASM took me another 40 minutes.

If you insist on walking, just follow the same path down all the way. You will come across a few places to sit down and have a meal though. One of these places has a crazy portion of Soba at no extra price. Good if you are really really hungry.

Mooneyes will be just across the road and you will definetly see it.


By now you'd probably be really tired from all that walking(or not), pop into the Moon Cafe for some American-Deli Billy Bombers style grub.



Unlike ASM, there is sooo much to see here that you'll probably spend a good hour or two just browsing through all the "stuff". When you're done, just take a taxi back to Yokohama station. It isn't as expensive as you think. Or if you feel adventurous, try to find out if any of the buses as heading back towards the train station. For me, i took a taxi as it was alreay dark, the tempreture was dropping insanely fast and i felt it was too dangerous to attempt the 1 hour trek back.

Although Mooneyes was well worth the walk up, next time, i'll take a taxi. :P

Day 3: Part 2: Shin-Yokohama > Yokohama "ASM"

From Shin-Yokohama, i made my way down back to the main Yokohama station to continue Day 3 of my "Automotive pilogrimage" tour. Next stops were ASM, a famed tuner of the Vtec varieties and MOONEYES! Hot-Rodding and low-riding style!

Although i have no idea what "The Japan Punch" means, Yokohama does look like a beautiful place to re-visit the next time i go back to Japan, with cobbled streets and plenty of interesting machinery running along as i walk towards my destination.

During my trip, i came across a number of G-Wagens. I think they look totally badass.

A Super-7 went by as i was waiting to cross the (freezing cold) street,

and this Daimler limosine cruised by as i was walking along the sidewalks. People living in Yokohama sure seem loaded.


Plenty of walking to go before i finally reached ASM. It's quite a small unassuming building housing some pretty cool parts for the Vtec aficionados.



Oh yes, there's that. The wall of Recaros. Have you seen so many Recaros on display in a single location before? It's pretty cool.


An S2000 and a customer's Fairlady sitting in the workshop getting prepped.


Magnificent looking Vtec hearts are put on display inside the shop. Check out that V6 unit from the NSX. Carbon airbox, ITBs. One can only imagine how soulful a sound can that engine make.

Thermal wrapping on a manifold. Intense.





Full Carbon door panels on display alongside various tuning parts(which all costs a bomb).

Beautiful purplish-tint on a Recaro.


Some of you might think i don't know a thing or two about bikes! HAH! You are right! Although i can tell it's a Ducati, i have no idea which model it is. But it's on display in the shop too. So some pics for you Bike-lovers.

As i was heading out onwards to MOONEYES, i took some shots of the carpark area just behind the shop.


Various S2000 cars lined up outside along with the customer's Fairlady. My visit to ASM was pretty brief, but because it wasn't a massive shop, i think i managed to cover most of it.

As i started to walk towards MOONEYES, it was beginning to get cold, so i popped into a Soba joint for some food and to escape from the chilly weather.


Soba was pretty good (It was turning out to be a Tempura day of sorts), Tempura with Soba and a nama-tamago at the side. My portion of Soba was "normal", they had larger portion servings with "large" as one-level up and "Mt. Fuji" as the biggest. No additional charges for the bigger portions too.

As i was finishing up, these Japanese chaps came in and had a much larger serving of Soba, no idea if it was the "large" or "Mt. Fuji" servings though. They were all talking cars if i heard correctly. ("GTR" is a pretty universal word)