Akita Drift

Akita

Drift

JACOB DELGADO

About a month ago I wore a 25 year old jacket to watch a bunch of 25 year old cars slide around a track sideways.

The sport of drifting found its humble beginnings in the Japanese racing circuit sometime in the 60s or 70s and has continued to gain popularity ever since. Drifting is flashy, exciting, and all in all very cool to watch. Lucky for us Akitans, there is a nice little race track where you can go and see live drifting.

The track I’m talking about is called Shinkyowa Kart Land(新協和カートラン ド). While the track mainly serves as a go kart racing track, occasionally they have day long drifting events for full size cars. Attending the event and watching is free of charge and very enjoyable if you’re into this kind of thing. The track is tucked away in the mountains around Daisen and is very easy to find... using Google Maps of course. I got to see and experience the real Japanese drifting culture. Seeing all my favorite JDM cars fly around the track was so much fun. The people there were kind and excited to talk to me about their cars and drifting. To top the whole experience off, a professional driver let me ride in the passenger seat of his car for a few couple laps of drifting around the track. Riding in that car was an exhilarating and unforgettable feeling. I hope to go back and experience it again soon!

**Photos courtesy of Jacob Delgado

My experience as Shinkyowa Kart Land was amazing. For the first time in my life

COWORKING IN JAPAN’S COUNTRYSIDE

COWORKING IN JAPAN’S COUNTRYSIDE: AN INTERVIEW WITH MOE OGAWA

A few weeks ago, some friends and I went to paint the walls of Tanehub, a coliving, coworking space in northern Akita’s Mitane town. It was the owner, Moe’s latest idea to liven up the neighborhood and connect it to people from across Japan and around the world. The livestreamed event, “Akiya Art in Akita,” called on artistic volunteers to transform the exterior of Tanehub into a colorful, fun, and collaborative masterpiece. In our group alone, we had people representing five different countries.

It had been a little over a year since I last visited the Tanehub house, a one-story home that stands along a narrow road facing a plot of tilled land. Its interior, albeit a bit worn-down, has the charm of a traditional Japanese home - tatami mats, shoji screens, and sliding doors that open the space up to the backyard. Like many other buildings in the area, Tanehub used to be aban-