Thought the Mid Night Club was the only racing scene in Japan? Too soon, Junior! The Kanjo Scene was an underground squad of Civics that raced the Kanjo Loop, as their home track during the 80s & 90s.
Located high above Osaka, 300 miles west of the infamous Wangan-sen, home of the notorious “Mid Night Club Racing” scene, the Kanjo cemented their legacy in Japanese car culture with a fondness for the Honda Civic, cat and mouse games with the police, and a function over form style that changed car culture.
If the Wangan catered to high horsepower cars that seeked maximum velocity on the long stretches and high speed sweepers, the Kanjo Loop valued agility, momentum, driver skill and technique that couldn’t be masked with brute horsepower.
The genesis of the Kanjo is shrouded in mystery, but what we do know is that the group started in the mid 80s with the 3rd gen Honda Civic as their preferred vehicle of choice due to its tunability, ▴2 its dominance in the 80s Japanese Group A racing, and most importantly - ▴3 the agile chassis which was on display on the tight & technical Kanjo loop.
Scuffed, scratched, dented, mismatched wheels caked with brake dust, and dirty from road grime, these cars were treated like race cars; valuing function over form.
The Kanjo valued anonymity over street cred. Photography was frowned upon. Drivers went as far as driving with racing nets and rocked Jason’s mask from Friday the 13th to hide their identity. The goal was to go fast and evade the police.
Due to a major police crackdown in the 90s, the Kanjo racing group eventually retreated back into the shadows, but ever so often, ▴4 the Kanjo racers come out and drive the loop ▴5 that it once dominated forevering cementing their role in Japanese car culture.
Since this club remains in the shadows, but their influences remain to this day, tag us in some Kanjo inspired race cars! We love the style and would like to see their style continue on.
