08/12/2025
Gosh darn it. This sucks. I started JDM sunday in the image of AJD after going there with friends some years ago. The sheer scale it had even back then was inspiring to say the least. Running events is getting harder and harder. I just wish the Rx7 was finished so I could actually attend this one last time 💔
ALL JAPAN DAY FINAL EVENT: 22 FEBRUARY 2026
We’re very sad to announce that next February’s event will be the last All Japan Day.
When we began back in 2008, the concept was (and still is) an event where cars could park on grass and their owners could all catch up with one another once a year and talk about car stuff. No loud music, or promo girls, or fenced off areas. Cars that were a bit rough around the edges but had a great story or were well engineered would be embraced, even if they weren’t show-spec.
To be honest, we kind of thought we might have had fun with running the show for 5 years or so, and then everyone would move on to other projects, not realising it would become an SA institution and that the council would grant us very rare access to both Wigley AND Colley Reserves, and that we’d still be packing them both out, almost 18 years later.
So why end it?
The All Japan Day committee, very capably led by Kat in recent times, is a bunch of hardy volunteers who have given up significant amounts of their spare time to put on the event. Every year (and particularly since COVID) the demands placed on the committee, and associated costs, have risen significantly. While we take enormous pride in running All Japan Day for the Japanese car enthusiast community, the stresses of running it have now reached a point where they far outweigh the rewards. And we’d rather go out with a bang than neuter the event to the point where entry numbers just fade away and no-one bothers showing up.
Is the committee just getting old?
Look, probably, yes. Since the event began, we have gone from young, carefree punks talking trash on Nissansilvia.com forums, to having kids and mortgages and adult responsibilities. Hell, in 2008, the R35 GT-R hadn’t been released in Oz, and most of us hadn’t heard of any form of social media beyond MySpace. The world has changed, and the Japanese car scene has too. The OGs on the committee are feeling a bit like it’s time for someone younger, more in-tune with the current scene and more motivated to take up the opportunity to create a similar event in future years.
So what does that mean for the final event?
We will have more information coming out soon, but we just wanted to let you all know early just in case you wanted to be involved in AJD one last time. As always, the final event will be raising funds, this time for the Ruby Tuesday Foundation.
It’s a bittersweet moment for the AJD committee, as we know this will be sad news for many of you in the SA car community, but the timing is right for us to bow out and let someone else take up the mantle. There are many, many people we need to thank between now and when we wind things up, but first and foremost, thank you to all our entrants who’ve put in so much time and money preparing their cars for our events over the years, the sponsors and traders who have supported us and our charities, and all the spectators who have made the trek to Glenelg to enjoy a great day out.
Much love to you all and we’ll see you one last time on 22 February 2026 to give the event the send off it deserves.
Kristian, Kat, Bill, Hannah, Jack and Emma, with a special hat tip to Cush, Matt D and Mat T (the other OGs), Renae and Tim (former committee members) and Jeff at Shannon’s for supporting us since day dot, along with Iron Chef Imports, who has bankrolled the event expenses for a number of years.
