For 20 years now the staff of Mooneyes Japan has been organizing and graciously hosting this massive one-day show at the intercontinental convention center in Yokohama, Japan. Starting out mostly as a car and truck show it has gained popularity as the show for choppers and custom motorcycles. That was until this year when Baggers finally made their mark in the land of the rising sun. In a big way. On every aisle of the show both home-built and professionally assembled Road Kings and ’Glides were popping up, some with wild paint and parts, and some with more sedate customization. Even Harley-Davidson of Japan was showcasing the 2012 models and its parts and accessories upgrades.
When talking with Shige, the mastermind behind the Mooneyes show, he told us that Japan seems to be following suit with the USA and many more baggers are being built and ridden that ever before. By attending this show and seeing the action ourselves, we can definitively lay evidence to that. We saw some really nice tricked-out touring bikes in the show that would rival some of the top builders in the states including a mega-modified Road Glide, a murdered-out Street Glide, and even a few pimped-out metric baggers.
Outside the show where thousands of bikes are ridden to the event, we saw more than a few FLs standing out in the sea of choppers and classic bikes. There were even some Panhead and Shovel-powered baggers in the mix.
We were there for six days soaking up what the Japanese riding public thinks about customized tourers and it seems that they are embracing them with open arms. How could they not? We all know that Baggers are a worldwide phenomenon. The rest of the planet just needs to catch up!