The custom scene’s calendar is stacked with bike shows the world over—but none of them are quite like the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show. Colloquially known as ‘Mooneyes’ (named for the company that organizes it), it’s a show as unique as the Japanese custom scene itself.
Held in the Pacifico Yokohama exhibition center, Mooneyes has the unique distinction of being a one-day-only event. Which is a little crazy, when you consider the sheer volume of custom motorcycles and hot rods on display, and the sprawling vendor stalls that line each end of the venue. Still, Mooneyes is a must-visit.
Our good friends and talented photography power couple, Marc Holstein and Christine Gabler, are massive fans of the show—and Japanese culture in general. They attended their first Mooneyes in 2019 and had planned to go back the following year. But then the pandemic hit, and global lockdowns left them stranded at home in Germany.
By December of last year, things had mostly returned to normal, and another pilgrimage to Mooneyes was on the cards for Marc and Christine. Since we couldn’t be there ourselves, we hit them up for a report.
“After Japan finally opened its borders again, it was clear that we had to go and finally meet up with friends and relatives, and start working on personal projects again,” says Marc. “We managed to combine everything with a visit to one of the world’s finest custom shows.”
“The Mooneyes show was impressive, to say the least. As usual, it was perfectly organized—and the level of the custom builds was simply jaw-dropping.”
Since this was the show’s 30th anniversary, the custom builders that attended pulled out all the stops. Frequent show visitor, Winston Yeh of Rough Crafts [above], was in attendance again. Although he’s based in Taiwan, he keeps a close eye on the Japanese scene.
“They never copy others, and they don’t care about the world’s trends,” he says. “They all try to develop their own distinctive style, so there’s never a need to compare price or fight each other. If a customer likes your style they’ll come to you, plain and simple.”
“You can see that café racers are not the main focus of the show,” Marc adds. “But there were certainly some nice examples to see.”
“However, the chopper builds were simply outstanding—and for somebody that comes from a totally different motorcycling background, I have to say that I fell in love with some of the builds shown. The level of detail, the paint jobs, the perfection…it’s hard to put into words.”
We’ve already profiled the bike that won the ‘Best Detail Work’ award at this edition of the HRCS; a stunning Harley Dyna by Takuya Aikawa at Sureshot. And tomorrow, we’ll have an exclusive on the ‘Best in Show’ winner; a mind-blowing shovelhead from the Japanese custom scene stalwart, Custom Works Zon [above].
Check back later this month too, when we’ll be featuring the latest build from Cherry’s Company builder, Kaichiroh Kurosu. It’s based on a BMW HP2 Sport—and like everything Kurosu-san touches, it’s out of this world.
We asked Winston and Marc to list their personal favorites from the show. “I was debating between Sureshot’s new bike, Custom Works Zon’s full aluminum bike, and Humongous Custom Cycles’ shovelhead—which is very close to my taste,” Winston tells us.
“A few that I would like to mention would be Custom Works Zon, Hide Motorcycle, and Hammers Cycle with their beautiful knucklehead beach racer. Winston from Rough Crafts also brought his custom Royal Enfield to the show.”
Poring over Marc and Christine’s photos has us jonesing to go back to Mooneyes. The visual overload of highly imaginative vehicles, all crammed into one chaotic day, juxtaposed against Japan’s distinctly polite culture; it’s something to behold.
And then there’s the people themselves. Most of Japan’s top custom builders are simultaneously the most talented and most humble people you’ll ever meet. It’s almost as if they don’t realize quite how much they blow the rest of the world’s minds with the level of creativity and craftsmanship that they produce; to them, it’s business as usual.
All this to say, if you haven’t been to Mooneyes yet, add it to your bucket list right now. You won’t be disappointed.
Images by, and with special thanks to, Marc Holstein and Christine Gabler
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