2017-02 CARBOY - Akira Nakai now
Recently, Nakai-kun has been spending only about 90 days a year in Japan.
I went to meet him.
There he was — Akira Nakai, moving entirely on his own terms.
There was a period when I used to meet Nakai-kun almost every month.
It was when he had just started working on Porsches and was trying out all sorts of ideas.
But there is one moment I still remember very clearly.
We were working on an engine somewhere when a camshaft we had randomly acquired simply wouldn’t fit into the cylinder head.
We kept groaning:
“Uhh… this won’t go… uhh…”
Then suddenly, Nakai said:
“Should we just cut it?”
What?!
Cut the camshaft…? That’s insane.
But without hesitation, he brought out a grinder and started cutting it.
It sounds like a joke—but it really happened.
There is a kind of force in him that completely breaks through what most people consider “common sense.”
It feels reckless.
It feels excessive.
But everything built through that approach is what shaped Akira Nakai as he is today.
Many people in the drifting world today may not even know this, but:
- The originator of “oni-camber” (extreme negative camber) was Nakai
- Bumpers hanging with zip ties? Also Nakai
- Wild paint jobs—skin-tone colors, military greens, matte experimental finishes—all Nakai
Much of this history, and how Nakai became obsessed with Porsches and developed his current style, is covered in detail in:
“Porsche Carrera AE86 Style Project”
He works pedals not with racing shoes, but with worn work boots.
His hands, roughened from sanding paint and preparing surfaces, grip the steering wheel.
Each detail on its own might make you think:
“That’s ridiculous.”
Some might even get angry and dismiss it outright.
But trends often come from exactly those kinds of places—the things respectable adults turn away from.
When the miniskirt first appeared, what did the so-called gentlemen and ladies think?
When loud hard rock music first started blasting, what did refined music lovers think?
Nakai-kun continues to exist by directly expressing his personal taste—without filtering it.
Today, he travels around the world responding to people who want an “AKIRA NAKAI-style Porsche.”
He brings materials with him and builds his unique styling directly on-site.
“If someone says they want my spoilers or fenders, I can’t just ship them out and bolt them on.
Every car is different—body shape, proportions, even the owner’s atmosphere.
I build it while feeling all of that. That’s the only way I can do it now.”
What began with the AE86 evolved dramatically once he reached air-cooled Porsches.
The Porsche’s natural curves and flowing surfaces became his canvas.
And then—he bends them.
Forcibly. In his own Nakai style.
The result is a form of Porsche design that had never existed before.
To some, it may look ugly.
To hardcore enthusiasts, it may feel like an unforgivable act.
But in reality, there are people all over the world who look at Nakai-style builds and think:
“I want my Porsche to look like that.”
“I can’t really do business by just shipping things from A to B.
I build my own car, I build my friends’ cars.
The people I meet around the world while doing this feel like a new kind of family or community.
So I go there, and we build it together.
That’s why I’ll go anywhere.”
Nakai-kun is extremely analog.
He doesn’t use a computer.
His phone is only for email and Line.
Orders from around the world are written down on small pieces of paper.
“Those papers over there—that’s all my current orders.
But that’s all I have.
If they get blown away or lost… I’d have no idea what I was supposed to do. (laughs)”
Anyone waiting for him somewhere in the world would probably faint hearing that.
But that is Akira Nakai.
After finishing the interview, while driving back from Kashiwa, I stopped at a traffic light.
On my left was a Porsche import dealership showroom.
Inside, brand-new Porsches sat under bright lights, polished to perfection, waiting for customers with a confident, almost smug presence.
After spending so much time looking at Nakai’s Porsches, those cars looked like something alien.
Or maybe it’s the other way around.
Maybe those are the real Porsches—and what I saw at Nakai’s place was something entirely different.
Yes… something completely different.
