15.07.2025
At this point on tour de force, we’re still in Carlow, still in Muine Bheag; meeting Mark and Leah each day. You couldn’t ask for better guides. The storytelling and insight, the extensive historical knowledge, the innovation and ingenuity, levity and wit that comes with knowing a place like the back of your hand. This day last year we took a detour to visit Mark’s mechanic who was interested in seeing the Renault 4. Arriving at a large, busy garage with ample parking for vehicles of all sizes, we introduced ourselves and the bonnet of the Renault, the Quatrelle, the 4L was popped for engine chats. After that we were given a tour of some incredible restoration projects at varying stages of completion. One particularly meticulous and dedicated project; the construction of a set; the Fujiwara Tofu Store from Initial D, a Japanese cult classic manga series.
Bunta Fujiwara is the owner of this Tofu Store and every morning, before dawn, his son Takumi makes tofu deliveries from a mountain top in the Kantō region, to customers living in the surrounding cities and towns. Bunta is secretly a retired downhill street racer who is conditioning his son Takumi into becoming a racing prodigy. Throughout the series Takumi improves daily reaching higher speeds and taking sharper bends on his delivery routes, whilst never spilling the tofu water in the drinks holder of his father’s old Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86).
Each episode, Takumi faces challenges from rivals, racing them in the AE86, which becomes mythologised as he overcomes greater obstacles and beats faster opponents. While the characters are fictional, and loosely based on legendary Japanese racers of the past, the locations where races take place in the series are based on actual locations in Japan.
The Fujiwara Tofu Store set, outside a garage in Co. Carlow is a passion project in celebration of the AE86. Made especially for the enjoyment of a niche interest community of JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) enthusiasts. We didn’t get to see the completed set during this visit, but we were told it would be unveiled for fans of the AE86 so they could come and meet up, have a photo op, chat with one another, exchange parts, knowledge and so on.
The AE86 is incredibly popular in Ireland, particularly in Donegal where there’s an enduring subculture focused on modifying and tuning Japanese-market cars. And actually, Ireland is widely recognised by automotive historians as having the highest number of AE86 cars in the world outside of Japan. More on this in August, when we meet with visual artist, Cliodhna Timoney in Killybegs at a vintage car rally.
The encounter at the garage was not documented visually, however…Jack Corbett, a sound artist and musician working with Muine Bheag Arts created a beautiful radio show about the Muine Bheag x tour de force exchange. In this soundscape, document, artwork…you’ll hear more about our adventures in Muine Bheag and our detours that day…
