The second location I’ll be focusing on is Aoyama, specifically the R246 stretch of road in Aoyama. If that name sounds familiar to you then you’ve probably played Gran Turismo on a PlayStation. The R246 route on the game goes down the main R246 straight, past a baseball field, going up to the Akasaka palace and then back around to the main straight.
The R246 straight is the main start/finish straight on the game. As such, in real life a few drivers think they’re also in a video game. While there is a police station on the main intersection that doesn’t stop a few drivers from approaching this road in an enthusiastic manner.
The best spot is from the main intersection immediately in front of the Honda headquarters up to the next intersection in front of the Royal Garden Cafe/Gaienmae. But as this stretch of road is also home to some high end car dealers it doesn’t really matter where you position yourself.
I came across this road by pure coincidence. I was walking from the Omotesando district in Shibuya to Roppongi and the route Google Maps said was the quickest was via R246. That 30 minute walk would soon become one of my favourite stretches of road in the world.
A good thing about there being a few car dealerships around is that you can see test drives of the latest and greatest cars. Manufacturers such as McLaren, Porsche, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Aston Martin, Tesla, Lexus, BMW, and Bentley have test drive routes that go past the main R246 road.
So while you’re bound to see some of the newest cars out for a drive, Aoyama has a lot more to offer. You do get a wider variety than you would at say, Roppongi or Ginza. You also get more cars as this is a six-lane road connecting Shibuya to Ginza, two of the busiest districts in Tokyo.
It should come as no surprise then that you’ll see everything from Porsche 918s to Aston Martin DB6s on this road. If JDM is more your thing, being where Honda’s HQ is located you get to see a lot of Civics, S2000s, and NSXs driving by.
Classic cars are what you’re more into? No problem. Everything from Citroen SMs to Jaguar E-Types can be seen here. At one time I did also see a pre-war Bugatti and a Jaguar SS drive down this road.
If you like your cars with a big ol’ V8 and a slice of apple pie, R246 is one of the best places to see American cars. Chiefly because of how wide the roads are and how straight it is.
Being a large road, R246 also provides opportunities for double, even triple combination shots. You could have a Ferrari 458 going down one way and a Lamborghini Aventador zooming past the other and you won’t notice until you look through your photos later on.
The consistency of exciting cars on this road is beyond belief. While I personally prefer Roppongi more, R246 is a very close second in terms of my favourite road spotting location in Tokyo. As I said earlier you do see more cars here than you would from that one corner in Roppongi and while I have yet to see a LaFerrari or Enzo on R246, you are almost guaranteed to see a supercar and/or hypercar most days.
At this point it might be worth mentioning this road is often used by a few Bingo Sports customers. Like the guy who owns a Bugatti Veyron, yeah he just casually drives down here most weekends.
But that’s nothing like the guy who dailies his Paganis. Yes plural. He alternates between his white Zonda F and his gold Huayra. Seeing and hearing either one drive down this road is something you can’t get bored of.
Again, weekends are the best time to go out. Given the weather is nice and warm. Though sometimes you can get lucky when it’s raining but I wouldn’t suggest it. It’s not very fun standing out in torrential rain on an empty road.
Walking from R246 to Roppongi takes around half an hour, or you could take the Toei Oedo subway line directly to Roppongi station. If you decide to do a full day at Aoyama, 12pm-6pm is probably the best times. If you want to split your day between Aoyama and Roppongi, start in Aoyama and end in Roppongi.
It’s a long stretch of road so sticking to one spot might not be the best use of your time. Try and move around different locations on the R246 road. You’ll never know what you might see parked outside the dealerships too.
How to get there:
Aoyama-itchome Station: Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Toei Oedo Line.