FAN FESTA-STIC

We go to Japan to experience Mazda's premier touchpoint

- TALK BOX By Kap Maceda Aguila

All roads lead to Fuji Speedway: A Mazda MX-5 queues up.

A BRIGHT SUN basks the verdant landscape of Oyama in the Sunto District of the Shizuoka Prefecture with a warm, reassuring glow. However, as we arrive by coach at the Fuji Speedway, the iconic Mt. Fuji after which the circuit is named still hides her majesty behind tufts of clouds. We do not get lucky this time.

Nonetheless, our delegation of media practitioners, content creators, and select members of the Miata Club Philippines are fortuitous to be here to witness another staging of the Mazda Fan Festa — an annual gathering that makes this otherwise serene and sleepy part of Japan hum with life and activity. It's everything Mazda here today. We arrive on a Sunday — the closing canto of the two-day spectacle — and there are still lots to take in and go through.

Even on the other side of the underground tunnel that gives us access to the track itself, we can hear the distinct brrap-brrap of Mazda's legendary rotary engine — shelved for use in current vehicles but whose legend and lore are kept alive by the myriad of past sports cars onsite today. "It's as characterful as it is inherently flawed," says Top Gear Philippines Publisher Carlo Chungunco of the classic mill as we sit and catch our breath after doing a lot of walking to take photos and video as well as gawk at the goings on.

Primarily made for the Japanese domestic market, the Mazda Fan Festa was first staged in 2016 — a brainchild of Mazda Motor Corp. Brand Experience (or BX) Promotion Division General Manager Eri Fujimoto, who used to be the general manager of the CS Business Development Department.