BADSEKI: Can you take us through the story of Splash? What came first, designing or drifting?
Ryota Hirakawa: So, I’m Splash. Well, everybody calls me Splash, but my name is actually Ryota Hirakawa. I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. I make stickers and designs for cars, liveries. Mostly I design liveries for drifting cars because I drift myself, so that’s what I do for a living. When I was about 15 or 16 years old, I started RC car drifting, and around that time I also started designing myself. So I would say design actually came first. It really just grew from a passion. I was thinking drift cars were super cool, and everyone had a different style of liveries, different logos, colors, graphic designs, and graphic styles. Everything was always different, and that’s the part of design that I really liked.
When I was a junior high school student, a friend of mine showed me some very old Video Option DVDs, like volume 100 or something like that. Then after that I watched D1 Grand Prix 2002, and I think that was the first time I saw real drifting on video. My mind was completely blown. I kind of knew that I wanted to do that.
BADSEKI: What were your first impressions of drifting, and which cars or drivers inspired you early on? Did that influence the first car you bought?
RH: One of my earliest memories of drifting comes from watching old videos. I remember seeing a purple A31 Cefiro driven by Takashi Haruyama, with a body kit from Car Modify Wonder, which was a very famous kit at the time. There was also Team Orange’s orange FD3S driven by Masatoshi Asamoto. I remember watching them battle in the finals. That moment really stayed with me, that’s the image of drifting I had at the beginning.
My first actual car was an S14 Series 1, and it was red. I bought it when I got my driver’s license. In Japan we can get our license at 18, so as soon as I could drive, I tried to buy my own car. That was my first real car. Before that I had already experienced drifting a little because I sometimes rode along in other people’s cars when I was younger. But the first time I actually drove myself was very different. The biggest thing I remember is the G-force. The car was sideways and there was so much movement. At first I didn’t really understand how it all worked, but it was incredibly fun to drive. That feeling is still what I remember most from when I first started drifting.
BADSEKI: What’s your favorite part of drifting? Is it the driving or the style?
RH: Honestly, I like everything about drifting. But I’m not really the type who enjoys doing maintenance, and I’m not a great builder either. What I really like to focus on is the driving itself. For me, the most fun part of drifting is simply driving with my friends.
BADSEKI: Can you take us through your design process when creating a livery? You have a very distinctive style. Do you think that’s something people are drawn to when they come to work with you?
RH: Usually when someone comes to me for a full livery, the first thing I do is talk with them a lot about what they want. I ask about the kind of style they like, what they like and what they don’t like. We have many conversations about the design before I start creating anything. Through those discussions we try to build something new together, a design that feels unique to them.
For me, a big part of designing a good livery is understanding the body color of the car. Some people like split colors, for example white in the front and black in the rear, while others prefer metallic or candy colors. I always think carefully about how the graphics and logos will work with the base color of the car. I wouldn’t say my style is very aggressive. What matters most to me is balance. I try to match the logo colors and graphic colors with the body color, so everything works together. That harmony between colors is one of the most important things in my design process.
BADSEKI: What’s your favorite livery, one that really inspired you?
RH: I really like the generation of D1 Grand Prix cars from around 2004 or 2005. At that time, they weren’t using full color inkjet liveries like you see today. Most designs were made with die cut stickers in single colors, layered directly on the car. Sometimes they used things like chrome silver graphics on a white background. I really like that style. It was simpler, but also very strong visually.
BADSEKI: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start drifting and become part of the drift community?
RH: Nowadays it’s actually much easier to connect with people because of social media, like Instagram or Facebook. A while ago, I started using Instagram myself, partly to practice writing in English and improve my language skills. But it also helped me connect with the drifting culture outside of Japan. Through social media I was able to meet a lot of drifters from overseas and make many friends. When people from other countries come to Japan, we can hang out, go drifting together, and share that experience. So I think that’s one of the easiest ways to become part of the drifting community, just start posting, connect with people, and build friendships. For me, one of the best feelings in drifting is when you drive a really good run.
After a good lap you get this big adrenaline rush, and it’s very satisfying. And when you have a passenger with you, you can share that excitement together. Of course drifting is expensive, especially nowadays. Since Covid, things like tires, body kits, paint, and materials have become much more expensive. But even with all of that, drifting is still so much fun. That’s why I keep doing it.
BADSEKI: You mentioned seeing drifting a lot on social media. How do you think the internet has changed drifting since you started?
RH: Nowadays, when you look at Instagram or other platforms, you can see many different styles and categories of drifting. Some people say certain things are drifting, others say they’re not. For example, some people focus on things like takeovers or short clips online. But for me, drifting has always been more about the long run, the driving itself and the experience on track. Of course, the internet has created a lot of drifting stars.
Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have made drifting much more visible around the world. But I don’t really like to say what is right or wrong in drifting. For me, the most important part is still the culture around it, driving with my friends and meeting people from overseas who share the same passion. That’s really the best part of drifting.
BADSEKI: Drifting is often described as a very style driven motorsport. How does style show up in the community, both in the way people dress and in the way they build their cars?
RH: In Japan, drifters are not necessarily very fashionable in the traditional sense. Most of the time people wear things like rock T-shirts, hoodies, black pants, maybe a black hat. The reason is pretty simple. When you are drifting you also spend a lot of time working on your car. You are on the ground, doing maintenance, getting dirty. So clothes that are darker, like rock shirts or hoodies, are practical because you do not see all the dust and dirt. In a way the fashion is not really the clothes. The fashion is the car. That is where people express themselves the most. For example with my own car I chose green because there are not many green drift cars. Most drivers choose colors like pink, white, or other popular colors, but you do not see green very often.
I always had an S14 and I love that chassis, but I also always liked the S15 front. So I decided to build my car with an S15 front end. It is a way to create something that feels personal. For me drifting has always been a motorsport that is very connected to style. The way you drive, the way you enter a corner, how aggressive your driving is, but also the way the car looks. The graphics, the colors, the body kit, the wheels. All of that together creates the style of the driver. I think that is one of the things that makes drifting special compared to many other forms of motorsport.
BADSEKI: Looking back at everything drifting has brought into your life, do you ever think about who you might have become if you had never discovered drifting?
RH: Honestly, it is hard for me to even imagine that. I was about 15 years old when I first became really influenced by drifting, and from that moment I became completely obsessed with it. I am 34 now, and if you ask me to imagine my life at 15 without drifting, or doing something else instead, I really cannot picture it. That is how much drifting and cars have always meant to me. Drifting also opened a lot of doors for me beyond just driving. Because of it, I was able to connect with people from all over the world who share the same passion. It motivated me to learn English so I could communicate better with them.
Through drifting I have made friends in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and many parts of Europe. That international community is something I think is really special. When I think about the future of my business, Splash, I want to keep designing liveries for drift cars of course, but I would also like to expand into other types of cars as well. I really enjoy creating designs for all kinds of automobiles, so in the future I would love to work more with racing cars and continue growing from there.
BADSEKI: What do you listen to when you drive?
RH: I do like listening to Linkin Park and like, Bullet for My Valentine.
BADSEKI Vol.0 All images shot by Rayan Nohra
Interviewer: Chris Rosales
Editor: Cyana–Djoher Hadjali
