Owning over 20 vehicles! What is the moped customization mania that started with the Ape seven years ago? [Portrait of a 4MINI Maniac]

As we have previously reported , the 17th Monkey Meeting, held in May 2025 at the Tokyo Summerland parking lot, was a huge success, with over 550 cars in attendance. We have covered this event many times in the past, and as the name suggests, any Honda Monkey, regardless of whether it was new or old, can participate. Furthermore, the Honda 4MINI, which is equipped with a similar horizontal engine, is also allowed to participate, so a variety of models other than the Monkey also gather. Moreover, many of the cars are elaborately customized, making it fun to just look at them.

In 2025, we focused on the Monkey as our coverage, but we were often approached by owners of other models of motorcycles, asking to be interviewed. It pains me to have to decline by saying, “This time, we’re focusing on the Monkey,” but with over 550 participating motorcycles, we hope you understand that we would not be able to cover everything without narrowing down our focus. However, one of the people we spoke to told us a shocking story. He said that he had a collection of as many as 20 mopeds. What’s more, he had customized many of them.

The person who spoke to me was Katsumi Nagasawa, who lives not far from Tokyo Summerland. I previously ran a series in Moto Champ magazine called “Welcome Perverts!” The column was about visiting custom moped enthusiasts all over the country and revealing their perverted ways. It’s been running for many years, so I’ve interviewed all sorts of perverts, but it’s rare to find someone who has customized 20 bikes and continues to own them all. I told him I’d come back for another interview at a later date.

Four months have passed since the Monkey Meeting, but we managed to visit Nagasawa’s home once again. The day of the interview coincided with a local festival, and the sound of fireworks, which served as a signal, echoed throughout the morning. I learned that Nagasawa attends the festival every year, but declined this year in order to attend the interview, which was also a great honor. As an extension of that conversation, Nagasawa has lived in this area for generations. Moreover, the property is vast, and his grandfather’s family ran a farm and dairy farm. This means that he has no problem with free space. When he decided to rebuild his house, he decided to build a garage at the back of the house himself.

That said, back then, there weren’t as many 4MINIs as there are now, and people tended to own multiple four-wheeled vehicles. The turning point came with his son. Nagasawa has always loved motorcycles, and he still owns a Honda CBX400F that he received from a friend in high school. He also had several other bikes, so his son must have become interested in motorcycles after watching his son. I heard that the vast property has gravel paths (not public roads, but roads within the property) and that he had been practicing on minibikes since before he even got his license.

When his son finally got his driver’s license, the bike of his choice was a Honda Ape. However, after a few years, he stepped up to a four-wheeler, and the opportunities to ride the Ape decreased significantly. Since he hardly rode it at all, his father, Nagasawa, decided to give it a try. He became fascinated with the Ape, which offers serious riding despite its small size. The more he rode it, the more fun it became, but he was still dissatisfied with the 50cc displacement. That’s when the customization began.

That was seven years ago. Surprisingly, this is a recent start for a 4MINI enthusiast; Nagasawa is now 56, so he started in his late 40s. However, the timing was probably good. His sons had started working, and he was no longer having to spend money on childcare, so he could spend his pocket money as he pleased. As a result, the number of 4MINIs continued to increase. At the same time, his passion for customization grew, and he built many horizontal engines. Naturally, when you tune something hard to test its limits, it can sometimes blow up. So the number of engines ended up increasing more than the number of cars.

However, the original garage was not big enough. Moreover, the previous garage had no walls, making it an unsuitable environment for assembling an engine. So they decided to build a garage that could be enclosed. Incidentally, Nagasawa runs his own business, contracting out repairs and construction of building exteriors. This means he has access to materials left over from purchases for new buildings, as well as materials salvaged from demolition sites. This means he has no trouble finding materials to build a garage, and he can do the construction himself. Naturally, he ended up building the garage himself.

The garage being introduced has no foundation, and the walls and roof are made from blocks and single-pipe pipes, so that property tax is not levied. He built it little by little with the help of his energetic son. There are no material or labor costs, so he can build it as much as he likes without any glaring from his wife. For motorbike and car enthusiasts, the biggest hurdles are the environment, such as a garage, and the understanding of the family. Without either of these, it would be impossible to fully pursue one’s hobby, but Nagasawa’s method kills two birds with one stone.

His 4MINI hobby, which began with the Ape, has since expanded to include the Dax, Monkey, and Chari. Currently, his three main vehicles are the Ape, Dax, and Chari, and he has several Monkeys in the works but none are completed. However, he has also become interested in the Super Cub, and has collected rare Sports Cubs, Andons, early C50s, and Little Cubs from the carburetor era. While the Sports Cubs are stock, the engines of the other Cubs have been tuned to make them more enjoyable to drive.

Nagasawa, who has customized many 4MINIs, attends not only Monkey Meetings as mentioned above, but also any 4MINI events. Over time, his circle of friends expanded, and he now values ​​interactions with clubs and enthusiasts all over the country. When called, he loads his customized car into a trailer and heads to the event. He usually attends events in Honshu, but has not been able to travel to Hokkaido or Kyushu.

As a result of this connection, the T-shirt he is wearing in the photo above was made through his close friendship with the “Three Twin Cam Brothers of Tochigi,” known among enthusiasts. Nagasawa is also known for his company, Nagasawa Ringyo. Once, while on a road trip with several dozen bikes, he was involved in an unexpected hit-and-run accident. Because it takes time to deal with the accident, even when he told everyone to “go ahead,” not a single person left the scene. They called out to each other, “We’re keeping a close eye on you, so it’s okay!” and supported each other with smiles, exuding a long-standing relationship of trust. This time we introduced Nagasawa’s garage, but we plan to take a closer look at the three main bikes he owns.