d0p3y

Ah bugger, I already made alternative holiday plans thinking it wasn't happening! There's always next year (I hope!)

They're really keeping us hanging!

Spotted 000GTR in Gosford today. Very nice

Hopefully it is going ahead; I'll definitely be making an effort to attend.

Hmm, it was a while ago now but I can't recall it doing it badly. The whole car did feel like it had been thrashed hard though. Damn... all this talk makes me really want to go back ASAP

Ah, thanks. I was hoping they had a fresher car by now -- the car I drove had 70k on it too and it was starting to feel a bit clunky. But, more importantly, I want to drive the updated model to see how much it has improved since.

Nice one, I am dying to go back. Have been working on plans for a 12 day road trip actually, but probably won't do it until December next year (I want to do Nismo Festival again, hopefully they resume next year) Is the GT-R still the same white 2007 model that I had?

http://www.japantv.com.au/

No probs. I didn't get many looks, well, I don't think so anyway. I didn't pay too much attention to others whilst I was taking photos. The only time I can definitely recall somebody noticing was at Daikoku Futo - they were talking about me but I don't think they realised I understood a bit of Japanese. Nothing bad they were just exclaiming "wow, a foreigner all the way out here". People were surprisingly friendly for the most part and I had a chat to a few people about their cars. Those who seem intimidating initially are often quite friendly once spoken to!

Nope it's down the other end of Japan mate, near Hiroshima. f*kushima power plant is north of Tokyo.

It's all pretty simple - there's cash booths on every toll road I've come across. I wish there was a way for foreigners to obtain the ETC card but so far I haven't seen any way to hire or buy one so cash booths are the only way. Cash booths are usually marked by the big green sign like this: Just remember to have lots of cash handy. I think the most I've spent is about $80 in one day. Most tolls are Y300-700 but the motorways can cost up to Y2500 on the long journeys. The more expensive motorways that are charged for different distances will have 2 toll booths - the first when you enter the motorway you collect a card and the second booth where you hand your card to the operator and pay the charge based on distance. When you get to the second booth they'll usually have an electornic sign showing how much to pay. I've noticed that the GPS system in the Nissan will usually show you the estimate of how much the toll charge will be which is handy but not entirely vital. There's a few guides on the net for driving, ie: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2022.html & http://expatsguide.jp/ch6 - for the most part it's pretty straight forward and easy to grasp. Remember to get your international driving permit from NRMA before you leave the country! When you go to fuel up the car just remember the word "mantan" and they will give you a full tank. Usually a station attendant will guide you in and fill the car up for you, no need to get out of the car at all.

The GTR was Y46,200 for 24hrs hire, so depending on the exchange rate it's not too bad. There were three of us on holiday so divided by 3 mates it was certainly good value. Toll roads cost a small fortune though they are great to drive on. Rental was through Premium Rent - http://www.premium-rent.com/en/cartypes.php I can't speak much Japanese, I understand a fair bit. Enough to get by. I did a lot of research for places to visit just using Google, Travel Wiki, other Forums etc. There's quite a few threads on http://www.jdmstyletuning.com forums with other travel blogs and Japan holiday advice threads. If you put a lot of time into research you'll find heaps to do.

Thanks everyone. With regards to the hire of the Nissan Cube, I hired it from Nissan Rent-a-car in Shinjuku. I do my bookings through this website: http://www2.tocoo.jp - they deal with multiple companies. Not all rental companies offer English GPS, but Nissan do. It's a ~Y1000 option and well worth it. Because I was staying at the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku which is right near Shinjuku station I opted to use this outlet: http://www2.tocoo.jp/?file=rentcar_inbound/branch&id=02236&prefecture=13 - I've used them twice now and they have been perfect to deal with every time. The GPS is easy enough to use but keep in mind that the Japanese map system is not the same as here. There's two ways of accurately finding your destination (most of the time): 1. Phone Number - the GPS System will allow you to enter the phone number of the place you want to visit. 2. GPS Co-ordinates - My preferred method is to look up the locations I want to drive to on Google Maps when I'm planning my trip and then convert the coordinates for that location into the format that the GPS System in the car uses. A helpful website for conversion of the coordinates is http://netvicious.com/gps/ - make a note of all the formats of the coordinates so you don't get caught out. I think from memory the GPS system in the Nissan uses Degrees/Minutes/Seconds format (xx.xx.xx, xxx.xx.xx). The Nissan GPS system is pretty good, I never got lost with it. It's not 100% english but the directions are English and the signs on the roads in Japan are usually in both languages too. I'd advise that you burn a CD of Mp3 music or take a spare SD Card with Mp3's on it to play in the car during your adventures, Japanese Radio stations can get a bit tiresome as they talk a lot between songs!

That would certainly be appreciated! Can't wait to see the rest.

I thought the Tokyo Motor Show was worth the visit, most especially because there were a number of cars on display that I was interested in seeing for myself - pictures just aren't the same. The only down sides for me were that Odaiba is a bit of a hike and the crowd was massive which means some cars are hard to get a good look at. Definitely glad I went though.