Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Yeah Japan looks an awesome place to visit. Still learning my Japanese but once I'm fluent enough I'll head over there. Keep us updated on the pics, really interesting to see how other countries are like :Dand to see all the beautiful women over there in Japan :)

P.S. Now I see why they call you the beer baron. How many beers did you drink over there ?!

  • Replies 364
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Love it Beer Baron keep posting more it is great your just making me want to go to japan even more.

Have you got a good turist guide seems you've been there so many times?

Hi mate, yes I've been many times now and heading back in 3 weeks time. The first time I went I had a lonely planet Japan guide, and a lonely planet Tokyo guide (and a lonley planet tokyo pocket city guide). all of them had their uses on that first trip. I also have the lonely planet phrase book which is ok too. but after studying japanese now for a few years at sydney uni I haven't used it in a long time. there is another awesome book which I'm trying to track down which is an english book of the rail system maps. this doesn't sound that exciting but there are dozens of rail companies in japan and even in tokyo there is probably half a dozen and lots of different lines, and then the subway too... english rail map is a must, but whilst the JR one is easy to get some others are not always available.

if you are going for the first time, and don't speak much japanese i would take:

lonely planet tokyo

and if you are going outside of tokyo take lonely planet japan too

and a phrase book of some kind.

  • 4 weeks later...

ok, back in tokyo as of last night. Had a quiet night as I was knackered after no sleep for the last few days. had ramen at my favourite ramen place and crashed. staying in a nice apartment this time. near my friends place that I usually stay at. it's on roppongi dori just 150meters from roppongi crossing.

a couple of pics. it's pretty typical of tokyo apartments i've seen.

view from the balcony. nice.

img5664xl1.jpg

living room/bedroom

img5655gp7.jpg

the provide high speed fibre optic net, and fax machine, cordless phone etc which is nice.

img5656tt2.jpg

Apartment controls. has the intercom, fire alarm switch etc. on the left is a controller for the hot water, including remote bath activation.

img5674dh5.jpg

typical mini size dishwasher! it's only about a foot wide if that.

img5672eq3.jpg

This is the view from the front balcony. My appartment is on the 11th floor (out of 12) and you can see how high up the freeways go. The street at the bottom is roppongi dori, then a freeway above that, then the other direction above it. Then they intersect with other freeways about 100 meters away. The roads here never cease to impress.

img5680cc2.jpg

on the left about 100 meters down is roppongi crossing.

img5682hr8.jpg

For sure. The plan is:

today going to ginza and check out the nissan showroom

tomorrow nismo festival

monday I fly to Kyushu

monday and tuesday night in kyushu then fly back to tokyo on wednesday (staying in shibuya for the rest of the time)

wednesday going to watch some drifting with a friend

thursday tsukuba time attack

friday and saturday no real plans yet

sunday track day

monday probably just relax

tuesday head home.

I'll send you a message and we can tee something up. :) are you going out to fuji tomorrow?

good day today. slept in after a big one last night. went to ginza and checked out the new GTR. very, very nice. massively impressed.

did a bit of shopping around shinjuku too. now just need to head out tonight but try not to have a big one as nismo festival tomorrow.

not many pics today but will upload some later.

ok just a couple of pics before I head out:

new GTR, plenty of room for golf clubs apparently. :)

img5691oq2.jpg

colour chart

img5693pu6.jpg

as you can see it's still drawing a crowd!

img5695tr1.jpg

sexy rear end

img5720xp6.jpg

and it was a nice place to sit. even big bastards like me can fit in and be comfortable. interior is super high quality.

img5714nk8.jpg

hmm first skyline in a long time with enough boot space to smuggle a kidnapped adult in comfort.

Richard... you missed out on checkin out the Tamiya fair by a couple of days:

IMG_1007-1.jpg

definitely nerd, definitely rocks. growing up is overrated :)

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/11/_...amiya_fair.html

they did a photo blog of their visit to tokyu hands as well... definitely on my list of shops to check out in japan

http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/news1115.htm

ok, Had a big few days. Nismo Festival on Sunday. Nearly got mowed down by an R390 LM car as I was standing on the grid! Spent $500 at the Nismo stall. Bought a magnesium 19X13 inch TE37 off a Nismo GT500 car. Saw my new engine. didn't sleep much. So just a couple of pics before I crash.

Since I was lucky enough to have a press accreditation I was able to access pit lane and all areas of the track etc. So I was able to be on the spot when the GT500 officially broke cover. It was pretty cool to be in probably the first 100 or so people to lay eye on it in the flesh outside of nissan/nismo employees. It is super impressive. Looks like a stealth bomber and sounds like it's letting of tactical nuclear strikes in it's engine!

waiting with the rest of the press for it to emerge.

img6161ch9.jpg

here it comes!

img6162as4.jpg

in the open for the first time.

img6164ec3.jpg

one or two nice pics before I pass out.

img5966bs9.jpg

img5960rd6.jpg

img6172bc4.jpg

img6180vh3.jpg

img6201xh8.jpg

Talk about a press frenzy!

img6217xy7.jpg

img6230sj0.jpg

I will do a full write up and lots of pics in the next few days or so after I have some time. Tomorrow I am busy here in Kyushu, then fly back to Tokyo for drifting on wednesday and Tsukuba time attack on thursday. a very fully week!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I got back to Japan in January and was keen to get back on track as quickly as possible. Europe is god-awful for track accessibility (by comparison), so I picked up a first-gen GT86 in December just to have something I could jump into right away. The Skyline came over in a container this time and landed in early January. It was a bit battered after Europe, though—I refused to do anything beyond essential upkeep while it was over there. The clutch master cylinder gave out, and so did the power steering. I didn’t even bother changing the oil; it was the same stuff that went in just before I left Japan the first time. Naughty. Power steering parts would’ve cost double with shipping and taxes, so knowing I’d be heading back to Japan, I just postponed it and powered through the arm workout. It took a solid three months to get the car back on the road. Registration was a nightmare this time around. There were a bunch of BS fees to navigate, and sourcing parts was a headache. I needed stock seats for shaken, mistakenly blew 34k JPY on some ENR34 seats—which, of course, didn’t fit—then ended up having the car’s technical sheet amended to register it as a two-seater with the Brides. Then there’s the GT86. Amazing car. Does everything I want it to do. Parts are cheap, easy to find, and I don’t care what anyone says—it’s super rewarding to drive. I’ve done a few basic mods: diff ratio, coilovers, discs, pads, seat, etc. It already had a new exhaust manifold and the 180kph limiter removed, so I assume it’s running some kind of map. I’ve just been thrashing it at the track non-stop—mostly Fuji Speedway now, since I need something with higher speed after all that autobahn time. The wheels on the R34 always pissed me off—too big, and it was a nightmare getting tires to fit properly under the arches. So I threw in the towel and bought something that fits better. Looks way cleaner too (at least to me)—less hotboy, less attention-seeking. Still an R34, though. Now for future plans. There are a few things still outstanding with the car. First up, the rear subframe needs an overhaul—that’s priority one. Next, I need to figure out an engine rebuild plan. No timeline yet, but I want to keep it economical—not cutting corners, just not throwing tens of thousands at a mechanic I can barely communicate with. And finally, paint. Plus a bit of tidying up here and there.  
    • Nope, needed to clearance under the bar a little with a heat gun, a 1/2" extension as the "clearancer", and big hammer, I was aware of this from the onset, they fit a 2.0 with this intake no problems, but, the 2.5 is around 15mm taller than a 2.0, so "clearancing" was required  It "just" touched when test fitting, now, I have about 10mm of clearance  You cannot see where it was done, and so far, there's no contact when giving it the beans Happy days
    • It's been a while since I've updated this thread. The last year (and some) has been very hectic. In the second-half of 2024 I took the R34 on a trip through Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland - it was f*cking great. I got a little annoyed with the attention the car was getting around Europe and really didn't drive it that much. I could barely work on the car since I was living in an inner-city apartment (with underground parking). During the trip, the car lost power steering in France - split hose - and I ended up driving around 4,000kms with no power steering.  There were a few Nurburgring trips here and there, but in total the R34 amassed just shy of 7,000kms on European roads. Long story short, I broke up with the reason I was transferred to Europe for and requested to be moved back to Japan. The E90, loved it. It was a sunk cost of around EUR 10,000 and I sold it to a friend for EUR 1,500 just to get rid of it quickly. Trust me, moving countries f*cking sucks and I could not be bothered to be as methodical as I was the first time around.
    • I assume clearances were all a-okay?
×
×
  • Create New...