Dopey's Japan Photo Diary

I just realised that I haven't posted up my Japan photo diaries here. With another trip coming up soon I thought I best start from the beginning.

Firstly, the photos from my December 2009 trip:

I've kept the pics to the bare minimum for the story but those on slower connections might want to go grab a cup of coffee.

Part 1


Finally arrived in Shinjuku at about 10pm and it was pouring rain. This was to be the theme of the Holiday really - I think I experienced all of Japan's December Rainfall during the days I visited.


Was quite buggered so after checking in, went down to trusty McDonalds for an Ebi Burger (Prawn Burger). I figured if I was going to eat McDonalds in Japan I may as well get something that I can't get locally, and can I just say GREAT SUCCESS! Ebi Burger is awesome! I wish we had these in Aus.

Retired back to the Hotel to watch some TV. Super Beaver, WTF? I sat and watched this in amusement for quite some time. Emo kids and some whack puppet with a funny voice.


Woke up the next morning nice and early ready to go collect our first hire car. The weather was thankfully much clearer.


We found a 24hr Cafe near to the hotel that was pretty good for fast cheap food. I opted for a Chicken Katsu Curry for breakfast. It was REALLY tasty!


Ventured on to pick up hire car #1, which was a Mazda Alexa (3) 4WD. Gutless and horrid but easy enough to drive around town. First stop, Chiba Super Autobacs


The car park was full of some pretty cool rides. I'm not sure exactly what this thing is, but I know it's a Daihatsu.


I really liked this R32. It was absolutely immaculate inside out.


Inside Autobacs was like Autobarn on steroids, and maybe acid too. There was lots of crazy stuff to buy! Unfortunately I was very limited on storage space for goodies so couldn't go ballistic in the air fresheners section like I wanted. Grabbed a few though, a couple of Hello Kitty ones too.


They had heaps of bling accessories for your VIP car. Some were cool but most pretty gaudy.


Next we headed for Crystal, took the wrong driveway though but found this beast hiding


Crystal, ZING! There was a tasty white JZX90 in the garage being worked on at the time.


I wasn't a fan of the new Work wheel design until I saw this stand. They look so hot in the satin black finish with the right size/offset to give dish and concave. Very similar to CE28N I think.


These ones really stole my heart though, lol.


This somehow found its way upstairs


Yes please!


Crystal had so many great things. Unfortunately a lot of what I wanted wasn't in stock so I came away with only a few parts.

Amongst all the crazy JDM vans you see the odd American one. This one had Watanabes I think - pimp


I spotted this Crown (I think?) driving past. I'm probably alone on this one but I dig 2 tone.


Next stop for the day was Up Garage. These guys have so much in the way of second hand parts. A few bargains amongst the lot but not much to suit my car that I don't already have. Plenty of wheels (this was about 1/3 of their collection on display)


Coil overs galore, cheap seats in the background


Exhausts


This turned up as we were leaving, lots of vans like this in Japan. I'm a fan.


Before I left, had to grab a drink for the road. Dr Pepper hell yes! The Up Garage vending machine plays music and makes broom broom noises, I like it.


Battled the traffic and headed back to park the car up at the hotel overnight. Went for a quiet beer near the hotel with my mate. So many great beers on tap in Japan! This HUB "english" pub had the soccer on so we dropped by. Weirdly they remove the head from the beer though. Gimme my foam back dammit!


Next morning I headed out to Yashio Factory to grab my pink bits for the Silvia. The workshop was pretty dead that day, a young girl and dude sat in the tiny office and that was it. They spoke no English so I relied on the very few Japanese words I know to grab the couple of parts I wanted. They had a nice 180 in pieces in the garage.


Afterwards, I headed to Disney Land. Was kind of boring due to lack of awesome rides but there were a few cool ones. It rained half way through the day so everyone rushed for the shops. Couldn't buy much merchandise due to the human crush happening inside.


Pepper Lunch was conveniently located near my hotel. I love Pepper Lunch!

Part 2

Sunday, Nismo Festival Day. We headed out nice and early for Fuji Speedway.

Here are a few of my favourite pics, there are many more (especially of car park cars) I will post into their own gallery on my webspace later when I have more time.

Maybe if I press some buttons.......... hmm nope... JDM Nav FTL. Luckily we had our own Navman with us which saved our asses many a time


This was a hint that we were heading in the right direction


The amount of nice cars that came flying by was crazy. Even a white NSX-R! I think my friend managed to grab a few more pics - I was on the wrong side of the car and it was too cold to hang out the window.

Mt Fuji was a good indicator we were going the right way. This Lancia HF Integrale was awesome! A girl driving it too, and she wasn't shy about giving it stick. Very quick little car.


Ding ding ding! We have a winner


Nice M35 Stagea


There were many car parks and all full of gold. I took a few quick snaps on the way in of the cars near ours. These two GTRs were very tastefully done


Old school love



A white Toyota Century. Only saw maybe 2 of these while in Japan, compared to hundreds of black ones.


This was probably my favourite 350Z of the day. Was truly beautiful in the flesh.


R31House had so many great examples on display - both on their stand and out the back in the parking lot behind. This wagon was tits - although it was hard to get a good pic of it.



The sticker on the front guard says it all


I spied another hot wagon behind the R31House stand.


This pipe near the rear wheel is interesting.......


Bad ass transporter


HKS had this beast on their stand. It was immaculate and had some really tasteful mods I could only dream of being able to afford.


Gran Turismo fans might recognize this DR30


This thing was so loud when they started it up I thought I was going deaf.


The Godfather. Hako!

One of my favourite touring cars of all time - the Calsonic R32


JGTC cars make our V8 Supercars look like a joke. They are so awesome in every way. Seeing them out on track was a true delight.


I was too fat for many of these seats. True story.


Rays reppin fluro pink rims on their stand


INGS 370Z was very tidy. Subtle appearance ftw


This R33 had me salivating....


...as did this R32


March (Micra) cup cars look like fun.


For the Honda fans, a proper Civic Type R. Nice brakes.


There were a few Z Tune R34 GT-Rs on display as you'd expect - including this one, the original Nismo Omori Factory Z-Tune Concept car.


Hearing these four cars roaring around was great


I think most of the 350Z S-Tune population came to visit


There were quite a lot of 400Rs present, here's a couple


Even Nismo 270R's made an appearance



More carpark hotness...






Mad vans


This is what's left of a 270R


Saw a few Evo wagons. I like them, something different.


Queen St branching out to Japan?


Even a Smart ForFour can't escape modification in Japan


Hardtop ftw


Didn't get to take pics in all the car parks, I left it a bit late and a lot of cars had left by the time I got there.

Heading home we cruised alongside a real tasty FC3S

Edited by d0p3y, 19 November 2011 - 06:10 PM.

Part 3

Ok so next day I dropped back that nugget Mazda Alexa and decided to keep it real with the trusty JR Yamanote line


First hit up Shibuya then walked through to Harajuku


Hit up Burberry Black


And Burberry Blue


lol @ this store.. apart from my curious mates the store was filled with school girls for some reason


Kiddy Land - Home of the Pedo Bear


These things were leet, they link together to dance together. At about $25 each though, bit hefty


LV had pretty lights... heaps of levels of stuff too


Harajuku weirdos aren't there 24/7 unfortunately.. boo


Anyways, next day I took a Taxi ride. This guy was a legend. I gave him the address in Japanese and I knew it was near by but it took him some time to find where it was (the Japanese street system is farked, most aren't named, it works off a grid system) Eventually he turned off the meter which had me worried but he ended up charging us only the basic fare!! Great guy!


Arrived at destination..


Well well well what do we have here


While waiting for the keys I browsed the magazines in the waiting room, check this out


Hit the road


Need supplies... Apple Fanta is mad. Grape Fanta still rules though.


Pedo Bear's cousin got his face on a lollipop made of chocolate


Jumped back in and set the GPS for Mt Fujis co-ordinates. Tunnels are cool..


Roads getting a little more interesting


Had a refresher stop then jumped back in...



In case you can't see the sat nav above here's a crop


Didn't take any pics for a while..........

........

Time for some KFC


Rocked up to some random park


Nice view


Park was really nice and peaceful. Heaps of Koi in the water


Sun setting.. time to hit the road again


Smelled this place from a mile away, just had to stop


Yah


Lots of confusion later and it was on like donkey kong

Fuelled up... hit the road again.. landed at Daikoku Futo


Was a quiet night, not much there but lots of nice cars came and went that I didn't get pics of.

I heard this car coming long before I saw it... external gate roaring! It had a massive turbo. T88 I think.

(excuse the shit blurry pic)

Headed home and parked up for the night


Few spots down there was another one


Next day when I returned to Premium Rent they had this waiting.. bit out of my budget

More pics

Grape Fanta + Koala Biscuits = win


Found this random rooftop playland at a department store.. ride the pikachu maaan


At a pet store I noticed JDM mice are a little different


Popeye got his own drink range now


Recaro baby seat


Lots of people stop to watch the big screens in the street


Yo, they dissin' Gold!


Concrete City



CLS Pimpin


MOS Burger was So-so


Akihabara has mad figurine stores


Resin Gangstas, lol


These ads were EVERYWHERE, I want a version up phone dammit!


Took the Shinkansen to Osaka


Found this awesome store right under the hotel at the train station. It smelled wonderful.


So this is what you do - grab a box of them waffles, then go to AM/PM to grab a couple of cans of Asahi and some tubs of Haagen-Daas ice cream. Win.


Went to the Aquarium


It's pretty cool you go up like 8 levels or so and start off in a Rainforest type arrangement where you can see all sorts of things like otters and crabs, then you decend downwards into deeper waters.


These things were huge, I want one for my fish tank


The glass was dirty as, but I took a pic anyway - King Penguins! They are massive, and kick ass.


Superfunhappy Dolphin Rides?


Whale Shark Hungry... nom nom nom


Spider Craaab, Spider Craaaaab


Slanty Shanty


Osaka Castle. Nice outside, good parks, bad ass motes, but inside is a bit lame since it's just like a museum and not built to replicate its original state of awesome.


Next hotel I stayed at in Tokyo was more luxurious. Don't f**k with Robo-Toilet. This panel flipped down to even more buttons.



Spa Bath and separate shower! WIN


Random


Tokyo Tower doesn't look very impressive, it's small as


Evo Pajero

These photos are from the Japan leg of my Honeymoon back in January 2011, when it was freezing!

Part #1

1. Early Morning in Shinjuku. You can tell it's early morning - it's the only time Shinjuku is this quiet!



2. A couple of rooftop pictures



3. Dropped in to Super Autobacs Tokyo Bay. Nice JZX100 in for service


4. Recaro Prams. Gee, you could buy the whole set! Recaro buckets, Recaro baby seat, Recaro Pram.


5. You can mix & match any colour you please for your new Pentax


6. Akibahara (akiba)






7. Nice NSX in the middle of Akibahara


8.

Part #2

1.


2. Crepes!!!


3. Tempura & Udon Set w/ Beer ~$12. So good!!


4. Shibuya


5. Crazy modded scooter


6. Caught the Shinkansen down to Hiroshima, then waited for the Ferry across to Miyajima Island


7. Miyajima Island. Very beautiful - wild deer everywhere



8. We stayed at a small Ryokan called Momiji-So. Worth every cent. Family run place, very few guests, home cooked type meals. We were treated so well.




9. The view from the window of my room. We had our own Koi pond outside, so peaceful.



10. Some pictures from around the Island

Part #3

1. Arrived back in Osaka after a mega relaxing time on Miyajima Island






2. The famous Neon signs



3. The view from the top of the Umeda Sky Building



4. They had crazy Escalators that went between buildings

Part #4 - Tokyo Auto Salon 2011
You've probably all seen pictures of this already so I'll just post some of my favourites.

The following pics are from my short break in Japan in June 2011...

1. Caught the Airport Limousine Bus from Narita, I definitely prefer this to the Train.


2. OK WTF. Our hotel room this time has a Window between the Bedroom and Bathroom. Why on earth would you need this? I can only imagine it's some sort of Japanese Pervert design feature. Thankfully it also had a blind.


3. Went to a random Tempura Stick place in Shinjuku on the first night. It's called Dan-Dan-Ya I think. So awesome. Yebisu Beer on tap, we smashed it down like no tomorrow.


4. The Japanese guys next to us were awesome, they drank with us until the place closed. We won, by the way, because oldmate started falling asleep at the table. We went back to this place again on our last night there and the staff were so excited to see us! Stayed again until closing time.


5. Shitty weather for most of my time there. Rain just wouldn't go away. GG Wet season


6. Sushi Train time


7. Harajuku


8. Rich Kids


9. Yakitori time!


10. I think I've had enough random Chicken organs to last me a while.


11. Freshly made Chicken Karaage was SO good


12. Hired a Cube and went on an adventure. Decided to head towards Mt Hakone despite the heavy rain.


13. Detoured into some back roads



14. Arrived at our destination, so foggy


15. There was supposed to be a nice view


16. Streams of hot water


17. Yep, the smell certainly was unpleasant.


18. We stopped at what I can only describe as JDM McDonalds. Place was packed with families, food was pretty average. Sushi Train was amazing though! You can order from the touch screen above, and your order will come out on a separate train type thing which is just below the screen. Below that is the normal Sushi Train.


19. You put your plates down the chute and it totals your bill. Hot tea from the tap at your convenience.


20. Random P.A. in the middle of the mountains


21. Expressway Cruisin


22. Dramatic Mountains


23. More expressway Cruisin. I love the roads in Japan.


24. Nissan English GPS was GREAT!

25. Everybody loves a bit of "Casual Frozen Food"


26. Vending corner has everything you could possibly want. Except for Grape Fanta. And Dr Pepper. Grrr....


27. Hangin' at Daikoku Futo P.A. waiting for the cool cars to arrive. There used to be a McDonalds here but it's gone now! Damn.. had to sit around outside instead.


28. Nice n Simple. I like.


29. Dumped Hiace


30. Lots of Kei Cars came and went with various quirky modifications


31. lol


32. As stupid as it did look, the kids loved it.


33. Celsior Hard Parkin' JDM Style



34. Just needs some lower suspension


35. lol


36. Think this was a 328 or 330 judging from the exhaust note. Definitely wasn't turbo and wasn't an M3. Sounded pretty nice.


37. Lots of Corolla Wagons. That little nugget Civic got beached on the speed humps leaving, what a laugh. He had to get a bit of speed up and launch over them.


38. 7 Series pimpin


39. Strange Z


40. Scooby Doo


41. This guy actually did a pretty neat job with his LED's. Could see it from a mile away.


42. Scirocco TSI with some mods was an unusual sighting


43. Vans are not for moving people



44. Getting ready to battle


45. Kei Cars & Bright Lights



46. This car was pretty crazy. Got owned by the Police later in the evening.

47.


48. Fat Cima was one of my favourites



49. Nice S15



50. Bagged


51. This Aristo had a bit of American style about it I reckon.



52. This guy obviously likes Batman. I don't know how the hell this thing even stays on the road.



53. These guys battled it out all night with their super loud stereo systems. For those playing at home, the Odyssey had 8x 15" Kicker L7's in there (the round ones are just for show). It's no wonder the car has a few SPL competition awards, the thing shook the place bigtime!


54. Nice JZX100 Mark II. Needs a bit better offset though.


55. Chaser


56. Another Cima


57. This Celsior looked pretty mean


58. Plenty of new WRX parked together


59. and a GC8 for good measure


60. Another nice Chaser. Sounded angry - not sure of engine setup.



61. Not sure what model Honda this is


62. Presidential Style.


63. Lasers! Smoke Machines! This thing could deliver a rave anywhere you like.


64. Supras. The Gold one was weird. Auto and LHD (US Spec car?) Was for sale also.


65. Viper GTS. Filthy as.

66. Finally some clear weather


67. Tsukiji Fish Markets. Home of the Styrofoam Box.


68.


69. This is how they show the grade of their Tuna


70. Edamame!


71. Ice Factory


72. Octopus


73.


74. Some of these cuts of Tuna were around $100 a pack!


75.


76.


77. Whale Meat. Scientific Research my ass.


78. These were giant mussels or something. So ugly.


79. Preparing Tuna


80. Tuna


81. More Tuna


82. Tools of the trade


83.


84. Removing the skin from frozen Tuna


85. More tools of the trade


86. Lunch Time. It was so good - except for the Sea Urchin. Can't stand the texture of that stuff. ERgghhh


87. Random - Ginza


88. Random - Ginza


89. Macaron-Icecream-Cream-Fruit thing I bought in Ginza. So good!


90.


91.


92.


93.


94. Spotted this Maserati



OK That's it, hope I didn't kill too many computers. Thanks for looking.

More pics to come in December sometime once I return from another week in Tokyo!

so much Awesome!! I really need to visit Japan one day

Awesome photos mate. Glad I didnt see the fish in pic 83 when I was at Tsukiji: Dojou - a type of loach, they keep them as pets as well as eat them. Poor little fellas. Try the rice burgers at MOS burger they are awesome, way better than the normal burgers. Messy though. The Daihatsu kei car in the 6th photo is a Move (3rd gen).

Edited by *LOACH*, 20 November 2011 - 12:19 AM.

awesome photo diary.
cant wait until i can afford to visit.
cant wait for the next lot.
keep up the good work.

Very cool pics. So many white cars.

OK, I'm back - didn't take many photos this time around due to a few reasons, mainly because I did a lot of shopping which isn't interesting photo material and also because the weather was mostly crap. So I've edited the non-interesting ones for something different. Wish I could have taken more than 1 week off work.

















Ghibli Museum is a must visit for all animation fans, kids, and big kids alike... (no photos allowed inside)

Tokyo Motor Show was very busy so couldn't take photos of everything





Mazda's current design themes are incredible, photos do the designs no justice.



I get the feeling that this is the eco-Z of the future


BRZ was impressive but the perverts loved the chick more


Subaru need to build this without applying ugly stick



BRZ wheels and ride height suck. I liked GT-86 version better


Merc A Class concept looked quite sharp


VW Bulli was very creative, the interior is very functional


According to Daihatsu the car of the future is a box


Shibuya as busy as ever


Daibutsu (The Great Buddha) very impressive, worth the drive. Said my prayers, here's hoping 2012 is a better year





KFC by the sea