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Oct 19, 2016 11:30:50 GMT
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Yellow RX or Evo TME for me please! Great photos, thanks for sharing. Because of the roads I had planned I wanted a small and light car, so it was either the AE86 or the Seven replica for me. If I had chosen some faster roads I'd probably take the RX myself or the NSX, but for the Motohakone (the twistiest road on the Turnpike) those simply have been too bulky and I wouldn't have been able to use the extra horses. Horses for courses as they say... Link to the Moto Hakone: clickyFantastic thread - thanks so much for all the amazing photos. My current fave is perhaps that little Kei van with the cartoons on the side. (I know - I'm getting treatment). I know what you mean about 'Western' cars with JP license plates - something about the light, the overhead phone/electric cables, cleanliness -everything just looks cooler and dare I say it - otherworldly - than boring old Europe. I must go. It scares me a little but it seems a smile and a bit of a gung-ho attitude gets you a long way. Problem being about going - not coming back with a shipping container full of treats (lottery win permitting) Shopping list: Forester SF5 S/TB Nissan Pao Autozam AZ-1 Nissan Be-1 CRX Daihatsu Naked, Mira Gino, Walk-through Van Kuwahara Gaap folding bike Honda Step Van, NBOX W10 'Mister Two' So many forbidden delights. Fabulous photos -thanks so much for sharing. The quirkier the better, so I guess I'd need treatment too!
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Oct 18, 2016 18:43:25 GMT
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Oct 18, 2016 18:22:26 GMT
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Wow - nominate this for the best of RR thread - as a first post lol! I love how you've just satisfied your automotive pleasures - what a trip. Casually dropping in that you drove an AE86 on that road!😎 My missus' family are from Hong Kong. We go over there every few years and One time I will make the somewhat shorter flight to Tokyo. This is the ultimate car holiday!! Hahaha, thanks very much but there's lots and lots of better threads on here, Mysterymachine for example is simply in another league. Yeah, I just had to satify my Tofu delivering fantasies They also do guided tours and on one of them you get to drive on some of the roads used in the Initial D manga (Anorak Alert!). About the AE86 itself: before driving it I was actually in two minds. In theory it is exactly what I look for in cars: lightweight, small revhappy engine with a nice bark, direct steering,RWD with not too much grip ,... But just looking at the cold facts, it's just an old Japanese souped up Corolla which costs way too much because JDM yo/drift tax/... And then I drove it.... IT. REALLY. IS. THAT. GOOD! Japanese auctions suddenly got a lot more traffic the following hours/days/weeks/... Did feel sorry for my friend, wasn't 26 years yet so he wasn't allowed to drive it.... Well, just another reason to make a return visit in a couple of years
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Oct 18, 2016 18:06:24 GMT
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Oct 18, 2016 17:30:52 GMT
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I'm just focusing on Tokyo and Osaka this time as there's still so much to see! I've only got the first 4 days planned out so far, just going to wing the rest. I'm visiting Mizuno Works, Tec Arts, Garage Kagotani, Wizard (Old Celica Specialist), Car Shop glow, Mary's (Old Skyline builder), RS Start, few up garages ect then over to Yokohama, might stop by the Rocket Bunny cafe then over to Daikoku and Tatsumi. Tsukuba Circuit the next day for the JCCA Endurance meeting. It was fantastic last year. Thread for pics and the Videos retrorides.proboards.com/thread/186091/tsukuba-endurace-event-japracecars-video?page=1&scrollTo=2165270Haha Maricar sounds fun, I'm looking forward to it! I've got a 7D and it's pretty bulky. What shutter speed have you shot with for those night panning shots? I've decided to take it with me and put up with it so we'll see how I get on skating about on a longboard with that hanging off me haha To the chap worried about the language barrier.... don't be! That's what put me off for years but I'm gutted I didn't go sooner now. Book your flights and go! My flights were £450 return last year and £490 this year. Walking around for the whole day with a 7D and multiple lenses,...my backpack was already half full with my NEX7 and 2 extra lenses... But will be worth it, no doubt about that. Just checked the data of my pannings: the yellow taxi and the walking guy are both 1/20th, the white taxi at Shibuya Crossing is even 1/13th, so a lot slower than I expected myself. All taken in Aperture priority with the kitlens wide open (f3.5), ISO 800 and slightly overexposed (+0,7) as my camera has a tendency to underexpose. Normally I wouldn't shoot at such slow speeds, from 1/60th or 1/80th my hitrate starts dropping quite hard , so really happy with the way those shots turned out We didn't get to our "planned" (read as: we mentioned it to eachother once) garages, but we did randomly pull over at a small and rundown garage about half a mile from Fun2Drive. Reason was the Hakosuka he was working on, and then we saw the two 240Z's, another Hako, a drift-inspired Cefiro, a Mercedes W124 and some very crusty Alfa Spiders... Google Streetview
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Oct 17, 2016 11:23:33 GMT
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Wow it looks amazing. The only thing that's stopping me from going is the language barrier. If you don't mind me asking, was it expensive to rent that Initial D AE86? About the language: Don't let that stop you. We planned to learn some Japanese before going, which ofcourse didn't happen... I rented the car at Fun2Drive, about half a hour away from the Hakone Turnpike. ClickThe AE86 was one of the cheapest, about the same price as their Lotus 7 replica. I thing I payed 25000 Yen for three hours with all the extra insurance I could get (better safe than sorry), 6 hours isn't a lot more expensive but we were getting short on time. One of the guys talks English, and they really are just a bunch of petrolheads instead of true bussinessmen. Coolest thing ever: driving your rented Hachi on the Turnpike and randomly meet another Panda Hachi owned by a guy who is called Takumi... Still not sure whether it really was his name
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Oct 16, 2016 21:58:48 GMT
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Oct 16, 2016 21:48:17 GMT
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How was driving in Japan. I plan to go back again next year and I've always considered renting a car and driving in Japan to be massively confusing with the road signs in Japanese and all. About 10 years ago I went round a large portion of Japan with only a fold out map of the whole country. Loads of English on the signs and if you get really stuck just stop and ask someone. They drive on the correct side of the road of course which helps but the speed limits are super low as has been observed. I got caught speeding, got a fine. I was on a business trip and the receipt for the fine was in Japanese so it might have gone through my expenses when I got back..... Well, most signs do indeed look like this: Then again... this is also English according to them... But they really are very helpful, although lots of people (including those in their teen and twenties!) don't know a single word of English. The Google translate app was a godsend, as was our app for the subway routes and prices. Every station has free wifi, but we also rented a pocket wifi with unlimited usage to annoy our friends at home in the middle of the night with photo's of cars
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Oct 16, 2016 21:11:35 GMT
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Love that you left the hazard tape on. Thanks for the pics man, nice to see it in use on the same type of car it was first fitted to. Ofcourse, it matches my "Brick Driver" sticker on the sidewindow nicely
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Oct 16, 2016 13:19:52 GMT
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Great post, looking forward for more. Did you see any mk1 mr2's? Nope, not a single one I'm afraid
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Oct 15, 2016 20:27:53 GMT
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Tell me there's still more photos to come! There is more to come I leave for Japan Thursday and I'm doing a similar trip. This time I too am renting a car and visiting Daikoku and Tatsumi. Also I'm doing the Maricar! I bet that was brilliant fun! Great shots, especially at night. The last few times I've been, I've only taken my phone but this time I'm actually tempted to take my DSLR, it's just the bulk of it that puts me off. Post ALL your images! Nice! Where are you staying, for how long, what other things have you got planned? We will be going back with some extra friends in a couple of years Maricar really was a blast, you do attract some attention of the other tourists and even the locals haha First night at Tatsumi we arrived at 10 pm and left for the hotel at 5 am... so, yeah... we liked it over there Actually I'm not that happy with most of the night pics, should have bought a faster lense and a tripod earlier... but I do get what you're saying about a DSLR, that's why a went for a smaller mirrorless Sony. Not gonna post everything (+4000 photos by me, about 2500 by my friend) but I guess I could post some non-car pics later on Hmm, Madam keeps saying we should go on holiday to Japan. She lived in Tokyo a for a few years and speaks fluent Japanese. It's starting to look like I may have to agree with her one day soon! No doubt about it, go for it! So, this takes me back to my Gran Turismo-days as these were in GT2 I believe: not one but two Tommy Kaira M13's (Nissan March) An EE8 CRX Another special edition: an R32 GTS-T Impul 4door (this one missing it's original wheel, but still...pretty cool little thing). Ooh, and a LHD Saxo next to it A genuine RSP13 Silvia with the Type-X pack @ Super Autobacs Yokohama. Toyota Aristo/Lexus GS, can't remember if this had the turbo-engine or the atmo. One of 10 8C's in Japan according to the owner.
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Did you see many Honda s660s? Not retro but sure to appear on here in a decades time. Yeah, we did see a couple of those. Very very cool things, would loved to have driven one And one of its ancestors, the Beat (which has got nothing on our cool Nissan March next to it... ) Didn't see a single S600 or S800 though, can't have it all I guess How was driving in Japan. I plan to go back again next year and I've always considered renting a car and driving in Japan to be massively confusing with the road signs in Japanese and all. In one word: slow No, the first kilometres were stressful, picking up a rental bang in the middle of Tokyo tends to do that apparantly. The first time we got onto the highway even 40 mph felt really quick (you're only allowed to drive 50 mph by the way). But after a while you get used to it, you start driving like the Japanese and all of a sudden you're having a blast and are both laughing like maniacs 'cause you really are driving a car in Japan. At Tatsumi we also met a guy who gave us a lap of the C1, which was also one of the greatest experiences of the whole trip (try explaining to a sane person that one of the highlights was driving on a ringroad at the other side of the world...) They've got 2 speedcamera's, the posted limit is 50 mph... but the are only triggered by speeds above 75... Sometimes you just gotta love the Japanese Same story with the cops: there's 3 police cars for the C1 but when things get too crowded at Tatsumi they all come to the rest area to get everybody who isn't in a parking spot to move on. As a result everyone leaves the rest area redlining their first three gears and start racing the C1.... while the police stays at the rest area Flyby's at over 80mph with straightpipes while the police don't even bat an eyelid Our built-in sat-nav had english maps but only Japanese voices, so we used the sat-nav, google maps and Waze all at once. If you would be trying this alone...good luck
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We've had some good first posts, but this is right up there. Still more? Is the pope catholic? In that case... That picture - daytime would be a great shot - night time - WOW I had some lucky shots during those 10 days (which, by the way, is too short...) and this one is certainly one of them, as is the last photo is my first post. Thanks , I'm pretty sure this one will get printed on canvas a gets a place on my wall WOW. Japan is massive on my list of places to visit. Fantastic photography skills. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a lot of fun. Thank you very much. I used to be into photography some years ago, then got bored with it and didn't touch a camera for years so I'm really happy with the results of the trip So to keep things going, have some more! Just a Merc W202...? Well, if it's a genuine C55 AMG it would be one of only 59 in the whole world. Google tells me that it would have started life as a "regular" C43 which got a special (read as: expensive) treatment at AMG afterwards Taken with my cellphone at Tatsumi parking area, perfectly shows the sort of cars you get to see over there: a yellow widebodied NSX, a stripped out porker on full slicks (C1 Wangan racing, remember ), a GTR tuned by Top Secret (one of the tuning firms from the olden days, google Smokey Nagata or Supra V12 for more bonkers cars...), a Scooby with lots of Cosworth parts under the hood and.... a green Citroen C2. Really loved this little thing! Another snail And i'll just leave this over here: a Lancer evo II (it think, not sure)... and Spiderman in a streetlegal kart driving at 40-45 mph through Tokyo streets at night (of this I am sure, because we were driving right behind him dressed as Mario and Luigi ).
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Oct 14, 2016 21:49:18 GMT
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That is quite the introduction to un-lurking. Brilliant stuff. Were you out there for anything specific or just to soak up the car life style in Japan? Haha, thanks No, we didn't go for a specific event or something like that, the trip was just about discovering Tokyo itself but also (mostly?) searching for the car culture over there. During the first 3 days we didn't rent a car and just wandered through town without a fixed route. We did knew what we wanted to see, but just didn't plan stuff...just taking random turns or hopping on the subway and in the end we actually got to see almost all the things we read about online but also lots and lots more. By coincidence we were in Japan on the 7th July, also known as "Sevens day" which is when all the Rotary owners meet at Daikoku-futo (yes, another highway rest area...at night). But, because we didn't arrive early enough we had to park on one of the spots for HGVs...which isn't the best plan at an event that attracts the police in a country where the fines are really high. So we left quite early and when we returned the rest area was closed down by the police because there were too many cars Another thing on the bucketlist was driving on the Hakone/Toyo Tires/Mazda Turnpike (they've changed names quite a lot...): pretty much the Japanese Nurburgring about 2 hours SW of Tokyo: a privately owned mountain pass, lots of winding roads, no cops and if you're lucky with the weather you can see Mount Fuji (we didn't). The first time we drove it in our Nissan March (Micra) with a CVT-box, which was already a great experience... and then we came back so I could have a go in a rented Toyota AE86 Initial D replica. Driving that road in that car, that's pretty f'ing epic (and I hate that word! But it just was ) I've got plenty more , so if someone is interested I'd be happy to post some more Waiting............. Oh and 10/10 for first post after decloaking In that case... The ideal size for downtown Tokyo! They really love their vans, they do look very cool though. In this case a Honda Oddesey, but I'd also happily drive an Elgrand, Velfire,... Did I mention they like their Volvo's? Well, they do Shibuya Crossing, one of the busiest intersections in the world. (check it out on youtube, crossing the street on foot when the lights turn green for pedestrians is like a Wall of Death at a metal concert...but coming from 5 different directions ) They also love Americana Sometimes they just do weird stuff... and i'm not only talking about that radioactive-looking thing in the background , which is my Suntory Melon pop...and actually tastes very good :rofl:
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Oct 14, 2016 20:33:21 GMT
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A Twingo? That must be pretty unusual out there. Yeah, it is. But there's a lot of love for French cars over there, which I didn't expect During one of our visits we met a guy who drove a peugeot 406 coupé (3.0 V6), his dad had a 407 coupé (one of about 100 in Japan) and he very proudly showed us a pic of the only Dacia Logan in the whole of Japan.
I guess we all want the things we can't get easily. We import JDM-only models, they import a Dacia
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Oct 14, 2016 20:09:27 GMT
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...well, you come home with 2 sorts of pictures: pictures of cars & pictures of cars with other stuff in the background. So first of all, a short introduction because up untill now I was a lurker: Geoffrey, Belgian, interested in everything with 4 wheels...or less...or more And now onto the interesting things: Lovely 850 T5-R, espacially in yellow ofcourse Another lovely Swede Love at first sight, but didn't fit into my luggage... (only barely ofcouse, so tiny ) W124, everything just looks better with Japanese license plates... Because we rented a car we were able to go to the best places for petrolheads: Highway rest areas at night... no, really These pictures were taken at Tatsumi, a rest area close to the C1 (Wangan) ringroad, which is infamous for it's streetracing and which attracts all sorts of cars ranging from a first gen Renault Twingo, modded MX5's and Lamborghini's or an Alfa 8C. The coolest thing is, everyone is talking to eachother, no matter which car you drive I've got plenty more , so if someone is interested I'd be happy to post some more
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Oct 14, 2016 19:08:48 GMT
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Nov 23, 2015 12:10:05 GMT
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If you would ever publish a book with your photographs, I'd buy it. No matter what the price is! That pic of the 356 with the sun behind it, lovely
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