totoro

i went through imports101... give danny a call... as for importing or not... if you can find the car you like in perth for the price you want then buy it here, if not then take a chance and time to import one. for some people test driving beats looking at pictures... personally i had a good experience with importing but dunno about others... you can mail me on [email protected] if you got more questions... masahiro

my car was bought from them and their service is great. big ups to danny, catrina and the team at imports101.

dunno if this has been put up here... but the proto promo vid :lol: http://www.carmode.net/movie/2005/gt-r_ploto_wmv.html enjoy!

GTS-evilution: better check if the frequency or whatever match australian TV. like in japanese stereo needs to be tweeked to be used here. but that will be interesting if it works...

hahahahahaha, good one guys! good laugh...

2=destination registery? as in your destination in navigation (no use in Oz) 5=map/CD 6=wide area? (<- literal translation, maybe scan) 7=detail 8=picture/movie 9=sound/audio 10=face (assuming TV face) 11=part view no offence bart but i think you need to learn some japanese too before schooling other ppl. others are right though.

try www.rinkya.com or .com.au i forgot.... they got english or apparently there are some softwares that converts them to english

thats cruel man! hahahahaha 　hes more like アホ... 壱萬 is more stylish in my opinion.... more old school :lol:

my R32 4dr was picked from imports101 and i recommend them.

wow thats deep!?!?! and yeah mos burger is too small but so nice i can eat it all day long. i think he mean no miso like not having miso? im sure he aint eatin brains... natto kicks ass! its an acquired taste... hahaha

mail shazza... he might have a pair of black one...

i was told country driving is even more scary for over taking.... also another crap thing about it is at drive away maccas, etc or parking ticket machines.... unless you are inspector gadget. also good for fooling people that ghosts are driving the car...

Kinda related to point from rezz's: All Japanese girls are cute/good looking.... Owning a car is cheap... Every city is futuristic megapolis extravaganza that never sleeps....

ok i will not type as much this time! hahahaha i think everyone has varied experiences and it will depend on each person. some enjoy the adventure of knowing nothing and getting around... others need to know exactly what they are going to eat. i am assuming you know yourself a little so just think how you want to survive here then hopefully move up to living... also travelling and living is a totally two different things, so what you can enjoy while travelling for two weeks may not be fun after a year. and rezz is right in a back up plan is always good and have enough money to live for a while withought working as its always good to know money is not a problem for a while.

i love the natto! had it soooooooo many times in a week. cheap too. also love moss burger... and all the sweet pastry... the pastry in perth is crap! oh btw, aussie beef cant be wagyu hey....wagyu is japanese beef....

hey dude, you got pm+sms.

oh i almost forgot, the first time i came to australia i had a headache everyday from information overload! hahahahaha and you will get tired from all the different culture shocks eg. language, lilfe style, work, people, etc. so if you work under this condition pretty much you are throwing yourself into a lifestyle you have never experienced before. so thats why i suggest the holiday first.

RB SAM: in my opinion you will be comparing apples with oranges... the environment is different here and Japan or at least Perth. The people are much nicer and you are likely to get accepted as a foreigner as people would like to help you (to an extent) but as far as finding a job, i think it will be as hard anywhere you go if it is not your native country and dont speak the native language. having said that i know of a guy who is japanese and is a mechanic in a local toyota dealer. he came with his family and basically made his way through it, but he was lucky he is a good mechanic or no one would sponsor him for a working visa. his english is not good but he is studyin hard and i guess you dont need much english as a mechanic. while looking for any job you must consider what the employer will gain out of hiring you? because in Tokyo as much as any business cities, thats what it comes down to and it does make sense, cos they invest in you to perform a job and make them money. you can come to australia with not much money or language knowledge because there really is no big cultural gap such as corporate/social heirarchy, laws/rules, social systems, etc. coming from japan to australia is like coming from a big city to a little city, if tokyo/osaka and sydney/melbourne were compared. so it is like coming from a fully high speed city to a slower city. people are more easy going, friendly to talk to, likely to help and less stressful at work. all this is very dependent on the person ofcourse, but that is what i can observe. adaptability wise (without the language barrier) its like coming from New York/London to Sydney/Melbourne, so the transition will be easier. Language wise, like i said it has been done and it has been done to death may i add. sky is the limit. if you want it bad enough you will adapt or get home sick. the CEO of Nissan is not Japanese, which means if you have skills, you will find a job in Japan (that was an extreme example but illustrates my point). at the end of the day the transition is as difficult as you make it. people have difficulties in moving cities in australia because their people skills are bad or can't make new friends, etc. so it is what you make of what you have. i think the best option though as akeenan has suggested, to learn as much japanese as you can before arriving, cos once you arrive there is no backing out. also there is no assurance that once you arrive you will have so much free time to learn a new language. you will watch TV and not know whats going on, so after watching those crazy quiz shows and after laughing your @SS off, you start to feel isolated cos you just dont know what IS really going on and you start to want to know what is going on. that is when the novelty has worn off and reality hits. also make use of japanese people here in australia, and learn the culture as well form them, and get different opinions too. teach them english and learn japanese from them. the more you prepare the easier it will be for you. so the foundation is important as much as your game plan. and trust me when i say this, no one will be able to teach for very long, unless you wanted to be a teacher as a kid! i went to one english teaching interview and i thought 'nah this is not for me' and got a office job. btw i did get a TESOL certificate before i left so i knew what it took to be an English teacher (which was my backup plan) having said all that, some people will survive there way through Japan. i met one guy, at that english teaching mass interview thingy, and he was telling me how he was having fun getting drunk every night meeting chicks and crashing his scooter... i just thought 'dude, what are you doing here? whats your purpose?' you know what i mean. he seemed to have no idea, and jumping from job to job and getting drunk. if you are 18 you got a future ahead of you so dont waste time, and make sure this trip to japan will lead to something. like a career in the end if you want. i saw a car magazine the other day, the latest issue (november) of Holiday Auto. its not like option or drift tengoku but more of an Wheels type mag. and it had the only foreign motoring journalist in the world who writes his own column in Japanese! even i cant do that, cos both my english and japanese is shocking! hahahahaahaha but seriously this guy is aussie and he is doing his own thing, and so can you. his name is Peter Lyon if anyone wants to know.... i think a holiday will be better and you can scope the place out. once you work in tokyo, its no holiday! lastly why do you want to learn japanese? that maybe the key to making your plan to work. you can always to a student exchange as a friend of mine got a scholarship to study in japan for a 6mths or a year period. she just minored in japanese or something and she basically won the scholarship in university. maybe this could be a better idea? if you got any more questions, fire away. masahiro

RB SAM: i think there are few options you can consider here. it would depend on what you want to do in japan. i have many friends in japan who are working in a non english teaching environment and teaching english. firstly you will need to determine your rough plan of how long you may want to stay there and be realistic. dont fool yourself and know your limits. in my pinion people move to japan for many different reasons such as loving japanese culture, wanting to escape, wanna meet japanese chicks, travel, teaching english, go see car events/street meets, etc. so ask yourself what you want to do. if it is just a little change of environment then teaching english is probably the best way as working casually or temping will pay you crap all and you wont be able to survive, let alone enjoy your stay. plus im not sure on the requirements of working holiday, maybe you need to relocate every so often? if it is more for cultural reasons or love to live in japan, then you need to look it more seriously such as getting a degree (which can take few years) and move there and teach english for a year or so and get a job in a company in japan. i have few friends who have done this so it is not impossible, but this will be just like getting a job in australia except in places like tokyo there are heaps (i mean heaps) of people who can speak japanese and english fluently so your competition is pretty tough! this is not by far the easiest option but will give you a stong foundation in staying longer in japan and make money but salary man work like a dog (as i did it for a year) and unless you really love japan, im sure you will feel home sick or just tired of working. either way you choose i think it will be best to go to japan for a holiday and check it out yourself. go to tokyo or osaka and travel for a while and get a real feeling of japan and the culture. go and catch the train (in rush hour if you dare... though if you work in office environment this will be your reality! which sux) or try to get around with limitted knowledge of japanes and you may understand where akeenan is coming from. in the long run this will give you a real feeling of japan. and you can make a decision on what you want to do. some people have a very DREAMER view of japan from watching TV, cartoon or what ever and the reality is once you live there the novelty wears off in 6 months and you start to ask yourself why you moved in the first place. other than that what you may want to do in terms of learning japanese can be to go easy on your job now and lessen the hours to study japanese or change jobs. in my opinion you will need to know how to speak japanese if you really want to experience japan and its culture. some people get by by speaking minimal japanese and hang out with ex pats too much. by doing that you are neglecting yourself of a full cultural experience. feel free to mail me if you got more questions. and i am japanese who grew up in yokohama/perth and worked in japan last year. hope this helped. masahiro [email protected]

that sux... i hope your family is ok and will keep my eyes open too...

you got pm.

im not sure on what happens when some parts are passed and others fail as my parts all passed in one go.... but give them a call or drop by in another car to check what needs to be done for it to be passed then the failure rate will be low. stock road is not bad as they gave me my permit.

sorry dude... still hard to read and on top of that what makes it worse is that it is made up of technical jargon so i cant even guess... kinda like reading a medical text book with 16 syllable words at low res!

i think it would depend on where you guys go... saying going to japan is as broad of a topic as foreigners saying "im coming to australia and want to get with the australian culture, where is a good place to go".... let us know at least what city you intend to stay then some of the local guys can direct you in the right direction.

you got pm!