sleeper_et

I would probably go for a face to face course. You need to hear the language and be able to work out peoples facial expressions. My Japanese is still a work in progress, I am pretty much self taught but I did do a Japanese course for 1 night a week for 3 months. Your best bet is to make some Japanese friends, watch Jap movies/music. Also look at a website called tutorfinder, you might pay $20-30p/h but the face to face experience is well worth it. 頑張って！！！！Good luck

Not sure of the second Kanji charecter but the way I read it says the disk can't be recognised. Anyone else confirm this? Cheers

It says "If removed warranty is void". Just kidding it says Nissan Prince Gunma. Gunma is a city in Japan Cheers

What a F$%king spanner head. Only problem with the internet is it gives monkeys like this guy an audience.

If you are looking for tourist sites to visit don't pass up Kinkakuji (the golden temple). It is pretty awesome to see, don't always eat at Maccas and Yoshinoya- do yourself a favour and go into some local backstreet Udon/Ramen shops. Quite often the pokiest little ramen shops have some pretty good stuff. Take a trip to Akihabara for the Electronic stuff and qwirky games and what not. Apart from that pick up a lonely planet guide and go through that for sights, car wise I haven't spent enough time in Tokyo/Kyoto so some of the other guys will be able to steer you right on that. I am going from the 17-29th of Sep. Have a good trip

I went to Autobacs and they told me that you should spend the money on something that makes it go faster. Haha

Unless you have some really really important reason to use your phone from Australia in Japan - don't bother. It would be cheaper to just hire a phone and go to an internet cafe an forward everyone your number. I can't see how people get so attached to their phone that they feel the need to take it with them.

Phone wise can't give much advice but for wireless download net stumbler and walk around. What I found was that not many people lock down their wireless network so you will probably be able to find some 'complimentary' wireless near any bigger buildings.

As Rezz said its pretty easy to get to- but don't be scared when you get off the train in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I would be careful of is the shuttle bus. Give the Circuit a quick call or shoot them an email. They will have a bus on Sunday for sure but check about Saturday. R-Sanyon and I made this mistake once (Super GT round on Saturday "Yeah, they will have a shuttle bus for sure"- stupid me) lucky for us that an hour into our walk a guy in a Chaser picked us up and took us to the circuit. Have fun

Haha, yeah I lived in Nova appartments for about 5months until they F$%ked me over by shifting me to a different apartment. They were actually not too bad but a bit to $$$ What do you do in Okayama? You will have to hit that guy up for a ride in the car at some stage.

Hey Micky, How's the trip going? Looks like you had a bit of fun. When do you get back?

Thought I would post up some more pics. They are a bit random but....

That is awesome. Thanks for sharing the pics with everyone. It's funny how most things look the same ie Pachinko, School Uniforms, Street Vendors and the aerial shots. Have you been back to Japan since? How did you find it if you did. Thanks again Dan

It's not really specific to the cars that you asked about but I asked about the costs involved a few months back, check out this thread and see if it helps http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Co...an-t192086.html Cheers

Good stuff, great to hear someone who is positive and enjoying themselves. Good on ya. I am jealous. I would love to get to Okinawa and have a look at some stage.

Ok, seems like a fair explanation. Whilst living in Japan what job have you been doing for a job? If its constantly teaching English I could understand your frustration. I can see where you are coming from but I think the situation would be very similar for a Japanese person to come to Australia wouldn't it? I think that I will have to make a judgment in time about it. I think across the board the wages in Japan are low for both Japanese and gaijins, seems like you really have to do the hardyards for a heap of years before you can start making the big $$$, at least that is what I have been told from friends.

Just curios, but there seems to be a fair few people that have a major dislike of Japan and the people in it. Have you ever travelled and lived in other countries before? If so did you have the same feelings about them? I am only asking because people have a tendency to compare everything to their birth country because that is "normal" to them, so therefore anything different is a negative. Would you/ do you have the same feelings towards China, Brazil or America if you lived there? Don't take my post the wrong way I am just trying to see if people think that Australia is better because it's normal to us. Personally I like both countries. Some things annoy me about Japan but then some things drive me nuts about Australia. I haven't spent enough time in Japan but the time I did spend I enjoyed and would like to live their again.

Haha, good story Rezz. I am surprised that you haven`t learnt that the older you get, the more you actually have the right to do stupid things. I mean he has racked up a lot of driving experience in his years so he therefore has more right to use the road`s than everyone else and drive on them anyway he likes.

Yeah, it was good fun. The only problem was that for our christmas party last year we went to a track and did a bit of driving, this caused me to wana get back into racing again. I bought a kart and everything did 2 race meetings and came back to Japan. If i can get a job I will send my kart over and do some running over here, so fingers crossed. Do you race? If so which club?

Cool, let us know if you are heading down. I have never been before so it should be an eye openner. The job thing might turn out to be a pretty big challenge, if worst comes to worst I will go back to aus and keep stitching up go kart chassis. Cheers

We have the same problem in Australia but not as big. The main problem with majority of drivers is that they don`t realize that when you are driving a car you have a potential killing device and they are not taught how to respect what it can do. One of the bigger problems is that cars are getting safer and smarter(abs, stability control, reversing sensor other driver aids), it gives people a false sense of security and takes away the need for people to learn the basics of handling a car(stopping distances, what to do if the car starts to slide, allowing room for a potential hazard bla bla). Personally I think every school should start teaching kids from the age of 14 about driving, I am not just talking about road rules but the actual fundamentals that can help you. i.e -If the front wheels look up which causes you to have no steering what should you do? -Don`t just watch the road in front of your car, watch the bigger picture (people on the side of the road, look for children near the road, animals...) -Remember that you are not the only person on the road and you have to be prepared that the people around you might not be in full control. Just the simple principals that people should know, but start teaching at a young age. Then when you are on your learners it should be Mandatory to do at least 1 week of defensive driving courses. Even this is not enough. At the end of the day driving is not a right; it is a privilege and one that should not be taken on lightly. Anyway that`s my rant for the day, but driver safety and responsibility is something i think is not taken seriously enough. Cheers