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Ah bugger, I already made alternative holiday plans thinking it wasn't happening! There's always next year (I hope!)

They're really keeping us hanging!

Spotted 000GTR in Gosford today. Very nice

Hopefully it is going ahead; I'll definitely be making an effort to attend.

Hmm, it was a while ago now but I can't recall it doing it badly. The whole car did feel like it had been thrashed hard though. Damn... all this talk makes me really want to go back ASAP

Ah, thanks. I was hoping they had a fresher car by now -- the car I drove had 70k on it too and it was starting to feel a bit clunky. But, more importantly, I want to drive the updated model to see how much it has improved since.

Nice one, I am dying to go back. Have been working on plans for a 12 day road trip actually, but probably won't do it until December next year (I want to do Nismo Festival again, hopefully they resume next year) Is the GT-R still the same white 2007 model that I had?

http://www.japantv.com.au/

No probs. I didn't get many looks, well, I don't think so anyway. I didn't pay too much attention to others whilst I was taking photos. The only time I can definitely recall somebody noticing was at Daikoku Futo - they were talking about me but I don't think they realised I understood a bit of Japanese. Nothing bad they were just exclaiming "wow, a foreigner all the way out here". People were surprisingly friendly for the most part and I had a chat to a few people about their cars. Those who seem intimidating initially are often quite friendly once spoken to!

Nope it's down the other end of Japan mate, near Hiroshima. f*kushima power plant is north of Tokyo.

It's all pretty simple - there's cash booths on every toll road I've come across. I wish there was a way for foreigners to obtain the ETC card but so far I haven't seen any way to hire or buy one so cash booths are the only way. Cash booths are usually marked by the big green sign like this: Just remember to have lots of cash handy. I think the most I've spent is about $80 in one day. Most tolls are Y300-700 but the motorways can cost up to Y2500 on the long journeys. The more expensive motorways that are charged for different distances will have 2 toll booths - the first when you enter the motorway you collect a card and the second booth where you hand your card to the operator and pay the charge based on distance. When you get to the second booth they'll usually have an electornic sign showing how much to pay. I've noticed that the GPS system in the Nissan will usually show you the estimate of how much the toll charge will be which is handy but not entirely vital. There's a few guides on the net for driving, ie: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2022.html & http://expatsguide.jp/ch6 - for the most part it's pretty straight forward and easy to grasp. Remember to get your international driving permit from NRMA before you leave the country! When you go to fuel up the car just remember the word "mantan" and they will give you a full tank. Usually a station attendant will guide you in and fill the car up for you, no need to get out of the car at all.

The GTR was Y46,200 for 24hrs hire, so depending on the exchange rate it's not too bad. There were three of us on holiday so divided by 3 mates it was certainly good value. Toll roads cost a small fortune though they are great to drive on. Rental was through Premium Rent - http://www.premium-rent.com/en/cartypes.php I can't speak much Japanese, I understand a fair bit. Enough to get by. I did a lot of research for places to visit just using Google, Travel Wiki, other Forums etc. There's quite a few threads on http://www.jdmstyletuning.com forums with other travel blogs and Japan holiday advice threads. If you put a lot of time into research you'll find heaps to do.

Thanks everyone. With regards to the hire of the Nissan Cube, I hired it from Nissan Rent-a-car in Shinjuku. I do my bookings through this website: http://www2.tocoo.jp - they deal with multiple companies. Not all rental companies offer English GPS, but Nissan do. It's a ~Y1000 option and well worth it. Because I was staying at the Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku which is right near Shinjuku station I opted to use this outlet: http://www2.tocoo.jp/?file=rentcar_inbound/branch&id=02236&prefecture=13 - I've used them twice now and they have been perfect to deal with every time. The GPS is easy enough to use but keep in mind that the Japanese map system is not the same as here. There's two ways of accurately finding your destination (most of the time): 1. Phone Number - the GPS System will allow you to enter the phone number of the place you want to visit. 2. GPS Co-ordinates - My preferred method is to look up the locations I want to drive to on Google Maps when I'm planning my trip and then convert the coordinates for that location into the format that the GPS System in the car uses. A helpful website for conversion of the coordinates is http://netvicious.com/gps/ - make a note of all the formats of the coordinates so you don't get caught out. I think from memory the GPS system in the Nissan uses Degrees/Minutes/Seconds format (xx.xx.xx, xxx.xx.xx). The Nissan GPS system is pretty good, I never got lost with it. It's not 100% english but the directions are English and the signs on the roads in Japan are usually in both languages too. I'd advise that you burn a CD of Mp3 music or take a spare SD Card with Mp3's on it to play in the car during your adventures, Japanese Radio stations can get a bit tiresome as they talk a lot between songs!

That would certainly be appreciated! Can't wait to see the rest.

I thought the Tokyo Motor Show was worth the visit, most especially because there were a number of cars on display that I was interested in seeing for myself - pictures just aren't the same. The only down sides for me were that Odaiba is a bit of a hike and the crowd was massive which means some cars are hard to get a good look at. Definitely glad I went though.

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

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)

Gee, damn, I fly out at 8pm on Friday, would probably be pushing the timeframe a little to make it to Tsukuba. I'm going to visit the Tokyo Motor Show next week for sure though, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday. Pity I won't be able to make Nismo Festival this year. I love Dec/Jan - so many great car events on around Tokyo.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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 #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