Rezz

Well done They mentioned the owner was from Australia too... good on them. Not really into Kei's but with those 'bargain mods' how much power did it make?

There aren't any performance garages i Kitano as far as I know, but have you been to Pinoccio's Italian restaurant? Go there you won't be disappointed Theres Garage Endless to your west near Seishin-Chuo, and C-West to your east (in Nishinomiya). Both those places I'd recommend for a foreigner as they have (semi) English speaking staff and have very good reputations. When I went there they were all really interested as to what I was going to do to my car, which although I never got anything done by them, they sounded genuine enough. There are some other good garages like Nagisa and Stillway but they are further out out Kobe (Himeji I think?)

In Osaka you should check out: - Osaka-jo Koen (Osaka castke park): great panoramic views of central Osaka. The castle itself is a reconstruction of the original, but it's still worth going to... just ignore the elevator and 50+ LCD tv's they put in. - Shinsaibashi: starting from Nagahori-dori St, make your way south down Shinsaibashi-suji Shoutengai (shopping mall) all the way until you get to the Dotombori bridge where you can see the famous 'Glico man' sign... basically the center of shopping in Osaka. Don't forget to walk west of the Dotombori bridge and check out 'Amerika-mura', it's where all the 'cool people' and Africans posing as hip hop superstars hang out. - Universal Studios Japan: It's worth going to if you have a day to spare just for the Japanese style theme park experience. Have your wallet out at the ready. There are much better theme parks in Japan but in Osaka this is the closest/easiest to get to. - Kobe: Just a 20min or so train ride from Osaka, Kobe is probably the best mix of city and country in Japan. You can be right in the middle of 'Center gai' shopping area one hour, then at the top of Rokko mountain the next... well almost I lived in Kobe for 4 years and I can't think of a better place to go for a day or two. In Kyoto you should see: - Murayama Park and surrounding area: It's probably best to just go to the Tourist information center in Kyoto once you get off the train because theres just too much to list. You can pretty much just walk around the main shopping area in Kyoto then walk east for about 5 mins and be in the center of Murayama Park with all the temples and old style buildings etc. It's a VERY special place and should not be missed. I'll let the other guys recommend sights in Tokyo, but I can vouch for Asakusa Kannon Temple, the Imperial Palace, NHK studios (lol) and Akihabara electric town.

No no no man ... it's quite simple: 'Wakarimasu' is the polite form for the *present tense* of '(I) understand'. 'Wakarimashita' is the polite form for the *PAST tense* of '(I) understood'. 'Masu' and 'Mashita' verb stubs merely indicate the tense in the polite form. If you want to express '(I) understand' in a casual present tense way you'd just say 'Wakaru', and in casual past tense 'Wakatta'. It's probably one of the more difficult things for beginners to understand, with all the polite language (as used in business dealings for example) as opposed to the casual language used in the home. I'm afraid that you need to master both and understand the correct situations on when and where to use these forms of Japanese in order to progress to an intermediate stage. good effort though Mark if you have any more questions just ask

Sewid: I can remember exactly but there is a size problem with rims over 17" in diameter via EMS. The width I think is ok up to 10.5" (or there abouts?) but the 18" diameter + width goes over the EMS limits... this is what I was told, and pretty much why we went sea freight.

Yeah I can get a price, there are 2 ways. EMS is the popular 'reasonably priced for the time it takes to arrive' air freight option, which I'm not sure if an 18x9 will fit in their maximum dimentions.... I was told 17x9 with just bubble wrap packaging would squeeze through. If EMS is out of the question, you'd have to go sea freight. Trouble with that is, you *will* get hit with GST and customs duty and port charges and bla blah blah (seriously it's mind numbing all the BS charges they have) but it's all dependent on your weight/size, so hopefully a set of wheels won't cost that much. I've only ever done the 'containerless' sea freight once before for 2x wheels sets, 1x bodykit/mirrors/headlights/tail lights, 2x carbon bonnets, 2x carbon bootlids... so for that we paid in excess of $1,300, but it all weighed 185kg and took up over 3 m3 (cubed).

Well... I can't say they'd cost *that* much more for 18x9s, but I wouldn't be suprised if that 21,000 yen price was for a basic one-size-fits-all 17x8 +35... I'm not in Japan but are able to get prices for you and have them sent to your door. I won't make anything out of it (unless you want me to lol) my partner in Osaka will handle the freight and dispatch side of it.

I could be at TAS 2007 too lads... I'll make an official thread closer to the end of the year, and hopefully have a proper organised meet up point. On the other hand if no ones interested just make sure you all agree on doing it or not doing it well in advance

dezz if you're serious and want them landed at your door, give me a PM... they're asking about $240 a wheel, but obviously the price goes up depending on width and offset which you'd have to get in contact with Grenade in order to get an accurate price... probably why no one can help you...

The Secohan Ichiba stores are all worth checking out, but each store specializes in a certain area eg: stereo, engine, circuit spec, wheels, interior etc. The shop I used to go to in Juuso specialized in wheels, but they closed down and moved in with another Secohan Ichiba elsewhere. Where will you be doing your shopping for parts? Osaka? Up Garage is another used parts shop. They often have a good selection of parts, and are better than Yahoo auction in that you can 'see/handle before you buy'.

Haha, *apparently*, the 'Denki Anma revival' (what the bold lettering says) is connected to the 'black pepper salt' they've added to this packet of Dorito's... quite shocking so to speak...

Akeenan and a few others are based out Tokyo/Chiba way, so they will have some good advice for you, but as for Osaka/ Kyoto, there are some guys on here that drift out in the Nanko area pretty much on a weekly basis, not sure if theeir cars are running or not though. There are planty of tuning shops like Signal, C-West, J's Racing, Bori's Factory, Kakimoto etc which are all in or around the Osaka area (and have websites with directions), and for parts there are many 'Autobacs Secohan Ichiba' (Autobacs second hand markets) and Up Garages around for used parts, and a few SuperAutobacs (43 Doui in Amagasaki, Sunshine Wharf in Kobe, and my very good mate Ikeri's SuperAutobacs on Route 171 in Itami - North Osaka). October isn't so good for car shows as far as I know, but I'm sure theres something going on, just depends if you have access to a car or don't mind an extended train/bus ride. I'm sure the other members can help out a little more... how long are you staying?

Since your pulling the cuss words out, I'll change my quoted post right away. In future PM me about it and refrain from name calling.

I was pretty suprised Toyota chose the current UZZ40 Soarer as their SuperGT platform. I would suddenly be interested in Aussie touring car racing if that car was competing next year...

Yeah me neither... lol In order to make that comparison fair, you'd have to use a Nismo modified Silvia or Skyline... Enough with comparing late model HSVs with old stock Skylines. At the end of the day, the HSVs and Fords whatever are bigass GT sedans, the likes of which Japanese car companies don't sell in this country. So any comparison with something Japanese is going to be irrelivent. The Holdens and Fords appeal to a certain type of person, most of which frequent other boards.

Definately agree there. In fact for the VEs sake I hope Holden have got something like this on the cards already.

600,000yen for a 147 Arist 3.0V is right down the middle I guess, not a showroom condition one, nor a used and abused ex-fathers-car-given-to-oldest-son-as-a-first-car bunky. I'd say 800,000 - 1,000,000yen is the absolute limit I'd pay for one of these in mint condition with some nice bits attached.

Hi Ben, I see you've done some research already, but this subject (with almost exactly the same questions) has been covered many, many times in this Japan forum. If you've already tried the search feature with varied 'search words' and still have specific questions to ask, then please go right ahead. So just briefly: You have a degree, so go with a corporate English school like Nova, Berlitz, ECC etc. If they aren't what you're looking for, check out http://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/jet/index.html with the JET program. JET gives you (possibly countryside) placements though, as do most of the corporates. If you go with a private school though, you pretty much try and get a job wherever you can. Most foreigners stick to the cities... because as you can imagine the country doesn't offer much in the way of action/nightlife/things to do. With staying for only a year, just teach English. It's easiest, and not being able to speak fluent Japanese doesn't matter. Share an apartment if you can, you can save so much more if you do.

Nah the price is alright mate, J-Spec are very reasonable and if I wasn't able to import cars myself easily, I would def use their services. /plug Ok adding on to what you already know: Power windows air bag sun roof aftermarket alloys (for real ) factory rear spolier boot lid struts are weak/not working properly 1 dash light is not working(?) seats are dirty/worn Other than that she looks fairly clean.

It's not what I reckon Richard, it's the way Trust say it... 'Greh-dee'. It's seems like every other country in the world undertsands this, except the majority of Aussies. Anyway, CRD selling Trust gear at 'Nengun prices' (lol banner ad) sounds very good indeed... keep it up.

Hi Peter I couldn't find the Stillway site either... but I have some pics of the Stillway Evo 7 in the 'Photo Diary' thread in this forum. I might have some other pics on my PC, I'll upload them tonight (AU time) if I find any more.

The FR transaxel configuration for the Next GT-R has been old news... at least a year or more old. I see engine capacities still being thrown around going from 3.2 right up to 3.8 now. The 3.2L capacity was to shorten the stroke, and completely change the characteristics of the VQ. As far as I know the engine is still VQ based, but I wouldn't rule out an almost completely different engine for the Next GT-R, but it'll probably be all but the basic block being the same as the VQ engines. So until Nissan bring out more info, it's still: FR transaxel, V6 twin turbo, front wheels driven by electric motors with Li-Ion batteries, 7-speed sequential box (with or without a clutch pedal) and an incredibly quick reacting ATESSA system with each wheel controlled independently for torque, aswell as for braking assist.

Any idea why weight reduction wasn't carried out before? I'm sure it was done to some extent...

Does this mean people will stop saying 'Greedy' or Gee Ready'?

Didn't recieve it Terry... I'll mail your Kansai Automotive email account.