*LOACH*

Is this the Zama museum? I didn't think it was open to the public. Do you have a friend who works at Nissan?

Awesome! I can see them all now. Thanks Christian. I realise you must have a whole tonne of stuff to go through and this would be a minor issue in the scheme of things so I am especially grateful you fixed it... and immediately after I bought it up. You sir, are a legend

In regards to likes being anonymous. It is that way for all of them for me. It always says someone or the number of likes but I can never see who.

Toyota Megaweb, mostly different cars to the last time I was there...

Congratulations on your car purchase! It has had an enormous amount of work done to it. As you can see every one of the hundred or so line items in the records is a part that has been repaired or replaced. Good luck with the car!

Wow amazing line up. Thanks for posting!

That sucks, thanks for the info though. I PMed you too.

Awesome pics and cars. Thanks for posting. Can you get to Tatsumi PA by bicycle? I tried Shibaura near the Rainbow Bridge but had no luck.

Continues to impress, great work!

Yes, it is fine for anyone to post internationally and you don't even need to show ID. They are strict on the contents though so don't try to send anything you shouldn't. I couldn't send a tablet PC because of the battery inside.

Are there any auction houses that let people other than licensed dealers bid? I haven't heard of any but would love to find one .

If you own and use the car for a year in Japan you can import it as a personal import which is cheaper and less hassle. Here are some midnight purple R33 GTRs - they are all dealers. One is in Saitama which is next to Tokyo and there are others in Honshu too. Most of them are $10k - 20k. Edit: the one in Saitama is the red one. http://www.carsensor.net/usedcar/search.php?STID=CS210610&CARC=NI_S054&YMIN=1995&YMAX=1998&CL=PU

A friend saw this band live and loved it. I didn't think much of them when I first watched youtube vids but after listening to an album I see why she loves the music now.

and finally...

and more photos...

I have never been so happy to be in Ginza.

A few photos I took this week.

I am pretty sure they would be able to deliver to Niseko village, I am more concerned about whether they can get stuff from Australia to Japan. I am quite certain they send overseas from Japan, but to Japan I am not so sure. Like I said though, considering the hassle, worry and cost, renting is a way better idea. If you really don't want to rent then maybe buy second hand stuff when you get to Hokkaido. Sell it back to the shop you bought it from when you are finished and the loss you will suffer will still be a lot less than the transport cost I imagine.

I may have had Kuroneko deliver stuff to my place as they are possibly the biggest delivery company in Japan. For some reason I can't paste a link to their English website but just google "black cat Yamato". When I go snowboarding here I just rent the gear as it is cheap and although the choices may be limited I have always been able to get my sizes (over 6ft tall and big feet).

I have been to Akihabara countless times but there are still plenty of basement/upstairs stores that I would have missed and you may have been to. The robot store is pretty cool as is the store that sells fossils, replica weapons and has a 3D printer in operation. I went to Akihabara with my sister looking for camera gear there too but again it was cheaper online. I don't have many photos of Akihabara because the cosplay girls and some of the shops don't allow it. My next mission is to hire the road legal go karts and go for a cruise...

Marcus, it's highly likely that if you have spent most of your recent time in Japan hanging around with Aussie ex-pats and tourists in Hokkaido that you are going to think Rugby is big in Japan. However, if you ask the average Japanese person on the street to tell you the name of a player in one of the sports I listed they will more than likely be able to rattle off names like Ichiro, Hakuho, Kimura, Honda, Ishikawa or even foreigners like Jordan, Bekham etc etc. Try asking the average Japanese person on the street to name a rugby player. In the almost 3 years I spent working at a 600 student Junior high school (12 – 15 year olds) I never once saw a kid with a rugby ball. Whereas other team sports such as volleyball, basketball, soccer, handball, baseball etc were practiced both in PE class and also had school teams which practiced several times a week. Heck, I have seen several people at different times and cities carrying Lacrosse gear and wouldn't be surprised if that was considered more popular than rugby. As far as TV coverage goes only the big rugby games (ie the occassional international match) are shown on terrestial TV whereas league games would be on pay TV. Compare that to the sports I listed. In addition Japan's national league for rugby is semi professional not full professional. There are the occasional highly paid international players bought in to try and raise interest in the sport but there are many more players in the top level of rugby in Japan who are working other jobs to make ends meet or work part time in an office for the company team they are a member of. Please list the names of the "lot's of friends who have been playing professional rugby in japan for years". People in Japan will take an interest in rugby when the world cup is on, just as they did when the soccer world cup was on, with even most housewives and kids taking an interest. I don't see that interest being maintained though as there just isn't the infrastructure to support grass roots involvement in rugby. I practiced Aussie rules with Nagoya's (4th or 5th largest city in Japan) only team. They almost always practice on gravel fields due to the lack of availability of appropriately sized grass fields. Gravel fields are acceptable for baseball, handball, soccer etc but good luck with trying to play rugby on it. As far as camera gear goes I did visit Yodabashi and Bic camera in Tokyo, Kawasaki and Yokohama. As I stated the price was cheaper online. Have you visited these shops since the consumption tax increase earlier this year? Plus you have the warranty and language hassles associated with buying in Japan.

No worries mate. Neither Rugby Union or League are big in Japan. I would guess that volleyball, baseball, soccer, golf, sumo and basketball are bigger than rugby.

You can buy Red Sparks jerseys from Rakuten - http://search.rakuten.co.jp/search/mall/%E3%82%B3%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A8%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E3%82%B9%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9/%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%84%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%82%A6%E3%83%88%E3%83%89%E3%82%A2-101070/max.8899-p.1-s.1-sf.0-st.A-v.2?oid=018

No worries mate and good luck with buying in Hong Kong.

Hi Aaron. Welcome to the forum and all the best with finding the right car. There is a tonne of information on this forum to help you choose a good one.