*LOACH*

Thanks mate, that would be most appreciated.

Thanks mate thats awesome

Thanks mate. I think you already have my email but in case you dont I sent a PM. My prepaid keitei has been out of credit for about 6 months, couldnt be stuffed getting more or a plan so just using email nowadays.

Cool, thanks Terry, do you have any recommendations for brokers in Japan?

I recommend beating your Mac with a bar stool - sounds like a good game to me (either that or a really sick double entendre) Realistically though I feel your pain, I was stuck with a Linux netbook for a year with only online flash games to play. Some of them can be a bit of fun so you might wanna try www.armorgames.com www.miniclip.com www.newgrounds.com www.dragongamez.com etc etc Good luck

Thanks for the idea but for the small amount I am starting with any profit will be gone in the cost of the planner. Plus my Japanese isn't good enough to understand the intricate details of what he says.

Until now any money I have been able to save while working in Japan has been sent back to Australia to pay off my mortgage quicker. Now that the Yen is so low that option doesn't seem so attractive any more so I am wondering what peoples recommendations are for investments/savings in Japan. At the moment I am looking at only 500 000yen for 12 months, so not exactly a huge amount. I know that foreign currency buying/selling and foreign shares are popular with Japanese people but that is obviously not a good option at the moment. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Great to hear you are going to make it to Osaka. It is a fantastic city especially for food, music etc. Most of the TV personalities in Japan come from there. Apart from the stuff I already mentioned there are some other places you might want to visit. If you get tired of Japanese food there are one or two Shakeys pizzas in Shinsaibashi - all you can eat, unlimited time for about 1200yen plus they have Japanese curry rice as well as all the pizzas etc. Awesome. Osaka castle is definitely worth a visit although it is not original. There is an original castle in Inuyama (Aichi) which also has a a place called Monkey Park. Monkey Park has an amusement park as well as a zoo full of hundreds of monkeys including a big male gorilla. Back in Osaka there is a Chamber Music Festival on at the time you are there, which should be pretty good if you like classical music. Also if you take a train from Namba you can go to Koyasan, I haven't been there but it is a popular tourist destination for Japanese people with old temples, shrines, buildings etc. Anyway if you have any troubles or anything while you are here drop me a PM and I should get notified by email which I usually check twice a day. Have a great trip.

Step one - get movie script from internet Step two - tape self reading script - hamming up impression as much as possible Step three - drink alcohol until you are lying in a pool of your own vomit, excrement or even better, both Step four - listen to recording Should sound awesome. I highly recommend carrying out step three before reading my instructions as then they too will sound awesome.

There is a place in Nagoya that does Taiyaki hamburgers, Taiyaki bacon/egg and Taiyaki caramel/chocolate - they are all so delicious. Unko (red bean) is the traditional one though.

Osaka's aquarium, Kaiyukan, is one of the best in the world with two whale sharks in one tank. As has been said Shinsaibashi is great for shopping and food. Try eating takoyaki (great for a snack but usually served dangerously hot so wait a few minutes before eating) and okonomiyaki (ask if they have instructions in English as you cook it yourself) while you are there as Osaka is famous for them. If you have time Hiroshima (I think its about one and a half hours by Shinkansen (bullet train) from Osaka) is definitely worth the effort. It has the island Miyajima which has great views, old style buildings, wild deer and monkeys,. Get there by ferry from Hiroshima, the short trip has many photo opportunities too. Hiroshima also has the nuclear bomb dome and Peace museum which are pretty unforgettable although sad. Try eating Hiroshimayaki while you are there. If you want to go to a car museum then Nagoya (50 minutes by Shinkansen from Osaka) has a big one with cars from all over the world (but no Aussie stuff unfortunately - they need a VL in there The museum is about an hour from Nagoya station but its by subway so its relatively cheap. Try eating taiyaki (delicious desert) and unagidon (its eel but its delicious). On the weekends make sure you keep your eyes open around the big cities as there are usually festivals on at that time of the year and they are awesome.

No worries mate, I hope it works out better for you next year. Thanks for your concern, I and people in my area are fine but yeah some people further north are doing it tough.

I absolutely disagree. Public transport is a mess, there are frequent blackouts (usually scheduled to make up for the loss of power from f*kushima). Getting fresh dairy products, vegetables, drinking water and some other foods can be a problem. If you check the Australian Government website http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Japan it specifically recommends "do not travel" to Tokyo and Northern Honshu. Apart from the difficulties I have stated and the possible hazard to your health you may have difficulty claiming on travel insurance for anything (even unrelated problems) as the Australian Government recommended not to go there. My sister was supposed to come at the end of the month but I recommended she reschedule. My recommendation is either reschedule or avoid Tokyo - there is plenty to see in Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nara etc etc where life has been virtually unaffected.

I was absolutely wrong and you were absolutely right. Sorry about that and thanks for the information most appreciated. Maybe no one who read the thread has an R34 workshop manual. I certainly dont. Thanks for the picture anyway. NIS.26L - Sorry about the incorrect translation, Hope it all goes well for you.

This one - 大圧気 high pressure ?? Its definitely possible it is wrong but I am pretty sure this kanji 大 means large/big/great etc so I assumed it is the full boost setting for the R34GTR (80kpa I think). Also I would imagine that you would want a high pressure check and a low (less than an atmospheric) reading to check the working range of the pressure sensor. I could be wrong though - maybe its only to check the vacuum range. Anyone else got any ideas?

No worries. Usually if a pressure sensor has two adjustments then one adjustment is to set the zero and the other the range. I usually set the zero first and then the range then recheck the zero. The two adjustments affect each other so sometimes it takes quite a while to get it. If you have to keep adjusting them set the zero then the range then when you recheck the zero go half way to zero. For example: if when you recheck the zero it says 5 then set the the zero to 2.5 and recheck the range. Then recheck the the zero and if it says 3 set zero to 1.5 and recheck range again. Keep doing it and evetually you will get there. Good luck with it.

Looks like its just a check - there aren't any instructions on how to adjust it. Here is the translation for the stuff in the table: 圧力 pressure 電圧値 voltage 大圧気 high pressure 約 approximately

I agree that nuclear power is still a viable option for countries like Japan, especially considering emissions targets. However it is Japan and the government knows that there will be huge earthquakes. They know there is a huge earthquake due in Tokyo in the near future. Therefore Japanese nuclear power plants need to have an INDEPENDENTLY sanctioned and enforced building standard which allows safe operation/shutdown of nuclear power plants in the event of massive earthquakes. Just as any other country should have an INDEPENDENTLY sanctioned and enforced building standard for the problems they know they will encounter when using a power source which has the potential to cause harm not only to the people of the operating nation but in other countries as well. Many Japanese government officials have left the government in the past and taken up positions in TEPCO. In my opinion that is a symptom that the Japanese power industry is not independently regulated. There are other symptoms too as elrodeo666 has indicated.

TEPCO president has been hospitalised due to dizziness and high blood pressure due to worrying about f*kushima. TEPCO made a press statement saying they are considering putting the reactors in a Sarcophagus like Chernobyl due to it being "presently unclear how the problems at the plant would be resolved". By the way great link paulR32gtr. Good to see that reactors are being improved. Thanks.

The drivetrain will have less inertia therefore when you take off from a standing start or change gears you will have to be more delicate with throttle control in order to keep the revs up otherwise it will stall. Could be a hassle if you drive in traffic a lot. Listen to F1 cars (which have no flywheels and low rotating masses) as soon the throttle is closed the revs drop - much quicker than a street car. Its just a different driving experience which you may or may not like. I know its probably difficult but the best way to get the experience is drive someones car who has a light flywheel.

I haven't done this but from what I understand knife edging the crank feels like having a lighter flywheel - IE it will build up revs quicker but also lose them quicker too (which is usually a bit of a negative for a daily). Also there is less parasitic drag when the crank moves through the air/oil so you might gain a bit of power too.At the end of the day its really going to be a subjective thing whether you want it done to your car or not as no one but you will know if it feels OK as a daily. Sorry not too helpful.

Glad to hear from you Adam87 - havent heard from you since the earthquake etc - hope all is well. Hopefully 13Beast posts soon too. I had a look on gaijinpot but didnt really see anything, kind of given up now. Thanks for suggestion though.

Absolutely. I live more than 400kms away from f*kushima and none of the locals seem to be fazed at all, but I am only leaving my house when I have to and wear a mask when I do. Then when I get home I take my outer layer of clothes off as soon as I get in the door and everything goes straight in the wash and me in the shower. Now I am mostly worried about drinking water and food. I saw a report lately that said that measurements taken around the planet show that radioactive particles released by the f*kushima incident are between 60-70% that of Chernobyl. The results in other countries from that disaster are phenomenal - increase in rates of down syndrome and thyroid cancer in Germany and Tuurkey (intentionally spelled incorrectly - try posting with it spelled correctly and you will see why) amongst others. Coincidently I went shopping today and was going to buy apples but went for bananas instead as they have a thick skin which is peeled rather than eaten and bananas are probably imported too.

I don't really trust the Japanese government/media for reasons Elrodeo666 provided and because of the power situation. They keep saying everyday that that day was the day that power was connected. For example on the 19th they said today power was connected. But then the 20th-power was connected and then the next day-power will be connected today etc etc. Also one worker said that last week it seemed hopeless but now that its only critical. Hard to explain but yeah scary. I know its supposed to be minuscule amounts of radiation but they have detected fallout in Iceland and elsewhere in Europe from it, so how much is here? Everyday they say new food is being contaminated. I am getting info on f*kushima from so many places, Australian news (and Smart traveler), BBC, NHK, Reuters (US news) and others. Wikipedia is my favourite though as it actually gives good information (although I think most of it comes from the Japanese sources) in a relatively easy to understand way and I think someone is updating the article at least once a day. For the time being I am just gonna avoid going outside as much as possible. I canceled my snowboarding trip on Saturday because the wind is now coming down Honshu unlike last week where it was going out to sea. I can see why the Japanese government wants to play the situation down - if things are bad people will panic and that will cost lives - probably more than a worse case scenario in f*kushima as people will do anything to leave the country and Japans neighbours may think they can do a better job of controlling the situation that affects their countries as well. Considering the capabilities of those neighbours I wouldn't want to be standing in their way.They haven't said anything about it on the news yet but my prediction is that when its all over, there will be a bit of a controversy over the handling of the reactor and that things were worse than the government were saying. Then the prime minister will change by the end of the year. All will be forgiven and the real people with power in Japan get away with it - just like the American base relocation in Okinawa. I am sure people who have been here longer could offer more information on the subject - there are reasons why the Japanese Prime minister has changed almost every year (except Koizumisan and he only lasted 5/6 years) for the last two decades.

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