Beer Baron's Japan Photo Diary

[Stephen Thorpe]

well you guys are in for a xmas bonus session. i'll be having a few days off over the next week or so, and when time permits i've promised myself I'd go through some old photos and upload them. so expect a few more japan trips worth of pics to be uploaded over this holiday season. just call me annual gift man (simpons japan joke).

Cool, I can't wait...

Merry Christmas everyone.

[endless]

I have just read through the whole thread and just wanted to show my appreciation for sharing your photos with us all.

Much appreciated as i know just how much time it does take to upload!

I also love nothing more than seeing threads like this & being motivated by them.

Again much thanks a Japan trip is coming sooner and sooner for me.

Edited December 30, 2008 by endless

[Beer Baron]

glad you enjoyed them. I'm currently choosing and re-sizing a new batch to be uploaded soon. not long now.

[GTS4WD]

MOAR!

[Bliksem]

[AtomicBomberMan]

hey BB, i was over there at the same time you were. the photos really brought back great memories. im so glad you posted pics of both the nismo festival and revspeed time attack. the photos i took were pretty poor! do you by chance have any pics of the auto gallery yokohama white 32 gtr? that was an awesome car too! Can you tell me a little more about the rb26 engine you got built in japan? They charge like a wounded bull dont they? what did you have done?

Edited January 4, 2009 by AtomicBomberMan

[Char]

hrs of good times

[23 GTR]

Hey Richard.

What happened to '08 Rev Speed Tskuba time attack?

[DamageInc]

Hey Richard ,

After sitting here from 4am to now (5.45am) , your pictures have convinced me i have to travel to japan , even if i dont get to drive a car while im there !

just seeing the photos of normal life and streets etc have sealed the deal for me !

question , if i were to go to say top seceret with intentions of buying some parts , if i rang them up and said "hey im from australia, ive come over to purchase parts for my car, can i set up a time to come by" would that suffice?

as there are a few garages i would love to go and purchase parts from first hand .

once again thank you for the pictures , its made me feel somewhat happier about my japanese baby ( my r33 ) that is covered in dust in my driveway

cheers mate

keep living the dream

[Beer Baron]

if you can when in japan have someone (hotel concierge maybe) call top secret for you and explain that you are a foreigner but are interested in buying some parts, not just a tourist. they will happily sell you anything they have in stock anyway if you go there. but ordering stuff may be harder. shibuki-san (store manager) speaks a tiny bit of english and seems to improve a little every year, but it's pretty basic and he seems to speak less to people he doesn't know (shy I guess).

anyway, as always I'd suggest the best idea is try and learn some japanese before you go. even a little. it will all help.

and still more pics to come, but i've been away the last few weeks and as always more pics than I have the time to sort through soon.

[Beer Baron]

hey BB, i was over there at the same time you were. the photos really brought back great memories. im so glad you posted pics of both the nismo festival and revspeed time attack. the photos i took were pretty poor! do you by chance have any pics of the auto gallery yokohama white 32 gtr? that was an awesome car too! Can you tell me a little more about the rb26 engine you got built in japan? They charge like a wounded bull dont they? what did you have done?

when i have a sec i'll look for pics of any of the AGY cars. they are a great tuning shop. one of my favs too.

the engine for my car I had built in japan was:

R34 RB26 N1 Nur crate motor

pulled apart at prime garage and blue printed etc

full prime garage head porting (inlet, exhaust etc, the full deal)

squish zones removed on one side

new valve seats cut (3 angle)

tomei 1.2mm metal head gasket

cooling passage and oil returns opened up

oil feed restrictor added

trust sump extension and baffle added with trust extended pick-up

tomei 260/9.15mm lift cams in and ex

tomei cam gears

nismo timing belt

mines cam cover baffles fitted

that's all I can think of off the top of my head! it was not cheap, but not too bad either. I've had stuff done there before and have a good relationship there so they definitely charge fairly. and back then the aud was buying 104 yen which helped.

[AtomicBomberMan]

that would be awesome! looking forward to seeing them!

[Jez13]

After reading your friendly and helpful advice on my one and only post, i noticed the link in your signature and got hooked from there, just finished reading through. Such an epic journey! I intend on going there soon myself...I wonder if the AU$ will go back up..? And what ever happened to that Christmas batch that was promised lol?

Edited March 18, 2009 by Jez13

[Beer Baron]

all I can say is i'm a slack bastard! I ended up moving apartments and taking a little holiday which meant no net time at all. but I'll get back to them. promise

as for the AUD no one can predict what will happen. it certainly would seem to be undervalued but we will always get beat up in tough times as our markets are not good value. we are quite safe and were a good proposition with interest rates at near 10% but with rates now way down we are not good value. plus in tough times investors bring their money home or stick it in safe places, and debt in japan is very safe so their dollar gets artificially propped up. that is just one aspect of it though, there are so many factors influencing comparative exchange rates. plus being a small market also means we get heavily affected by movements that would hardly make a ripple in other markets.

[Nightcrawler]

^^^ when chatting with David Kosh at length at a luncheon last year, he predicted a fall in the A$ (before it happened).

In his opinion (which is not the be-all and end-all, but lets face it he has been around the traps for a very long time) , at parity we become dangerously in danger of the whole world not wanting to buy resources/grain/exports from us, and that the long therm goal of the RBA and the general money men in Aus, is for A$1=US$0.75.

He said that it will climb above this for relatively short periods, then drop below it for relatively short periods, but at the end of the day the average will be around US$0.75. So there you go.

[seamonsta]

Hey Richard, great write up and photos. I actually went to Japan last October with the family and after reading this had to have a Mos burger (not at Shinjuku tho) while there just to say I've tasted one. I loved Japan and the people, my son is going back on exchange later this year, I may have to go again after the memories came flooding back. Thanks for inspiring me and others to go.

Tim

[Beer Baron]

good stuff Tim! I should make a list of the top 10 or 20 must do experiences in japan. and I'm glad you sampled the MOS burger "japanese fine burger". They are good.

Japan is a great place to visit and certainly unique.

[seamonsta]

The old world Geisha district in Kyoto was fantastic as was Himeji castle, what a view from the top (not made for over 6 foot Aussies though, so mind your head!) I will have to go to Hiroshima next time as well, worth a look or not? what about the West coast of Japan, you don't hear much about it.

[Beer Baron]

I haven't spent much time in hiroshima, but if you go there okonomiyaki town is worth a visit for sure. it's a multi-story building just packed with small restaurants selling okonomiyaki and super cold beer. also, if you go to hiroshima, miyajima is just a train and ferry ride away. about 40min on the train from memory and the ferry is like 5-10min. miyajima is definitely worth seeing.

I haven't really done anything west much so I can't give any real advice, but I can't really think of anywhere i've gone in japan that i've been disappointed, so I say go for it.

[STYLN]

Page 9 after the boot photography photo frenzy

lol, I honestly don't know. I just took some pics so I'd fit in. hehe.

rofl at your adaptive skills! Good form! Did ya ever find out what was the facination with the boot???

mate thanks very much for your efforts this thread is awesome. Just lost an hour and half of my work day but it was no waste i assure you....

more please

Edited May 22, 2009 by STYLN