*loach*s Photo Diary

[*LOACH*]

It didn't look special, just thinly cut slices (looks like the beef in gyudon from Yoshinoya etc). I don't know why, it was just fantastic. The shop was down some back alley with the owner or waiter out the front in the street beckoning people to come in like it was a red light district. The guy cooking the food was smoking a ciggy while cooking. The shop itself was in the style of the countless other international diner/cafe/restaurants in Japan. Just so happened that it served, possibly, the most delicious Japanese set meal I have had. Wasn't expensive either - about 800yen from memory.

[liger]

*sigh*.... i miss Japan 5 times is not enough!!!!

[*LOACH*]

Japan misses you too Nath, it even through a tantrum last week. All tears and wails it was.

[liger]

bwahahhaha. soon hopefully, the yen went from 90.3 this morning to 88.x this afternoon.. doesnt seem like much, untill you buy $3,000 worth of spending money

good photos tho paul, always love seeing them

[HiveFleetAbyss]

Japan is definitely on my list of places to go. The missus has come up with a great idea to save and go to japan for a week or two for our honeymoon in years to come.

[GH05T]

only been once and miss is hugely, if i had a foot in the door for good employment and spoke the language, i would not have left.

[*LOACH*]

Japan is definitely on my list of places to go. The missus has come up with a great idea to save and go to japan for a week or two for our honeymoon in years to come.

Cool, Tokyo Sky Tree is definitely worth a visit (tallest tower - not building in the world) see below.

only been once and miss is hugely, if i had a foot in the door for good employment and spoke the language, i would not have left.

Yeah I can relate, I can speak, read and write a fair bit but I still find the language a massive barrier when dealing with anything complicated. The bad thing about good employment is that you are expected to live your job.

Yesterday I went to Tokyo tower. It costs 2000 Yen to go to the level at about 350m and you have to wait a really long time (I went during the day on a weekday so I can only imagine other times will have even longer waiting times). First you have to wait to get a ticket to wait in line at a given time bracket. So after I got that first ticket and had to wait for two hours for my time bracket I went for a walk through Oyokogawashinsui park. It has a building in the shape of a boat at one end of the park. The building has a long slide too which is fun.

I saw this while walking:

The sky wasn't very clear so most of my photos from Sky Tree aren't too good, this one is ok though.

I am scared of anything that has the power to do great harm or kill me which includes heights so it was after several minutes of procrastination involving sweaty palms and legs of concrete that I shuffled my way of the glass floor to take some photos.

I ate black sesame seed tantan men and gyoza at this shop in the Tokyo Sky Tree town. The gyoza was especially fantastic and the shop isn't much more expensive than others which is a nice surprise as it is in a tourist area.

If the idea of hours of waiting/2000yen is a bit of a put off the Asahi beer companies building can be visited. Just take an elevator to the 22nd floor and go in the toilet. There is a window and you can see outside. As I was in the toilet I thought this photo was appropriate to post.

There is also an old government office building in Tokyo that is open at night and has great views of Tokyo through big windows. It is free and wasn't too busy when I went, a few years ago now.

Edited October 29, 2013 by *LOACH*

[GH05T]

i assume you mean the government building in Shinjuku, i went up it but it was very cloudy, but yeah you can shoot up and down it all day easily.

glass floor and me woudl not mix,

might be able to crawl up to it and poke my head over. aslong as more than %90 of my body was on solid floor and i had several emergancy escape plans in place. i would be good.

[darksky34]

HAHAHA Paul love your commentary! I am also deathly afraid of heights..and see through floors. I have been in such towers in USA and another place (i forget now) and it ALWAYS makes my knees knock. The thought of the glass suddenly breaking....even if they have engineered it to be stronger than steel etc (WHAT IF THERES A HAIRLINE CRACK AND MY WEIGHT BREAKS IT?) etc!

Thanks for the great tip on going to a toilet for a touristy pic!

[*LOACH*]

HAHAHA Paul love your commentary! I am also deathly afraid of heights..and see through floors. I have been in such towers in USA and another place (i forget now) and it ALWAYS makes my knees knock. The thought of the glass suddenly breaking....even if they have engineered it to be stronger than steel etc (WHAT IF THERES A HAIRLINE CRACK AND MY WEIGHT BREAKS IT?) etc!

Thanks for the great tip on going to a toilet for a touristy pic!

Thanks mate

Have you planned your trip yet? PM if you have details.

[liger]

as for the heights, doesnt worry me if i know that its safe enough ( i.e no rickety bridge). havent seen the sky tree yet only the old tokyo tower.

paul, i'll be over there from 26th -> 5th January. landing on kansai again, but if the yen is around the same rate as it is now i'll grab a rail pass and duck up there mate.

Edited October 30, 2013 by liger

[White GTS-T]

Thanks for sharing ^_^

[*LOACH*]

I went to the Tokyo Motorshow and took these photos. As alsways sorry for the quality of them - one day I will get a DSLR and the skills to take advantage of it.

The Nissan display was my favourite of the show, the wrap around screen an light show was awesome.

The pictures of the retro datto I had seen on the net and indeed the photos I took made it look quite ordinary. In real life both the street and racing versions look impressive - hopefully they put it into production.

I like the seating layout (as per the MacLaren F1) but the narrow/long front looks horrible.

And this is why you get no proper GTR photos:

Many manufacturers had two tandem seat concept cars on display - awesome idea, please put them into production.

Because when you are hanging off a foot long shifter with heavily serated jaws you need to know precisely what torque you are applying???

Yokohama conecpt car - a bit plasticy but a great shape.

Some hybrid drivetrain thingy. I just really like the photo.

Although I don't like the front end profile of this Volvo concept car the rest of it was absolutely gorgeous. The Mazda stand was right next to the Volvo stand. So much love for the Volvos and so much medicocrity from Mazda - the world has gone wrong.

It's a wagon, it goes really fast. Do I need to tell you how much I love this car?

I really want a Le Mans car as a daily...

New Jaguar F type - stunningly beautiful.

Volkswagon concept car.

Porsche GT3 Cup

More photos to come

Edited November 24, 2013 by *LOACH*

[*LOACH*]

More cars, no comments.

[*LOACH*]

And more

And that will do I think.

[ianjb]

srsrly... the girls... why did you even go if u didnt get pics of the girls?

the VW is shitty

[liger]

srsrly... the girls... why did you even go if u didnt get pics of the girls?

the VW is shitty

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2013/11/21/tokyo-motor-showgirls-driving-people-crazy/

[lidz]

The red VW XL1 is actually a production car now not a concept & is currently being sold in Europe. Full carbon construction & consumption of 1L per 100km. Looks a lot better in silver or white too.

Nice photos too, would love to do tokyo motor show!

[*LOACH*]

The red VW XL1 is actually a production car now not a concept & is currently being sold in Europe. Full carbon construction & consumption of 1L per 100km. Looks a lot better in silver or white too.

Nice photos too, would love to do tokyo motor show!

You are right it is a production car - thanks.

I went to the Nismo factory with another SAU member yesterday. Sadly I couldn't stay for long as I had to go to work but here are few photos from the showroom.

[lidz]

How awesome to be able to just drop into these places when you have a little spare time! Have you manged to get into the zama storage facility, that would be a dream tour!