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Location:
Central Coast, NSW
Registered:
May 2002
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Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 04:18
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Hi All,
I'm travelling over to Japan in January for the Tokyo Auto Salon. I'll be in the country for two weeks and am wanting to go to some drag meets and see as much drifting as i possibly can.
This is basically a callout to all of you guys who have already been... i'm looking for advice on where to go, who to see, common locations for cool car related stuff etc
Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks 
Dan
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Location:
Toronto, Downtown
Registered:
September 2004
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 07:18
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if your going to the tas then you will need to be able to navigate the japanese train system.
Where are you staying. I was staying in a youth hostel for $35 a night with my own room if your looking for something a bit upmarket but still reasonable there is a hotel style accomodation at asakusa in tokyo for $50-55 a night with tv bed your own shower stuff like that it was called skycourt asakusa.
If you need to get directions for how to get to anywhere on the train you should visit the information centers at tokyo station. They speak english and will draw/give you maps of how many stations to go where to get off change trains etc..
Maccas is chep $1.20 for cheesbergers so 300y gets you a decent feed dont worry about drinks as there is about a billion drinks machines on the streets.
If you want to visit a racetrack or 2 for the drifting and dont have a hire car be prepared for ALOT of travelling on trains taxis buses etc.
With busses you pay when you get off and you get on at the back door. You get a ticket from a dispenser and it has a number on it. There is a signboard at the front of the bus which displays the ticket # and the ammount of yen (the ammount increases as the further you go.)
Dont buy a railpass i found it was just as cheap to buy tickets as i needed them unless you intend on travelling heaps each day.
There is a train from the airport to tokyo and is by far the best way to get there. Cost $20 from memory.
If you want to go say to a workshop and have looked up their website for their address then make sure you write down the total adress including the numbers. These numbers are references for the street directories so if you get lost ask a petrol station or 7 eleven for directions and they should be able to point you in the right direction (and in some cases will drive you there no shit)
Speaking of workshops and spare parts places if you want spare parts speak to kevin at Up Garage in Machida their website is www.upgarage.com they have heaps of stores all over japan but the machida store is probably the main one and kevin speaks english. They even store the Up Garage D1 AE86 there which if you ask nice enough they will let you sit in and even start for you (oohh the memories).
If you need to find an internet cafe one of the best ones i knew of was BB Station at Yoyogi Stn they had food on demand open 24hrs reasonable rates and even masage chairs that people often fell asleep in.
The bullet trains are awesome and something to experience 300km/hr is so cumpfy!!!
Anyways hope this helps a bit let me know if you have any more questions.
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Location:
Adelaide
Registered:
January 2005
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 07:24
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get on to old corollas (stuart)
im sure hell be more than happen 2 share his wisdom.
cheers scott
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
June 2004
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 08:56
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Roppongi
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Location:
Perth
Registered:
November 2002
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 12:45
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Yeah if you are staying within Tokyo then a railpass doesnt save you heaps coz it is only for JR and not the subway. But it is a heaps cheap if you are travelling between cities on the shinkansen.
If by chance you are going to Nagoya to see the Toyota factory and museum go to the Asahi Beer factory there too for the free beer at the end of the tour. One of the beers is made with water from Mt Fuji, mmm
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Location:
Toronto, Downtown
Registered:
September 2004
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 12:53
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| rossvw wrote on Wed, 02 November 2005 23:45 |
One of the beers is made with water from Mt Fuji, mmm
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hrrrm the poloution cloud that hangs arround mt fuji must be what that funny taste is
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Location:
Potts Point, Sydney
Registered:
October 2003
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 13:16
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Oldcorollas is in Sapporo at the moment, he'd be a good person to ask 
Apart from the Japanese members on the forum
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Location:
Kita-Ku, Sapporo, Japan
Registered:
January 2003
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 22:00
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mm.... i have only been to tokyo twice....
but in sapporo, many times you will have drinkign nights where you choose the time fo drinking.. say 90mins or 2hrs.. and then pay and drinks are free  ... yah. that is why i am such a mess now
toyota Amlux was dissapointing... megaweb was ok, but not very much history... the drive a car thing was booke dout bery early in the day (i wanted to drive century)...
trains are good. i never caught a bus (nut good to know how just in case)
Womb nightclub in Shibuya is excellent...
4AGTE that sounds very cheap!!! i stayed in tokyo green palace (paid for of course;) ) in... embassy district... too exxy... but you can stay anywhere on the tokyo metro lines and be close... best to be near the JR Yamanote line (big circle line aroud the city)...
from Haneda to tokyo, take the monorail first.. or local train to.. ahh i forget but train is the way to go..
from narita, take the N'EX (narita express) buses can be very slow.. but if it not near peak hour they are also cheap (maybe 1200-1500yn to shinjuku... limousine bus....
january will be cold... if you come to sapporo it may be -10 or so, but there is good skiing. maybe not so much car action (except watching ppl crash on the roads ....  ) hmmmm
i'll try and think of moe things when sober
cya, Stewart
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Location:
eastern suburbs, melbourne
Registered:
March 2005
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 22:25
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DUDE, seems you are wasted.
good work. 
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Location:
Central Coast, NSW
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 22:57
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Wow, so much info! Thanks heaps guys!
I'm starting to worry if i can get my head around it all before i leave
Dan
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
December 2002
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 23:25
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I posted this some where on here back in November last year... Japan is a great place !!
I have interests in Toyotas and Subarus, this was posted to the WRX club group when I visited Tokyo in May...might be of interest...sorry for its length...
There is the Toyota Amlux showroom in Ikebukuro, mentioned in the Lonely Planet and worth a look if only for its size. It is mostly still "just" a Toyota show room but I did enjoy having a poke around some of the cars we don't have here, plus there was the opportunity to have a go on Grand Turismo 4 Prologue on some Playstations set up there (wheel, pedals and race seats etc) which was a bit of fun - ran a TA22 as a matter of interest.
The Sony showroom is in Ginza and was definitely worth a look. A bit further down the road is a Nissan showroom. It had two whacky Jap small cars - something called a Cube that looks like a cube and a March. The staff seemed to like the fact we were tourists taking photos.
Subaru has an office in Shinjuku. Take the west exit from the station and its hard to miss with the whopping sign on its roof. Its not far from Yodobashi Cameras which is a massive gadget shop. The Subaru building has a small showroom and they had a B4 and another Liberty. I got some great brochures including a WRX one and one for an STi Forrester there.
The Toyota Megaplex out at Odaiba was good fun, and I particularly liked the museum they had as I used to own an RA23 Celica and there was a RA28 n a TA22 there for me to reflect on the memories ! My girlfriend got a buzz out of taking a ride in an electric car there that drives itself. I was fairly impressed the thing had done 60,000 kms, presumably all on the one kay track we got to drive around !! Go have a look at the computer games arcade there too, its friggin massive.....4 corridors of driving games !
There is a chain of parts stores called Super Autobacs I discovered. One I found was a few stations down from Odaiba, at a place called Shinonome on the Rinkai train line that comes from Shin-kiba, is a place that was one of the highlights for me. They have quite a large showroom and workshop and it was like heaven !! Row upon row of coil overs for sale, more shiny wheels and exhausts than i imagined possible. Plus the usual crapola we see at Super Cheap. Great magazine collection too that I bought a wrx magazine from. The car park was a great place to go for a wander...evo, 180sx drift machine, a porsche road/race car complete with detachable steering wheel, roll cage, dry break fuel system and baby seat that was being used !! They also have a showroom for Tommy Kaira cars (Gran Turismo fame) Lots of good stuff and highly recommended.
Plus I tended to have a wander around any big car park we came across and usually found some interesting stuff there too.
Anyways, hope this helps with your trip
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Location:
Toronto, Downtown
Registered:
September 2004
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Wed, 02 November 2005 23:41
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yeah old corrollas its not too bad i was travelling on a budget so the youth hostel accomodation was fine for me. The skycourt asakusa was pretty good for the price and much better if there was 2 people.
ahhh the yamanote line brings back memories of that annoying voice telling you which station is next and watching people catching up on sleep between stops.
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Location:
Newcastle
Registered:
August 2003
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Thu, 03 November 2005 10:06
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Ahhh I heard you can get novelty schoolgirl panties in vending machines in Japan.
Bring me back a pair, its a must own thing just to say I have some for my stupidity collection hahaha...
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Location:
Melbourne
Registered:
December 2003
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Thu, 03 November 2005 12:42
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and if you're gonna buy alcohol from vending machines, make sure you get on the 'black nikka'. It is harsh as. i reckon it would clean engine parts no worried
Have fun dude, twas awesome when i went in 2000 but the toyota museum was closed when we were there which sucked. And take lots of photos - there's just heaps of cool shit there
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Location:
sunny coast, qld
Registered:
October 2002
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Re: Visiting Japan in January - Who's Been Before?
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Thu, 03 November 2005 23:29
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Narita express is 1000Yen if you get in a regular carriage of 2700yen if you go in the fancy one. We were in the fancy one and didn’t know why there weren’t any people in there
If you are only planning to go around Tokyo area, I wouldn’t get a rail pass. I got a one week pass but I went from Nagoya to Osaka to Himeji to Kyoto to Tokyo and back to Nagoya. It was definitely worth it.
I wanted to see workshops and that but I found it very hard. I had some addresses to a couple of shops and I got lost looking. Asked train guy and he sent me to the wrong place! I can speak a bit of Japanese so that helped also as you could ask anyone in the street rather than trying to find someone who speaks English.
There are so many people there that will go out of their way to help you e.g. First day in Japan. Was in Nagoya and had to take my sister’s massive suitcase (staying there for a year) to her uni. We sort of knew where to go. Didn’t even know how to buy a train ticket. Someone helped us do that. Then took us to the right platform. Then another person heard us talking about where we wanted to go and was going on that train so we were talking to her. She said that her friend was getting off at some stop and that if we went with her that she could drive us to the uni (as there wasn’t a train station out there). So we get out and she says chotto matte kudasai (please wait). So we wait there for about 5 minutes and she comes back with little presents for us! We were extremely surprised and gave her a present back but she wouldn’t take it. Anyway, head off to the carpark and she takes us to her car. White JZX100 chaser complete with doilies on the back seat. Fork yeah! Got a ride in a Chaser to the uni
That is just one incident of people being helpful to us. In happened nearly everyday I was there. Even when we weren’t asking for help.
I took a heap of video but I wish I took more photos instead. Oh well, live and learn 
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