Cars, Coffee and California...

[oldgrayleather]

After checking out the cars, Ben and I made our way to the banquet. Didn’t understand a lot of what was going on (hard to explain a room full of people playing group “rock paper scissors” to win hand painted Miata pillows but seems it was a thing). Hama-san joined our table to add some flamboyance and very kindly help translate and make introductions. Goto-san was also sat with us and eventually understood he owned the original GV demo car (the white one with the type II hood) and still has it.
Takeshi-san was at the next table and showed us some pictures of his M2 1028 that he found for a price so low I’m still trying to forget about it. He also has another NA, the 10AE that was featured in one of Mazda’s promotional videos and a 124. He’s also trying to get into the lotto for the 30AE

Katagiri-san was very kind to help make introductions to special Mazda guests: Mr Fukuda (NA designer), Mr Kijima (chief engineer of NB/ NC) + Mr. Nakayama (chief engineer ND).

Later on we met the four other “English” speakers from Australia ;). Adam, Vincent and Jeff (+ Mrs. Jeff). That made the whole event that much more fun especially with their incredible enthusiasm and energy. Truly wonderful guys.

And with that it was time for bed and peaceful dreams of Roadster dancing through my head.

[oldgrayleather]

Watched the parade of cars coming in for a good long time with the event organizers who were helping direct traffic and loud welcomes. Amazing how most drivers had huge smiles and happy waves


And then through the gate…
An NB coupe. Perfect!

And another, ouff


Actually, no commentary needed is there? Let’s just get these out there…

[oldgrayleather]

[oldgrayleather]

[oldgrayleather]

C Spec baby (sat next to yet another M2 1001)

[MaRcOp01o]

C Spec baby (sat next to yet another M2 1001)

But did you see any B-Specs? hehe

[oldgrayleather]

Then at last I finally met the Pit Crew brother’s Daisuke and Vaho who had done a 500km trek with only a little Russian to Japanese translating device and a shared love of the Crew.





I absolutely love this car and even more in person. And these guys? Brilliant!

[oldgrayleather]

For you diecast collectors, imagine having your own exact car modelled down to the tiniest detail?









Pricing is not for the feint of heart

[oldgrayleather]

In person? Nope, not better for me but who can’t appreciate the effort that went into this car, rotary and all!

[oldgrayleather]

This one? MMMM1006 tribute. Caught me by surprise! Never did manage to get a look under the hood to see if it had the V6

[oldgrayleather]

Takeshi-san and I in front of a 1028, but not his. Because of course there were several around.


Repping the Palooza!


The GHO booth had some bargains to be had. On top of this great red collection there was an minty M2 1001 seat for ¥30,000. A faded Bride bucket for ¥5,000. There were loads of Roadster sills, typically ¥500 or less. My sense is that YJA has figured out who their buyers are.


Kijima-san


Jeff from Downunder, Takeshi-san, Daisuke, Vaho and Weldon (ueru). It was so brilliant that this expat Texan who I first connect with via MR.net made the trek with a backpack full of camera’s. Since I’m crap at taking photos perhaps we all just need to hound him enough to post up his shots?


And finally a face to face meeting with Yoshida-san from Zoom – a kind soul who has helped me countless times over the years!


Kenji with Max (Rev9) in the background

[oldgrayleather]

And with that there was the group pictures, warm farewells and I was on my way back to the station and onto Kyoto. It was brilliant to have a farewell beer with Maxime and his assistant on the platform before we were all whisked away at something like 150mph.

The Crew from Sydney spotted me on the sidelines and yelled for me to join them. It was awesome to be an honorary Roadster Bros



Should you go? Yes. All of you! Every single one of you! We should all go together. It was like my entire collection of Hyper Revs, Road&Sters complete with all the cars and their wonderful owners all came together to celebrate this crazy little tribe of ours. It was less than 24 hours and was gone in an instant. I missed out on so many pictures that I now wish I’d taken. More interiors and rear but I have not a single regret. Every roadster nut should get to mecca atleast once!

[oldgrayleather]

The Road to Karuizawa 2019


Work needed me to be in Tokyo for meetings last week and then another one was scheduled on Monday in Kyoto. With Karuizawa in between it would have been rude not to go, right? Especially since I was giving up my Memorial day weekend. If you opened this post I’m guessing you know what this is about and are interested in seeing the cars. If so, get a cup of tea or mug of coffee and let me boar you with my journey to Karuizawa. *WARNING* This is not just a car feed! I’ve added a bunch of pics and color commentary from the trip.

If you don’t know, Karuizawa is an annual roadster meet that has been taking place in May since 1993. 138 people attended the first one, nearly 2k cars last year with just over 1,100 this year but only because the parking space was limited. In the original "Ask for participants", it was written: "Please bring the feeling to enjoy the Roadster!". Judging by the attendees that mantra holds true as much today as it did in the beginning. Karuizawa is a ski resort 90 minutes north of Tokyo by bullet train.

So, at the start of my journey I left Monday and landed Tuesday after 11 hours of flight time from LAX coupled with a 17 hour time change.

Inflight entertainment helps pass the time.. even if you’ve already watched the particularly movie in question atleast a dozen times or more.

Get used to not understanding much of what you’ll eat but expect it will taste really amazing.. or atleast completely interesting.

Always land at Haneda if you can (Narita almost seems more known but it takes a lot longer to get to Tokyo)


The first thing that always blows me away (after the humidity drains your jetlagged soul) is the cars. From my math, the vast majority, like 83.7%, are cars that have never been exported to the US. The delightful and colorful old school taxi’s…

…to the new school vans (with a face only a mother could love). They have so very many vans, kei vans are my favorite…


A few days of meetings and then a work trip to Akihabra to check out the retail environment


Of course there was a simply beautiful and completely period correct TR6 just nonchalantly driving along…


And eating in Shinjuku

[HarryB]

Wow, what a journey. And I cannot thank you enough for going into the trouble of documenting it all in such details for us to "co-travel" with you. Another item added to my bucket list.

[druz]

Super jealous, but thank you for the great write up. Fantastic as always!