Headed BACK to Japan, Man! - EP.39

Welcome back to right-hand drive guys. I'm Bobby. This is Aaron. Yeah, yeah. And we're in an R32. We said, "Screw it. We got the car in the garage."

We're not sitting the car. Yeah, well, we're not.

Exactly. Yeah, so this is episode 39. And we're basically going to kind of go over the trip that I'm about to take to Japan.

Yeah, unfortunately Aaron can't come this time. He's very dedicated to work and work as his demands. But I'm absolutely going to make sure to make plenty of progress so that we have a ton to talk about when I come back.

Oh, yeah, I'm sure. So we were pretty much just going to kind of go through the trip, the plans that I have and kind of some of the things that I'll be doing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, I'm headed my main reason when we were there last time. I was like, I'm going to ours meeting.

Yeah, right. I decided right then. I had to go. The car is, I mean, the car is there for like another year and two, almost two years.

Yeah, because what year is it? It's a 2000. So I got to the December of 25. Yeah.

So the car is going to be there for a while, but it is not super cheap to register it. So I don't necessarily know how many years I'm going to register it.

Make some speak. I mean, I would love to do do it every year and be able to go to all these events, but you know, financially like, I don't know how much that will make sense.

Right. Just depends. Right.

So for now, I'm making the best use of the registration period that I have to make sure I can try to fit some of these things in.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense. I mean, when we were there last, we definitely put some kilometers on it. How many was it?

It's like 5,000. Right, right. Which is like decent. That's like around 3,000 miles roughly, I believe.

Yeah, in two weeks. Yeah. It's not bad at all. Yeah. I mean, we were definitely, we were going around to say the least.

Yeah. We did a lot. And I do plan to do a lot this time. And, you know, I would, I hate to put 5,000 kilometers on it. Right.

I'd love to. Right. Right. Right. You never know when you're going to be able to again. Right.

Yeah. Until he gets state side and it's like in your hands, obviously, but even then, are you ever going to drive it?

Are you ever going to drive it that much? No, probably not. And it's kind of crazy to think it's like, when was the last time that car was even driven like that period?

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like that many miles consecutively. Right. Right. Who knows that car could have been sitting for seven years, 10 years.

Who knows? And then you get it. You buy from top ring. They do their thing and go through it. And then bam.

We're like just beating on it for two weeks straight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's got a lot of things. But I mean, it was just fine. Yeah. It was totally cool. We hit right C1 loop, Wanggan, Togay.

Yeah. We hit everything and put her away wet pretty much. Yeah. It was very dirty. And so to, I guess that's a good place to start.

So while I've been away from Japan, Yasuah from top rank has been doing a few things to the car that I asked.

Yeah. Nice. So we had sourced it. So we couldn't find a pair of LMGT4s at the time period besides this one guy in New York and a guy in LA.

There wasn't any from any of the dealers because the 18s had been released for a little bit and sold out of their stock.

So there was a few 19s and stuff popping up. Yeah. That was it. So I didn't want to do 19s because when I get it back here, I didn't want, you know, these skinny tires on the car.

Yeah. So we found those when down in New York grabbed them and these wheels had been shipped from Japan.

Okay. They were bought originally in Japan to Hawaii from Hawaii to New York. I bring them from New York up here.

Yeah. Ship them back to Japan. So because, you know, I'm just like, if, A, I want the LMGT4s on their period.

But if I'm going to ours meeting, I would like to come correct on the exterior. Right. Right. Right.

I really dislike those wheels. Like I really just. Yeah. Yeah. And you got the, the good spec of LMGT4. You got the 10 and a half. Right. Yeah.

So the 10 and a half is a plus 15 or plus 12, plus 12. Yeah. Nice. That's going to look right. Yeah. And so you see I had also been handling the Nismo side skirts and rear spats because the front lip was already on the car.

Yeah. It kind of looks, it looks like a buck tooth. It looks like funny because the lip is a lot lower, you know, for that Nismo lip on the R34 without the rest of it.

Right. Right. Right. Right. I just had to complete it and they really gave me a great rate on having it painted and installed and everything.

Yeah. That's so. He had sent me a picture. It was in the best picture. But he sent me a picture last night of it all done sitting out there. And I was just like, damn.

That's it. Yeah. I'm waiting. Ready. Yeah. I'm ready. I'm ready. You know, especially because now it has like what I wanted to see on it.

You know, it's right, right, right. I just really dislike those wheels. I really did. Yeah. Did you live? I was just bad. But they were good spec. Just wrong. Wrong color. Yeah. So, yeah. So this trip though, you know, Aaron couldn't come. So I'm bringing my daughter. So I'm going to introduce her to that culture.

She's homeschooled. So it's a perfect opportunity to be able to teach her. Yeah. For sure. And she has a friend from homeschool in Japan who's Japanese American who we're going to meet up with. And she's going to show us around her neighborhood and stuff and show us just kind of some of those traditions.

Right. Right. You'll get to see a whole different like side of Japan. Yeah.

And some people that actually go there. Right. Right. Yeah. No. Normal. I guess you could say. Right. Yeah. More basic. Right. Right. Yeah. She's going to. And so I'm thinking I'm going to be meeting up with like her and her mom or her and her dad. No, she's meeting us down by herself taking us around. You know, she's 11.

I'm like, wow, right. You know, and her mom, who's the American, you know, in the relationship right is like, no, no, no, this isn't like America. Like it's all good. Yeah.

You know, you don't even need to go with them. And I'm like, no, no, I'm going. Right. Right. You know, I'm going to be Americanized for that. Yes, exactly. So we head out on Monday the 23rd.

And the like you said, the car was really dirty when we dropped it off. So a priority of mine was to make sure I could get this thing clean clay bar polish coated because a first and foremost, which we've seen when you get these cars coming across on the boat, roro, which means it's actually not in a container. Yeah.

Okay. They're getting splashed. They're getting whatever, you know, there's moisture. And so when we saw the GTT, if you listened to our earlier episodes, you know, when we saw it at a stock stat, it wasn't like, it wasn't like amazing paint, but it wasn't like sandpaper. Right. Right.

And so when we got it at the port, it's like sandpaper. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't come clean at all. Right. Weird. So you could see like there's a there's like a coat of something on there. Yes. It's kind of crazy. It is. So I'm like, you know, to combat that with the GTR. I'm like, okay, well, let's get ceramic coated. Maybe that'll be a barrier.

So I won't have as much work to do when we're here. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, thinking ahead. Yeah, yeah, plus again, if I'm going to ours meeting, this could be the only time I get to go. I'm coming correct. The car is going to be clean. So pretty much we get there. We we go straight to top rank, which as you know, a long crazy taxi ride. Yeah, yeah.

Like right when you jump off the plane, you take the train. Yeah, I don't know. No way. The homies going to pick you up at the train station in the lead. Yeah, come on. But so so we're going to get to top rank. We're picking up the GTR. And then of course, at that point, we're going to need to kind of rest. Right. It's going to be. It's a kind of stressful thing. Yeah.

But first thing the next morning, I bring it to get to the details, which is show gone auto sports. Yeah. And Albo helped me figure out and kind of handled that so that I could. I'm going to go drop it off. And then we're going to hit the shankinson to Osaka.

And we're probably that afternoon will do the Kyoto area, you know, hit the shrine and that whole thing. That's dope. And so I got a few days there, you know, where we're going to do some stuff like the Nara thing we did. And I'm going to take her to Universal Studios in Osaka and check that out.

So that's sick. That's like right right on the bay. Right. That's that big one. We saw like crossing that bridge in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly where we were stuck in traffic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we're kind of trying to hopefully it's not busy like that. Right, right. Well, that was a holiday week. So we're going to, you know, do the deer thing in Nara and then got to do that. Yeah. Now you really do. And so after that, we're headed back to pick up the GTR because we need to start.

We need to start going towards Fuji. We got ahead head to Mount Fuji so that we're closer to the speedway. Yeah, yeah. And so because ours meeting is on a Sunday, it's from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. So we got kind of that Saturday before to just kind of explore. Yeah.

I didn't want to set up too much in that sense. But my daughter definitely expects to do some car stuff. Yeah, she knows. So I'm trying to split it up. You know, you do obviously I could just go ham and be going to all the shops. Would she be like, dude, what do you do? Yeah, I'd pay for it. Like, yo, what is this upgrade? We keep starting. Yeah.

You never leave with anything, but you spent 25 minutes. We keep leaving and coming back to the same store. I don't get it. That's kind of feels like why do we keep. Yeah, exactly. So it's kind of crazy. But I mean, you never know because you really could find that one right one item.

So like I said, ours meeting on Sunday, super pumped about that. I remember when I saw the videos last year, like Tommy F. Yeah. And you know, some of these other guys that made it to the ours meeting. Yeah, that was when I decided in my head like I'm going because it was like, yeah, I mean, Nismo Festival would be sweet. That would. That's cool. How they bring out a bunch of stuff for that. But like to, you know, take part in a GTR event.

Over there, like with the car that I own, able to drive it in those gates, like, I just feel like that's like a, you know, for me, like a real bucket list check off thing. Yeah, I'm not. Yeah.

Yeah, like so, but I will be excited to cover it and be able to come back and talk about it and really share that experience of what it compares to the things that we've done in like events in the United States. Right.

I didn't realize that they had so many vendors. I guess there's like 50 or so vendors. Like it's a whole whole thing. I didn't. Wow. I thought it was more of a meat. Right. Then like that type of thing. But that's cool.

Yeah, I mean, it sounds like it's going to be pretty huge. Yeah. And I think last year was the first year since COVID, right? Yeah.

They they had it. So this year is the first year, like full open border. Right. So, dude, yeah, I imagine it's going to be sick. Yeah. Hopefully not to. I mean, I know quite a few dudes going. So I'm just hoping it's not too packed. Right.

You know, because that's like, there's a line. Right. Right. As far as like the spectators go. Yes. You can enjoy it because you can't even like get a look at the thing. Yeah.

So we're going to do that. And we're we're staying in that area that night. And we are then going to Nagano, which is a place that we didn't end up going.

I think we passed by it. It's like a it's where they had the Olympics. Right. Yeah. So I'm going to take her to those to the Olympic grounds or whatever, just to see, you know, what it what like, I mean what that was 98.

Oh, eight. That was winter Olympics. Right. Yeah. So that's 30 years ago. Yeah. So like what is something that is wild 30 years later in Japan. Yeah.

Because in other countries, the stuff just falls apart because they don't have the funds to. Yeah. Yeah. It just it's a huge thing. Right. So yeah, I'll be I'll be excited for that. And again, definitely have some plans to kind of check out.

Some of the shops that maybe we didn't get to, right. You know, like along the way, like I was going to use the JDM maps. I don't know if you saw if everybody's ever going to Japan. We did find in that. It's like the only app. And it's JDM maps. I think it's like six bucks a year. Did you recently just get charged? Yeah.

I know. I was like, no, no, it actually got the warning before. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, yeah, I'm going to I'm going to put this on pause. So next time I know I'm going. Yeah.

So, but definitely worth it. Yeah. I mean, that first good picture itself 100% like dude. Yeah. JDM maps. It's an app. Yeah. They got everything. All of the upgrades. Everything like all the yellow hats. Just you name it. You know, all the shops. So definitely going to go ahead and try to check out.

Some of those shops in my travels because we are going to be driving for about 80% of it. So then we head out of Nogano and we're we're going back to Tokyo where it's going to be Halloween. That'll be the 31st. Yeah. Oh, dude. You see they shut down Shibuya. Yeah. I guess because they're afraid of stampede. Yeah. That and well, I saw the like the Starbucks and like everything in that like overlook was close.

For renovations or something to surprise me on that day. Yeah. Or so they say but like. Yeah. Yeah. They're letting us. They don't want. They don't want it because apparently it's way too much. Right. Right. I could imagine. She believes already. Yeah. It's already nuts.

And then like, I don't know. Japanese people love dressing up and yeah. Oh, they love. They're stuff. Right. So dude. I can't imagine what that would be like. Yeah. I'm going to be like super popular because I'm going to tell you and do dressing up as Mario. So like I should be good. I should be good. But now we're going to do the Disney thing for her.

Yeah. But we're going to go to the Disney sea instead of the one that we went to. Oh nice. To do something new. But so then we're kind of at that point. We're headed back kind of unfortunately because these plants came after back towards Nagano to meet Albo for the day. So on the first where he's going to take us to a few museums and shrines.

So then I can because he's a teacher. Yeah. Was a teacher. Right. And so he's going to help me, you know, kind of educate Bella on the different customs and, you know, form formalities and stuff of Japan. Yeah. That's all museums and stuff. So then she kind of gets a little, you know, brief lesson before she gets smashed around on the toe gay.

So, you know, that but we're not going to go too too hard, but I want her to also see that side of things how like kind of passionate people are about like just these mountain roads in Japan. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he knows a lot of the history, even of the toe gay. So right, right.

Dude, Albo. Yeah. He's the man, dude. Yeah. He was an experience like he's going to take you guys out for the, you know, kind of like an educational thing and then smashed in the toe gay on the back like. Yeah. No, I know I might do this is sweet. Yeah. And where could you ask for? Yeah.

When I talked to him about hanging out, I was like, you know, I don't want to just do the car stuff. Right. He obviously, you know, he recently had a child and he's thinking differently now like a father. And so he obviously got it. He's like, oh, yeah. I mean, she wouldn't enjoy what we did. You know, like it to an extent. But, you know, so I'm hoping that part is real cool.

And then we're kind of headed back to Tokyo to just kind of check out more of the pop culture stuff like. Yeah. Hello, hello, kid. Hello, kid. He land. And the Pokemon wonder and like just these kind of different.

You know, real Japanese culture type stuff and then of course everything that we did even just walking down the stream popping into the little.

You know, what were those little the the goings upon the capsules. Yes, exactly. The shops shops. Yeah. Yeah. And just doing that type of stuff and really getting a feel for.

Tokyo and in the difference. Yeah. That's really what a lot of it is going to be about. But I'm also checking out for sure this time.

I'm a Maori factory. Got to have to got to because we really kind of got like shafted on some of that. Same with top secret.

You know, so I really kind of reserve these the second and third day of November to really catch up on some of that stuff too. Yeah. Just so I can come back and and that's something that we can talk about. Right. Right.

Because that's a gap and like kind of our coverage. So to speak. So. Right.

And yeah, I mean, this is the majority of the trip. You know, like we when we took our trip, we were up down all around, you know, and and that was awesome because our itinerary kind of afforded that. Yeah.

Yeah, especially with the camper and being able to not be tied down to certain locations. Right. You know, we could kind of go on the fly.

I'm not going to go to a bsoo this time because there's not out got no business up there. Right. Right. You know, on this trip.

I'm like a month too early for the right last year. Yeah. So and that's the one that everybody usually goes to I've heard. Yeah.

But I mean, and last time was sweet. Don't get me wrong. Yeah. No, it was sick. Like it was.

So yeah, I mean, on Saturday, the fourth though, it's pretty cool because we were at die coco. Right.

And we hadn't met. Demasi, the photo guy. Yeah. And you know, you're like, Hey, I think this is the guy Larry Chen, like, just.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are you talking about? Right. Right. And we've ended up sitting there talking to him for like a hot minute.

And he was like the coolest holder. Like Japanese dude. Yeah. Yeah. He had lived in the States for a while. Yeah. He had good English. So like, you know, we could chat with him really easily. And like.

Yeah. Super cool. Dude. And he showed us his portfolio of all his pictures and videos he's taken and stuff like that. And.

He went through this whole thing about how he shoots on his Harley. Yes. Like he has this rigs. Multiple rigs set up on his.

Three now or something. Yeah. To shoot these pictures and videos. And that's how he gets these cool, unique shots. Like so close and like all these sick angles.

Because he's on a motorcycle. Yes. And like, dude, they're going over like the Bay Bridge and like. Yes. All these crazy spots. So nice. I was like, dude, wow.

Like, wow. And so he's like, you know, I'd really love to shoot your car. And I'm like, yeah, you know, all right. Next time, you know, I'm hoping to come back.

And he kept in touch with me. And he kept talking to me. And he's like, have you decided when you're coming back? You know, whatever.

Yeah. So we ended up scheduling it. And so that's already morning. Bella and I are going to go on a helicopter. Little ride around.

Oh, that's still because you got like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, that's like such a crazy perspective at 11 years old to see like the biggest city in the world.

Right. Right. Like, yeah. So so cool. We're jumping off the helicopter and immediately, whoa, whoa, whoa. Jumping off your goal. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. No, we're jumping. Whoa, whoa. Yeah. It's going to be a crazy perspective.

Yeah. But now we're so we were done with that. And then we go straight to meet Demasi and start figuring that out because he actually has me booked for two days.

Because he wants to make sure that he can get the right shots. Like, he is concerned about like it being cloudy and not getting the right reflections on the car.

Yeah. All these different things. And I'm like, wow, you are like like other guys just be like, yeah, let's just shoot it. Bob.

Yeah, he's like literally super articulate about it. And so like mad respect there, because he it's not about the money.

He wants to shoot another car. You know, he wants to do it. So yeah, that's dope.

And it's like, dude, it's so reasonable. Like I can't believe it.

Dude's locally on the Facebook pages tried to charge me more than Demasi to shoot on three cameras on his Harley dude.

Right. I had 200 bucks, dude. What? 200 bucks, dude.

Man, this exchange rate is crazy. I know I was like, it's like 30,000 yen. I'm like, oh, that's got to be at least three three 50, right?

Right.

202 dollars. And I'm like, dude, that's like two days of shooting like 4K video. Like all this.

And so that's like kind of the base, right? That includes the shoot and everything. And then like some photos digitally.

So then it's like another 5,000 yen to get the videos also as well as a printout.

Right. You know, like and so he has different levels of packages, but I mean, dude, 200 bucks, dude.

That's how to believe.

Yeah. And so then it just makes me think when these other these other dudes are like, yeah, 375.

And I'm like, wait, and I got to meet you two and a half hours away.

Right.

So we're going to do that. I'm excited for that just because that's a whole nother experience having a guy direct you and shoot you on a motorcycle.

Yeah. Yeah. He's not hanging out the window of a Civic.

No.

He's literally like, I don't know. That's wild. So we're looking forward to that.

And then pretty much, you know, at that point after the shooting and stuff, we're leaving like the next day.

Yeah. And so we're staying this time closer to this time we're staying closer to Chiba.

Yeah.

Oh man, they got me.

Oh, I'll cut this out.

You good?

Yes. All right.

All right. This time we're staying closer to Chiba.

Yeah.

Because we learned our lesson last time.

Yeah.

Like trying to get on that final day.

Yes.

Getting the car dropped off.

Yes. Trying to get all that happened in like not freak out.

But like, it's not a thing where you just like head out first thing in the morning and go drop the car off because then you're way early.

Yeah.

And like, you don't want to hang out at Nareda for five, six, six, seven, eight.

No, it's not that cool in there.

No, I mean, not really. And so we kind of have to plan it out to like not be too early, but absolutely not be stressed out because like me and you were like sprinting like my back is breaking.

Yeah.

I'm like carrying it over my head trying to slap my thing like dude.

It was so stressful.

And like we almost caught the wrong train and like just it was.

We almost had a barren Uncle fight because it was, you know, it was just so stressful, right?

Like it was just like, oh no, it's this train. No, it's this train.

You know, so.

Yeah, dude, it was with like an 11 year old.

That would be ignorant to kind of put myself.

Right. Right. Right.

So yeah, we'll get over to top rank. We'll, you know, check out the cars and everything and make sure that we get a ride to the train station and plenty of time.

Yeah.

That if we do mess up, we're not completely, you know, it's kind of screwed.

Right.

But it's not a golden week or the end of golden week either.

Right. So it's mission.

It shouldn't be too bad.

Decent.

Yeah, so definitely looking forward to the trip, hopefully hoping to get a bunch of pictures and video, of course, to be able to share and, you know, kind of bring people along on the trip.

Right. Right.

Because I don't know.

So what are you looking forward to most?

I mean, the photo shoot, like, you know, on those regards. I mean, of course, like, a Maori factory and stuff.

Right. Right. Right. Right.

Then, you know, it's just so much right.

It is everything.

And like, everything.

Yeah. But then like with Albo.

And of course, the stuff with my daughter.

Right.

And it is just like last time, like, we're not taking these trips and not having them loaded with, like, good experiences because, you know, we can hang out at our house.

We can hang out, you know, the Airbnb.

But like, when you're in Japan, like, you only want to, like, it was like, yeah, I ended up the first time, you know, getting these beautiful Airbnb's in like these places that we could feel comfortable and enjoy ourselves.

Right.

We weren't even there. We literally slept there.

We'd like, go back there. We'd sit down and like, this was so sick.

And they're out.

Pass out.

Or we're back up going somewhere.

Yeah.

And I mean, when you're spending the type of money to go there, obviously, and you're, you only have two weeks.

I mean, some people are listening to this and be like, do two weeks.

Yeah.

I'd kill for two days.

Right. Right. Right.

And we do nothing in two days.

It's crazy over there.

It is. It's just so much, dude.

And we only scratch the surface.

Yeah.

That's kind of the point of making these reoccurring trips is eventually if we continue to scratch the surface, we've like dug ourselves in.

And that's kind of the goal just as far as like, right.

You know, not just seeing it for what it is at the surface.

Like when we talk about going to the shrines and actually participating and like learning and feeling that, like that's the part where you're getting like deeper.

Right.

And so that's where I feel like these reoccurring trips really allow, you know, us the opportunity to like dig deeper.

Right.

You know, because, yeah, the cars and stuff are the surface.

Yeah. Yeah.

So like, so deep, you know.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah. It kind of leads me into my last question.

You know, how deep you got to go into Japan, right.

So listen, you get there, right.

You get the car.

You get in it.

You started take off driving.

7-11.

7-11, dude.

7-11.

What are you getting?

Dude, you know it.

And the ice cream with the, what is it on the outside?

It's like a waffle.

Like it's a fatty waffle with chocolate and ice cream when those ice.

Yeah.

Like Bella was like complaining because she was going to miss out on this like, oh, youcan eat ice cream thing that her sister's doing.

And I'm like, dude, listen, let them have their little fun.

I'm like, we're about to walk into 7-11 and Lawson's baby.

Yeah.

We are good.

So on that note, absolutely, absolutely excited.

Yeah.

Sad that Aaron won't be there.

Dude, he won't be in spirit.

I know it.

Slap that card on them.

Yeah, I will.

I will.

Get a loud one for you.

This guy would slap the card on the reader so hard the security guard would look over at him.

Like, dude, this is guy.

But so for episode 39, headed back to Japan.

Super excited.

We'll keep you up to date.

But for now, I'm Bobby.

This is Aaron.

See ya.

Peace.

Nissan R32

Nissan Gtr

About this episode

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