The time leading up to Fukuoka was unknown. Months before, Noguchi-san said I can go to Nagasaki and see the Red kaido leopard (which is what I did last year). This time, he said he could meet me in Saga and go from there… but then came the unconfirmed non responses.
I spent Friday wondering what was happening Saturday as nobody was giving me any directions. Dustin was offering to come to Oita and we can go around. I wanted to go, but was really waiting for Noguchi-san to give me more definitive time frame.
Then there was an idea to meet up Saturday night. I wouldn’t see the red leopard, but I would meet with him.
I spent Saturday morning walking around and checking things out. Gundam Base at Canal City Hakata, Fish market and even Ramen Stadium.
Dustin drove from Oita and asked to meet me at Fukko-Daimae station. I have never been to this station, so as person who loves taking the different trains, I had no issue going. Plus JR pass kept it free.
Once I met with Dustin, we went to headed for the nearest Upgarage. Even though there wasn’t much there, we hung around here for a bit and just talked.
A couple of Skyline sedans there!
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- HUGE GT wing
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- Full bB kit… cheap!!
After Upgarage, we jumped on the train and headed back to Fukuoka. We had a couple hours to kill and Dustin wanted to check out if the local Nismo Dealer had the Tomica Nismo Pit (only available from Nismo and online).
While we were doing that, he also wanted to search 7 Elevens for Dream Tomicas of Initial D.
When we finally get to the local Nissan Dealership, we find out that the Nismo portion isn’t active anymore. So we struck out there. Additionally, we couldn’t find the dream Tomicas, which I think were mentioned to be in limited in numbers and typically in the bigger 7 Elevens.
We headed back to Hakata station and came across this Nissan Primera (G20 in the US). It was bit of a learning piece for me about property rights in Japan.
Also on the way back:
We reached Hakata station and had a small snack before we split. Dustin would head back to Fukko-Daimae station and I would head out to Shikaka station.
I can’t thank Dustin enough for coming out my way. It was super cool to see my brotha and have a bit of an adventure around Fukuoka.
