Author: Roger

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Yokohama and Daikoku Futo

Since I made an error in Saitama and took the last train in the wrong direction. Then walked at 1am and finally got a hotel to sleep for a few hours.

I hit Tokyo Station, changed clothes and headed to Yokohama. I visited a few shops there.

 

One shop, I really connected with the President and we talked a lot. Thank you Asakusa-san

Afterwards, I went to the Nissan Heritage Museum and they were under renovation… I headed back to the station. Got a foot massage. Then Yousuke-san contacted me saying he would pick me up at Yokohama station.

Afterwards, I told him my stuff is at Tokyo station. While there, he told me we are going to meet up with a few people by the place I was staying.

I took some of these pictures outside of Tokyo Station.

 

After this, we met other friends at a Family mart near where I was staying.

 

We then moved to a food spot, but many of us were talking outside instead of getting food.

 

 

We then drove to Daikoku Futo and hung out there til 4am!!!

 

Ogawara, Yokota and Sano-san took me back to my spot and I only slept for 3 hours before Tamai-san would pick me up to take me to Hakone!

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West Tokyo and Saitama

After Sendai, I got back to Tokyo and headed to West Tokyo or Nishi Tokyo area.  I wanted to see some of the Tuning shops before going to Saitama to hang with Yamashima, Taguchi and Suenaga-san.

I got off at Kamishakujii Station and rented a bike. The bike was 100 Yen ($1) for 4 hours! It started raining, but it didn’t stop me.

 

 

It was a long bike ride as I went 4 miles one way, then back and another few miles to reach Spoon Sports and Type One.  But the bike ride was fun and great.

I then jumped on the train and eventually reached where Suenaga-san lived.

I’ve covered it on the main site, but this is more about the people.

 

Suenaga-san picked me up. The Hiruma-san stopped by. Then Taguchi-san came and then Yamashima-san. We hung out for a few hours and talked shop and culture stuff.

 

 

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Sendai Daikannon

Besides trying to meet up with friends and visiting tuning shops, I wanted to see Daikannon.

It is a huge statue that you can go up 12 floors. Spiral stairs align inside, and in the middle on each floor is a circular display of 108 Buddhist statues.

Each is suppose to represent a behavior of humans. Greed, happiness, anger… there is a statue that represents it.

I was gonna take pictures of every single one, but my cellphone ran out of memory and it was shutting down on me.

 

 

It is breath taking to see in person. No train comes close to it, so you have to get to a station and either find the tourist buses (which I didn’t) or take a taxi, which I did.

 

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Arrival in Sendai

After Gifu (R31house) and Nagoya (Toyota Automobile Museum)

I jumped on the Shinkansen from Nagoya station to Tokyo station, then from Tokyo to Sendai.

 

I stayed in a hotel on this street for 2 days.

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Meeting with Okuni and Ishii-san

I met with Okuni-san in 2016’s leopard meeting. When I told him I was gonna go around Japan, he said he would take the day off and take me out!

I never met Ishii-san, but Tanaka-san spoke about me.

So these guys took the day off!

 

After picking me up, we had lunch and then checked out the Kaiyodo Figure museum. We would drive around Shiga and they took me to Lake Biwa, where they had many leopard meetings.

Not only that, we drove to Hikone Castle and they explain to me much history about Shiga and Japan!

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Kaiyodo Figure Museum

Gachapon is very popular in Japan and they are super collectible. They are also SOOO many series to collect and they are not like the 25 or 50 cent machines here.

Okuni-san said he could meet me for the day and the Ishii-san said he would come along. I was very excited to hang with them and spend time! It worked out as the Kaiyodo Figurine Museum was here!

After he had some lunch, we came here!!!

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Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

I stayed in Hiroshma for the night. My main goal was to visit Junya and Saito. I got the last Shinkansen near midnight or 1am I believe. Once I got to Hiroshima station, I went to my hotel and did laundry (offered free washer/dryer!)

I woke up pretty early because I wanted to see the Peace Memorial park. So I took the Hirodan street car to get there.

I didn’t have all day as I was going to Osaka to try and check out a R31 Tuning shop, checkout Den Den town and then go meet Okuni and Ishii-san in Shiga for lunch.

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Dinner with Junya and Saito

I wanted to meet with Junya because he had helped me so much. When we met up, he let me drive his Leopard and also let me take pictures of his car (which is on the main site).

My battery started to die and I turned it off to save what was left for our pictures. After we ate, we walked around the grounds which was somewhat opened. Junya then dropped me off at Shin Iwakuni station so I can take the shinkansen.