Japan

I’ve been to Japan many times and I cannot get enough of it. Being a Japanese car enthusiast, this is heaven. While all my trips have been about cars, I made the mistake in my early trips (2001-2006) of not exploring the culture enough. I was only focused on cars and friends, so when I returned subsequently, I made sure it was about culture, history and art.

In 1999, I was surfing Yahoo.co.jp and was looking at websites. Many Japanese were making their own homepages through geocities.co.jp and others. The results of yahoo was different with each region. After I connected with a few people, I eventually made my way to there.

2001-2006 (all car related)

Most of the pictures can be found on the main site since it is all car related. https://www.f31club.com/f31rogers-car-blog/

2016 (car and culture related)

This was my return trip after 10 years. This time, my wife was coming.

Leopardess train experience

2017 ( 3x in Japan)

May 2017 – Wandering Leopard Pilgrimage

This was my trip to criss cross Japan. I’m working on a post that is traveling between the cities and what days. Some of the days were super interesting as I jumped multiple systems to get to one location.

WLP train experience

The list of the days here were short break downs on what I did that day. These are on the main f31club website. Since I made this sub directory for traveling and family, I’ve added more pictures below of the NON Car related stuff.

  1. Sunday – Arrival in Japan and to Takamatsu
  2. Monday – Okayama, Hiroshima, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi and back to Hiroshima
  3. Tuesday – Hiroshima, Osaka and Shiga
  4. Wednesday – Gifu, Nagoya and Sendai
  5. Thursday – Sendai
  6. Friday – Tokyo and Saitama
  7. Sunday – Hakone to 31st Leopard meeting
  8. Monday morning Japan – Leopard cruise to Mishima Skywalk Bridge
  9. Narita airport to Vancouer Airport to San Francisco International airport

August 2017 – Wandering Leopard and cub

This was a 5 day trip was with my son Jacob. Initially it was a joke. We were already in the Philippines and for his birthday, he wanted to see Japan, so we went. Going to Japan is not without meeting my F31 family, so I contacted people to let them know I’ll be there. My focus was Tokyo and Yokohama. I did want to expand out, but since we kept it cool.

WLC train experience

  1. Thursday – Narita Airport, Shinjuku (Godzilla head), Reiyukai Shakaden Hall, Tokyo Tower, Zojo-ji Temple, SL Plaza, and Hakuhinkan Toy Park.
  2. Friday –  Akihabara (Tam Tam, Golden Age Toys, Trader 3, Animate, Mandrake), Shikansen Festival, Ryōgoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall), Odaiba (Trick Art Museum) and Iidabashi mini meet.
  3. Saturday- Yokohama – Pokemon Festival, Yokohama mini meet and Iidabashi mini meet.
  4. Sunday – 47 Ronin gravesite, Tokyo Dome City, Sunshine City (Pokemon Mega Center), Nakano Broadway, and Akihabara (cars)
  5. Akihabara Night – 8/13/2017

September/October 2017 – Wandering Leopard Saga

This as the final journey in Japan for 2017. This was my 3rd time this year and again, this was gonna be spread out. My last 3 trips have embolden me again to wander Japan and this is what I did.  I wanted to hit places that I tried to do in May, but wasn’t able to do so because of time. Some of the goals I had for this trip also didn’t materialized for a few different reasons.

WLS train experience 2017

  1. Thursday – Arrival to Yokohama and going to Saitama
  2. Friday – Saitama Tuning shops, Enoshima Island, Shinjuku Dinner and Sunrise Seto train
  3. Saturday – Okayama > Kobe > Kyoto > Tokyo > Shizuoka
  4. Sunday – Shizuoka hotel and F31 meeting > Yokohama

2018 – Wandering Leopard Saga continues…

I was back in Japan and it felt good!!! I had some goals and places to check out.

WLS 2018 Train experiece

WL 2019 Trip

WL 2019 Train experience

WL 2020 Trip

WL 2020 train experience