Today in class one kid started humming the Final Fantasy victory fanfare. Then a bunch of other kids started picking it up. It was like some kind of virus going around. The best part was, though, that apparently none of the kids, including the first one, had any idea what they were humming. They all just kept asking each other “Where does that music come from?”
Danananaa na na na nanaaa
After driving here in Takahagi for a couple months, and then going back to America over the break, I got a good chance to see the differences in driving in America and Japan. In the end, it all comes down to space. Living in the middle of America gives you plenty of room to build a highway with 5 lanes going each way and big grassy medians everywhere. Thats just not possible in Japan. Most buildings are built right up to their property lines, and then feature a sidewalk/drainage ditch combo with a sharp curb or metal guardrails. For the road itself, you have one lane of traffic each way at most, and no shoulder really. This is in the middle of town on a 30-40 kph road. Driving habits of people around here only exacerbate the problem. It's a common sight to see traffic backed up because it can't get around someone who stopped on the nonexistent shoulder to jump out of their car and buy some cigarettes at a vending machine. Even when traffic is moving, it's usually bogged down by some car shaped like a cardboard box with a 600cc motorcycle engine redlining as it struggles to get up a hill. And there are a lot of hills. This is a common situation even on the most important road in northern Ibaraki, Route 6. The biggest road around is only 2 lanes and it still has to carry all the commuters struggling to get up to the speed limit of 50kph. Yeah, its the main artery for commuting and the speed limit is about 30mph. It's basically useless. The only alternative is to use the toll roads. If you do that, you can expect to pay 1000-1500 yen to go just 50 km to Mito, and the prices go up from there. Oh, and gas costs twice as much as in America too.
So given all the headaches that come along with car ownership, I must be regretting spending all my money to get my JZX90, right? Hell no. It was totally worth it. Let me give an example. When I first came to Japan a year and a half ago, I had to spend 5 hours to ride the trains up to Ebisu to see some drifting. Then, when I finally got there, I was cruising up in the backseat of a taxi, most likely a Toyota Comfort or a Nissan Gloria, while staring longingly at a parking lot full of 180s, hachi rokus, and FCs. There was a huge disconnect between me, just a spectator, and everyone else, who even if they were just watching the pros driving sideways, were active participants in the car culture. Luckily, on the way home I happened to meet a guy who about a year later would end up selling me my car, Yankii Doraemon. Since I've had it the problems of driving in Japan have only become more noticeable. The coilovers threaten to scrape the front half spoiler on every bump I go over. The clutch (while it could be much worse) is still a bit of a nightmare in the stop and go traffic that frequently occurs in the mountain roads where I live. And the twin turbos can hardly console me when kei cars or decotora clog up every available avenue. And yet, it's worth it. A couple nights ago I was just doing some shopping in town. I parked my car and as I walked to the store I noticed a really nice JZX110 Mark II iR-V. Then when I was leaving the store, that car had left, only to be replaced by a 100 Tourer V. There was no one in the car, but the engine was still idling until the turbo timer stopped it. With my 90 there it was like a little Mark II family reunion right in front of Cainz Home. Then, later on that night, I saw the same 100 and a R33 GT-R stopped at the same stoplight as me. We were all waiting for the light to change, engines drowning out all other noise in the area. I looked at the other Mark II, and at the Skyline, and then at the wheel in my hands. And then I just smiled.
Big edit after a couple big weekends: man, I was so right. Friday night, 8 PM, I leave Takahagi for my first venture onto the Shutoko, Tokyo's highway system. No more straight shot Joban line, it's time for the spiderweb of the C2, Chuo, 1, 5, 6, and of course the Wangan, all centering in on C1. I mostly stayed on the Wangan, trained by years of TXR to head for the big Yokohama Bay Bridge, and at the end of it... Daikoku Futou. But I had to pass by to head to a nearby train station to pick up Saori. Exit off of Yokohama K-5 and.. madness. Intersection after intersection with no discernible information to identify which road leads where. Still manage to pick up Saori from a train station in the middle of nowhere no problem, but getting back on the highway... eventually get back, figure out I can't turn back towards Daikoku, and end up going all the way out to the airport on the Haneda line before exiting and crossing back over to the Wangan to start again. Back on the Wangan, notice even more than before the large number of modified cars screaming along in the same direction. Finally back en route to Daikoku, but a new problem arises. While my Trust exhaust was certainly always louder than stock, the drone at 2200 RPM has now become a full car shaking vibrating rattle. Fuck. Guess the stress of a little too spirited driving for the 4 hours or so its taken me to get to this point has taken its toll. Spiral down to Daikoku, and can see the entire array of cars spread out down below, including a neon blue Diablo that I saw stopped on the side of the Chuo at the beginning of the night. Embarrassed by the horrible rattling my exhaust is doing over 2k, I do my best to idle it into the parking area. Get out and damn, it's good. Camera can't take pictures worth shit in the dark so hopefully I will get some video up soon to show everyone what I mean. I will definitely be going back soon.
The next day is the Tokyo Auto Salon. Just like last year, the Makuhari Messe is completely full of amazing cars, only this year, I can actually shop. Totally different experience, instead of just running around thinking, wow car is cool! so is that one! and that one! I could focus on finding some good examples of shops working on JZX90s and the 1JZ-GTE. Still took a ton of pictures, which you can check out here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v476/bskrilla/Tokyo%20Auto%20Salon/
Finally, this weekend I made an amazing discovery. On the C1 line, you can get to Roppongi Hills like 5 minutes after you take the Shiba Koen exit. Why would you want to do that? Because for 3000 yen, you can park for 24 hours in their garage. Haha I got pulled over by mall security and directed to a special garage for Lambos and Porsches because my car is too low to enter the normal garage. Japan is awesome. Driving in Japan is awesome.
