Jason_E
ClioSport Club Member
Elise, 530d
Since I'm deciding to get active on these forums again, I thought I'd share some images from my Pre-Lockdown Trip to Japan. Given the catagory of forum I'm posting in, I guess its best to stick to the car themed stuff I managed to cram in the two weeks we were out there.
When I say pre lockdown, the UK announced lockdown a day after we got back. The timing worked out perfect, and I'm not saying I'm a fan of the global pandemic, but the other side effect was very low numbers of toursits in Japan. This meant no queues for anything, nor were some rental cars booked up....
So I took both my Nikon D4, and my old (film) Canon AE-1 with varying success. I couldn't be bothered to carry the Nikon round for a lot of it! However there were a few trips I did take it out. Either way I'll link the hundreds of phone photos at the bottom, I've sort've collated all the "car" ones in a folder on my flickr.
First trip out on to Japanese roads was actually a week into our stay there. That weekend happend to coincide with a D1 National event at Mobara (About 1:30, 2hrs drive out of Central Tokyo). I used Toyotas Rentalcar service and just took a little Vitz (Yaris to us), its really cheap and these shops are all over Japan so I would reccomend if you're planning a trip in the future.
Obviously, that was one of only 2 days we saw rain. Even so, it was a really good event and there was interesting stuff on track and in the carpark.
For the next "trip out" I'd arranged something special. My friend has used a particular rental company out there to have interesting cars for a day or two, so decided that I needed to a do a proper night looking around the famous car scene haunts. And what better car to do it in?
There were many parts of this trip I had to pinch myself, but driving a Midnight Purple R34 GTR around the Tokyo Expressway at night.... That was incredible. Stopped off at an UpGarage (Chain of car parts stores, they stock used tuning parts etc), as well as an AutoBacs (Imagine if Waitrose did Halfords, and then some). The Autobacs was the "mega" store in Shinanome, which again you should try and swing by if you ever go.
I of course had to check out to Tatsumi, and Daikoku PA.
Baring in mind, due to clashes with other plans I did this on a Tuesday night I think? The quality of car that just happens to turn up...
Thats it for Camera photos I'm afraid. The next morning I returned the Skyline for an Integra DC5, with a mission to drive to the Fuji 5 lakes. I took the Hakone Skyline route, which was a properly entertaining mountain pass. The DC5 was a poor and abused thing, It had about 180,000miles on it! However, mechanically, it felt perfect.
Overall its the best place on earth, I've hated every single second of being home and I want to be back. And on that cheery note....
Phone photos:
Camera Photos:
Film Scans:
When I say pre lockdown, the UK announced lockdown a day after we got back. The timing worked out perfect, and I'm not saying I'm a fan of the global pandemic, but the other side effect was very low numbers of toursits in Japan. This meant no queues for anything, nor were some rental cars booked up....
So I took both my Nikon D4, and my old (film) Canon AE-1 with varying success. I couldn't be bothered to carry the Nikon round for a lot of it! However there were a few trips I did take it out. Either way I'll link the hundreds of phone photos at the bottom, I've sort've collated all the "car" ones in a folder on my flickr.
First trip out on to Japanese roads was actually a week into our stay there. That weekend happend to coincide with a D1 National event at Mobara (About 1:30, 2hrs drive out of Central Tokyo). I used Toyotas Rentalcar service and just took a little Vitz (Yaris to us), its really cheap and these shops are all over Japan so I would reccomend if you're planning a trip in the future.
Obviously, that was one of only 2 days we saw rain. Even so, it was a really good event and there was interesting stuff on track and in the carpark.
For the next "trip out" I'd arranged something special. My friend has used a particular rental company out there to have interesting cars for a day or two, so decided that I needed to a do a proper night looking around the famous car scene haunts. And what better car to do it in?
There were many parts of this trip I had to pinch myself, but driving a Midnight Purple R34 GTR around the Tokyo Expressway at night.... That was incredible. Stopped off at an UpGarage (Chain of car parts stores, they stock used tuning parts etc), as well as an AutoBacs (Imagine if Waitrose did Halfords, and then some). The Autobacs was the "mega" store in Shinanome, which again you should try and swing by if you ever go.
I of course had to check out to Tatsumi, and Daikoku PA.
Baring in mind, due to clashes with other plans I did this on a Tuesday night I think? The quality of car that just happens to turn up...
Thats it for Camera photos I'm afraid. The next morning I returned the Skyline for an Integra DC5, with a mission to drive to the Fuji 5 lakes. I took the Hakone Skyline route, which was a properly entertaining mountain pass. The DC5 was a poor and abused thing, It had about 180,000miles on it! However, mechanically, it felt perfect.
Overall its the best place on earth, I've hated every single second of being home and I want to be back. And on that cheery note....
Phone photos:
Camera Photos:
Film Scans:
