| I wanted to wait for ZCON to be completed before I posted this. So when we heard Mr. K passed away earlier this year at the age of 105, I immediately talked to Mad Mike about services and told him whatever, whereever, whenever, I want to be there. He was invited to the family services where K was eulogized and cremated (if you were at ZCON or NF this year you heard Mike talk about this brief service) and was leaving basically the next day to attend. K's sons were organizing a more 'public' Memorial Service some time afterwards. Mike was able to get a couple invitations for US club members to be able to attend the bigger Memorial Service in April. So, Mad Mike, Bernie, Adam, Russell(Dallas), Chris Karl and myself flew over the week before Golden Week to celebrate the life of Yutaka Katayama-san, or Mr. K as most westerners refer to him. Being a relatively short notice trip and not planned to the n'th detail like the November trips we all planned to arrive 2 days before. I missed this somewhere along the way and scheduled to arrive the day before... I get this text the day before I'm leaving from Russell(Dallas) asking 'we're in the Admiral's lounge, where are you?'... 'uhm getting my leg pulled I hope.' Would have been a funny joke. Haha. Anyway, worst case I would just go direct to the services from Narita where we land which is where planning started originally. 
Nice place to sit and text...
I decided I would hop the bus for the 2 hour ride north to Utsunomiya where Tetsu's shop is located since there was an 'opening' dinner and Yama-san would be up there as well instead of hanging back in Tokyo. 
Riding the hoist around Ultimate Z has become a sport. We tried to dunk Chris in the BBQ.
I took the PWD car my son and I made and raced this year for Yama to sign, just to amp up my favorite Z toy that much more!
Snoopy labeled Pockys! Love these things as much as Meiji Chocolate Almonds... you can get them in the states at most large grocery stores now.
We hung out in the tiny hotel lobby afterward BSing until the beer ran out. The next day we loaded up and rode the Shinkansen (bullet train) into Tokyo. I sat next to Yama and politely whipped him on design details on the Z on the way down... from there we trekked over to K's office where the Memorial Service was happening. There were 2 different services during the day. Morning was Nissan related people and afternoon was celebrities, politicians, and other dignitaries. We got there towards the beginning of the morning service the little restaurant on the 3rd floor was getting crowded. You entered the cleared out restaurant and were given a stemmed flower to lay in front of a huge photo of Mr. K. 
Tetsu paying his respects.
The tiny gray hair between the ladies at the table is Mrs. K. paying her respects. I think she is 102? Amazing couple. I gave her a gift of a pastel butterfly scarf from my wife to her.
Lots of faces I hadn't in years, like seen since 2001 on my first trip over. It was unfortunate to meet again this way, but it was nice to catch up with them. 
The restaurant had photos of K and some of his watercolors (one of his hobbies) on display.
A 'brief' history of Mr. K.
We were invited to visit Mr. K's private office on the top floor of the building. I think some of the more recent Mad Mike groups have visited here. I haven't been on one of those trips since 2005, I generally do my own thing now over there because of business so it was nice to be able to experience it. 
Yama explaining the drawings in on of Mr. K's travel journals. I think it was something about donuts.
Adam taking a picture of Mr. K's logo.
While hanging outside on the street watching the 350Z dream team reunion happening across the way we had conversations with a lot of people (retired) with a lot of opinions on Nissan today. It was eye opening and a little sad at the same time. Although I agree... not much in the Nissan brand gets me excited. I like the 2015 Maxima, I have a 2015 Maxima. Done. 
Hideki was there, I asked about Aki-A (his wife). He said she was OK. About 45 minutes later I hear that she is in the coffee shop downstairs. Here's Aki-A, Pinku Panther and Russell(Dallas).
We stayed through most of the second Service for the other riff-raff. Apparently some important people rolled through to pay their respects. I don't watch TMZ NHK, so I didn't recognize anyone. We said 'see you soon' to Yama-san who headed home from the Memorial. 
Something bad is about to happen.
After the Memorial Matsumura-san invited us out to dinner. We did a huge buffet and discussed global business in general. 
Run for cover!!!! Gojira!!!!
Oh wait, nevermind. He's not going anywhere. I spotted this on the taxi ride over to the buffet... WTF?? was that Godzilla I just saw??? This thing was like 4 feet of awesomeness in the plaza there.
Hideo's car at Ultimate. Driven this thing at excessive speed on the expressway. All of Hideo's cars are LHD, easy for gaijin to drive.
3rd floor of Ultimate.
About a week before this trip, Mad Mike was involved in a terrible wreck in his XTerra in TN. Got rear ended by an 18 wheeler where he was shoved under the pickup in front of him and the semi's cab came off behind him and caught on fire. What a mess and surprising that Mike came through as well as he did... and the XTerra, while totaled was more intact than I would have imagined based on that description of the wreck. I think we'll keep ours! If you've seen him recently, he's a lot slower getting around because of this. While the other guys went off and did whatever for the afternoon, I went with Mike to Yasu's office. He's a chiropractor and worked on Mike for a bit. 
I took the opportunity to use the water jet massage bed at Yasu's. Awesome stuff!
Taru the golden. He's the same age as and looks like my late Shiner dog who passed late last year. He belongs to Tetsu's mother, who we went to visit briefly.
The travel party was breaking up rapidly as Russell was only there for the Memorial and already went home. Bernie and Adam had come in early to visit Harry in Tokyo and Chris was headed back quickly too. So we had a multi course closing meal!
Shochu, I love you.
Yasu-san: 'Damon?' Damon: 'No.' Whatever Yasu is asking me for is probably trouble. I'm proactive in my response. Tetsu finds it highly amusing.
After dinner we went out to a club with Kaz and TV. We taught our hosts and the girls the meaning of 'American Highball' vs. the Japanese version. Challenge accepted! Everyone slammed at least one... everyone. NO photo! VIP!! 
OK, well some photos. Our hostess, Mama-chan.
We get booted from the club after a couple hours and walk back to the hotel. It's like 2am and we find a bar on the main drag but they are busy closing and don't have time for a couple rounds from us. so we walk a little more. We pass another bar and there are some girls at a table by the window. Smile and wave boys. They wave back so we 180 and go find out what's what. A couple rounds and food later somehow Adam has them convinced I'm the DH for the Texas Rangers (Mitch Moreland was at training camp, not in Japan). Bernie and I kick back at the next table and just listen to the chat up while enjoying beers. ooof, what a night. I think I got 3 hours of sleep. Bernie, Adam and Chris all departed in the morning. I was scheduled to stay through the weekend (it was cheaper to stay extra days). So I had slow time with Tetsu and Mike. 
Bernie has a parts racket going on over there where a shop sends stuff to Tetsu's shop and Tetsu consolidates it and ships it to Bernie. Every time we came back to the shop there was a package for Bernie there waiting.
The green US 240Z that's been on the display ramps at the front of Ultimate Z for like the last 8 years sold while we were there. Charged the battery, put clean gas in. Started up and ran like a champ! Happy Tetsu!
We're sitting around the Ultimate office and I keep hearing a faint 'beep!' every minute or so. I tracked it down to one of Bernie's boxes. For whatever reason this fuel pump had a tag on it and it was beeping. After 3 seconds of debate, we decided to cut the cord on it to get rid of it. I was expect it to go apesh*t, but it didn't. 'beep!'. So I took it an hid it somewhere in Tetsu's shop. Tetsu found it the next day and hid it in the rear panel of Kaz's new Prius. I asked Tetsu about it at ZCON. He said Kaz took it to Toyota to figure out what the beeping was. They had factory techs calling HQ asking WTF was this noise about? They could not locate it. Eventually they figured it out. I don't think Kaz knows Tetsu planted it... great gag.
We went out trolling for new places to take the November tour. 
Giant koi windsocks in preparation for Golden Week. The big ones were like 30 feet long.
We went to visit Tetsu's aunt and have some flat udon noodles at her restaurant... which is next to this old house they are turning into a 2 room hotel. The house is over 125 years old. There are only a handful of craftsmen that know how to repair the this type of straw roof. It was interesting to watch how they worked the straw into place. The house had several rework layers on it already. It had to weigh an incredible amount. Those guys have tough hands, the straw had very sharp edges on it...
After the hotel tour, we were treated to special shaved ice for desert. I had never seen anything like this before. It was like eating frozen cotton candy. Very delicate! We asked to see how they did it...
The ice is from Nikko and is frozen spring water. I can't remember all the details now, but it was special and you could not get this anywhere else. They showed us how they did the ice shaving. I was a little dissappointed because the machine was modern. I was expecting something from the 1930s churning something like this out. Anyway, was magical to eat!!
Mikezilla vs. giant praying mantis!
Never seen this before, but just down the road from Ultimate is an area that is mostly pumice stone. The monks there have carved into the mountains to get pumice and to make this really tall statue.
Back at Ultimate, I get put to work in the shop...
Moving a customer car before an oil change. Then we do another closing dinner, Korean BBQ! 
Yasu is mad at me because I kept stealing his cellphone when he would leave the table or turn his back for something.
He kept it in his hands the rest of the night.
Kanpai to you, Tetsu!
The next morning, there another package for Bernie.
The boys took us out to lunch before I got on the train. They eat ramen like we eat hamburgers.
Back at Ultimate again. The delivery guy that came by a little later with a box for Bernie asked Tetsu if he was changing the name of his shop to Bernie's. No kidding. So I get dropped off at the train station and go to get my Shinkansen ticket. Shinkansen has a power outage, only local trains are moving into Tokyo. Crap. Long, slow beaten down ride with my luggage. I let my friend and former agent know I would be a little late. He laughed. The shinkansen trains are never broken... except when I'm in town. I've had one stop because of too much snow on the tracks, because of earthquake and now because of power outage. He laughed again. We'll see you when you get here. 
On the way to Nagoya once I got on the other Shinkansen line.
Sunset in Nagoya. Didn't get to see Fuji on the way down. My niece was disappointed in the Mt. Fuji report.
My friend took me out to dinner close to the hotel. He said his boss was interested in this place and he should take me there to make sure it was good. Thanks, boss!! The most expensive steak I've ever eaten... 45 day aged beef. Kusso umei! We were later joined by the gentleman who got my business relationship with Japan started. It was an interesting conversation!
Since it was cheaper to stay an additional 2 days and I was in Nagoya, I decided to go to the Toyota Museum. The November tours have gone here in the past. Again, since I hadn't, I wanted to. Shimizu-san had called ahead for me to have a contact at the museum. After an hour on the subway and linimo (maglev train) I arrived at the museum. 
I went in and bought a ticket, then I asked for Mr. S. The girls behind the counter freak and start shoving my money back into my hands... I was a guest of Mr. S and did not need to pay, they told me. We argued over this point for a moment and I conceded politely. Turns out Mr. S is the curator and manager of the museum. When I saw his card, uhg. I really didn't want to waste this man's time with my wandering around. He asked if there was anything special I wanted to see. I explained I wanted to see Mr. K's Flying Feather but I did not want to take up any of his time. Nonsense! So, off we go. He walked me around the entire main building showing me things of interest (and there were many). While this is the 'Toyota' Museum, I understand it's Mr. Toyota's Museum and displays all Japanese motor culture (manufacturers), granted there was a lot of Toyota product in there. I took a lot of pictures, here are some highlights: 
And here it is... I think they only made 150 and there are only and handful left from what I understand.
 
Would you like to see inside? Sure! He basically offered for me to sit in it. I politely declined.
Mr. S makes sure I have all access. He's opening up the rear deck, the front deck, doors, everything.
Would you like to see inside? Sure!
I hadn't seen a 2000 in person until the New Year's car show back in '13. So it was cool to see another one. Beautiful car, but I still don't understand the headlight arrangement.
Would you like to see the inside? Sure!
Mr. S took a photo of me with one of the lovely attendants. I was a dumb-dumb and didn't get a photo of Mr. S and I together as well...
At this point, he needed to get back to real work so he politely excused himself. I gave him a small gift for his time. I made another lap of the main exhibit hall and then went over to the Annex area to see what else was here. 
A Lego replica of the museum In the gift shop. The oval thing is the main exhibit, the building to the left is the Annex. Notice the racetrack looking thing in the background? So while I was touring with Mr. S, I noticed the cars had drip pans under them. 'Do these get driven??' 'Yes, absolutely'. No kidding they get driven. While enjoying lunch next to the gift shop overlooking the parking lot racetrack, there was some tiny brown sedan getting hammered on. Giant cloud of blue oily smoke following it around the 'circuit'. He says they are constantly restoring cars for the museum and that's part of life. Was kinda cool to watch it happen.
I didn't get the complete behind the scenes tour November tours have been afforded in the past. I was very happy to have gotten the tour from Mr. S. himself, much more than I expected. Thanks Shimizu-san for calling your friend! 
During the tour, Mr. S said this 1937 RR Phantom III was his favorite in the collection.
This is the oldest Nissan (Datsun really, funny how the name is that old when we think about Datsun being a made for America brand). There is a photo of the 2002 Gangsters with another 1932 Datsun 11 Phaeton at Nissan HQ. So there are at least 2 of them left.
Go through the train routine on the way back but ride it all the way back to Nagoya station to do some shopping and get something to eat. Mill around the shopping mall (department store actually). Found some kick ass NISMO cellphone covers and other Z related fun stuff to raffle at NISMO Fiesta a couple weeks later. I decide to hop a cab to the hotel after walking around so much. Get in the cab at the train station and say 'Hilton Nagoya' and the driver looks at me like I'm speaking English. This is the first time I've stumped a cabbie over there... and with something so seemingly simple. He was asking me to call the hotel and get the address, which my phone had died a little earlier and I wasn't carrying the hotel's card or matchbook as I normally do. So I bailed out and walked. I just knew the general direction by street name and having stayed at the hotel a couple times before. After missing it once and 180ing after I reached the train stop before the main station I finally found the hotel. My feet hurt. At least the weather was nice and walking around over there in metro areas really isn't a big deal as far as security. 
Shinkansen on the way back was a touch faster.
Last day in Japan is 2 hours Shinkansen, 1 hour NXT express train, 2 hour wait for the flight and 12 hours home on the 777. 
Pokemon bounce house in the airport.
That's about everything I'm going to share. haha... VIP! No photos!! Mad Mike, thank you for doing this for us... it was an honor and privilege to attend. Mr. K., I will continue to love cars, love people, love life. RIP!
Later
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Mr. K Memorial Service - 
