I took a few hundred meg worth of pics, so I'll only subject you to the car related stuff, I promise :)
Due to slackness and circumstance I didn't have much car related goings on planned while over there (next time: hoo boy have I already got some stuff lined up!), but I did stumble onto some stuff while over there purely by chance.
If you're ever in Tokyo, write this down: You want to go to Mega Web, which is Toyota's BIG display place at Palette Town in Odaiba (a big man made island). Head towards the big ferris wheel on Odaiba (you can't miss it) and at one end of Palette Town you have Mega Web, and right up the other end (it's a shopping mall style setup) you have Grease Garage, which is just wall to wall diecast cars and other memorabilia. Grease Garage has 2 levels, the 2nd floor is the one you want... it's a little tricky to find but not overly hard.Anyway, first up I stumbled on to Zoom-Zoom Land, where they were keen to show off the new RX8. The 'race-track' outside was distinctly lame.... max speed, 20kph.
 Inside they had every rotor made, from the first Cosmo
 ... through the RX4 and various RX7's
 ... to the RX8 from X-Men 2, which just had fender flares and a garish wing from all I could tell.
 Thinking I'd done pretty well finding Zoom-Zoom Land by pure luck (even if it was piss-poor), I was gobsmacked when I ran into this sort of shit:
Ooh baby, now that's a twin turbo. With authentic LeMans track scum
 
This was THE angriest AW11 MR2 I've ever seen..... I don't even want to think about the amount of power this thing looked like it had, through that tiny wheelbase
 Some sort of test track, which I assume was automated (not a lot of room for error!). Note the car stacker in the background (which goes up another 4 or 5 stories out of the roof). You dial in which car you want and they all get shuffled around and the one you asked for is brought up front to the entrance.
 GT class Chaser.... love it.
 One of several GT Supras
 The MR2 again and Celica rally car
 
Very cool AE86 Trueno....
 
Why Toyota should be brought up on charges for crimes against humanity. The Toyota Century. This is a CURRENT MODEL ON SALE TODAY!
 I mean look at it!
 Away from Mega Web at the bottom level of Grease Garage. Note coffee tables next to it :) I think there are only two race GT1's in existence, so that's both of 'em.
 
Grease Garage upper level.
 It was like this for absolutely miles..... took me an hour at least to scour for Z32's, they only had 2 I already didn't have (Tomy police car, yellow Choro-Q)
 While there I also bought a Z Hyper Rev magazine (about 50% Z32, 50% Z33), Fairlady Z File book (all Z's but about 50% Z32) and I Love Z32 Fairlady book. They are very cool, and as well as all the mods, history and other stuff feature the various tuning houses' display cars.... there are some real zingers, I'll scan some stuff soon. This is not Japan, but China. One of these NEW will set you back around US$500. I'm not even into bikes, but for $500.....
 Also, while I'm subjecting you to massive bandwidth consumption, some pics from my alarm install, which by a professional installer, someone close to it helping, and me with my interior-pulling-apart skills took all up 20 HOURS!! Needless to say, the install's a little better than average. The alarm is a top of the line model with paging functions (400m range), autostart and numerous other neato features. 
Also took the opportunity while everything was apart to put in all the amp wiring, as well as fix up some little bits and pieces, neaten a lot of things up (the dodgy stuff that was in my car from Japan.... my God, wiring and cold solder joints eveywhere from previous stereo, auto start, turbo timer, boost controller and other junk). Also put in my new horns and a USB and serial cable for my Empeg on the odd chance they'll come in handy in future. 
Speakers put in by previous owner in Japan. Note the 2 (two) intrusion bars put in for Australian compliance.... a Mac truck could hit me side on and I wouldn't feel it :)
 I didn't want anything new in the engine bay, so the back up siren (which you still need access to though) goes here. All of the wiring is completely hidden, running above the guards, reducing engine bay clutter. My funky rice horns also pictured which I pulled out of a Skyline live here for now, but they might move. They echo and do other stupid things from a control box in the centre console. It's totally stupid, which is why I love them so much :)
 Also while I'm posting pics, it's not a great shot but it's the best so far that shows what chromed headlights look like (they usually don't come out in pics right):
 And the ol' Ab-Flug shifter, which still needs some minor adjustment but aint bad. They replaced the usual rubber bush with brass semi circle rings (not the shifter bushes, the ones that go around the ball) and they seem to be doing more bad than good, as they rattle slightly. Might try a regular Nissan bush and see what that does.
 Put the 2000 front and Border bonnet on I've got lying around, remove the rear wing and give her a wash.... oh yeah.
 Ben
Australian 300ZX Owners Association
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Pics from trip to Japan (dial up, na-a) - 
14:37:20 09/07/03
