Just looked and I haven't posted since Thursdays events.
Well after running around Harajuku on Thursday, we decided that Dean and I needed to do something less emasculating than looking for clothes.
On Friday, we went looking at cars again. This time we headed for the Nissan Gallery in Ginza, and this time when we got out of the subway we didn't see any closed signs.... We saw a most beautiful specimen of the automotive kind... the new GT-R.. In bright red.... like the blood of your opponents after you slaughter them mercilessly.... I got to sit in it, and Dean took my picture, just for proof. They also had the new Fuga there. This thing is something we don't get in Australia, but would be nice if we did... A family size sedan with either a 3.5L V6 or a 4.5L V8 in RWD goodness. We walked around the corner and down the street to the Gallery Headquarters (the one we started at is like an annex) and we got to see the new Cube (I prefer the old one better), another awesomely hot GT-R and the new 370Z Fairlady. This car definately looks like a smaller package than the 350Z. The wheel base is smaller, the over hangs are less, and looks like a much better little package. Also saw a President, which is worth 9800000Y (about 150K in Australian monopoly money). Very stately, but still would rather buy 3 370Z's (they are 3600000Y) for the same amount.... or 1 GT-R and 2000000Y of mods...
After lolligagging around there for a few minutes, our next venture was Up Garage - A chain of used performance parts stores. Possibly not the closest one, but the easiest to get to was in Machida, in what you'd say was the Southwestern suburbs of Tokyo.. this thing is so southwest, that it nearly straddles the border of Yokohama in Kanagawa. We thought we better get some food for this expedition, so when we stopped at Shibuya to change trains, we headed to the department store (Tokyu) that sits atop our next intended train line. Like in previous posts, most department stores in Tokyo have a B1 and quite often a B2 floor dedicated to food. With the trains/subways being a major part of everyday life in Tokyo, it makes sense to have places situated on top of the train lines, where people can pick up the evening meal.
After walking around a little bit, we decided on a fried chicken and chips set for about 700Y. It was a very good feed, although it was a little cold by the time we ate on the train. One of the good things about heading to places that are off the beaten track for most tourists, is that you get to see a different side to the cities you visit. The metropolis of Tokyo keeps sprawling, although as you get further out, the homes get larger than the bedsit apartments that are often portrayed in the media.
While we were on the train it started snowing. This gave a change from the rain we had been experiencing for the last 4 days, but it was only brief, with the snow stopping/rain starting again before we arrived at our intended station - Minami-machida. Unfortunately, I hadn't written down where the shop was from the station, but knew it was near by. After walking around the Grandberry Plaza that sits next to the station, we got the girl at the information desk to find the directions and we were off. It was only about 5 minutes walk from the station, before we saw the yellow signs. We came around the corner and saw the cars inhabiting the car park. A few modified euro's, some jap cars... all with their own little flavour added.
We bound up our umbrellas and headed inside and where gobsmacked with the range. Starting at one end and working our way to the other, there were walls lined with coil overs, springs, exhausts, electronic things like DVD screens, sat navs, double din CD/MD players and the like. Then aftermarket ecus, boost controllers, pod filter setups etc. If I lived in Tokyo or Japan, with both this place and Autobacs, I'd be permanently broke, buying things for my car....
We spent around 1hr just perusing the items. I ended up buying a suspension spanner for my car, before heading out. After asking the guys at the counter we found the directions to Bee-Racing, who some might know for their Bright yellow R324 (R32 with a 34 front end) that Tezuka drives in the D1 series. It took us about 10-15mins walk before we found the place... They were dyno testing a Nissan Serena van with an exhaust on it. I suppose if you have to drive a family car, you can at least make it your own. There must be a few in this situation because on the back of the Serena it had a sticker for an Serena owners club, while there was another done-up van in the car park. We got to take a few up close pics of the D1 car, and there were a few other nice cars lying about.
Next door to Bee-Racing is a little known place called Monster Performance. For those of you that have ever played Gran Turismo 2-5, you would know the Pike's Peak Escudo... this is the guy that owns it, operating a tuning/mechanics shop out of a Suzuki Dealership. Unfortunately we didn't see the bunny car, but I would have lost it otherwise. We walked back to the station, and caught the train back to Shibuya, and after walking around a few places headed for Tokyo central.
We had a look in some of the buildings surrounding Tokyo station, stealing their air. Some of these shops were swanky boutiques, where you can get tailor made suits, stupidly expensive shoes and bags (What self-respecting male would spend $600 on a pair of shoes???) and other assorted items. The view at dusk was good, with all the other buildings having their lights on, and the rain hitting the windows made for a nice vibe, but now Dean and I were getting hungry, so we headed for the Gyouza shop in Yaesu mall.
We headed back to the hotel and after watching some wierd TV, fell asleep.
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