parrot Posted September 20, 2016 Report Share Posted September 20, 2016 (edited) So here I am in Kyoto with my nearly 12 yr old daughter for a father/daughter trip. Unfortunately typhoon Malakas hit today, so other than a spell at the Nishiki market; temples shrines and bamboo forests were out due to torrential rain. BUT I had been keeping an eye out on google maps in case there ever happened to be an autobacs or upgarage in the general vicinity. I did catch sight of an upgarage through the window of the Hikari shinkansen about half an hour out of Tokyo - so near yet so far...... The Superautobacs was just 15 min away on the bus! So off we went. On arrival I parked said daughter on a chair with her iPhone and portable wifi to hunt yet more pokemons. Then I spent the next hour working my way through the aisles to make sure I didn't miss anything. And what a disappointment. I'm not quite sure what I expected, but other than great tins of oil rather than plastic containers, air deodorisers and the usual dross, there was little on offer. I did find a cabinet containing TRD stuff, but this was mainly a few TRD key rings. They did have some little TRD plastic y pieces labelled noise changes, but not sure what they were. An old school TRD gearknob for about $30, but I already have a couple of those. Did get some TOSCO stickers for the TE27 though. No Nardi horn buttons, the Tein & cusco stuff on offer was very sparse and as you would imagine, only for today's modern tat. The shop guys were uninterested to say the least. I came away with a nice cup holder, some Bosch electric horns for the KE15, 40mm screws for the Nardi and my stickers for 7300yen So if you ever come to Japan, by all means lookout for an autobacs, but I wouldn't go out of your way. Definitely do make sure you get along to Donki (don Quixote) which has become our nightly pilgrimage to stroll the aisles under the assault of noise from the various advertising blaring from each product line. Even the vibrator aisle which she found before I did. I don't think she actually knows what they are for. Edited September 20, 2016 by parrot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altezzaclub Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 I don't think she actually knows what they are for. nearly 12 yr old daughter haha! You wish! I'm sure they're way ahead of their dads.. Any old Toyotas on the streets?? Stacks of models not found over here?? What's the driving like?? What do young hoons drive?? Facinating culture, my daughter is planning a trip over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrot Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Well she certainly is of the view that penises are funny so she is halfway there. The striking thing is that there is so little congestion on the roads, even in the centre of Tokyo. The vast majority of cars seem to be small boxy things that look identical whichever manufacturer they are. Those and Cedric & Crown super luxury taxis. Have seen no old cars at all until today when a hotted up Subaru Legacy wagon crawled past in a narrow Kyoto laneway. No doubt they are around, just not in the middle of Shinjuku. No driving for us, it's been trains all the way. I would love to come back with Mrs Parrot and do an onsen tour in the back blocks, but she just gave a derisive laugh and said she wants to go back to Europe. Perhaps I'll just have to do it by myself. It really is a stunning place, so easy to get around especially as they have made significant efforts to improve signage in English on public transport etc with the upcoming tokyo olympics. Nearly all cheap restaurants have an English menu, or the ubiquitous display food out front that you can point at. And accomodation and food is cheaper than Australia. And the shopping is just amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterd Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 Try and do a car factory tour while your there. I've done the Toyota one a couple of times. You book online. It's In Toyota City, just south of Nagoya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrot Posted September 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 I would love to, unfortunately not on this trip, but will likely come back again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterd Posted September 21, 2016 Report Share Posted September 21, 2016 If you're still in Kyoto, check out 'Gear' It's a stage show, totally awesome. Have fun. Japan's an awesome place to travel around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrot Posted September 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Continuing my travelogue of Japanese auto shopping! On our way to miyajima island from Hiroshima, I spotted an upgarage just up the road from Itsukaichi station on the local line. Well I couldn't not go there since it was so convenient. So on the way home from a sobering morning at the atomic bomb dome, and a nice western style ham and lettuce roll at the Danish bread shop (good bread is hard to find here) though Starbucks and Starbucks copies aren't, I cheered myself up with a visit. Much better than super autobacs. More performance oriented but still stocks some generic new stuff. They have a lot of second hand performance stuff. Alas little for us old school Toyota heads. Just 3 or so sets of watanabe style wheels, and a TRD clutch and pressure plate attached to a very heavy flywheel. But still good fun. Today's purchases, a 'JDM Spirit' street silencer (essentially an exhaust restrictor) to quieten it down (if required!) and some long wheel studs. View from the window of my ryokan as I type Edited September 23, 2016 by parrot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleRedSpirit Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 Interesting blog mate its cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parrot Posted September 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) Thanks LRS What's bad about Japan? Well the TV is absolutely dreadful, and sometimes it can get very crowded. But everyone is so incredibly polite, lining up patiently to get onto the train and so on. No angst or grief. Shinjuku train station is absolutely enormous and if you get your entrance wrong, you are in trouble. Especially if carting your luggage up and down steps. The TV being bad means you spend a lot of time on the internet courtesy of the portable wifi modem you can hire and is indespensible as it allows you to navigate via google maps. As long as you remember to take it with you. The streets aren't signposted or seemingly even named as we would know it, instead they use a moderately complicated numbering system, along the lines of a UK address code. We were lucky enough to be here during a sumo tournament, which was an absolute highlight. Well worth checking when they are on if you are coming, and you can buy tickets online a month beforehand. Edited September 23, 2016 by parrot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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