| Finally got my pictures uploaded to share with everyone. For those that didn't know, I got the opportunity of a lifetime and got to travel to Japan with the group that 'Mad' Mike takes every year. 'Mad' Mike told us about this trip back in 2005 and we finally got the chance to join him. Rather than post pictures directly, I'll put links to my albums. Our flight over and first day in Japan was pretty uneventful. We arrived Saturday evening and went through typical Japan traffic and eventually checked into our hotel. We had a late dinner then tried to get some rest for the next day. Here are pictures I took during this time: Day 1 Our second day in Japan (Sunday Nov. 9) we drove over to Fuji and attended the final Super GT race of the season. The Nissan and Nismo team ended up winning the overall championship so it was a big celebration for them. We got VIP treatment from Yokohama tire and were admitted to their VIP tent on the midway. Then we got to watch the race in Nissans VIP suite. Despite the cold and rainy weather, we had a great time. Here are pictures from that day: Day 2 On Monday Nov. 10, we were scheduled to visit the NISMO offices, but due to their victory the day before, they were closed to celebrate the big win. Luckily we were able to go see Mr. K inducted into the Japan Automotive Hall of Fame instead. After the ceremony we joined them for a lavish lunch buffet. While there we got to meet the original designer of the 240Z. In the afternoon we got to visit Nissan's newest test track called GranDrive. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed. In the evening we got some Japanese culture and went to the Kabuki theater. It was interesting, but not being able to understand japanese, made it difficult to endure. After the theater, we found a local restaurant for dinner. That was fun because there was no english menus and no pictures. One of the waitresses did speak a little english so we had her surpise us and let her order our food. Everthing was ok except for one meal that was still moving. The rest of the evening was spent exploring the Ginza district. Pictures can be seen here: Day 3 Day 4 (Tuesday Nov. 11) we went on a Tokyo City tour. We visited the Tokyo Tower, Emperer's Palace, Meiji Shrine, Akasaka Guest House, National Diet Bldg., Imperial Palace East Garden, then lunch at a local restaurant in Ginza. In the afternoon we visited Nissan Headquarters in Ginza. We were supposed to have dinner with Mr. K but he canceled due to being too tired. Instead we dined at another local restaurant in the Ginza area. Pictures are here: Day 4 On day 5 (Wed. Nov. 12) we checked out of our hotel in Tokyo. In the morning we visited Nissan's Vintage Vehicle Storage Facility in Zama. This was very cool, because they don't let anyone in this facility normally. After that we went to Nissan's Technical Design Center and visited with the enginering team responsible for designing the Z car. We got to see the full scale model of the new 370Z as well as gain a lot of insight from the designers on why they did things the way they did. In the afternoon, we visited the Autech Plant (this is where they designed and built the Nismo Z). We met with the upper management and got to see some concepts for the Nismo 370Z. That evening we had dinner with some the Z design team as well as the gentlemen we met at Autech. Day 5
Rodel
1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo - garage queen
2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe - her ride
1980 Datsun 280ZX - daily driver
2006 Nissan Titan
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