Amazing

By now, I’m hoping that you’ve seen all the shots I posted of the Japanese works bikes that I saw today at the track. Though there weren’t as many super trick bikes as there have been in previous years, I was still pretty excited as I checked out some of the stuff that’s to come in 2010.

Now, I could be partial, but I swear, Japan is an amazing country. The differences in the culture are far too great to even begin to address here in my blog, but the two things that stand out in my mind are how polite everyone is, and how clean it is here. No one litters! The scenery, the food, and the technology…I love it! No one, or no thing (subway trains) are ever late. The promptness of everyone and everything never ceases to blow me away.

The last time I was in a taxi in the United States was in New York City. When I got out, I felt like I needed to boil my body and my clothes in hot water. This, though, is what taxis in Japan look like. Check the dude’s white gloves? Trying to hide his prints from Horatio Caine and the CSI Miami crew, or what? And let’s not get into the doily seat covers. haha

After spending the first part of my trip in GInza, I am now in Kumamoto, a small country town where the race track is located. Though the place is pretty dang cheap by Japanese standards ($50 a night), it is the gaudiest place I’ve ever been to, outside of Las Vegas. This is the view from the hotel restaurant. Behind me, they had a James Dean wall clock, complete with flashing LED lights!

One of the nicer touches was this - a beer vending machine! And no, in spite of Japan’s technological superiority, I don’t think the machine could verify that its customers were of age. Years and years ago as a 14-year-old Boy Scout visiting Japan for an international camping trip, I bought a bunch of porno magazines in a similar vending machine. Isn’t Japan the greatest? (Later in the trip, afraid that I would be caught with the smut in my bag, I hid them in the bookshelf in the room of the Japanese Boy Scout whose family I was staying with. The next day, I heard his mom spanking him and yelling…about what I will never know. haha)

This is my room in the Kumamoto Airport hotel. I am glad that I left my luggage with the concierge in Ginza and only brought a couple T-shirts in my camera bag! In all honesty, I think my toy hauler might be bigger inside…

It poured all day on Friday, drizzled through Friday night, and was butt-ass cold on Saturday. In fact, it snowed here and there throughout the day. The track was a muddy mess, and riders struggled to work their way around it. Because of the mud, the course was cut down significantly. Team Suzuki’s Yoshi Atsuta told me his lap times were 1:08!

Defending All Japan National Champion Akira Narita win the title as a member of Team Yamaha in 2008. For ‘09, though, both Yamaha and Honda dropped their factory race teams in Japan due to the economic climate. Narita is racing what is basically the same bike as last year, as Yamaha wants to wait before it unveils the new 2010 works bike. Narita had WHITE pads for his Leatt Brace. I told him they were “kako-ii,” which means super trick. I’ve been trying to get Geoff and Hapa at Leatt to hook me with some white pads forever. I felt a little better when Akira said he got them in Australia. haha

This is Hide, Narita’s #2 mechanic. I’ve been friends with Hide for a few years now, because he and his former rider, Cloud Toda, stayed with my family and I a few Springs ago. Cloud used to come to the United States every year to train and prepare for the All Japan Championships, and we enjoyed having a couple International house guests. We were devastated last year when we learned that Cloudy suffered paralyzing injuries in a freak crash involving the Yamaha team trainer at a practice track. I am supposed to visit with Cloud back in Tokyo, after the race weekend is over. I am looking forward to catching up with him, but I must admit that I am a little nervous to see him. Cloud is a very upbeat guy, though, so I am sure he is doing well.

The track food is pretty good. Make that great. Today, I dined on Yakitori skewers and a bowl of udon noodles. This guy, however, is making octopus balls, I believe. Didn’t know octopi had balls? Yeah, neither did I. haha. When I was bored last night, I google searched Kumamoto, the town I am staying in. I found out that when it comes to cuisine, Kumamoto is rather famous for its…get this…horse sashimi! Bleeech! That’s right. Raw horse. Gross.

On that note, I am going to bed. I feel sick to my stomach all of a sudden.
Maybe a trip to that vending machine might help…

- Swap