Nissan Enthusiast Japan Trip (Part 4 of 6)

Thanks again for checking out our 4th installment of this EPIC Japan trip. Once again, If you missed the other few parts, here are the links to get you caught up: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Day 6: We head out to Zama to see the Datsun Nissan Automuseum (DNA Garage) and then headed to Autech afterwards – a subsidiary of Nissan for special vehicles and projects. Prior to the trip, I had been dying to see the Nissan R390. I brought my tripod along b/c I wanted to shoot at low ISOs to get clean shots, and I’m glad I did. For those who don’t know, the DNA Garage is a warehouse where Nissan keeps 400+ rare Datsuns and Nissans from their history. It is not open to the public and we obviously have special permission to see this (as with everything on the trip, this was done through Mad Mike’s friends/contacts at Nissan and Nismo). Eiichi-san (the unofficial curator of the museum) said they are considering opening this up on a limited basis, but nothing final yet.

You walk in and see this amazing sight

A pair of CSP311 Silvia’s. Only 554 were produced from 1965-1968.

A sea of various race cars

Here is me sitting in the Nissan R390. I had been dreaming about sitting in this car for 4 years (when I was suppose to go on this trip originally) and it was absolutely spectacular. This was the only car I asked Eiichi-san if I could sit in and he gladly obliged – this is what I call VIP access. The car is already tough to get in, and with the other cars so close it was VERY difficult to get into since I couldn’t open the door all the way, but I found a way. This is the only production R390 in the world – 1 of 1! Nissan had to produce 1 production car because Le Mans regulations stated that there had to be at least 1 production car for them to produce race cars based on the same chassis. This car is a dream.

Some Le Mans R390’s

A row of various racing GTR’s

Here is the group outside the garage

Conclusions: Wow. Just wow. We had a little less than 2 hours at Zama. Seeing this was overwhelming. I was so confused on what to see and what to shoot. I knew I couldn’t spend too much time on any one car because there is just SOOOO much to see. I think I did a good job of covering the entire area and spending more time gawking at the cars I really wanted to see. Adam was joking that I was the official group photographer and I had to just shoot pics the entire time. Well I wanted to capture as many cars as I could, but a friend told me before I left that I should also enjoy the cars and take some time to just sit back and look at the epic warehouse I’m in and take it in. I did take lots of pics (not all are posted here of course), but I did manage to take it in and realize how special it was to see this. You could be here for days and days and not see everything. We all suggested just camping here for the rest of the trip, but that idea wasn’t approved by Nissan. What an experience. After we got to the bus, we all jokingly asked Mike for a refund, because he obviously wasn’t delivering on his promise of a once in a lifetime trip.

So, now we leave Zama and head to Autech – no cameras allowed here at all. Autech designed and built the Nismo versions of the 350Z and 370Z for Nissan. They build special vehicles for handicapped persons and everything is custom made in house. We saw the design center with a one-off Autech car that was a completely re-done G37. I have no pictures of it obviously, but it was super clean. From the interior to the entire body, it was all Autech. We got a tour of their plant and how they manufacture these special cars/vans. It was a hell of a place to see in person. The attention to detail was amazing, nothing but the best. They gave us a lot of AWESOME swag and then we headed to dinner with a couple of the Autech guys. This is where Kawaguchi-san of Autech mentioned that he designed the engine management system for the R390. Our entire table was like “WHOA!!”. Inside, we were all bowing down to him b/c he must have been like 25 when he did that back in the mid/late 90s. Good times and laughs were had, and then we headed back to the hotel.

Day 7: We leave our hotel in Tokyo and head north. Our first stop is the Nissan plant in Tochigi and then we head to the spa in the mountains – the Ojikaen.

The entire bus had a collective “OMG!” as this trailer of 4 R34’s passed on the freeway

Then we came across this R34 V-Spec II Nur on the freeway.

We arrived at Nissan’s Tochigi plant – again, no cameras allowed inside. We took an amazing tour of the plant and saw the assembly line. It was absolutely breathtaking to see the assembly line process. There are little machines delivering parts at every stop (all automated). The car bodies meet their engines/transmissions at a particular point and it is timed perfectly. The tools the workers had to put the cars together were brilliant. It was so satisfying to see how a car is made in person, because you really appreciate all the logistics that have to go into it. And there are many different models on the line, but that doesn’t slow anything down. As we walked outside, we saw a 2 dozen brand new GT-R’s waiting to be shipped, it was awesome. We got back on the bus and headed to their private test track on site where we would be getting rides in a GT-R with the chief test driver.

Our test driver – Kazuo Shishikura

This was my first time doing panning shots of a moving car, so I did a lot of experimenting and shooting. I’m glad a few shots came out nice.

You can see the factory wrapping still on this brand new GT-R being tested for the first time.

This one is my favorite shot.

Here is my look just after the test drive!

Nissan gave us some gifts after the test drives and we left the facility for the Ojikaen Spa. This is a classis Japanese hot baths spa in the mountains north of Utsunomiya (about 3 hours north of Tokyo).

We had a massive group dinner followed by karaoke and drinks. It was a complete blast. The generosity of the Japanese Z club was unbelievable, they really made us feel at home. The day had come to an end and we had to be up early the next morning for the trip to Yokohama Tire’s testing facility. Stay tuned for Part 5.

Nissan Enthusiast Japan Trip (Part 3 of 6)

We are 1/2 way through the Japan trip coverage. If you missed the other few parts, here are the links to get you caught up: Part 1 and Part 2.

Day 5: Eiichi-san is our guide today as we take the Shinkansen bullet train out to Nagoya to the Toyota Automobile Museum. We had to switch trains/subways several times and it was very far. Had I been here on my own, there is no way I would have done this so I’m glad I got to do this with the group.

View from our room before we left

Intersection outside our room

The Shinkansen Bullet train we took to Nagoya

A shot of Mt. Fuji from the bullet train.

Outside of the Toyota Automobile Museum. I wonder if the “T” is a coincidence? hah

Toyota Model AC Sedan. Only 115 AC Sedans were ever produced.

The Toyota Model SA replaced the AC after WWII. The 2-door sedan featured a 4-cylinder engine and 4 wheel independent suspension.

The Crown eight was introduced in 1964 and was powered by a 2.6L V8 engine. It was known as the first Japanese mass produced car with a V8.

Family of Toyota Celicas

The classic Toyota 2000GT, perhaps the most expensive vintage Japanese car from this era. If you can find one for sale, expect to pay close to 400k. The 2000GT was known as the first Japanese supercar. Unfortunately, the car never really caught on during its short lived production run. Although the GT was critically acclaimed, the public at the time still had doubts with Japanese vehicles- and who wanted to pay Porsche prices for a Toyota? It would take another 10 years or so before Japanese cars were truly accepted as an alternative to a domestic vehicle.

The Toyota Sports 800 was Toyota’s first production sports car. Only 3,131 were ever produced. An interesting fact is that 300 were LHD models using by Americans in Okinawa. Toyota however never sold the car in the US.

Cutaway of a Toyota Prius

Cutaway of the Lexus LFA

Lexus LFA prototype

After spending some time checking out the Toyotas, the director of the museum took us upstairs into a restricted area where I saw this sign. I didn’t know what to expect. There was 1 door on the left and 1 door on the right.

This is what I see behind door #1

Then out of the corner of my eye I see something down the row of cars.

And the I come across this special Toyota 2000GT. This is the Toyota 2000GT from the 1967 James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice” starring Sean Connery! Sean Connery was too tall for the car, so TRD chopped the roof off the car permanently. They made 2 cars for the movie – this one here, and the other one is said to be owned by a Toyota executive. I immediately lost it and fell in love with this gorgeous car.

Just a few cars away was a 1966 Speed Trial Toyota 2000GT. So let’s recap. They only made 337 Toyota 2000GT’s overall. In the last 2 days I had seen 4 of them!

More vintage Toyota’s on a floor you can eat off of.

Then we enter door # 2 and the first thing I see is this Jaguar

This is an 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen. This is regarded by many as the first true automobile.

Lotus, Corvette, Mustang

V16 Caddy

Edsel

Now we are back downstairs in the main museum

Iconic Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing

Porsche 356

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Presidential Packard Limo

1926 Bugatti Type 35B which was the most successful racing model. Only 45 were made.

Rolls Royce Phantom II

1935 Mercedes Benz 500K – one of these recently sold at auction for $4 million

1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Sport

The Honda S500. Who would have known such a sexy looking car was Honda’s first production car?

The Flying Feather

Here is me standing outside the exit on our way out. We all picked up some magazines and collectibles from the gift shop. We got back on the Shinkansen and had to switch several times to get back to Tokyo a few hours later. I was really exhausted, but grabbed my camera equipment and headed to Shinjuku to shoot pictures.

First, I headed to Yodobashi Camera – this is a 6 story store where you can buy ANYTHING for your SLR.

Here are some pictures from the streets in Shinjuku.

This is the Cocoon Tower – very interesting building and architecture, very cool

The subways stop running at midnight so I grabbed the last one back to our hotel after a few hours. Here is a deserted subway station late at night.

This is the building next to the hotel. I really like the lines and angles in this shot.

I setup my tripod on this escalator just outside our hotel to take a shot as it moved up. I tapped the tripod and it started to fall with my camera when I caught it in the middle of an exposure. I was lucky to catch my camera, and was rewarded with this cool shot. Feeling lucky, I called it a night at that point. Day 5 had come to an end. But the next day would be our visit to the Datsun Nissan Automuseum (DNA Garage) and I could barely contain the excitement. Check back for Part 4 on my visit to the DNA Garage.

Nissan Enthusiast Japan Trip (Part 2 of 6)

Let’s resume the Japan trip with more car related stuff for part 2. If you haven’t seen part 1, click here.

Day 4: On Monday, we took a full tour of Nismo Headquarters, had lunch with Mr. K (Yutaka Katayama aka “The father of the Z car”) at his office, and had Kozo Watanabe (chief engineer of the 80s and 90s GTR, aka “The father of the Skyline”) and Tetsu take us to the Toyota Historic Garage at the mall.

Outside Nismo Headquarters

We go inside into a conference room, are greeted, then we head to the workshop. We were told no cameras or phones allowed. So everyone left everything on the table and we start walking down the hall. As we were walking, Mad Mike turns around and says “Ahmed, go get your camera.” I didn’t ask questions, I hauled ass back to grab my camera with a smirk on my face. We entered the workshop where they work on customer engines and were greeted with a room full of RB26 goodness.

We take an elevator to several different floors and witness them building Nismo R35 Super GT cars. It was quite a glorious sight to see the engineers at work while we were there. For obvious reasons, I wasn’t allowed to shoot pictures of the race cars. They also had some special projects going on which caused my jaw to drop to the floor, but they asked us not disclose the project they were working on. After that, we continue downstairs to the customer workshop where customers are having various things done to their cars

I walk in, see this, and get a big smile on my face.

And then I see it. At first, I was thinking “it can’t be”. Then I realized I was at freaking Nismo Headquarters in Japan. Yes, an R34 Nissan Skyline GTR Z-Tune. This is 1 of only 19 Z-Tunes in the world!

Another gorgeous customer R34 GTR. The rest of the guys were moving on and I thought our tour was done. They are closing the garage and I didn’t nearly have enough time to drool over these gorgeous Skylines.

That’s when we enter another door and I walk into this. This is the point where I lost my mind. Hello R32, R33, and R34 all side by side. These are cars owned by Nismo.

This one was my favorite of the 3 here – the R33 Nismo 400R – and only 44 exist

The view from the gift shop

Because race car.

Our out of this world tour at Nismo was finally over. They gave us some awesome parting gifts and we left. They are moving the headquarters from Omori Factory to Yokohama so this will be the last time a group visits them at this location. Next up was lunch with a legend – Mr. K himself! After getting lost and getting drenched in the rain, we finally arrived at his office. Talk about the cast of people at lunch: we have Mr. K – the Father of the Z car, Kozo-san – chief engineer of the Nissan Skylines, Norio Matsumura – the # 2 guy at Nissan and was President of Nissan North America (not to mention he helped fund ZCON and keep it alive in the late 90s even though Nissan was struggling itself), Tetsu – who is the guy to know in Japan, Eiichi-san – a former Director at Nismo and the person responsible for the DNA Garage at Zama, Kaz Hioki – an Advisor to Nismo, and Mad Mike – the Nissan contact to know in the US. This is one hell of a lunch to be at! It was unreal to be among Nissan legends and be talking to them. I think it’s hitting me more now than it did then.

Mr. K was responsible for introducing the 240Z into the US market in 1970. He was the President of Nissan USA at the time. He is currently 103 years old!

Here is Mad Mike and Mr. K goofing around at lunch. They have been good friends for a long time.

Kozo Watanabe and Mad Mike

Here is me with Mr.K. I showed Mr. K an original Z32 (this is what I drive) dealer brochure to get signed, and he opened it up and flipped through it. I was pointing things out to him in the brochure. I was thrilled to get this picture with him. After the picture, I asked him a question one-on-one about how he felt about his impact on so many people all over the world who share a passion for the Z car. He said he may have created a car, but it wasn’t just about selling a car and making money. He said he always wanted the best for all of his customers and it’s always about satisfying the customers in every way; which is why he thinks there is such a passionate following of the Z car worldwide. He didn’t say much about himself and his role, but spoke more about other people – which I took as very gracious and being a very humble person. I need to remind you, this man is 103 years old! Just think about that for a second. He spoke perfect Japanese and English and was completely there. I’ve seen so many other elders, grandparents, etc who start “losing it” in their 70s or 80s. But this guy is 103 and acts like he is half that age. He also mentioned he drinks 2 liters of water everyday and has always been very active to achieve good health. He was so playful, cheerful, and having a great time. You would never think he is that old from the way he acted. It was great listening to him talk and having even 2 minutes to talk to him on my own – that’s an experience you don’t forget.

Here is a group picture of the US gang with Mr. K

After we left lunch, Tetsu and Kozo Watanabe led us to the Toyota Historic Garage. This is 1 of 337 Toyota 2000GT’s in the world! I had never seen one in person, but what a gorgeous car.

Here is a picture of Tetsu, Kozo-san, and myself. Kozo-san was the chief engineer for the Nissan Skyline in the 80’s and 90’s. He owns 6 mint condition Skylines from various years. It was an absolute treat to discuss his legendary creation with him.

We headed back to the hotel and then went to the Ninja Restaurant for dinner. It is a one of a kind dining experience where waitresses dressed as ninjas lead you through a set of tunnels to your dinner room. This was an 8 course meal that was absolutely delicious. Our group was being treated by 2 guys from Yokohama Tire. The Yokohama Tire “rookie” became the recipient of a night full of one liners and dinner was an absolute laugh factory. Our new friend “Richard” took the jokes very well and we all had a great time. By the time midnight struck, the day was over and we headed back to the hotel for our journey to the Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagoya the next day.

Nissan Enthusiast Japan Trip (Part 1 of 6)

Photos & story by Ahmed Rashid

A few months ago I found out that a a few of my friends from Chicago were heading out to Japan for a once in a lifetime trip. Mark took some great shots and already posted them on our forum, but Ahmed just finally wrapped up his set so we’re going to post them up here on the blog. This is going to be an amazing 6 part series, so make sure you come back to check out each individual part. With that said, enjoy the write-up and pics, and here is Ahmed’s story and photos…..

So, there is a guy in Dallas – “Mad Mike” – who has the ultimate hook up to everything Nissan in Japan. I’ve known him for several years from when I lived in Texas. Mad Mike is the ZCCA (Z Car Club Association) liaison to Japan. He takes a small group to Japan every year to do lots of amazing Nissan-related things, make new friends, and build new relationships and contacts. He has built these contacts over the last 30 years (he is 70 years old). The trip is by invite only and I’ve had an open invitation for the last 4 years. I finally made it to the trip this year and told Eric (spdrmn15) I would take him if I ever went. An extra spot opened up as the trip got closer, and I was able to get Mark (intel) added to the trip as well. The trip is known as the Z CraZies trip and we are VIP guests of Nissan/Nismo and have open access to EVERYTHING – you’ll see as you see the pics below and read this massive multi-part post.

Let me start by saying that the Z CraZies trip to Japan was the trip of a lifetime. I was suppose to go in 2008, but was unable due to a new job at the time. Mad Mike had me on the list every year since then, but my wedding and my 2 brothers’ weddings in consecutive years and 20+ weddings for friends in a 2 year span left me with no vacation time. My wife and I were suppose to go to Spain this past August. But when I realized I could make the trip to Japan if I passed on Spain, I knew I had to do it. My wife was very cool with it and told me to go to Japan b/c it was a dream trip; Spain can wait till next year.

This trip is a bucket list trip for a Nissan enthusiast. The biggest thing that stood out to me was the amazing people we met. I have never seen such hospitality and generosity from a group of people ever; and we were basically strangers to them who just happened to share the passion for a car. I had been looking forward to all the cars we would see, but didn’t expect to leave Japan with all these new friends. Nissan and Nismo were very gracious and amazing hosts. The interactions with our hosts and new friends were very memorable. As far as Japan, what a wonderful country. It has such an amazing infrastructure, it’s super clean, and are just so technologically advanced. It has a great history, great food, and great culture and traditions. I cannot type into words how amazing this trip and country was, you have to experience it for yourself. I have to thank Mad Mike for making this possible and to all of our friends/hosts in Japan who spent significant time with us, shared their lives with us for 10 days, and treated us like family. I’ll try my best to cover our trip below. I want to tell the full story, so I will be posting much more than just car pictures in this thread.

Day 1: I arrive in Tokyo and run into Eric and Mark at customs. I was rooming with Eric and he kept me up for hours the first night snoring. I was re-thinking bringing him along on the trip that first night, but quickly found out that if you smack him with a pillow across the chest, he stops snoring. We met up with Mad Mike and Jeff outside the terminal, Jeff was the only person on the trip I didn’t know prior to the trip. After jumping back and forth between terminals, we get on the bus from Narita to Yokohama. We check-in late, Tetsu comes by for dinner, then we crash for an early morning the next day. For those who don’t know, Tetsu owns his own Z shop, is very active in the Japanese Z clubs, and is very well connected to Nissan.

We were staying in the Landmark Tower in Yokohama, it’s a 70 story building. The hotel is from floors 50 to 70. Here is the incredible view from our room on the 61st floor.

Here is one from the 70th floor facing Yokohama Bay.

Day 2: We eat breakfast, meet up with Ric, Bernie, and Adam; then head out to Nissan Grand Drive not too far away. This is a private Nissan facility with a track used for testing. It is rarely open to the public. The Z Fiesta is happening here and they had 2 370Z’s for us to drive on the road course and autocross course. It was a blast out on the road course. I’m just a novice driver on the track, but I wanted to push it more and get those tires screeching. But there was just too much traffic for that. I wish I could have gone out there again. I got to ride with several other Japanese Z club members in their cars as well as the Nissan test driver. There were no pictures allowed at Grand Drive of the cars and track. But we saw a lot of great cars – Kei’s clean Z31 with the RB swap, a 240Z 432, a 240Z that had been restored by Nissan and looked like a brand new car, and several other very nice Z32s, Z33s, and Z34s. The impressive thing was that all the swaps in these various cars all looked stock – they were done so cleanly it was amazing. My favorite 2 cars that day were the restored 240Z in brand spanking new condition and Kei’s awesome RB26 Z31.

I enjoyed watching Adam talk to the Nissan engineer about what he wants for the next Z. The engineer mentioned he had a drawing of the next Z in his pocket. We tried to get a peek, but to no avail =) Mr. K (aka Yutaka Katayama – The Father of the Z) did make an appearance and we briefly met him here. He gave a long speech and took questions. Adam asked him about his thoughts on a 4 cylinder Z, and Mr. K said that he thinks it would ok since many of the Nissan cars are too big and heavy these days. Let the controversy begin!

The group with Mr. K

They gave us all wooden plaques to commemorate the day, they are pretty awesome and many of us would later get those signed by Mr. K. Here is the group with the 370Z we drove.

We went back to the hotel and had some time before the closing banquet. I had lugged my heavy tripod all the way from Chicago to shoot night pictures in Japan and this was the perfect chance to squeeze in some shooting in Yokohama around the bay.

Our hotel – The Landmark Tower

One of my favorite urban shots from the trip.

We went to a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama’s massive Chinatown for the closing banquet to the Z Fiesta.

Day 3: On Sunday, we switched hotels to one in Tokyo. We took a tour of Tokyo today. We went to Tokyo Tower, the Happo-en Gardens, an amazing BBQ lunch, the Emperor’s Palace, a boat ride, and then Asakusa temple.

Here is Mt. Fuji as viewed from our hotel room.

I cannot say enough about the vending machines in Japan, these were crucial to the trip! They have the most amazing vending machines you can find outside on every block and they dispense hot and cold drinks from the same machine. The choices are amazing and Bernie, Adam, and I fell in love with their milk tea. I spent more money in vending machines there than I probably have in several years here at home.

Tokyo Tower

View from Tokyo Tower

For those that do not know, my wife and I are actually moving to the DC area in about a month. We have been trying to move there for 6 months and I got a job offer the day before I left for the trip. I figure I can join the NoVA (northern Virginia) Z crew after I move there and it’s the perfect time to get to know Bernie and Adam (NoVA members) a little better on this trip. But this is what I found out about the NoVA boys. Here they are having a moment.

The next stop on our day tour is the Happo-en Gardens.

This Bonsai tree is 520 years old!

I’m trying to catch up to the guys ahead, when I see the NoVA guys posing for this picture. These will be my new friends in DC. Great.

Group shot at this amazing BBQ lunch. The soy sauces over in Japan are like nothing I have tried here, they are totally something else. Dipping the meat in the soy sauce was ridiculously good. Inside joke of the trip: I don’t eat pork or drink alcohol. So I had separate portions and meals prepared for me at almost every meal since pork is a big part of the meals there.

Warrior statue on the grounds of the Emperor’s Palace

Emperor’s Palace

Here is me standing in front of Tokyo Sky Tree, one of the tallest structures in the world

Gotta love fender mirrors!

Asakusa Temple shopping area

Vintage Nissan C10 Skyline randomly seen in the wild.

We got back to the hotel and I took Eric to Mori Tower to shoot pictures from the Sky Deck. And then we went to the Shibuya district to see the busiest intersection in the world. I knew it was a very colorful area and couldn’t wait to shoot there. I had obviously researched places I wanted to shoot before the trip.

Shibuya main area

Incredible soccer field on the roof of a building. This is the view from the 25th floor of the Mark City Hotel.

Here is Shibuya intersection – the busiest intersection in the world

We have wrapped up 3 days in Japan now. The best Nissan-related things are still to follow in the next few days. Stay tuned for Part 2 for our visit to Nismo Headquarters.

JDMC Hakosuka Project Car

Time to let the cat out of the bag. Here is a quick teaser shot of my ’72 Nissan Skyline GTX Hakosuka. I just got back from Utah to finally see the car in person after procuring it from JDM Legends back in April. More pics and the story behind the car next week. Thanks again to Eric and Ryan at JDM-L for their hospitality. These two guys are quite possibly the coolest dudes I know from Utah. Also, thanks to a few close friends who kept the news of the car under wraps! Also, I have to apologize to a few homies for denying the car was mine after Speedhunters leaked that the “owner is from Chicago.” In other news, come back tomorrow for an epic 6 series/part blog post that will cover a once in a lifetime trip to Japan.

Click here for a 1920 x 1080 wallpaper of the above shot.