Manky Monkey Motors

Right folks, I'm off on my hols. I'm sat in the departure lounge at Heathrow as we speak, waiting for my flight to Japan. I'll be in Tokyo for a week.
My phone network doesn't cover Japan, so I may be out of contact, but I'm hoping the hotel will have wi-fi or I can buy a 30 day Japanese SIM card.
I know it's been quiet here for a while, but usual rules apply:
Play nice,
Don't set fire to anything & no selling the website while I'm gone -unless it's on fire.
See you next week :)

Enjoy  :D :D :D

Lucky git, hope you have a great time

could you bring back a XS650 ??  ;D

Might exceed the hand luggage allowance & would be a bugger to fit in the overhead locker in the plane.
Safely here, but arrived absolutely shattered after a 12 hour flight & an 8 hour time difference.
I can use the wi-fi at the hotel, but no phone signal outside, so finding my way around is going to be challenging! I've already lost the hotel once & spent an hour finding it again.No idea where anything is & don't speak the language.
What could possibly go wrong?!

It's cherry blossom season here.

Yeah, I'm totally rockin' that look.

 :o pt that down, it may be sharp  :o

You'll 'ave someone's eye out wiv that.

Yes, yours! :D

:) I'm home!
Did ya miss me?

You been somewhere?

Nah, nowhere special :)
Everybody alright?

Hi Andy
Did you have fun? Would you go again? Let's have some more pics and some more detail. All descriptive writing in haiku please.  8)

In the 90s I was supposed to have worked there for a week training personnel but it was cancelled and then another team member went instead.  >:(  I'm too old to go now. I know a young couple who went and they absolutely adored it and they are hoping to go again but as you probably found out, it's not cheap.

I must admit I hadn't realised you'd gone. Rick told me. Was it a last minute decision? You should have gone at the end of the year when Tokyo's Comic Con is on. You'll just have to go again.  :D
JJ  :)

O.K, so, thoughts on Japan:
would I go there again?
Most definitely. Tokyo city is absolutely vast & in 6 or 7 days I've barely scratched the surface of it. I picked a dozen things to see & do, more or less at random, covering my interests in cars, motorcycles, music & architecture, but the city has so many more facets -it'd take months to explore it all & even then, the next visitor would find a dozen completely different things to do. I'm not a recreational shopper, but if shopping & restaurants are your thing, then Tokyo has plenty of that. If, like me, you prefer exploring sub cultures & looking for a more uniquely Japanese experience, then that's there too.
At first glance it appears chaotic -& the mad mix of ancient & modern buildings wedged tightly together can get quite claustrophobic at times, but it's actually very well organised -there's a huge army of little guys in uniform, holding signs, waving directional batons & blowing whistles & everybody follows their instructions without question, so it all flows very efficiently.
I'm told the public transport is also highly efficient, but travelling on my own & not speaking a word of the language, it all looked a bit overwhelming -I ended up chickening out & using taxis everywhere, which obviously isn't the cheapest option. I found most taxi drivers don't speak English though. The younger generations are taught it at secondary school now, but very few older people do. My phone network doesn't cover Japan but my hotel had wi-fi, so I resorted to Googling addresses each evening, taking a screenshot of them & showing it to the driver the next morning. Even then I had a couple of instances where they stopped the taxi, took my phone & went off to find a teenager to consult with. We always got there in the end.
The people were lovely -I genuinely didn't meet an unpleasant one. Not even a mildly grumpy one. Everyone was remarkably helpful & patient with the idiot Englishman. If I asked directions, they'd stop what they were doing & walk me to the end of the street to show me the way at the next junction. I thought perhaps they'd be introverted & quiet, but they were outgoing, friendly & welcoming.
Virtually no crime & no litter -which actually became a bit of a problem. There are no public litter bins in Tokyo. Not a single one. Everybody takes their litter home & recycles it, which is fine, unless you're a tourist. I like to walk. I explore on foot, so will often grab a bottle of water & walk along with it -but what do you do with it once it's empty? I spent hours wandering along, carrying empty bottles. In the end I resorted to buying a Coke in McDonalds, then taking the empty cup back into the next branch I came to, to put it in their bin. Rather than just shooting a trayful of rubbish into one bin, the fast food restaurants break it down -cups in here, straws there, used ice in the bucket over there. All very efficient.
There are shrines everywhere, which I found fascinating. Over the years the city's encroached on them until they're now wedged between houses & shops -I'd wander down a side street, past cafes & shops, turn the corner & find a thousand year old temple. Shinto, (Buddhism), is the national religion & it's very much part of everyday life. I'd often see businessmen in suits & shopgirls, stopping to offer a quick prayer at an alter on their way to work.
I was there during the 2 week cherry blossom season, which is a big tourist draw. The parks & open spaces were awash with pink & white blossom & looked gorgeous in the Spring sunshine.
I'd like to see the country beyond the big city -the smaller towns & mountains & coastline. As I left, in my chauffeur driven Mercedes, on Thursday morning, driving out of town towards the airport, we were treated to a fabulous view of Mount Fuji, illuminated in the early morning sun, much closer & clearer than I'd seen it from the SkyTree observation tower, then again as the plane took off. I couldn't photograph it as my phone was packed away in my bag by then, but it's an impressive sight. I have the memory of it though.
Chatting to a mate back in England yesterday, he'd like to go to Tokyo for his 40th birthday in 3 years time. I'll be 60 exactly a month later, so it looks like I'll be returning then.
Was it expensive? My flights & hotel, (3 - 4 star, including breakfast), booked through a travel agent rather than online, cost £2,300 for a week including chaffeured travel to & from the airport. I spent 900 quid while I was there. I bought a few souvenirs for friends & a couple of evening meals, but the rest was mainly taxi fares & entry fees to attractions. Interestingly, unlike my trips to America, the Japanese don't tip at all -it's seen as demeaning & condescending, but conveniently saved me a few pounds. I'm sure it could be done much cheaper if you booked online.
The 12 hour non stop flight with British Airways was a bit too much for me, particularly going there overnight. I think next time I'd use a different airline that had a stop-over halfway, so at least I could stretch my legs for a while before continuing.
Having a working phone would make life easier, (in the States I rely on Google Maps to find my way about). You can buy a 30 day tourist SIM card, which would give you internet access, but predictably, mine refused to work. Google has an app' that reads Japanese -you just hold your phone up to a sign & it will translate it into English. I met a couple of American guys who were using it, but again, no good if you have no phone service.
Some pedestrian signs are in Japanese & English, but not all. Roadsigns appear to be mostly Japanese. Stating the English version of destinations to taxi drivers will get you nowhere, (literally), because they sound nothing like the Japanese names & I wasn't confident enough to attempt Oriental pronounciations.
Restaurants in the busier areas usually have English versions of the menus, but lots have photographs you can point to & displays of imitation food in the window so you can see what they serve.
In a week, travelling alone, I had no real problems at all. I spent Saturday night at a car meeting & was wandering around the streets at 2.0.clock in the morning in complete safety -I'd think twice about doing that in parts of my own town. As I said, I didn't meet anyone who wasn't helpful & welcoming.
Most bizarre experience -joining the back of a taxi queue, only to be ushered to the front when a cab arrived, then waved off by the whole queue as we drove away.
I enjoyed Tokyo & would definitely return, hopefully to travel further afield.
If you get the chance, go.

I was supposed to be at the big indoor hotrod show in Holland. That's why I had the time booked off work. But about 2 months ago I realised I just wasn't going to make it in time, so handed back my place in the hall.
So I had 2 weeks holiday time & nothing planned. Tokyo was on my Places to See list.
So not quite spur of the moment, but more spur of the month or so.
I don't think it was any more expensive than New York -or London if you were staying there for a week.
I really enjoyed it.

And so worth it!  It's always great to see the places you visit from your personal quirky point of view, makes a change from the same old landmarks.

It's the only way some of us will get to see them, for various reasons of time, money, health etc.

I see it as a public service :)
A few completely random shots from my trip.
I arrived in the middle of Japan's 2 week cherry blossom season. This park was within walking distance of my hotel.

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Godzilla!
He's on the top of an 8 storey cinema/restaurant complex.

You can go up & meet him face to face.

Tokyo Post Office delivery bike.

The Samurai Museum.

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BratStyle Motorcycles, Tokyo.

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A local vintage motorcycle & clothing shop.

A Hedgehog Cafe. For about a tenner you can have a drink & spend half an hour with the hedgehogs of your choice.
Animal Cafes are a big thing at the moment. There are cat, Chinchilla & even Otter cafes.

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I've been high fived by a hedgehog.
My life is complete :)

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Coolest dude, ever.

Lots of old Brit bikes about.

I spent Saturday night at a lowrider meet. Possibly the highlight of the trip for me, but I had no chance of photographing moving vehicles at night with just my phone. You see the odd lowrider at British hotrod shows, parked statically in a field, but to see 300 of them on the streets of Tokyo, hopping, scraping & bouncing was awesome. Proper hardcore car guys, living the life, not just playing at it at weekends.

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Tokyo rockabillies.
Lots of Western sub cultures get adopted by the Japanese, but given a crazy cartoonish twist.
These guys gather in a local park every Sunday afternoon to play rock n roll, dance & do really bad Alvin Stardust impressions.

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Basingstoke Blues meets Tokyo Rock n Roll.

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The History Garage -a free motor museum attached to a big shopping mall.

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Lots of unusual 60s Japanese models.

Funny to think I'd watched the lowrider guys scraping & bouncing around the streets in these same Impalas only a couple of nights before.

They drive on the left, the same as us.

A 40 foot high Transformer outside another shopping mall. At night he lights up with plumes of smoke out of his jet pack.

Lots of quirky little vans & 3 wheeler delivery bikes.
This is a Daihatsu with a fake fibreglass Citroen nose.

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Buildings are absolutely plastered with advertising.

The district of Akihambara, also known as Electric City, in the rain was supposedly the inspiration for the city in Ridley Scott's classic sci fi film Blade Runner.

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Robot information assistant.
Quite unnerving.

Not just for the benefit of tourists. Lots of women still wear kimonos as every day wear.

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Tokyo is full of the most beautiful temples. The city's gradually built up around them, so they:re now edged between office blocks & shops. This one's one of the biggest & is over 1,000 years old.

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Giant Panda at the Tokyo Zoo.

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The SkyTree Tower. Nearly 1,500 feet tall.

The view from the top's stunning. Tokyo's absolutely vast -3 times as big as New York. Tokyo in every direction, as far as you can see, right out to the horizon.

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On the horizon you can see Mount Fuji, the snow capped volcano that's become the symbol for Japan.

Yeah, I was surprised too.
A 20 foot tall Lady Liberty, overlooking the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo Bay.

A guard house for the Imperial Palace.

The moat surrounding the Palace.

I loved Japan. So many different sides to it. A very clean, safe city, bustling with life.
Young Lunatic will be 40 years old in 3 years time & wants to go there. I'll be 60 exactly a month later, so we've said we'll go back for a joint birthday trip. Can't wait :)

Great photos. Some fantastic cars. Glad you had such a good time. Hard to know when you go somewhere new. I am surprised it was so safe as you tend to think of the Yakuza in Japan. Safety sure makes a visit more enjoyable though.  :)

I've no idea what that is -maybe blissful ignorance is the way to do it. If you worried about everything you'd never go anywhere.

Japanese organized crime.

Apparently Tokyo has almost zero crime.
Maybe at a higher level than the average tourist would see. In a week, I saw maybe 2 Police cars. Lots of little guys in various uniforms, directing traffic & pedestrians, but didn't notice any Police.
The lowriders car meet I went to filled a circuit of streets on the outskirts of Shibuya & was still going strong at 2 in the morning, with cars cruising around, hopping & scraping with music pumping -not a single Policeman. It's all very civilised.

Chatting to Loony, Archie & Tom at Archie's chilli & film night last night, ("Netflix & Chilli"), about my recent visit to Tokyo, one of the most challenging but amusing parts of the whole trip was trying to describe where I wanted to go to taxi drivers when we spoke completely different languages.
I had no phone signal, so couldn't use Google Maps or a translator app' & had tried taking screenshots of addresses while I had the use of wi-fi in the hotel or just writing the address down, but apparently the Japanese write them in a different format, starting at the most general area & narrowing it down to an individual building -so county or province, then street, then house number, then name -which is a more logical method than ours I guess.
They were able to pick out bits of the address, but it still caused a lot of confusion & several times I was left in the back of a taxi while the driver took my phone to show the screenshot to a local.
"Can you take me to Tokyo Zoo please".
...blank look.
"Zoo" -ahh, obviously the Japanese word for zoo sounds nothing like the English one & you can't read English & I can't write Japanese. Just saying "Zoo" slowly & clearly isn't going to help us is it.
How do you communicate that? I may be 6,000 miles from home & never likely to meet this guy again, but I refuse to try & mime zoo animals to him. I'm just too British for that. Maybe I'll just go shopping instead.
"Zoo -I'd like to see the Giant Pandas".
Aha! That worked. Seems "Panda" is common to both languages. He grins & mimes the dark rings around a Panda's eyes at me.
"Yes". Yes, take me to the bears with binoculars.
Even if that's not a zoo, it'll be worth seeing.
And off we go.
Yeah, I'm totally rockin' this travel thing :)