My trip to Japan!

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DarkHand

Senior Member
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Just came back from two weeks in Japan! Went mainly to have a wedding party to introduce me to the wife's extended family, but did a ton of cool stuff. Went to Suzuka Circuit, several temples, hot springs, had the best damn sashimi and beef I'll ever have, and so much more. I'll decompress and slowly add pictures over the course of a few days.

The wife getting ready for her debut, the only picture I'm allowed to publicly post of her from the whole trip so I'm slapping it up everywhere I can. :)
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The sushi chef and his maguro!
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OH GOD DROOL:
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Nothing is wasted, tiny little guys from the leftovers!
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Oh nothing much, just a mint panda hachi-roku sitting in the parking lot when my mother-in-law went to get her glasses fixed:
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Right on man! I want to go eventually.

That sashimi looks great.
 
I'd be scared to eat fish right now from the Pacific. Too much potential from Fuckishima rolling around right now....
 
I'm scared to cross the road because I might get hit.
 
I'd be scared to eat fish right now from the Pacific. Too much potential from Fuckishima rolling around right now....

Melt-in-your-mouth cannot-acquire-stateside impossible-to-describe tuna hand crafted by a person who devoted his whole life to the trade is worth a few mrads :)

Overnight stay for work yesterday, a few more pics going up tonight.
 
My first Japanese sunset! Didn't really have time to grab it, just a snapshot from the car.
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RHD and left-side driving didn't freak me out nearly as much as I thought it would
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A gecko on my in-law's window! I didn't have time to ask him about car insurance.
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My entry ticket to Suzuka!
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The Suzuka pace car!
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Why is all the advertising in english?

My parents asked that same question... The whole country has been steeped in English for decades.

I use that as an argument with my wife as to why it takes me so much longer to learn Japanese than it takes her parents to learn English!

Did you get to drive Suzuka, or just watch?

I was >< this close to driving a RHD STI on the track... No race the day I was there, but there was a track day going on, along with a test & tune of a hybrid Formula Nippon car (pictures coming!).

Sitting in the completely empty stands watching the formula car run a few laps, come in for tweaks, and go out again was incredible.

I settled for the go-kart track (with my one race I would have set the track record for the summer... My time was .003 faster than the old record, but a guy came in and ran 10 races by himself to set a new record 3 seconds faster than my times, not 30 minutes before I got there).
 
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My parents asked that same question... The whole country has been steeped in English for decades.

I use that as an argument with my wife as to why it takes me so much longer to learn Japanese than it takes her parents to learn English!

English is a required course 6th through 12th grade. But they still suck at it after 6 years:ph34r:

Also, most Asian countries think American words are cool so they'll make shit up and advertise it. Like a drink can have the slogan, "Drink Brand A because its 'Super Fast Star!'"

http://www.engrish.com/category/candy-gum/
 
i have a few cases of this stuff

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"Hi-Technical Excellent Taste AND Flavor"
at least one stick in every pack also says "Yes, Chewing!"
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I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of this!!

Finally got to try real, fresh-ground wasabi root while in Japan... So much more flavor, and so... polite compared to horseradish.

First you get the actual flavor of the wasabi, which can't really be described. More earthy than horseradish, kind of like a store-bought tomato versus a homegrown heirloom.

Then:

"Excuse me, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to assassinate your tastebuds now. It will only take a moment. My apologies. HIYA!"

Then you agonize for a few seconds, but it vanishes with no lingering burn. It's over as fast as it began.

Polite.

More pics tonight after work.

EDIT:

Not my picture (this is from Singapore) but it looked and was packaged like this:

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The hybrid Formula car pulling in for tweaks:
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Heading back out on the track:
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The official Mugen support truck!
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Suzuka's control room:
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A Suzuka employee scrubbing the asphalt by hand:
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Things like the last picture really got to me, along with the incredible level of customer service in Japan. We landed originally in Tokyo, but took another one hour local flight afterward. After we landed on that flight, we were taxiing to the terminal when we passed a support truck of some kind, manned my two guys who were working outside the truck. It was pitch dark, but as we passed them the men stopped what they were doing, went to opposite ends of their truck, and bowed as our plane passed. No one other than myself probably saw them, and I'm sure they didn't intend for anyone to see them. That's when their dedication to work really started to hit me.
 

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And you wonder why they are mostly cleaned up in non-contaminated areas a year after their disaster, and new orleans is still a disaster wasteland 10 years later.
 
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