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A quirky and original look at life in the Land of the Rising Sun from a dry-humoured Englishman. Expect news, views, diving, fast cars and much more.
Posted By Dave on August 29th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/beautiful-shinjuku-photography-from-chris-willson

I saw these photos a few days ago and I knew as soon as they were published online I just had to link across to them.  The photographer in question is Chris Willson from the website travel67.com, who’s cracking behind the camera and takes shots I could only dream of snapping. On his latest trip [...]

 

Posts Tagged ‘Japan’

Japanese Politician Working Hard to Ruin US-Japan Relations

Posted By Dave on August 28th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/japanese-politician-working-hard-to-ruin-us-japan-relations

Read this story at work and couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes.  The story revolves around Ichiro Ozawa (see right), former LDP politician who then defected to the DPJ where he was president for a year (the usual duration a leading Japanese politician stays in office) before resigning from his post due to a scandal.  He still holds a lot of power though in the ruling party in Japan.

If you’ve read articles I’ve written on this page over the past couple of years, you’ll know how Japanese politicians have a wonderful way with words.  Whether it’s a health minister describing women as “birth-giving machines”, a prime minister declaring that nukes were secretly kept in Japan being merely “regrettable”, or a current Tokyo mayor Shintaro Ishihara defiantly claiming that, “People say that the Japanese made a holocaust but that is not true.  It is a story made up by the Chinese. It has tarnished the image of Japan, but it is a lie”, they are always good for a soundbite or two.  And so it was that Ozawa called a press conference on August 25th.  In it he stated that “I like Americans, but they are somewhat unicellular”.  Am still trying to work out if that’s a compliment or not!  He then followed up by saying that “I don’t think Americans are smart”.  Just the bluntness of that makes me laugh, and that doesn’t seem to be something lost in translation.  Hearing it in Japanese is as clearcut as that pretty much.

Ozawa then realised he was on a roll though, and decided to have a go at the British.  “I don’t like British people” he claimed, although didn’t seem to give any reason for it.  However, he did compliment British soldiers on their marching in “The Bridge on the River Kwai”.  Yup, I’m as confused as you on that one!

Am pretty sure Foreign Minister could be his next role, as he certainly seems adept in international diplomacy!  Although he might get a chance to be Prime Minister again soon as current Prime Minister Naoto Kan is facing a challenge from Ozawa two months into the job!  This could be a spectacular record for a Prime Ministers’s tenure in Japan.  Usually they give them 12 months before the party throws them under the bus but this could be shorter than usual.  Stay tuned for more.

Discovering Scuba Diving at Cape Maeda

Posted By Dave on August 27th, 2010

For the first time in a while I have some diving to report, and for the first time in even longer, some dive instruction.  Last weekend I was chatting to a couple of my friends and they were saying Okinawa is great, but they’d done everything there was to do.  I instantly called their bluff and asked them about diving, as Okinawa is one of the best places around to do it.  They quickly replied that they weren’t very good swimmers, which is an all-too-common preconception about SCUBA Diving.  For the Open Water course, you do have to complete a 200m swim and 10-minute float in a pool environment to qualify for the certification.  But for the Discover Scuba Diving “experience” you don’t need to be able to swim at all!  The main reason for this is that the instructor will be in direct contact with you 100% of the time.  In my case, I usually do that by holding the hand or BCD of the students at all times, and is also the reason why I don’t take more than 2 students on this experience at the same time.

After learning you didn’t have to be a good swimmer, they quickly said they wanted to try it, and proposed last Monday at Cape Maeda.  Ironically, I’d said to my main dive buddy a few days before that there is no way I was going to dive between August 22nd and 25th because of it being Obon in Okinawa.  This is a festival where the spirits of your ancestors come back, and is a big event in Japan.  But one of the things you are told is that you should never go into the water as the spirits will pull you down or do similarly unpleasant things.  I didn’t know this in my first year in Japan and went diving right in the middle of this festival.  I didn’t see any ghosts or anything, but it was just one of those dives where nothing seems to go right.  It was a dive site we knew well but we still managed to get lost and had a huge surface swim at the end.  Someone had IMG_0004 crop_pp sharp-picasa.jpgequipment problems, and another had mask problems.  Now I’m not a big believer in the supernatural, but a couple of days later when someone expressed their shock that I’d dived in Obon, I decided that it was probably not to upset whatever might be out there so vowed to not do it again.  But when 2 people want to dive (and yes, they were female which is what you’re probably all thinking!) then how could I refuse?!

Monday was a warm day with temperatures in the low 30s and the sun blazing down inbetween heavy showers.  But I met the students (one of whom came with her husband, a PADI Rescue Diver).  They were both nervous but I did my best to reassure them them that there was nothing to be scared about and that they would be fine.  It seemed to work and they donned their wetsuits and equipment.  Have to say I was very impressed with how few complaints there were about the heat within the wetsuit or the weight of the equipment.  So kitted out and after a briefing about the skills we would do before we dived- we headed down the infamous Maeda steps…

The water was bathwater warm, around 32C at the surface, and with just a little surface chop.  There were plenty of people there, but all mainlander tourists, whose own Obon was the previous week.  We managed to find a quiet spot though to cover the breathing, regulator recovery & mask clearing exercises.  Both students performed very well on these, although on the mask clearing one of them was complaining that even after clearing some water was getting into her mask.  She tried changing with my mask which fitted her a little better, but still wasn’t completely happy.  We descended slowly to around 5m, equalizing our ears and mask as we went down and making sure we were all in close contact.  After around a minute or 2 one of the students gave me the “let’s ascend” hand signal.  I quickly got into eye contact with her to make sure she wasn’t panicking and could see she was calm.  So we all went up to the surface slowly and safely.

One of the best and first things things you should do if a student seems to have a problem is to establish eye contact with them.  First of all it allows you to look into their eyes and see if they are about to panic and liable to act unpredictably.  But it also allows the student to see you, and hopefully see that you are calm and fully in control of the situation.  I’ve found that goes a long way into making a potentially dangerous situation a calm procedure where everyone is comfortable with what is happening.  On surfacing the student told me that water was getting into her mask and even after clearing it was still coming in.  While she could do the mask clearing exercise, the said the deeper she went the more uncomfortable she became, as she was worried lots of water would come in and she would be unable to clear her mask.  It’s a psychological hurdle that many divers have to get over, and while she tried with different masks, after a few attempts during which we did swim around a little, we had to abort the dive.  The student in question felt bad, despite having one of the best diving skills you can possess: a cool head.  The other student was performing very well too, and she was the weaker swimmer of the two.  The diver with mask problems stated that if she could get comfortable breathing in a pool environment she would be much happier, but she did want to try it again.  That made me feel very happy, as an unsuccessful first experience can turn many people off diving, but I am glad she was determined to come back and try again.

So despite not having a full “experience”, it was great to get into the ocean and help people experience breathing underwater for the first time.  Hopefully they will return soon and they’ll be well on their way to becoming hooked on the world under the waves.

Before I go, a big thanks to Chris from travel67.com for helping with the photo editing on the shot above.  Came out pretty well :)

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Hayaku: Some Breathtaking Photography

Posted By Dave on June 21st, 2010

Saw this link about half an hour ago posted up in a forum I frequent, and as soon as I watched the presentation I knew I had to post it up on my site so more people would have the chance to see it.  The photographer is called Brad Kremer and the video/picture presentation is called “Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan”.  If you have any interest in Japan or photography of any sort then please do take the time to watch this in full-screen mode.  I have embedded the video below but you really should follow this link where you can watch the full presentation in high definition.

http://www.vimeo.com/12112529

Be sure to let me and the photographer in question know what you think.

Project Washing Machine is Finally Road Legal

Posted By Dave on June 16th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/project-washing-machine-is-finally-road-legal

It’s been a long time coming, but I drove my 1991 FC3S RX-7 home today from the garage after being inspected and registered.  Yes, I am finally road legal and ready to roll.  You’ve got to love Okinawa: maybe the only place in Japan where cracked tyres and stuck brakes don’t cause a fail in the shakken!

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Took it to my garage last Wednesday after managing to pick up some temporary licence plates (which I must remember to return tomorrow after work).  That was a nervy drive; my tuning shop is about 15km away and it was the first time I’d driven it any distance at all.  Was nervously watching the gauges and trying to get used to the car.  I wasn’t driving fast by any means but a RWD car and a rotary engine’d one at that will take some getting used to.  But it got there in one piece and I left it with them for the inspection and to register it.

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And I got the call yesterday that it was ready to rock and roll, and had passed the shakken.  What I was told though was that the rear brakes are stuck about 20% on.  I’ve jacked the car up and you can still turn the rear wheels but there is some definite resistance there.  Hopefully if there’s any corrosion I will be able to clean it off with emery cloth or similar and new seals should do it.  Worst case would probably just be that I need new sliders and/or a brake piston for the rear.  Will find that out on Saturday when I do some work on it.  But I’ve got new pads (Endless) and rotors (Dixcel) for all 4 corners.  With those, caliper seal rebuild kits and some new brake fluid I should be good to go.
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As you can see, I’ve also picked up a new O2 sensor.  Think that after 20 years this one probably has its best days behind it, and a replacement for these is always good.  And I’ve got some 16″ Dunlop Star Spec tyres on order from the States, which should be coming in any day now.  The tyres I’ve got on mine are marginal at best, and I really need replacements.  Not going to spend much on upgrading this car (mainly as I don’t have that much disposable income these days), but I’m not going to skimp on brakes and tyres.  Star Specs are probably the best “bang-per-buck” tyres you can get at the moment and they’re not too expensive either.

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So providing all goes well on Saturday and I get the tyres in, it will be all ready for some testing out.  I’m going to treat the car like it’s got a brand new engine for the first few hundred kilometres (i.e. baby it generally).  If anything is going to go on the car due to it being rotten or worn out, it will be that first tank or 2 of petrol, and I’d rather not be flying around a corner if something does give way.  Should give big props once again to Speed Factory for getting my car road legal, Steve, Josh and anyone else I’ve missed for helping me out.  Am actually pretty stoked though as it looks like I’ve managed to bring this car back from the dead and get it into a somewhat decent condition.  Maybe even cause for a drink or 2…

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Posted in Cars

Bit of a Scare!

Posted By Dave on June 13th, 2010

Picture the scene.  It’s about 1am and I’ve recently managed to get my RX-7 idling perfectly.  The clutch master cylinder is rebuilt and installed, and the car is just ready for a little test in my village.  So I start her up and creep out onto the roads.  Staying mostly in 2nd and a bit of 3rd gear, I try to keep to the side roads so as not to cause any undue attention.  Get the engine fully warmed up before driving home.  A couple of corners before home I decide I’ll give it a little gas and try to get the revs up to 3-4,000rpm just to make sure all is well.  Give the car half throttle and it feels great and starts to rev up.  Suddenly I hear a strange noise and lose all power, coming to a stop at the side of the road.

Turn the key again and the engine fires for a second and then dies.  Bear in mind I am now at the side of a country road in almost pitch darkness, with no licence plates & MOT.  This is not the situation I was envisaging when I got in the car, and could just see a police car coming past on a normal patrol and seeing me.  I think maybe I can push the car forward and closer to my place and so I get out and heave a bit.  After about 4-5 minutes I have moved the car about 2 yards, due to the fact that the front brake pistons are sticking at the moment and so I’m trying to push the car with the brakes on slightly.  I am not amused…

Get my camera phone out and turn the light on as I open the bonnet.  Am peering around the engine bay trying to find something that might have gone wrong.  The smell of burning clutch fluid that spilt from the reservoir onto the exhaust manifold isn’t helping either.  After what seems like an eternity I finally look at the back of the intercooler.  I see the hose going from intercooler to throttle body had popped off after not being clamped down properly.  I plug it back in and tighten it up, before turning the key.  Engine starts and idles perfectly once again.  I get in and rather quickly decide it’s time to go home.  A little too much excitement for one evening, that was!

Posted in Cars

Yukio Hatoyama: Fashion Guru

Posted By Dave on May 14th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/yukio-hatoyama-fashion-guru

While Yukio Hatoyama isn’t really doing much in the way of changing Japanese politics (despite his declarations of change in the run up to last year’s Japanese election), he is certainly making waves in other ways.  Shockingly, he’s being criticised for some of his fashion choices in recent times.  Looking at one of the latest examples, I’m sure you’ll be wondering as I do why he is getting slated for it.

Now I don’t profess to be anything like a style expert, being that my usual casual wear consists of a Wigan RLFC shirt and a pair of ageing and most likely oil-stained jeans.  But with that being said, wow.  Who knew that plaid was making a comeback, and with such ferocity?  Nope, me neither!  But apparently the Prime Minister did and is at the ripple on what is surely going to be a huge wave in Japanese fashion.  When it does he will be able to say “I was there first”.

Maybe it was his wife that got him into this uber-fashion.  This would be the same wife that said the following:

“While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus. It was a very beautiful place and it was really green.”

And the same woman who said this about the sun in an interview:

“I also eat the sun,” Hatoyama said on the program, looking up with her eyes closed, raising her arms high as if she was tearing pieces off an imaginary sun. “Like this, hum, hum, hum. It gives me enormous energy.”

Whatever, it certainly adds some colour (pun intended) to the Japanese political scene!

Holy Negative Camber, Batman!

Posted By Dave on May 4th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/holy-negative-camber-batman

Japan is a land of wonder.  Living here you see the good, you see the bad and sometimes you see the downright crazy.  Like this guy seen driving somewhere in mainland Japan.  Can you say “negative camber”?!  Originally posted up by my buddy here in Okinawa, D, I thought you might get a bit of a kick out of this.  Excuse the bit of bad language in the 2nd video clip.

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I hate to think of what the inside lip of his rims looks like after that drive, if it even exists any more!

Only in Okinawa…

Posted By Dave on May 3rd, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/only-in-okinawa

Living in Okinawa (or indeed anywhere in Japan) means you are subject to seeing more than a few crazy things.  But Okinawa seems to have a higher than average share.  Want to see a man walking down the side of a dual-carriageway with a huge bull on a leash?  Then Okinawa’s your place!

Was driving yesterday to meet a friend for coffee and I ended up behind a small car.  No big deal there but as I got closer to the car I just started laughing as this is what I saw.

In case you are curious, next to the dog is a weedcutter attached to the boot hinges of the car but 2 pieces of string.  The dog made 2 attempts to escape the car when stopped at traffic lights but decided that staying in the car was preferable to being dragged along behind it when the driver inevitably fails to notice that his canine passenger has made a break for freedom.

Seen any other crazy things here in Japan, or worldwide?

Coming soon… Project Washing Machine

Posted By Dave on March 18th, 2010

This one is being kept a little close to my chest with only a select few people knowing about it.  It’s a new personal project that I’m undertaking which might prove to be a winner and could get me back in the game, so to speak.  That’s all I’m going to say for now but all will be revealed this weekend on Big in Japan…

Okinawan Police Learn Drifting from Tsuchiya

Posted By Dave on January 16th, 2010

http://soldave.ismysite.co.uk/biginjapan/okinawan-police-learn-drifting-from-tsuchiya

One of the biggest motorsports to come out of Japan in recent years is drifting.  Everyone is getting in on the action, even the police it seems!  These cops in Okinawa had the chance to go up to Nago Circuit in the north of the island and get drifting tips from the Drift King himself, Keiichi Tsuchiya.  Looks like they had good times and I thought some of you folks might appreciate the video.

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