Day 3: January 10
8am: Sneaking out
As my fellow editors prepared for a full day's schedule at the Tokyo Auto Salon, I woke up bright and early with plans on making the most of my Japan trip. While waiting for my transportation, my body began to tense and I decided the 30-degree weather was more than I could bear. Hey! I was born and raised in California not Minnesota! We're mild climate people! I waited in the blistering cold for 15 minutes, when my ride finally pulled into the parking lot at 8:30a.m. in a cool SUV Nissan named Cube. I eagerly jumped in the rear and we were off. After passing numerous toll bridges, we finally headed to the city of Yokohama and Shizuoka, in search of potential feature cars and tuner shops for our beloved magazine. After an hour on the road, we arrived at our first destination spot, Garage HRS. HRS is responsible for building and tuning the 2003 Tsukuba record-holding Cyber EVO, driven by Eiiji "Tarzan" Yamada. Unfortunately the vehicle was absent from the shop as it was currently on display at the TAS show. From one shop to another, the driving never seemed to stop as our day came to its final conclusion under a moonlit sky. On our return trip home, I unknowingly dozed off only to be awakened a few minutes later by the boisterous parking attendants. They were screaming, "Thank you," and fervently bowing in front of me. I exited the vehicle and continued to watch the parking attendants as they chased down the Nissan Cube to the curbside, bowing all the while. Crazy Japanese, I thought to myself. Lost in the new time zone, I checked my watch and it read 12:30a.m. Damn! I've been on the road for more than 16 hours straight! I need a RAISE! (Err... just kidding, Jason). Too tired to eat, I crawled into bed and called it a night.
Day 4: January 11
9am: Tokyo Auto Salon
Jet lag is kicking my ass! I finally lost perception of night and day as the time change from L.A. to Japan finally took its toll. As morning approached, I gingerly slithered out of bed and somehow managed to drag my lifeless body to the third and final day of the Tokyo Auto Salon. I had hopes of picking up on the umbrella models or perhaps the dancers on stage. Shooting blanks with the women, I decided to place a visit to the TEIN booth. They had approximately 15 long-legged women on hand for display purposes. And of course, if time permited, I planned to get some informative updates on TEIN'S new lineup of suspension components. Pop quiz, hotshot! Did you know the Type HT (Tarmac spec) and Type HG (Gravel spec) both utilize external reservoirs and provide seperate16x16 way adjustability in dampening and rebound adjustments on their coilover system? For the weekend warriors who demand high performance on both the street and track, TEIN offers the Type Flex (Driving spec) which is an ideal coilover system for performance-orientated individuals. I had a chance to finally meet with Yoshio Fujimoto, the managing director of TEIN Japan and coordinator of the TEIN Tour. To better understand TEIN as a company, Fujimoto-san broke down the logistics: "We have three main goals within the company when designing and selling our suspension components. The first is to build high quality products that will reflect the user's needs. Second, is safety within our products, ensuring strict quality control, and last, we offer unbeatable performance at a competitive price." Accumulating a net of $2.2 million as of March 2003, it's obvious TEIN has been doing their homework in the automotive market.
Day 5: January 12
5:30am: Getting Down and Dirty
With TAS finally in the books, the first day of our actual TEIN Tour was about to unfold. Packing our bags, we prepared to take what looked like the "short bus" to the Maruwa Auto Land Nasu (gravel circuit) for some rally excitement. Awakened at 6am by Sea Bass in his trademark wife beater, the group is driven for two hours to the town of Tochigi to experience a good ol' mug slinging and gravel-kicking contest. The Maruwa Rally X course is considered one of the finest high-speed dirt courses in Japan, at which the All Japan Dirt Trial Championship is held annually. A team of six TEIN-sponsored drivers prepared to take the editors on a death-defying run across the technically challenging 1.1-mile course. On our way to the track we had learned Fujimoto-san had plenty of experience in the rally circuit; he first began rally racing in 1982 with a Datsun Sunny. Piloting a Celica from 1993-1995, Fujimoto campaigned in the Toyota of Europe series, claiming a victory in the1995 Safari Rally. In 1998 Fujimoto-san took home the coveted Asia Pacific Championship in his Toyota Corolla, leaving an indelible mark in history.