....and this is what we saw: japan

Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts

Friday, May 16, 2014

FLASHBACK :: Japan 2011 : 20th Mooneyes Yokohama

Recently I noticed that the last time I went to Japan I posted some photos from my iphone, then promised that I'd post some more.

Old Japan Post

I broke that promise, and I am here now to redeem myself.

On this trip we not only went to Mooneyes, Buzz and I also went to Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo.

Whilst in Yokohama we caught up and met so many awesome people. I loved this trip!

Here are the photos:

my favorite cafe in Kyoto.

we traveled around Kyoto by bike. Kyoto in Autumn, so beautiful

Buzz reading Greasy Kulture magazine, at Nice in Kobe

Nice Motorcycle, Kobe

Ha ha, matching. Keith Weesner. I still wear this hoody.
You can't see the sleeves in this shot, they were the main reason I bought it. The sleeves are so rad!

These girls were so cool

Was this the Dice Party? Or a Mooneyes Party? I cannot remember....
I do know it wasn't the Greasy Kulture Party that was in Tokyo.

Conrad singing with the band

This is just a small selection of photos of bikes that arrived. You could just stand outside and watch the bikes arrive all day, and not go into the show.
I loved the fact that there were so many girls on these massive Harleys. They looked so cool.

ha ha totally crazy. There were so many bikes.

The carpark was really the place to be. I went to the carpark quiet late, many people had already left. This is just a very small selection of bikes that were parked.
The car park is massive and was FULL of extraordinary bikes.
Some people just go to the Yokohama show for the carpark. I've heard that there has been some major complaints about the level noise from the hundreds of bikes coming and going from the show. So much so that this year Mooneyes will be closing the carpark.
I am pretty sure that this move will make an impact on the show, how much is yet to be seen.

I really like the tank on this bike - nice paint job.

If you're wondering, I am still going to Russia in a few weeks (about 6) - though my visa still isn't totally confirmed.
I'm getting excited and am looking forward to taking photos of stuff!
When I mentioned in one of my last posts that I didn't have a plan, that was not totally true. I did have a plan, I've just found out that I'm not allowed to do any of it. One thing I planned to do was go to Sweden and check out a few things there, but it turns out my visa will not allow me to travel there if I am flying in and out of Russia. Which is a bit of a bummer. Nothing like a little problem solving, though.

Maybe I might stumble across secret awesome bike and hot rod scene in Russia. You never know there might be one.

The other news I have involves Japan. More on that another time......

Friday, May 2, 2014

Remember when : The First time I went to Japan!

In 2 months today, I will be going to Russia - if all goes to plan (actually I still don't have much of a plan for what I am going to do in Russia)
I'm getting a little nervous about this trip, mainly because of the tension between Russia and the UN, not knowing the language, not having a firm plan and I am also worried that my natural sense of curiosity might just land me in jail. Maybe I've watched too many movies - yes!

When I was growing up all I wanted to do was travel.
I spent loads of time traveling around Australia with my family. My father raced a 14 foot skiff, so we were quiet often left to our own devices. My younger sister and I would spend our time exploring each major city. I loved the exploring, not knowing what was around the corner. So many adventures!

So it's surprising that the first time I went overseas was only a few years ago.
I went to Japan, with one of my dearest friends, Maryanne. She had been there already a number of times on her own, she'd also traveled to LA on her own, where she road a push bike wearing a skirt. She's always so fabulous, the prefect traveling companion.

Here are some photos of that time I went to Japan.

This is at the airport before we caught our first flight, I was so excited - my first Duty Free. It was a bottle of Cointreau, of course!

On our way to Studio Ghibli

Love the guys dancing on the stage whilst the singer is on the floor with the crowd!

At the show we met the guy that ran TombStone, a tiny tiny Bar in Tokyo. He invited us to his bar. A few nights later we thought we'd check it out.

The guy who ran the bar (Sorry, I cannot remember his name, from now on I will refer to him as TGWRTB ) told us about a huge car and motorbike show in Yokohama, he played us a dvd and told us that the owner of the bar goes every year and is friends with loads of people there.

As the night progressed we started requesting different music to be played, TGWRTB told us a good friend owns a bar where he'll play any record we want. We left Tombstone, TGWRTB gave us stickers and a copy of a picture that he had drawn, to explore Tokyo some more, we ended up at Punk Rock Bar, TGWRTBs friends bar. I returned to that bar a few years later with a different crowd, and a very different experience. That is another story for another time, fun times!