Japanese event pics.

[HS30-H]

Hi all,

I've just come back from a short business trip to Japan, and whilst there I managed to attend a Z-only event organised jointly between 'CLUB S30' ( of which I am proud to be a member ) and the 'S30 OWNERS CLUB'.

It was orginally planned as a medium-sized event for members of the two clubs, and took place at Sagamiko Picnic Land in Kanagawa prefecture - a couple of hours drive in heavy traffic to the SW of Tokyo. The day was beautifully clear and bright, and a lot more cars than I expected turned out - some of them not actually owned by club members.

One of the invited guests was Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo, and he generously took the time to speak personally to many of the owners present. He also made some very interesting comments about the design of the car and his views on its genesis.

I have some photos to add to the Gallery here, but we need a new section in the '2003 Events' category for me to post them to. I have asked site-owner Mike to create one, and hopefully he will add one soon. In the meantime I have been reducing and editing the photos to fit the Gallery parameters. So far I have around 80 shots ready to post.

EDIT: Photos now up and viewable:Sagamiko event pics

Keep a look out for them. Here's a quick taster:

Alan T

[Z Kid]

Wow, I hope you got some nice shots (who am I kidding, I am yet to see a bad Alan photo) of that particularly nice looking white G nose car I can see. I always look forward to your contributions on the site.

Cheers Chris

[HS30-H]

Hi Chris,

Cheers for the nice comments. It makes it feel worth the effort when people are kind enough to give encouragement. I often feel rather lucky to get the opportunity to be at this kind of event, and I'm happy if others can see some of what is out there through my pictures and descriptions. However, it would be much better if some of the 'kindred spirits' could visit the same events and share the experience first-hand................

Actually I do take some crap shots sometimes - but you don't get to see the worst of them!

That white ZG with the rare 'Central 20' four-spoke wheels does indeed feature in the pics I took. Here's a special 'Z-Kid preview' for you:

[Cuong Nguyen]

Hi Alan,

Welcome back! I am very happy that you are able to share these pictures with us. It is refreshing to see many great zed cars at one event.

I would like to personally thank you for taking the time out and uploading the pictures. I certainly appreciate them!!!

Thank you,

Cuong Nguyen

[Ken]

Great photo's Alan.... really appreciate the opportunity to see events far from our shores. Looking forward to seeing the rest!:classic:

[Z-point]

Hi Alan,

Speaking of Z's. I think sometimes Japan is more interesting then the US, if only I could speak their language!!

It’s still mysterious as ever.

No heard feelings guys!

ps. did you visit the Tokio motorshow as well?

[daddz]

Alan,

Thanks for the great news regarding your recent trip. I couldn't agree more regarding your comment about us "kindred spirits" being able to experience the same event in person.

Furthering that point, if we could be aware of these events ahead of time maybe we could arrange a "field trip" and put faces to names from this community.

[Bambikiller240]

Thanks for the Preview Alan! I can't wait for the new section to be established for the main body of your efforts to be posted. The shot looking down on the show is a great photo. Thank you again for sharing with us.

[HS30-H]

Many thanks for all the kind comments.

Still no new Gallery section in "2003 Events" to post them into though, so I'm going to keep using the drip-feed method to keep your interest up.

Here's a pic of our fellow member Kats and his car ( that's Kats on the left hiding behind the tailgate - talking with Dr. Suzuki about jute padding differences probably! ):

[Z-point]

Alan,

I know in the UK and in the states you can ‘buy’ your own number plate. When I look at Kats plate it shows 240??!! A coincidence or is it also possible to buy your plate in Japan?

[HS30-H]

Hi Guus,

No - its not just a coincidence. You can indeed pay a little extra in Japan for numbers of your choice - but you have to work it out within the parameters of the various laws that apply. You can't specify letters - only numbers, and obviously they can't have been issued to any other car.

There is the advantage that the Hiragana syllable before the number changes - so a great many people could have the "240" number for the same issuing area and taxation code as Kats - but the difference would be in the Hiragana prefix.

When you look at Japanese numberplates, the Japanese characters of the top line identify the issuing area ( in Kats' case, it is 'Kobe' ) and the numbers after that identify the taxation code applying to the vehicle ( in Kats' case it is '330' - which replaces the old '33' code, and is for cars of a certain category over 2 Litre capacity ). Below those are the Hiragana syllable, which is a simple alphabetic sequence that starts with 'sa', 'si', 'su', 'se', 'so' etc etc and runs through all the syllables that they use. Then there's space for four numbers - but you don't have to use the full four, as you can miss the first three numbers altogether if you start with a single digit on the right.

Look out for the bulk uploads of the event pics when we get the space allocated. You will see lots of versions of the same idea.

Did I explain that clearly, or is it all as clear as mud?!

Alan T.

PS - Guus, the 'Foreign Use' or 'Translation' plates seen on the Works rally cars are simply a translation of the Japanese characters into Roman letters. Hence "TKS" signifies the Shinagawa issuing area ( TKS = Tokyo, Shingawa - although the Japanese original plate just says "Shinagawa" ), "33" the taxation code, and "SA" is the phonetic romanised version of the Hiragana syllable prefixing the number.

[Alfadog]

Wooo!

Awesome Alan, I can't wait to see the rest...

Will you look at the paint on Kat's car??? That's incredible, I absolutely adore your car Kats well done!

Never can get enough pictures of these cars,