Once again setting off to Japan on night of 2nd June with my Herbie and a group of friends.
Meeting my friend, Larry, from Philippines as he waits for us in our hotel lobby. Without much hesitation, we headed for car rental company and rented this Mazda Premancy since they are 5 of us and possibly some big shopping to go with.
As usual, this is my "traditional" game with Pooh known as "Hiding from the Camera".
We took the small Mazda minivan to out of Tokyo to do some shopping.
Our game took place anywhere anytime during our trip.
Gotcha.
Our car is partially full with just one destination and many more places to go.
Type R in Japan is stock to the rims. I like stock cars. I seriously opposed to mod vehicles.
I am the driver of the day as been driving overseas frequently so I took up this job and I love it.
We been going places to places from 12pm till evening.
Look at Pooh, so happy getting loads of Tomica.
On the night before Ken-Box event, we went down to help out as a team as we want to give Kenichi and Rika our support.
We have to arrange the Tomica into the showcase. It looks easy but not so because there are so many of them that we have to choose what cars to go into the showcase. We actually re-arrange it twice and eventually on the 3rd attempt, we decide to choose the rarer cars and arrange according to series.
You seen this eventually at the event, it's our hard work. It took us a few hours, tired but we are very happy and satisfied with the end result.
Night before the event. It's empty with some stall holders getting ready for the big day.
One stall holder virtually set his stall up already.
Getting a early preview.
Some more Tomica at this stall.
Boss working hard on the showcase with auction items.
My mum cannot recognize me but Kenichi on this photo because he and Rika stayed at our place last year. My mum was asking me "Who is this guy with Kenichi, and he is fat". I felt like dying.
Many people queuing up for the event on the actual day, I think this is around 930am.
We went at 830am in the morning so we are around 30th in the queue.
Having fun in the queue with Pooh and gang.
The 8th Shinjuku hunger games begin.
Larry, my friend from the Philippines who flew to meet us for this trip.
Pooh was once again caught surprise by my camera.
I was aiming at the boxes rather than the loose cars.
The crowd at Shu-Stock subsided. This year I gave up to wait at Shu-stock stall because they display their goods 10 mins after official opening and the crowd was way too crazy. I didn't buy any Tomica from them except some bigger scale cars which nobody appreciate.
Here are some of the auction items.
Micro Pet Subaru 360. This is really rare.
Some Tomica which many people aimed for.
The Orange Corolla is what I aimed for.
Bidders doing their last minute bidding on their eyed stuff.
This is Rina San, she is beautiful, speak totally fluent English and she is really lovely but she is married. To all guys reading, no chance.
This is the most expensive Tomica in the event. The designer who made this was at the event too. Kenichi introduce him to me last year when he showed me this project. Forgotten to ask him to take a photo with the car.
I asked for the poster so everyone wants one too. Larry wanted Kenichi to autograph on his.
Kenichi becomes very popular among my friends now. Haha. We love him.
This poster might worth a fortune 30 years later.
All results are out, did I win? I did.
Results for no.49~92. Next year, you might see my items put on auction as well.
Rika and Kenichi San buy his staff and my friends a dinner. This is Ayako San, met her a few times but we started to speak this time. She is a dancer with big dreams and she is very highly skilled in Tomica wrapping. I need to learn from her (how to wrap Tomica, not dancing).
Our group photo.
Thank you for the dinner and always showing hospitality to my friends also. I don't know what to say. Ken-Box would like me to pass a message to readers. He asked me to tell you guys that his shop is not expensive which I used to described in my blog. To do some justice to Ken-Box not just because they are my good friends but I do a comparison with other shops especially when I drive out of Tokyo to other shops selling Tomica. Ken-box price are cheaper if you are looking for loose cars and cars (with box) that are not highly sought after. If you are looking for cars which everyone is after, then Ken-box will be higher priced. Reason because they are paying high price to collector so they need to sell high price. According to them, it is easier to sell Tomica today rather than to buy it and resell it. Nobody wants to sell as all sellers listed them in Yahoo auction as the whole world bids there now resulting in ridiculous prices.
I been wanting to drive a Tanto.
So I rented one because it is cheap and it is tall.
Setting the destination.
A transporter full of cars passing by our car.
A family with FC, FD and a RX8 in front of their porch. We took random photos along the way during our 2nd road trip for this trip.
First time seeing my car in Japan in blue and in 3.0 guise.
We saw a FC while refueling our car.
It's a Honda Today. Yelled to Pooh to take photo of this as it is pretty rare now in Japan. I remember playing with a Tamiya Kit of a Honda Today when I was a kid.
I don't know if there are Pooh fans. The Pooh above and not the bear. If there is, here is a series of photos you might enjoy.
Ok, that's all folks. Wait for my next update.
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