EVENT: S30.world Japan tour pt. 3 – Shinkansen to Yokohama / Nissan HQ Gallery / Tokyo

Day 4: Shinkansen Bullet train to Yokohama / Nissan HQ Gallery
After our very busy days in the Nara / Kyoto area, it was time to say goodbye and head to the Yokohama area. After a healthy Japanese breakfast, the whole team took the bus to the Kyoto main station.

There, we proceeded with the JR-Line Shinkansen Bullet train direction north to Yokohama.

After another quick train-ride, we ended up at our Hotel, just next to the Nissan Headquarter tower in Yokohama. After a quick lunch break and a stop at the nearby Yamaha Music Instruments flagship store, we went back to check in to our rooms.

Once that was done, we went for a little walk around the area and realized that the Nissan Headquarter “Gallery” flagship store was still open, so we quickly went in to check out what was on display.

As you may have guessed correctly, you mostly see the latest car lineup and some random concept stuff om a changing exhibition.

But they also had a little Memorabilia corner (including Datsun, Fairlady Z and NISMO branded stuff), a nice display with their car history made from little toy-cars, a Car-magazine archive and, of course, also a NISMO corner.

The most interesting part was the latest NISMO Fairlday RZ35 on display, where next to it also an interactive screen showed the history of the “Z-cars”. Although some of the information shown was wrong. And a cool engine display with moving parts.

In a slightly hidden corridor, we also found some random historic stuff, with some S20 engine parts and Rally Monte Carlo badges being displayed.

In a somewhat tragic turn, we heard on the news the other day that the building was sold due to the financial crisis of Nissan.
After we had wandered around the showroom for long enough, we proceeded to the next building, having a great look at the Yokohama Bay Quarter:

We ended up in a random shopping mall where loads of toys, retro-games and Pokémon’s were sold.

Most of us couldn’t resist buying some Z-car related stuff 🙂

Some went further toy shop in another nearby Mall, but me and some others of the group went to the beautiful Westin Hotel Bar, where we enjoyed some great drinks with a beautiful view on the Yokohama Kanagawa financial district.
I can really recommend their signature “Gin & Yang” drink, which is made with Gin, Miso, Cinnamon and lime juice!

We then met all again for dinner at a nearby “sushi train” restaurant, where we tasted the local cuisine.

On our way home, we passed by a popular Bacon Book Café store. Naturally, we had to go inside and couldn’t resist buying some nice magazines and books.

One of the books gave a little preview of what we were going to see on day 6:

Day 5: Day off in Tokyo
The next day, we had no car-related activities planned, so our local guides recommended going for a bit of shopping in Tokyo. After a quick train and metro ride, we ended up in Akihabara, also known as “Electric town”, famous for its many electronics and toy stores. There is basically a multi-story store for anything you can imagine. Whole buildings for collectable toys, second-hand video games or just the famous BIC Camera electronics store. It was a bit touristic there, to be honest, but we enjoyed the quirkiness of Japanese culture.

A cool surprise was when an R32 Skyline GT-R passed by on the road. It’s cool seeing these cars in magazines, games and the interwebs, but witnessing them in their natural habitat is just way cooler.

We then went into some RC / Die cast car stores, where some of the group went wild with shopping.

We stopped at a small local Ramen shop for some spicy noodles, and these were no doubt the best Ramen I had ever had. Delicious.

After that, our group split up – Some went to another huge book store and then back to the hotel for some work, while we hopped on another train and went to the famous and world’s busiest Shibuya crossing in Tokyo.

The place was even more crowded by tourists than Akihabara, so we decided to stop for a quick beer (or “Irish Car Bomb”) at the local pub to escape the crowd and sit down for a few minutes.

Of course, we also had to stop at Hachikõ, the famous Akito dog statue, telling one of my favorite stories about loyalty.

Once our legs hurt and everybody had successfully completed his hunt for Japanese memorabilia and gifts, we took the train back to Yokohama, where we reunited again and went for dinner at a “Family restaurant”, where robots would serve a big variety of dishes, which you ordered from a tablet on the table. We got recommended the Japanese specialty “Unagi” (Grilled Eel). But knowing the European version of Eel, I wasn’t brave enough to order it. Once I got to taste some from my friends, I have to say it’s nothing in comparison and I regretted not ordering it.

That’s it for the lesser-car-related days in Japan. I promise you in Part 4, 5 and 6 we are going full automotive mode again with some incredibly cool and unexpected things happening. Stay tuned for another update soon.