山梨県 河口湖 (Kawaguchi Lake in Yamanashi)

The weekend was spent at Kawaguchi Lake in Yamanashi prefecture. Kawaguchiko is one of the famnous Fujigoko, the five lakes around Mount Fuji. We stayed a night at a pension called Blue Poppy. It was a cosy little European style house sitting near the hills north of Kawaguchiko. Its run by a nice old cpouple who live by themselves there as their 2 daughters are not living with them.

The Yamamotos have a nice flower garden, and the above is an English Rose. She has several types of roses in her garden and some local Japanese flowers as well.

Here's a peach rose bud.

They also keep several cats, one of which is 20 years old, equivalent to 110 human years !

JATA 19-21Sep

Last week was a travel trade show at Bigsight in Daiba, the main convention centre in Tokyo. Many airlines and travel companies exhibited at JATA. Approximately 1,000 exhibitors from 134 countries exhibit at JATA. In the photo are colleagues posing with an exhibitor (Swiss?).

Was busy as the boss was here and also several marketing colleagues from hq. Whole weekend was spent at the event, which was successful...

Performance of M3

Just filled the tank today after the last fill from the trip to Tateyama, the M3 returned 9km/l ! What excellent fuel consumption. The trip computer estimated 6.9km/l, but the actual figure is almost 50% better. This is almost as good as the Toyota Mark X, which returns about 10km/l when driven over long distances. This included some spirited driving neck to neck with a GTR on the Hokuriku Expressway at over 200kmh...After1,000kms, no problems encountered so far.

The air intake kit is not yet sent to me, the seller advised that it was waiting for bulk order delivery from K & N. Its been 10days ! What crap, when the seller advertised that it usually ships 1 business day after payment confirmation. Such is life dealing with online re-sellers.

立山ー黒部 アルペン ルート

The long weekend (Monday 15th was respect for the aged day) was spent at the Japanese Alps in Toyama prefecture. The drive one way was 450kms. We set out early on Sat morning before 6am. The route took us through numerous expressways, starting with the Shutoko, then the Gaikan, followed by the Kan Etsu and then the Joetsu and finally the Hokuriku Expressway.

To get to the Kurobe Dam, one has to take a cable tram from Tateyama station to Bijodaira. From there, a bus will take you to Murodo. From Murodo, a tunnel trolley bus will take you through 3.7km of tunnel bored through ferrous concrete through Mt. Oyama. Upon reaching the other side, the Tateyama Ropeway, a cable car suspended on steel cables without any supporting structure!

After the ropeway, another cable car will take you to Kurobeko, or Kurobe Lake! This is the most magnificent dam in Japan. It freezes in winter and is inaccessible. Accessible only from April to November, the 3 seasons provide magnificent sights. The autumn season is just about to take effect and the leaves of some plants are just starting to turn yellow or brown. The koyo, or brown leaves in Autumn are a sight to behold. We're a bit early to witness it this time.

M3 pics

These are daytime pics of the M3. The famous kidney grills and the propellor emblem.

The *evil* eye is really mean looking. Need to fit angel eyes later on for angelic night look.

Clean and uncluttered but sexy rears. This will be what other drivers see when they eat dust.

Smiley face.

The gem of the M3, the S54B32 power unit.

Peeping through the kidney grill.

Cockpit.

3/4 rear view.

Arse****

Today went for a medical check at nearby hospital. Some blood was detected in the stool.　A mild case of *haemorhoid* was diagnosed. Talk about pain in the arse! The Senpo (せんぽ）hospital in Minato-ku is really cool. Residents are issued a card (like credit card) and you go to a machine to register and select the genre (internal, external, etc) and then you put the printout with your data into a supplied plastic folder together with the card. You then pass it to the nurse at the appropriate section, she calls out your name a few minutes later and asks in front of all other waiting patients, exactly what your problem is. So now everyone in that hospital this morning knows that this bloke has got blood in his faeces or a pain the AR**.... How nice. I must say everyone put on a straight face, or at least pretend to.

The doctor had his finger up where the sun never shines and diagnosed a case of mild haemorhoids (4-5deg) and prescribed some suppositories supply for a month. This is the first time anyone's finger was up there. Now I know why people show the "finger". Suppository to be inserted once in the morning, and once in the evening. What a *PITA*.

FInally, payment is also made at the ATM like machine, insert your card and the amount comes up. It takes cash, credit card, coins down to ￥１． The whole cost me about US$70.

Goodbye Honda, Hello M3...

The day finally came, and the race bred, 9,000rpm screaming VTEC Honda was swapped for the M3. The last drive was uneventful, extra care being taken not to damage the car before the trade. The Honda had been sold even before the car was at the dealer's. It was sold based on just the photo taken about 2 weeks ago. All the bits that were on the car must have attracted the prospective buyer.

This is the cockpit of the car just after taking delivery in Saitama. So how did it drive? In one word: superb! The SMG II box was set immediately to Sport mode 5, and when I reached the Shuto Expressway, the Sport mode (track) was switched on with DSC (dynamic stability or traction control) off. First impression was the reserves of power it had pulling from above 3,000rpm. The exhaust note is really raspy, not unlike the Alfa Boxer engines of yesteryear. With the driver side windscreen down, the rasp was really addictive. I imagine it would be even louder with aftermarket mufflers e.g. Hamann, Supersprint, Arqray, etc.


The SMG II is what it promised to be, a real sequential manual shift. In S-5 mode, the up shift was very quick indeed, quicker than me shifting a manual certainly. The downshift was accompanied by a very well timed throttle blip, much like a double clutching downshift in a manual car. Only in the M3, it is executed perfectly, without under or over blipping!

The steering felt a tad light, much lighter than the S2000 in comparison. The Michelin Pilot Sport is quite grippy, though they do not feel as immediate as the Advan Neovas on the Honda. Perhaps the Tein suspension on the Honda was more communicative than the standard Beemer suspension, giving this impression. The M3 suspension is taut but not harsh, and rides over bumps very comfortably.

This is the car in the garage at home. It is true that driving an M3 puts a grin on your face, which remains long after you have gotten out of the car. More reviews will follow when I have a chance to drive it more in the days ahead. Stay tuned!

Narita Golf Course

Sunday was golf at Narita Golf Course, a short 5,991yds 18-hole course just next to Narita airport. Playing partner had diarhoea, and called it quits before the first nine finished. He left after lunch. His condition was not inspiring, and I shot 53 on the first nine due to the wait for his toilet break, and subsequent curses when he could not hit well. On one hole, he had to rush into the bush just before teeing off. Poor chap.



I decided to continue after the lunch break and shot 45 on the second nine. I had 3 pars, 5-bogeys and 1 double par due to an OB. I was beginning to warm up as the walk on the first nine had helped to loosen me up. On a 312yds par 4, my drive put me only 20yds from the green but only managed to par it. My approach was not near enough for a one putter. Managed to try the Mizuno 401 Cross Eight ball. It went really far, much further than the Callaway ERC Hot. After the bath and onsen, helped myself to the foot massage and body massage machines at the clubhouse. Traffic was smoother than usual and I reached home within an hour from leaving Narita.

Tip Top

Last night was out drinking with industry colleagues for Karaoke and later adjourned to a bar called tip top in Roppongi. Very interesting bar counter which has an aquarium lining the bar around the bartenders...

Here's 3 of the airline folks left after 2 others had left..

K & N Typhoon

Ordered a K & N Typhoon Air Intake System today for the M3 from ebay. The cost was US$329 including shipping by international express mail. This is still cheaper than buying it locally in Japan, which costs JPY51,000 ($450), a saving of $120!

The K & N is a high performance air intake (filter) system which increases airflow to the engine and consequently horsepower. The product is backed by a million mile warranty and is supported by actual dyno data for each car. The M3 (E46) was tested and gained 8.9hp at the wheels ! This translate to over 10hp at the crank...the chart shows the power gain is consistent throughout a broad range of engine speed.

Japanese PM resigns (again)

It seems that it is becoming a trend for the Japanese PM to resign whenever he runs into trouble. PM Fukuda announced his resignation in an unexpected twist to further weaken Japan's LDP. Fukuda is the 91st PM of Japan.

This comes barely a month after he announced a re-shuffle of the cabinet....and the relatively short tenure of his predecessor Shinzo Abe.

Such is the result when positions such as the PM are not directly elected by the population. The candidate selected from within party ranks may not have the drive, tenacity or dedication to see through a full term and push through a vision or policy for the country.

Japanese political system is very nepostic, with many ministers having "inherited" their positions by virtue of the family name and background. It is almost like a family business.

Lesson to be learned here is don't wear the hat if it doesn't fit...