I arrived at the Roadster Meeting at around 0830 hrs, as half of the parking lot I was assigned to was already filled. On the way, I passed by countless other Roadsters going all over the city. My default greeting to these people was the pop-up trick. The is one of the features that I love about Tackawanna. Instead of fixed headlights on normal cars, Tackawanna's headlights flip up from the edges of the car. This usually happens only when you turn on the lights, but there's a button on the dashboard that will raise and lower the headlamps without necessarily turning them on. I even made sure to do this trick as I passed the many Roadster-owning photographers that parked on the shoulders of the main road going towards the ski area parking lot.
The parking lot was divided into two areas. I was in the first parking lot, which was closer to the main event and tents but had less shade. The actual event started at 1000 hrs, where the organizers gave opening statements in both Japanese and English. (The English, most likely, was for the Miata club from the Philippines, who came to participate in the event, sans car, of course.) There was also a small race about an hour later involving pedal cars and crying toddlers. That was what the Internet likes to call "unhappy adorable." At around 1200 hrs, there was a "talk show" involving certain ambassadors from Mazda who have had experience with designing, building, and marketing the car.
On display under the tents were two different cars. The first was the one-millionth Miata that was carted around Japan and North America for fans to sign, but although there were still open spaces available, no one was allowed to sign it. (Bummer; I guess my name won't be on it, then.) The other car was a totally factory-restored NA Roadster, complete with new everything. In Japan, Mazda is offering a "restoration service" for existing NA models, which is essentially a Mazda-approved restoration and refurbishment back to showroom condition. Representatives for the project were present, and distributing application forms for people who were interested. Mazda is not the only company to take interest in their older cars like this; Nissan is also resuming OEM parts distribution for its R-32 Skyline GT-R, a Japan-only model that is considered to be one of the greatest cars that ever rolled off a production line.
I got a chance to walk around the lot to see the other Roadsters that assembled for the meeting. Over 1300 vehicles participated. I was also assured to see that my car was certainly not the ugliest. Roadsters of all conditions and from all over the country littered the meeting. The people there were also diverse. I pulled up and parked next to a man and his daughter, who looked no older than five, and I overheard him saying that their mother was coming to meet them. The drivers were mostly male, but there were plenty of females, too, including one driving a hot pink NA with those god-awful headlamp eyelashes. (Interestingly, out of all those cars that I'd seen, only one was a Fiat 124 Spyder. Even the Hokuriku meeting had more Fiats there.)
There were various vendors selling parts as well, and some owners laid out blankets in front of their cars to sell parts. The goal was to get a new
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| Here's my toy car... |
I saw most of my Roadster friends. I met up with Shimizu-san, whom I'd met at the Tohoku meeting in October, as well as Matsuda-san. Fujimoto-san also attended the event, but I didn't see him or run into him. Mizuochi-san was an event organizer, and was too busy to be in one location for a long period of time, so I didn't get to talk to him, either. Regardless, I had fun at the event overall.
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| Shimizu-san and I in front of his car. He brought his girl with him. |
The drive home was nice, too. It rained the day I arrived in Karuizawa, but not going home. The plan was to use my action camera to get the whole trip back home. However, the camera kept acting up because I was using the iOS app to control the camera and not my usual camera remote, which I had lost at some point during my trip. Chalk that one up to a glitch. (The surviving video will come later, after I edit it. You can check out the pictures here.)
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| So. Many. Group. Photos. Taken. |
As for whether or not I'd go to the next meeting: if I stay in Japan longer after graduation, then yes, I'll go again next year. Next time, however, I'm only going for one night. Karuizawa has obliterated my leisure spending for a few months, and I've already seen most of it. In the meantime, there's research and work to keep me busy.
-wp
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