ロードスター GET 2

At around 20 minutes past one, I arrived at Andou Car Collection, where the dealer, Tatsuhito Andou, both lives and works. I had looked up his address on Google Maps beforehand and looked at the street view. As it turned out, his house is a one-level wooden shack sandwiched behind another house, with a paved driveway on a slight incline.

Andou-san made the most out of the space he had. In front of his house were stacks of tires, some on rims and some not. A two-car carport in the back of the lot housed most of his tools. All of the cars that Andou-san was selling were parked in his driveway. I noticed a V8 Toyota sedan, a Honda motorcycle, a Nissan March, and two Renaults, among other cars. But my attention wasn't so much on these as it was the Roadster parked in front of all of them that I had travelled so far to collect.

Andou-san invited me into his humble abode, where there was a small office area complete with table and chairs. We signed paperwork, and I paid him the remaining balance. After that, there was no time to waste. I needed to get started on the modification.

Andou-san gave me a pair of "English" slippers to wear inside his house

When I first sat in the Roadster, I noticed that the headroom could improve a bit, but that the legroom needed a definite increase. This was especially required as the steering wheel is not telescopic. (That is to say, the steering wheel does not move up or down.) This was what I was preparing for, and I knew that I needed to finish the foamectomy that was required so that I could be on the road before 1700 hrs. I had brought my own tools with me, so I should've been all set.

Well, it wasn't easy...

I managed to get one floor bolt in before I couldn't do any more. The remaining three were torqued on very tight, and neither a tire iron nor CRC 5-56 (WD-40) could get the bolts loose. Luckily, Andou-san had a power torque wrench that he used to get the bolts free. After that were the seat bolts connecting the seat to the slider, which were annoying to free, as my sockets couldn't reach them. And that wasn't even the hardest part.

By that time, I had to move into the shade. Andou-san moved his car (a Daihatsu Move) back a little bit so that there would be enough room to work in an area where the house next door blocked the sun. His English was pretty good, and he was able to explain to me that in addition to the shaken, he also replaced the A/C compressor, so I now had A/C that blew cold air. He was very professional and helpful, provided refreshment and his bathroom, and stayed with me throughout most of the mod, taking the occasional break to answer his phone in his soft baritone voice. If he had said no to letting me do the modification in his driveway, I don't know what I would've done, especially looking back in hindsight.

The seat upholstery was secured to the seat via hog rings. If you don't know what a hog ring is, go Google it, and then picture them all rusty and gross. That's what I had to pull out with needle-nose pliers. Andou-san gave me a pair of wire clippers to try to cut through them, but they didn't work. I must have pulled out at least 25 of them, and I noticed one more intact as I was putting the seat back together later.

I then tried to separate the seat into two pieces by taking off the plastic brackets and the bolts on one side of the seat assembly. When we got to the easy side, the screw would not turn. We both tried getting it out, but it would not budge. I was not looking forward to stripped screws, so I decided to just work with the two seat pieces still connected..

I took the foam pad from the back of the seat and shaved off a few centimeters of foam towards the back. The only knife I had was Andou-san's box cutter, and I actually broke it and had to borrow another. With the excess foam now gone, I reconnected the upholstery to the seat using zip ties, and then reinstalled the seat back into the car. Then I took a seat in it. There was much more headroom, and I could now clearly see out of the car.

But it did nothing for the legroom.

Tired and itching to get home, I decided to live with it. The legroom wasn't a major problem or a deal-breaker, but in the future, I'll have to take out the driver-side door handle, so that it will stop scraping against my knees. After removing the driver-side sun visor, installing my dash cam, and a quick trip to the bathroom, it was time to go. I thanked Andou-san for his time and grace, and he went to the curb to watch traffic for me. Feeling nervous, I got into the car and started the engine.

I had had relatively little practice driving a manual transmission in the states. The last time I did was in January, and now I was about to drive five hours, partially through the largest metropolitan area on the planet, to go home. I took a deep breath, started the car, and put it into reverse. I put the clutch at the biting point and slowly rolled backwards. Once on the street, I gave one last wave to Andou-san, shifted into first, and managed to get moving without stalling. After a quick stop for gas half a mile later, it was time to go back to Aizu.

つづく

-wp

ロードスター GET 1

One of Japan's biggest upsells is the precision at which public transport operates. When a train leaves at a given time, it leaves at that time. Not five minutes after, not fifteen minutes after, but on the dot. This means that if you want to want to travel on Japanese public transport, and you need to connect trains or busses, you'll have to hustle.

And hustle did I. I had to take a train from Aizuwakamatsu to Koriyama, then the Shinkansen to Omiya (Saitama), then a train to Shinjuku station, then a train to Ebina, and THEN a bus to the bus stop conveniently located across the street from the dealer. The respective time gaps between each leg were 9, 12, 14, and 17 minutes. I had purchased the tickets required for the first three legs in Aizuwakamatsu, but after that, I was on my own.

Akabeko display on the platform in Aizuwakamatsu

Platform view in Aizuwakamatsu

Commuter train that ends in Aizuwakamatsu

The regional express train to Koriyama

Japan's railways are privatized, so there are multiple groups that have their own regional monopolies. In my case, there were JR East and JR Tokyo. The buses are also on their own thing, so if you're traveling one-way, you need time to buy tickets. Therefore, I would need the extra times between the latter three legs to purchase the tickets and get to the train/bus.

Beautiful green mountains in the mountains of Fukushima

The Touhoku Shinkansen line in Koriyama

I came close to missing the train in Shinjuku. They deposited me at the station across the street from where the Ebina train would be leaving from. (Shinjuku Station is one of the largest in Tokyo.) I had to cross the street and purchase the ticket at the ticket machine, which brought me to my next hurdle. With the ticket machines, at least in this section of the country, I had to find my destination in a table and select the corresponding fare from the machine. That confusing enough for you? If I was 15 seconds slower than I was, I would have missed my train.

The JR station(s) in Shinjuku.

But alas, it got no better in Ebina. I waked out the west gate towards the mall looking for the bus gate, and after waiting quite a while in line at the ticket counter, I managed to flag down a worker. Good news: I could pay the driver.

Bad news: the correct bus stop was at the east gate.

The bus stop in question

With five minutes to go, I sprinted across the station to the east gate. I tried to find bus stop number three, which I figured was where bus number three was. I rushed down just in time to see the bus pull away from the stop. It couldn't go far anyways, because it had to wait at a red light.

I got on the bus and asked if it was going to my destination. It wasn't. I got off, and the light turned green. Right behind it was my bus. Which was going too fast to stop.

JUST

Luckily, a few people, one of who I assumed was an American boy, managed to help me figure out where I should have been. As it turned out, because there were buses with various assigned numbers, the bus number stops didn't necessary line up. So bus number three left from bus stop number six. Are you confused again? I sure was.

I checked the schedule, and the next bus was not to show up for 50 minutes. Defeated, I sat on the bench next to the stop. I was so close to getting there when I told the dealer I was coming. Then again, I was still going to be meeting him earlier than our original agreed-upon time, so I guess it's not that bad.

Would my car give me as much trouble as the bus? I hoped not.

つづく

-wp

ロードスター GET 0.5

I'm now two days away from picking up my Roadster. On Wednesday, I received a fax of my shaken (the piece of paper proving that my car is roadworthy), so yesterday I forwarded all of my information to the insurance company. They got back to me later in the day to tell me that they needed some time to process my paperwork. Obviously, I wanted to get this insurance effective on Sunday, but they would be closed. (The JCI, or comuplory insurance, is enough for legal purchases, but I'm going to be driving this car through Tokyo. I don't want to take any chances.)

The insurance agent spoke with her supervisor and said that they would take a scanned copy of the signed contract as interim proof while I sent out the contract through express mail. I would then do a wire transfer of the premium to their bank account. Once they had the scan and the money, they would send a confirmation e-mail stating that I would be covered starting on Sunday. Not really official proof of insurance, but good enough for my case.

Today I had to powerwalk to the local post office (thankfully not the central one that I usually go to) to mail the contract and do the wire transfer. Insurance was about $900 for mid-tier coverage for the year, which seemed like a lot. Then again, considering how much I was being charged in America, any insurance rate is a bargain.

Later today, I'll have to stop by the Foreign Personnel Advisor's office and sign the contract for the parking space. It's about $28/month, and right next to campus. Once I have done that, I'll need to get it certified at a local police box for registration, which I will probably do early next week. I already have a basic tool kit, which I'll need when I go to the dealer, because I will have to work on the seat. I also purchased a dashcam, so I'll have pictures and videos of the road during my travels.

I'm going to cover the trip in a three-part series. The first part will be getting to the dealership, which is located a few miles west of Yokohama. The second part will be the dealership itself, including me trying to get that seat ready. The third part will be bringing the car home. I'll hammer out these posts throughout next week. お楽しみに！

-wp

Good things to come

It's been a while since I've done any blog posting, mainly due to a combination of busyness and laziness. Things have been going relatively well. Here is a brief list of what's been done and what's to come:

• Golden Week was this past week. I basically stayed in the dorm, played Fallout 4, and did some homework and cleaning. Only time I left was to go to the convenience store, which was once.
• Wire transfers to Japan are annoying. First Niagara kept botching my transfer request, so I tried to go with Western Union Online FX, which waited until after it verified my account and took my money that they don't do transfers to Japan Post Yuucho. Two other FXs said the same thing, but without the "let's take your money first and see what happens" process. Finally went back to First Niagara, with instructions filled out to the most minute detail, and they sent it out properly this time. I finally got the money this morning, after three weeks of restless waiting. My finances should now be sorted out for a few months.
• Japanese classes start this coming Wednesday, which is going to be helpful, because I'm tired of not having as good of a grip on the language as I should be having. My communication skills should go up from there, and I can have more meaningful conversations in Japanese. (I actually confused my dormmates the other day by using the regional pronunciation of "coupon" (kyoo-pahn) instead of the actual one.)
• That Roadster I mentioned in the last post? I'm buying it. Now that I have the money, I can finish paying the guy when I go down to Kanagawa to get the car. That will be on May 15th. I'll make a higher-effort post (or maybe a series?) when I get to that point. Not sure yet if I will be going alone.

And that's about it. Ta-ta for now.

-wp

Busy week

It's been a week since my last post, and I've been up to quite a bit. Here are some of the highlights:

• The university's club fair was last weekend. I went to inquire about the wind ensemble, and also got to hear them play everyone at the fair. They were pretty darn good, even though the ensemble there was pretty small. I'll be going to an interest meeting next week. I hope I don't make a fool of myself on account of my limited Japanese.
• It was during this fair that not one, not two, but three different groups of people came up to me to ask for a picture. One of the girls in the last group even went as far as to say that she thought I was cool. Again, I don't know where these people are getting their ideas.
• Finally got my SIM card for my phone. Now I have an actual phone number and mobile data, so I can finally go out without having to worry about whether or not I'll have emergency resources at hand.
• The car search is still underway. The local dealer still has yet to find anything, and I've asked an American JDM importer with a dealership in Osaka to also be on the lookout. There's a Roadster in Kanagawa prefecture that I might be able to get within or close to my budget. It was well taken care of (one of the owners was a senior citizen) and clean everywhere. I'll get an exact quote on Monday.
• The TAing has been...interesting. The classes are higher-level classes (third and fourth-year students). Some of the students are not trying, and I have to reflect that in their grades. For one of the classes, the final exam counts for 90% (yes, you read that correctly) for the entire grade. A few students then have the habit of not showing up until exam day. Problem is, if they're not doing their homework, they're not going to do well on the exam. You'd think that they'd figure this out by now. Oh well, at least I'm getting paid to do it.
• The intermediate Japanese class that I wanted to take conflicts with another class in my schedule. Therefore, I'll have to take the higher-level beginners Japanese class. I've seen the book and it's pretty easy, but at least I'll actually be getting the fundamentals down in an actual classroom, instead of trying to learn by myself.
• Apparently someone back in the States asked about whether or not I was in the part of the area that recently had the earthquake. The epicenter of said quake was 800 miles southwest from me. It'd be like someone from Japan asking someone in New York if they were affected by the tornado in Indiana. Unless you see something in the news about something happening in or near Fukushima prefecture, then you don't have to be concerned. On second thought, don't be concerned at all. I don't want to put up with a million questions about radiation exposure.

That's all that's been of interest. Onwards and upwards.

-wp

School is in session

I have now officially been a master's student for two days. I'm all registered for my classes, and I'm TAing two of them. My lab station now has a simple computer for web browsing, handling documents, and e-mails. Once I start getting busy, though, I'll have to make a proposal for equipment. But that probably won't happen until around June or July.

Another update on my phone: the reason for all of the delays was because I did not supply my full address. In Japan, addresses are done a bit differently. Everything is in reverse order compared to the US, so in my case, it's postal code --> prefecture --> city --> municipality --> sub-municipality --> sub-sub-municipality --> campus name --> building number. As it turned out, I was missing the sub-sub-municipality in my address. I'm sure that if they had told me this in advance, they would have saved both of us a load of time. Regardless, everything has now been straightened out. The SIM card should be here by the start of next week.

I met with a local car dealer today who goes to car auctions for clients. My main desires in a car are Mazda brand and manual transmission. Both of those things are a rarity in Fukushima. (As it turns out, automatic cars are super common here, too.) The dealer said that he had not seen a Eunos NA Roadster with a manual transmission (my top pick) in over ten months. I asked him to keep an eye out for one, and ask around for anyone who may be looking to sell. I gave some alternatives to look for in the meantime. I told him that the longest I'd be willing to wait is up to two or three months. He goes to the USS auctions in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, which are all towards the later end of the week. He will keep me updated on what he finds. The foreign personnel advisor does not return until Monday, so I probably will not hear back until then. I'm pulling for him; even with the limited English, the dude was pretty chill. Into American imports, too; he even showed up wearing a GM Goodwrench work suit.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind a car with an automatic transmission if it weren't for the licensing laws. In America, as soon as you get your license, you can drive whatever vehicle you want, so long as it has four wheels and isn't a semi. Here, however, it's slightly different. Driving a manual transmission vehicle requires an endorsement on your license. If I tested in a car with an automatic transmission, I would be allowed to drive a car that came equipped with an automatic transmission only. If I wanted to drive a car with a manual transmission, I would have to test in a car with a manual transmission. Just as America had the Ford Crown Victoria for general government fleet vehicles, Japan has the Toyota Crown. And from what I've heard, the clutches in these babies are heavy. So in the meantime, I should be getting ready with a car that has a manual transmission, so that I can hone my driving skills. Otherwise, I can kiss getting to experience most JDM classic cars goodbye. And that's where I put my foot down.

Also, I know that most of you reading this have by now probably thought the word "train" at least once. Here's the campus (i.e. where I am). The nearest convenience store is a 20 minute walk one-way. The nearest grocery store is 40 minutes one-way. And the buses in Aizu run sporadically. Plus, it's colder during the winter in this part of Japan compared to Connecticut, and the wind can be very strong. I'm not necessarily tearing public transit a new asshole; I respect it for what it does in this country. But for me, and my needs, it is not working. I can live another month or two without the car. After that, I'll need to do something.

On a more positive note, my Introduction to Sound and Audio class today was interesting. My professor actually did a barrel roll, and then a cartwheel, during my lecture. Top that, UNH. He also provided iPads for the class to do our assignments or, well, whatever the hell we damn well pleased. Some of them were purchased this morning (I got one of those models). I just have to return it when the class is over. In three months. This school does not skimp on equipment.

So there are a few setbacks, but nothing major to complain about. Hope that the rest of the semester, or at least the quarter, is as smooth.

-wp

Orientation

Today was orientation day for new students at the university. I am now officially in graduate school.

The ceremony was pretty straightforward. They would call your name one by one, and you'd say 「はい」 and stand up, and then you would sit back down afterwards. There were the addresses from the mayor and the reps for the prefectural executives, and the undergraduates and graduates stood up for their vows, then sat back down. Then it was over.

While the undergraduates remained in the auditorium, the graduate students were allowed to go outside. I hung around the student building for a bit, and then returned to my room for a while until the next orientation meeting. It wasn't until halfway through that meeting that I remembered that they were having a group photo of all the new students on the steps by the student building. I'm not worried, though. There will be enough pictures of me in Japan. Like this one:

One of the students in my wing thought I looked cool. I don't see it.

Tomorrow I need to figure out the classes I'll be taking. Those start on Thursday. The SIM card is still not here, and I'm still looking for a Roadster. On Monday, I'll have an interview for a TA position. Let's hope that it goes well.

Spring, and the sakura, have come to Aizu.

-wp