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Osaka Japan - May 2008

The show in Osaka Japan was one of the coolest I had been to in a long time.  The whole trip was a great experience.  Enjoy the details & pics..

Saturday night was the dinner honoring Wayne Scott. Lisa Matwijiw was also there and both were very cool to talk with and hang around. 

The dinner was open buffet style with many different types of cuisines to choose from.  I tried some things I normally would never eat.   I actually tried octopus and it wasn't as bad as one would think. In all the food was very good.  On the way into the dinner was a display set up with all of the cars for the event.

After the dinner in the same room was also the charity auction auctioning off some prototypes, event cars, and a few customs.  It was a great time as well.  Very relaxed atmosphere as well while getting to meet a great number of collectors and customizers from Japan.  I got to take pics with a few and sign a few autographs.

Sunday morning was the main event held across the street at the WTC convention hall.  I got there early enough to set up and take a few pics of others doing the same.  There were more event cars on display, as well as the spinner wheel and customs table. 

Some clowning around pics,

Some of the cars I entered in the customs contest as well as my wife Marcia's Mooneyes custom hauler set.

The 2 customs sets I won the event with.  The first is a 2 car set named Armor Troop, and the second is Forgotten heroes with the Mach 5 and the Shooting Star

The spinner wheels and various pics from the event.  The blonde woman is Lisa Matwijiw, Mattel's chief engineer.  Wayne Scott signing autographs.  I was at the table with one of Japans finest customizers Chojiro.  We clowned around the whole time.

Many of the cars at the customs contest.  There was some awesome talent here.  Also a not, there was a youth class with great stuff.

Contest judging and trophy presentation.  There was some great talent there. I actually won a couple trophies. 1st place in Mild and 1st place in Wild.  Happy Dance!

One of the sets Kazy Kustoms had there to show me.  I really love the detail of this one.  It was entered in the past, but I never saw it in person.

Sunday night was a staff dinner at the hotel in an Italian restaurant.  The food was incredible.

Monday George, Junji (sp), Shinitchi (sp) Lisa Matwiji, myself and my wife Marcia went site seeing around Osaka & kyoto.  We rode the train to Kyoto to visit some temples. George, Junji, and Shinitchi were invaluable showing us around.  They showed us around the area and we got to see some great sites and learn a lot of new things. 

Some of the cool swag I bought.  I am a huge Japanese anime and robot fan.  I found a store called Yodobashi Camera that had a ton of this stuff there.  Also on the way in the door is a 4ft Gundam robot greeting you.  You just know I HAD to take my pic with it.

Some pics of the area from the hotel and my room.  I also took pics on the way downtown of various things.

Something to note, something you don't see everyday.. or anywhere for that matter.  A Ferrari edition SmartCar.

Something else to experience.  McDonalds.  They have something called the MegaMac.  It is our BigMac with 4 patties instead of just the 2.  You KNOW I got one of those. lol  And of course Subway.  With a menu not found here.  Shrimp and avacodo sandwhich with fries?  YES PLEASE!

George, Marcia, Lisa, and Junji went to the aquarium on Tuesday afternoon. We flew out Wednesday afternoon and got back late Wednesday night. (time zone change)  I used ALL day Thursday to recoup.  Jetlag there is not bad, but coming back I was tired and wiped all day.  It was great and worth the trip.  See you next time there in Tokyo!