Tokyo Motor Show

This past weekend I journey out to Chiba to go the Tokyo Motor Show. Its held all the way in Chiba because there isn't much room in Tokyo for an appropriately sized building. I've always wanted to go to the event (having seen photos from it every year paraded about on the internet) and now I have. Only hurdled I had to cross was that half-way there I realized I had left my ticket behind, but fortunately a German (of course) friend had been helping Volkswagen setup their booth and he was able to lend his employee bad (along with meal tickets!) to me.

The event was definitely amazing, especially watching how half the people there reacted to the models (women not cars). I'd say that all in all the event was very mouth-watering and it does make me miss driving (though I'd never dare try and drive in Japan). The themes this year were once again fuel efficiency and another big one was the idea of having these pods that deploy from your car and you ride them into the stores like a mini-scooter. Really it just seemed like an exercise in laziness, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. Other highlights include a Mini display to celebrate the new Clubman that was designed a full-on club, discoball included.

After the show ended, Pablo and I decided to head out to Costco. But there was a slight problem, in the a typhoon had blown in. But what's two miles walking in a typhoon when Costco is at the finish? So anyway, we braved the high winds, and even harder rains to reach Costco. At the end, the only casualties were our umbrellas. Unfortunately, when you go to Costco, you always end up buying much more than you intend to, and I had to find a way to get 6L of cranberry juice, 4 lbs of Peanut butter, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 3L of coffee, and 1L of Vodka all the way back to my home.

Still, it was definitely worth the visit to relax in that mecca of American consumerism after the past 6 weeks in Japan. Also the giant pizza at the end of the trip was appreciated (in Japan, a medium Dominoes pizza runs up to 30$ easily!?!?).