2008-01

Gora Kadan is one of the prime onsen (hot springs) bath and hotel in Hakone. Frequented by international celebrities, the SPA and the bath is said to be one of the best in Japan. Hakone is a nice 2 hour drive from Tokyo. You can also take the train from Shinjyuku.

The new Ferrari open 2 seater or 4 seater option California will be unveiled later on this year.

ANother Sunday morning at the Daikoku Parking in Yokohama. ?Some radical souped up cars, lots of body mods. They all come here and hang out showing the cars, just like that drift movie, except there are no girls with mini skirts and English speaking gangsters. The people here are also very colorful.

The Cayenne Turbo had always been our dream car. We bought our 1st Cayenne S which was imported from USSR in 2002. It was the 1st Cayenne in Japan, almost 1 year before Porsche Japan started selling their Cayenne S. We had major problems with the transmission, but the car stayed with us for over 2 years. At a dealer I saw this car with panorama roof and fell in love. However, the car is really quirky and the ride is rough. The rear seats are a pain to sit in and it is difficult to part his car anywhere in Japan. The car is over 2.4 tons, and a lot of mechanical parking lists 2.3t as the limit and although the size fits, the mechanical parking manufacturers lists Cayenne (any model) as no go. So we ended up not driving it much. We sold it and got a Mercedes Benz S350. It was a wise move, the gas tank lasts twice as much, we can park virtually anywhere and the car is so so comfortable considering I use it for work driving customers around Tokyo. So the car was with us only a few month. I took a loss but if I kept it, the prices (did) would have fallen much further.

Happy new year 2008. This is a view from my room at Tokyo Midtown. The new morning is about to break. I wish everyone a productive, profitable and healthy new year.