This time around Ray and I didn’t do the normal Izakaya /hangover routine, and instead we chilled with a lot of family/friends and stayed put.  We got to see a lot of friends and just chill at their houses and let the kids play. It was nice for a change and it really felt like we were “family”, spending quality time with good family friends. I used to feel like I had to always go out and drink the last beer,  smoke the last cigarette, and make the last train but this time it felt good not to be hungover and run to catch the last train.  It was nice and easy, woke up without an alarm and didn’t even have a headache. Becoming a parent/old-fart is not as bad as it seems, in recent months I have discovered its not the end of your life, its just closing one chapter and opening the next. It’s all perspective… We can’t play forever… Anyway above is Sho pushing Hugo, Hugo is 2 years old and is a super cute kid, his expressions crack me up. Almost straight out of a Manga/Anime! Sho with the drool, not so much.

For the first time I actually drove a lot in Japan, for four days I rocked my Toyota Setto, we even managed a roadtrip to Shizioka (roughly 3 hours from Tokyo). It was nice for once to see the countryside and actually do a lot of legitimate driving, not just the turn, turn, turn, go, stop, turn stop, go deal in Tokyo, but actually cruise on the highway. Believe it or not its a real nice drive out to BFE, the roads are paved so nicely and there is always nicely trimmed hedges along the way (even in parts where no one lives). Going through the many tunnels reminded me of the GT2 days… i had the real urge so test the limits of my ride but many have warned of the highway cameras, so the fastest i got was 140kmh, next time I will take the plates off.

This K-car makes the xB/bB/Cube and the like, look big. I was trailing this ride who was trailing the new bB (Purple Car) its about 1/2 the width of the bB. It trips me out seeing these K-cars rolling next to Semi-trucks.

But Ray’s grandma’s house is even smaller! Look how small the parking spot at the house is, there is a very narrow alley that runs about 30 feet from the entrance to the house and is only a few feet wide. It was so small that it took me about 10 minutes each time to park the car “Knight Rider Style” (that’s how the Japs do it, always nose out!). It’s a trip though every time I had to drop Ray and kid off on the street and then back in, then I would crawl out the back of the car. If the car was any wider there would be no where to park, ain’t no curbside parking yo.