Visit to RE Amemiya's Tomisato, Chiba, Japan Shop 9/23/16 and look who shows up....
09-30-16, 06:01 PM
#1
Visit to RE Amemiya's Tomisato, Chiba, Japan Shop 9/23/16 and look who shows up....
Hi Guys,
Just got back from a 3 week vacation in Korea and had the option to fly back home with a stop in Narita, Japan for a day before flying back to SF, CA. I convinced the wife that we had to stop by the RE Amemiya shop which is about a 15 minute drive from the Narita Airport. She arranged for her Korean friend who lives in Japan and speaks the language to meet us for the field trip, and it was a done deal!
I put the luggage on hold at the airport, we sourced a taxi driver, and away we went. The taxi drivers wear white gloves and the taxi doors automatically swing open and close for you, pretty cool! After I got over the sticker shock of the one way taxi drive (I recall it was around $40 or so), we arrived at around 3pm that Friday.
I had a quick conversation with the RE Amemiya office manager through 2 lines or translation = my wife converting my English to Korean. Her friend then converting Korean to Japanese, haha, it worked though, and then I began filming and taking pictures! One full Carbon Fiber FD was inside the shop which was quite a site, I'll have to pull pics of that off the gopro along with additional pics of the rest of the FDs I recorded. Being from the states, and knowing how hard it is to source RE-Amemiya parts makes being in the shop kind of surreal. It was a great experience, I wish I had an empty suitcase to buy more goods.
I ended up purchasing 3 shirts and stickers, as they are easy to pack. We ended up back outside to take pictures of a new Blue FD that showed up. As I finished taking shots, my wife says look behind you, and sure enough Mr. Amemiya was there looking at me. I was suprised as he just appeared from no where, we shook hands, had a brief 2 way translation going from English to Korean to Japanese. Then he starts saying "Copy, Copy!" and pointing at my shirt. Haha, I guess he realized that the RE-Amemiya Logo shirt I bought on Ebay wasnt an official one. So he wanted a picture with me wearing the shirt in front of his Blue FD and asked me if he could post it on his personal blogging Website. After I agreed and the pictures were taken, I ripped off my Ebay RE Amemiya shirt and put on the one I bought from the store. We laughed and took some additional pictures. He said he usually visits the shop only on Fridays later in the day. He then invited us to a race that would be taking place the next day with the Mazda 787b making an appearance.
Unfortunately, we were leaving that day, but that experience was definitely a highlight of my vacation!
Pics attached along with Mr. Amemiya's light blue FD in the parking lot that we took pictures next to.
Just got back from a 3 week vacation in Korea and had the option to fly back home with a stop in Narita, Japan for a day before flying back to SF, CA. I convinced the wife that we had to stop by the RE Amemiya shop which is about a 15 minute drive from the Narita Airport. She arranged for her Korean friend who lives in Japan and speaks the language to meet us for the field trip, and it was a done deal!
I put the luggage on hold at the airport, we sourced a taxi driver, and away we went. The taxi drivers wear white gloves and the taxi doors automatically swing open and close for you, pretty cool! After I got over the sticker shock of the one way taxi drive (I recall it was around $40 or so), we arrived at around 3pm that Friday.
I had a quick conversation with the RE Amemiya office manager through 2 lines or translation = my wife converting my English to Korean. Her friend then converting Korean to Japanese, haha, it worked though, and then I began filming and taking pictures! One full Carbon Fiber FD was inside the shop which was quite a site, I'll have to pull pics of that off the gopro along with additional pics of the rest of the FDs I recorded. Being from the states, and knowing how hard it is to source RE-Amemiya parts makes being in the shop kind of surreal. It was a great experience, I wish I had an empty suitcase to buy more goods.
I ended up purchasing 3 shirts and stickers, as they are easy to pack. We ended up back outside to take pictures of a new Blue FD that showed up. As I finished taking shots, my wife says look behind you, and sure enough Mr. Amemiya was there looking at me. I was suprised as he just appeared from no where, we shook hands, had a brief 2 way translation going from English to Korean to Japanese. Then he starts saying "Copy, Copy!" and pointing at my shirt. Haha, I guess he realized that the RE-Amemiya Logo shirt I bought on Ebay wasnt an official one. So he wanted a picture with me wearing the shirt in front of his Blue FD and asked me if he could post it on his personal blogging Website. After I agreed and the pictures were taken, I ripped off my Ebay RE Amemiya shirt and put on the one I bought from the store. We laughed and took some additional pictures. He said he usually visits the shop only on Fridays later in the day. He then invited us to a race that would be taking place the next day with the Mazda 787b making an appearance.
Unfortunately, we were leaving that day, but that experience was definitely a highlight of my vacation!
Pics attached along with Mr. Amemiya's light blue FD in the parking lot that we took pictures next to.
10-02-16, 06:57 AM
#2
Not the company
Def/ on my bucket list of places to visit someday with my brother who speaks fluent Japanese. Thanks for sharing pics, and amazing that you got to meet Mr. Amemiya himself!
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