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.

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!

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing :nod::icon_tup:

wow, very nice, thanks for sharing~

I'm shocked your wife was down to do this for you, very rare Korean woman to accept this hobby haha

Damn, I have the 'Copy! Copy!' shirt as well.. haha

That is so cool! Once in a lifetime experience. The pics are great! Planning a trip to Japan with my wife sometime within the next couple of years, so I'll definitely have to add this to do the todo list.

Great story! Thanks for sharing :)