Dietrich72

Thank you for the link!! I appreciate that.

If you ever find yourself in New York State (US), you'll have to let me know!

Kuro Neko

NP! I was doing an update for friends in Aus, so happy to share.

Thanks too, and less of an issue these days with memory and digital systems, but dragging that dial around for all those digits was a real pain I bet.

Will do... as its a great place and has some tremendous roads up-state, pity we were in a Camaro and not the Cayman last time.





The Camaro wasn't that bad actually; reasonable fuel consumption, fun kitschy interior, comfortable over the bump-thump of those strange concrete freeways, but the trunk opening is smaller than the Cayman...

See ya.

Dietrich72

Ha! Very cool!! Tim Hortons - you must have been out west toward Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Toronto, etc. I hope that you got a chance to check out Watkins Glen.

Stewarts are all over the place in the Albany area - assuming you were pretty darn close to me/us. Small world!

Be safe and keep the great pictures coming! Hope to see you sometime...we have 4 cats...but no black ones, unfortunately...

Kuro Neko

Indeed we were...
I wasn't aware of the proximity of Watkins Glen, otherwise I would have checked the historic track out!

We have one legit cat, not black either.

For the New Year break, the government had asked us to not visit shrines on just the first three days of the year.
Instead, we were encouraged to visit over the first week...

We took the opportunity to explore wider, looking for both New Year talisman for the minka, and some camphor for the minka fire (to smoke nicely and keep the bugs out of the thatch).



We discovered this place in the mountains last year, and there was no one here.



One of the larger shrines, was relatively quiet.



Another local shrine we visited for the first time.
We sat here, and looked out over the valley.




1000 year old sugi trees of significance to this shrine.



Later that week, we also took a drive North to Katori-town for some exploring...

Kuro Neko

Katori town's Sawara district made a name for itself during the Edo period by shipping its goods to Japan’s capital of Edo (current day Tokyo) through a network of rivers to which Sawara’s Ono River is connected. The area thrived to such an extent that it even earned the nickname “Little Edo”. Around 140 docks once lined the flanks of this waterway, and twenty of those docks have remained preserved up until today.

(Description stolen from the internet.)



It has Edo-, Meiji-, and Taisho-era buildings.
On the outskirts, this Taisho-era maybe ex-bank is pretty neat.
More Taisho buildings are also being restored and reformed too.



Homes, cafes, galleries, souvenir shops all line the river.



We took a fresh coffee from a Covid-safe outside window for a walk down along the river in the harsh winter sun.



Mid-week, it was pretty quiet.



After, we enjoyed a fast run South on the empty expressway home...

Kuro Neko

Nothing special...



Though we did see a minty Rubber Dinghy, in C2 form, on a recent run North.



There's nothing quite like some hot octopus ***** on a cold day!



Entire menu of Western drinks in easy-to-read katakana.



Fire for last year's talisman.




More tasty take-away food stalls.



The start of some recent snow kept the Cayman off the road for a few days...

Kuro Neko

The snow kept coming for a few more hours...





Other than having to tow a couple of stranded tourists, it was otherwise uneventful.



Our mailman wasn't concerned.
A light snow wasn't stopping his Honda Cub.



Swapping ends on summer tires.




The next day came with clear blue skies, and the roads were mostly cleared of snow and abandoned Benz before lunch...

Kuro Neko

One of those winter days, hole in the ozone layer, burns your eyes out brightness.
We jumped in the Cayman and went searching for some fresh seafood down the coast.

Four or more hours, a couple of hundred km, including some new twisty bits...



Tsunami aside, a seaside house would be nice.
Especially in winter.



Waiting for a ferry was a squadron of dekotora.

(Some occasionally entertaining nuff-nuffs on the same ferry and roads.)

While dekotora, chinpira, yakuza, wangan-reisa, bosozoku, shakotan, bippu, and similar are definitely in decline across Japan, they are all still about and it was neat to see such a large group of at least one tribe.



Some of the details and lighting are pretty neat.
Note rear light set, inside rear wheels, which I assume use a battery system of some sort, and look pretty neat at night.
I've been out on the Wangan, more than once, and have been passed by a light show at well over the speed limit...



This matched set (COLLECT ALL TEN!), one from Tokyo and one from Narita, were happy to pose for photographers, as the whole squad had local tourists snapping with delight all over...



A passing kei provided a suitable contrast to this Harsco (?), and I cannot imagine maneuvering it on Japanese streets... though, it might be fun on the local beaches.
Perhaps, rescuing stuck fishing boats?

kiznarsh

Those lights on the rear wheels are pretty trippy!

Last night I saw a late-90s Buick LeSabre that had a bunch of red LEDs stuck on mud flaps that were comically large and out of place.

Must've been influenced from Japan.

Kuro Neko

Here's a vid that looks like it has some of the rear wheel illumination:



LED mudflaps?
Sounds like something that was influenced by Japan, yeah.

Just wait until you see a LeSabre itasha (pain-car):



You'd likely feel a real Buick coming on then...

Kuro Neko

Quiet weekend, and a quick run South...



Hand-cut access tunnel, made as part of an ancient castle site.



We took a short walk to a hill top shrine.



On the way down, we came across this huge bulldozer.



Even with the clear skies, most people appeared to stay home, as the roads were clear.
Except perhaps for these bippu (VIP-style) Nissan.



After some nice twisties in the morning, we were able to open it up on the clear expressway in the afternoon...

TMc993

Reading this thread and enjoying the images has become my Saturday morning coffee ritual. You have "the eye."

Kuro Neko

Thanks!
I am too young to be on Facebook* and similar yet, and post here so friends and Porsche fam can keep up-to-date on Cayman adventures, and just as happy to share somewhat anon stuff with others too...

* Plus, I sell content to other outlets, and Internet Brands does not claim perpetual ownership over everything.

See ya!
Neko

Kuro Neko

Places to go.
People to meet...



While impressive in the lead up to the 1964 Olympic Games, the construction of the Shuto-ko Expressway was perhaps a big mistake - at least visually.
Some of the elevated sections, constructed between buildings, on wide avenues, make dark canyons of concrete at street level.
In more than a few places, talks are underway to relocate some of the elevated sections to underground, notably at Nihonbashi where the historical center of Tokyo, the zero km marker, a reasonable riverscape, and local shops are blighted by an overhead thundering behemoth.

Driving it though is a different story, and it is the source of many legends, video games, and late night exploits as a result...



Today though, a run from our apartment in Shibuya to Otemachi was needed.
East on R246 (another ), and through Omotesando's winter shoppers.



Passing shinkansen are always entertaining.
Here over the traffic in Hibiya.



Relatively light mid-week traffic in one of Tokyo's downtown areas.



On street parking, costs a few hundred yen for an hour, and is reasonably easy to find at lunch time.



Even among the high rise, outside of perhaps just Otemachi, central Tokyo is often still just a jumble of buildings, businesses, and in some cases homes.
A number of pre-War buildings still exist all over the place in many areas.
Such is the vastness of the megopolis, it will take the greedy developers years to buy them all up and create more look-alike green glass towers.

One developer, realizing that vast glass towers essentially kill any life, replacing it with 9-to-5 businesses, has recognized this mistake and is attempting to redevelop and promote historic buildings and precincts, for people to work and live with a sense of community.
Often a difficult process with one particular new-buildings-only developer heavily into government bribes, manipulation, and political support.



Pre-Covid, my daily commute was typically around the wide avenues of the Imperial Palace.
One day, I might have to start that again.



A number of the buildings in the Palace grounds were damaged in the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake (about an intensity 6 in this area), and remained un-repaired for many years, as a sign of respect to those that had suffered.
It was always heartening to pass this now-repaired yagura, and see its damaged facade after it had slipped off into the moat.



BMWs are quite popular in Japan, and here one of those fussy new ones passes the Pentax Camera HQ - as featured in many camera user manuals, where someone was just sent out on to the street with a new camera.



More Shuto canyons of darkness.



Back home in Shibuya, we stopped off in our local street for some supplies...

kiznarsh

How do the Shuto canyons look at night? With the right lighting (and no cars around), seems like a cool location for shoots.

This is my friend's M3 in downtown LA. Pics would be more interesting when they still had the sodium vapor lights instead of new LEDs but hey, now the city saves $7 million a year with lower electricity costs.