Iron Chef’s Top Twenty Collectible Modern Japanese Cars – Part 2
Published: 6/05/2016
Missed numbers 20-11? Click here. So now we check out the top ten modern collectible Japanese cars. It seems the first installment generated a fair bit of discussion! Bear in mind that the cars listed are only ranked on ability to appreciate in value in the future. If your favourite car hasn’t appeared on the list, […]
3/11 Tsunami and its After Effects
Published: 25/03/2011
There were a variety of subjects I had lined up for my column this month, but as I type, Japan has just been devastated by a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. By the time you read this column, the mainstream media will have long moved on to other headlines, but I suspect that, like the floods […]
The Life of a Japanese Motorist – Part 2
Published: 23/07/2009
Didn’t catch part 1? See here. So, is it blue or green?? You were set the task of uncovering why traffic lights, in rural Japan in particular, have a blue light for “go” instead of green. The answer lies in the ambiguities of the Japanese language: believe it or not, the word “ao” […]
The Life of a Japanese Motorist
Published: 28/05/2009
Visiting Japan is one thing, but driving there makes the experience so much more interesting. When my wife and I moved to inner Osaka in 1999, we went without a owning or driving a car for the first 9 months of our time there. While this situation might be inconceivable in Australia, Japan’s […]
A Day in the Life of a Buying Agent in Japan
Published: 11/03/2009
Have you ever gone to sleep wishing you could move to Japan to work at the car auctions as a buyer for customers in Australia and around the world? You picture yourself drooling over some of the hottest cars known to humankind, nabbing that winning bid at the last second to secure the perfect […]
Buying Trip Blog – January 2008
Published: 24/02/2008
For a trip down memory lane, here is my blog from a trip to Japan buying cars at auction back in 2008. Days 1 & 2: Blast Furnace to Refrigerator On a 39-degree day, leaving Adelaide wearing tracksuit pants and clutching a thick jacket earnt me a number of sideways glances, particularly as I was […]