Waves from the past...

[tz250w]

Hey all!

Nice to see the forum is still "thumping". (Thanks especially to Jak)

Haven't been on a bike in ages but I got an email out of the blue today that I think came from someone visiting this forum. It was a fond reminder and got me to go looking if the joint is still alive!

Most "smiles per mile" bike I ever owned. It won't be forgotten.

Best wishes and good health to you all. Until next time...

Max

[tz250w]

Whoops... Soz to the mod team... my posts didn't seem to register so there are duplicates.

[HolerTogni]

Hi Max!

(rubbing my eyes ... yes, still there!)

Veeery nice to read from you after all this time!

Hope all is as well as it can be with you, although you've been not riding a TRX for a very long time - however, your memories of having ridden one are still vivid as it reads and that will also help with feeling good.

"Looking forward to not having to wait as long as I have till now to read from you again" - greets from Munich!

[dicky]

G'day Max, nice to see you back again.
Are you still in Japan?
I moved to Tokyo for a while but now I'm back in Oz again.
Happily retired in the country with a shed full of bikes.

[tz250w]

Yep, still in Japan... 40 years now. Haven't ridden bikes at all since getting rear ended in the family car and wrecking my neck. I guess that was about 18 years ago or so now. Now I'm mostly a beach bum. I still have the little kei truck I bought new to haul the TRX to the track and have turned it into a camper.

Yes, the memories are vivid. It's hard to believe my last race was almost 20 years ago (19, to be exact) at the age of 40! I remember every bit of it like it was yesterday. Now I just can't remember what I did 30 seconds ago... lol

[dicky]

40 years but still a foreigner?
Japan is tough, I think you told me that, but I still moved there.
In hindsight it was a bad move, both for me and the business I was involved with, but I did enjoy my time there despite that.
I had been visiting Japan on roughly six week intervals for many years, and when I had the opportunity I said "why don't I base myself in Tokyo?", surely it would help to grow business.
How wrong I was, but in very weird ways.
The first day I turned up at our company office in Tokyo (in Shinjuku Skyscraper district, prestige was paramount) I was confronted by the guy who I had most previous dealings with who asked me point blank "why are you here?". It was fine for me to visit from HK, but to be based in Tokyo was not acceptable. I was stepping on toes.
I did much more than that. Once it was clear that I was not welcome we changed our entire strategy for Japan and I became the bad cop, I sat in in meetings just to prickle them, and they did what we wanted without me even asking. Very weird business environment.
I was still gaining new business in Japan without their help, much to their shock as I didn't speak Japanese, which only pissed them off even more.
None of the Japanese contacts who I was dealing with had any problem conversing in English. Most of them had been to university in Australia or Canada.
I loved living in suburban Tokyo. I lived in Ebaramachi, in Shimbashi Ward, a very normal Japanese suburb except for that Australian bloke who moved in recently. I walked into an izakaya not long after I moved in and was confronted by a guy who told me, in English, that I should not drink here by myself. I looked around the room and saw everyone was looking at me. This guy then said that I should join him at his table. He then proceeded to tell me everything that the community knew about me, leaving me very little to fill in. Every one in the place bought me a drink. These guys were awesome. I think I crawled home, can't remember.
I tell everyone that Japan is a great place to visit, just don't ever live there.

[HolerTogni]

Hi Max!

Hard to believe that there's another post of you in that short interval - but there it is!

Nothing wrong with being a beach bum if you can enjoy it - there are different ways of enjoying yourself and life!

The data in your post reveal that you are only two (or rather 1 1/2) years older than me - hopefully plenty of time and loads of good or even magnificent moments to enjoy!

"Trying to make the best of life as it is" - greets from Munich!

[tz250w]

I tell everyone that Japan is a great place to visit, just don't ever live there.

Yeah, I don't recommend it to people these days especially. Times have changed... It was easier for me earlier on actually. Especially late eighties, early 90s. Now there's much more resentment towards foreigners I feel. Partly do to over-tourism, partly to changing of the guard in generations... When I got here, all of my landlords were adults during the war and experienced what it did to their country. Now I have their children, or even grandchildren that never experienced it and only gained from the hard work their parents put into rebuilding.

But since I speak the lingo, especially with the older folk... once I open my mouth I'm treated pretty much like a local. Until then, I'm just some other "damned tourist"... lol

My son (hafu, his mom is Japanese) now lives and works in Tokyo. Hibiya, to be exact the financial heart of the city. He works for one of the big four consulting firms (British owned) and seems to be enjoying it. Although he hates the big city, luckily his job is very flexible in hours and he only needs to go into the office a few days a week. Mostly he works from home in Ikebukuro.

I get lost quick in Tokyo... having only been there a few times and I really could never live there. Hiroshima is just the right size for me. But bloody hell... it's crowded with "damned tourists"! haha. I felt I had it to myself years ago.

@HolerTogni

Thanks for the kind words! I'll try to pop in more often!

Making the best of it is what I'm trying to do. -greets from Hiroshima!

[HolerTogni]

[BigAl-TC]

Welcome back Max , Hopefully we see some more old school return to the fold after the forum was down for so long.