OTSUKARESAMADESHITA

Well it was a sad farewell to the Spacegear which has served us so well over the last 6-7 years or so. Unfortunately rust waits for nobody and her time was up. A huge mahalo to Akihito who so generously gave me a great deal when he was forced to upgrade from a diesel to a petrol car due to new exhaust regulations for the greater Saitama and Tokyo areas and to Suzuki-kun from Mitsubishi Motors in Kamogawa who helped out with regular servicing.

We managed to put 50,000 kms on her and used her as a second house visiting a variety of places and camping where ever took our fancy. We have been as far south as Kyushu, taking the ferry from Tokyo to Kita Kyushu and driving thru Fukuoka, Nagasaki, across the volcanic plateau to Miyazaki and down to Kagoshima. We've visited family in Osaka doing the 7-8hr midnight mission to save money on tolls and avoid traffic. We've regularly headed for the southern tip of Izu Peninsula for surfing and relaxing in the pristine sub-tropical climate around Shimoda. We've been up the mountains in Gunma snowboarding and sliding around on the narrow icy roads to the ski fields. We've taken family up to Nikko and toured the National Park area there. We've taxied tons of people to and from Narita airport, especially when we got married. We've done regular summer surf trips north to Fukushima and Miyagi Prefectures and most recently to Iwate with Shinya. It's really enabled me to see a lot of Japan ad do it with surfboards in tow and at my own pace.

For now we are 'ECO' as we ride bikes around town. The search is on for a replacement and until then I know that Aiko will miss the monthly trips into the city where we shopped at Costco to cater to our international tastes, to catch a flick or just to break the monotony of shopping at Jusco.

Thanks for the memories.

Sayonara and otsukaresamadeshita! May you R.I.P. buddy...