The last 30 minutes of our trip, this train took winded through the mountains with an amazing view. Once we arrived at the end station, we were already high up the mountain. Weirdly enough there was not a lot to see, are we there yet?

Noooope, we had to go up the mountain some more. The higher up the mountain the better the view right!? So we had to take this really old cable car up the mountain, but unfortunately we still had to take a bus to reach our destination.

But once there, it’s really peaceful, quiet and beautiful. Like this traditional Japanese garden with a pattern made with the pebbles. No Melbourne shuffling allowed on that ;)

Koyasan was originally a monastery, but is now grown into a town and featuring a university for religious studies. These must be some of the students marching by.

Super tall and old trees reaching for the sky and tombs, this must be Okunoin Temple. And boy is it big!

(left) Some tombs are really big, must have some important people buried there. (right) just check out how big the trees are.

Of course all of this needs to be well maintained, but driving your kei-car down the stairs? Now that’s a first for us.

Somehow it also had tombs of big corporations, not really sure why that was… anybody got an idea?

The momiji (autumn leaves) were already coming through a bit here and there. It’s always so nice to see it, it surely makes things even more pretty. At the end of the path there is a big temple, but you are not allowed to take any pictures. So you will just have to discover that yourself.

Here is one from Nissan…

But after all that walking it’s time for foooood! Tempura soba.

and Oyako katsu don. Yum Yum. So now that we are filled up and ready to go let’s move to Kongobuji Temple!

The touristic area of Koyasan is not that big, so we walked from the Okunoin Temple to the Kongobuji Temple. As the sun was starting to set we arrived.

Walking up the stairs and through the gate to the inner court. There was this small temple there, which see you quite often at other temples too. But I have no idea what they are for. Do you know?

Once inside the temple there were a lot of nicely made murals, but of which we were again not allowed to take pictures -__-.

But of this we could take a picture. This must have a been a very big and old tree. It’s possible to count the years, but it’ll take a a year to count all of these.

Inside the temple they have a very nice traditional Japanese garden. With the sun setting this was a nice end to our visit. After this it was time to go back by bus, cable car and train to Kobe.

All in all it’s a nice place to visit, but it’s quite far from Kobe or Osaka. Is it worth the visit… I guess only if you have a spare day on your trip. Next up Miyajima, Hiroshima.

Arriving in Japan

So a day later as planned and gradually turning into zombies, we arrived at Haneda Airport at 04.55am. Eventually at around 8.30am we got into a Shinkansen, finally on our way to Kobe, where we arrived at about 12.30pm. All this traveling made us so exhausted we just fell in our beds after checking in at R2 Hostel Kobe.

Sooo after our nap it was time to really kick-off our trip! Kobe is a modern city due to the Hanshin earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1995. Many lives were lost and large parts of the city were devastated. Since than the city has been rebuild with a lot of modern architecture. Unfortunately for us we didn’t have a lot of time to explore Kobe.

Once we were done shopping, we walked further along the bay, to take a closer look at Kobe’s most iconic architectural structures; the Kobe Port Tower (left) and Maritime museum (right). The cool thing about Japan is, they always light up their buildings properly, making them really stand out when the sun sets.

Food in Kobe

We were still exhausted but now also getting hungry, so it was time for some food.

We were thinking about getting grade A5 (highest quality) Kobe beef, but settled for the other extreme; Curry rice with beef in Kobe from Sukiya. For 1/10th the price I probably enjoyed this just as much as I would enjoy the Kobe beef, ooohw how I’ve missed my curry rice.

Conclusion

All in all, Kobe has a lot more to offer than we have seen. But deep down inside it feels like Yokohama’s less talented little brother and is not really that special.

Next up, our trip to Mount Koya.

During our visit in Japan, we were invited by Lotus Japan to make a video of their event at Fuji Speedway. Now who are we to say no to such an opportunity.

This is the second time this event was held and it was a great event. There were so many Lotus’s there and yet they were all different. There was also a whole range of historic cars, including some really nice Formula 1 cars, from which 1 was driven by the legend Senna.

Anyways enjoy the video (if you didn’t watch is already)

Music
Chase & Status & Plan B – End credits

Don’t forget to like us on facebook

Thanks Lotus Japan and Catherham Japan for the opportunity.

From my house it’s about a 2,5 hours drive, but worth every minute of it. Because this is the best ramen in Europe, and to be quite honest even better than a lot of ramen shops in Japan. It’s actually soo good, that there’s always a line of people waiting outside, just to eat here. That never happens in Europe!

I ordered the 「チャーシュー塩ラメン」chasu shio ramen (pork and ramen in salt based soup), this is with extra meat. Quick few minutes later I got this bowl served in front of me. The moment the delicious smell reaches your nose you can’t help but to dig in. When the freshly made ramen touches your tongue it feels like it almost melts, it’s a flavour party happening right in your mouth. What makes it so good are the really fresh ingredients.

They serve a lot of different types of ramen, this one is the 「特性ラ醤油ラメン」tokusei shouyu ramen (special ramen in soja-sauce based soup). They don’t just serve ramen, they have tons of different dishes, which I still have to try, but I heard good things about them. So maybe next time.

This is where all the magic happens. Yes it is almost has to be magic because, I can’t stress it enough, it tastes so good! I guess I made my point clear. If you live near Dusseldorf, Germany and love ramen, this is something you shouldn’t miss out on. Let us know if you went there and share your experience.

Naniwa Noodles & Soups
Oststraße 55
40211 Düsseldorf

This year the first Fast Car Festival was held at Zandvoort. This annual event is not so much about show, but mainly about go. The cars at this event range from tuned street cars to super cars to serious race cars.

The day is filled with drifting, track time, time attack and admiring awesome quality cars. If you weren’t here this year, make sure you don’t miss out next year, because this is the event to attend in The Netherlands.

More information about this event:
fast-car-festival.nl/​

Song: Calvin Harris – Feel So Close

Shot with a Canon 550D

But on another note, we will be going to Japan in October! So expect more updates coming up soon!

Of course being the ramen-addicts we are, we had to try all kinds of ramen-shops in Tokyo. This one was the closest to our house, about 15 min bike-ride away. Here Remi had a set menu, with ramen, fried rice and some gyoza! When eating ramen I always order some gyoza on the side. ギョーザ is a dumpling with meat filling. Usually it’s pan-fried  on one flat side, creating a crispy skin. Delicious!

The picture on the left shows one of the best ramen we ate in Japan. It’s located on the top floors of ヨドバシ, Yodobashi in Akihabara. They’re famous for the tv-chef who made the recipe of the ramen they sell. The most important part of good ramen is the soup base, this one was just delicious! No wonder the guy is famous! ;)

On the right is the first ramen meal we had after arriving in Tokyo from Holland. At a very cheap “fast-food” place. At that moment everything tasted good because we had traveled for about 27 hours straight!

This is ramen from the ramen-museum in Shin-Yokohama. The most bullshit-museum I’ve ever been too!! I had zero expectation when we decided to go here, and my god it was just shit! The museum consists of a man-built small fake ramen town. Inside was a court with only ramen shops. The fake buildings inside the building look like crap, it was like a really old and cheezy theme park. I thought I would learn more about ramen, but no. It was just a place where you could see a bunch of shops together and eat and spend money (we also had to pay entrance fee of course..).

But, or so they say, the different ramen dishes each originate from a different area of Japan and the ramen was just ok. So in the end we did feel ripped off, but our stomachs were filled :).

On the left another ramen dish. This was also at some fast-food shop. Cheap but oh-so-good! On the right is a picture of horse-sashimi. Sashimi consists of very fresh raw seafood, sliced into thin pieces, and served only with a dipping sauce. This time we went to Ueno and entered some random street-foodshop, where people sit on crappy stools with crappy tables. At this place they served some weird dishes like this horse-sashimi. The meat was extremely tender, so it was quite good. But not the most amazing food I ever tasted…

We continue in the noodle-soup collection. This a うどん, udon soup dish. Udon is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle. The flavor of soup and topping vary from region to region. Usually, dark brown broth, made from dark soy sauce is used in eastern Japan, and light brown broth, made from light soy sauce is used in western Japan.

This dish is called Hōtō (ほうとう). We ate this for the first (and last) time during our Momiji roadtrip. This  is a popular regional dish originating from Yamanashi, Japan made by stewing flat udon noodles and vegetables in miso soup (usually served in an iron pot). The pot was stuffed with the flat noodles and loads of vegetables including pumpkin! Somehow pumpkin in Japan tastes much better than the pumpkin in Europe. Thanks to  ほうとう I learned to love pumpkin! This dish was one of the best dishes I ate in Japan. Unfortunately we couldn’t find this in Tokyo… so I had eaten this only one time :(((! Can’t wait to eat this again, someday… :)~

Moving on to そば (Soba). Soba is a type of thin noodle made from buckwheat flour. Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup. Chilled soba is often garnished with bits of dried nori seaweed, with a dipping sauce known as soba tsuyu on the side. Usually we mix the tsuyu with wasabi.

I used to eat this a lot! It was a perfect quick lunch. Normally I would have 10 minutes between work and school to eat lunch. So I bought this at the combini next to our house and ate it quickly. It tastes really good and it’s healthy too! I only eat this chilled, I tried the hot one but it’s not as good. Especially in the summer it’s nice and refreshing.

オムライス, Omu-raisu! It’s a really simple dish: fried rice wrapped in an omelet. We went to an Omu-raise restaurant in Shibuya, they had so many different kinds of Omu-raisu. Such simple food is also easy to make at home, like I did on this picture.

This is actually Vietnamese food! Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, usually served with beef or chicken. The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with Vietnamese basil, lime, bean sprouts that are added to the soup by the diner. Like most restaurants this one also offered set meals. This Pho was served with an egg-roll, rice and dessert (jelly!).

Sushi. We love it.
This picture shows the freshest sushi we ate during our stay in Japan.  This was during our last road trip to Ito.

Of course we went to tons of kaiten sushi places (回転寿司). The plates with sushi is winding through the restaurant on the conveyor belt. You see something you like? Just grab the plate! Or if you want to order something which is not on the belt, just yell at the sushi-chef standing in the middle of the restaurant. Though this can be quite intimidating as a foreigner! Trying to yell in Japanese…
Salmon was and is still my favourite type of sushi. Just.. love… it….!!!

This was Remi’s pick. He had to try this hamburger-sushi. Looks fun, but actually not that spectacular.

On the left a picture of a dish at our favorite restaurant in Akihabara. Specialized in grilled meat: Yakitori (焼き鳥). On the right some type of horrible aubergine dish. Served cold and tastes sour…

I’m secretly regret eating this dish. It’s whale …
We ordered this dish at the same place in Ueno where we ordered the horse-sashimi. I guess we were feeling very adventurous at the time. This actually tasted a bit like liver. So in the end it wasn’t really that good, in my opinion. Later I saw a documentary again on National Geographic, not a very proud moment. ごめんなさい!

With the disaster that has occured in Japan, this event was dedicated to the victims. The cherry blossom flower marks the beginning of spring, a new season. But also a season where Japan starts to recover from the damage that it has taken from the earthquake and the tsunami.

The pink cherry blossom flowers are there only for about a week, before they start falling of and the trees turn green. In Japan almost everyone goes out and enjoys the cherry blossom, famous Sakura places in Japan also become immensely crowded, but ooh so joyful.

Close to the memorial sign, there was an origami crane hanging from a tree, this symbol reminds me of a story from a girl who lived in Hiroshima; Sadako Sasaki.

It was really nice to see the Sakura again, unfortunately the cheerful atmosphere was not combine with the beauty of the Sakura.

As the sun sets it was time to go back home.

But here in The Netherlands there are also some interesting car events happening. Last Sunday on the 27th of March the 2011 Dutch Time Attack kicked-off it’s series at the TT Circuit in Assen. As the sun was shining this was a perfect day to go out and shoot some video again.

The winter period is over, this is when racing cars are build, reconstructed and improved. So what kind of monstrous machines have been hiding in the shadows for months and are hungry for tearing apart the asphalt of the TT Circuit, all for setting the best time.

results of 2011 time attack at Assen

Special thanks to our sponsors
Jappower – For all your car tuning needs
Røde Mircophones – Microphones for amazing sound capturing

Special thanks for arranging media access: Petroworkz – Car lifestyle products

Music: Justice – Phantom part II

Camera gear used: Canon 550D, Canon 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM II, Canon 50mm F1.8, RØDE Microphones Video mic pro, Velbon tripod.

Anyone who’s been in Japan knows that there’s a lot of different fast-food chains, and I’m not just talking about the junkfood places like McDonalds or Burger King. These are shops with typical Japanese food. The food is cheap, it’s healthier than junk food and it’s fast! On average the waiting time is about 5 minutes until it’s served. Also, most of the shops are open 24/7! So it’s perfect after a night of clubbing. You don’t have to search long to find one, just like convenient stores…they’re everywhere!

This is one of my favorite fast-food dishes. The カツ丼, katsudon, a bowl of rice topped with a deep fried pork cutlet served with miso soup. This costs about 400 円 in total (€3,56)! It doesn’t look like much, but after this I’m always stuffed. Most of the time I can’t even finish it!

This shop is specialized in 海鮮丼, kaisendon. It’s basically a sashimi rice bowl; rice topped with raw fish.. Of course, any type a seafood dish in Japan is especially fresh and tastes amazing. You usually eat it with some soy sauce and wasabi, yummy.

This is Gyudon, a bowl of rice topped with onion and beef. This is very popular and inexpensive type of fast food. The most common dish served in these low-price fast food restaurants (like yoshinoya and sukiya). In my opinion the first few times is ok to eat, but after a while it’s just not that great anymore. It gets boring very easily. But I have to say, Remi still loves it even after so many times… And compared to the crappy fast food we get here in Holland, I’m secretly also craving for some Gyudon!

Miso soup, pork, coleslaw and “black” rise. Supposedly it’s very healthy (the rice).  Another set meal for a very reasonable price, about 680 円.

Another カツ丼, katsudon set meal, my fave. Always with a salad set to get enough veggies.

One of Remi’s favorite set meals at Sukiya. Maguro, shredded raw tuna with rice. Eat it like sushi, with soy sauce and wasabi. This place was a 2-minute walk from our house in Tokyo. Very convenient for those lazy I-don’t-want-to-cook-days.

My set meal at Sukiya, pork, rice, salad and soup. Cheap, fast, good!

Being away from home made me miss Chinese food a lot! So every now and then we went looking for our favorite Chinese food. This time we went to a food court in a department store in Shibuya. There is a restaurant which specializes in Chinese (Cantonese) food. When I saw this dish on the menu I had to order it! It’s rice porridge with 1000 yr old egg. It was pretty good!

Remi ordered his favourite Wonton-noodles.

On this picture we’re having diner in China Town, Yokohama. China Town is pretty big in Yokohama, which means there are a lot of different restaurants. But they all sell about the same food. Usually they offer set meals for about 2.000円 to 3.000 円 per person, which contains about 3 different dishes + soup + desert. And like always they serve too much food!

This restaurant was near our school at Suidobashi. We biked by this place on our way to school, and every time we pass this it’s always PACKED during the lunch break. So one time we went here during diner time to see what the fuss was all about. The food was pretty cheap and quality was ok.

I was also craving for dim-sum for quit some time, but I just couldn’t find a place to eat dim-sum in Tokyo. And this restaurant had something resembling dim-sum!! The sesame-balls on the top left corner of the picture I just had to order, it was the closest to dim-sum I could get. :)

We ate this dish at one of our regular (cheap) ramen places. It looks like a Chinese dish, with crispy noodles and vegetables with pork. Really nice!

Moving on to…Curry! Usually I wasn’t a big fan of curry dishes. I only ate the curry at 明治大学 (meji daigaku), a university near our school.  During my first semester (when I still had morning classes) we used to go to 明治大学 for lunch. The restaurant for students was located on the 19th floor (if I remember correctly..). So besides cheap-ass food we also had an awesome view of Tokyo.

This picture was taken at CoCo Curry house, read our review on CoCo Curry.

One time our friend Ninja took us to eat curry, we just thought it was normal curry but this was totally different! The restaurant had a type of Arabic + hippie style vibe to it. The type of curry they serve was a soup base curry with rice on the side. With chicken and veggies in the soup. Just dip your spoon with rice in the soup and eat. It was nothing I had tasted before, so different from normal curry. Kind of a fresh taste, and so damn good! There were different levels of spiciness, just like CoCo Curry. I, of course, had the non spicy curry, because I don’t like spicy food.

To be continued! In the next “episode”… ramen, udon, sushi and more!!

It all started on a cold november morning. I agreed to meet up with Justin Gardiner from Caterham Japan, Dino Dale Carbonare and Martin Selva at 06.00am in front of the Sony building near Akasaka, Tokyo. As I arrived early I just took the time to take a this long-exposure-freaking-early-in-the-morning shot just in front of the building.

The meeting point was really close to our house, so that’s why I took the bike which only took 15 minutes. As for camera gear I brought with me my Canon 550D with the standard 18-55mm lens, a canon 50mm F1.8 lens and my Canon HF100 (camcorder).

At 06.00 first Justin arrived and later Dino also arrived. Dino was going to pilot the camera car but also brought some suckers to stick the HF100 to the car. Martin was a bit late because he couldn’t find the building and was blaming google maps on his iPhone. When we picked him up he was all sweaty from running around (haha). He did bring his tripod for me to borrow.

We first started by driving around the track with the camera mounted to the side of the car. Every “lap” we changed the camera position, especially after we saw that the camera was shaking severely because of the not-so-shake-proof body panels of the caterham. In the end we did 5 laps and during those 5 laps I also tried to shoot some hand-held footage with the 550D. I can tell you that was not very successful.

After doing the 5 laps we went to some intersections. We needed some fly-by footage, just to make sure we get enough material for a clean lap without stops and goes. And of course to make sure you don’t fall asleep while watching the video. While doing this I really missed a good zoom lens, to make those awesome zoomed in shots. The skid mark in the photo is what happens when you brake hard with a Caterham in a corner.

The stig can’t operate an iPhone with his racing gloves to call the camera car, because he was missing! Where did he go, did he fall asleep from all the waiting?

At this point it was already close to 10.00am and we had been shooting for about 4 hours, we still had some corners to shoot. So the boys were checking out what was under the hood to kill some time, while Justin was driving back and forth to do the same thing over and over again until we were satisfied.

All this driving around at illegal speeds caught the attention of the police too. Although they didn’t say anything they were sure paying close attention to us. But hey it’s not every day you see a Caterham driving around in Tokyo.

As it was already nearly 12.00 and we didn’t have time for breakfast or coffee it was time to wrap up. Not knowing if we had all the footage we needed we knew that we needed some energy and called it a day.

Not before Dino took us to his favorite coffee place in Tokyo, where we could finally take a break and get our well deserved coffee. All in all it was a lot of work for a 4 minute clip, but ooh so fun sitting shotgun in a Caterham.