Hello from JAPAN

[Alspos]

Wantsom

Thanks, by the way, what does "chunder" mean?

After too much of and this :beer , chunder is this

[mrb1]

Takaharu SEKI,
we always hear it costs a lot of money to keep an older car on the road in Japan because of government rules. How much does it cost for your Starion each year?

Our registation and compulsory insurance means it cost approx. $550 to $650 AUD each year (at least in Sydney, other states vary) to be able to drive our cars on the street. There are no specific penalties for older cars in Australia.

[scum]

hello more awesome friends of cool japan, on your for sale site what are the last things on the 'Suspensions' page? they look like plates to shift the wheel 30mm up into the gaurd without changeing springs? it this right? while im at it, what are the other things? they look like solid brass bushes?

thanks,
aussie scum

[Alspos]

Use the babelfish thing.

It says this :-

Roll center - adapter 30mm

Run sir for EX star Lyon

A175A (I/C it is attached for) A176A A183A A184A A187A

1 unit 2 sets (4 volts/bolts it is attached)26250 Yen(25000 Yen in tax removal price)


Because there is a possibility the lower arm ball joint interfering to the wheel, you cannot use the wheel of 14 inches and 15 inches. Even at 16 inches or more depending upon the offset there is a possibility of interfering. Please designate 16 inch offset + 8 or more as standard. A175A I/you cannot install in C it is not car.

[Takaharu SEKI]

Hi Al,

Thank you for your help; it was the best way to make clear the meaning of
unknown word.
I am just back, sorry for not post you earlier......


Hi mrb1,

Yes, everything is expensive in Japan. Here is some guide for a person who want to drive his own car in Japan.

Driving license: From 18 years old we can apply for the license. Generally, we go to a driving school and learn laws and regulations, mechanical things, and of course how to drive a car. To do these, we pay about 400,000yen (5,254AUD) to a driving school. This cost gets higher depends on capability, which means if someone needs to have excess lessons, he needs to pay more.

Now I bought a Starion, paying with 5% consumption tax of the price, then I need to pay;

Acquision tax: 5% of the price
Weight tax: from 1ton to 1.5ton, 37,800yen (497AUD) for 2 years
Compulsory insurance: about 30,000yen (394AUD)
Automobile insurance: in my case, about 120,000yen (1577AUD) per year
Automobile tax: 56,100yen (737AUD) every year (which includes 10% penalty for older cars more than 10). In case of new cars, tax regulations are not strict, it's treated well, maybe its a gov't policy for people to buy new cars not old like Starion.

Auto. insurances vary, of course, with type of car, the age (under 21, over 26 etc), and with the type of insurance you want. When I had a Evo three years ago, I had paid 260,000yen (3417AUD) for insurance per year.

Premium gasoline: 128yen (1.68AUD) per litre
Highway: 24.6yen/km +150yen x 1.05 for ordinary car

Anymore questions?


Hi scum,

About roll-center, I will explain later, sorry, it takes lots of time to write in English!

[fr335tyl3r]

hi mate!

I am very impressed with the quality of your english! It is really really good :). Do you live in the tokyo area like the other guys from japan? I am coming over in December this year and probably will try to meet up with some of the japanese people. My japanese is quite good so your friends dont have to worry ( i studied japanese for about 7 years all together). Your starions look simply amazing...I wish mine was running let alone lookin as good as yours!

Talk later

[decoy]

Thank you for taking the time to communicate with us in english. $5,254 to get your license to drive a car! we only pay $90 for a test or about $350 for a log book (one manouver at a time) test.

[Takaharu SEKI]

Hi mate,

Thanks for the nicest word. English in forum is witten not like school
textbooks, I mean, too colloquial, some are hardly understandable for me.
With help of my family, big dictionary and using all sources, it could be
done. But translation of mechanical matters are far beyond my ability, so
if some day, this kind of thing happend, it would be most grateful if you
could help me, please, Japanese expert aussie-san!

If you are coming to Japan in December, pls let me know when, and where you
are going to stay. We wish to have an Australia-Japan Starion Meeting while
you are in near Tokyo. I live in Chiba next to Tokyo.




Hi decoy,

I must add some about the license. Among the most of non-licensed people,
99% go to driving schools, but the rest, like me, go to the driver's license
examination site direct. We can save money but need to be very very
patient. It took me 9 times try, 2 months, 40000yen ($528) to get the
large-sized motorcycle license when I was 18. Then for driving license, 10
times, 12 months, 50000yen ($658) at 19 I was. It was 10 years ago, so it
will cost much more now.　You live in such a huge country, but still I feel
it is UNFAIR.

I saw your site! Wow, how many Starions do you have? Red starion is very
unusual in Japan, and the blue one with gull-wings, I saw once in the
motor-show but was it sold in the market? Or did you order it specially?

[decoy]

Hi mate,

Thanks for the nicest word. English in forum is witten not like school
textbooks, I mean, too colloquial, some are hardly understandable for me.
With help of my family, big dictionary and using all sources, it could be
done. But translation of mechanical matters are far beyond my ability, so
if some day, this kind of thing happend, it would be most grateful if you
could help me, please, Japanese expert aussie-san!

That is a lot of effort just to read what we are saying! i am sure we will all try write more simpler to make it easy for you to understand us.

Hi decoy,

I must add some about the license. Among the most of non-licensed people,
99% go to driving schools, but the rest, like me, go to the driver's license
examination site direct. We can save money but need to be very very
patient. It took me 9 times try, 2 months, 40000yen ($528) to get the
large-sized motorcycle license when I was 18. Then for driving license, 10
times, 12 months, 50000yen ($658) at 19 I was. It was 10 years ago, so it will cost much more now.　You live in such a huge country, but still I feel
it is UNFAIR.

I'm glad you have an alternative to paying the $5000! i have a motorbike license as well, it took 8 hours and cost $90. It makes me appreciate living here a bit more!

I saw your site! Wow, how many Starions do you have? Red starion is very
unusual in Japan, and the blue one with gull-wings, I saw once in the
motor-show but was it sold in the market? Or did you order it specially?

The first section of the red starion is mine. It is a very common colour starion in australia. The second section of pictures are digitally edited with a program called Photoshop. Editing photos is just a hobby of mine, but I wish i did own a gullwing starion though! There was a black one for sale in japan about 1 year ago with a blown engine.[/quote]

[AXELR8]

Cool. Hope you visit this site often! Yes, red starions are quite common here! (a little TOO common!) :P

[NXTIME]

Takaharu SEKI,

What offset are those wheels on your lovely Starion?

Charlie.