Super Car Spotting

Lamborghini Gallardo parked outside of a Shinjuku department store.

GT Channel.com Update

Our online automotive site "GT Channel(beta)" is up and running now! It has taken a long time to get here but we are so proud we were able to launch this site. This is what GT Channel offers.

1. Top quality videos starting from Best Motoring, Hot Version and the Super GT racing footage from Japan. We have original programming coming up soon! First videos from SEMA Show 06.

2. Viewer uploads of their own videos. Just like YouTube, you can upload your ride or video footage you took at events etc. Unlike YouTube, once you sign up and upload your video, you will be PAID a portion from the ad if someone clicks on the ad.

3. You can also make money by just "grabbing" the videos too. We call this syndication. Just sign up and start grabbing your favorite videos and start posting them on your blog, myspace, homepage and forums. We will also pay you a portion of the ad sales if someone clicks on the ad you syndicated.

Still some glitches here and there but GT Channel is up and running so go crazy!

Mine's GT-R in the US?!

Mine's R34 GT-R

The Mine's R34 GT-R arrived to the US for its promotional tour. It will first go to SEMA in Las Vegas in 2 weeks. Then to the Super Street Time Attack.
In December it will be at American Touge 2006!

BMI Type R Legend videos for UK Honda Type R Site

Copyright Honda Motor Europe Limited

The 2007 Civic Type R will go on sale in the UK in March 2007. We were proud to take part in helping UK Honda tell the Type R story. Couple clips were used from Best Motoring International Vol.1 Type R Legend for the special website.
Now if only we can get a Type R in Japan too...

Check out: http://www.redh.co.uk/
Archives
'92 NSX Type R Gallery-Next
'95 Integra DC2 Gallery
'97 Civic R EK9 Gallery

Hakone Shoot (2)

A silver version of the Spoon S2000.

Rays Wheels and Williams F1 Team

Japanese performance wheel maker RAYS and Williams F1 Team announced their collaboration for the 2007 F1 season at Suzuka GP last week.






Spoon S2000 with Rays wheels
Photos Courtesy of Yuki Imamura.

Run DMZ

Took a trip to Seoul Korea last weekend and also visited the DMZ. Little did I know that N.Korea would test their nuke the next day!


Here is the last station on the South side before entering N.Korea. It's called Dorasan Station.


They even make rice in the DMZ. Special farmers are allowed to work and live near the border to cultivate the land.


We visited the 3rd tunnel. This was the third tunnel dug by the North which was capable of transfering North Korean troops across the border underground. Who knows how many others they have dug?


In downtown Seoul, Nandaemon.


Japanese ladies taking photos in front of a billboard of Korean soap star Pei Yon Jung...


Obviously I was also thrilled to take a photo with Yon-sama.

Star Trek Cribs

This is one funny video. Just had to post it.



ブラックでヒップなスタートレック人形のMr.スポックが展開するStar Trek Cribs。G4というアメリカのゲーム／オタクなCATV局で放映されています。スタートレックの再放送をアメリカで見て育った私はおもいっきり笑ってしまいました。

ところでこのビデオはYouTubeからのフィードですが、Googleが本日Youtubeを16億ドルで買収したというニュースがありました。Youtubeはまだ事業性を証明できていませんでしたが、Googleがこの大金を払って買うということは今後の可能性を読んでいるのでしょう。著作権問題がYoutubeをNapsterにように閉鎖させることになると予想するアナリストや業界人はいますが、果たしてどうなのでしょうか？これでクリーンになれるのでしょうか？実際我々のBest Motoringのコンテンツも無断でユーザーによって毎日YoutubeやGoogle Videoのアップロードされています。一応Claimをすると早ければ数日後には削除してくれますが、対応は遅いし、そもそもチェックしていないところがまったくダメですね。その辺は大きく成長するための必要リスクと見ているかもしれませんが、もっと著作者への配慮がないと今後問題になりそうです。

Hakone

I went to Hokane yesterday for a photo shoot.



This is the final ad coming out in the Japanese VTEC magazine.

I took some video footage too so hopefully I can post some up here next week. It was lots of fun zooming thru the touge of Hakone in the S2000!

How To Connect Your PC to your TV

You learn something new everyday...

Technorati Profile

Saw some friends this weekend from the US.
This is videographer/dj extraordinaire Mr.Joesh and me.
We went to a bar called Heartland in Roppongi Hills.

My Story Riceboys in Super Street Oct '06

私が書いた記事が米国の自動車雑誌Super Streetの１０周年記念号の中に掲載されました。

Seeker S2k

Met Ryo Teraoka from Seeker today. They are a tuning shop that specializes in Honda parts. Check out:http://www.seeker.co.jp/

Hybrid Civic Photos

Lonelygirl15

The story is out: Lonelygirl15 Is Brainchild of 3 Filmmakers

Those of you who don't know who Lonelygirl15 is:The lonelygirl15 story unfolded in a series of confessional video blogs, supposedly made by a home-schooled girl named Bree, Since June, viewers have questioned whether Bree and her friend Daniel, who also appeared in the videos, were real people or part of some larger project or promotional scheme. An ominous hint of a satanic plotline to come suggested a horror film in the making.



You can see the rest of her vlogs on YouTube and Revver.com. Just go and search lonelygirl15.
People didn't know if the story was fiction or real. But it was 3 film makers that made this on a shoe string budget and it became a huge hype. Interesting what the web can do. Its the Blair Witch Project of the net.
Story on CNN.com

面白いできごとがアメリカでおきています。YouTubeやRevverといったビデオ投稿サイトを使って「ロンリーガール１５」lonelygirl15というVlog（ビデオ・ブログ）が今年の6月から始まりました。色々と謎をもったBreeという女の子が日常の出来事やDanielという友人との関係、父親との関係、宗教などについて話します。これが瞬く間にネットで火がつきしまいにはファンサイトやSNSで大きな話題となります。また、lonelygirl15についてコメントするビデオも出てくる状況。いったい彼女はだれ？実は宗教は悪魔崇拝？など噂が飛び交うこと数ヶ月。なんとCNNやNYタイムズも取り上げるほど。
それが昨日やっとこの話もキャラクターもすべて3人の映像製作者が作ったものであることがLATimesのインタビューにより明らかになりました。YouTubeなどのビデオ投稿サイトは限界を知らずどんどんこのような新しいスターを生み、メディアとしての存在価値を広げてきています。
まったくあたらしメディアの使いかたとして無視できませんね。

Hybrid Civic

The video location shoot of the new VTEC Club took place at Fukushima Prefecture's Ebisu circuit.



One of the cars that we brought out was the Civic Hybrid Racing car.



Honda's hybrid car racing program is actually not even a "program" yet. It all started in 2003 when a couple of engineers from Honda started playing around with the idea of entering a race with a hybrid car. Honda never officially backed up the team so the members had to get together after their day jobs to complete this car from scratch.



Keiichi Tsuchiya and Daisuke Ito both said the car lacks serious power but what can you expect from a hybrid? The Honda engineers say that the car was made for endurance racing. The high efficiency gasoline engine is supported by the electric motor for additonal power similiar to how a super charger assists an engine. This engine is based on the 1500cc Fit engine instead of the stock engine.



One of the biggest obstacles the car faced was "heat". If they want more power for the motor, they need the batteries to work harder. Which causes heat. If the batteries get too hot, they melt and that's the end of your race. So during the race the drivers had to keep their eyes on the battery heat meter at all times. Water nor air was powerful enough to cool this oversized battery so they went to the extreme and decided to carry dry ice in the back seat to cool the batteries.



I mentioned earlier that the electric motor works similiar to a supercharger. The biggest difference is that the motor assist only when it is necessary according to the ecu mapping. The electricty from braking is collected and used to charge the battery.

At first it was set to assist 4th gear to gain top speed. But they realized they wanted more pick up rather than top speed. So they programmed it so the motor would kick in for pick up and if it had enough power left over to also help the top speed.

With fine tuning they were able to achieve efficiency while improving maximum power.



As for drivers, basic driving skills is a must but whether you can save electricity during the race becomes a big factor. This Civic uses a regenerative braking system so you brake early going into a corner but should never shift down and engine brake. You have to go into a corner without giving any gas using only the brakes to slow down. This way you slow down and generate energy at the same time.


After Daisuke came back from his first impression of 3 laps, Keiichi tried to hop in the car as he usually does for his turn. But the engineer told him that they were out of batteries and have to recharge. I guess Daisuke engine braked and drove the car like a normal car which didn't allow the car to generate enough electricity.
This needs getting use to for the driver at first. As more and more hybrids make it out to the racing tracks, drivers will have to adapt to the new requirments of hybrid car racing.

Sport Compact Car/Forza/Best Motoring

November 2006 Issue



A special Best Motoring DVD sponsored by Forza motorsport will be inserted in every Sport Compact Car magazine on the news stands! This is huge for us as it will help further get our name out to car enthusiasts and give them a piece of what we are all about.

The guys are Sport Compact Car are great and we really like working with them because we speak the same language. It was really quick when we decided to go with this plan because we knew we could compliment each other and also make the readers happy! This magazine hits the newsstands on 9/19 so make sure to pick one up!

特別編集のBMI　DVDを米国雑誌のSport Compact Carに挿入することになりました。約20万部発行されるこの雑誌は日本車を取り扱う雑誌の中では老舗の正統派雑誌に入ります。最近はショーカーなどを取り扱う雑誌が多いなか、SCCはパフォーマンスを重視した雑誌です。
チューニングカーイベントでは東部最大のNOPI NATIONALSでも配布されるそうです。

コンテンツは既に発行したDVDの中から抜粋して３コーナー入っています。それでもちゃんと60分近いので読者はお腹いっぱいになるはずです。

9月19日から全米のニューススタンドに並びます。
反応が楽しみですー。

Apparel

We just starting selling Best Motoring apparel in our Best Motoring Store from August. It has been a pleasant surprise to us that these shirts are selling so well. We should have done this a long time ago.

By they way, if you've bought a shirt from us, we'd love to see photos of you wearing the t-shirt. Send a jpeg photo to info@bestmotoringvideo.com we'll choose a couple winners and send out other free stuff we have laying around the office. I knew we had a Keiichi Tsuchiya autographed Drift Bible somewhere...

BMIのアパレルを8月からBest Motoring Store で販売開始しました。以外や以外、結構これが売れています。もっと早く始めればよかったかなと思うほど。やっぱりBest Motoringのブランドはかなり認知されていますね。根強いファンがいると本当に認識させられます。ありがたいです。

GT Channel is Everywhere?!

Barrio 305

Interesting article on Barrio 305 on Ad Age

バリオ３０５とはオンラインMTVのラテン版といったところアメリカでこのようなニッチ市場のコンテンツサイトとSNSが一緒になったサービスが多く出てきています。バリオ３０５はBright Coveのホワイトレーベルのビデオ配信システムを利用してオリジナル番組を配信しています。今後このようなニッチ市場向けコンテンツがマーケターの目に留まります。バリオ３０５はFALKENタイヤのラテン市場向け広告代理店に抜擢されたそうです。

Onsen

One of the best things about Japan is the onsen. The hot springs(onse) of Japan is definitely one of the favorite past times here. I can't think of any other country that likes to bathe so much. There are onsen's everywhere all across Japan.
Last week I went to a Best Motoring shoot in Fukushima prefecture. I did not realize until I got there but it was the same onsen town we used to come stay for football camp during my college days. Oh those memories...

先週ロケで福島にいきました。そしたらなんと大学時代にアメフトの夏合宿時に泊まった吾妻館じゃありませんか！びっくりしました。とても懐かしかったです。



Dake　Onsen has declared themeselves the Nikoniko Republic. It was like this 15 years ago too.
なぜか岳温泉はニコニコ共和国なんです・・昔のまんまです。

Deal with Yahoo! Autos!

Zigzag Asia just signed a deal with Yahoo! Autos! This is a big step for us since the intro segment of the Drift Bible will be shown on Yahoo! Autos Customs. Viewers will be able to see parts of the video and if you want more can click to go to the Best Motoring EC Store or www.gtchannel.com starting from September.

We are also the first content provider from Japan.

Yahoo!Autos Custom Drift Bible video

久々の日本語です。
先週米国のYahoo! Autosと提携契約を締結しました! 日本企業としては初めてです！
結構時間がかかりましたが、やっと実現できました。これは非常に我社にとって鍵となりうる提携です。先ずは我々がアメリカで発行する人気DVD、「Drift Bible」の第一チャプターをYahoo!Autosで動画配信されます。そこには引き続きDVDを買いたい人のためのECストアへのリンクが張ってあります。
また、来月にはGT Channelへ誘導するリンクも貼られます。このような提携をどんどん仕掛けていく予定です。

Oceans Men's Magazine

There's a new magazine in Japan that went on sale from February this year. A bunch of guys from a famous Japanese magazine called LEON spun off and started up a magazine called OCEANS.

The concept of LEON these days is "choi waru". Choiwaru means a little bad. There are so many men in Japan that dream to be sleezy James Bonds, cheat on their wifes and sleep with women 20 years younger than them. I guess the magazine sells because the word choi waru is now a popular slang here.

The magazine OCEANS on the other hand went the completely opposite direction. The concept is Luxury and Love or something like that. The family man that wants to live a fashionable life.
I've seen both magazines and find it hard to see the market for both magazines regarding readership and advertisers but that's just me.


Here is my dog Payton in OCEANS magazine that just came out on August 24. I'm just jealous that he got the gig instead of me...

Post Landing Smoke Scare

Ken Takahashi who works with me at our Torrance office told me they had to evacuate the plane after arriving in Long Beach on Monday August 21. White smoke appeared from underneath the plane and the passenger had to jump out of the emergency shoots and doors.

See the video here: Passenger Interview Ken Takahashi





Obviously everyone looks pretty shaken up after the traumatic experience.

Jingu Fireworks

Last week was the Jungu Fireworks near our home. We had a small party on the roof top.


Mac Narahara hugging my dog. Dog trying to get away.

SingShot

A good friend of mine Ranah Edelin is the CEO of a company called SingShot.

SingShot is an online talent platform centered on singing / karaoke. Basically, if you have a PC or Mac, a broadband connection, and a microphone, you can record your own version of popular songs (SingShot provides the music and the lyrics) that can then be saved on the site and listened to, rated, and commented on by the world. There are already thousands of great recordings on the site.

Time Magazine listed SingShot as one of the Top 50 Coolest Sites of 2006!

They are like the Youtube of Karaoke. You can grab codes from posts and stick them on your site like this. this is a funny recording I grabbed of some guy singing Beat It/Michael Jackson...

Power Outage in Tokyo but avoids sour milk

1.4 Million house holds lost their electricty this morning in Tokyo.

It happened this morning 8/14(Mon) around Tokyo, Chiba prefecture and Kanagawa prefecture. The trains stopped, the subways stopped and traffic lights all went out. The power was back up in 3 hours.
The reasoning for this was some guy transfering a crain on the river forgot to lower the 33 meter crain and cut a power line. This power line was 16 meters from the water level.

For some strange reason, the area where I live in Shibuya was completely unaffectived. My A/C was working and the traffic lights were all fine. I was actually watching CNN about the plane that had to return back to London because of an unidentified cell phone, so I didn't know about it for a while.

When I heard about the power outage I was relieve to know it was caused by a careless mistake and not a terrorist attack. Also it's good that we got the power back in a few hours. I remember the New York power loss a few years ago took about 4 days to get back up. With this heat, that would be torture...

Big Mac Index

The 2006 Big Mac Index was conducted by the UBS group and Tokyo was ranked top on the list. Basically the average working time of 10 minutes in the capital of Japan can buy you the Big Mac. The longest was Colombia's Bogota where you have to work for 97 minutest to buy you one.

This survey is conducted every 3 years within 70 cities around the world. The Big Mac can be bought all over the world and the price difference is very minimal thus they use it as the standard to measure service costs and wage.
The price of the Big Mac has stayed at 280yen since 1995 in Japan.

The average was 35 minutes. After Tokyo was LA(11mins), Chicago and Miami(12mins) and New York(13mins).
More on the Big Mac Index

I think everyone has some sort of story or relationship with McDonald's. Mine definitely has to be my encounter with Den Fujita the founder and former president of McDonald's Japan. Den-san was a self made entrepreneur who brought McDonald's to Japan in 1971. McDonald's Japan now has close to 4000 restaurants in Japan and grosses about $4Billion each year. It is without a doubt the largest restaurant group in Japan.

How did I get to meet Den Fujita?

More later...

Tokyo Summer Sky

It's been really hot and humid in Tokyo lately. But yesterday the sky turned pink and orange. Absolutely beautiful. Then a hurricane hit the Kanto area last night. There's always a twist..

Drift Off DVD Video Trailer

Meta4Group HFW Dinner

We had a Hungry For Words team dinner last week. Hungry for Words is the company I serve as a director. The parent company Meta4 Group just raised some funds for expansion so we are excited to enter a next stage for the company.
That's me sitting in the front with the glasses and to my right is Meta4 Group CEO Dominic Penaloza.

Japan VS USA Drift Off DVD on Sale

We released our latest DVD earlier this week. This one is a really exciting DVD because it features a good mix of content from Japan and the US. The main Drift Off segment is an interesting segment on drifting. Expecially when you can see the world's top drvers take out a stock MX-5 and turn it sideways. You can see the techniques and differences of each driver. It was fun as hell shooting this as you can sometimes see me in the corner of the shot having a good time. I know you will like it too.

I just read in the September '06 issue of Super Street an interview of Rhys. They ask him 10 questions and the last question was, "Who would you like to challenge on the touge?". Rhys answers,
"Keiichi "Big Talk" Tsuchiya"!
I could not help but crack up. Wouldn't that be a touge battle to remember? Pikes Peak Hill expert and Japanese touge king. Check out the DVD and you'll get why Rhys thinks KT is Big Talk. : )

We also got to check out a little car called the Solstice which Sammy from Road and Track brought. Masa and I got to drive this car around a while and we honestly thought it was pretty lousy. But wait until you see what Keiichi had to say about it. A reminder why we're not on the show and he is...

We flew back to Japan for the M5 Mercy bit. See it take on the Skyline GT-R.

Life in the Fast Lane with Orido and Taniguchi was a big bash. Basically we stuck around them while they tore up rubber all over the place. In many ways...you'll see.

Japan VS USA Drift Off DVD on Sale

Japan VS USA Drift Off DVD just released at the beginning of August. The main segment is the battle between 2005 D1 Champion Yasuyuki Kazama VS Rhys Millen and Ken Gushi. But they battle it out in a STOCK MX-5. Anyone can drift a "drift car" so we put them on the track with a normal MX-5 straight from Mazda.


Ken Gushi having a good time.


Rhys "Mad Skillz" Millen


Kazama taking the challenge of the two Americans. A comparison between Kazama and Ken Gushi from behind the wheel.


Road & Track International Editor Sam Mitani wanted to convince Keiichi that the Solstice was worthy of being featured in BMI. Find out what KT had to say about the American roadster.

Buy JAPAN VS USA DRIFT OFF DVD

Driving Force

Funny "Rabbit" Commercial



There are so many automotive related shows out there. How's this one? I haven't seen it yet.