Meet
The Beat 2008
- TADO-BEAT Report!
On the 17th of May we left Tokyo in the afternoon and made
the 3 hour trip out to the Honda
Twin Ring facility in
Motegi, Tochigi-Pref,
Japan. Arriving at the Twin Ring is quite an experience.
Motegi is a beautiful
place, miles away from
any big city. Travelling out there on the bus, the scenery
is from another time - it's very similar to a lot of the scenery in
Totoro and
other Ghibli films! As
you approach the Twin Ring itself, the area is filled with the howl of engine
noises
echoing around. Our room at the Twin Ring Hotel looked straight down on to one
of the tracks where bikes were practicing.
We arrived at the
Twin Ring at about 4pm the day before MTB! - we quickly headed off to check out
the Honda Collection
Hall before chucking out time at 5:30 - we've put up some pics of the collection here!
Meet
The Beat is held once a year and we were very lucky to be the first
UK visitors able
to
particpate thanks to our
good friend Mr Tomoyuki and all the M.T.B! staff.
The event kicked off
at 6am the next morning, needless to say, we were late in arriving!
By the time
we had wandered down the hill from Hotel Twin Ring, it was 8am and the
place was packed with Beats
as far as the eye could see! The event was split into 2 areas - the main 'car
park' where 400+ cars were on display,
and then an inner area, with club and manufacturer stands and the M.T.B! tent.
Mr Tomoyuki had asked me to prepare a small presentation about the UK Club
as part of the days activities, so at
11am I ended up following the very well spoken
and funny Mr Ishibashi with
my waffling drivvle and hastilly prepared
pictures pinched from the UK forum! It was a total shambles but people seemed
to enjoy it, and it was a real privilage
to meet Mr. Ishibashi.
We had an amazing day and a lot of fun. The event itself was very well organised
and the turnout was incredible!
It was great to meet friends both new and old - we'd both like to thank everyone
involved
in M.T.B!, all the staff at Hotel Twin Ring and the Twin Ring, and
all
those
who
attended
for
making
it such an amazing
end to our holiday!
We've split the pics into 2 sets, over the next 2 pages. We hope you enjoy them!
M and K
Photo Set 1: General M.T.B! Pics:
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| Twin Ring! | Hotel room view = How good?! | Early Morning Twin Ring | Wandering down from our hotel... | TADO meets Mr Tomoyuki, MTB organiser and general super-star! |
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| Beats as far as the eye can see! | More beats | Gathers-a-like stereo stand had a lot of attention | Neat modern take on the original beat stereo | Body Shop Kamimura display |
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| Lovely rust. | The Yahoo Bloggers!! | Tado meets the Yahoo gang! | 'Yafuburo Village' (Yahoo Bloggers) Stand | Impressive! |
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| Still can't find one of these anywhere... | Another very friendly chap! | Let It Beat! stand and crew | GACHAPIN HOODY!! | Asimo knows how to roll. |
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| Mr Ishibashi, head of the original design team answers Qs. | A British Idiot talks. | Em's car on the big screen! | Back outside again - more cars arriving! | Ryuichi has an impressive attendance record! |
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| Ryuichi and his lovely car | Proud Cozylights fella | TADO MTB t-shirt for Korai and Palbeat | Mr Manhakko, Korai and Palbeat! | Curry/Karei buns from palbeat! - Thankyou!! |
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| M.T.B! Schwag! |
