Japan 7 - Opening Ceremonies

They're not kidding when they say that the JNCC Series has taken the GNCC format. The announcer cranked the music up at 7 am this morning and welcomed everyone to the AAGP just like GNCC mic man Rodney Tomblin does in the U.S.

There will be a 8 am race dubbed the "Fun Race" which is for beginners and also includes buddy classes, with riders switching off during the event. That will run for 90 minutes. The main AAGP runs at 11 am, and it's a three-hour event just like a GNCC in the U.S. Pros or AA riders start on the front two rows of the Sugo Motocross track start line, but Rodney, Charlie and Jason will start on row three--call it home field advantage for the Japanese riders.

The Fun Race is about to begin so I will run down there and shoot some photos. Stay tuned.

Japan 6 - School's Out

American Ninjas.

Charlie Mullins' first day on a Suzuki.

Rodney Smith!!!! Climb Hill!!! RM250!!!!!

Jason watches a rider and then tries to figure out how to explain how to turn better without being able to explain anything.

The annual AAGP riding school is complete and once again not a single student learned anything--after all the teachers don't speak the language. Basically, the afternoon was spent watching Rodney, Jason and Charlie make stuff look good and easy, and the watch the Japanese riders attack it and crash. Jason tried valiantly to explain things--but no one could come up with the translation for "precise" in Japan, ironic for a country which makes those high quality Toyotas--and then the school just became a "hang out with the stars" program. I don't think the Japanese riders learned much, but they will forever tell their friends they got to spend the afternoon with the "American Top Guns of GNCC." At least, that's what it says on the T-shirts they have here.

Photo!!!!!!

This is about the coolest race hauler I've ever seen.

On the right is Takeshi Koikeda, the '05 All-Japan MX Champion. He will be racing this weekend.

Japanese Garden: Horsepower Hill, Japanese style.

Needs more cow tongue: The team spread in the Suzuki pits featured sushi.

No prerunning: This is your typical bike carrier in Japan.

Nothing Lost in Translation: The JNCC track markers are very similar to the GNCC markers.

The JNCC Poster, featuring the American boys, made it to this guy's van.

Jason Raines brought his own bars. He needed a taller bend.

Charlie (left) and Rodney scope the Suzuki pits.

The gang at dinner on night one. Clockwise: Lori Smith, Rodney Smith, the HSCGIED, Me, Rachel, Charlie, Mr. Masami Masami Hoshino, President of JNCC.

Japan 4 - Needs More Cow Tongue

After Rodney and Charlie checked out the track yesterday on the DR-Z 125s, we then headed to lunch in downtown Sendai, which is the closest city to the Sugo track. On the way we saw a big billboard for this place, staring Stefan Everts (this is the same track that hosts the World MX GP in Japan each year).

Sendai is a nice town, amazingly clean and organized, feels very safe, but we ran into trouble at lunch when we stopped at a place that serves “only cow tongue.” Needless to say we moved on. Then at night back at the hotel, our crew was looking for relief from the Japanese food, so they ordered pizza. It came delivered to the hotel just like it would in the US, however, it completely sucked. We’ve now come to the conclusion that good Japanese food is better than bad American food. Well, at least that’s the way Rodney and Charlie’s crew sees it. Alisa and I will eat and like anything over here—hey even the cow tongue just looked like any other piece of beef.

Jason Raines finally showed up last night at about midnight. He left a day later so he could take his little girl trick or treating, and then he didn’t have a flight from Tokyo to Sendai. 2005 Japanese National MX Champion Takeshi Koikeda picked him up at the airport and they drove seven hours to Sendai. Takeshi is a cool guy—I met him when we both stayed at Jim Holley’s house a few winters ago. He’s racing this race and Jason may beat him. Who else would drive their comp seven hours to the track? Jason told me that Takeshi’s two-year-old baby also stayed quiet on the entire seven-hour drive. Japanese babies have discipline!

It was back to the track this morning so the riders can dial in their bikes and also teach a riding school, which should be a 99 out of 100 on the unintentional comedy scale (they have to teach through an interpretor, except he got into a car accident this morning and won’t get in until later this afternoon. The ridiculousness of this all is already beginning…). Jason had a shiny YZ250F waiting for him, and Charlie and Rodney had to draw straws on which of two Suzukis to ride—an RM 250 or an RM-Z250. Yes, this will be Charlie’s debut race on a yellow bike. Oddly, they decided to flip a coin on it and Charlie ended up with the four-stroke—the same bike Rodney had been racing all year, and yet Charlie will race the two-stroke next year. I think they should have switched it up, especially since Rodney hasn’t ridden an RM 250 in two years, anyway.

Each rider got numbers to put on their bike, and they threw on their handlebars and headed to the motocross track to make sure everything works. In fashion true to their character, Jason is taking things much more seriously, bolting on his own bars, looking for his Yamaha mechanic and shipping over tires and moose tubes for the race. Rodney and Charlie are just gonna’ run what they have—Charlie’s RM-Z 250 doesn’t even have hand guards!

I’ll be back to write about the riding school later. But first, I’ll post some photos here. Stay tuned.

Japan 3 - Showers Expected

At this point we’ll be able to handle anything out here. After last night’s “shower gate” there surely can be no culture shocks left that our system can’t brace itself for. Let me explain now that I have more time (right now we’re in the Media Center at the Sugo Circuit in Japan while Rodney and Charlie scout the course on DR-Z125s). On the wall stood a bunch of mobile shower heads, beneath was a bench and a bucket, and in front of it all was a big dish which held a bottle of shampoo, soap and conditioner. Easy. But next to it all was a giant hot spring—essentially a natural hot tub, I guess—and none of us can figure out what the role of that tub is. Do you get in there naked and hang out (pardon the pun) after taking a shower? Well, Charlie and I took our showers last night (at separate times of course) and decided when in Rome, so I jumped in there and enjoyed the rejuvenating powers of the hot water (I guess) for a few minutes. Seriously, the water was so hot I was afraid I’d be out of commission for a few days, and since I brought my girlfriend here…. Okay, suffice to say it was odd and the one other Japanese guy who was in there with me made sure to immediately cover himself with a towel as soon as he got out of the hot tub. Hey, maybe he was intimidated by the American.

There was also some other room and some other pool, of which I never could figure out what they were for.

At night we all struggled our way through to get some sleep, since we went to bed at what was about 9 am back home. We forced it and eventually got up as late as we possibly could, 6 am, and went on a hike around the facility. We took turns sliding down this massive kids slide down a mountain, and then hiked some trails. At 9 am a taxi showed up to take us to Sugo, and here we are now, with the boys out taking some laps and me nerding out in the Media Center. More in a bit.

Japan 2

We made it! Landed in Tokyo, hopped on a plane to Sendai and checked in at the Montana Resort, which appears to be some big family resort with slides, pools, tennis courts, hiking trails and the like. It is really fun on the outside but very Japanese on the inside. Some in our group tried to stay American and ordered spaghetti for dinner, but Alisa and I went all out: she ordered the rib steak and I ordered shrimp curry. It was really good, actually, and we thought we had it made.

Then they showed us the rooms. Just flat foam on the floor--lots of blankets and pillows but no bed. And the showers are community showers, like going to the gym. You don]t get a shower in your room. Charlie, Rodney and I strategically went at seperate times because we do not need to know each other that well.

We have to go-bus comes to get us at 9 am. Supposedly we will have a translator today so this should start making sense...

Japan Ichban (Number 1)

I gave the Japanese woman at the register a blank stare within my pause. I had gone into sticker shock when the cash register displayed the price of a simple serving of sushi. $17.87 for sushi, a bottle of water and a bottle of tea? However, I was already deep within her trap. I had ordered without checking the prices—the first error a traveler can make—and now, by the time I had learned the actual price, I couldn’t really negotiate because the woman at the register barely spoke English. The Hottest Smartest Coolest Girls I’ve Ever Dated (HSCGIED) was already back at our little table eating noodles and vegetables, so I could have just done without the $17.87 sushi and split that meal with her (hey, I paid for that one, too). But I was trapped. I couldn’t communicate with the woman and decided that since this was a semi-vacation and you only live once, I should just suck it up and enjoy the $17.87 frequent flyer miles I would collect from putting the purchase on my US Airways Visa Card.
We were at the food court at the San Francisco International Air Port. Purchasing sushi in the last American city I will see for a week had thrown me for a loop. This actual trip to Japan, to cover the final round of the Japan National Cross Country Series (Yup, JNCC) could prove much trickier. The race and the trip are guaranteed hits. The fine folks at the JNCC Series are reaching out to the GNCC people (Racer Productions, who I work for) to send three America-based racers to the final round of their series, the AAGP in Sugo. This exchange program has been happening in some form for years. Scott Summers and Randy Hawkins have raced here plenty of times, but now this event is a part of a more formal partnership between JNCC and GNCC (man, you have to see the big poster the Japanese produced last year with one of their guys shaking hands with Rita, with the caption “JNCC and GNCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
After that caption, there’s a bunch of Japanese text. And hearin lies the trouble. The races is going to go well. The JNCC has invited Charlie Mullins, Rodney Smith and Jason Raines to race, They have provided bikes and mechanics. The fans are pumped, even super pumped, on seeing the Yanks in action. And it’s my job to cover all of this, to let America know just how internationally recognized the stars of the GNCC Series are (do you know that last month we signed a contract to air the GNCC races on TV in 55 countries? One of them being KAZIKSTAN??) Yes, this series has grown very big, with racers from all over competing in it and fans from around the world wanting to see them.
Originally we wanted to send David Knight over, because a simple photo of him towering over people in downtown Tokyo would have basically sold the whole program, and my job would have been easy. But Knighter had a commitment to race elsewhere already. We now have Hot Rod Mullins, Raines and Rodney, which is awesome, but in order for me to track this week properly, I need to communicate with the world, and I’m not sure if I can.
Can I get the internet over there? Can I plug my computer into a wall outlet? Can I find a place to buy an adaptor if I can’t? Will I even be able to speak to anyone (me without talking is like Samson without hair).
We’ll see. For now I’m just going to study the exchange rate so I can figure out how much I’m paying for sushi. Hopefully it will go smoother than buying it in the U.S..