The junque I brought to sell scattered on my "Business Hotel" room bed.

Hi Campy and Scott Davis.

The swap meet by the Tamagawa River in Fuchu Shi in western Tokyo. Eager shoppers rifle through my decals.

My goods.

I marked almost all of my stuf with little green tags in Yen.

The bald guy in the dark blue shirt is me negotiating with a customer. It's remarkable that even though we don't speak the same language, we were able to communicate perfectly about buying and selling bike parts!

Collectors wait somewhat patiently while Scott Davis unpacks. Taki59 is the gentleman with the dark gray shirt with arms crossed.

Maxicar large flange hubset at another dude's "booth", priced at 150,000 yen. Roughly 109 Yen to the dollar at the time. You do the math...

Tomity and I became instant friends. He is well connected in the Keirin community. Look at those calves!

Tomity shows a one-off Teflon-coated Campy chainring.

Just as the swap meet came to a close, it started to rain! Scott was lollygagging and got caught by it. He got lots of help though, and all was well.

Many of the attendees at the swap were classically dressed for the bike ride there.

This cycling enthusiast was smoking like many others.

This messenger (in the middle) drove a VERY hard bargain to get my plastic Unicanitor saddle. In the end, I sold it to him for super cheap because he wanted it so badly. He was grateful, and was thrilled when I insisted that he pose with me for a picture

No chain-  driveshaft!

Citroen 2CV

They drive on the wrong side of the road.

Fruit trees line this really narrow neighborhood road.

Color-coordinated school kids walking through the train station in Fuchu Shi

Vending machines everywhere.

Bento boxes, ramen soups and soba noodles in a very charming soba house restaurant in Nagano.

Scott and I at a Western style dinner served at the Poly Japon in Nagano. Scott beat me in the "Farthest Distance Traveled" contest by about 9km.

One of the evening activities at the resort where Poly Japon was held was Bingo. It tested my ability to count numbers in Japanese.

"Sugoi" means, "Cool!"

CR Member Dennis from Hotaka, Japan, which is close to Nagano, where the Poly Japon was held.

Don't forget to put your slippers on.

This is the group that I had lunch with at the soba noodle house. The two-tiered boxes allow the lower tier of noodles to keep the upper tier warm... Why didn't I think of that? I could have made millions!  

Dip noodles in delicious watery sauce before slurping into your mouth. Slurping is not only OK with noodles...it is expected!

I think that every restaurant, home, etc. has a special spot set aside for calm, beautiful things.

There's Mount Fuji.

On the way to the post office I passed this place with several pools that were empty, or partially filled with water. On the way back, they were all filled and fish were jumping all over.

Recognize anyone in the first picture?

In the second picture, you can see the raised bumps leading you into the department store. I was told that these are for the blind.

This ad for a Keiren event was in the train station.

I spent a lot of time in the train stations- bustling.

I was walking through the train station one day, kind-of hot, and thought that one of the delicious cans of iced coffee would taste good- I'd certainly gotten them before from one of these vending machines. So I put my yen in, made a selection, and when I grabbed the can, it was hot!! I figured out that if you make a blue selection, it's cold. If you make a red selection, it's hot!

This machine is at the entrance of a little restaurant off one of the zillions of side-streets in Tokyo. On the wall, there are many pictures of menu items. You choose the item that you want, find the corresponding button on the machine, put in your yen, push the button, and give the ticket to the waitress. Sit yourself down, and about 90 seconds later, this beautiful $6 meal comes out.  Fantastic!

Similar to the slogan on the side of the car above, this tasty flan tries to appeal to the sophisticated.

Can you figure out the translation?

When was the last time that you saw noodle hoagies?

While waiting in line at a toilet at the train station, I snapped a picture of this woman cleaning...  no big deal.

Mercedes

As folks get off the train, this shop tantalizes them with these little pancake-like things filled with crab, (yum) squid, (yuk) and bean paste, (what?).

A tidy little enterprise.

I spent a fair amount of time just staring at the incredible displays of baked goods. ...talk about care and pride in workmanship.

Do you know what these are? I wanted to experience this before I went home.

At the Tsukiji fish market, The first or second largest wholesale fish market in the world, vendors line up before dawn to get their ice.

Outside of the huge building where the daily tuna auctions take place, couriers hang out.

Believe it or not, the finest tuna for sushi in the world, is frozen on the ship, and brought to auction that way. These dudes know tuna like we know bike parts... Each one of these babies is worth as much as a NOS Raleigh Pro.

I wasn't certain that it was OK to hang-out at the auction, so I thought I might be caught by the tuna police, and hauled out of there, at 5:30 am!

The second dude was bidding on behalf of a super-fancy restaurant in Tokyo. Their clients expect only the best, every day.

Hiroshi, (hi.campy) had never seen the Tsukiji fish market, so we went together...early!

Swordfish

They have no idea that I'm an American who collects bike parts. I'm just another local tuna vendor...  NOT!

It takes 3 guys to haul one fish on to a mini-flatbed.

This is my one "art" picture.

Hundreds of small booths in the same general area as the auctions- these are the next level of the wholesale distribution chain.

Hiroshi poses next to a tuna that was just bought by the, (probably very rich) restaurant owner who watched as his investment get expertly carved-up. Note the huge knife on the table in the foreground.

At 8:00 am, 2.5 hours after we arrived, we bellied-up to a sidewalk "cafe" and had breakfast. Hot ramen pork soup and 70 degree tea.     Yum?

I was sorta thinking waffles and orange juice...

These women athletes in the train station loved the idea that I wanted to take their picture.

Narita airport has this huge, cool art piece.