May 3

Today was Suzuka Circuit. Unfortunately, before we could go there, we got off to a late-ish start and got very lost. Going on the scale of our map, we thought we could walk to a train station to make our commute to Suzuka shorter (and cheaper) but we ended up wasting a few hours in a run-down area of Osaka instead. On the up side, we got to see an interesting shrine, but, on the down side, our time at Suzuka was severely shortened. Along the way, I met a Chinese man who wanted to give me his phone number (a customer who overheard me asking the Lawson’s clerk for directions) and walked by a dog which probably would have bitten me if not chained to a building.

We did end up riding a JR train to the Kintetsu station (instead of walking there) and the kintetsu employee wasn’t too helpful. It wasn’t his fault, but there were not express tickets left for going to Suzuka. David and I were really confused at this time and we ended up going to the clerk three times including the one at which we bought our tickets. When we asked about our train line changes, he wasn’t like the other clerks, who either wrote everything down for us or made sure we actually understood before we left. He gave us an answer and then went about his business. I had to ask two or three times to get all of the information (like IT: they give you the literal answer, not the implicit answers to your questions) but once we were on the first train, we were fine.

The trip to Suzuka took about 2.5 hours and when we got there, we had to wait another half-hour for the bus to come (it was very far from the eki to the circuit, as it turned out). When we did get there though, (and had paid almost 400en for the bus) we had to pay an entrance fee to get into the park (after which you have to pay for all the attractions). We felt a bit jipped, but we paid the money and did some racing. As it turned out, Suzuka was pretty fun, for the things we were interested in.

First of all, we rode 20cc carts. It was pretty much like RushHour (though the track is wider and outdoors). We had to show our licenses, give our blood types, and sit through a briefing (luckily Japan has four flags instead of RH’s 10). We had to suit up quite a bit and I was kicking myself for not bringing my headsock to Japan because I had to pay for a paper one at the track. In addition to that, there was the helmet, gloves, shoes, and if you didn’t wear long sleeves or pants, you had to wear issued sleeves too. On the track, I ran into the barrier (and couldn’t correct) once and had to wait for someone to pull me out (there’s no reverse!!!). Otherwise, I was fine and despite nearly spinning out many times (and still being captain slow), I didn’t get passed by anyone.

Our next stop was the parking lot in front of Suzuka Circuit itself, which was the location of the super cars. It was a bit disappointing (after being to so many auto-x’s where the cars number over 100) but the few cars we did see were pretty cool. There were a few older lotus models, a cobra, a porsche, and a couple of others.

The next attraction, which was heavily considered before being decided on, was driving karts on the actual Suzuka Circuit. Unfortunately, the karts were really slow compared to the first ones we rode (and the ride was really bumpy), but it was worth the price we paid (and the long line we waited in). It seemed so slow though that I pulled out my camera and took a bunch of shots instead of focusing on my driving. I ran over the rumble strips just to make the ride interesting.

After that, it was off to the gift shops, as the majority of the un-visited area was kiddy rides. There was a roller coaster, but it didn’t seem very special. I found an awesome shirt in one of the gift shops, but I couldn’t bring myself to pay the 14700en price for it. D:

Afterward, we rode the expensive bus back (which stopped running at 6:10, despite the circuit’s later closing hour) and tried to buy our tickets home. The station master wasn’t very accommodating. David was out of discount tickets, so I was going to use mine to pay for both of our tickets (I had two discounts). First the station master told me I couldn’t do that, so I was going to use only one. Then, (after marking my discount as one-way) he decided to tell me I couldn’t use it because I wasn’t going to Kyoto or somewhere else. Gee, you couldn’t tell me at the very beginning, when I told you I wanted to go to Nagoya? That was okay though too because the tickets were pretty cheap and we got back to Nagoya before 8:00. At yagoto, David and I went to Valor to buy discount bentou (delicous!!!) and I went home to enjoy the sushi and onigiri I bought there.

At home (around 10:00), I gave the omiyage I had bought in Nara to okaasan and ate my dinner (the only thing besides two small onigiri I had eaten all day). After my meal, I went up the stairs (where a piece of mail was waiting for me) to my room. I figured my mail was another troublesome government concern, but when I opened it, I found it was for my stimulus check!!! I showed it to okaasan and she didn’t seem too surprised, but she told me to use it to buy some good Japanese items, since that was what it was for. I’ll probably not end up spending it with all the money that should come in this month, but I can call it reimbursement. (: