Mybows - The hottest aircooled VW shop in Japan

Finally, I got a plane ticket to the US for a one-month visit although I haven't decided when I will return to Japan.  I can't wait to drive my patina bus that I left in the US.

I was thinking of going back to the US sooner but I coudn't go until now. My work had been keeping me from going.

I'm building the engine for my bus using the NPR 88mm cylinder kit (a Japanese brand kit) that I have been reserving for myself for a ling time.  Needless to say, it's already no longer available (please let me know if you know someone that has the kit in stock).

I have only 10 days until my US trip but haven't finished building the engine yet...

I have to hurry.

We participated in the largest outdoor custom car show in Japan.  It was held in Daiba, Tokyo.  The wheather was great and it remainded me of California.

Over 1000 cars which included old American cars, Japanese cars, pickup trucks and of course, VWs were entered at the show.

We had a booth to sell retro items like very old radio flyers, lanterns, signs etc. but couldn't make plenty of money this time.

Anyway, I had a great time.

Here are the photos we took them at the show.

The biggest annual Japanese VW show in Japan was held in Tokyo on April 1st.  We had a big booth and made the biggest income for swap meets in our history!

Here are the photos we took at the show.  Hope you enjoy them.

The next show will be held at the end of April.

I joined the West Coast Bay Club organized by Rich Kimball.  This is a club exclusively for bay bus owners.

I joined this club when I was driving my '70 bus in the US.  I left my bus in the US but brought the key chain back to Japan with me.  I need to take it with me to drive my bus again.

It is snowing outside right now.  This is the first snowing in Tokyo this year.

Happy new year everyone!  I hope you all a prosperous and glorious 2012!

Usually in Japan, people go on winter break from the end of the year to the beginning of the new year, taking about 5-10 days off.  But that didn't apply to me because business doesn't stop or me.  Everything stayed the same.  As usual, I had parts to ship, customers to attend to and maintenance work to do.

By the way, I got a great Christmas present from a friend in the US.

I miss their burgers.  I went In-N-Out burger often while I was staying in the US for three months.  I don't know how many times I ate there.  I always asked to have my burger with "additional everything."

Beginning from June this year, I went to California and stayed that time for three months.  Experiecing a fuge earthquake made me think about my life and pushed me to do what I had always wanted to do but couldn't.

It was a wonderful experience.  I stayed at friends house and they took me to various places.  I was able to experience many great things.

I have been extremely busy since I returned to Japan, especially because I had to make up for the three months while I was away from regular work at my shop.  My Bows has been growing tremendously and is doing great right now so that makes me even more busy.

I've been writing about my three months trip on my Japanese blog but there is just too much to write about and I'm still far from done reporting.  I've got an offer from a Japanese VW magazine publisher to write a series of articles on my US trip.  I also have the daily task of updating my Japanese blog and home page that makes it hard for me to get around to writing here on my English blog.  Writing in English is still something I don't easily do and it takes lots of time to do.

But there is a lot I'd like to write about in English so I'd like to try as much as I can.

The earthquake made 2011 an awful year, but the US trip is what changed 2011 to be a great year for me.

On the bottom line, I'd like to thank all the people that I've come in contact during my trip, especially to Chris Cocks and his family for providing me with a base. 

Without their help, this US trip wouldn't have been possible.  I greatly appreciate all they've done for me.

I've got to get back to the US again as soon as I can.  I've still got a lot of things to do back there.

And in 2012, I'd like to go to other countries as well.  Of course those that are VW related.

I was able to do many things on this trip but among them, buying a VW bus and driving in the US was the best thing!

A great many people helped me to make this my big dream come true.  As for the details, I'll explain another time.

I will be staying the US for three month from the begging of June.  My US trip are usually only about two weeks so I'm especially excited about this one!

The 311 quake made me think about life and I thought of the things I'd like to do while I can.

I always experience new things when I travel.  Having lots of time on this trip, I'm looking forward to experiencing many things to add to my experiences.

I've already written about having bought sweets with the money Mr.Leonard donated, so now I'll write about sending th sweets.

I considered sending the snack food to a shelter in the city og Onagawa, Miyagi.  But I thought, "Since Onagawa is in Miyagi and because there's a VW shop in Miyagi called Juice UP I have a good relationship with, why not hace them take the sweets directly instead of having people I don't know take him.  Gosh, I'm always full of great ideas!!"

So, that's what I decided to do.

I called up an owner of Juice UP and asked, "Hey, your place is close to Onagawa, isn't it Kimura?"

In reality, he told me you have to drive abut an hour a half to get it to Onagawa, but he kindly accepted the job.  So I sent the snacks to his shop.

And within a few days, I was told the sweets had safly been delivered.

Below is what he wrote in his e-mail.

I was finally able to deliver the sweets today.  It turned out that most chelters are already aupplied with everything, and I finally went tto a shelter near the nuclear power plant (at an elementary school in Ishinomaki).

The children were away because it was a schol day so I handed the sweets to a fishman staying at the shelter.  He was very kind.  He said "Please send my word : Thank you very much."

The photos below are sent from Kimura (the owner of Juice Up).

I participated in the biggest outdoor car show for custom cars (including VWs) on March 24th.  I had a booth at the swao meet this year as I've had every year.

I didn't bring VW parts to sell but I brought lots of old American goods instead.  The weather was great and a lot of car freaks came to the show.

 The only VW item I brought was a muffler of Vintage Speed for display.

 At this event, they had a car, brought from an area affected by the tsunami, on display which caught the attention of many people.

 I really had a good time as I always have at events!

I have an ad up on Samba to introduce LED lights for VWs. I got lots of inquiries, and this time I'd like to write about a very wonderful e-mail I got.

I had been exchanging e-mails with Mr.Leonardo, a VW owner in the States, with him being interested in our LED lights.  LED installation becomes complicated when changing the turn signals, and I had to explain the installation process, possible problems, and trouble-shooting procedures.  Explaining such things in English is very difficult for me.

It was taking quite some time for me, and then the earthquake hit on March 11th.  The quake brought panic, stress and confusion, and I had forgotten about having to explain about the LED lights.

About a 2week ago, I was reminded of our e-mail exchange by Leonardo's friend request on Facebook.  I appologized for my absence but his responce was far from being a complaint.

He sent me the following e-mail.

CHIAKI... PLEASE  LET ME  SEND YOU 250.00 DOLLARS  .... I WANT YOU TO HELP ANYONE WHO IS HUNGRY WITH FOOD... I KNOW IS DOES NOT GO VERY FAR BUT . I DONT HAVE THE HEART TO BUY LED LIGHTS FOR MYSELF WHEN THERE IS SO MUCH TRAGEDY SURROUNDING YOU.DO I SEND IT TO MYBOWS@NIFTY.COM? LET ME KNOW ASAP. I WILL GET TAIL LIGHTS ANOTHER TIME. I KNOW THE MONEY IS IN THE RIGHT HANDS TO GET IT TO THE NEEDY

What an act of kindness.

Before I was able to decide what to do, the money came to me by Paypal.  So I decided to accept his donation.  This money is more than just plain money.  It holds a man's wish.  I should put it to use in the best possible way.

Leo said in his e-mail that he's especially heart-broken to think about children being hungry, so I asked different people for advice andacame to the conclusion to send sweets.  The food being donated are mainly rice balls and cup needles so snacks (especially sweet things), according to the staff at a distribution center, would be greatly appreciated.  It sweets that I thought children would especially enjoy.

With Leo's 30,000 yen in hand, I went to a wholesale shop selling sweets.  I chose aweets that I thought children would especially enjoy.

 It was quite a load.  I put package after package (many of them by the box) into the shopping cart but when I took it to the cash register, the total only came to 20,000 yen.  I thought of buying more but changed my mind and decided to donate the rest to the Red Cross because money could be used on various things.

 I hope the children enjoy the snacks.

Again, I'd like to thank Leo.

(to be continue)

I stuck my girlfriend in Mickey-chan, my 356, and went for a drive along a street lined with cherry trees.  I do this every year.  The street is part of a park in the neighborfood.  It's the second largest park in Tokyo.

Spring has come.  The temperture has risen and many flowers are in bloom and they get me excited.

The largest VW show following Jamboree, "Flash Bugs Meeting," that was scheduled in May has been canceled.  It's a big disappointment but there's nothing to be done when you think about all the quakes and power outages and other things going on in this part of Japan.

 The photo above is from last year's "Flash Bugs Meeting" show.

I visited several VW shops, yesterday, in Chiba (the prefecture east of Tokyo).  I went to give shop owners a chance to see the mufflers from Vintage Speed first-hand.

It's very interesting and even educational for me to see the garages of other shops.

Discussing different things with other shop owners very much stimulateed me.  Next week, I'm thinking of visiting shops in Saitama (the prefecture north of Tokyo.)

I drove my 356 (a replica of a 356 speedstar based on a bug) today.  It's been a while since I last rode. 

It's the first time after the 311 quake, of course.

Man, I love this car!

Ming Tang of Vintage Speed always accept our special requests.  We've had him make modified mufflers for bay-buses just for us.  Of course, there were a lot of installation tests and data reserch we had to do before we finally had our customized mufflers.

What our customized mufflers for bay-buses 68-71 are like, compared to the bay-bus mufflers (for all years) that Vintage Speed had been selling overseas. is as below:

-the mufflers body has been moved forward 1cm

-the tailpipe has been moved towards the rear 1cm

-the tailpipe has beem extend 10cm streching to the left

-the tailpipe end faces down by a 30 degree angle

The products numbers end with "MB."  You may have guessed it but it stands for "My bows."

One newly customeized mufflers for bay-buses 72-on (T-1 engine) have muffler body at the same as before but have the following differences:

-the tailpipe has beem extend 10cm streching to the left

-the tailpipe end faces down by a 30 degree angle

Thier products number will be "054MB."

I'd really like to thank Ming Tang for all his work and consideration he's been putting into it, and to give my best in distributing more and more Vintage Speed products to VW owners in Japan.

I was planning to have an open-house party before the Jamboree event, but because the event was postponed due to bad situations after the earthquakes, I have canceled the party.

Instead, I invited close customers and had a little party on the same day I had the open-house party planned.  With saving electricity being the trend(?) in Japan, we turned all the lights off and lighted the shop just with lanterns.

I'll have the open-house party when the Jamboree event is scheduled again.

We started to sell great VW parts from the UK.

 The product I was most excited about selling is the knobs for camper window of bay-buses.

 There used to be only junk repro parts but now, this new know will solve that problem!

We had a Chevrolet waiting in the parking lot for seven years to be fixed but I never had the time to work on it. 

Then it ended up being sold.  A little disappointing but , well, we all have so much to do in so little time...

Things are slowly getting back to normal.  I'll get back to writing about subjects that aren't about our earthquake disaster.

A lot of aftershocks have been occurred in Tokyo. but the number and size are not to be concern.

Moreover, I am accustomed to earthquake.  For a while. after the first biggest quake hit Japan, I ran from my shop holding a shop cat when big quakes occurred.  But recently, I only turn off a Kerosene heater!

Spring is coming but I know winter is not over yet...

Nothing will get accomplished without taking action.  Right now. I just have to try harder than before in doing what I can do now and keep looking ahead.  I've been away from my regular garage work for a few days since the first earthquake, but I've returned to work the day before yesterday.

I made a donation to the Red Cross.  I'm cutting back on electricity.  Now, I just have to keep doing the tasks I have before me.

For now, the area I'm located in hasn't had any planned blackouts but nearby prefecture are.  They are taking turns having power outrages, for up to three hours at a time.  In preparation for a blackout, I've made the light shown in the picture, usinf fully-charged batteries and an LED light bulbs we well for VWs.  LED uses little energy so it'll hold up for a long time.

I have a car radio and an antenna (Bug's) as well, to allow myself to stay informed of any news released on the radio.

Even without power, having a little light and sound will make a big difference.  I haven't used them yet, though.

I've been staying at my shop since the earthquake on the 11th, going home only 3 times to take showers.

There hasn't been any serious damege in Tokyo, but transportation is still down or restricted and it's hard to get food and gasoline.  This is the first time I've been in such a situation!!

To add to that, we have a shortage on electricity so areas in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures are taking turns having a scheduled power outage.  For now, we haven't had a power outage here where my shop is but I'm doing the best I can to save electricity.

I have no word to say on above photos... 

Spring is finally coming but it's still cold in the prefectures up north where the earthquake hit...

Anyway, we can't be too careful...

For now, I have no trouble doing oversea-shipping.

I'd like to apporogize ahead of time in case we get orders or other e-mails from overseas and can't respond right away.

Chiaki

It has been announced today that the Japanese VW event, "Jamboree" scheduled on April 3. 2011, will be postponed.  The new date is not yet announced.  It's very disappointing but there's nothing we can do about it in the current situation in Japan.

I hope for everything to return to normal soon and to have events again.

Many rescue staff and volunteers are coming from foreign countries to help.  I'd like to thank them.

According to the current news, it's been confirmed that 2000 died and over 10000 are still missing.  There are also power plant issues and there are people risking their lives to deal witn them...

There's not as much damage in Tokyo, where we are located, but there have been more new earthquakes in various parts of Japan so we can't be too careful.  Japan is a country that is known to have many earthquakes but this is my first time to experience a series of earthquakes as serious as this.

We have to stand strong.

I am encouraged from the many message and phone calls from my VW friends overseas and am truely thankful of everyone's consideration.

A HUGE earthquake hit the north of Japan.  It was a real scare but my shop was fine.

For now, the TV news program said over 1000 people had been confirmed dead and 641 missing.  Also 1426 people are injured in the earthquake and the tsunami...

I got lots of thoughtful messages from friends in foreign countries.  I really appreciate them.

We, Japanese has to confront this terrible situation. It will take more time until Japan gets back to normal.

I got order from a Bay-bus owner to fix his steering gear box.  An owner of a '70 bay-bus wanted his poor steering gear  box to be repaired.

As you may know, there is no new gear boxes to T-2As in the VW market except the NOS ones you may find if you are lucky enough.

However difficult the situation, the bus owner had a serious problem and I had to immediately fix it somehow.  I got a rebuilt gear box in the States last time I visited.  Now with experience, I don't trust any "rebuilt" items made by unknown companies.  The gear box I got in the States was so cheap and, even without experience at the time, I had doubt about the quality but I decided to take a chance.

I took it apart for inspection and sure enough, it was...JUNK.

This was how looks normally.  It was a little different from the ones on Beetles.  I found a photo of this type dome light on other blog and it says this round type dome light used in the trunk for Ghias.  I've never seen it in the trunks in my VW life...

We've said we'll be having an open-house party the day before the Jamboree show.  Well, a VW shop called Strollers located in Chiba had a morning cruise a week ago.

It's one more month until the show.  The VW market here is inevitably starting to heat up!