Japan Journal: Yomitan Automobile Carnival

Several weeks ago Stevie saw a story in the Japan Update about a local event that was maybe the equivalent of an American car show. Of course, what really caught our attention was the picture which showed one of the totally AWESOME dump trucks they have on Okinawa. Here was our big chance to get up close and personal to one! So we put it on the calendar - of course the weekend the show was scheduled a typhoon threatened our little island so the event got bumped back a week to this past weekend.

Since Stevie was on call on Sunday, I recruited Krimp and Dima to go with me and the kids. Like all Japan Update recommended events, this one came with no good directions except to say it was being held on some defunct airfield somewhere on the Yomitan peninsula. Helpful. But believe it or not, we found the event! And luckily the admission was only a whopping 100 Yen ($1.25).

So what does a Japanese Automobile Carnival feature??? A lot of American cars! And others. But love the taste of home these cars bring.

A Dooley (complete with dog in the tailgate)

Just need a "01" to make it the General Lee.

Of course, there were funky Japanese cars...

London liked this one for the Pokemon character.

Don't know what to say about this one.

And funky Japanese fashion...

Just for the guys...

Note the heels. At a car show? Really?

Truth be told, these kind of shoes are not unusual on Japanese women.

Emmy liked these motorcycles, they were just her size.

She also liked Alvin on a motorcycle, but mainly because he was giving out lollipops!

By far the best part of the show for me were the dump trucks and something I'll call "Spidey Meets Kit"

First, the trucks. Yes, you see trucks like this all the time driving on the roads around Okinawa. These are the mini ones - I'm still working on getting a good picture of the big dump trucks. Besides, they deserve their own blog post.

Now for Spidey Meets Kit. Remember that show back in the '80's called Knight Rider? I loved that show. Me and Erika Hilmer used to be infatuated with the car - an 80's vintage, black Trans Am called Kit that talked and drove by itself and had this red light on the front bumper that made this noise like "wuhhh, wuhhh". Remember? Guess what? I found Kit and it's in Okinawa! But just to add to the weirdness/Japanese-ness of this, it wasn't David Hasselhoff who was standing next to the car. No, it was an anorexic Spiderman! ????