Quote:
Originally Posted by Dutchie
For me it started at an early age. My grandparents lived in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and once a week we visit theme and every satherday there was a big market. There was a little stand with 2 Japanese guys selling toys comming directly from Japan. I'm sure they were sailers from the harbour making some money with stuff they brought from home. But anyway , i loved those toys...they looked like robotic dinosaurs and could shoot stuff. While my friends played with Star Wars and Star Trek i had some obscure brightly coloured mecha dino's and boy did i loved them.
Here is a picture of one of them : http://mhsrobotics.com/wp-content/up...ku%20Maryu.jpg
A couple of years later they aired "battle of the planets" on tv. I realy don't know how the serie is called in Japan but it blew me away. it was the first anime i saw and i made a conection with the toys i had and this serie thinking...stuff from Japan is cooool.
Later in life i started racing motorbikes. I raced classic britisch bikes (norton and BSA) but was always amazed with the technic the Japanese bikes had racing in my class. The Honda Black Bomber with the torsion bar valve springs and double cams , the 2-stroke unslaught of the Yamaha racing bike's and so on. The Honda six cilinder racers were the top of the bill. Now i was sure all the special stuff came from Japan 
During the Balkan war i was stationed in Italy with the Dutch airforce as a weapon mechanic for the F-16's and met a Japanese girl. She teached me my first Japanese words. I loved the spoken words and it wasn't that difficult to learn them.
Even my taste of music connect me with Japan. You guys have some great psychobilly scene.
When i played in a band (bass guitar) we had a gig with a Japanese band called s.o.b (grindmetal) One of the nicest guys i ever met.
Besides all that there are many other things that got me connected with your country like my hobby to collect ww 2 stuff.
If i summ it up it will look like this : Anime/manga , Honda rc181/rc173 , Suzuka circuit (i have to see the F1 there) , psychobilly/rockabilly scene , the girls , the food , the language , ww2 aircrafts , discover the many differencies between my country and yours. That is what attract me to your country.  |
Oooooh my gaaaaaaawd!! Your grandpa is in Rotterdam? Rotterdam has been a special place for me since I was 15. I really was into Rotterdam techono music back then. By the way, that dinosaurs toy is called "Zoid" here in Japan. And, those toys are still popular among mania people.