MOTO TOURIST I JAPAN
194 | JANUARY 2018 http://www.adbmag.com.auThe Suzuki factory ran like a well-oiled machineA huge thank you
must go out to
Nao and Lewis at
Suzuki Australia
ENTERTAINMENT
The treatment we received during our
trip was top notch. Suzuki Australia’s
representatives, Lewis Croft and Nao,
laid out the red carpet for us and
looked after everything. Every night
we had some form of entertainment
and fine dining organised for us
which was mostly put together and
hosted by American Suzuki head
honcho Takeshi Hayasaki.
Tak is a born leader and entertainer
and seemed to take his hosting role
just as seriously as he did the official
RM-Z450 launch. But when I think of
Tak now, just one word comes to
mind. Karaoke.
Throughout most of the week on
our bus and bullet train trips around
the country I kept hearing from Ricky
(Carmichael) that I’d better be ready
for some serious karaoke. And Tak
was the master. It had been pumped
up into a huge thing by the time the
final night came and we were leaving
our amazing Japanese/French fusion
restaurant. The time had come, we
were on our way to karaoke.
I was picturing some kind of wine
joint, or even a piano bar, the kind ofplace you’ve probably seen on TV.
When we arrived we hopped into a
lift that took us up a few levels and
we stepped out into an open foyer
area. There was no sound, no music
or background noise from people
having a good time.
I thought there must be some really
good sound-proofing. We were
ushered down the hall and into a
small room that seated about 15
people on three couches that
surrounded a table. In the corner was
a pretty damn small TV that you may
have seen back in the 1980s. And
then it dawned on me.
We weren’t at a cool bar where you
could choose, or not choose, to do
karaoke. We were in a karaoke booth,
with two microphones and a bunch
of 11 other dudes. Shit was about to
get real. And then the beer came!
Three jugs were immediately
brought out for us and they would
continue to come out. And
surprisingly enough, after a few beers
the microphone didn’t seem like such
a scary prospect. I drew the short
straw when the first song that popped
up on screen was I Come From a Land
Down Under.RC wasn’t going to leave me in the
trenches alone so he snatched up the
second microphone and was adamant
that he’d provide backing vocals.
Little did I know that he is a legend
on the microphone and takes his
karaoke pretty seriously.
Tak got to do his standing serenade
of Pretty Woman and by the end of
the night we were all yelling the
chorus to YMCA. I managed to take a
bunch of iphone videos that night
that, for the sake of our better
judgement, will certainly not see the
light of day.
All in all, it really was a trip of a
lifetime. From riding a true factory
machine, travelling in luxury buses
and 280km/h bullet trains, to fine
Japanese dining, karaoke nights and
spending a week with Ricky, who is
one of the most down-to-earth guys
you could have the pleasure of hanging
out with! A huge thank you must go
out to Nao and Lewis at Suzuki
Australia and everyone involved in
making this trip happen.Got something to say about this yarn?
[email protected]
More images and info at adbmag.com.au