here are opportunities as a magazine editor that simply cannot be passed up. Such was the case a
few months back when an e-mail from Editor in Chief Donn Maeda asked, “Do you want to go to
Japan next month?” I didn’t know why I was being asked to go, but I did know that I was about to visit
to a country that I have been hoping to for quite some time. Then came the assignment: I was going
to be bringing my photo bag and a fresh set of gear to ride a 2018 Suzuki RM-Z450, one of the most
highly anticipated new machines of the upcoming model year. Well, sort of. When the final itinerary
came through from Suzuki’s Chris Wheeler (US MX support manager), I read that I was going to test a
true “works” factory 2018 RM-Z450WS model. At that moment, I wondered what I had gotten myself
into! Between this once-in-a-lifetime ride, a trip to Sportsland Sugo for the All Japan National Champi-
onship, and a factory tour of Suzuki, I already had my bags packed and at the door long before I left. It
was time to turn Japanese for the week!
BY MIKE EMERYit’s what makes everything fun for me—for better or
for worse! That being said, I ingested some mys-
tery foods on this trip, and to this day I still don’t
know what they were, but for the most part I en-
joyed some of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. Fri-
day night’s meal was nothing scary or unique, but
it did include assorted fried things on sticks that
were hard to identify, yet still damn tasty. With the
wind out of our sails from the travel, it was bedtime
after a quick first night out in Tokyo.SATURDAY, JUNE 3 – TOKYO DRIFTING
It’s a lucky feeling to be able to travel the world
on a work trip, and especially lucky when the or-
ganizers of the trip allow for a full day of wan-
dering with the only obligation being a dinner at
night. Welcome to our Saturday, and we had all
planned as a group to cruise the city on foot. A
few things immediately stood out about Tokyo:
Everything is very clean, and the people are es-
pecially polite and quiet. The nature of their cul-
ture is a stark contrast from what we’re all used to
in the States. Rad architecture, historic temples,
beautiful greenery, and a lot of people were
seen enjoying a perfectly sunny 70-degree day
in the city. A pit stop was necessary at the staple
specialty coffee shop called Blue Bottle Coffee,
which recently expanded from the US into Tokyo.
This was one of many highlights on the 12-plus-
mile stroll, along with stumbling upon some
group karate training at an old temple and see-
ing a 2020 Nissan concept supercar downtown.
You need some serious time to soak in what To-
kyo has to offer, and I am certainly heading back
for a proper vacation to do just that!THURSDAY, JUNE 1 – LA TO TOKYO
Upon arrival to the familiar scene of LAX’s interna-
tional terminal, the (not so amusing) amusement
park-style line to security is always reminiscent of
the excitement a trip like this brings. This particu-
lar journey called for a total of four bags that in-
dicated maximum fun was coming: gear bag, suit-
case, camera roller bag, and my trusty backpack.
But none of that mattered after I had checked
half of them and took the elevator up to the Ja-
pan Airlines Sky Club—the first sign I was about to
embark on an incredible trip with the kind folks
at Suzuki. After enjoying the entire spread of free
offerings from the club, it was go time to board
our giant Boeing 777 plane that seated over 300
passengers and was set to fly a total of 11 and a
half hours into the future (Japan’s time zone sets
them 16 hours ahead of our Carlsbad, California,
base). Let’s do this.
FRIDAY, JUNE 2 – TOKYO ARRIVAL
After existing in my plane seat for over 11 hours and
sampling a few very random plane meals along the
way, we made it just in time to dump our gear bags
where Suzuki arranged to have them shipped to the
place we would need them—an epic move by the
trip planners! An hour train ride into the downtown
Tokyo station and a small walk brought us to our ho-
tel for the next two nights.
With enough time for our first dinner with the
half-assembled crew of journalists (Ricky Carmi-
chael and a couple others would arrive the next
day), we ventured out into a small restaurant near-
by. One key thing I personally do when I travel any-
where is eat the local food and soak everything in;
TURNING JAPANESE!