Meet up with Taguchi-san (Toshiaki) 2016

It has been 10 years since I was last in Japan. My wife and I were going for there 11 days, She had the itinerary set up as to what to see and where to go. My main reason to go was to participate in the Nissan leopard meeting. I also found out there was an Estima meeting the next weekend and Stance G Nation on Sunday. I tried to contact as many people as possible to talk about meeting up and Taguchi-san said he can meet me in Odaiba.

I made an error in communication because I thought the Estima meeting was on Saturday and Stance G Nation was on Sunday. I found out that both events were happening the same day. These events were also in different prefectures. Taking the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) each way was 2 hours.

I thought about not going to Stance G Nation, but I had to meet up with Taguchi-san. Also a few of my leopard family wanting to see me again. To make the matters worse, my phone was broken, so communication and directions had to be in person. I also couldn't text or message anyone.

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After the Estima meeting, I headed back to Tokyo, then went to Odaiba. As soon as I got in, I started to look around and came up my leopard family. Since it was nearing the end of the show, I started to go around taking pictures (and of course my battery was dying!).

While I did come upon a van or 2 with VanKulture stickers, I was specifically looking for Taguchi-san.

In a separate parking lot, I came upon my VKJapan brothers!

Yamato-san was sleeping in the Sienna. I felt bad, but I woke him up and told him I was looking for Taguchi-san. I believe he tried to text him.

I came back later after taking pictures and I met with Taguchi-san!!! It was pretty cool to connect with him after just talking to him on facebook.

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In 2017, I returned to Japan 3 times (May, August and September/October). My first trip that year, I was going all over Japan. It was my Wandering Leopard Pilgrimage.

When I met my friend Suenaga-san in Saitama, Taguchi-san said he would meet me as well. We picked him up at the station and hung out at Suenaga-san's garage. F31 Leopard (Suenaga-san), Y31 Gloria (Yamashima-san) and Toyota bB (Hiruma-san).