Whilst we were at the Utilitas (http://www.utilitas.co.jp) purchasing our Land Cruiser FJ62 the boss, Ikegaya-san, invited us to join him in attending this year’s annual meetup of 60-series Land Cruiser owners. We, of course, took him up on his offer and agreed to go. We did feel a bit weird that whilst we do technically own a 60-series, we’d be turning up empty handed as our car was going to be at Utilitas for the next month having various bits and pieces attended to.
The weekend got off to an early start because we had to be in west Tokyo by 7am to meet Ikegaya-san. At 07:00 on the dot Ikegaya-san rolled up in his pristine red Land Cruiser FJ60 and we hit the road. And I say pristine, but seriously, this is one special pin-up of a Land Cruiser that’s made several magazine appearances here in Japan.
Heading out west on the Chuo Expressway it was fantastic to see the mountainous scenery, where we’ve spent a fair few days hiking during our time in Japan, fly past the window. Even though we’ve been to mountains just outside Tokyo quite a few times, it really only takes a very short time of city living to forget they’re there, so it was great to get the periodic reminder.
Whilst we had a rough idea where the meetup was happening we hadn’t bothered looking at a map, so it was a pleasant surprise when we ended up driving up-and-over the Higashi-Fujigoko Road at the base of Fuji-san. The campsite turned out to be not much further along the road, so after a brief detour to organise the porta-loos for the weekend, we hit the site and set up the tent.
In perfect Japanese-style, as soon as we were settled in and off-the-clock, the beers appeared and it was “kampai’s” all ’round. Despite only being 10:45.
From there, the rest of day adopted a bit of pattern; we’d chill back at base camp drinking beer watching the Land Cruisers roll up, then once an hour we’d head off and do a circuit of the site to check out the new arrivals. The process of checking out the new arrivals also adopted a bit a of a pattern; in his broken Japanese Captain would say “Hello” and introduce ourselves, then we’d talk Land Cruiser, at which point we’d have to explain via Captain’s schoolboy Japanese that whilst we were part of the “roku-maru” (6-0) gang we didn’t actually have our 60-series in hand quite yet.
Each time we met someone new we’d tell them that we were planning to drive our FJ62 back to the UK. It was interesting to see how differently people reacted to the idea – some people thought it was a fantastic idea, some people seemed horrified, and, this being a meeting of Land Cruiser enthusiasts who love to spend time tweaking their vehicle’s mechanical parts, most folk just wanted to know what our spare parts list was going to be.
As 9pm rolled around we were starting to feel nicely tipsy, at which point everyone was called to the middle of the campsite. First of all, folk who’d owned their ’60 from brand-new were called to the front, asked to introduce themselves and then given a big round of applause. Next it was the turn of ‘first-time attendees’ which we both realised with horror meant us! As things turned out, despite having drunk quite a few beers as the day had progressed, we were both able to knock out reasonable introductions in Japanese and say that were very happy to have met everyone.
Sunday continued in much the same vein as Saturday, with the addition of a hangover. More people arrived, and we made more circuits of the site saying “Hello” and chatting about Land Cruisers.
In the end I think around 80 Land Cruisers made an appearance over the weekend, which is quite amazing. It was heartwarming to see so many different people from all walks of life hanging out, just because they happen to own the same type of car.
Many thanks to Ikegaya-san for taking us and looking after us so well for the 2 days!