TKEVO

iTrader: (43)

I was looking to see if there is anyone up here in or near Okinawa, Japan. Ive seen some people post up about being near Tokyo but I wont be near that side of Japan.

How's the car scene (probably a stupid question...lol) performance shops to get work done, body shops etc......looking to get a head start on things because it will probably be a year before I get there. Need to get the car tuned and everything once I arrive.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks TK

kanyonkid

iTrader: (33)

i lived there for 10 months... Learn to work on your own car. But just wait til u see what hangs on the wall at the performance shops And how CHEAP everything is

TKEVO

iTrader: (43)

Hangs on the wall? It soil be nice to get the inside scoop now.

Bret

Hey TKEVO.. I've been living here in Okinawa for a while now. Just recently picked up an EVO VI and found this site.. been in the car scene here on Oki for a long long time.. what exactly are you going to be doing here? Military? Are you looking for something specific or just curious? Not really sure what kanyonkid meant about stuff hanging on walls here.. parts can be cheap if your lucky, but unfortunately with the current economic climate the exchange rate here blows... stuff used to be cheap, but not any more.

Again, let me know how long you're going to be here and what your looking to do and I'll see if I can help you out in any way..

Bret

hylomar

http://www.zeroyon.com/

zHzL875

well, the deal is done. one week with the inlaws, 9 days in seattle, 20 hrs in a plane ( 4 on the ground, stationary) and i stepped onto okinawa, japan.... the hawaii of the far east, it seems.
alas, i had to split with my old evo mr i had in the states, making room for an upgrade, so to speak, from the far east.
long story short. where do i get the newer evos (7 and up), does everyone hold on to the gtr's like squirrels on a nickel and does 6900 Y for a 98 silvia sound too expensive to anyone else?
also, given those awesome new laws that congress spent their money passing about now bringing in real cars to the states, would it be unreasonable tot hink that i'll get my evo/silvia back in one piece?
thanks for any thoughts.

Bret

an EVO VII will run you between $10K-30K depending on kilometers and shape they are in.

Skylines suck.. dont even waste your time

And forget trying to bring a car back to the states.. I've been here since 1997 and have only heard of a couple people bringing their cars back with them and damn near all of them did it illegally. So yes, its possible, but not really worth the hassle.

And like hylomar posted.. check out Zeroyon.com for the local car forum. Just dont post that you want to bring a car back to the states, or that you want a Skyline.. you will get flamed so bad you'll probably cry.. =)

hylomar

There is someone on zeroyon that brought back a VII via the race use only importation. I have heard horror stories, but there has been one. Anouther guy (same sight) legal brough a celica gt-four back. I am not familiar with the details, though I am thinking he probably got toyota to send him papers showing US compliance even though they were not imported.

Bret

yea.. if the car was a limited edition race model or something like that then you can import them. It's not impossible.. older(25 years) are ok too.

The issue is, you get new people to the island and every last one of them wants to bring their JDM car back to the states and make money. You're not reinventing the wheel here.. and if it was easy or cheap there would be so many JDM cars in the states it wouldnt be funny.

Personally.. I would drop the cash on a classic JDM car and bring that back.. easier to do and is a lot cooler then a R33 skyboat..

hylomar

My EP82 Starlett ate R33's for breakfast!! I know a guy that brought a grey market r33 back. His wind screen broke in transient and he can find one state side. Bawahahaha!!! Biggest, most expensive paper weight I have ever seen.