Book Review: The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

As a book recommended by some publication (don't remember which one) that covered something to the effect of "books about WWII that you should read" or similar this work should have been better.

Not that it isn't interesting or contain a remarkable series of events...its just not that compelling a read.

By that I mean the author does not have his own voice.  Anyone subjected to the awful series of events he was--captured by the Japanese, put to work near (not on) the Burma-Siam railway (of Bridge on the River Kwai infamy), tortured by the Japanese secret police, imprisoned in some of the worst hell holes of POW note, and years later reconnecting with one of his interrogators (not torturors as the book often erroneously states and is put forth to be as this interrogator was just that...an inquisitor and translator, never putting a hand on the author)--could have retold this work.  Again, not that it isn't a remarkable retelling, but its simply that, not a "work".

Little analysis nor much "art" here.  Placing a tape recorder in front of the author and having him simply give his biography would largely result in the same.  Further, his interest in railways and trains as a youth and then his tangential "work" on the Burma-Siam railway does not come off as an effective thread by which the work can be connected from beginning to end.  It comes off forced and not valuable to the tale...distracting more than anything.

None of this is to take away from Eric Lomax's internal fortitude in the face of awful conditions, brutal torture, absence of hope, etc.  He deserves all the credit he received for having the courage to persevere as well as to forgive his former captor.  His retelling of these events just does not amount to an engaging read or shed light on heretofore unknown events.

TV Show Review: Attack on Titan

Finished up watching this series last night.  Its certainly not for everyone.  Its Japanese, its a cartoon, its subtitled, its got naked giants without genitalia eating people.  Its anime which if you don't already know what it is, you probably won't like it.

That said, its about as good as anime gets.  Its weird in all the best ways.  Humanity has been stuck inside three concentric walls since it was almost exterminated some 100 years earlier by these giant "Titans" of which there are different kinds but all of which love to wordlessly eat people--lots of them.  Besides the enormous walls the only thing standing between humanity and extinction are teams of military like individuals who use waist mounted devices to swing from building to building or tree to tree with their reloadable swords to slice the Titans apart.

So you have the classic Japanese anime with lots of people flying through the air showering each other in oceans of blood.  Behind it all are the questions of what exactly are the Titans?  Where do they come from? Why does the royal family get to stay inside the safest circle and get all the resources?  How do we kill more of the Titans?  Why can Eren turn himself INTO a Titan?  Has a Titan who can transform into a human infiltrated the group?

It started off as a manga (comic) in Japan and has quickly spread across the globe with novels, films, video games, etc. with millions of editions in print.  The english subtitled anime series does not carry it all the way through where the manga has gone and leaves much unresolved and unanswered and thus a bit dissapointing that more answers aren't given and so I'm waiting for the collection of episodes (this first "season" was some 25 episodes long).  The translation is fairly good though a bit too literal vs. conversational as is typically the case with anime but there is definitely a bit of info lost in translation and there are gaps in information that leave you asking if you missed an episode or part of an episode that I attribute to the move from Japanese to English.

The series has been a bit controversial in Asia with those in Hong Kong and Taiwan seeing the Titans as stand-ins for invading China and South Korea calling it a reflection of Japan's recent militaristic turn.  I doubt its either but the fact that it has gotten a lot of people all riled up over it shows its now widespread influence.  If you've given things like Akira and Ghost in the Shell a chance in the past and enjoyed them (as I have, though I am only a VERY small anime aficionado, knowing only the largest of titles and series), I would recommend some binge watching to include Attack on Titan for a current look at the top level of work coming out of Japan.

Most Interesting Entry at This Year's Baja 1000

 I picked the Quigley 4x4 Van as the 2013 "winner" of this title and many seemed to agree.  They DNF'd and never saw the end of the race but certainly put in a solid effort before returning stateside.

This year I am "awarding" (?) this title to an entry just showing up on the entry list.

Ikuo Hanawa is a long time Baja aficionado having run there a number of times as well as at Pikes Peak on occasion including behind the wheel of an electric vehicle.

For '14 Hanawa is coming to Baja with a completely new vehicle of his own design and build (from what I can decipher from the translated Japanese on his Facebook page).  He also lists it as his Baja/Dakar vehicle so maybe we'll see it in South America in a few months as well?  It certainly looks the Dakar part being VERY small looking with a non-existent rear end, and a wholly enclosed shell with dual spares almost completely covered.

The video Hanawa has posted lists the 2WD vehicle as having about 23 1/2 inches of front end travel and about 21 1/2 inches in the rear.  King bypass and coils dampen the front while the wheels are wrapped in 315/70R17 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S.  I'm not sure what type of transmission is in it but it looks to be a fairly stock version (maybe even a stock Nissan 370Z tranny?) as the video shows Hanawa rowing through the gears, certainly no sequential transmission present.  The engine in the vehicle is a Nissan 3.7L VQ37VHR V6 out of a 370Z putting out around 332 HP, while the "body" is completely tube framed and yet the vehicle will somehow be classified as a Nissan Frontier in SCORE's class 7 for "Open Mini-Trucks".  If there's a Frontier part on it, I'd be shocked.

It certainly looks like a foreign designed and built vehicle with an emphasis on a small size and light weight.  How its rather spindly looking suspension and steering holds up to the roughness of Baja will soon be seen.  I'll be rooting for him but having my doubts as to its ability to stay in one piece.  I would have expected that Hanawa has enough Baja experience to know what he is asking of his vehicle and have designed it accordingly--so what do I know?  My vehicle broke down every day I raced it the 2014 NORRA event, so clearly I don't have the answer.

As always for me, seeing something besides a Geiser Trophy Truck powered by some massive Cheby crate motor is the more captivating portion of this race.  I'm in the minority but I'm more of an underdog, root for the guy who is likely to lose, sort of person.  With someone like Hanawa and his Japanese engined, Dakar style buggie, some eyes might at least be pulled away from the carbon copy lineup one usually sees...if only for a moment.

To follow along with this effort, Ikuo Hanawa is #712.  Tracking should begin tomorrow 11/13.  The "other" Nissan Frontier in the race that I spoke of the other day is #2003.  Best of luck to both of them!

IDx Model and Die Cast Toy Car Available...

As my infatuation with the Nissan IDx grows, so does my interest in all things surrounding the concept and its coming production model.

So like any fanboy I desire one of my own as soon as possible--even if its just a toy version.  It appears as if I'm not the only one however.

In my interwebs search for various IDx items I came across a photo of a scaled version if the IDx NISMO at a NISMO display in Japan.  This got me thinking about diecast or other model versions of the IDx and if someone had already made one.  Sure enough, those plucky Japanese are already getting the tool and die and plastic molding set up to produce models of this concept car.  Early indications by the websites offering these "toys" are that they are sold out and there is a waiting list for the product.  I'm not even sure that I can get these items shipped over here but god knows I'm going to try.  The couple I have seen are in 1/42 and 1/64 scales and one of the articles mentions a 1/10 scale radio control model from ABC Hobbies...

Ebbro model...
TommyTec model...

Now THIS is More Like It...

Just a clean, quality example of a classic Japanese sportscar.

This is a 1974 Nissan Skyline GTX 2000.  It is the spiritual ancestor of the modern GT-R.  The white paint and black accents are classy, leaveing you to view the bodylines without being distracted by any gaudiness.  This SEMA vehicle can be seen at the Toyo display.



1974 Skyline GTX at SEMA

Nissan Juke: Star Wars Edition??

For some reason the Nissan Juke seems to attract Star Wars fans/comparisons.  There have already been a number of Star Wars themed You Tube videos with Stormtroopers in them over the past couple years and it appears as if Nissan corporate has gotten on the bandwagon.

Teasing some sort of Nissan Juke Star Wars linkup, Nissan has just released a number of screenshots with a red and white Stormtrooper hyping the "Nissan Juke: The New Story" as well as the video you see below.  Some of the language, including that of the original poster of the video, is in Japanese so is this a Japan only announcement?  Have Disney (now owners of Star Wars/Lucas Arts) made some sort of marketing arrangement?  I honestly don't know but it appears as if 8/26/13 is the date we will find out.

Fuck You China!

Well, here's about the biggest middle finger I can think of that anyones given China in a while.

What we have here is the newly commissioned (yesterday 8/6/13) Japanese "destroyer class" Izumo.  It is classified as a "flat top destroyer" but if you're like me (and the rest of the sentient world) this looks much more like a carrier.  And it will be used as a carrier--just as a helicopter carrier only (supposedly) for now.

The 14 helicopters and "destroyer" will be used for anti-submarine, surveillance and disaster relief duties for now.  Correct me if I'm wrong however but typically you want your anti-submarine ships to be fast, small and nimble--not the lumbering, conventionally powered (the Japanese seem to still  be averse to nuclear power within their armed forces) bullseye that this ship represents.  You don't invest the capital required (some $1.2 billion) in a ship and staff it with some 1,000 crew to go hunt submarines.

While China has been busy buying old Russian carriers and trying to refurbish them and put them into service, Japan has just leapfrogged China's capability to project power in the region.  Though satellite shots show China having just begun construction on its first home built aircraft carrier this week (full construction to take about five years).

Though not nuclear powered, Japan doesn't seek here to project power across the globe and a conventional ship such as this can easily ply the waters around Japan and the South China Sea.  With the F-35B on order by Japan being a short/VTOL aircraft, the Izumo instantly becomes a massive thorn in China's side and one which they really have no counter to at the moment.  Oh, and Japan has the build of a second one of these "destroyers" already underway.

For comparison's sake here is the size of the Izumo (the largest Japanese military ship put into service since WWII)

Izumo (commissioned 2013):
Length--820 ft.
Beam--124 ft.
Weight--19,500 tons (empty)
Crew--970
Speed--30 mph
Aircraft--14 Helicopters

Gerald Ford Class American SuperCarrier (to be commissioned 2016)
Length--1,106 ft.
Beam--252 ft.
Weight--100,000 tons
Crew--4,300
Speed--35 mph+
Aircraft--75+

Kuznetsov Class Carrier (China's current carrier bought from Russia, commissioned 1990)
Length--1,001 ft.
Beam--236 ft.
Weight--43,000 tons
Crew--1,500
Speed--30+ mph
Aircraft--35

Lego Model of Hayabusa Probe

Legos are not just kids toys.  With their architectural series covering famous buildings (Sears Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright houses, etc.) and legions of dedicated fans around the world making ever more complex projects, Legos have expanded their reach well beyond the Cartoon Network demographic.

A primary example is found with the Lego CUUSOO website where people can vote on projects that Lego may build.

The second Lego product to be produced this way is the Hayabusa Probe.  This Japanese probe was the first spacecraft to fly to an asteroid, land and return a sample of said asteroid to the Earth using an ion thruster for propulsion.

The Lego version looks like a true collectors item and includes a figure representative of the probe's project manager.  This would look great on your desk and is a great way to learn about some of our world's more overlooked space endeavors.

Buy Lego Hayabusa Probe...
Hayabusa Probe Wiki...

Which brings us to the second part of this post and what got me aware of the aforementioned to begin with.  The Lego CUUSOO program has announced that the next model to be produced will be the Curiosity Rover.  Already wandering around Mars, the Lego Rover will look similar to the one pictured here (this was the proposed model, Lego will create the final version).

It appears that geeks all over the world should rejoice and prepare to pilot their own rover around the Red Planet in the very near future!  A collection of these realworld space program related Legos would be cool to see--a great teaching tool for kids and adults as well.

Lego CUUSOO Curiosity Rover page...

Impul Aftermarket Kitted Nissan Versa Note

The Japanese aftermarket company that only produces aftermarket products for Nissans has released a number of items for the Nissan Note which is known as the Nissan Versa Note here in the US.

Available will be upgraded shocks and springs, brakes, stainless steel exhaust, full body aero kit, spoiler and more.

I might skip on the faux chrome vents but the functional items??  Not bad for what might be a nice little hot hatch if they release an SSS or NISMO version.

Impul releases line of Versa Note upgrades...