Spoon Sports

David, Edmun, and Jerry visit Ichi-san at Spoon Sports Headquarters in Ogikubo Sugimani-ku Tokyo, Japan.
Kochira wa Ichi-san desu. [This is Tatsuru Ichishima (Ichi-san).]  He is the president and owner of one of the most powerful and successful aftermarket automotive performance parts businesses in the world.  Ichi-san is a wonderful host and a good friend.

This is just as Ichi-san was locking up.  We were then heading for a quick tour of his shop, Type One.  Spoon Sports sells and ships parts.  Type One builds race cars.

David and Jerry discuss girls...  errr....I mean business while Ichi-san finishes locking things up.
We make a quick stop by Ichi-san's house to say hi to his lovely wife, Emi-san.  From left to right, Edmun, David, Emi-san, and Jerry.  Ichi-san has a beautiful apple tree in full bloom.  Very nice.

This is at the Type One shop.  Ichi-san has many race cars.  Lots of toys and some cool new development things going on.  I can't talk about those things, though... sorry.

The next thing you know, Ichi-san takes us out to a local restaurant.  No English menus here!  It's all authentic.  They pour sake into relatively large size glasses that sit in  saucers.  They keep pouring until it overflows the glass and fills up the saucer.  I guess it's their way of "going over the top" on service!  Needless to say, we ended up a bit hammered!

Well, after a while, we meet some chicks... okay, actually they were very nice local ladies sitting at the tables next to us.  We introduced ourselves and Ichi-san thought it would be great to get a picture.  The lady next to Edmun is Mineko Osugi (Osugi-san).  She is an architect.  Very nice lady.
After the dinner and about a gallon of sake, Ichi-san decides that it would be a great idea to partake in some karaoke...  oy vey!  But, David steps up to the plate like a pro!
David was invited to join in (we think... but who knows!) with one of the local talented people.  He sounded like Sinatra...  I am not kidding.  Apparently, the Karaoke machine is very complex and enhances your voice (no offense David).
 

It was a really fun night.  I probably got back to my hotel room around 1am, where I proceed to drink a bottle of wine and email my friends until 4:30 in the morning... or so they tell me.  Damn business meetings... they are rough!