Picking up the car and buidling the Roof Tent Carrier

So last week we pick up the car in Tomioka and had to go to Nagaoka which is at the west coast close to Nigata. Here we got our new japanese license plates for the car and the "international car registration certificate". But they told us we can not drive in germany, Mongolia .. with this certificate, since Germany and ... did not sign the Geneva contract !!?!?!? Ok anyway this week we found out we have to translate the japanese car certificate to german (5000 yen), and getting certificate of the German embassy (2500 Yen). Mongolia is the same, but we do not need to use a professional translator. Kotomi will ask her mongolian friend to translate and the mongolian embassy will certify. After we picked up the car we went to Nigatta to visit a friend I call him always Mr. ChinChin, who was working close to Kotomis shop before. Last year I went with him to snowboarding so it was nice to meet him again. Actually he lives close to the place where I had a conference last year. We had some really delicious fish and of course some beer and a lot of talking I could not understand (:). Next day we went to Kotomis friend where she has her adress now. From there we take a road through the mountains back to Tokyo with really nice views of snow mountains. Driving in the mountains is rally nice, few cars, no street lights every 50 m, much better to drive than the roads close to coast, where you just stop and go stop and go. From Picking up the Car From the car dealer I got two old roof carriers. From one I could use at least the 6 stands and just need to construct the bars. So the last 4 days I went everyday to the "Do it yourself store" to buy screws, metal bars, antirust color and so on. Sawing, filing, drilling and so on, all the stuff I learned from my father and the good old east german education system (:). But the reall problem was how to get this fu... heavy roof tent on the car with the height of 2.10 m. Well all other people where at work, Kotomi is to small and had to go to driving school (because she still do not have the manual driving license). So I did something Japanese would never do, I just asked the neighbour and asked my friend Yamamoto San (the friend who helped already with picking up the rooof tent from the harbour). 3 people and everything went fine. Finally I get to know all neighbours, some provide me with electricity and some just give me a hand. Most of them are happy to help since they are retired and are bored to death. For example my neighbour comes out of the house every 30 minutes smokes a cigarette. He look quite bored, as he do not know what to do after smoking. This is basically related to the japanese working culture, mans have to work every day bring the money home and the free day they have they drink or sleep. Anyway now he always comes to me just checking what I do next with the car and at least now I can see some life in his eyes. I amazed that most of the old people can speak quite good englisch and if not with my few words , I still can understand that from the one guy the garndfather and mother were studying 80 years ago in Germany, and the other made a business in Germany in the oil industry. I found out that I already now more than Kotomis mother which lives here alredy 10 years (:). Anyway maybe they think what a weird Gaijin (actually word for american foreigner) doing everything naked, but still it seems that they enjoy the conversation and it seems there not so strict as Kotomis mother always thinks. I am not sure if this is only because I am foreigner.

From BuildingTheRoofTentCarrier