Tsunami Causes Japan Manufacturing Plants to Close

In efforts to conserve energy in light of rolling blackouts, Japanese manufacturers Honda and Suzuki have chosen to close their manufacturing plants until further notice.

In a statement, Kevin Saito of American Suzuki Motor Corporation said the company's manufacturing plant in Hamamatsu City would voluntarily close while the dire situation in Japan was assessed. The plant is located 158 miles south of Tokyo and reports no damages to the plant or its employees.

Dealernews reported that Honda will also undergo volunteer closure of its various plants while the nation's status develops.

Scooter Collector:

Wow! This is one cool scooter toy! I am not sure if I have $118 to spare for this cool Japanese vinyl toy. At a little over 5 inches it strikes me as a bit rich. Ah, California Lottery, why have you forsaken me?!?

Sorry for the big images, but I wanted you to see the details. Click on the images to see them on their own.

If you feel like plunking down some of your hard-earned cash on this soon-to-be-released Japanese vinyl toy, pre-order at Hobby or at Kid Nemo.

Sweet seat!

Japanese Scooter Delights

Jason from Battlescooter just got back from Japan and brought me 2 cool toys. I love getting scooter stuff that I couldn't get here. I just hop he didn't get walloped by the exchange rate.



The first item is a Lambretta which is listed as a 1953, but Jon thinks it is actually an earlier model. It is very detailed and quite precious. I'm leaving it in it's packaging. The Yen price tag is cool.



The second item is a commercial scooter rickshaw-like thing. Neither of us read Japanese, but Jason suspects that it is a model of a scooter that was in a movie. The graphics on the packaging look like kitchy 60s-style movie poster stuff.

Scooter Goodies

It's hard to keep a good scooter collectible away from me. But, this year, my boyfriend did. He presented me with this glass Santa on a scooter that he picked up at Walmart. It's cute, especially Santa's rosy cheeks.
If you read my column you may recall my post from November 10th where I said that a friend said he got an ornament from Walmart. We rushed over there & found nothing. Then, it was reported that the ornament was actually at hallmark. Chalk it up to an honest mistake...Well, my boyfriend kept going back & when he found this one at Walmart, he knew he had me. Since I had already scoured he place, I wouldn't be going back. His present was safe. So, no you know. Head over there for their after-Christmas sale and snap up the rest of them.





While I was out doing some last-minute shopping, yesterday, we stopped at Mai Do, a Japanese stationery store and Jon spotted this set of jelly stickers. I should really rent him out, he's like a scooter collectible bloodhound! There are only 3 scooters in the whole collection, but you may be able to use the other stickers elsewhere, especially the cute rocketship, minis or doulble-decker buses. The set was $3.30.

Here's a detail of one of the scooters:

Honda Further Blurs the Line

If space aliens had motorscooters, they might look like the Honda E4-01 concept "motorcycle" which a high tech marriage of scooter and motorcycle.

The concept vehicle debuted at the 2005 Tokyo motorcycle show. But MotorcycleNews.com announced that Honda has applied for patents on the bike, which makes its release seem likely.

The E4-01 has a 900+cc three-cylinder engine which seems all-motorcycle until one finds that it has a CVT transmission. The photos show popular scooter features such as a 2-helmet underseat storage compartment, a very sculptural body that has very organic curves. I love the rear lights, which are reminiscent of vintage-style, sculptural car lights. While the mid section requires more leg lifting than a typical scooters, models like the Suzuki Burgman and Piaggio X9 aren't that much lower. MPN promises to have more news on the bike in the next few days.

If you'd like to see a slideshow of the bike when it debuted, check out the Honda website for more info.