Tokyo Motorcycle Show 2012

It is a tale of endless longing, soul-crushing sadness, nail-biting tension, joy, frustration, and thousands of dollars. It is the story of Blake's motorcycle.

As many of you know, Blake and I worked long and hard getting his bike on the road. Then, once he was able to ride it, I was not able to be on it with him. If you want to carry a passenger on the back of your bike here, you have to take the Experienced Riders Course with a passenger on the back of your bike. So, not only is the rider on the bike for six hours, but the passenger is too. And let me tell you, this passenger's ass hurt like crazy after six hours on the seat.

The class is run by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation for personnel with SOFA status (it's a military thing for those living overseas). It's really informative and the teachers are amazing. They have really good tips and stories. The thing about bike people is that they are their hobby's greatest advocates, as well as greatest cautionary tales. It's a twofer every time you talk to a biker.

Unfortunately, at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show, we couldn't talk to many bikers because we don't speak the same language. That isn't the only different thing, though.

At Daytona, the fashion is very in your face. Beards in your face. Leather in your face. Over-tanned women in teeny, tiny clothing in your face.

At TMS, everyone looked very mainstream. All the off-center people were across the hall at the Anime convention. Note: that is not a joke, there was seriously an Anime convention in the other wing and we saw several interesting things that day.

I'm going straight to my favorite bike of the day:

Triumph's Steve McQueen Special Edition. They are only making 1,100 of them, and while I don't think I'd be on board with Blake buying one, it sure is pretty. Steve McQueen loved bikes and cars, and rode a Triumph in The Great Escape, an amazing movie that I cannot watch ever again because it has one of the saddest movie endings ever.

This bike can also be a generator. Very handy for outdoor rec. You can plug in a cook stove or a radio, or something that would make any camping adventure better, a laptop.

Of course it wouldn't be Japan if there weren't some interesting stuff around too.

It was a very cool day. We walked around and saw everything twice. By the end of the day, I'd had my fill of motorcycles. Blake, however, can never get enough.