Well. Where we left off, ‘Daisuke Fujiwara’ defeated Taro in a battle, and forced him to kneel in front of him.







… it was a promise between men after all…


Now where have I heard a story about a race driver called Fujiwara before?

... Humiliated, but now driven, Taro returns home. We're going to need lots of work to become the Zero4Champ and force this Fujiwara character to his knees so he can eat his words... Amongst other things.





Once again more items are appearing in the living room. If we look closely, we can see a new book, with cars on its cover has appeared at the top shelf above the TV. Let's check it out.


: Just looking at a catalog isn't fun.


: Maybe I should go to a car shop?



Aha! This must be where we go to buy our first car!


: A shop in my neighbourhood would be good.






Alright. Here we are at the Car Shop!

Appropriately, rockabilly music is playing here. Seems we've established this is the preferred music of car shops everywhere, not just the United States.

As an aside, the background drawing of this place reminds me of an Up Garage - a franchised store across Japan that specializes in modified and second hand car parts.





I visited a couple during my couple of trips to Japan for a lark, and I was like a kid at a candy store seeing all the various body kits, rims, mufflers, performance parts, steering wheels and everything else in-between, specifically targeted to all the JDM hero cars, just sitting on shelves and wall racks in a standard retail store.





Visiting one really made me realize why the mod culture is so prevalent in Japan - this stuff is easily available and it's everywhere. We don't have anything remotely like it in Australia. You're not going and just picking this stuff off a shelf when you feel like it here.








Like the other games, the people who work in Car Stores doubles as a mechanic, tuner, parts and car sales people.

There's no such thing as dealerships in the Zero4Champniverse it seems.


: Welcome. This is your first time here?


: Well, yeah. I'd like to see your cars for a bit.


: Customer, what car are you riding now?


: No, I don't have a car right now.


: Is that so?


: Well then, is there a parking lot?


: You can buy a car even if you don't have a parking space?


: Well, that's it. Nowadays, you can't buy a car without a parking space. It's happening.






: Oh really?


: Is there no parking available?


: That's right, so let's go to the parking lot first. If you don't find it, we can't sell you the car.



I looked this up, and it's true. To avoid congestion, in Tokyo, you cannot register a car without proof of having a parking space within 2 km of your residence.

This makes sense when just the city area itself has about 2/3rd the population of my entire country and has the works best public transport infrastructure.


: I see...


: Parking lot…


: Do you have any idea where it might be?


: Hmmm


:There are some, but...


: If so, please complete the parking contract first.


: Please come again.



Well, guess we're not buying a car yet… First we'll have to obtain a parking spot...


: But...That old man over there is a bit of a strange guy…


... And it sounds like we're going to have to get it from some strange old guy...