Turning Japanese

OUR MAN Al is currently getting his head down in Japan, after a stinky 13 hour flight to Tokyo. We are, of course, glad he’s almost crying from jet lag already, and hoping that it gets much, much worse on the way back.

Anyway. What’s the big eejit doing out there? Well, let’s ask him.

“This weekend sees the 45th Tokyo Motorcycle Show kicking off, at the aptly-named Big Sight exhibition centre. I’m out here with Kymco, the big Taiwanese scooter firm, who are launching what they reckon is a game-changing electric scooter, dubbed the Ionex. Details are scant, but expect a cunning interchangeable battery setup from the pre-show presentation tomorrow.

“It’s turning out to be a bit harder to predict what we might see at the show itself. I’ve spent the last month pressing the UK arms of the bike firms to see if they know what we might see, to little avail. There are rumours of a new Honda presentation on Friday morning, and since Tokyo is nine hours ahead of the UK, you can read all about it as soon as you rise from your blessed slumber.

“In the meantime, I’m getting stuck into the mad food, the mad taxis and the mad jetwashing toilets. Stand by for more blasts from the East…”