Japanese GP - Red Bull Cosworth - Preview
Red Bull Cosworth heads to the penultimate race of the season at Suzuka a fairly solid seventh in the championship standings and aiming for its first points since Turkey. David Coulthard has scored 21 points for the squad this year while Christian Klien has scored five. What follows is Red Bull`s ever-irrelevant but amusing preview of the Japanese Grand Prix.
"The 2003 film “Lost in Translation,” set in Tokyo, proved an unlikely Box Office hit, given that its main theme was the depths of accidental platonic human relationships, although some would say, its success owed more to the sight of Scarlett Johansson in Big Pants. Viewers who had never been to Japan reckoned the film was surreal, but those of you who have attended several Grand Prix at Suzuka will know it painted an accurate picture of life in the most unusual environment for anyone on the planet not born in the Land of the Rising Sun. What can you say about a country that has a car called a “Cedric?”
"Even the most experienced traveller will get a dose of culture shock on a first trip to Tokyo (Suzuka itself does not feature on the tourist map unless you happen to be into heavy industrial machinery.) The most alien experience comes courtesy of a night in the Roppongi district, which is like the set of Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” only without the litter. Take lots of money and a new pair of socks. The area is packed with Blues Clubs where Japanese youth emulate Western bands of the 60s and 70s. If you have not seen “Cream” perform at full volume in a room the size of your bathroom, with Elic Crapton on guitar, you haven’t lived. Of course, in this age of international cooperation and goodwill, music is the only remaining point of conflict, as those in the West have still not forgiven Yoko Ono for splitting up the Beatles. As comedienne Joan Rivers said of John Lennon’s widow, “If I found her floating in my swimming pool, I’d punish my dog!”
"You are bound to work up an appetite getting lost in the streets of the city, so it’s time to tackle a traditional Japanese restaurant. It is best to enter these establishments with an open mind and, as the doorways tend to be very low, the taller ones among you might do this unwittingly anyway. Now remove your shoes, which is why you brought those new socks mentioned earlier. Apart from being smelly and rude, having a toe poking through a torn sock might involve it being cooked and appearing on your plate. To help the uneducated Westerner, many restaurants display plastic replicas of their meals in the window. Most food here is delicious, but occasionally you will taste something that makes you wish you had eaten the replica instead, or maybe you just have!"


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