The TorLa Corporation opens the new Motor
Park in Tokyo and test rides the new Lacy
Turbo 2100.
Photos by Mela and Staff and Article by Tory
and Mela
Contributing Author - Magdalena Knight Don't forget to move your mouse over pictures
for a description
Before meeting up with our Moove guests for
our well-deserved Orient Express Vacation, Mela and I had to make a side trip to Tokyo
for the launch of
a new addition to
the Tokyo Speedway, called the TorLa International Motor Park. As the parent company of the Crystal Angel,
the TorLa Corporation offers us a great chance
to travel (in luxury, I might add) and represent
the Moove community - as well as work as
ambassadors to those that choose to live in Real to show that Avatars are people too. Since we would be testing out the new Lacy
Turbo 2100 Performance Motorcycle, I immediately
called my Auntie Wood Nymph to go along.
Auntie Wood knows bikes and is a total blast
to travel with. She jumped at the chance and we picked
her up in Wales with Angel One, our new Gulf Stream Jet.
We were styling as
we headed towards Tokyo
and arrived shortly
after 2:00 pm local time.
Do not ask me what
time it was back in Moove
(I was total time
retard through the whole
trip and never did
really know what time
it was). We touched down at Narita International Airport and we were tickled to see that TorLa had a limo waiting for us. We sped
through the crowded streets of Tokyo to the
Hotel New Otani, enjoying the afternoon rush and hectic ambiance
of this massive city. The Hotel New Otani Tokyo is a luxury resort situated approximately
44 miles from Narita International Airport
and was the purrrfect place to start our
Asian adventure. In addition to being the definition of elegance
and luxury, the Hotel New Otani was been
built in a 400 year old ornamental garden
which they have preserved as much as possible.
This was probably the best Japanese garden
that we saw during our visit of Japan.
Tokyo (which means Eastern Capital) has only been
Japan's capital city since 1868 when it took over from Kyoto. It is an extremely
modern city which is only partly because
of the Japanese flair for technology - it
is mostly due to its almost complete destruction
in both the great earthquake of 1923 and
the intensive bombing that happened during
the second World War. Tokyo has since been
completely rebuilt and is now a very large
city which is far too large to explore on
foot - we were mighty glad to have the LImo
at our disposal. On the way to the Hotel, Mela asked the driver
(in Japanese) to
swing by the Harajuku District for a quick shopping trip and to see the
latest Harajuku Fashions. Harajuku fashion gets its name from the Harajuku
district of Tokyo.
All the switched-on harajuku
kids go there to
explore the many clothes
shops and gather
at Yoyogi park, the cafes along Omotesando street or on
the way to the Meiji shrine to display their latest harajuku creations
for tourists as well as for their friends.
On this Sunday we saw many Gothic Lolita's as well as many foreign tourists taking
pictures
How to wear Harajuku Style
1) Be creative
2) Be theatrical
3) Mix and
match
4) Look cute
5) Have a sense
of humour
6) Be confident
wearing clothes
that mix
genres and
influences
7) Be confident
wearing clothes that have
weird shapes
8) If you go
for bright
colours, make
sure
you have unusual,
fun contrasts
9) If you wear
make-up, wear
it black
10) Be confident
in your chosen
look, period
11) Above all,
be stylish!
of them on the way to Meiji Shrine. Some
tourists are surprised to see such a large
showing of Japanese youth dressed up in shocking
outfits. Mela, Auntie Nymph and I loved it.
I popped into a Boutique that sells Wings
and found a wide selection of wings by Livid and a wonderful pair of Formal Wings by
Secret Words, which I quickly bought while
Mela was fascinated with the Japanese fashion
trend called Gothic Lolita. Gothic Lolita, also known as Lolita Goth,
GothLoli, Gosurori and Loli-Goth, is a street
fashion among Japanese teenagers and young
women, although boys and western girls are
also getting into it now. Lolita Goth is a subcategory of Lolita fashion
that draws from Victorian-style and Edwardian
clothing and often tries to imitate the look
of Victorian porcelain dolls, but is sometimes
more into the idea of elegance than looking
cute and girly, and always has a Goth twist.
We spent about 2 hours shopping and decided
we better head to the Hotel and get ready
for the Grand Opening of the Torla Motor
Park.
.
After getting freshened up and putting on
our motorcycle leathers (very stylish I might
add), we called down to the concierge to
see if our Lacy's had been unloaded, gassed
up and were ready to ride. With everything
set to go, the three of us headed out to
the Tokyo Speedway on a hot and muggy August
afternoon. All three of us were just itching
to pull the throttle all the way down and
see what these babies would do, but the crowded
streets and the fear of being put in a Tokyo
prison kept us puttering along at the speed
limit.
Continued Below
We pulled into the Speedway and took the
back entrance into
the pit area and
met a
beautiful young Japanese
lady named Atsuko.
Atsuko was the general
manager of the Torla
Motor Park and after
just five minutes
of
being with her, it
was obvious she was
exactly
what her name (Atsuko)
implied: a warm and
industrious child. The ceremony opening the Motor Park was understated
and elegant, and to the fans delight, short and sweet.
Two of our bodyguards from Moove held the
silk red ribbon as Mela used a pen laser
to cut the ribbon. Mela never does anything
in the traditional way, and she told me on
the flight over that cutting a ribbon with
a huge pair of scissors was like being a
cricus clown or something.
As soon as the ceremony was over, Auntie
Wood Nymph, Mela
and I hopped on our
bikes,
eager to see what
all the fuss was
about.
The first race pitted
Nymph and myself
against
each other and I
felt the 1340 cc'c
rumble
between my legs as
the countdown lights
started....red...red...red....GREEN.
VROOOOOOOM. I felt
my stomach push down to
my knees and the
motorbike lurched forward
in a sea of smoke
and fumes. I LOVED IT. I pulled the throttle towards me and saw
a blur of screaming
fans out of the corner
of my eye, and by
the time I reached
the
half way point of
the drag strip, I
was giggling
like a school girl...(oh
wait, I am). The Lacy Turbo 2100 is equipped with a 1340CC 4 stroke, 4 cylinder,
liquid cooled DOHC,
16 valve engine that
can top out at more
than 200 MPH at full
throttle. This is
not a bike for the faint
of heart.
As I zoomed down the track towards the finish
line, I heard a roar and saw Auntie Nymph
rip past me and cross the finish line a few
feet in front of me and the crowd roared.
"Forgot to hit the turbo, eh Niece?"
Auntie chuckled as we let the bikes idle
at the Finish Line. I had been pushing the
headlight button on and off thinking it was
my Turbo thingy. "Whatever", I
said as I rolled my eyes, and Auntie headed
back to the start to see if Mela could beat
her.
.
Once the three of us had our fill of fumes
and squealing tires,
we headed up to the
Executive Sky Box
to watch the rest
of the
races and meet some
new friends.
Continued Below
I was starving so we decided to have the
limo take us for
a quick dinner at
Applause,
which is a relaxed, stylish international restaurant
that's popular with high-heeled shoppers
and located in the Shinjuku Takano Building downtown. The food was more than yummy and the three
of us dined on minced tuna with Korean bean
paste sauteed foie gras served on lotus-root
cakes, stuffed cabbage kimchee with cashew
nuts, and homemade Satsuma pork sausages
with a fresh wasabi-mayonnaise sauce. I could have stayed there all night stuffing
my face, but Mela reminded me that the Motor Park was having a fireworks show
that evening. So we piled back into the limo
and had the driver drop off Auntie Nymph
at the famous Yellow Bar near Roppongi Crossing to hook up with MysteryMan - promising to
meet up later for some Karaoke and partying. Magdalena Knight is one of the co-creators of Mookychick. When she isn't going clubbing, drinking
Havana Club, watching horror flicks, buying
really expensive but beautiful 32FF bras,
hunting for thrift store bargains or fighting
with latex weapons in moonlit woods she spends
her time editing this site, writing cross-genre
stuff, working as a full-time web developer
and basically putting herself about a bit.
She would like some freelance writing work
please. Or a pony. She loves you all.
Before meeting up with our Moove guests for
our well-deserved 
with. She jumped at the chance and we picked
her up in 
took over from Kyoto. It is an extremely
modern city which is only partly because
of the Japanese flair for technology - it
is mostly due to its almost complete destruction
in both the great earthquake of 1923 and
the intensive bombing that happened during
the second World War. Tokyo has since been
completely rebuilt and is now a very large
city which is far too large to explore on
foot - we were mighty glad to have the LImo
at our disposal.
and to the fans delight, short and sweet.
Two of our bodyguards from Moove held the
silk red ribbon as Mela used a pen laser
to cut the ribbon. Mela never does anything
in the traditional way, and she told me on
the flight over that cutting a ribbon with
a huge pair of scissors was like being a
cricus clown or something.
equipped with a 1340CC 4 stroke, 4 cylinder,
liquid cooled DOHC,
16 valve engine that
can top out at more
than 200 MPH at full
throttle. This is
not a bike for the faint
of heart.
