Today at Atelier Kaz - ex-Honda R&D, F1, Indy/CART engineer

Hope everyone had a good time and wishing you all a wonderful 2024.


Just got back from Japan.

Had to make an urgent trip for family reasons, so no posts here or on SNS and had to hold all NSX activities.


Such an urgent decision that only had 15 hrs between booking the flight and taking the taxi to Heathrow.

During that limited time, had to deal with a flight booking issue (the site crashed during the payment process and was charged twice!), quick food shopping as everything would be closed on Christmas day when I got back and of course, the pack-up.


Only had 3 hrs of sleep before catching the flight and only managed to tell my parents that I’m in Japan after I landed.

Even the boss was surprised that I made it to Japan as there were no flights available when we spoke over the phone.


No accommodation was arranged in advance, so pretty much I was sleeping on the floor every night, having ready meals almost 3 times a day for the whole duration.


Despite meeting my parents for the first time in 9 years, only managed to spend few hours with them so not great, but at least we discussed all sorts of things as you would expect at our age.



Compared to 9 years ago, Japan has changed dramatically in many aspects, so it was quite a big culture shock even for a Japanese like me.

After all these dramas, still, I think it was good to be back in the country, but got so tired and actually felt relieved when I got on the plane back to the UK.



However, the drama didn’t end there.



Just under 3 hrs left for Heathrow, the decision was made, and the flight did an emergency landing in Iceland.

One of the passengers got seriously ill but fortunately, there were two doctors on board, so oxygen masks, injections, etc., were administered.

Great teamwork by the cabin crews to assist the doctors and support the family of the sick passenger.


Used to travel every 2 weeks somewhere in the world but even for me, this was a first experience.

Witnessed that the Boeing 777 can descend so quickly to get the passenger to paramedics on standby at Keflavik airport.

Great landing by the pilot in snowy KEF airport.


Hope the passenger is making a steady recovery.


Spent a few hours in KEF, quick refuelling, and while everything shut down, no WiFi onboard but mobile data roaming saved me for rearranging the pickup time for the taxi and back en route to Heathrow.


Got back before midnight but so tired even as of today.

Fell asleep while eating.…


Still doesn’t feel like a human being, but already back to servicing the NSX.



Wish me luck for having a bit more relaxed 2024…


Kaz