"The Satoshi Grill Mod: Born in the East, Shamelessly Copied in the West"

I created this page because I thought it would be a fitting tribute to such a nice couple as well as showing how similar people are all over the world. I hope you all enjoy reading this.

"The Discovery"
The first time I saw this mod was on Yotatech.com and once I saw it, I knew I had to do it. I was never a big fan of the Toyota oval "T" symbol when it came out. To me the simplicity of spelling out "TOYOTA" is better than the current esoteric "T" oval logo. The first person outside of Japan to complete this mod was Butnut (Brian) of Honolulu, HI. Here is Brian's version of the Satoshi grill mod. Brian did a fantastic job and it really inspired me to get the parts for this project.

However as with some of my other projects like the sound deadening mod and the Fused Distribution/Inverter mod, it was a matter of finding the right parts from the right vendor at the right price. For about two weeks, I was unsuccessful at finding the parts. Moreover, it was very difficult to determine which parts Satoshi actually used and how he put it together. So on a whim, I asked Miki (Robinhood's wife) to translate my questions into Japanese. Once translated, I sent it to Satoshi. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I received an email in English from Satoshi's wife, Akemi. She writes English very well and thus, we exchanged a few emails before Satoshi jumped in and answered all my questions in Japanese. And of course, Miki translated and the rest was history.

Satoshi and Akemi Miura
Satoshi and Akemi Miura are actually around my age (early 30's) and are residents of Chiba, Japan. Professionally, Satoshi is a 'salary man' (office worker) at a Japanese software company and Akemi works in a pet store. Both Satoshi and Akemi are dog lovers. Satoshi's favorite dog is a golden retriever and Akemi's favorite is a labrador retriever. Personally, Satoshi and Akemi love the outdoors and are avid skiiers too. Satoshi mentioned that off-roading is not easy to do because the land available to do this is very limited. However, members of his Hilux Surf (4Runner) club still get together and talk about their vehicles. And on a more personal note, Akemi thinks "[Satoshi's] snoring is the loudest sound in Japan." I thought that was funny because Patty thinks the same of my snoring too. :)

Satoshi at a pet store		Satoshi and Akemi: the happy couple on a recent skiing trip

As you can see, Satoshi is very passionate about his Hilux Surf. He's put a lot of custom work into it. When I asked Satoshi to send me some more pics, he sure did send me lots of pics! Here are two of the many pics he sent:

Front view		Rear view

And of course, here's the original grill mod. I wish I could get mine to look as professional as his efforts. And I'm sure he didn't call it the "Satoshi" grill mod!

For more pics, go to his website by clicking here. His website is located at http://www.geocities.co.jp/MotorCity-Pit/3985/.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed that little bit about Satoshi and his lovely wife, Akemi. And if you do finish this mod, send him a nice email (in nice simple sentences) and show your appreciation from 'across the big pond'.

- Bob

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