Iron Chef Imports

27/10/2026

[Kristian] JDM CHIP POSTING: There are a lot of discussions about good chips/crisps behind the scenes in my world, and having just spent a month in Japan on Gomanen Challenge 5万円チャレンジ I thought I might share some reviews of the ones I sampled along the way. (Some car-related content coming too, I promise!)

First up is the benchmark: The Calbee Kataage range is basically the same as kettle chips which we have in Australia, and quite different to the Thins-style chips normally eaten in Japan. When I was there in May, these only seemed to be available in Hokkaido (where pretty much all Japanese potatoes are grown, and where Calbee is based), but now they are widely available across Japan, such is their popularity.

I have a theory that salt and pepper flavour is the best option when judging the chips themselves. The Japanese black pepper seems to have less spice and more flavour to it than the pepper we prefer in the West - there is a standard black pepper version of these which are very tasty, but these are the Demon Black Pepper variety which adds extra pepper and, apparently, a touch of onion powder.

The result takes the win as my all-time preferred chips (knocking off Proper Crisps Big Cut Salt and Pepper from NZ). Solid 10/10 overall for these and a 9/10 for Black Pepper too.

Always the first ones I look for in combinis, so keep an eye out (look for the red edges on the bag for Demon, but even Black Pepper is great).

Ignore my son doing a reasonable impression of Megamind in the background.

03/08/2026

[Kristian] One more before I let the whole AI thing go. A mate alerted us to this one: this is a Youtube creator with 36,000 subscribers, and check out the views on the most popular videos. Only problem is, the content is entirely AI generated, and Liam Grayson doesn't actually exist. Wild stuff.

03/08/2026

[Kristian] I'm curious to hear your thoughts on AI created content. It may be just me, but it seems that every week a new importer is popping up with an AI generated ad, and websites even look AI generated for both text and images. My kids are very firmly against it and wouldn't trust any business that uses it, and I was wondering if that was the general feeling. (the discussion began after I resurrected Biggie for this photo to go with the ad for the E400 - still for sale btw).

09/07/2026

[Brendan] How do we all feel about the new Toyota GR GT?
Looks functional, sounds bitey, and now entering it's final phase of production testing I am KEEEN to see these in the hands of enthusiasts.

25/05/2026

[Kristian] Imagine telling someone you fancy that you own a Ferrari, then taking them out to the car park to show them this.

07/05/2026

[Kristian] You'll need to translate it, but interesting to see our industry's challenges with Environmental criterion JDM vehicles becoming ineligible has now made the news in Japan. Losing low-emissions vehicles from SEVS is bad for Japan-Australia trade, bad for all the companies involved in logistics, and most importantly, bad for consumers who suddenly have less choice when finding a car to suit their needs and budgets.

　オーストラリア政府が導入した、新たな排出ガス基準「オーストラリア設計規則（ＡＤＲ）79／05」を巡り、日本からのグレーインポート（並行輸入）車の流通が大きく制約され、過去10年にわたり手頃な価格の

05/05/2026

Reject RORO shipping, embrace postage.

29/04/2026

[Kristian] Sigh. The Feds continue to make life hard for us. This is what keeps me busy racking up FF miles between Adelaide and Canberra. Hopefully the Department will find a reasonable and practical solution soon.

For those with short attention spans, it related to any imports coming from Japan via the Environmental criterion (so hybrids, basically).

Last year around 10,000 fuel-efficient vehicles entered Australia via the private import process, but a new rule will change that.

23/04/2026

[Kristian] I'm getting offered weird and wonderful stuff at the moment, so I figure I may as well share them with you all.

If you or your friends are horsey people, I reckon this would be the ideal float towing vehicle: Bentley Bentayga, 4.0 V8 diesel with tow bar, 2018 model with 71,000km.

If you can afford the car and horses, the price of diesel won't scare you off!

$130k

03/04/2026

[Kristian] Stuff the overpriced eggs, get a proper bargain for Easter. Convince family and friends you're loaded for just $22k. More pics and details on the website.