The Formula 1 party drifts from Sepang to Suzuka, the calendar's only figure-of-eight circuit assuming it had been drawn by someone with no prior knowledge of numerals. Famous corners include Spoon, which looks disarmingly unspoonlike, the Hairpin, and the Casio Triangle.
If you read our article from a couple of weeks ago you'll remember that the Casio Triangle was the site of one of F1's most famous collisions, where Bertrand Gachot and Ukyo Katayama came together. I'm sure there have been similar incidents...
Suzuka is owned by Honda, which makes this something of a home race for McLaren - at least, in the same way that every north-eastern circuit on the NASCAR calendar is a home race for Martin Truex Jr.
Japan is known for various things, including wacky TV gameshows and animated cartoon concoctions (Japanimation) which some people enjoy perhaps a little too much.
"We now return to Battling Seizure Robots."
Japan has its own top-line single seater series - Super Formula - which has recently provided Stoffel Vandoorne and Pierre Gasly to Formula 1 (technically, at least). It's not quite the halcyon days of the early 90s, where plenty of drivers used the Japanese series as an F1 springboard, but it's something, right?
There are currently no Japanese drivers on the F1 grid, although we've been blessed by the talent of Kamui Kobayashi and Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato within the past 10 years.
There's also been some less-than-mega drivers from the nation, including: Yuji Ide, the first holder of a stewards' office loyalty card; Hideki Noda and Toshio Suzuki, who participated in five Larrousse outings between them, and medical car enthusiast Taki Inoue, who has since carved out a niche as being absolutely batshit mental on Twitter.
Credit to the team formerly known as Lotus for making this actually happen.
So, that's your very loose guide to the Japanese Grand Prix, and totally wasn't just an excuse to rope in Simpsons quotes. What a brave corporate logo! I accept the challenge of Mr Sparkle!
