Wow, it is a privilege to be able to post here where there is so much experience and knowledge around these incredible classic enduro / trail bikes!  I am looking forward to sharing my Fiasco with all of you and to making some progress on this journey.
I don't know how each of you got into motorcycles but I remember sitting in a little barber shop down a side street, where my Dad would take me.  Each time I would hear and see a bunch of greebos tearing past on their old leaky Triumphs and I just wanted to escape from the terror of the scissors and get away on one of those amazing machines.
And then there was my incredible grandfather, with his white moustache, who rode solo across the Sahara dessert.  Here is a picture of his licence renewal from Westmoreland in Jamaica and one of his bikes.  More to come on the DT as the adventure progresses.  (pictures if I can figure out how this works - here goes nothing...)


 

Hope yer Grandfather passed his adventure to you… and you’d be able to tell us!

Love it. Keep it coming. Cheers.

Thanks for the positive comments. I do wish so much that I had spent more time listening to my Grandpa and that I had more pictures and details of his adventures. Here is the last ride out of Kafr-el-Douar. I do love his MX wear, I think he was more bothered about impressing the ladies than hurting himself.
Then I found an old photo of myself riding twin shock dirt bikes to the beach breaks in Bali - 1987! It was pretty crazy riding with one hand on the throttle and the other round your board with a young woman bouncing around on the pillion - and as well as the dangerous roads we constantly had to dodge the corrupt Police who were always trying to pull you over and strip you of your watch or your last dollar - all round good times!

My Joe buddies Roadblock and Flint have said they will take care of the DT125 resto so please watch out for an update - eventually I hope!

Nothing finer than riding with one hand with a young woman bouncing around on your pillion......

Ok here goes nothing... The bike doesn't have any registration docs. Here in Japan a 125cc machine can be registered only if there is a clean bill of sale, officially stamped by the PO. PO sent me the bill of sale (looking good so far) and here are a couple of screen grabs of the machine itself. Our biggest hurdle for now will be registering for a street legal plate. I do not read and write Japanese kanji so hopefully Roadblock and Flint will be able to help me out, lol!

Looks very similar to a 1978 US model.

Using Google Translate with a cell phone camera might help translate?  As you aim the camera at the symbols, the app translates them on the screen.  (Sometimes the results are humorous.)

MARKT, thanks, I'll be taking a trip to the local administration to get my butt kicked and find out in more detail what trouble I have foolishly gotten myself into again!

Missing – RH mirror, pillion foot pegs.
Exhaust colour – is that silver standard on some models.

Roadblock and Flint helped a ton at the administration. You have to love the inefficient efficiency of the system here, thousands of very diligent souls moving mountains of paper so that the elite can keep taking money out of your pockets.

However this maybe the only time to receive something for nothing from the administrative machine. The registration, plate and screws were free.

I was allowed to fill in the form in Roman alphabet apart from the word Yamaha which I managed to scribble and they said it was acceptable. Actually the 3 kanji on the plate I can read – literally it says wide island city, Hiro shima city.

The Kanji for island is a pictogram of a bird (you need a lot of imagination) sitting on a mountain - very cute.

For 125cc in Hiroshima you get an original plate, a beautiful dove flying into a pink sunset. One of the fixing screws is blue and makes the eye – how cool is THAT! The 125cc dove bringing peace to our world, my machine, my marriage and my neighbours, um maybe not, I might have to try something else.

This was great news and I set forth humming that fabulous victory song The Eye of the Dove.

Risin' up, back on the street (if the resto’ goes to plan)
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a 125 and his will to survive
So many times it happens too fast (about 55kph)
You trade your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

[Chorus]
It's the eye of the dove, it's the thrill of the flight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor rides his bike in the night
And he’s watching us all with the eye of the dove

something like that, I remember it from a Rocky movie, lol.

Here are some of the Japanese catalogues for the DT125 older dual shock and later MX