Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

    I am back home safe and sound and managed to make it to work as well.  Now I have to figure out how to share what I have learned effectively.  Also how not to lose the feeling from Japan before my next trip in May.  All of those who are interested in that trip send me an email with possible dates.

I made some very good contacts in Japan and arranged for quite the seminar lineup if everything works according to plan.  The visitors will hopefully be (not in any particular order) Doug Wilson, Rob Renner, Lubos Pokorny and Shawn Gray.   With some luck that list will expand.  I will let everyone know when I have specific dates for these seminars.  I must warn you all for the distance the Lubos must travel his seminar will be more expensive than seminars in the past, Doug and Rob will be easy because to make the deal sweeter I can pay them in Canadian Dollars.

With that I am off to get some rest, my productivity has been sorely lacking today.

Arrived in Japan. Plane touched down at 5:25 PM Tokyo time. got through customs by 5:55 PM, fastest I have ever done. I am thinking because we went through Minneapolis/St.Paul many people were going on to further destinations and thus no trouble for us.

Arrived at Kashiwa by 7:35 PM and could have made class if I just took my bags and went to Abiko, after 20 hours of travel I thought against it. I did manage to stop in and see Toki-san at one of my favorite restaurants in Japan. You will see why soon. Dropped of some Maple syrup, happened to bump into Rob R on the train back from Noda, let Alice get some rest as I hit on some women at the Hub. A full day, tomorrow Ueno Koen. (Excuse me do you know the way to Bueno?)

Added some images, kept them small for Intuit bandwidth.

    Nope not this site.  The main club site has been redone.  The design sucks but let me tell you the code is great.  It is built to be built upon with each component being a isolated for easy alteration.  Oh and pictures, done in a way that unless you train at the club you don’t know who anyone is.  Check it out at http://jihinokokoro.ca.

Now I have to focus on closing up my responsibilities in Canada so that my trip to Japan will be worry free.  Less than a week now till Japanton round 5.

Attended a Kevin Millis seminar over the weekend.  There was lots of good information shared at that seminar.   The highlight though was Brad V. back on the floor.  As many readers know the head instructor of the club across town suffered an injury which left him unable to teach.  He is now at a point that although he can not stand, he is able to preform some of the seated techniques from shinden fudo ryu.  It was great to see.  I eagerly await his full recovery and know that the feeling is the same with all Budo practitioners in Edmonton.  Brad your Fudo Shin is an example to us all.

Recently I have become a regular at the Workout Room at my workplace.  I have missed the last week and a half due to a cold and the recent seminar.  Yesterday I had a co-worker stage an intervention that went something like this…

Hey Anton, we haven’t seen you in the Gym for a couple days.  We are starting to get worried, starting to think that you are slacking.  I am here to stage an intervention.

I explained the situation to him and it seemed passable but I am expected to be there on Monday during lunch.  For those who were wondering why I said I was “the victim of an intervention” on my various digital contact mediums  that is the reason.

As some of you know and the rest of you are about to find out, I am bringing my sister to Japan with me. She will only be staying 10 days so my training will suffer, but not so much that I will harbor resentment until my next trip.

That said I now have an excuse to travel in Japan a little bit. I will be getting a Shinkansen pass (Japan Rail Pass), the only question is with this unlimited JR travel ticket where will I visit. Kyoto would be nice because of the history and scenery but an 11hr train ride would get me to Sapporo where they make Beer. There are also Tanookis (Racoon Dogs) there I believe. Now I will see Tanookis when I visit the Zoo in Ueno Koen but still, seeing Raccoon Dogs in the wild an appealing thought.

When all is said and done I think it will be Kyoto which wins out. It’s about 2 hours away by train and there is plenty to do. That said I have not traveled with my sister for years so I don’t know what types of things she wants to see. The only goal that she has right now is a picture next to Hatsumi Sensei to add to her “Me beside famous people” photo album. Doug W, Rob R I am counting on you both.

Due to some complaints about download time, I have made all of my images a bit smaller in size.  Now anyone with a connection faster than dial-up can view them easily.

Are you happy now Kamal?

It seems like just yesterday, no screw that, it seems like ages ago that I arrived in the damp warm Japan air for the first time.  Three years later I am getting ready for my 5th trip.  My time off has been secured, tickets will be bought this week and I will be ready to go.  Except for the whole money thing, but I will worry about that when I am in Japan.

Before I get there I have the small task of writing 4 university finals and hosting a seminar.  No big deal really, I am the man who makes the impossible possible after all.

I am looking forward to seeing people from outside of Japan which I happen to meet (or have for the past 3 years) in Japan.  I have also been promised some training with Doug Wilson.  I am sure that will be alright.  I mean he only has been living in Japan since the mid 90’s.  Oh and he is only responsible for translating Hatsumi Sensei’s books, so no big deal.

I will keep you up on my progress and probably fix the image link today.

First off, Cliff for landing me on my head.  He did a shoulder throw slowly so I landed with my right shoulder down, unfortunately he had my right hand and thus I landed on a combination of my right shoulder and face.  It made a devastating cracking sound in my neck and spine.

Next Leah, if something happens let me know, or at least Cliff.  I would rather know and worry than not.  I would help send him home in a heartbeat if something happens.  To both of us you are more important than a training trip in Japan.

When stuff like this happens I get quite “put out”.

I promised to have an adventure for Emanuel. So far I have done Kareoke in Japan and nearly got married to a Japanese Girl named Natsumi. I am supposed to meet her again on Saturday. I will keep everyone updated. Will definately post more pictures tomorrow.

Only a couple days left until Cliff returns to Ohio then it’s just me and Tracey-chan.