This past weekend I spent four days at the International Budo University in Katsura for the 19th annual budo seminar. For just a little more than 5,000 yen I got to try out three new budo; sat in on budo lectures; was fed nine meals; had four nights of deep sleep; and best of all met nearly a hundred foreigner residents of Japan that practice a budo.

I tried out kyudo, naginata and judo. It was really tough to choose from all of the available budo, so I’m looking forward to next year for karate, aikido, jukendo, or sumo. In the meantime I’ll need to find a judo, naginata and kyudo dojo.

Anyway, some of the pictures I took on the first night are in the photo gallery here: http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594576954734/page/1/

Just moved house yesterday and I don’t really have Internet access plus I’m leaving for Thailand tomorrow morning, so pictures of my recent trip to Asahidake will have to do. Look for vidoes and a few cellphone pictures of penguins later. For now enjoy

Mayumi ripping down the mountain through the woods.

Orimo blasting through powder under the roapway.

Freezing skiers ambling toward the roapway at the base.

Yoichi giggling his way down the mountain.

The rest of the pictures from my second trip to Asahidake in Hokkaido, Japan are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594529176908/

Photos from the individual match between Yoo (USA) and Hojo (Japan) are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594478283481/

Subscribe to the RSS feed, distribution list, or just check back regularly.

Photos from the individual matches between Korea and Japan are up. The shots from the semi-final matches that pitted Gil-Hyun Oh against Tanaka Takeshi and Sang-Hoon Kang against Hojo Masaomi are in the semi-final set. The photos from the earlier match between Young-Dae Kim and Takeshi Tanaka are in their own set.

Shots from the semi-finals are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594433954511/

Photos from the earlier match are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594434059085/

Only another five hundred or so more pictures to process, so we’re getting close to done. Subscribe to the RSS feed, distribution list, or just check back regularly.

No great photos here, but a few mood shots from the men’s individual tournament final between Hojo Masaomi and Tanaka Takeshi at the 13th World Kendo Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.

The photos are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594431414081/

It should take me about another week or two to finish, so subscribe to the RSS feed, distribution list, or just check back regularly.

So I showed the above news capture to a friend at work expecting her to be a bit shocked at how close I was to the court. She was shocked alright, but not because of my location. “You were sitting in seiza!”

Oh yeah, in case you missed it, I’m the guy in the middle of the highlighted circle.

We’ve reached the halfway point. I’ve just uploaded photos from the New Zealand vs. USA and Thailand vs. Malaysia matches. Aside from the award ceremony these will be the last of the men’s group tournament photos. I has still have a lot of shots from the last day floating around, so if there’s a match or a player you were hoping to see, shoot me a message and I’ll check for appropriate photos.

Photos from the New Zealand versus USA matches are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594428024779/

Photos from the Thailand versus Malaysia matches are here:

http://www.simulacre.org/wordpress/photos/album/72157594428022467/

Starting from the day after tomorrow Japan time I’ll be uploading photos from the men’s individual tournament. By now you know the drill: it should take me about another week or two to finish, so subscribe to the RSS feed, distribution list, or just check back regularly.