I'm back from the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Joined
Dec 1, 1999
Messages
651
Greatings to everyone!
I'm back and very tired. This jet lag kills me! Especially, when traveling for the first time with my 17 month old son!

I was able to hook up with Wrongfriend and we had a great time! He is a very good guy and very knowlegable also. He met me at Narita airport when I arrived there and very had somewhat of a mini convention. I had to go to my connecting flight and so we planned to meet again later on. We met again in Fukuoka city. I had to take a bus (first time and bymyself in Japan!) from Kumamoto city to Fukuoka. He showed me around we went to a model gun shop , which was recommended by his friend. I was impressed!
They had a selection that would make gun guys drool!!! Too bad I didn't win a lottery before leaving for Japan!

After that we went to Kurume city via local train to meet and practice with a MA Sensei. We had fun sparring each other with our own styles and learned from each other. Wrongfriend translated for me and he did an excellent job! Thanks again!

After our practice we took the train back to FuKuoka to meet another friend and have dinner and then visit a nice bar to smoke some cigars. We also tried some of Japan's newest video games after that. Awesome night! Also seeing the new Japanese ladies clothing fashions was trully amazing! Everytime I think about that night, a smile come back on my face!

Eventually, I was able to do some test cutting in a bamboo forest with a Khukuri that Uncle Bill sent me. Chiruwa handle with a 17" fullered blade khukuri. On bamboo with a diameter of 1.5" - 2.5", the Khukuri sailed through them like a red hot knife through butter! I thought I missed, but when the whole bamboo tree fell next to the base, I was happy! I tried the Khukuri on some bamboo that wash 3.5" - 4.5" and it took me two hits to cut completely through! The owner of the property was surprised that a small blade coule cut so good! He has seen people practice with their Shinken (newly made katanas) on the same thickness bamboo and the performance was simply the same! He asked me if I had some problems bringing it through customs and I told him I shipped it and so there wasn't any problems. The forward curving blade of the Khukuri seem to put it in the axe catagory in the Japanese customs eyes. I'll send some pictures and a short video to Uncle for his evaluation soon. Time to sign off for now.

Take care everyone!
 
Good to have you back. Really. You add a lot to the forum.
 
Welcome back, B.A. Missed you and your knowledge on the forum. Are looking forward to hearing more of your experiences as these will enrich this forum and forumites who visit.

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Harry
 
Welcome back, BA!

Bob

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The Milk Snake: Beautiful, harmless, good-natured, eats venomous snakes for lunch.
 
Welcom back, BA! It's funny we said goodbye in real world to see you again, coming back to HI forum!

BA was really a nice guy to talk with. Both of the two small Konvention in Japan were interesting, and enlightening in vaious topics (like HI forum). He showed some of his MA styles with barehand and weapon in Kurume, Such trained move looked like flowing that never stops. There at the dojo in Kurume, another HI fan gathered in. All of us took our favorite blade, Gelbu Specials, all exitsing GSs in Japan on a table. Same feel, same good balance, and same "vibration" they had, but none of the specs were the same like length, weight, curve.

Thank you, BA, for the good 30 hours you gave me. I'll quote an old Chinese proberb
"The most enjoyable, a friend visits you from far place"

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Otokohadaremo yumenofunanori.
Shonennohinoakogare shinutokimade wasurezunidaiterumonodayo.
 
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back! While trying to square away my mail for 5 weeks, I found a notice from my city fire department. I have to clear some tall weeds in my yard (my yard is huge!) by this monday! I guess I will have to try out my new hand forged Kama from Japan. Then I will have to try to relax. Oh well! This is life on this side of the world!

By the way, I received the new Cold Steel catalog and they have a picture of Mr. Thompson cutting some bamboo with his Gurka kukri. He say in the picture that the bamboo was 4" thick in diameter, but to me it looks like around 1.5" - 2". I also noticed that he didn't snap his blade into the target (he just muscled it through). Well, it did cut, but I still prefer to buy my Khukuris from Uncle Bill!
 
BA, just guess you had plenty of time at midnight - one whole daytime of Japan. Have a good time with your kama. I hope your neighbors are not too nervous about a guy brandishing a sickle in his hand run around the backyard all night.

Get relaxed and enjoy your life on the other side of the world, or "far east" life! (You must have seen a world map in Japan where US locates at the east side).


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Otokohadaremo yumenofunanori.
Shonennohinoakogare shinutokimade wasurezunidaiterumonodayo.
 
Welcome back BA.
You didn't take your Bell beauty over there for some bamboo cutting?
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I think I can figure out why.
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$200 khukuri, versus several thousand dollar pattern-welded katana. Maybe tears are made out of the chips from patternwelded steel.
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Bob
 
Bob, bringing a katana into Japan takes too much effort for a vacation if you want to behave within legality. BA knows the rules of the game quite well.


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Otokohadaremo yumenofunanori.
Shonennohinoakogare shinutokimade wasurezunidaiterumonodayo.
 
BA,

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! I have always wanted to go to Japan, and I would love to hear more stories. If you have any pics I'm sure I'm not the only one that would like to check them out! Thanks again.

BTW, what style of Martial arts do you study? I just got back into Aikido 2 days ago---didn't know how much I missed being in a dojo until I stepped out on the mat!!
 
It appears that Kenshiro got early innoculation for (or with) HIKV. Wish I could have done that with Al
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Al, unfortunately, also takes after his dad. Still, if I had "innoculated" him at that age, I'd have a 37-year-old collection of Khukuris.
 
Thanks for the pics, Bill. They brought a smile to my face.
smile.gif


Bob

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The Milk Snake: Beautiful, harmless, good-natured, eats venomous snakes for lunch.
 
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