OK. I have a sales bonus coming to me in Feb and I am considering a week off to come to Japan. Can anyone tell me the best time of year to go? Most bang for the buck, most instructors around and best economy. Does anyone know of any Canadian groups that are going any time that one could buy in.
Well April is a busy with the TaiKai and so is November for the Daikomyosai. In fact the Hombu seems to be busy all year round apparently. You'll get quality instructors there all year round aswell. Visiting Japan is quite expensive anyway, so I don't think there will be a season where it will be much cheaper for you. I think you'll just have to PM some of the more senior members on this forum as they have vastly more Japanese visiting experience than the rest of us. By the way, is Pembroke anywhere near Newmarket?
Contact Sean Gray through kutaki na mura, he is the man to ask and he is a Cannukian so no language proplems eh. Seiously he will know what you require and he is a really nice guy. I think his group also have accomodation to rent if you need it.
There is no tai kai in April, unless it gets announced at Ohashi Sensei's website at http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/bujinkan/
Yes, Cuchulain is correct. The "Tai Kai" you are referring to was a special one-time event held in remembrance of Takamatsu-sensei after the 33rd(?) year of his passing. There will not be another one this April as far as I know. Dave, if you PM me, I can give you some information, some costs for various things, and perhaps a bit more depending on what your hopes are for your training while here. From my experience of doing research as far as plane fare goes, the most expensive times are around Christmas/New Year's and late summer.
Read reread then read again I notice you asked on another forum about what airport. Narita is where you want to end up. Then comes the fun fun fun of the Japanese train systems Don't get to worried though they are not a scary as they look on paper. Read George Ohashi site as you will find some good info there and PM people in the know IFyou have any questions you can't answer for yourself from various other boards and sites.
There is no good time to go train in Japan anymore. I have tried for years to plan trips to the honbu in Japan to train with Soke for times when people from outside the country are few. Every time someone hears of a time being slow, they sceduale their trip there it seems. Now any time you go is filled with people. And now that there are no tai kais going on overseas, it seems that every green belt and his uncle is going to the honbu to flail around without understanding. There are a lot of groups that fly in. Sometimes you can get some training in between one group leaving and another arriving, but that seems to be only a few days in my experience.
Heh heh, not any more, there are about 30 Irish lads heading to Japan in the next 2-3 weeks , should be fun Happy new year Marc
Well, maybe I will see them when I get out there. I have no firm date yet but I hope to be out within a month. Happy New Year to you too.
I am certainly weighing my options. I see there is a boarding house for students which looks reasonable, but not sure ofhow long in advance it would need to be booked. Late Sept my agent tells me is the cheapest. I wonder how that is at the Hombu. What Shihan could I expect to attend.
It was not too busy last september, still more people that i would stick in a dojo at home but quiet by all accounts. The Shihans have their own Dojos aswell as teaching at Honbu, don't worry there is plenty to keep you busy. Try to get round all the classes especially if you have not been before. If i was you, sort your flight and accommodation out first. You will land in Narita Airport as mentioned earlier and the trains to Noda around hour and half to two hours. I've got a photo map of the train connections somewhere.
I am confused. Are you talking about a non-Japanese shihan? They sometimes teach at the honbu during the day when they visit. But the Japanese always teach on set scheduales every week. Except for Tuesday at Ayase, every day of the week there is training going on at the honbu dojo as part of a regular scheduale.
Dave, almost all of the Japanese Shihan teach at the Hombu. You can train everyday there. You can also make trips out to some of their own dojos if you choose. Although it is best to meet them first at the Hombu. I don't think they would really appreciate a stranger showing up; their dojos aren't necessarily the easiest to find either. I don't think the dojo schedule is really placed anywhere on the net. Soke's classes are listed in George Ohashi's site. The rest you will need to find out about once you get over there. BTW, it looks like I will be over there at the end of FEB/beginning of MAR. 10 days of percussive massage to makeup for a year in this pit. Yeehaw!
As an added note, I happen to know that Shiraishi-sensei never minds people showing up to his classes without having met them before. I do know that other shihan would probably prefer having met you at their Hombu classes, however.
The big four do, but the newer guys like Shiraishi sensei. They have classes at about the same time at different locations. Your best bet is to ask around at Ayase or Honbu to find out how to get to training the next day.
Grim, did you mean to say "but not the newer guys like Shiraishi sensei?" If so, that's not true as Shiraishi-sensei teaches at Hombu on Monday mornings. Hard to think of Shiraishi-sensei as one of the "newer guys" even though he is comparatively. After 27 years of training with Soke and he's still the "new guy."
