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JRM invited to 2011 DC Cherry Blossom Festival Sakuri Matsuri


cteno4

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Well we just got invited back for this year's cherry blossom festival April 9th, 2011! this year they just offered tent and electrical for free right off the bat! in the past they wanted to find sponsors to pay for the tent rental and electrical hookup, but i guess as we were #1 in the post visitor survey of most memorable things we are a hit to keep!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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That's really great news Jeff!  Great to get the message out!  I'll bet it gets a TON of attention!  Hopefully you stir up more discussion there about how great the Japanese rail system is!  I was just watching a re-run of TopGear on Netflix, and they raced a Nissan GTR against 'public transit' - mostly trains including a 700!  During the show, various comments were made about the efficiency and speed of the Japanese rail system and the rest of my family was just amazed! 

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Congrats--sounds like you must have been a big hit!

 

But guess what--once again, we can't make it.  :sad:  We'll be in Costa Rica in early April.

 

Still--as much as I'd like to see you guys and check out the layout, it'd be nice to do it at more of a low-key event.

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Martijn Meerts

Meh, different countries is a bad excuse ;)

 

I need to start planning a trip now that the invitation has come in. I noticed I need to make some preparations before they let me into the US, they really give you this guilty until proven innocent vibe =)

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Jeff - This is great news! All the hard work that JRM does to educate the public about the Japanese Rail system is getting noticed! Congratulations to all the members of the JRM!

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Meh, different countries is a bad excuse ;)

 

I need to start planning a trip now that the invitation has come in. I noticed I need to make some preparations before they let me into the US, they really give you this guilty until proven innocent vibe =)

 

 

See PM

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Martijn Meerts

My trip is about 90% planned by now, so you can all come visit and see the crazy Dutch dude who's flying across the pond to see a Japanese layout at a festival ...

 

...

 

...

 

Well, okay, not just that, I'll be checking out other things as well ;)

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Martijn Meerts

Well, my plane tickets have been ordered and paid for, so unless the US border dudes think I look too much like a terrorist, I'll be at the festival ;)

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well we had a great cherry blossom festival today! luckily no rain, but cool, in the 50s, but that did not diminish the crowd nor the new $5 fee to pay all the DC fees that have gone up recently. very good crowds, i would say attendance figures like the last couple of years. they moved up this year to a more open area near an entrance so much easier for folks to stop and not block the street flow.

 

the dual gojis (we now have 2 x 6' gojis along with the original 5' one) on the end of the tent were great. sort of like the chinese entrance lion/dogs! definitely stands out much better with two of them!

 

the layout ran pretty much flawlessly! i think its the best running show we ever had. this even with being on the side of the street (good gutter slope) instead of the center (crown pretty level) that required some heavy leveling. luckily we had curt the level headed guy, who has become the official club layout leveler. usually we are in buildings with very level floors and never do any leveling, but this show is different! no crashes at all or nay real derailments. just a couple of trains with loose couplers loosing a few cars.

 

set up went fast with most of the club out at this meet.

 

we had a great pizza dinner here at my house afterwards so nice time with some beers and lounging for the club members.

 

I think Martijn has had a good time experiencing america for the first time. first day we got him up to the Pennsylvania railroad museum, which is very extensive and he got to feel the real size of a GG!! we had lunch on the small 1 hr strausberg rr line. the then zipped up to nyc to spend a day with bernard seeing the big apple. bernard whipped him all over the city on foot so i think martijn things he walked every block of manhattan! after returning from nyc aaron took him on a loop around the dc mall to see al the main monuments and the american history museum. friday they went out to the new air and space museum annex out at dullas airport that his huge and houses all the big planes. he got to see the enterprise shuttle. today he had a full day of the festival with the club layout. tomorrow we will swing by and see curt's layout on the way to the plane. so hopefully he has got a good first glimpse of America!

 

im too pooped tonight to pull photos, ill try to get some up sunday.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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well martijn is off back to the netherlands now.

 

i didnt take video as my camera battery was low so just got a couple of dozen crowd shots. aaron and martijn were snapping pictures so hopefully they have some video. im sure philip, one of our members who loves taking train photos, will have some this week.

 

we totally forgot to do a group shot this year! we usually do that at the festival as it has the most attendance of members (and we can photoshop in the missing members easily!).

 

crowds at the layout were not as dense, usually averaged 2 deep, but folks seemed to stay a while. we were in a much more open area so it was much more easy for folks to get in an out. on the crowded section we were on before i think folk had a hard time even getting up to look as it was just too darn crowded. will be interesting to see what the attendance was.

 

martijn said he may come back sometime and bring his samurai armor along, he would be a huge hit in that!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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haha samurai armour. reminds me of the time my mate built a forge in his parents yard and built a samurai head piece and part of the body armour then gave up after that.

 

he made bellows and everything.

 

 

--- His parents are still asking him to come up and remove it ahahah

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Martijn Meerts

Well, just got back home, I'm pretty darn exhausted right now, but it's only about 1pm, so I still need to stay awake for a few hours, otherwise the jetlag will really hit me big time ;)

 

Was definitely great meeting some people from the forum and the club, and seeing some bits and pieces of America :)

 

 

As for the armor, mine is hand made in Japan by a company that's making them (mostly) the old fashioned way. Most armors seen in Kurosawa's "Ran" are made by them. Mine is just a foot soldier/cannon fodder armor, but it's adjusted to fit me. It's all metal (not quite as thick metal as an original, although considering it's foot soldier, the thickness might actually be correct) and weight in at about 20-25 kilo's. I also have a fitting katana and wakizashi (both are iaito, or iaido practice swords), also custom made to my specs. It takes a LOT of practice in many different skills to make an armor, definitely not something you can just whip together ;)

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yes we are selling those photos to the tabloids!

 

sorry martijn when you act like a rock start flitting over the pond to attend train shows, you will be treated like one!

 

it was great to have you over!

 

jeff

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Martijn Meerts

Yeah, rock star flying economy class and trying to spend the nights as cheap as possible =)

 

I already feel like going for another visit actually, but for now I have to wait until the whole new house thing has been taken care of.

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Martijn,

 

you are most welcome to come back! you only got one day of NYC, lots more to see! perhaps next time i can pop up with you for a day or two.

 

america is huge! lots to see and do, but can take a lot of time getting around!

 

jeff

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