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Friday, May 29, 2015

Sasuke 31 related updates

Sasuke 31's Final Stage Tower ©TBS Twitter

Hello again from the USA!  LOL  I have returned from the long awaited trip to Japan!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!  As promised, I'll be doing periodic blogs about my trip. Right now I'm recovering from the trip which left me with a wicked sunburn and hobbling from a sprained ankle.  However, it also left me with a lot of WONDERFUL memories and experiences.  NOTHING comes close to seeing it live. I was truly blessed to have seen it in person. I also wanted to thank the Sasuke production team along with TBS for being such gracious hosts.  They knew I was coming and were really nice in allowing us to see the whole production from start to finish.  I'm truly thankful for their generosity.

Sasuke 31's Third Stage (modified) Vertical Limit バーティカルリミット ©Masato Inui

As I mentioned, Sasuke 31 has completed taping in Japan.  We are expected to see the official airing sometime during the month of July, 2015.  As of yet, no exact date in July has been announced.  As per protocol with my website, I won't post any spoilers on this site. I will continue blogging as normal and will do a Spoilerific review of the event when the TBS broadcast finishes.  While I was there, I didn't get to see everything, so this broadcast will have a lot of new things! I can't wait for everyone to be able to see the event as well. I'm incredibly biased but I think this is one of the best, if not THE best tournament so far. I'm happy the weather cooperated as well as we were scared we would get rained on.  The exact opposite happened where the weather was hot and dry!  Sunburns were the norm! LOL

That's me and hubby in Japan! ©Arsenette

I can't express how much I'm thankful for the wonderful support I have received from all of you.  I still can't believe I was able to finally go to Japan and see Sasuke. I have soooooo much material to write about not only for my blog, but for the subsequent book as well.  As for the merchandise and autographed photos I was able to secure, I updated the fundraising campaign with new updates on timing of perk fulfillment. I'll get that out to you soon™.  I have a lot of catching up to do since I wasn't in the country for over a week.  I don't care if I sound like a broken record by this point, but seriously.. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.  This trip honestly is a highlight in my life.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Sasuke related updates - Japan trip update, Nico Nico


I'm getting ready to leave this week for my long awaited trip to Japan! I'm so excited, I'm jumping out of my skin! The HYPE is real let me assure you of that!  Anyway.. ehem.. a couple days ago I checked my Twitter feed and Sasuke Director Inui was talking about a Nico Nico broadcast. I immediately thought (since I don't read Japanese and didn't run it through the translator yet) that it might have been an announcement of the contest from back in March. But nope.. It wasn't.

It was an announcement for a Nico Nico broadcast that was coming up in about 12 hours from that message! LOL  I didn't know what to make of it. It said that you could tune in to see Sasuke's iconic Final Stage Tower being built from scratch.. live.. from a fixed camera at the Midoriyama Studio lot.


Sure enough, they weren't kidding!!! Just before the broadcast you had TBS posting on their twitter that they already started to build the base of the tower.  At the appointed time (11 am their time Saturday, 10 pm my time Friday night), a construction crew was hard at work building the tower.


The broadcast lasted 4 hours!!!!!! Seriously.. 4 hours of construction!  LOL!!!  It was interesting to see how quickly they can build that thing  (between refreshing the page because friggin' Nico Nico always pimps their subscription service every minute.. ).  There were breaks in the broadcast where occasionally a ghost hand would show a portable white board with scribbled kanji I couldn't read.  Apparently it had trivia for those watching in chat.  Whenever the white board would appear everyone would laugh in chat.

Finally about 3 1/2 hours in the broadcast, Sasuke Director Masato Inui 乾雅人 showed up. I mean he poked his head over the camera a couple of times but then all of a sudden I heard a voice and he shows up in front of the camera sitting on a chair while holding the white board. He proceeded to do an informal Q&A with the Nico Nico chat in his typical off the cuff fashion.  He literally read every line and occasional spat out answers right off the top of his head.

Halfway through the questions someone else showed up.  Those who don't remember her, she is the "Paper Girl" from the last Nico Nico broadcast. She was the lady that was holding up the paper with the obstacle contest submissions.  Seems her name is Yuka.

Side view of Yuka and Inui during the broadcast

Lost in Ube helped me a LOT by getting a general gist of what happened during the 20 minute Q&A session. Ube posted the synopsis on SMF and I'm cutting and pasting it here since I thought you guys would like to know.  Remember that these are just notes and not verbatim from skimming over the broadcast.

(This is a bit out of order:)
There will be six new "areas." No stages mentioned.
Yamada is not competing. It does look like there will be another Yamada-gundan though.
Inui is 50 years old.
He says that two SASUKEs a year is impossible.
There should be a SASUKE Park.
No Shinji Kobayashi.
Yuka-pi, aka Paper Girl, makes an appearance partway through.
Okuyama won't be there.
Yuka-pi is 30.
I'm not 100 percent sure but Inui says the theme for this show is gentenkaiki which would mean back to the basics.
All-Stars there: Takeda, Nagano, Shingo, Yamada-gundan (not Yamada).
No Kane.
No Bunpei due to "doctor stop."
Not sure which celebrities will be on the show. He'll know next week.
No Superman.
Looks like the next show will be four hours.
No Omori.
They can't/won't say when the airdate will be.
No Long Jump.
Inui thinks he can make it to, but not clear the Backstream.
No Hedgehog.
I believe there will be only one Soritatsu Kabe.
I'm sure I missed some stuff.

Sasuke 31 under construction in Japan! ©Masato Inui

Thanks Ube! I'm happy we got anything at all so I'm really happy he got a quick rundown of some of the questions/answers.  Shame we won't see Bunpei though.. MEH.. the one time I'm in Japan and he won't be there.. I gave up ever meeting Akiyama. I'm just cursed. Oh well I honestly cannot complain. I've been very lucky in my Sasuke life.

Sasuke Finalists!!  (Sasuke 17) Shunsuke Nagasaki 長崎峻侑,  (Sasuke 23) New Generation Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志  and (Sasuke 30) Tomohiro Kawaguchi 川口朋広 ©Hitoshi Kanno

This is probably my last blog post before I leave. I have a couple busy days ahead of me so I may keep my Twitter updated but not my blog until I get back. If I get a chance and I'm not dog tired from the wicked jet-lag, then I may be able to post. Luckily the hotel has free wifi but again it depends how busy I am.  Twitter messages are short but blog posts with the compilation of photos and story takes time. I'm sure with the almost 2 month (expected but not confirmed) delay between taping and airing I'll have plenty of time to post more blogs on the trip. I plan to take video as well so I'll have those up on my Youtube Channel when I get back. In the meantime we are in countdown mode until taping day. I'm hoping that the both Inui and Sasuke TBS Twitter accounts will post regular updates for those eager to get a glimpse of the event.

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 doing some construction work inside of his new Gym ©Shingo Yamamoto

Oh! I almost forgot!  Remember waaaaaaaaaay back in 2013 that I mentioned that Shingo was opening a gym?  Well it's about to FINALLY happen! The place is called "Bariante". It's not exactly what he thinks it means but he should just do what Studio Ghibli did and just own the new word. It's supposed to open on Monday, May 18th!  I hope all goes well and I can see it when I get there later in the week.  I'll see you in a couple of weeks in time for another podcast and updates right before AnimeNext!

Thursday, May 14, 2015

2015 Maguro Festival Photos

(top to bottom) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Makoto Nagano

Sorry this blog is really late this year.  I've been getting ready to fly out to Japan for Sasuke 31 (as this will be my first international trip) and working on other projects that I can't announce yet and I simply lost track of the fact that I never posted this.  It's been sitting in draft mode for well over a week and so I truly apologize for never finishing it and publishing it.  During that interim I posted another blog entry about co-hosting a monthly podcast (which I'll update on this site when each episode goes live).  Episode one of the Final Stage Podcast is up and we should get the next one up just before I head back to AnimeNext this year in June and after I get back from Japan. Sasuke 31 tapes in just over a week from now in Japan so I'm scrambling to finish off loose ends before I head out there! Again, I can't thank everyone enough who helped make it happen!

2015 Poster

As is tradition here on Rambling Rican, I'm writing about the Maguro Festival again!  This year didn't disappoint with the amount of photos I was able to get within just a day or two! This year we broke the record again in photos and I didn't even post all that was available!! Thanks everyone for being patient.  For those who aren't familiar with this at all, the 24th Annual Maguro Festival 第24回串木野まぐろフェスティバル took place in Kagoshima Prefecture on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday April 26, 2015 in the city of Ichiki-Kushikino. This of course happens during Golden Week in Japan.

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 arrives in Kagoshima ©Makoto Nagano

Now that the Sasuke Stars are getting on social media, we get more behind the scenes photos than ever before.  Nagano posted a series of photos of when he picked them up from the Kagoshima airport. He and his oldest son (from Asami) Kaiou went to meet them.

New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 with wife Emiko 笑子 and their son Yuuto 雄仁 arrive in Kagoshima being greeted by Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王 ©Makoto Nagano

Kanno and family arrive in Kagoshima and greet Kaiou at the arrivals gate.  His son Yuuto is growing so quickly! I think he's 1 1/2 years old?

New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 being greeted by his biggest fan - Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王 at the Kagoshima airport ©Makoto Nagano

This is cute because I know Nagano's son Kaiou is a HUGE Asa fan and even yells his signature call on his own!  He's sooo excited to see Asa arrive even if Asa looks really tired!

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Makoto Nagano

I think by this point Takeda was in Kagoshima as he now  lives"closer" that he moved further south.  A lot has changed in Takeda's life just in the last year to say the least. I'm curious if TBS will make a big deal about it during Sasuke 31 like they did with Sasuke 30.

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 with new wife Aya Takeda 竹田亜弥, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志,  and Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟  ©Hitoshi Kanno

Dinner with the stars before the event and the public introduction of Takeda's new wife named Aya (he divorced Miyako last year if you remember from the huge fluff piece on Takeda on Sasuke 30's Navi).

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, (2 obstructed) Nagano's wife Asami 阿紗美, Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 (taking photo with his phone), Nagano sons Kaiou 塊王 and Taiou 太皇, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, Aya Takeda 竹田亜弥, Kanno's wife Emiko 笑子 with their son Yuuto 雄仁 and New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Shingo Yamamoto

A different dinner photo with everyone and their wives and children. It's funny how everyone instantly takes out their own phones! LOL  There were a lot of angles on all of these photos so I just chose a few and posted them by category. Otherwise there would be like 500 photos! LOL!!

Kanno's wife Emiko 笑子, Nagano's wife Asami 阿紗美 with sons Kaiou 塊王 and Taiou 太皇 being held by Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Shingo Yamamoto

I believe this is one of the dock areas before the event? Seems everyone just grabbed a bite to eat right on the floor.  There were several of these photos as well.  Each of the photo links you can hit "next" or "previous" (if they were Facebook links) and see the rest of them in the album.

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 being teased by New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 with Aya Takeda 竹田亜弥 looking on ©Shingo Yamamoto

Shingo had a few funny ones of him hanging out on the side of the deck there.  This picture still makes me cringe.. I'm afraid of them accidentally falling off there.. maybe it's because I can't swim?

New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞, Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 and  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Aya Takeda

More casual time on the dock.  I'm happy they were blessed with gorgeous weather this year. Last few years have been pretty dreary.

(top to bottom) 金比羅丸船長 (Konpiramaru Captain)  Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠, Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 and New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 ©Kotetu

Luckily this year everyone invited was able to attend.  There was no need to amend the poster. Yay!  The Sasuke corner poster is complete!

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 ©Kotetu

There were a bunch of individual photos and group photos from various angles.  The way the event worked is that twice a day for two days they would come out as a group and entertain the crowd.

 Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

During the demonstrations twice a day, they would address the crowd and do mock time trials through the course Nagano built.

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Kotetu

And yes, for the record, Takeda has had about 5 hair colors in the past year and various stages of facial hair.  I doubt this will last for the tournament. I expect 1980's striped two-tone with shaved sides for the tournament! LOL

New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 ©Kotetu

I'm happy that each year you get a mix of the old guard and the new guard for the next generation of fans.

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

I assume because the weather was so nice, they got a much larger crowd. Seems at least to me that there were more in attendance this year.

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 ©Kotetu

Prerequisite interviews before every demonstration.  Even so, Shingo always looks distracted. LOL

Kaiou 塊王 hanging out with Dad, Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Makoto Nagano ©Kotetu

I can't believe how quickly Kaiou is growing up. He will be 6 years old this year..  He's already a total Makoto mini-me!

(top to bottom) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

This was a great shot this year!  I love goofy photos like this and was happy a few people got a cool shot of this pose!

(top to bottom) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠  ©Kotetu

LOL Kanno is being pinched something wicked in this shot!  Shingo cheesing up top is absolutely hilarious!

(back row)  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  (bottom row) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

Typical shot I get every year. I wish more of them smiled.  This is an awesome photo nonetheless but I much prefer their smiles.

(top to bottom) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

Asa looks so happy in these photos. I hope he's getting more comfortable in the New Star role. Hopefully more of these events will get him out of his shell.

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

Because I can.

(back row)  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞,  (bottom row) Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu


Awesome photo.  Though it needs more cowbell smiles!

 
Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 waving to Kanno from the crowd ©Hitoshi Kanno

Awesome photo from Kanno from on top of the Warped Wall looking down. I love perspective photos from angles like these.  Shows what they see!

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 and Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 ©Kotetu

I love the Sasuke All-Star shirts.. I want one..

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Aya Takeda

Looks like a photo from them setting up on Friday (no people in the background and Takeda has a cigarette tucked behind his ear.. LOL).

Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王 riding on the back of his Dad, Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Kotetu

The next couple of photos are cute.  Kaiou has complete faith in his Dad to carry him on his back to run up the warped wall. It does though give me a lot of faith that Nagano is training harder this year to be able to run up a warped wall with a 5 year old strapped to his back!!

Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王 being supported by Dad, Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠  ©Kotetu

And the inevitable fail that happens every once in a while. LOL Kaiou is just hanging on while Nagano is trying to hang on to him and hoist Kaiou up!

 
Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 with new wife Aya Takeda 竹田亜弥 and Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王 ©Makoto Nagano

Awesome photo of a happy son!  This is Nagano's busy season at work so it's nice that Kaiou enjoys his time with his Dad when Dad is not working.

New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Kotetu

So many great photos to chose from this year!  I tried to find the best of the solo photos to give you a sample of the huge pile of photos I had to chose from this year!

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩, New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 and  New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 during one of the demonstrations ©Makoto Nagano

Yeah.. they definitely had a lot of people this year!  The weather also was hot this year so most of them rocked either the wifebeater™ or nekkid!

New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞, Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟, and Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Makoto Nagano
Shingo not getting the memo about the dress code.. though that's a personalized All-Star shirt.. so he gets a pass.

 Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 barking orders ©Kotetu

No event would be complete with an annoyed Nagano™ photo. LOL  Seriously.. he always has at least one photo with that face every year!!

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 with a fan ©Aya Takeda

Oooooh Takeda is burning by this photo. LOL!!  Omg.. that sunburn... Cute kid even if the socks are incredibly distracting in a 90+ degree day!

 New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 running around the Warped Wall ©kinacco_marinn3

Side view from the warped wall to show where they placed the poster for the demonstration. As if all the obstacles didn't give away that THIS is Sasuke corner. LOL

Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 and New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志, with Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 and Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 goofing around in the background ©Shingo Yamamoto


LOL not sure who photo-bombed who! Though seriously.. this looks like Keitaro Yamamoto (Cliffer #5) next to Nagano!  Right? if so.. wtf is he doing with a down jacket in this heat??

Sasuke Stars hanging around the pool running their time trials ©kinacco_marinn3


There were several videos that Nagano linked on his personal Facebook account.  I decided to link them individually instead of trying to copy code that sometimes works and sometimes not.
Also there was a video of Shingo Yamamoto goofing around on the Salmon Ladder.

New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 and New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 ©Hitoshi Kanno


(top row) Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 and Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 (bottom row) New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞, Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 and New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Hitoshi Kanno

New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©kinacco_marinn3

Butt shoving! ©Aya Takeda

This cracks me up.  What they do with the people who want to try the warped wall (especially little kids) is that one way or the other, they shove that person up the wall!  Though I'm questioning the guy at the bottom.  I think he's just there to be inappropriate!

 Photo opportunities ©kinacco_marinn3

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 and New Star Kazuma Asa 朝一眞 ©Kotetu

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©kinacco_marinn3

Nagano's son Kaiou 塊王  New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Hitoshi Kanno

I love this photo!  Kaiou is so used to being around the Sasuke stars that he is perfectly comfortable around them.  Kanno now being a Dad is getting used to being around kids as well it seems.

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 and New Star Hitoshi Kanno 菅野仁志 ©Kotetu

More butt shoving! ©Kotetu

So outside of passing popcorn here.. exactly how is pushing their butts in any way helping the kid go up the wall? I mean.. I'm not complaining.. just asking a question here!

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 and Sasuke All-Star Shingo Yamamoto 山本進悟 ©Kotetu

Nekkid people! ©Makoto Nagano

I see Shingo got the memo!  Nekkid! Though.. he messed up the photo by looking like he was either passing gas or using all of his energy trying to pop any muscle to match the rest of the group. I also see he's rockin' the farmer's tan! Btw.. I recognize the guy in the right but for the life of me I can't place his name...

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Makoto Nagano

So yeah.. just showing you what happens when you run around in the hot sun with a wifebeater™ all day long..

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Makoto Nagano

Yeah.. you get a WICKED sunburn! LOL Yes.. that's Nagano's back.  Yikes.. that looks like it hurts!

Sasuke All-Star Makoto Nagano 長野誠 ©Makoto Nagano

Wow.. he's seriously burned.. I assume they don't believe in sunscreen?  Or were they out there so long it didn't matter?

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Kotetu

Then there's exhibit B.. the other person with a wifebeater™ all day..

Sasuke All-Star Toshihiro Takeda 竹田敏浩 ©Aya Takeda

Yeah.. he got a burned as well!

Killing time in a restaurant ©Hitoshi Kanno

Hey is that Moody (Makoto Yahagi)? That's definitely Keita Tomino 富野 恵太 (Cliffer #4) (which makes me believe that if #4 was there.. then it really was #5 that was in that previous photo!).  That's Kanno's wife Emiko 笑子 and their (sleeping) son Yuuto 雄仁.  The story of this photo is that because Sakurajima (yes.. the VOLCANO) was friggin' erupting.. they couldn't fly out of Kagoshima!  So they had to kill time until the sky cleared enough for airplanes to leave.

Kanno's son Yuuto 雄仁 trying to look at the airplanes! ©Hitoshi Kanno

So a couple days later they were given the go ahead to fly out.  This is an ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE photo of Yuuto trying to see the planes! I'm seriously having a cute attack!  Thanks to everyone involved for providing photos.  The great weather allowed for people to freely take great photos and post them online for everyone to see. They seem to get better every year! In the meantime the next thing on the event is Sasuke 31. WHOOT!  I'll post on both my personal Twitter and on the blog as best I can. I will be in an information embargo for a while though so the only things I will be posting will be more "personal" type photos.