Posts Tagged ‘Japan open’

2010 Japan Open – Tokyo Day 2

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

We got up early this morning and took the light rail to Showa Kinen Park, site of the original Japan Open. After a little ‘exploring’ we made our way to the back corner and found hole 1. All the holes were rather short, in fact we probably could’ve played the entire course with just a putter, but we each brought our nutsacs regardless. I hit metal a few times, after our aces at the cottage course, I was running at every hole. The course was beautifully maintained and the lush gardens and trees made for a super fun round! We made it through the course pretty quickly and, although I would’ve loved to have played it at least one more time, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the rest of the park.

I was most impressed with the bonsai garden which featured miniaturized trees almost 200 years old! We took a bazillion pictures as the grounds were simply spectacular. We rode the little train back to the park entrance and took the light rail back towards the hotel. We also stopped for a bit in Harijuku to check out the 5 story toy store and crazy outfits near the train station. Arriving safe and sound having had a wonderful day, we passed out back at the hotel, dreading the thought of leaving this strange and amazing country.

In lieu of writing a separate post, it suffices to say that our entire trip home consisted of a ridiculously long flight that we spent talking about how much we wish we could’ve just stayed in Japan :) Simply put, the Japan Open is the best disc golf tournament in the world and it is an honor and a privilege to play. As my friend Dan says, we got to play ‘a game of etiquette in the land of manners’. Thank you so much to the fine folks at Innova and Hero Discs that made this such a fantastic journey! See you all in 2012!

Until then, stay tuned for more stories as the disc golf adventure continues… Up next, the inaugural ‘Heroes Huk’ in Pueblo, CO!

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2010 Japan Open – Tokyo Day 1

Monday, June 14th, 2010

As beautiful and serene as the Nasu Highlands were, we realized during our last trip to Japan that we wanted to see more of the country than we would during the tournament. So we decided to spend a few more days this time around, establishing a base in Tokyo and making day trips by rail. The gracious staff from Hero Disc provided a shuttle bus to the NasuShiobara train station where we boarded the shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo. The thrill of riding the bullet train alone would’ve been adventure enough for one day. I’ve would’ve never imagined something moving that fast could be so quiet and smooth. It really made us ponder why in the world we don’t have trains like that in the states. We arrived in just a few hours and began to navigate the colorful spaghetti that is the Tokyo Metro rail map.

We made our way to Asakusa, a subsection of Tokyo and began the search for our hotel. As we exited the subway station we asked a businessman, who thankfully spoke English, if he could point us in the right direction. After politely thanking him for his help we started down the crowded, rainy sidewalk with our disc golf bags on our backs, dragging two huge suitcases behind us. We trudged along for about 15 minutes or so and just as a heavy downpour began, we realized we were lost again. As we looked around for anything we might be able to use as a landmark, we heard a voice shouting from behind us in the crowd. We turned in amazement to find the same businessman that had given us directions at the subway entrance. He had hunted us down to let us know he had sent us the wrong way. He gave us the correct directions, apologized and hurried off before we could say anything. We stood there for a moment simply dumbfounded. Every personal interaction we’ve had so far has been the epitome of courtesy and respect, but that was just mindboggling.

We located our hotel a short time later. It was a little of the beaten path with a main entrance down a back alley way near a market. We had decided to stay in a ryokan (traditional style hotel) with straw mat floors and rice paper doors. We were happily greeted by the hotel staff who showed us to our room and made hot green tea for us while they explained the amenities. We went exploring for a while, enjoying some fresh sushi before coming back and enjoying the room. We’re going to brave the rail system again tomorrow as we make our way to Showa Kinen Park, the site of the original Japan Open.

stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure! until then… Oyasuminasai (good night)!

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2010 Japan Open – Pre-Competition

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Konichiwa!!! We’ve arrived safely in Japan, nice little 10+ hour flight from LA to Tokyo. The Hero Disc staff picked us up at the airport and drove us the 3 hours to the cottages near the course in NasuShiobara. After a very very long sleep, the Jurk and I got in two sweet practice rounds with our friends Dan and Michelle. We have two courses this year which are both amazing! They are both long and pretty technical, if we didn’t have golf carts I think I would’ve passed out halfway through!

I’d have to say the highlight of the day was watching a family of wild monkeys scrambling around the fairway as we were teeing off on the first hole! We waited for them to get safely into the woods before we threw. Jurky’s first drive went high and left into the trees and resulted in a barrage of very angry monkey screeches!! I also put one into the woods and upon retrieving found that two of the monkeys were sitting next to my disc, poking at it. We were instructed not to look them in the eye, but they just took off when they saw me. Gotta love any round of disc golf that starts with a wild monkey sighting!!!

We played both courses again today with Des and Jay, learning and taking mental notes in preparation for tomorrow. The opening ceremonies were tonight! Hard to put it into words..

A live taiko band (traditional Japanese drums) got things rolling, then an amazing dinner with made-to-order sushi of fresh caught fish and delicious steak. I opted out of the baby octopus!

Then the Hero Disc truck opened up to reveal our players package!! A bag with built-in chair, metal mini, personalized bag tag, tshirt, fan, cake, party jacket, towel and keychain with the country you’re representing. Simply unbelievable!!!

Competition starts tomorrow and I am super-excited! It’s a shotgun start at 9:30. I tee off on hole 5, playing with Nikko Locastro, a player from Japan and a player from Taiwan! Hopefully the rain and wind will stay away! The weather thus far had been almost as perfect as the culture and experience.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure! Wish me luck!

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