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[Mark Leithead]

When the airplanes crashed at Haneda airport, I was on the tarmac at Narita. They told us there was a hold because of an incident at Haneda but didn't tell us what was going on. After half an hour they let us take off. Gianni was supposed to fly out of Haneda three hours later, but with the delays caused by the accident he missed his connection. The last I heard he had been 37 hours at the airport.

By the way, at the time of the earthquake on Monday, we were eating at a restaurant. I didn't feel it, but Gianni did. And from another table they started to point at the chains hanging from the lamps that were swaying.

    I and we are glad you are ok after this. It is sad to read five people had passed away in the collision and 77 in the earthquake. It is extremely humbling and I am glad everyone in our community is doing well.

Thanks for sharing, and for the timely photos and updates of the contest and your trip too.

[Mark Leithead]

But the really nice part were all the temples and shrines (we visited a bunch) full of people the 31st and the 1st, and also the traditional shows with drums, dragons and yes, komas!

Cool! What are the chances of that 

Spintops are big in Japan and worldwide it seems

[ta0]

The results are now posted on the ITSA site: https://spintops.org/2023-tokyo-results/

[casalino]

Jorge is truly a gentleman, a very polite person, I on the other hand pay attention to the point, I told him to ask for the towel But he didn't want , he thought for asking too much, Jorge I owe you more Spinning Tops from Africa...

[ta0]

Lots of stories to tell still.

The day before Yahir left, the crew took him to Tokyo. Here we are in front of the Tokyo Station:



When the subway arrived to the station and everybody left the car, we spun some tops:



For a second I thought history would be repeated, like when I lost the Chico 2.0 in the Seine. I dropped the top and it rolled out through the door: I was sure it would fall in the gap between the train and the platform. Miraculously (for me) the top went over the gap and I saved it.

That night we found near Ginza an upscale restaurant called Koma!



Unfortunately, the prices were a little high for the group (starting at $26).

Of course, it was impossible to stop the guys from taking out the tops and playing. Here is Rocco in Ginza:

[ta0]

This trip was expensive for me because there were too many opportunities to buy unique komas.
This sign is from the Kobayashi Koma store/mini-museum:



By the way, in spite of how big Tokyo is, the next day I was looking for a place to dance tango and google took me to an address just a few doors from this one! 
When we got there there was a piece of paper that indicated that it had moved a block away, to a shop in an alley.  Fortunately it was open at the new location (this was December 29th and many small shops were already closed for the holidays).



It was full of komas, specially edo komas, and kokeshi dolls, plus some kendamas. The lady running it (Hisako Kobayahsi) was very nice and even demonstrated throwing one for me:

I already mentioned master craftman Mr. Ito, who we visited at this workshop. I bought several kyokugomas there, plus a katana!  He then had a table at the event, and days later we met him for the third time at a holiday fair in a very fancy department store:



He was with a women apprentice, Ayako Watanabe, who signed me one of the tops she made under her sensei guidance (after asking him permission).

Another Edo koma craftsman who came to Tokyo to sell his tops for the holidays, was Tamotsu Fukushima. His setup at a luxury hotel included a lathe and he made tops in situ:



His specialty are miniatures and they are exquisite.

If these, plus the visit to the koma Museum in Nagoya that also has a shop, plus regular shops that had tops for the season, were not enough, we also visited SpinGear's shop in Koenji:



In 2015 I had visited the old store in Akihabara and had my polaroid on the wall of VIP visitors. Now I'm in the new store, next to Momotaro who visited a few days earlier :-)

[Mark Leithead]

SpinGear's shop in Koenji:

In 2015 I had visited the old store in Akihabara and had my polaroid on the wall of VIP visitors. Now I'm in the new store, next to Momotaro who visited a few days earlier :-)

SpinGear store! Nice!!

[ta0]

Pinkie's looking great! Quiet sleep with minimal wobble for the first 53 seconds captured in the video above. Wish I could have seen the entire spin-down.

Here is the complete spin:



Notice how Ahai-Shi is recording it!

[paulstewart]

Thanks for posting Pinkie spinning, again, gives me joy every time.  Prior to sending her off to Taka.  I put a piece of reflective tape on the side and used a laser to count rpm.  Highest recorded was 1198rpm.  It looks like Taka could have left the impact gun on longer to build higher rpm, but then longer spin can leave the audience wondering what the heck, how long does this go?  Not me, I can watch this forever.  I have not seen an un edited video of a complete spin down of one of the Big Tops.  Promise soon I will get some help from Keith and make a video of Dorothy Dot, wound up fast, un edited. 

ps, tried to get a message to Johnm ,  it didn't seem to go and sorry, I don't know how to push computer buttons and predict something will happen.  if anyone can have Johnm send me a ccntact, that would be very appreciated, thanks!

[ta0]

Taka thanked me for convincing him to sponsor extra international players in addition to Yahir and Xisco although he was over budget, as the public really like them.

[ta0]

Ahai-Shi (Lin Senhai) did two shows. The first day he had time to warm up and did great on stage. The second day he went on stage first and cold, and although he made several mistakes he seemed to take it in stride.



I found interesting that he did the long wire walker with a top that hummed loudly, as that would take energy out of the top.





Here Ahai-Shi is teaching Nobu, back at the hotel, to throw three or four tuoluos in each hand. Nobu's mother Coco (Taka's wife) is Chinese, so Nobu  could understand a bit of his Chinese (Nobu pronounces his name "Nob", even though when you say the full name Nobuyoshi, you hear the "u").

[ta0]

Gianni inspecting a small Edo koma maker:



Rocco carried two very heavy bags to Tokyo. Unfortunately, he couldn't unload much, but everybody liked his character:



Baldufas from Mallorca and trompos from Trompos Chido shared a table:

[ta0]

The beginners zone:



Ahai-Shi stacking tops in the practice area:



VIP's passed the baldufa from kendam to kendama:



Not top related, but there were two tables to play a traditional Japanese game (Tosenkyo?) where you get points depending on how the fan you throw lands:

[ta0]

There were 3 beigoma clubs from Tokyo metropolitan area represented: Hino Beigoma, Akabane Beigoma and Tokyo Beigoma. There was even a young man who is Japan national champion, but I missed his name. The booth sold regular beigomas, beigomas with decorated faces and beigomas with bottoms filed for competition by the champion. They were also selling all the accessories needed, including dyed string, arenas, files, etc.









The multiple beigoma arenas were busy, but I didn't have time to play on them. Beth and Mark may have more info on this.

[jim in paris]

dear Jorge
thank you so much
for the reports photos and the rest

see you in Marines

jim