26.05.2010 - Wednesday
First thing in the morning was to meet with the guys from the TV station. After a really cool session on a public sidewalk with the film team we went to the soccer stadium to set up the line for the demonstration which took place in the enening. It was hot and sunny at the stadium, so it the energy level decreased again ;-)
18.05.2010 - Tuesday
My first day in Japan was a really successful one ;-)
Three new tricks, two presents, a lot of new friends, great slacklining shots (pictures and video) and the Shinkansen-Sushi Restaurant.
This morning we went to a Kindergarden near Mishima, where about 120 little japanese boys and girls were waiting for us to arrive.
We set up a 35m Line diagonally across the playground and use a Jibline for some jump demos. For the kids they built a little slackline park round the playground, too.
The teaching monk then introduced us (as it turned out, these guys really liked my nickname Hassmann-san). Then we did a small slacklinedemo in front of all the children - they were absolutely amazed and of course they practised all day long to get better :-)
You think church slacklining is fun? Try temple slackling!!! The monk invited us to his house/temple, where he put up a slackline right through the middle of the room (attached to two trees, standing right next to the house/temple). After a big ceremony/slackline sesh with filming and some photos, he took us to a place above Mishima by a gondola, where we did a little photosession with the Fuji in the background - n1ce!
Next stop: a Gibbon retailer - with a climbing wall in his store. We brought our Slackrack for the people who wanted to try slacklining for the first time. The shop owner offered, that we can set up a trcikline, too. Said, Done! Result: three new tricks and a great time with a few boulders!
After we left the Outdoor store, we went to my first Japanese Sushi restaurant, where the monk invited us to. The food wasn´t too bad ;-) Actually the stuff was really good, probably because didn´t eat Sushi, but everything else :-P
Suddenly he called Luis´ name and gave him some kind of monk-pants?!? I don´t know waht they are called, but they really fit him. I also got a present: a brand new pair of handmade Flipflops!!!! AWESOME!
Right now we are on our way to Tokyo City!!!! Big stuff´s comin´ up tomorrow!
Byebye!!!
19.05.2010 - Wednesday
Hey guys,
yesterday morning the weather wasn´t really good. So while Luis and Steffi did a little sightseeing until 1 p.m., Jan and me were staying at the hotel doing a little work.
At 5 p.m. we all headed out to some kind of gym, which looked like a bear tent from the outside ;-) ! Inside we were able to set up two jumplines (~14m and ~9m) to jam with some locals from Tokyo! Some of them even drove about 10 hours to meet us...quite unusual :-D
We had a killer session until 11 p.m.: Luis landing some backflips, me learning 3 or 4 new moves...definitely watch out for the video, when it´s finished!!!!!!
Towards the end we all were pretty tired and exhausted...when i tink about the 10 hours drive, these guys had to make back to their home town, it was good to know our hotel was just 20minutes away from the gym.
So far for today, see you tomorrow! (pictures will follow...i added some from yesterday further down)
20.05.2010 - Thursday
This day started with rain as well, so we went for a little sightseeing (without a slackline) to downtown Tokyo. It´s so very colorful...and there´s so much trash to buy there ;-)
After lunch the rain stopped, so we decided to go longlining. We tried to set up a 70m line, but the rope from Luis´tensioning system slipped through the pulley - so we weren´t able to get as much tension as neccesary...bummer! Instead: Jumpsession with inventing the Yokohama kick (buttbounce variation) as you will see in the upcoaming video. Before we got to the last shop event of the day, the japanese Gibbon-guys invited us to some Chinese food in Chinatown, Tokyo. They served Spring rolls, Fried rice and other great stuff - tasted delicious!!!
There wasn´t much time to digest: Sho Event in a amll climbing store: They set up a slackline right through the middel of the store, and even organized a DJ to support us with awesome beats!
After an amazing time with the local slackliners who came to the shop, we took a 1h drive to a original japanese house with sliding walls where we stayed for the night.
21.05.2010 - Friday
After spending the night in da traditional japanese house, we got up at 4:30 a.m. to do some serious morning slacklining at the beachside with the 3knots (a local slacklining group) and a few media people. IT was quite nice, but after a while, the tiredness kicked in (3h sleeping time wasn´t enough ;-) ) On the upside it was also nice just sitting at the handrail looking at the ocean.
Our next stop was at a Zen-master, where we got to know him a little and even visiting the temple where these guys meditate - unaccessable to normal people!!! The Zen-master himself was a slackliner too, so we put up three lines between bamboo to have a session with him.
After about 2 hours we went to the beachside again where the film crew, who is following us the whole trip in Japan, wanted to shoot some slackline tutorial videos. Steffi, Luis and me had to do thress tricks each, filmed from different angles. It took very long because the camera guy had to film it in slomotion and the camera had a slow (processing time???)
The last Event of the Day was at a Outdoor Store in Tokyo downtown. We were a little disappionted that the only possibility was to install two SlackRack´s for demonstration there :-( We stayed for about 4 hours, so you can imagine that we got bored very quickly. At least we could record a little segment for the movie: a time lapse in the shopping street with Luis and me standing in the middle (every three seconds one picture, for 10 minutes
click to get to the video
Last thing to do on this day was doing the laundry, and check my emails....finally we got back to our hotel where i could get some rest...i was really exhausted.
That´s it for friday! See you guys tomorrow!
22.05.2010 - Saturday
I´m used to getting up early in the morning now, so when the alarm clock rang at 5:10 a.m., it just took me 15 min to get ready for our (Steffi and me) weekend trip to the mountains. Jan and Luis were heading to a skatepark in Tokyo...check Luis´ blog for more information, because actually i have no idea what they were doing there ;-)
As i told you, Steffi and me were leaving Tokyo for a big music festival (Saturday/Sunday) called "Natural High" expecting almost 3000 people in the mountains! The description of this day is very short:
We set up 5 lines (5 - 15m) and i had an awesome time jamming with Az can all day long and teaching him new tricks (i think i´ll hate myself, when he beats me at a contest someday ;-) ). But we really had a great time! Highlight of the day was a 45m waterline right across the lake inside the festival area. It took me 6 tries to get to the other side. Basically because we couldn´t tension the line as i would have prefered (multiplier problems ^^)...video coming soon!
In the evening Steffi was leaving to meet up with Jan and Luis, because on Sunday morning they had to catch their flight to Seoul, South Korea. I will follow them on Monday morning.
click to get to the waterline video
another video from slacklining at the Kindergarden in Mishima
23.05.2010 - Sunday
Sunday morning we (the japanese guys from Gibbon and me) woke up (finally i was able to sleep about 10 hours) and realized that it was raining pretty strong, so we decided to drive to a traditional japanese hot spring bathhouse. It´s priceless to have these guys by our side, because you get all the inside information about Japan. I think when you book a vacation at a tourist office, they just show you the public places you know from the TV, but ignore all the real japanese stuff.
We stayed for about 2 hours in the bathhouse and as we got back in the car to head back to Tokyo, i felt really relaxed!
The last event in Japan was at a local climbing gym, where FiveTen climbing athlete Ethan Pringle was doing a small demo of his skills, too. I had a great time trying some boulders with him! Thx, man! We set up a 13m Jumpline to teach the climbers who to walk on a slackline and did a little demo ourselves. We even performed some slackline-dynos (jumping from slackline to a boulder problem)!
After getting some food, Kohei and Shuichi took me to the hotel close to the airport near Tokyo to catch my early flight to Seoul, South Korea!
Byebye!!!
24.05.2010 - Monday
Throat hurts...damn it!!! Hopefully it will not get worse.
After my early flight to Seoul i met Jan, Luis and Steffi at our hotel where we are going to stay for the rest of the week. The weather really sucked today, but the good thing was, that our event for today was at a local shopping mall - nothing spectacular.
Tomorrow morning we will check out a location for a highline demo which will take place in the football stadium in Seaol on Wednesday. At halftime (football) about 60.000 people will get their first impression of slacklining (highlining) - awesome!
Here you can see a short impression of our temple slacklining session last week:
click...
25.05.2010 - Tuesday
My cold is getting a little bit better right now, hopefully it will be gone soon!
The highline spot in the soccer stadium is a little bite lame, because you can´t call it a highline (9m long, 4m high). So we have to make the best out of it. The best spot would have been right on top of the stadium - the roof. But getting the permission to do that would have taken more than two or three days - DAMN!
Afterwards we had another slackline session in shopping mall number 3 - Luis even had to write down his phone number to his first groupie :-D
Back in the hotel at 10 p.m. - getting ready for the following day, hopefully the highline in the stadium will be a success!
Cheers
26.05.2010 - Wednesday
First thing in the morning was to meet with the guys from the TV station. After a really cool session on a public sidewalk with the film team we went to the soccer stadium to set up the line for the demonstration which took place in the enening. It was hot and sunny at the stadium, so it the energy level decreased again ;-)
We walked the highline fullman and then chased back to the city, where the local university had a big event. Hugh stage, about 1500 students and a demo line - nice! No time to rest: Soccer highlining, thats what is said on the schedule!
We arrived about 5min. before the highline demonstration, so is was very hard to cool down and find the concentration - but 5min. later, round about 20.000 people more knew about the sport of slacklining!
Tomorrow will be our last day in Korea, so hopefully it all ends well!!!
Byebye
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