The main event! I ended up interpreting for most of the time, and judging for the rest. Everyone looked good and there were over 70 competitors so it was a solid day. I thought I could jump into the iai cutting division, but turns out I had to judge! (Bummer too because I am quite sure I would have beat all of my students.)
The overall winner was Robin Ramirez, who was solid in placing across the board in both kata and cutting. He won a Howard Clark blade which I am sure he will have no trouble setting up himself.
We even ended on time, besides a minor crisis at the end running out of ink and Japanese people to write up all the winners' certificates.
When all was said and done there were a couple thousand cut targets and many smiling people.
After the taikai we went out to dinner and ended up eating greasy Chinese food. Just when dinner was finishing, the airline called to say they had Hataya-sensei's luggage! He lost his stuff the week before in Florida, and now the day before leaving it had arrived! He didn't care though; he was so happy to get back his stuff and specifically all the swords he bought that when we made it back to the hotel he wanted to buy everyone a round but the bar had just closed.
I ended up taking a few swords back for him since it was easier than shipping.
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