The Tanemaki Dojo Visits The A-Kon Anime Convention June 4th, 2005

My students are big fans of Japanese Anime. While I've seen a few Anime films that really impressed me, notably Akira, my knowledge was mostly limited to television shows such as Starblazers, Battle of the Planets, Voltron, Gundam, Speed Racer, Macross and Astro-Boy (the original). When we were invited to demonstrate Japanese Budo at this large convention, I was not nearly as excited as the group was. Kuro Taka san lent me his DVD collection of Samurai Champloo, and Jeff san lent me his DVD of Princess Mononoke. I was deeply impressed with these examples of Japanese Anime, and really got into the spirit by thinking of this convention as an opportunity to learn more about the art that goes into these films.

When Kuro Taka san and I arrived, the first thing we had to do was get our bokken (wooden swords) approved by the security staff. Thanks to the professionalism of Josephine, Wolf (Walt) - shown left, Shadow Walker, and Curtis this was an easy and painless task. Here, Walt checks the Colonial Marines' smart gun and pulse rifle.

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