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SLS

Sun Nov 29, 2009, 08:53 AM

Hey Guys,

I thought I would share with you my lastest trip to Japan:

I have just returned from the International Aquatic Plant Layout Contest Party at the International Forum in Japan, and what a party it was!!

I arrived on Friday evening at about 8.30pm, and started by meeting mr LC Chan (Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia ADA Distributor) at Narita Airport Terminal. He was accompanied by several Malaysian visitors including 4th Place Winner Josh Sim and Yee Kin Cheong 12th Place Winner. We took the train to Tokyo and then again to Kanda where we stayed for the first 2days. We had dinner at one of the local establishments of Noodles with a hard boiled egg and pork. You purchase a ticket from a vending machine and present this to the cook for your meal to be prepared. The Restuarants are tiny, only allowing a single row of seats at the counter for eating.

We spent Saturday morning doing some sight seeing around Tokyo before heading to the International Forum Hall for the 2009 IAPLC Award Presentation.

The day started with the gathering of all the participaes in the lobby of the International Forum, where we had the opportunity to converse with representitives, contest entrants, Distributors and Resellers from aroud the World. There were representivies from:

China, Viet Nam, Thailand, Indonesia, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, Germany, Brazil, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Australia. A few Hundred ppl in total.

The 2009 line up of the top 25 places were all recognised and awarded with prizes, along with comments of their aquariums by seperate judges to help them understand the concept of their layouts in the judges eyes. They were awarded their Stainless Steel Plaque, Flowers, and Certificates of Placement and Archivement.

The 2009 IAPLC Winner from Viet Nam, Mr Nguyen Tien Dung was so over the moon with happiness and Joy, it was a really impressive sight to see. He was showered in Gifts, and Awards, including his Prize of 1,000,000.00 Yen in CASH!!

After the Aawrd ceremony, 2 other prizes were warded for the first time Special Nominations by 2 famous Japanese Aurthors.

We then proceeded to the Party Hall where we consumed food, and drink, celebrating the days awards, and joined into a Iwagumi Challenge and Distributors Gifts Raffle. I donated a Steve Urwin figurines of assorted animals, which was a real hit with the crowd. We got he chance to converse some more and meet more of the participates.

We spent the Sunday after the Party as a free day to visit Aquarium lfs stores in Tokyo. Aqua Forest was one of these stores. Boutique Planted Aquarium Stores.

We then traveled on Monday to Niigata to tour the ADA Gallery and Amano San's home to see his Monster 4meter x 1.5meter x 1.5meter Aquarium. This Aquarium is simply awesome and absolutely HUGE!! As was the landscaped backyard. It was a bit crowded with so many attendees, but worth every minute. Heres a little taste of the ADA Gallery - Partial Video Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47T7BTBQ9Us

At the end of this day, we had a huge piss up at the motel in Niigata where we were all staying before the start of the 2009 ADA Training Seminar. Entertainment girls were provided - Japanese style – hehehehe. We sunk heaps of Alcohol, Amano San and all the ADA Staff got drunk with us, and we had a huge celebration from Karaoke, to the Conga Dance. (I think I'll keep these photos to myself...) lol

At the end of the Party, those commencing the 2009 Training Seminar were for warned, work starts early in the morning Breakfast at 6am, bus leaves at 8am, don’t be late or you'll be left behind. We returned back to our rooms to change, and met again in the Natural Hot Spring Bath House, before returning to check in for the night.

On the bus we went to the ADA Gallery for the first day of Training. Each of 35 attendees were broken up into 5 groups of 7. I was part of Group 1, which was made up of Thio and Vincent (ADA Singapore), LC Chan (ADA Malaysia), Yago and Juan (ADA Spain), and Renato Kuroki (ADA Brazil). Each member was assigned an Aquarium in the ADA Gallery which was to become our studies for the week ahead.
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We had approx 2hrs each day where were to identify and report our observations to our Group 1 Teacher, Ogawa San and Interpreter Han San. We were to treat these aquariums as our own, and determine how why and what we would recommend is required to maintain these aquarium. I selected a Driftwood layout with Stem Plants, Ferns, Anubias, Moss, sandy pathway, etc. Once discussion was completed with our Teacher, maintenance was conducted and completed.

After this, meetings were held in Amano Sans office for question and answer time with the Grand Master himself - Takashi Amano. This lasted for approx 1hr before we broke for Lunch.

After Lunch we were treated to a Layout Demonstration by Amano San. Day one consisted of a Driftwood Layout. Each team were asked to produce a Layout choosing from several types of wood at the front of the gallery, crates of driftwood were available for selection to create our master pieces for selection by general consensus of the ADA 2009 Seminar Participants.

The Polish Team had been decided as the Best Layout, and the scape was presented to Amano San for him to perfect the layout using the exact same pieces selected by Group 5 (Polish Team). Sagae San (ADA Head Maintenance Chief) prepared a 3x18x18 Aquarium with Penac P, Penac W, Tourmaline BC, Bactor 100, and Clear Super, before placing PowerSand M and 1x 9Ltr Bag of Amazonia Standard, and another bag of Amazonia Powder. Photos were taken of the before and after for comparison, and then the layout was removed for tying of the moss. Once this was complete, the pieces were returned to the aquarium as structures the same way they were before being removed. Amano San then conducted the Layout for us to watch and observe the Master at work.
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This was an exceptional delight, as some of you may have seen videos or youtube of Amano San completing an Aqua-Scape, yet we had the opportunity to watch the tank progress over the coming days.

After 4yrs of working with ADA Products, I still had knowledge to acquire and learn from the best first hand. His is as good if not better then imagined. The scape took approx 2hrs to complete with the assistance of 20-30 ADA Staff team members providing Amano with anything he required.

After this we returned to our motel for dinner. Dinner was served at 6.45pm, and consisted of Fresh Sashimi, Tempura, Vegis and rice, with a self cooking item at the side of the serving table.. One night half a lobster and another night live Abalone... I have never eaten so much fresh and cooked fish in my life.. The food was plentiful, exotic and must have cost a fortune... every night. The fresh fruit was to die for. The sugar melon (honeydew) in Japan is the Best in the world. A 1/8th slice sells for $10ea.. It was so fleshy and juicy!!! All I can say is WOW. Our food was served on individual tables by waitresses on the floor, on their hands and knees, moving from table to table.
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Day 2 consisted of the same regime for the morning, and then to Amano's office for Q&A's, then lunch. After Lunch we were presented with a Iwagumi Demonstration by Amano San himself. Again a 3x18x18 was selected and chosen as theanother NEW Aqua-Scape to be added to the Gallery.

As some of you dedicated aqua-scapers have experienced before, a selection of stones and roocks were laid out across the floor at the front of the Gallery for Amano to select the pc's to use as the layout design. I must admit, the selection of stones was limited, and sizing was very similar... Not what i would have expected for Amano to have to select from. It took approximately 20mins for Amano to decide on the pc's to use, and created the Iwagumi Layout before our eyes. Once the hard scape was complete, he explained why each pc was chosen for the positioning in the Aquarium.

We were then asked to assist in the preparation of plants, tieing moss and riccia to stones, manicuring plants for use, stripping them of any dead leaves, and excess roots for the layout to commence. Again this cape took approx 2hrs to complete and was then moved into the Gallery for positioning, set-up with lights, CO2, Filtration, etc...

Inspection of the previous days Driftwood layout was conducted and reported. The progression of this Aquarium was unbelievable!!! Few of us have the luxury of having as many plants as Amano does to complete a scape in such time to the density of this Aquarium. Back to the motel for dinner and hot springs.

Day 3 started once again with Aquarium maintenance, then a distributors meeting to discuss the aspects of ADA in each state and territory around the world. I was privileged to have a greater understanding of our fellow distributors and appreciate the different market challenges of each territory, and then we broke for Lunch. After lunch we visited a Beautiful Old Japanese Home with amazing landscapes and gardens. The energy surrounding this locating was soothing and calm. I felt revitalized by merely pondering into the gardens. The land was owned by a wealthy family who had purchased so much land that they could walk from their home to the town centre without stepping one ft on other land which was not their own.

Back to the Gallery for more observation, then back to retire for the night. Each night was awesome; we conversed, discussed, and shared great stories and points of view. I made some amazing friendships with particularly, Jeff Senske, Adip Raj, Renato Kuroki, Thio E.K., Vincent Toh, Yago Alonso Gimmenez, Inderjeet Singh, Adam Paszczela (and the whole Polish Team, man they can drink, lol), Chan Shih Hsien, and of course my very good friend Mr LC Chan.
Jeff Senske
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_0020.jpg
Polish Team
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_0023.jpg
Juan, Yago, Jeff
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_0024.jpg

Day 4 started with a Photo Shoot of one of the ADA Gallery Aquariums. A 6x2x2 Iwagumi Layout with HC and Cardinal Tetras.. We got to see firsthand exactly how Amano San takes his images and creates/prepares the rooms and aquarium for photography, including the types and style of lens and cameras used. This was AMAZING!!! A large format film was used, kind of like IMAX as many images were taken for selection with different coloured background colours. Im glad I had the opportunity to observe the many hidden secrets and skills used to perfect every image.

Once complete, we then again attended to our aquariums and broke for lunch.

After lunch we began the Participants "Iwagumi Challenge". Each of us had 40mins to select our stones and complete our layouts for judging by Amano San. My Tank was awarded 8pts out of 10, which was the second highest pts awarded, which drew me second place tied with a few other contestants. My tank is the 3rd tank to be judged in the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIC8OwYtQPU Amano calls my "Georgio" as you will hear before my tank is ranked.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/2009ADAIwagumiGeorgeFallon8pts.jpg

Then we attended a few aquarium stores in Niigata and I had the opportunity to see some beautiful Koi at a Grand Champions facility. Im a huge Koi fan from way back from my experiences at Kevkoi's (Kevin Tan) place in Malaysia. I was in ore of the beauty of these magnificent fish.. Koi like you have never seen before. Anyone would have to appreciate the quality of these fishes.

After the return to the Gallery, It was Group Photo Time of all the participates, Staff and Trainers, Including Amano San and his Wife. After the Photo's, It was Presentation time... The Presenting of the Certificates and Award Plagues of Archievement from the ADA Gallery by Takashi Amano. I have included here my acceptance in a youtube addittion. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U06aSsWLdzw

We then all moved to a restaurant for the final dinner and celebrations, where the MVP Award was announced. Mr LC Chan from Malaysia was chosen as the Most Improved Person at the Seminar and was awarded the original negative of the days photo shoot to keep as his prize, providing he is not to submit it to next year’s IAPLC… lol. It was a sad moment my time in Niigata was coming to an end. We said our goodbyes and went back to the motel for a final get together with all the staying participants before departing for Tokyo the next day.. We sang, danced, drank, and celebrated the whole experience and feeling of brotherhood, an experience I will never forget, and am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of. See you again in 2010.

Some more pics:
2009 IAPLC WINNER!!
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_0274_402.jpg

Tank Maintained by Mr LC Chan
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Tank Maintained by Mr George Fallon
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Mrs Amano
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Japanese Koi
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GROUP 1
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Photo Shoot
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_4677_616.jpg

My Certificate with Mr Amano
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_4884_801.jpg

Last Day at the ADA Gallery with International Distributors
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc65/SlipperyLittleSuckers/DSC_4770_696.jpg

Kind regards,
George Fallon