Report on NKBKHK Board Meeting of Sunday, March 12, 2018

[Jo Anseeuw]

Last Sunday, we had an NKBKHK board meeting in Tokyo. Please find following a high-level overview of some of the topics discussed (especially those that are mainly related to the JAS).

- The president and senior board members expressed multiple times their appreciation for the JLS III & Grand Tour. They also mentioned several times the quality of certain older items they had seen on the GT, a quality you can’t find anymore in Japan. (see also below)
- They were very pleased with the quality of the catalogs from Leiden and Paris and mentioned especially also the artistic quality of the pictures. They have asked me to help them in ordering a rather large amount of both that they can then sell to their members in Japan.
- They were shocked/surprised by the JAS Yearbook. They could not understand how we had managed to make this high quality, full color yearbook with the very limited amount of funds and human resources we have. Again, they have ordered a large number for their Japanese members. One of the senior members has already confirmed that he will update an older article with the latest research and supply color pictures for our future use.

After the board meeting I gave a presentation during the normal monthly research meeting to a packed house, using over 700 pictures I made during the symposium & tour. All members who participated in the trip were there and enthusiastically exchanged and shared picture albums with the (rather jealous) members who were not able to join the trip.
They were overwhelmingly positive about the trip, and amazed about the amount and quality of items they were able to see. A recurring remark was also the beautiful way armor is presented in Europe (how they are set up, the way the menpo and kabuto are displayed, the lighting, the quality of the catalogs, etc.). It was at times funny to see senior level members (and big collectors) who could not join the trip this time around, jump up, pointing to the screen and exclaiming: "Do I see a Takayoshi there?" "Was this not for sale at XXX?"… "hm, I should have bought this when I had the chance"…
They also mentioned how surprised they were about the seriousness and depth of the western people in their research. This was quite obvious on the trip when so many members were walking around with tablets to indicate certain characteristics on helmets, or at the Samurai Art Museum in Berlin, when the endoscope was used to look via the tehen of a kabuto leading to the discovery of a Joshu signature.

The president repeated again his pledge to return the favour of the fantastic trip.
Most touching however was the clear appreciation they voiced towards all the western members they met during their trip. They stressed many times the kindness of many of you, notwithstanding the language issues. Many of you are now already in direct contact, which will be a challenge, but also a huge opportunity for everybody to work further on building the bridges between East and West.

Thank you again for all who participated in the events, or who have supported what we are doing. As I am probably the person who is closest to the Japanese members and the Japanese board, I have already seen many changes, some of which will become more obvious later on. It is a very exciting time....

[Richard Jones]

Jo,
Fantastic! I loved reading your post as it conveys the pure joy and excitement of the events in japan and brings back the fantastic memories from Leiden. Thanks to all your hard work this exchange of knowledge has been made possible.
A heartfelt thank you!

Richard

[Mischa Verhage]

I fully align myself with Richard,
I also loved to read your post how the Japanese experienced the tour and the eager to learn here in the West.
Hopefully they don't close borders now after seeing all those gems moving to the West! Thank you very much Jo, you do so much for us all, a lot is not on the radar but I am sure we all know and all appreciate it very much.
Mischa

[Uwe Sacklowski]

Was a pleasure to read your meeting report, Jo!
Seems we left a deep impression over there......Awesome! Many thanks to all involved