Japan

You’ve probably already seen the classy birdie dance photo from last week. Perhaps you followed along on twitter, or Facebook, or Google+. But those are hardly the place for copious disquisitions.

I’ve been at Japan this week and had a chance to review some of the published Golf Course Seminar articles I have written this year. One could almost say I can’t understand a word I wrote, although with a bit of attention I can make out some of it.

I have traveled to six countries this month, getting on an airplane once every 54 hours (on average) and staying at hotels from the waterfront at Kota Kinabalu to the noisome streets of Kowloon and to a surprisingly quiet Kanda last week.

When you think of Hokkaido, I’m sure what comes to mind is Genghis Khan and chocolate-covered potato chips. After spending the past few days at Sapporo, Furano, and Asahikawa, I can assure you that there is a lot more to Hokkaido than that.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

Do I look rakish? There is good reason for it. I had a presentation yesterday at the Park Hyatt Tokyo with 160 greenkeepers in attendance. We talked about why Japan is the most difficult place in the world to grow grass, and what to do about it.

After the Turf Science Seminars at Tokyo and Osaka last week, ATC held a judicious bonenkai at Senri Chuo. This company party bid farewell to 2010 with an inimitable blaze of dissipation.

I mentioned in my November Golf Report that I had turned my attentions to other things after such an astounding victory. Trainspotting. Songwriting. Reflections on female pulchritude. What followed was some despiteous concern from my readers, aspersions that my normal vocabulary may not be suitable for songwriting.

I gave seminars at Okinawa and Malaysia this month, and in the associated travel and meetings came across a few interesting places. There are many restaraunts along kokusai dori in Naha with Okinawan music and regional food specialties.

I’ve seen a lot of Alps in the past few weeks. First, as I left Rome for Munich I flew over the Italian Alps before enjoying my Oktoberfest at the Lufthansa lounge.