I left for the Mexico and Rio de Janeiro seminars on April 7th and came back on the 21st. In Mexico, I suffered from lower back pain, but fortunately the pain disappeared by the time I got to Brazil: I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. When I left from Narita a strong wind was blowing, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. It was a great pleasure to see Homma-Sensei when I arrived since we had not met for quite a while.
I was astonished by the scale of the Houston airport and I was pleased it did not take more than two hours from Houston to Mexico. Vince Salvatore-Sensei (Reno) and Fernando-Sensei (Mexico) came to greet us and with them we could discover and enjoy Mexico’s ancient civilization. Colorful blossoms are still sailing on the river in front of my eyes, and the music “The Sun and the Moon” is still playing in my ears.
130 people gathered in Mexico to attend the four seminar workshops that we held.
We left Mexico on the 12th and arrived in Brazil the following day. We landed at Rio de Janeiro and Stephanie Yap joined us.
The workshop took place on a military base. Over 160 students came to join us. It is always a great pleasure to share with so many people even a small piece of the teaching left in Iwama by the Founder. I would like to thank sincerely all the people who came to learn from me while I still have so much to learn. I would like to thank all the AHAN project members and Homma-Sensei and his team. Indeed, it would have been impossible to organize such a workshop-tour of Central and South America without their active support. Lastly, it is true to say this adventure only became possible thanks to the proactive back-up of many Japanese Sensei, and while on my way back to Japan, I felt a deep feeling of gratitude for them.
Hitohiro Saito.