Another Trip

Well sometimes things just don't go as smoothly as they should. The little kuro-tora female I picked up 2 weeks ago ended up with a hernia. It wasn't very noticeable when I picked her up, and even the vet wasn't sure. The last few days it became more obvious, so I had to make another trip to Yamanashi to take her back to her breeder. I brought back her sister, another kuro-tora. Guess I need to snap some pics of her later.

I decided to visit the KKA (Kai Ken Aigokai) office while in Yamanashi. I've never been, and though the office is extremely busy getting everything ready for the coming tenrankai, they were kind enough to let us drop in.



I got to thumb through some old photos from the first tenrankai, but didn't want to stay too long as they are very busy. The office is located in a small building, on the second floor above a milk supplier. I doubt much has been changed since they first opened the office. There is no fax, and definitely no computer. The only electronic items in the whole place are probably the telephone and a light. It's a very small place, and not much to look at, but they do have some old (and new) books in the cupboard that have to do with Kai Ken, and then there are the pictures. Will have to drop by again sometime to take another look.

This is a picture taken of the first Kai to go to the States. Ten Kai were sent to a zoo in Utah in 1950 as goodwill ambassadors.



Dropped by a gift shop on the way out as well. I read in the paper that the prefecture had a lot of small Kai Ken figurines made, and wanted to see them for myself.



I did find something interesting though. Yamanashi is famous for its grapes and wine. On display they had this wine opener made from a boar tusk. Apparently they are traditionally used to open wine bottles at celebrations, and size matters.



Yamanashi is also famous for its artisans who work with precious stones mined there. There were a lot of amazing pieces, and I figured I'd take a quick shot of this little one and have everyone guess what it's priced at. No cheating and looking at the tag! This piece is around 20 cm tall (8 inches or so?)



Of course no trip to Yamanashi is complete without dropping by kennels to look at Kai. This female is the dam of a chu-tora male I took pictures of before. Here's the link to the boy http://www.flickr.com/photos/30674599@N04/4585964718/in/set-72157623687659647/







She's 11 years old now.

Here's a few of a friend's 4 year old male. He was raised as a big game hunter, but has come back to my friend's kennel to be shown for a while.