Takashi Amano Masterclass in Singapore

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 15:11

Hi everybody from Japan! For those of you who know me especially, sorry for having been away for so long from this Board. I have been slightly busy.

Recently, I made a trip to the ADA office at Niigata (which was an arduous journey in itself) where I was blown away by many breathtaking beauties. I also had the good fortune of meeting Amano himself who was actively engaged in photographing a tank set up which will be featured in an upcoming Aqua Journal magazine.

Whilst at ADA, I mooted the idea of Amano visiting Singapore and giving a talk on japanese aquascaping principles and giving a live demonstration on how to set up the tank, the ADA way.

Amano and Hayakawa his colleague, both told me that they have been to Washington and Portugal amongst many other countries to give such demos before and indeed would love to come to Singapore, but were not sure if Singapore hobbyists were willing to pay for such an event. They told me that in Portugal for example, the event was held in a top rate hotel ballroom where a few hundreds attended. In the end, I told Amano, that there is a whole bunch of us aquarists in Singapore who are just waiting for him to visit and that if there is a will there is a way.

Amano should be able to give a masterclass in Singapore if we are able to have a critical mass of hobbyists in Singapore. I am in touch with an events management company in Singapore and am mutually trying to organise this event.

I am writing this message to find out how many of you would be interested in attending such a Takashi Amano masterclass in Singapore. No details have been confirmed as yet. But, for now, let's work on the basis that the event will be held in late December 2005/early January 2006 in Singapore and cost between S$50 to S$100 per person. It certainly won't be cheap and I am thinking that it will be more akin to say $80 or so. But I have told the events management company to massage the budget as hard as possible so that the ticket prices are kept down in the interest of as many hobbyists attending as possible. Also, to ensure class intimacy, there will be a limited number of seats available. To exaggerate slightly, we do not want Amano to conduct a class in a huge venue aka National Stadium where guests will not be able to see what he is doing. So guest list will be kept to a reasonable minimum. If it works out, there will be ADA door gifts and an oppotunity to have dinner with Takashi Amano himself (with a sit-in Eng-Jpn interepreter of course)...

For now, I would be grateful if you could do the following:

Send me a PM telling me whether you would be seriously interested in such an event. If you are extremely serious about such an event, you may even tell me that you will like to reserve a place and i will put your name down on a priority list. There is no need to pay at this stage and you will not be bound to pay at all if you decide to withdraw, as the event management company has not finalised the budgeting details. I will need your name and phone number for now. This is important, as we need to know if such an event will be able to take flight in a place like Singapore or not.

Also, I am happy to take down suggestions as to what you would like to see at such an event.

Last but not least, for those of you who would like to volunteer with this inaugral Masterclass in Singapore, I would be happy to gain your assistance. If there are any commercial board members reading this, and would like to be involved in this event in a substantial way, kindly, msg me as well.

Kindly PM me, so that I have a personal record of all correspondences please.

I truly hope that we hobbyists can combine to make this event a success. Amano truly loves Singapore - He buys most of his plants from Singapore's Oriental and not Tropica indeed. We just have to form a critical mass and show our support!

Thanks guyz.

(Finally, for those of you who are interested in visiting the ADA office in Niigata, I am happy to help you with your travel arrangements if you need help since I am based here in Japan now. if there is a sizeable group of interested hobbyists willing to travel together to visit japan, why we can even turn it into a holiday - combine the ADA gallery visit, with rock collecting, river trekking, koi farm visit and maybe even enroute back home to Singapore stop over in say Bangkok or something, visit Chatuchak etc... the possibilities are endless.... pm me if you are interested yeah.... )

THANKS!!

Takashi Amano Masterclass in SingaporeTakashi Amano Masterclass in Singapore

**catus36** · 7th Jun 2005, 15:23

Hi Bro, it's been a long time since i last saw your posting.
I'm interested in the attending the event. Count me in.

However i think you should try to ask the members here to e-mail or
post here directly as your pm box is only limited to 10 messages.

Cheers

**mozesyap** · 7th Jun 2005, 15:59

If Amano comes to Singapore, it will be a must-go event.

I think I will definitely be there.

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 16:02

Thanks cactus for your tip!

Dear All, Please send all msgs to:

[email protected]

Cheers!

**StanChung** · 7th Jun 2005, 16:12

hi fish fanatic,

i'm from kuala lumpur, malaysia, and very interested in attending this masterclass. i travel regularly to indonesia, singapore.
i think it's a brilliant idea.
i have friends in kl and jakarta who'd love to attend this masterclass.

-------------
i'm also very interested in going to japan for the trip you have proposed.

i think what would be great is a detailed agenda, [how many days]
dates,
est budget [$S5000?] incl hotel, air ticket etc.
est expenditure for food, transport.
like a proper field trip cum holiday.
--------------
thanks and hoping for your reply.
email- [email protected]
+6012 2831575 [kl]

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 16:42

Hi there standoyo,

great to hear from you..if you and your buddies are really interested in visiting Japan, and if my time schedule permits, I will be happy to help to organise the trip for you as I pretty much know the good places here. Also, I speak Japanese : ) Any trip to Japan, must include Kyoto - the ancient capital of Japan, and I know some amazing gardens there for which entry is by advance invitation only. The moss garden or Saihojidera (which costs some 30 us dollars to enter unfortunately) is a personal favourite and one of the most gorgeous gardens in japan. It is true inspiration to any aquarist.

If you are at all interested and have a sizeable group to make it work, email me and let's see how it goes bro!

**Plantbrain** · 7th Jun 2005, 17:58

Order the AGA's event DVD's, you can see his class over and over in english.
He does a couple of tanks on the DVD's
regards,
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
[email protected] Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information

**Star-flog** · 7th Jun 2005, 18:00

You can count me in and interested to attend!

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 18:35

Sure, one can also order a DVD of the eiffel tower and avoid going to Paris, but I am not sure if the experience is the same!

In fact, one can also learn a foreign language using DVDs these days, but I am not sure if it is the same without a teacher before you.

The point is, there will be those who are happy with DVD recodrings and there are those who will not be.

I am personally hoping that there will be enough hobbyists interested in the masterclass.

I am hoping to arrive at an estimate number of interested attendees very soon.

Cheers!

**Cacatuoides** · 7th Jun 2005, 20:36

tat's great event of the year i must say...once in a lifetime experience n learning class too!! count me in as well bro!!! it'll be great if there is a sale of ADA products during the event as well....

great job bro!!

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 20:42

Thanks for your interest! It's getting exciting for me too. I note your suggestion that it would be a good idea to have ADA products on sale at the event. Aquatic Quotient has also mooted the idea and indeed I do plan to discuss it further with the distributor and/or other LFSs.

**StanChung** · 7th Jun 2005, 22:34

Originally Posted by Fishfanatic

Sure, one can also order a DVD of the eiffel tower and avoid going to Paris, but I am not sure if the experience is the same!

Cheers!

masterclass...
a very wise note. the difference between a live concert and watching it on tele.
the only plus on dvd is the replay button.

the great master is coming to town! gladly pay to see him in action, ask him questions. this guy who has swam/photographed with wild altums and piranhas[eaten some!]? granted he's not god but i wouldn't miss an opportunity to pick his brain-shake his hand.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The japan trip is on my mind now. if you can confirm the dates, i can book my leave... going to buy a jap phrase book now!

the trip preferbly after july...
autumn would be great time?

**Fishfanatic** · 7th Jun 2005, 22:40

hi standoyo... perhaps you can initiate the organising of the japan trip? I am pretty much free in July and August here in Japan. If there are buddies travelling from Spore/msia/indonesia, I wld suggest that you all book your own flight tix and despite being on diff flights originating frm diff cities meet at abt the same time in japan. I shld be able to meet you guyz at the airport and we cld go travelling together.

Note however, that i am not a travel planner and that in the interest of everybody, budget issues shld be discussed, since I am sure that not all of those travelling will have the same capacity to stomach heartachingly expensive hotel rates and suchlike..

perhaps you cld email me directly on this rather than confuse this thread's theme. Cheers!

**Panther** · 8th Jun 2005, 14:00

Hi bro,

May I suggest that for Amano's trip, we try to get sponsors for the event so that the costs can be reduced greatly? An example would be getting sponsors like Denerle, Tetra, Jebo, etc. It'll be an event where they will get publicity and who knows, maybe we can get them to throw in some free door gifts as well?

My 2 cents contribution....and yes, I'll be interested.

Regards,
Francis

**vinz** · 8th Jun 2005, 14:15

Errrr... I don't think Mr. Amano will be very happy with that... he is the founder of ADA (Aqua Design Amano).

Your 2 cents refunded.

**blur one** · 8th Jun 2005, 15:36

Originally Posted by vinz

Errrr... I don't think Mr. Amano will be very happy with that... he is the founder of ADA (Aqua Design Amano).

Your 2 cents refunded.

that was funny...better still... ADA door gifts.....

**Panther** · 8th Jun 2005, 16:57

Well, anyway just want to contribute lah...for the good of everyone...you know what i mean...

**vinz** · 8th Jun 2005, 17:01

Hey, no offence meant. We appreciate the contribution. Have no doubt that there is work going on in the background to bring all these things together.

**Panther** · 8th Jun 2005, 17:05

Originally Posted by vinz

Hey, no offence meant. We appreciate the contribution. Have no doubt that there is work going on in the background to bring all these things together.

No worries vinz!