It's a bit of an early announcement, but here goes!

In May 2007 Manaka Unsui Sensei, Kancho of the Jinenkan, will be our honoured guest in Gent, Belgium.

There will be "weekly classes" as well as private training sessions on Monday the 7th, Tuesday the 8th, Thursday the 10th, and Friday the 11th. Free training will be available throughout the entire week.

On Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th of May 2007 there will be a weekend seminar. One of the topics will be TAKAGI YOSHIN RYU JUTAIJUTSU, the other topic remains to be decided.

More info will be posted whenever available both in this topic and on our website.

Please contact us if you have any questions! info@jinenkan-gent.be

Kurt
www.jinenkan-gent.be (http://www.jinenkan-gent.be/)

Meanwhile the second topic has been announced as well: it will be KUKISHIN RYU BIKENJUTSU!

If you're not sure whether Gent/Belgium is affordable: there will be at least 30 places to stay in during this seminar-week at a very low price. More details to come.

Seminar-week update

Whilst in Belgium Manaka Sensei will visit the University of Gent www.ugent.be (http://www.ugent.be) where he wil give a lecture about the Japanese navy to the students of the Japanology-department.
The lecture will be held in Japanese, with translation to English, and anyone is welcome to attend!

Please visit this link for an overview of where the seminar itself will take place:

http://www.uitgids.com/camping/Belgie/Blaarmeersen.jpg

In the back right you can see part of the train-station, so that's really very nearby.
At the left you can see the actual training-hall. At the right you can see that there are places available for camping – more (good) news on that later. The “Blaarmeersen” is a recreation area, and is sometimes called "the sports lung of Gent”.
If the weather's any good there'll be plenty of opportunities to take a dip in the water! You can also go for a run, play tennis, relax on the beach-area, go (mountain-)biking, play soccer, just take a nice walk,... - that is, if you'll have any energy left after training. ;)

Plenty of parking spaces as well, and very easy to reach by bus, taxi, bicycle, walking,...

http://www.gent.be/blaarmeersen/

Training venue:

http://www.topsporthal.be/
http://www.bloso.be/public/centra/Gent.asp

Please consider bringing your partner, family, and/or friends as well. Gent has a lot to offer visitors.

Make sure to look at as much as possible when browsing through this first very professional website:

http://www.gent.be/gent/multimedia/index.html

http://www.visitgent.be/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghent


http://www.use-it.be/

“Gent is situated at the crossroads of two of Europe's most important motorways - the E40 connects London with Central and Eastern Europe; the E17 runs from Copenhagen to Lisbon. The city of Gent itself is slap bang in the middle of all of that motorway madness. So, in the blink of an eye you can be in Amsterdam or Paris (making things extra interesting for hitchhikers). Foreign exchange students reckon that this great location is Gent's trump card. You can also get in and out of Gent with no bother at all by train. Although it's true that many international flights and trains arrive in Brussels, Gent is a mere half hour away by train from the Belgian capital and trains are regular and plentiful.” (Copied from use-it.be).

http://www.use-it.be/gent/eng/images/where/ghent-in-europe.gif

http://www.brusselsairport.be/
Our Belgian airport, “Zaventem”, has just been elected as the best airport in Europe. There should be a direct flight straight to Zaventem from almost anywhere in the world. In Zaventem, every half-hour there's a straight connection to the train-station “Gent Saint-Peters”. You should get (t)here in 30 minutes. From there on you're just ten minutes away from the training-hall.

That's it (for now), we're working on more things to convince you of coming to Gent!

Meanwhile a lot has happened!

The dates had to be moved from the beginning to the end of May (due to gym world championships taking place in the same building in the beginning of May).

The correct dates are now 22nd of May until 26th of May (evening classes (and more)), and 26th + 27th of May for the weekend-seminar.

There are also morning classes taught by several Jinenkan dojocho (free for Jinenkan-members, 10 euro for non-members), and private trainings with Manaka Sensei during the afternoons.

Check out all details on http://www.manaka2007.be/training.html

Beacuse of these later dates the lecture by Manaka Sensei at the University of Gent has unfortunately been canceled - most students are spending these dates at home to study for the university exams in June, all classes are canceled at the end of May...

On Thursday and Sunday evenings there's a Japanese dinner at a local restaurant, on Saturday evening there's a barbecue, a q&a-session with Sensei, and a party with karaoke.

Accommodation: we've been able to arrange as many as 60 very cheap places to stay during this seminar-week: 28 places in the sportshotel of Gent (next to the sportshalls), and 32 places at the (four star) campsite ("Blaarmeersen") next to the sportshotel.

All details on: http://www.manaka2007.be/accommodation.html

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN HIKER CABINS AT THE CAMPING BLAARMEERSEN: DEADLINE FOR RESERVATION IS DECEMBER 15th!!!

(Please note: these previously posted links " http://www.gent.be/gent/multimedia/index.html - http://www.use-it.be/gent/eng/image...t-in-europe.gif (http://www.use-it.be/gent/eng/images/where/ghent-in-europe.gif) " are no longer online).

More to come, keep checking http://www.manaka2007.be (http://www.manaka2007.be/) !

The disclaimer-sheet, the registration-form, and the payment-form (methods & overview) are now all online, so official registration has begun!

http://www.manaka2007.be/home.html

One third of the rooms in the sportshotel have already been booked, so don't wait too long if you're interested in staying there...

Please remember the deadline of the hiker cabins (only 9 euro a night per person!) @ Camping Blaarmeersen (five star camping site as of 2007). Only a few weeks left!

http://www.manaka2007.be/accommodation.html

We still have a few open spots for private training with Manaka Sensei as well.

http://www.manaka2007.be/training.html

The first book by Manaka Sensei, "Reflections of Manaka Unsui", will be for sale during the seminar. A perfect opportunity to have it signed by Sensei himself!

UPDATE MAY 2007

"Dear Martial Artist,

with this we would like to inform you about the upcoming event "Manaka Sensei's Jinenkan Seminar in Gent, Belgium", taking place from Monday, May 21st until Monday, May 28th.

We can only encourage you to come as from the 1st day of the event, especially if you like to train and increase your skills.

At http://www.manaka2007.be/pdf/schedule.pdf you will find an easy-to-read one-page overview for the full week, ending with the 2-day Seminar on Saturday and Sunday. This PDF-file is ideal to print out and bring with you to the seminar. It will also be at your disposal during the seminar.

The schedule allows you to train up to 28 hours, guided by Dojo-Cho and Manaka Sensei. Please try to take advantage of this unique opportunity. If this is not enough, you can still try to subscribe for up to 6 hours of Private Training with Sensei, but places are limited and becoming very scarce.

For those wanting to test their skills, there are plenty of opportunities during the week. You have up to 6 hours at your disposal to subscribe for a test on your kyu- and/or dan-grades. Testing is performed by the Dojo-Cho and as from Sandan, testing is performed by Manaka Sensei.

During the week, you can choose to join for some "after-training", with a visit to a Japanese restaurant on Thursday/Sunday and a Barbeque & Karaoke on Saturday.

Up until now, we already have up to 60 subscriptions for the seminar, and a lot of people are already coming from the first day, which makes the whole event even more appealing for those willing to exchange their Martial Arts Experiences. The countries represented so far are the U.S.A, the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, Finland, Denmark, and Belgium.

If you are not yet subscribed and you are interested to do so, please do not wait any longer and act today. Surf to the seminar website http://www.manaka2007.be (http://www.manaka2007.be/) and fill in the necessary registration- & payment-forms. The required information is extensive, but is absolutely needed for a smooth organisation of your stay and training-schedule.

See you soon in Gent..less than 3 weeks to go!

Sincerely,

The Organising Committee

Mario De Mol

p.s. Map of the neighbourhood on http://www.manaka2007.be/pdf/surroundings.pdf
p.p.s. All updates on http://www.manaka2007.blogspot.com/"