* Sold out one after the other, thank you so much!!

Once the six of us Zoukei-mura members all gathered together and entered the venue, oh~! We could already see attendees lined up for the registration desk at the entrance, as far as the eye could see~!! Even we could feel the anticipation and excitement in the air.

Looking closer, almost all of them were geezer hobbyists like me~!

Finally, finally, finally, finally~!!

Our Zoukei-mura booth was already completely prepared, with everything organized and waiting for the customers~! You! You who came rushing to the Zoukei-mura booth at full speed as soon as you got in! Thank you ever so very much.

The venue finally opened. A wave of geezers came surging toward the Zoukei-mura booth. At that moment, from here and there came the cheers from modelers clutching SWS kits, like English-language bullets being fired from a machine gun!
Moreover, everyone had a smile on their face!! It was so impressive!! I saw so many child-like, happy smiles! It was a long-awaited explosion of enthusiasm from the American modelers!!

The huge piles of SWS kits were flying off the shelves!
From the very start, it was an unbelievable scene that unfolded in Orlando.

Goodness, it was most certainly worth it to come all the way from Japan.
This scene, which I had dreamed of, made me very happy!

Thanks to everyone, the Shinden quickly sold out the morning on the first day! The mountains of Ta 152, Skyraider, and Mustang kits also dwindled very fast.

"Been waiting for this, ZM!"
"Finally able to buy this!"
"I've heard so much about this kit!"
"Why didn't you bring more with you?"
"This is a secret from my wife!"
"What are you releasing next?"

It was a loud, vivid burst of enthusiastic, happy voices and faces from all the geezer modelers!

For some reason, I could understand that the SWS was being rather extravagantly praised by the frequency and the force of the handshakes I received.
It was an endless sequence of handshakes from very large hands.

Among them, there were a lot of old guys who showed me photos of their SWS kits in progress, and soon it became so that no matter who I was talking to, no matter what we were talking about, everything just became one huge jumble.

"Aa~argh! Is there no one here who can speak Japanese! I can't understand any of this English!!"

Sometimes, just me saying, "I can't speak English, sorry," didn't work, because those words are in English.
It just added more fuel to the flame: "But you're speaking in English!"
Taking it as a good sign, or rather, misunderstanding completely, the English-language machine gun would fire yet again.

American modelers truly love to talk. They just don't stop.
Moreover, they have the lung power to keep on talking until they finish what they want to say!! Their body language via hand and body gestures is also truly enjoyable and well-done.

Also, this was in America, smack-dab in the middle of the Florida peninsula.
There was literally no one else capable of translating Japanese and English on the fly except for the three English-speaking members of the Zoukei-mura team!

In any case, I decided to change my strategy to taking pictures of everyone who bought something from us.
After all, I had to show this happy scene to my master, my boss (my wife) who was waiting in Japan, as quickly as possible.

"Eh? You want to take a picture? Sure!!"
Somehow, American modelers are quite nonchalant about having their picture taken, with 100% of them saying OK on the spot. On the contrary, they provided me with some truly splendid poses and smiles. That wonderful understanding and responsiveness made me very happy!!

From this point, for a short while, let me show you those joyful customers' faces. Behold their excitement below!!

* SWS supporters around the world!

Oh! In the midst of everyone else, a Japanese person who came from very far away came walking up!
It was Mr. Shimizu!

He is one of the greatest sympathizers of the SWS kits, as well as one of their most powerful supporters. It was our first reunion since last year's IPMS Omaha event in the American Midwest. Our relationship is such that in Japan, he freely comes to visit our headquarters.

"Oh~ Mr. Shimizu! We really are able to see you everywhere, aren't we~"

The truth is, Mr. Shimizu is a former president of Honda USA, and is currently retired to a life of quiet leisure. He restores airplanes and contributes to magazines, and for those purposes, he travels the world with his beloved camera on his breast.
For this trip, he attended the "OshKosh Air Show" and visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum prior to coming to IPMS Florida.

"Hm~m. I'm very envious, Mr. Shimizu."

And in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, the SWS kits continued to sell and sell!!

Everyone who managed to obtain one seemed very happy!! Enough so that we became happy as well!

Not just the kits, but much attention was also paid to the Concept Notes and Extra Parts – typical of American modelers and their discriminating taste! They also continued to sell very well!

"If things continue like this, how will it be on the third day?!" Circumstances were such that worries like this began to circulate in my mind.

And then, one of my best friends, Joe, whom you may remember, made his appearance!!

To tell the truth, Joe is currently a valued USA member of the SWS Development Team.

Joe and I have been acquainted for over 30 years, and he is one of my best and strongest friendships.
Back in the days when our store, Volks, was still tiny, I received a phone call from an American. He told me that he wanted to come visit my store, which he saw an advertisement for in a hobby magazine.
Speaking through a translator, he told me that he was a hobby fan from America currently working in Hiroshima on business.

It has been over 30 years since that day. And ever since then, my friendship with Joe has continued to this day.

I have four children, and the fact that each of those four, in their turn, have graduated from Oklahoma State University in America, as well as the fact that we have opened a store in California, can all be traced back to my becoming friends with Joe – none of it would have been possible otherwise.

Joe is a truly amazing person.

The truth is, he is my life teacher, my most respected senior, and quite literally, the man I aspire to be. After all, he not only served as a leader of a major corporation until his retirement, but as soon as he retired, he built a beautiful residence in Arizona, obtained his pilot's license, and built a small airplane in his garage.
He registered the plane with the American government, and flew the heavens as if they were too small for him, which was simply amazing to me. Moreover, after that, he built another small airplane, sold both planes, then recently purchased a small plane from a European manufacturer with his wife Jackie, which they fly together. He tells me that they spend fall and winter in Arizona, then spring and summer in Michigan, dividing their time on the American continent by the seasons – the scale of his life itself is simply a different matter altogether!

On top of that, in the huge gardens that they have in each of their homes, he operated his own backhoe and bulldozer to build their own Japanese-style gardens with bridges. The power that Joe, or rather, older Americans in general, possess can't be underestimated, because goodness, the sheer extent of their potential is truly surprising.

Even more amazing: when on the ground, Joe rides a large Kawasaki motorcycle down the highways at 200 km/h, making him a dangerous, or rather, cool old biker dude. I know that a full-face helmet won't give your age away, but Joe, don't you think you're overdoing it a little?

Also, why hide it? The precious experience of getting to fly an airplane with my own hands for the first time was also due to him – when I and my family went to his house to visit, he arranged and prepared everything. In this particular instance, there is nothing for me to boast about.

Me and the flight instructor, together only because of Joe.

My maiden flight lasted approximately one hour, which was spent in a Cessna 172 in the skies above Lake Michigan.
The beauty of Lake Michigan that day, as seen while I was gripping the control stick, will be a treasured memory for the rest of my life. Thank you so much, Joe~~!!

And because Joe is Joe, once that energetic man found out that I was planning the airplane scale models known as the SWS, why, he offered me the valuable airplane documents and books that he had collected over many years, telling me it would be fine to use them.

Ever since then, over the past several years, precious books and documentation have been sent to us at Zoukei-mura every month. Moreover, he covers the shipping costs himself, telling me that he refuses to accept any compensation.

No matter how many times I offer to repay him:
"But you're my friend."
He persists in repeating that one sentence. And in the face of such generosity, I simply lose all words in my gratitude.

Thanks to your generous offerings, the walls of Zoukei-mura's SWS design department in Kyoto, Japan, are lined with bookshelves filled with documentation. We call those bookshelves the "Joe Library," and make use of them every day. Truly, thank you ever so very much.

And even now, Joe came to visit us at the IPMS Florida venue all the way from Michigan.

And over the next four days, Joe will be joining us as a member of the SWS Development Team and working ... the ... booth?

Huh...?? Joe, where did you go?

Ah, I see! Joe has so much energy, that even here at the IPMS event site, he goes to and fro as he pleases, throughout the day.

Oho, and now we have an appearance by Dave Morrissette, who wrote an article for the SWS Mustang Concept Note. It was a wonderful product and build review. Thank you so very much.
Your precise build diary and skilled kit commentary have become invaluable information for many modelers who who haven't built an SWS kit yet. We extend our gratitude once again.

And now we have a visit from Peter! We first met when he sent a message to me through this old man's blog, and we are now good acquaintances.
When his brother was a child, he visited Kyoto in Japan with his family, and it's quite possible that he may have met me at that time. Peter showed me many pictures from that trip.

* The end of the first day!

This day lasted from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., a total of 9 hours! A day filled with lots of standing and lots of talking finally came to an end. Much of the Zoukei-mura booth's merchandise was sold, with many of the tables cleaned out. All right, the day is over. Now is the time for an enjoyable dinner.

The heads of the Zoukei-mura team were filled with a pleasant fatigue, and many new memories. Although we felt in our hearts that we never wanted to leave, we left the event site behind us for the day.

Now for dinner!! Dinner!!

How on earth do you have the energy left to be so enthusiastic?! I asked my team members, amazed. What is the source of that energy?!

That's right! This day's dinner was at a restaurant that specializes in crab, recommended by Joe. Oho! Although crab dinners were the specialty, it was still an American restaurant, which can never be underestimated.

As you can see from the photos, in addition to the crab, there was a lot of meat and sausage!!

And as usual, Joe appeared mysteriously, inexplicably nonchalant.

Once again, my team members ravenously gobbled up everything in sight!

In order to be able to do my best on the next day, I also refused to lose, and ate and ate.

The next day, the preliminary judging for the "Most Valuable Geezer" award, sponsored by Zoukei-mura, finally occurred. In addition, I will share stories and photos from the event hall.

Please do look forward to it!!

Hideyuki Shigeta
Representative of ZOUKEI-MURA

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