arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Jul 27, 2015 23:18:54 GMT -5
I'm surprised how quickly it got to you! I sent it on a Saturday morning! LOL
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Post by yamfriend on Jul 27, 2015 23:44:28 GMT -5
The USPS is a boss. Even during that crazy storm my area had a month ago, the mail truck was still going around delivering mail. LOL
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Post by LusitaniaAngel313 on Jul 28, 2015 0:12:58 GMT -5
Even through sleet or snow or rain or fog. The mail never stops! Always appreciate the superhero of the American people! THE POSTMAN! But seriously it was fast! 2 days? Even that's a record! (it usually takes at least 4 days)
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Jul 28, 2015 0:56:47 GMT -5
Less than that as they don't deliver on Sundays!
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Jul 29, 2015 5:49:34 GMT -5
Updated blog to let the others know that aren't on SMF that the packages are out. A few from SMF have gotten it already that haven't posted. Thanks so much! ♥
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Y
Nomura Masaki
Posts: 70
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Post by Y on Jul 29, 2015 10:57:41 GMT -5
Just came back to the office from a short vacation and glad to open my package. Just tweeted you my thanks. ^_^
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Jul 29, 2015 16:06:35 GMT -5
Yay! Thanks for the photos of them! Giggles. Meh.. you are also the only one with my horrible handwriting.. after writing that I said "omg type that...".. LOL
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2015 11:35:09 GMT -5
Hey guys I wanted some feedback on a couple of things I'm planning. Been working on my book (not a lot of extensive writing but a lot of organizing thoughts and inventory of content type things) and I am running into a problem. I am missing a lot of the human element. I got some from the trip in Japan but I'm still missing a lot of key figures in Sasuke and their stories and whatnot. If you remember, I was trying not to sound like an encyclopedia or dictionary when writing the book. What I find more stuff fascinating are the human stories behind the tournament and while I was able to get some, it's not enough. I'll try to get some interviews over the fall and winter via Skype but that is limited since many of our favorite people are just not technologically proficient.. So, I was hoping to try to get back to Japan but not during a tournament. Sure, I'd love to go back to another tournament but I'm trying to manage my expectations. My focus is to write a good book and right now, I'm missing too much. The pace of the Japan trip in May was really fast and I ended up in a large group. Once people figured out we were going to be there, it got out of hand and "small" dinners turned out to be crashed by others and it made it impossible to get any major work done. The rest of the time was either during the tournament where each of them were stressed and busy getting prepared to run or traveling back and forth from wherever they are from. So, my focus now is to try to get a trip just to get to interview specific people for more in-depth interviews without the distraction of a lot of people or the chaos of an impending tournament. However, it's not cheap to go there and I'm not confident that lightning will strike twice in getting me back doing a huge campaign like I did the last time. So, I wanted to try to do small fundraisers during the year to start building a travel fund.
So my question to all of you is what type of stuff would you be willing to buy to help support the trip fund? Some examples I had were autographed photos of certain competitors (like an 8x10 of someone in specific). Another option would be to try to get a bulk order of Shirts or towels from Sasuke 31. Some have expressed interest in those cups I had where I printed a photo of the competitor (like I did for Morimoto as a gift). The prices would be about the same as last time as the whole point is to be able to raise money to fly back to Japan. So as an example of what happened last time, I charged $100 for the shirts since they were approximately $25 to buy at the tournament. I ended up netting about $75 for the travel fund. This time of course I'd have to have someone buy them from the website and that has it's own shipping, then have the whole order shipped to me in the USA and then mail them out to you guys.
Another option was for an eBay auction. The idea was to have 1-2 "big" items that are personally signed by one of the champions to whoever is the one that wins the auction. Things like shoes, specific shirts or other items we can figure out that are "unique". Again, the hope is that people can help raise money for this fun so I can go back to Japan to get those last few interviews.
So overall thoughts, concerns? I'd like as much feedback as possible. I am planning on doing the Calendar again this year using photos from my trip to Japan. That luckily has no start up costs, however the return on that is much much smaller. Either way, every little bit would help.
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Post by Not-so innocent Bystander... on Aug 10, 2015 12:07:52 GMT -5
Hey guys I wanted some feedback on a couple of things I'm planning. Been working on my book (not a lot of extensive writing but a lot of organizing thoughts and inventory of content type things) and I am running into a problem. I am missing a lot of the human element. I got some from the trip in Japan but I'm still missing a lot of key figures in Sasuke and their stories and whatnot. If you remember, I was trying not to sound like an encyclopedia or dictionary when writing the book. What I find more stuff fascinating are the human stories behind the tournament and while I was able to get some, it's not enough. I'll try to get some interviews over the fall and winter via Skype but that is limited since many of our favorite people are just not technologically proficient.. So, I was hoping to try to get back to Japan but not during a tournament. Sure, I'd love to go back to another tournament but I'm trying to manage my expectations. My focus is to write a good book and right now, I'm missing too much. The pace of the Japan trip in May was really fast and I ended up in a large group. Once people figured out we were going to be there, it got out of hand and "small" dinners turned out to be crashed by others and it made it impossible to get any major work done. The rest of the time was either during the tournament where each of them were stressed and busy getting prepared to run or traveling back and forth from wherever they are from. So, my focus now is to try to get a trip just to get to interview specific people for more in-depth interviews without the distraction of a lot of people or the chaos of an impending tournament. However, it's not cheap to go there and I'm not confident that lightning will strike twice in getting me back doing a huge campaign like I did the last time. So, I wanted to try to do small fundraisers during the year to start building a travel fund. So my question to all of you is what type of stuff would you be willing to buy to help support the trip fund? Some examples I had were autographed photos of certain competitors (like an 8x10 of someone in specific). Another option would be to try to get a bulk order of Shirts or towels from Sasuke 31. Some have expressed interest in those cups I had where I printed a photo of the competitor (like I did for Morimoto as a gift). The prices would be about the same as last time as the whole point is to be able to raise money to fly back to Japan. So as an example of what happened last time, I charged $100 for the shirts since they were approximately $25 to buy at the tournament. I ended up netting about $75 for the travel fund. This time of course I'd have to have someone buy them from the website and that has it's own shipping, then have the whole order shipped to me in the USA and then mail them out to you guys. Another option was for an eBay auction. The idea was to have 1-2 "big" items that are personally signed by one of the champions to whoever is the one that wins the auction. Things like shoes, specific shirts or other items we can figure out that are "unique". Again, the hope is that people can help raise money for this fun so I can go back to Japan to get those last few interviews. So overall thoughts, concerns? I'd like as much feedback as possible. I am planning on doing the Calendar again this year using photos from my trip to Japan. That luckily has no start up costs, however the return on that is much much smaller. Either way, every little bit would help. It seems that going back to Japan would be the best option for your book, as like you said, the details lie there. The problem is finance however, and I doubt you would be able to sell enough ebay items for a high enough price to raise adequate funds.... Have you considered burning DVD's of your first trip footage?.... They would probably sell quite well. I for one will support you going back to Japan, and look forward to the book's completion. You're doing a great job!
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2015 12:10:30 GMT -5
Interesting idea but what I filmed is limited and would be going up on Youtube anyway. I'm not sure it's enough of a quality to justify a DVD sale. Once I get them up you'll probably see what I mean. And yeah I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. That's why I was looking for suggestions. Thanks.
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Post by Not-so innocent Bystander... on Aug 10, 2015 12:17:41 GMT -5
Interesting idea but what I filmed is limited and would be going up on Youtube anyway. I'm not sure it's enough of a quality to justify a DVD sale. Once I get them up you'll probably see what I mean. And yeah I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. That's why I was looking for suggestions. Thanks. May I ask which generation you are focusing on? Is there only a few people you are going into great detail with, or will you have loads of different people with several in detail? Just wondering, sorry if you have already posted this somewhere....
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2015 12:39:06 GMT -5
Interesting idea but what I filmed is limited and would be going up on Youtube anyway. I'm not sure it's enough of a quality to justify a DVD sale. Once I get them up you'll probably see what I mean. And yeah I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. That's why I was looking for suggestions. Thanks. May I ask which generation you are focusing on? Is there only a few people you are going into great detail with, or will you have loads of different people with several in detail? Just wondering, sorry if you have already posted this somewhere.... Oh it hasn't been posted anywhere. My hope is to get a couple All-Stars and a couple of the new ones. I want a balance of the old and the new as I want to cover the breadth of 18 years of the show. Currently I only have Morimoto, Yuuji, Kawaguchi of this generation with small bits from Shingo (not in any great detail that hasn't already been discussed). Very little bits from my experience with each person in the tournament but nothing concrete as to being able to sit down and talk about the show and their journey through it in detail. That is what I want. In that aspect only the first 3 I mentioned did I have a chance to sit down and talk in detail about that. Yuuji being the last of that done in Japan.
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Post by yamfriend on Aug 10, 2015 15:02:25 GMT -5
Anything with Wreath Man would be neat. In terms of what is realistic though, anything signed by SASUKE competitors would be really neat. Like you said, autographed photos come to mind. Also, any other SASUKE shirts would definitely be neat to have (for example, I remember seeing a blue one with the SASUKE logo on it; Morimoto was even wearing one like it at the Stage 1 starting line in 31). Another idea might be posters with a light background of the SASUKE logo (like this) signed by a whole bunch of people associated with the show. As you go around having interviews with everyone, they could each sign a "master poster" from which you could then make copies and then send to those of us who are interested in it and helped aid your trip financially. Furthermore, you could keep the "master poster" for all of your hard work and dedication to this project! Outside of that, nothing else realistic comes to mind as of now.
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2015 15:16:18 GMT -5
LOL I could ask Anastase to donate his wreath or something like that. LOL!!!! Teheheheeh I have my signature book for that. You mean like a fan posted to be presented to the competitors? I don't have issues with that if someone wants to donate to give gifts to them through me as part of the fundraiser. Thanks for the feedback though. Now you know how I'm perplexed as to what to do. I mean outside of being included in the donors list in my book (that was also part of my first fundraiser) but I wanted something more tangible they can keep or even wear.
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Post by arsenette on Aug 12, 2015 12:50:31 GMT -5
K got the 2nd video out. This was er.. Thursday morning, May 21, 2015! I'll get a blogpost up later this afternoon. Edit: Whoops forgot blogpost..
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Post by arsenette on Aug 26, 2015 11:11:37 GMT -5
Btw still working on blogs today and wanted to update and ask. Is anyone interested in getting Sasuke 2015 Shirts as a fundraiser? Meaning, priced about the same as I did during the fundraiser with proceeds going to my return to Japan fund and the rest to pay for the shipping of the shirt/towel, etc. from the TBS store since the damn website does not have international shipping? I will only do it if there is enough interest to make it worth it.. sending money to Japan is not cheap and fees alone will eat into that, and it's a royal pain in the butt. But, there was interest after people saw what the shirts looked like this year (they are pretty snazzy IMO) but didn't preorder in time when I had the fundraiser up. I'm only willing to go through the problems with ordering if I'm fundraising at the same time. I'm trying to break up the fundraising into different portions to help mitigate having one huge bill. Also, I really wanted people to get to the merchandise that is still behind the "Buy in Japan only" wall right now. Thoughts?
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Y
Nomura Masaki
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Post by Y on Aug 26, 2015 11:14:34 GMT -5
I'd be interested in a t-shirt. What's the smallest size you could buy?
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 26, 2015 11:26:23 GMT -5
Here is the TBSi Shop (I did a search so in case the link is broken, I did "Sasuke" on the search line). If I order anything it will be from there. I'm not opposed to getting other stuff that is on the store, but I will be marking up since I'm using it for fundraising if I did it at all. FYI I sold the shirts for $100 during the fundraising since the shirts cost me $25 (US) each during Sasuke. This time, I'd have to pay shipping to my contact in Japan then shipping to me back in the USA along with wire transfer fees to send money TO Japan.. so that's where the problem lies and why I want to only order if it was worth my time. I don't want any fundraising money to be eaten up by wire transfer fees and shipping just to get the shirts to ship worldwide. It would be pointless. P.S. Just did a cursory look at the availability. Most of the shirts I got were LL size during Sasuke. Only the black (with gold) compression shirts have this size (they are the ones that cost $35) but the rest are in M and S. Those who know my size, I wore my shirt and that was LL (which was the largest size they had). The black long Sasuke Rising trench coat I was gifted by Ube was one of the last Large sizes they had. They still have Small but not sure how small their small is.. remember that they at least give measurements in centimeters which may help. It's not the same sizing as it is in the West.
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Y
Nomura Masaki
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Post by Y on Aug 29, 2015 12:16:02 GMT -5
Just got the time to measure some of my own t-shirts and looks like I'd order a small or medium from you when you make your fundraiser available. As long as they are Asian men's sizes and not Asian women's sizes, I still fit my usual size. Looking forward to getting some fun merchandise and supporting your ventures.
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arsenette
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Post by arsenette on Aug 29, 2015 13:23:47 GMT -5
Thanks I still have to see how complicated it will be to do things. So far I haven't gotten more interest on it yet. I may do a blogpost on it and I spoke about it on the Podcast (that posts next week). I'll see what kinda of things I can come up with. Might do a Morimoto mug for giggles.
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