On the morning of October 30th, I woke up and took a shower, and something immediately caught my attention.

Although the shower room had soap dispensers, every single one of them was completely empty.

I finally understood why the reception sold shampoo and other toiletries—though I couldn’t help feeling slightly amused (and a little taken aback) by their clever business strategy.

At 8 a.m., we met B-san in front of the hotel. He had kindly offered to take us hiking.

When we reached his car, his beautiful Siberian Husky, M-chan, was already sitting inside like a loyal travel companion.

Hranice is a town surrounded by nature, and a short walk takes you right into the forest. However, since the Czech Republic is mostly flat and has few high mountains, we drove for about an hour to reach one of B-san’s favorite hiking spots.

The large parking lot was completely empty—just our car. Apparently, it gets crowded on weekends, so we were grateful for this peaceful weekday hike.

October 28th was the day we traveled from Brno to Hranice.

Originally, we had planned to go by train, but due to construction work, we needed to take a bus to Olomouc and then transfer to a train. Fortunately, our friend B, who lives in Hranice, kindly offered to pick us up in Olomouc, so we decided to enjoy some sightseeing until meeting him.

Our bus was scheduled to leave around 11:30 a.m., but before that, we had to wash four aikido uniforms from the past two days at a coin laundry.

As soon as the shop opened at 8 a.m., we started the washing machine and took showers while waiting. Last time, we put in enough money for two drying cycles, but the machine broke and only ran once—and the money wasn’t refunded. So this time, we decided to be extra careful.

When I returned to the laundry after my shower, the uniforms looked mostly dry except around the collar, so we brought them back to the room. But once we spread them out, they were still quite damp.

“I’ll go back to the shop again.”

While intense heat continues across many regions, Tokyo has enjoyed relatively mild temperatures, and we are already beginning to feel hints of autumn in the air.

We are pleased to share the latest updates for the always popular Aikikai Hombu Dojo Shihan Seminars. Below you will find information on the seminars scheduled for November, along with newly added events.

✔ Aikido Seminar

On October 27th, we met in the morning and headed to Lednice Castle.

Japan also has many castles, but their structure and atmosphere are completely different. And since Mike’s home country, New Zealand, doesn’t have a “castle culture” at all, both of us were absolutely fascinated by European castles.

Lednice Castle is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “The Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape” in southern Czechia. Once used as a summer residence by the Liechtenstein family, it features elegant English-style Neo Gothic architecture and vast, beautifully maintained gardens.

I couldn’t help whispering,

“Wow… what a beautiful castle.”