I made it back to the U.S. safely, and can’t imagine how the time went by so quickly. Thanks to everyone in the JDA and NCA for making the trip possible.

Amazing. Overwhelming and thought provoking are three terms that might sum up the whole experience.

Today over coffee I am returning to the Eastern Time Zone, and thinking about all the photos and videos I need to process over the next couple of days. I will probably run to campus on Friday to do a bit of work, but today is strictly recovery, laundry and organizing. I have a huge amount of video and photo material, but also paper, posters, gifts and souvenirs that all need a place to live.

I am home now, but I would go back tomorrow if they asked me to. Debate in Japan is so rich and so vibrant that it is a shame they don’t have a place for professional coaches in the school system there. They rely at the high school level on willing, eager English teachers, and at the University level it is student run almost entirely.

I hope to return one day for a longer period to study the details of academic debate and how it has developed on a parallel and very different track from NDT/CEDA debate. People who say that the Japanese do policy debate are only half right.