The Japan Turf Show is one of my favorite industry events, but I wasn't able to attend this year. Fortunately, some friends did attend, and I got updates about the show at Osaka's Banpaku Koen, which appears to have gone off very well.

The weather was sunny for the show, where distributors and manufacturers display their wares in the open air of Kansai in Autumn. The Japan turf industry is big, and there are a mix of imported and domestic machines and products used on golf courses. 

Steve Wilson #Bernhard&Co demonstrating the latest model of grinders at #JapanTurfShow twitter.com/drumcturf/stat…

— Andrew McDaniel (@drumcturf) October 24, 2012

We can find Bernhard & Co grinders, and Toro machinery, as these tweets show.

What a day for the show! Did you see @drumcturf ? RT @champion_dwarf TORO #toro campl.us/mvyu

— Micah Woods (@asianturfgrass) October 24, 2012

And we can also find some unique machinery, such as this dropseeder with a sponge roller that allows creeping bentgrass seed to be spread at rates as low as 1 g/m² - on a new putting green we would use rates 7 to 10 times that high!

I especially like the Japan Turf Show for all the unique machinery that I see there, machinery that is put to good use on hundreds or thousands of golf courses in Japan, but that we do not always see in other countries. Take the Hatsuta company, for example. It seems that every golf course in Japan has one of their core sweepers.

At the Japan Turf Show this year, Hatsuta showed their new TS-1000 sprayer which will be able to work as either a typical riding sprayer, although I expect with the option for a wide range of water volumes, and also can be used as a tanksha.

The new hybrid Sprayer/Japanese Tanksha by #Hatsuta at #JapanTurfShow @asianturfgrass twitter.com/drumcturf/stat…

— Andrew McDaniel (@drumcturf) October 25, 2012

More than 1,500 people attended the first day of the show, and I don't have full attendance numbers, but I hope to add my name to the attendee list next year.