First Year in Japan : Beginning. So Many Dojo!

After a couple of semesters of University schooling in the States I had finally accumulated enough credits and such to execute my plan: transfer to school in Tokyo Japan. The official reason was to study Japanese language and culture as part of my double major, Kinesiology and Asian culture, but the REAL reason was to dive deep into my martial arts training. Since Karate was my base, and Karate came from Japan, I figured this would be the best way to really improve. By being surrounded by it's original culture and learning it's mother tongue for untranslatable concepts I figured I was on my way to improve my skill by several orders of magnitude. With my then-current teacher's blessing I set off. The only problem was the actually going to school part.


The Japanese government at the time made you prove you had something like 30,000$US in the bank on standby to move there as a permanent resident for school. I managed to get a bunch of money that wasn't mine pooled for the “proof” and once verified it was sent back to it's loaners. I really had more like 300$ to my name, but I was sure I could work it out. Even though Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world at the time, I thought if I was frugal with my student loans I would be alright. It's not like the global economy was going to go into a recession the likes of which had never been seen, right?


After what seemed like months of redundant paperwork I was cleared and I left for the land of the rising sun.


My first full day in Japan, I was on the Tokyo news twice. Not the real news, but the kind that reports on dog shows and actor's lives. The first time I was at Narita airport in the background while the news was filming something. The second time, I was at an Artistic Shodo (traditional Japanese caligraphy) exhibit, and on top of being the only person there at the time, the reporter made it seem like I was the only foreigner to have ever gone there. So I was briefly interviewed and filmed looking at various pieces of art while trying to seem "more interest". The reporter kept telling me to look "more interest" on my face. So, I did; I think. I also repeatedly received "high fives" from Japanese people when something good happened. This was not usual for me. Did they think this is how I was used to interacting? Was this something common from Europe? Do Japanese people just love high fives? I had much to learn.


The second half of the day was spent getting to know my host family. The first semester of school while I was getting acclimated to the culture, I would be living with a host family : The Takaeyama family. They consisted of a father, mother, and two sons, both of whom worked rotating hours and were rarely seen. In fact, I think I only ever saw them once the several months I lived with them.
The mother and father I had a good connection with, and I can only assume it is what some people call fate that we ended up together.


The father was a retiree and was in training to become a Japanese language teacher with his specialty as English support. He loved listening to Rock and Jazz and studying culture. He has a very strong spirit.
The mother was a Social Worker and had very strong spiritual convictions.  She was a fantastic cook and a big fan of the martial arts and especially liked Pride FC and K-1 and was fond of Andy Hug and Kazushi Sakuraba. Two of my favorites! Though she had no training experience herself, her father was a Judo champion and Aikido practitioner.  She recognized the strong spiritual influence of the martial arts.


They both made it their mission to get me exposed to as much culture as they could, including the martial arts...while making sure I still had time for school. I would say they succeeded and then some.
As a present I brought some gifts for them from America. A shot glass, some pictures of James Dean, homemade corn bread, and a John Wayne lunch box. I figured that had to be a good representation of the middle of America. They where pleased. They wasted no time in enveloping me in unique experiences. Thanks to them, I had some martial arts experiences that I couldn't have got just on my own.


Every Morning I performed my special morning exercises outside, with out fail, no days off rain or shine. For a little bit I was performing these exercises in the street, in front of the Takaeyama's home. After a bit the misses told me to stop, as the streets are small, and not big enough for that. She explained that in Japan, if one is to exercise by themselves outside, an empty parking lot would be the best place to do it. So, she walked me down the street, to an empty parking lot. Only maybe 9 cars big. This lot was my new training area. A few days later, at dinner, Mrs. Takaeyama told me that if I was to practice kata, or the traditional forms, for my martial arts, a shrine would be a better place to do it. "Good for the Spirit". She told me there was a shrine right around where they where and she would take me to it. She did, and it just happened to be a shrine to Hachiman, the God of Fighting. How appropriate. It was a cozy place. I felt a connection there, like being in a calm forest, as if my spirit is leaning against a huge tree. I felt reinforced and protected, like nothing could overcome me. It was a place "Good for the Spirit" of martial arts I was told. Now, when I would exercise for conditioning it would be in a parking lot, and when I train kata and techniques it would be with the God of Fighting, Hachiman.


The Takaeyama family became fascinated by my martial arts training. They thought that it was great that I wake up between 6 and 6:30 in the morning for my morning exercises. I think they just could not believe someone that was raised outside of Japan could have that kind of schedule. In typical Japanese fashion, most everyone kept the same schedule. The mother always woke up at about 5:30 to go to her place of worship and pray. The father woke up at 6:30 to get ready for work, and by 7:30 we all sit down and eat breakfast, which the mother made and was delicious. At one such meal the father revealed that he had gone to the library and come back with every book on martial arts that was there, so I could see them. I suspect it was also so he could study up on them as well. The books included older Karate, Kyokushin, Kobujutsu, Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Aikido, Brazilian Jujitsu, and the like. As we where all looking through the books and discussing the various arts the subject gradually turned to my own training. Eventually they wanted to know what sort of equipment and things I used, and since I couldn't accurately describe much in that area, they brought me paper, so I could illustrate. I tried my best to use simple drawings to explain the kind of equipment I used and the certain things my teacher had. The drawing looked like something a little child would draw, who was bad at drawing, and I had to laugh when I woke up the next morning and it was pinned on the refrigerator with a magnet. I'm pretty sure no one could even make out anything in the picture! They should have put a gold star sticker on it, or a smiley face or something.


The Takaeyama family made it their mission to expose me to as many different martial arts in Tokyo as they could. Knowing that I had a bit of understanding regarding Okinawan Goju Ryu, they decided to take me to the Japanese Goju Ryu Honbu Dojo under Goshi Yamaguchi, third son of Gogen Yamaguchi-founder of Japanese Goju Ryu. I watched the training with a critical eye. The training was full of deep stances and pivoting on the inside of the foot while keeping the rest of the foot off of the ground. Also their kata looked more like Shotokan than Okinawan Goju. Their Sanchin breathing came from the back of the throat rather than the tanden, or center of the lower abdomen. They generated power by seemingly twisting only from the hip, instead of from the floor- to the hip. I thought this “only from the hip” could be very hard on the ankles, knees, and hip joints, since they didn't seem to be rotating in kind. Yamaguchi Sensei was teaching class, and seemed fairly lively. It only really seemed like power was coming from 3 of his students though. This could be because these 3 where black belts and the rest where kyu grade. During a break in Training Yamaguchi came over to speak with me. I don't think he appreciated some outsider's critical eye. Yamaguchi Sensei himself did not give me a particularly good vibe, though he wasn't coming off as menacing or anything like that. He did however, become a bit of a jerk when he heard that I had studied Okinawan Goju Ryu. "Under whose lineage!?!?" he loudly and quickly asked."Higaonna?!" Yes, I replied. "Then why don't you go to Higaonna's Dojo then!" He turned to the class and yelled "Where is Higaonna's dojo?!" There was some mumbling, and after he didn't get a quick answer he turned back to me. "Did you know Higaonna has a dojo in Tokyo? Why did you come here?"
'I have never seen Japanese Goju', I said. 'I wanted to see what it was like.' "And?" 'and it is very strong. Good Kumite.' He softened up a bit after that, but was still distant. That is the way people are, until they are sure you're going to stick around. Fair enough, I wasn't going to stick around.
I learned what I wanted to know, and I left the Japanese Goju Ryu Headquarters a more knowledgeable martial artist than when I entered.


Afterwords the Takeyama family took me to Meiji Shrine, my first of year's worth of times going. Since it was January they had some cool ice sculptures on display, my favorite probably was the ice man that was German suplexing another ice man. At the shrine I got my fortune (omikuji) which read "The man with an honest heart does not feel embarrassed in front of the eye of the all seeing kami". Then when went to the Kyudo (Japanese Archery) main dojo, which is located on the grounds.


Meanwhile, the school I was attending invited a tea master, a friend of one of the coordinators, to perform Sado (Tea Ceremony) in the school's tea room. The room was built in the traditional style and is a simple, pleasant one to be in. The ceremony was great, as well as the tea itself. The master complimented my posture and remarked that I had obviously had some budo training. She said my focus and attention where great. However, that morning I had done quite a few hundred "Hindu Squats" and my legs where a little tired. Normally not a problem. All I had to do was sit in the Seiza formal sitting position for roughly 45 minutes. Also, normally not a problem. Turns out combining the two together is a little bit of a problem. My legs fell asleep within 20 minutes. No big deal, I thought, now I don't have to worry about them. Wrong. As the ceremony came to a close we where all expected to rise in the traditional way, on the toes first, then stand. Except it was not happening. I just sat there. Unable to will my legs to do anything. I explained that if I could just stand the usual way, that I would be fine. She explained that my way was much “too dangerous”. I waited until the feeling returned to my legs and stood her way. She commented that I had great determination, and that my budo training had served me well. Did it though? My legs still fell asleep....a normal person probably would have felt embarrassed. I was motivated to train more so it didn't happen again. After all, what if I had to fight with sleeping legs?






February arrived, and with it the Japanese holiday Setsubun. During this holiday people throw beans to ward off oni(demons), and say "oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi" or demons go away, good luck come in. Families will also make it fun by having the head of the household dress up like oni and have the rest of the family throw beans at it to make it go away, like an opposite Christmas. Demons are allergic to beans I guess? Also, I am told that the beans hurt...even when thrown somewhat lightly. Just another reason it's no easy task being the head of a household... or a demon. As I am sitting in school the teacher informed us that if you eat the same number of beans as the age that you are, you will be in good fortune for the rest of the year. She then passed out a large amount of beans to everyone. I ate a huge handful because I had already forgotten that I was supposed to be counting them to my age. The teacher then explained about throwing the beans at demons to ward them off while saying "oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi". Yeah, I'll do that, in case I see some demons, I sarcastically thought. Just before I could finish my thought, two large demons burst into the room. One orange and red, the other green and blue; both armed with spiked clubs. I was shocked! I didn't know what to do. Everyone was frozen, then some kid got hit in the face with a large spiked club. Then I snapped out of it. I blasted those demons with the beans in my hand as hard as I could throw them. One went down. I continued raining beans on it while shouting"DEMONS BE GONE ! good luck come here!" in Japanese. The rest of the students joined in when they realized that I was beating up the demon. Beans flying everywhere, and demons running away. That's right, demons. It turned out to be a couple of teachers in costume, who actually were feeling the pain of being on the receiving end of a bean based beatdown. They shouldn't have just jumped out looking like that, if they didn't want to get bean blasted so hard.
The Takeyama family is all for culture and tradition, so we had to have the traditional setsubun meals. This involves making long, uncut sushi rolls, and eating them facing south/southeast(between the two), in silence. Great, except it is a hassle to make the things, and my place at the table faced west. After all of the me eating with my back to everyone was finished, we all threw beans out of the window,chanting, in case demons came by in the future.


After that, it was off to the temple for setsubun festival. Priests and other figures(like athletes and company representatives) throw beans from the top of the temple, into the crowd. These are blessed beans, and if you catch one and eat it, you are said to have good fortune for a year. I was hit by quit a few of these holiest of beans, but never caught any. However, I did catch a piece of individually wrapped blessed pie. I was the only person I saw to get such a thing. Maybe there was only one? I ate it.
While all this is going on there are people on the balcony pretending to do kyudo, while other people are dressed as demons pretending to be scared away. All this was going on during a large snow. I was told repeatedly by natives of Tokyo that it usually does not snow there, and when it does, it does not stick. I beg to differ. In the couple months I had been there it had snowed many times, and setsubun was the most. I like the snow, but this Tokyo snow seemed different. It is only snow for about 5 minutes, then it turns to slush. Being in that Tokyo snow is like being stuck in the middle of a slop fight between the buildings and the road. The former is always raining goop on you and the latter is always splashing it up. After it had been snowing for about 8 hours, I returned from the temple to the Takaeyama house. They said they where glad I was back!....because they wanted me to shovel the walk. Which I did with a smile, of course. When people ask you to do things it means your are accepted. Being with them was like being with my stateside karate teacher. Except I had to do a lot less work wih the Takaeyama family. Likely because of all the training, shoveling a walk is barely an effort. I knew I needed to struggle and make a strong effort in order to improve though. I was sure there was a style suited to just that. Kyokushin Karate.


I told the Takaeyama family that I had an interest in studing Kyokushin in Japan, so they took me to the nearest one in next door Kichijoji. When I walked in there werent' many students, and they didn't look that great. The instructor, though. His technique was sharp and fluid. After class he came over to discuss what I thought of the training. I told him what I would like to take from Kyokushin was their style of sparring, and breaking objects. He told me that Kichijoji dojo was small, and not suited for what I wanted, but that the main dojo he taught and worked out in was in Shinjuku. He said that would be where I would get what I wanted. This was perfect, My school was in Shinjuku, and I could just walk over when school is over. After speaking with the instructor for a bit, I found out his name was Mori. He asked if I had studied karate before, and I replied I had, but it was mostly Okinawan styles. He seemed impressed, and commented on the calluses on my knuckles. Further discussion revealed we where the same age. We hit it off. Mr. Takaeyama had done some research, and it was at this point that he added that Mori was the all-japan kyokushin middleweight champion. In fact, he was a bit famous. He had been on the covers of a few magazines and inside quite a few more. I told him his kicking techniques where fantastic. So fantastic, they where the reason I decided this his dojo was where I needed to be and went to the Shinjuku dojo.


When I walked in, the place was full of college students and fighters. Introductions ensued. Mori explained that I had studied before, Ryukyu style. 'Oooh's and 'aaah's abounded; as if he had just told them I could fly. He introduced me to a student from Waseda university, a very elite university. His name was Yusuke; he could speak English. We also hit it off, along with another student from Waseda. Mori explained that since the all Japan Kyokushin tournament was in 3 months, they would be having special, all out practices to get ready...and I was invited. He asked if I wanted to train hard. The answer was a big yes.
Then we all sparred against each other.
Kyokushin has rules different from the way I was raised, though. I liked to punch to the head, in Kyokushin tournaments these days you cannot. I punched 3 people in the face.
After the sparring, everyone was surprised that I held my own. They said my kicks where surprisingly powerful. I found out the people I had been fighting where also champions, the place was crawling with them. They liked me so much I got invited to train at 2 other dojo. One man said he couldn't believe I had any "meat", I "must be made of only muscle and rocks, “kicking you is like kicking a tree!". Some students came in late and missed the introductions. They couldn't believe a white belt could do what I did. One man mentioned I was super strong, and asked how that came to be. I told him my teacher was very strict. The man asked "like a tiger?". I supposed yes. He said that things used to be that way in Japan, but now it is mostly about making money. He said it was sad, and I agreed.


I had sparred with everyone there, intent to prove my worth. Everyone except the top guy. After class we agreed to spar, while a few students stayed and did their independent training. Now it was time. When it came time for Mori and I to spar, things went to the next level. We agreed to spar for a 3 minute round. I needed for the dojo members to see that I was good enough to stay, that I was serious, that I deserved to be there. I couldn't afford to lose. Mori was representing his style and dojo, and couldn't let some foreign guy, who just bumbled in from the street, show up the middleweight champion, especially in front of his own students on his own turf. Those three minutes ran hot and fast. Punches and kicks flying, cracking into each others bodies. Mori's speed and endurance were in a league above. He was known as the “Falcon of Josai”. “Fast as a falcon” is the Japanese idiom for the English saying “Fast as lightning”. He wasn't the middleweight champion for nothing. I kept landing fierce front kicks on his body. A move he wasn't used to. My punches sliced into him with years of strategic abuse behind them. Playfully but seriously, we pushed on. I dropped fierce axe kicks on him. He would dive in for a rush, flurries of punches and kicks raining down on me. I used the sanchin iron body stance and absorbed them. Mori had never seen it used for real before. We pressed on, my stamina fading, his strength doing the same. Our battle of wills continued. I landed a palm strike to the liver and then rocked him with a classic stepping in heel side kick. He returned with his signiture kamikaze technique, the big wheel kick (DouKaitenMawashiGeri) which he had used to knock out many people prior. It landed on the top of my head, and to his astonishment I was unfazed even with the blood trickling out of the top of my head and down my face. Spirit willing I fushed forward, though I had used up the last of my energy. Mori came in on pure adrenaline, landing a flurry of punches that made no dent in me, but I couldn't attack anymore either. I was gassed. The buzzer sounded, and we declared something like a draw. He was shocked to find out I felt fine, except for my stamina running out, and wasn't injured. I was shocked he wasn't all that tired. We looked at each other with respect. He knew that if this were an anything goes fight, I would likely win, and if it was Kyokushin rules only I would eventually run out of stamina. We decided more training and an eventual rematch would be in order.
That night convinced me I wanted to train at the Kyokushin dojo permanently. The next day, out of respect I contacted my teacher and asked for permission. He said that it would be good for me, and it was granted.


From then on I trained at the Kyokushin Karate Tokyo Josai Shibu Shinjuku Dojo with Mori. He mentioned he had a blog and he wrote about me. The blog used to be at:


http://d.hatena.ne.jp/zenjuro/


He posted a picture of the two of us doing sanchin stance with our shirts off and wrote:


アメリカからの刺客 
アメリカ合衆国インディアナ州から短期で留学に来ているナッシュ君です。
なんと剛柔流を10年以上という強者！
日本に来たので是非キョクシンを学びたいと東京城西支部にやってきました。
礼儀正しいナイスガイです。
道場生の皆さんナッシュに稽古で出会ったら是非話しかけてあげてください！
ちなみに今日写真をとると彼に伝えたら
【サンチィン！サンチィン！】
と服を脱ぎだしました笑
でとった一枚がこちらです。
僕細いですね…
余談ですが、こうやって写真を見ると髪型が変な自分に引きました


Or the English gist would be:


“An Assasin Arrives From America!
He is Nash.
He lived in Indiana and has come here to study abroad. He has studied something like Ryukyu Goju Ryu karate for...over 10 years? Becouse he came to Japan he said he wanted to learn Kyokushin Karate, and then he came to the Shinjuku dojo. By all means, please practice here!
He is a very nice and polite person. A stereotypical niceguy.
If you meet him by all means, talk to him, and tell me about it.
Oh and about the photograph... I said I wanted one taken and he suggested sanchin.
Without shirts. With a photo like this, you can't help but laugh.
I'm so thin...(sigh....)
Something about this, I don't like my hair in this photo, it looks weird. “


He would later talk about our first epic sparring session, and stories about me in Alaska and such. The people reading his blog all sought me out to see if the stories that people had been telling about me where true. I would occasionally also pop up on the Waseda University Kyokushin homepage. I became somewhat infamous in those circles and they started calling me the terminator because nothing seemed to stop me, only slow me down. I was just glad to have a quality place to train and great people to do it with. During training I continued to pick up Kyokushin technique and I was hearing about the big tournament. I asked if I could fight in the upcoming tournament, but they said you must pre-qualify for it .So, no. I focused on perfecting my Kyokushin techniques. Frequently I was asked by my Kyokushin friends to demonstrate "ryukyu strength". They got a big "wow" out of watching me do a hand stand pushup using only my index fingers and thumbs, or having me spearhand into their heavy bag. They were amazed when I spoke of Bunkai within kata. They seemed thoroughly intrigued that the movements in kata have hidden meanings. I was still just working on acquiring Mori's kicks though. One of my new dojo mates had just promoted to black belt, and they where throwing an exclusive party with just a few of his friends and such, and I was invited. I felt very honored, and accepted into the group. However, I had to pass, because I had school at the same time. The big tournament was coming up and we were all going to caravan to the big tournament and cheer our comrades on, though.


Back at academic school they were pushing for students to sign up for clubs. I decided to sign up with some of my friends for the Ekiden club. The Ekiden is a famous relay race where the first person runs 3 kilometers, the next 2, the next 1, and the last 3.
It looks like:
3-2-1-3-finish
with each segment run by a different person. I signed up for the 1k, as I am fast but cannot maintain that speed for long. The person before me was a friend of mine, and the person I pass to was a friend of mine, so I figured it would be a great team. Plus, training for the Ekiden would allow me to strengthen my weakest link, which is endurance. Training should be fun most of the time. The day was set to be perfect. After I finished the race, and my team was done, I would leave and go to the All Japan Kyokushin Championship with my friends from Waseda university, as the race and tournament were on the same day. What a perfect day... Then school struck again! Turned out not only would I not make the tournament, I wouldn't make the race either. I was told I had a mandatory field trip to Kamakura to go on. It was an overnight and took place the same day as the race and tournament. I had no out. I would much rather have gone to a martial arts tournament or competed in a race than go on a school field trip, but I was taking the course for credit so I had to go or I wouldn't pass... Next time, I reasoned.


I figured I would make the most of it. Kamakura was fun. I had sweet potato soft ice, so it would have to really go down hill for me not to enjoy myself. Kamakura is an old place famous for it's lacquer ware and antiques, so of course I enjoyed that. The student group and teachers stayed in a traditional old Japanese Ryokan and we passed the time demonstrating our unique skills. There was a guy there from Philadelphia who called himself “Joey Dangerous”. He was an artist. He drew a picture of me shattering a rock with a “Karate Chop”. He then challenged me to an arm wrestling match, wherein I almost snapped his arm. I won against him, and then everyone else, including the teachers. I then demonstrated the splits with my buddy George sitting on my back, and a no hands bridge on my nose, with him sitting on my stomach. George arrived in Tokyo from New Jersey on the same day I got to Tokyo, and we were going to the same school. From the moment we met that day it seemed we had been friends forever. He had a great sense of humor and was into photography and videography. I taught him how to do handstands, and he taught me how to play with a frisbee. For some reason whenever we would hang out we always wound up doing one or both of those things. Anytime I wasn't training we were hanging out. That Kamakura trip started a long running joke between the two of us. The teachers said the bathing room was designed to have multiple people in it and the times blocked out for us meant we needed to bath in groups so everyone would have a chance. George and I went first bathing together... and then the teachers decided we could all go one at a time. I have probably referenced that in some way every time we've gotten together since then. Seeing the traditional sights and such of Kamakura was fun, so I'm glad I got to go, I just wish it had been on a diffirent set of days. While I was there, Mori had won the tournament again and was now the two time middle weight chamion. Becouse of this victory, he earned a spot on the Japanese national Kyokushin team, and he would be going to Russia in may, to fight all the other teams. I bought a Kyokushin magazine when I got back from Kamakura, and on every other page was a picture of Mori. He even had a 2 page interview in there.


After returning from the trip I was supposed to visit a Sumo stable, but was snowed out(Takaeyama was taking me...). It was alright though, because one of my dojo mates from Waseda university, Suzuki, was making his black belt and today was the day he would be doing his 15 man kumite. This intaled him fighting 15 men in a row. Afterwards, there would be a party in his honor for making black belt and graduating college. I was invited to both events, and was very happy to have been considered. When I arrived at the dojo, the place was packed. Mori informed me that the 15 men had already been selected, and that I would not be able to fight. I was very disappointed, but happy to cheer on Suzuki. The atmosphere in the dojo was one of pure happiness and encouragement. Every person helping every other person. When Suzuki finished his 15th person, and was congratulated by everyone, he was so happy he cried. You could feel the emotion in the air.
Afterwards, a student decided to challenge the 3 man kumite. I was selected as one of his opponents. YES! I would get to fight after all. Next, another student nominated to try the 3 man. I was also one of his opponents.
The day just kept getting better.
Following him, Mori nominated me to do the 3 man kumite. I did, and it was very fun.


After that, Mori started working grappling techniques with one of his buddies. The guy had grappled before. Mori asked if I knew anything about grappling. I told him I only knew a little. He said me and this guy should grapple. I said all right. This would be a good chance to practice my Jujitsu technique! The guy rushed in and grabbed the lapel of my gi with both hands. I immediately pinned his thumb to my chest and with a small twist of the body, put him in a thumb lock that dropped him to the ground and caused him to instantly submit. It was then explained to me that fingers and toes where off limits. We reset. I won fairly quickly. He suggested me and mori go at it. Sounded good to me. Two guys with something to prove. We went all out. The dojo was amazed. Shouts of disbelief rang out when Mori used his high school Judo to scissor sweep me and put me in a straight side arm bar. His legs around my arm and barring my elbow across his hip, He was sure I would tap out. Using all of my strength I curled my bicep up to my chest taking his body with it, used my free arm to base off the ground and stand, and was now standing with him curled up dangling from my arm. A brief look of pure disbelief flashed in his eyes before I slammed him into the ground releasing his hold. He then tried to take me back to the ground, with another sweep from the ground, while I was standing. I switched to sanchin stance. He could not move me. More shouts of disbelief. I had to move though, because while I was rooted, I could not attack. When I finally moved I got swept, but I caught mori in my guard, and put him in a choke. He stood up and power slammed me into the ground. Twice. I never let go, but he did eventually wriggle out. We where too sweaty for that move. We went back and forth, all out, for a round that lasted 33 minutes! In the end, Mori had slightly more stamina at the time and I was submitted. In my defense though, I was only at 50% strength going into the fight. I had trained hard earlier and just fought. I was very sore. I challenged him to a rematch in the future. Again, if it had been kyokushin rules only, I would have lost, but if I could use anything, I would win.


After that spectacle a few grapples in the place wanted to go at it. I took a one minute rest and then we went at it. One guy put me in an arm bar that took all my energy to escape. I won, but had no power left in that arm. The next guy attacked the same arm, and I was submitted. After that, everyone demanded to know the "secret techniques" I was using during these matches. We all had an impromptu learning experience and training session. One man called me a martial arts genius. I said that wasn't true at all. Then mori said, in English,"Maybe so...not genius. You are monster! You're strength and power not human. Vital points not working on you...you are MONSTER!" After that, some variation of “Monster” became what they called me (“Bakemono” can relate to demons, ghosts, and such, or just generic 'Monster') Mori seemed to enjoy showing me off at every opportunity, but I wondered if he was maybe giving too many compliments. When he would show me a kata once, and I would learn it, he called me a genius. He also said I was a sabaki genius, and a martial arts genius. When we sparred, he said I was like hitting a bag of rocks. A real life monster. The Japanese are known for lavishing compliments on their guests for the smallest of things, so I wondered if the praise was genuine. As our friendship grew, I would find out that it was. He was not shy about telling people, myself included, unflattering things if they were the truth. He also thought it was funny to start fights and competitions with me and people at bars just to see if they could keep up. I wound up in several barroom competitions including headbutts, fist bashing, leg kicks, arm wrestling, wasabi eating... whatever nonsense he thought he could get someone to challenge me to for his own amusement usually wound up happening at the notoriously long parties and outings.


I was finding out right then just how long those parties could be. After a great time fighting (and some new cuts on my face as sovereigns) it was time for kyokushin party part2. This was my first full Japanese Kyokushin party experience. Part one was the fighting, the hitting each other. Now it was time to hit the town. Because of the dojo's proximity to Kabukicho, the infamous Yakuza district(Japanese Mafia), we would often head over there to party. It would later become my default place and I probably have spent more time there than anywhere else. Occasionally I would have some scuffles with low level members of crime groups looking to get roughed up, but mostly it was a good time if you new how to handle yourself and didn't mind the Nigerian mafia prostitute peddlers getting in your face. We even had a gangster from Kabukicho try to join the Kyokushin dojo, but he was just a brawler and didn't want to learn, so Mori and I would take turns beating him to a pulp until he eventually quit. This was my first time out though, so all I knew was that I loved the energy of the town. We all went to a very high class Japanese bar. There where maybe 15 of us at the start of part 2. Everyone in the room was some kind of a good fighter. 90 percent of everyone was a champion of some kind. Mori's friend, who just turned pro in kickboxing, showed up to party. He' had the nickname "rocky", after the movie about boxing. Everyone got very drunk, but stayed in good spirits. A bunch college age or early twenties, happy go lucky fighters with ambition and good hearts. I managed to escape with only drinking a very small amount of beer( maybe 2 in 10 hours). I explained my body rejects all alcohol. They said it was because I had no practice. I only drank to foster the group harmony. We sang and told jokes, and talked about martial arts for hours. Of fighting and seeking the truth of things. Yusuke said that I knew a huge amount about the martial arts. I said I only knew a little bit, but I didn't know anything about anything else. "So you learn everything from martial art then, right?" Right. Mori also drunkenly informed me that most of the Japanese people I admire are, in fact, Gay. Which is a common thing in historical Japan. I liked that he liked to challenge people's preconceived notions when he could. We had that in common. We had a lot of life in common actually, except he didn't get dark in the sun like I do. He got really drunk and we learned a lot about each other. His story seemed atypical for a Japanese person at the time. Zenjuro Mori and I are the same age, about a month apart, about the same weight but I was one inch taller. We started training Karate at the same age. His mother and father divorced when he was 2 years old which was fairly uncommon in Japan at the time. He didn't really know his father and was raised by his mother. He was dating a girl he went to highschool with, and worked Monday through Saturday at a kind of apartment firm, sleeping on Sunday. He showed me an old kyokushin book, and there was a large old picture of a bunch of kyokushin students from back in the day. He pointed to a guy in the background, kind of avoiding his picture being taken, he would rather work out than be in the limelight. He said "that is my original teacher...."-in kind of a dreamy reflective way, almost talking to himself. I asked what his name was. He said "he is not famous". I asked again and he told me (I forgot though, bad with names). He said that he doesn't see him anymore since he moved to Tokyo. I asked why Mori moved. He paused and said "to become strong". We gave each other a knowing glance and a smile. He also has a wicked sense of humor. As conversation went on he asked me why I don't wear a Kyokushin uniform when I train. I told him it was because I am not only a kyokushin practitioner. He looked kind of sad. I asked if that was ok. He said" well.. this is a kyokushin dojo...."
That meant it was not ok.
I had become a Kyokushin man, and my friend wanted me to wear it, so from then I wore the Kyokushin training uniform.. Usually. At that dojo...




The night went on and the party kept going. Now it was time for party part 3! We all moved to another expensive bar. Much drinking and sharing of personal things ensued. We all bonded as a group. We also played mercy. I was undefeated. Mori educated me on the Japanese drinking traditions. They have got some wicked ones. Looks like I was going to get my booze practice in after all. Alcohol flowed and conversation turned to silly things, like whether or not I could kick a hat off of somebody's head. Without hitting them in the head. I said I could. Mori said he could not. Although his kicks are crisp and accurate, they aren't 1 centimeter accurate. After much, much prodding, I finally agreed to kick off some people's hats. I did, and everyone was happy. Now it was after midnight, and we had started all this at 2pm. We left the party part 3 and stood outside deciding where party part 4 was going to be. Everyone went to a karaoke bar.
I decided to go back to Takaeyama's house, as I was only going to get a couple of hours of sleep. I needed to get up early for a trip.


The next morning I was headed to the Yokohama Chinatown to buy some dit da jow, a Chinese martial arts herbal healing liniment. My life had now settled into a perfect groove of school, training, training adjacent things like parties, and hitting up the arcades. Basically my life regardless of where or when I am.


Even though I had settled into an enjoyable groove in my first couple months in Japan, I had to overcome some extreme disillusionment that hit me almost from the time I got there. I'm not a fan of how humans seem to work in large numbers, and Japan was no exception. People are people. I frequently wrote about this in my school papers, both out of genuine concern and frustration and because I liked the idea of people being uncomfortable reading the papers I was forced to write. The general vibe of my complaints, which can be spread to every population on the planet, is that the vast majority of people seem to be selfish, rude, and inconsiderate. People are like a group of fleshy poorly made robots, just clanging around into things without perception or goals. That's what it seems like most of the time anyway. Japan is world famous for it's social manners created out of respect for other people in order to maintain harmony, but just like every other group in the world, if the average schmuck thinks they can get away with something they will go for it. They would eat while walking, on the subway, or wherever, making a mess. They would smoke in the street and throw the lit butt on the ground, back when you could smoke. The Japanese would seem to avoid conflict with their eyes to the ground to promote harmony, when in reality it seemed to be to avoid conflicts that they had caused. They shoved on the train and run into people with no apology. They avoided eye contact not to humble themselves but to make it easier to avoid whatever might make them uncomfortable. This posture and attitude also causes people to be completely unaware of their environment. I watched many Japanese run into people and posts, trip on objects, and fall off of sidewalks. I once held back a group of oblivious Japanese business men flooding off of a train car because they were about to stampede over a little Japanese girl toddler. They probably wouldn't even have noticed they trampled a child but they definitely noticed when I shoved them all back in the train. There is also the stereotype that Japanese are super nice, though if you are not part of “the group”, these niceties can be superficial at best. If you are not part of whatever small group the people have formed in their minds, then you are disregarded as a burden. This goes for natives as well as foreigners. Unfortunately, the Japanese are famous for hating anything from "the outside", whatever that happens to be at the time. Of course none of these problems are exclusive to Japan. They are global problems with society in general. However, they seemed magnified in Japan due to the small space and intimate nature of the culture. Same story all over the world, I was just disappointed that Japan was not an exception. However, I rarely engaged with run of the mill society since I was always either doing school things or training things, and both were an exception to my global complaints.


Even though most of my time was spent either at school or with Kyokushin activities, my host family was not about neglect their quest to expose me to as much relevant material as possible. Mrs. Takeyama's father had studied Aikido for a very long time during his life, so she thought it important to take me to the Aikikai honbu dojo. I certainly wasn't going to argue. The Aikikai honbu is the main dojo of the branch of Aikido that directly follows Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. The current head of the Aikikai is Moriteru Ueshiba, the founder's grandson. I was told I was allowed to be there, as long as I could remain in seiza position. (Round 2, Seiza. It's time for a rematch for the tea ceremony!). There where two other people there, native Japanese, who could not remain in seiza...but I did. Victory.
As I watched the dojo fill up with Aikidoka( practitioners of Aikido) I was amazed with how many people where going to try to practice in such an area. One third of the people would have seemed to have been too many. And yet, more kept coming. Shoulder to shoulder, wall to wall, a lake of white keikogi and blue/black hakkama. The instructor entered and class began. They commenced with basic joint exercises. The same ones the Kyokushinkai uses, the same as most athletic activities in Japan use. Good, anything that repeatedly shows up in that instance is probably of some value. Next, they moved into warm up exercises.  Or so I thought. The instructor motioned for a senior student to come up and grab. He did, and with that the teacher spun him around slowly and stretched his back. Then the room full of students instantly paired up and practiced this. Oh, what a great warm up, I thought. A stretch, and strength exercise. Except that it wasn't. Upon closer inspection I realized it was an exercise in flowing with your opponent. Then I looked closer. It was actually an escape from an attack followed by a counter attack joint lock. Then came the understanding. This movement was all of those things. It was simultaneously warming up both practitioners, stretching and strengthening them, and developing mutual awareness, all while practicing technique. Truly an example of the heart of Aikido, right in the first movement. There where no warm ups. Or no techniques, depending on your point of view. In fact, point of view is all you had. No words where ever exchanged. Not from the teacher to the students, and not from one student to another. After some time, the teacher would stand, and everyone would sit. The teacher would motion for a student to come up and do something, and the teacher would demonstrate a new movement. Then everyone paired up and practiced. Not barred by language. There where no barriers. You only did. If you didn't understand, you just did the movement anyway. This is not to say they practiced in silence though. There was always rustling of clothes or tapping of bodies. A laugh or a grunt. But never words. Only the language of nature, and everyone understood. Every time the teacher would demonstrate a new movement it was more and more complex. I was not always impressed by the teacher's technique, but I was impressed by his techniques. Aikido is not suited for fighting, and it was never designed to be. The techniques are impractical and unrealistic ( as some people would say). However, if you understand what the movements are trying to show you, the theories of the movement, and then apply this knowledge elsewhere, you will be a better martial artist for it. If becoming a fighting monster is not your goal, that is all the better.  The Aikido practitioners I witnessed gave there all. Man and women, child and elderly. All where improving there health and the health of there partners. Every time they performed a movement on their partner, they where lightly stretching and massaging them. Nobody got injured in the slightest. In fact, the closest anyone came to an injury was a good hard sweat. Depending on your point of view: the students where either working themselves out, or had gone to the dojo just to work there partners out. Either way, the movements where impossible to do without a partner.
Aikido- a metaphor for life? Either way; the world is now in a state of decline, maybe learning a lesson from this would help?




Mrs. Takeyama seemed pleased that she was able to take me to the Aikido school and show off how her father had spent his time. Their family had a long history of martial arts appreciation. In fact, one day I came in to the Takeyama house from doing my morning exercises and found that there was a new face in the house. Mrs. Takeyama explained that her sister had stopped by for a visit. Mr. Takeyama was gone, so it was just the 3 of us eating breakfast. Host Aunt said "Oh, I've heard so much about you." Mrs. Takeyama said "yes, I have been bragging about you to my sister". Host aunt said "yes, you speak so politely, you have good manners. Your family and teacher must have done a good job. Tell me about your martial arts life philosophy. It was taking a bit to explain in Japanese. Mrs. Takeyama then told me "she is a psychologist, and also an English tutor. You can use English." Great. I explainws to her the philosophy of my martial art. Afterwards she said "my, you are so spiritual and philosophical. You seem practical too though.” The three of us then talked of religion and spirituality, and then of philosophy. These kinds of conversations usually last awhile, and this was no exception. Then we talked of the medical field and then about animals. Host aunt turned to her sister and said " He has the same beliefs as you, Seicho no Ie, and the same spirit. To think this boy would come to stay at your house... it must be fate." ( Seicho no Ie is the Takeyama's religion, I never gave a name to my views in the religious conversation, and I don't know if they truly overlapped or not, since I'm not a religious person) It may just have been fate that brought us together, if you believe in that sort of thing. I then thanked Mrs. Takeyama for breakfast and started to head up to my room. " where are you going?" she asked. I told her I was going up to my room. "to exercise?" Yes. "Please exercise down in the family room, so we can watch." Watch? "yes. I have been bragging to my sister about how strong you are." Host aunt then says " Yes, I can't wait to see the things my sister has told me about." So, I agreed. I figured since they were doing all these favors for me I may as well indulge them. Let them know their investment was worth it. I began with the usual. Joint loosening, light stretches. "Don't forget the splits!" Mrs. Takeyama yells. So, I do the splits. Ooohs, and aaahs from both of them. Then I move to handstand pushups. I see a flash. " I wanted a picture" Mrs. takeyama says. I start to do a backbend. "Bridge on your nose!" I do. More oooing. Push up time. The basics? Not going to cut it with this crowd. Mrs. Takeyama tells me to show them only on one hand with the thumb and index finger. Done.  "Now only with the thumbs." Allright. I finish my workout and Mrs. Takeyama tells her sister to poke my chest. "oh?...like a rock" she says. "How is it that he is so dense but so flexible?" Mrs. Takeyama then explains to her that it is "soft muscle" and part of body control. She then grabs my upper arm and squeezes. "very dense" she says. I tell her it is soft because I am not tense. "soft? please make it tense, I want to see the difference" I flex and then the two of them where poking me and giggling like school girls in their late sixties. At first I was a little uncomfortable being squeezed and poked by 2 sisters in their sixties, but then I figured I would just go with it. Before the sister left, she said she wanted a picture with me, as a souvenir, and so she could brag to their mother. She also said that she lived in Yokohama, and that she is a great cook. She insisted that if I am ever her way to let her know, and I am welcome to stay at her house. She said she would cook a lot of food because she loves to cook. Talk about an offer!


As much as I would have liked to take an extended food filled jaunt around Yokohama at the time, I was a student in Japan. Part of that means I was to go to school on school days six days a week ( mon.- sat.), and I was not allowed to leave Tokyo while school is in session. That's why it felt so good to be on a super express train rocketing away from Tokyo for a couple of hours. On a Friday morning. Thanks to my host family I was spending the next 4 days at the " 20th International Seminar of Budo Culture". A mountain retreat for martial artists exclusively for full days of training and study.
To gain acceptance to the seminar you must:
1) Be a foreign practitioner of budo living in Japan and have obtained a black belt recognized by a group of specific Japanese organizations. ( none of mine were recognized by any such organizations).
2) Be recommended by an organization belonging to the Japanese Budo Association ( I was not).
3) Understand either English or Japanese ( Some days it seems I struggle with both).
Only 100 people would be accepted. Applications must have arrived at the Budokan no later than February 8th. I saw the flier for the seminar for the first time on February 19th. The seminar filled up. I meet none of the criteria for entrance. My application was 2 weeks past the maximum deadline. I still got accepted. I was the exception yet again.
I arrived in Katsuura city, Chiba prefecture to find it warm, sunny, full of palm trees, and nothing like the Tokyo I left behind. I head to the seminar site walking through a small semi rural area. On the way there, some junior high school boys pass me. As they do they stop and give me a hearty "OSU!". I give them one back, and head on my way. After I arrive at the site I go to my room. There are 4 people to a room, and you sleep in 2 bunk beds.
Meals where buffet style, and I was told to eat until I felt satisfied. Their mistake.
The training was a mix of lectures and demos, followed by physical training in everyone's respective arts. Everyone was told to "experience a new budo", and so a portion of each day was devoted to trying new things. The "Budo" represented where: Karatedo, Judo, Kendo ( and advanced practitioners had Iaido), Naginata, Jukendo, Aikido, Kyudo, Sumo, Shorinji Kempo, and Ryukyu Kobujutsu.
As most people know, Naginata is an art practiced by 99% women. As such, most of the men flocked there. I went to learn sumo. It was there that I got to train with the college sumo champion. I learned the basic sumo exercises and got to sumo. The champion said my sumo side leg raise/stomp was beautiful. By the way, the sumo mawashi (belt) is huge. I looked really small in it. In sumo competition, I beat the foreigners, but the actual sumo wrestlers where another story. I was stronger than them, but being limited to only sumo technique, theirs was obviously much better. I liked their exercises though, and decided to take them.
That first night I grappled around with a Judoka of 43 years practice. He was bewildered and amazed when his chokes and joint locks didn't work on me. I told him I was just an outlier. Then all the various Karate, and Karate like styles gathered together to go practice. I went with them, and the teachers where the head of the Japan Karatedo Federation. Shotokan. The training was fine, but I did not appreciate them correcting my kata or similar things. I am not a shotokan stylist, and my techniques are the way they are for a reason.
The next day, I went through a proper Judo class. I didn't know exactly what to do, and they said that I was pairing with the college Judo team, so do what they do. OK. I didn't know how hard to throw these guys so I gave it about 75% and slammed them down. Every time I did, they would ooh and aaah, and give me a bigger partner. At the end, they said I was a very quick learner and very strong. I told them it was just because my partners where so good. I'm not sure if they were trying to pull on over on me or not, but it was good training anyway.
The Shorinji Kempo experience was another matter entirely. The techniques and methodologies where almost identical to my okinawan style. The GrandMaster was a spry and fast 77 year old who loved his art. His next in command gave me a bit of an attitude though. He insisted that with the way I was punching, I could not generate any power. I smiled and thanked him for his advice. After a bit, the shorinji kempo disciples put on body armor and instructed us to kick them in the stomach. I opted not to. Then they told us to punch them in the stomach, six times. I decided that since my arms are weaker than my legs, they would be allright.
Using the technique that "couldn't generate any power" I hit the man that had looked down on me with about 60% of my max. He flew back about 2 meters and bent over coughing and gasping. He looked around at his kempo brothers to see if they had seen it. They had. I asked if he was ok. He said yes. Great, then I can turn up the heat. Next punch was about 70%. Same effect, more coughing and face contorting. I had to hit him 4 more times. So I did. He was supposed to be assisting with class and then teaching one later, but as soon as we finished that exercises he took off his gear and dropped it on the ground and left. He did not return for his later class. Funny, it felt like I was getting ok power out of that punch to me...
The previous night during Karate practice, I met a nice korean girl. She had followed me to Judo, and then had gone with me to shorinji kempo and watched me floor the second in command. She asked me about my fighting posture. She said it was different from everyone else's and wanted to know about it. I showed her the basic posture. As I was doing so; a large, clumsy, unskilled shotokan practitioner from Egypt came over and told me I was "doing it wrong". What? He said that is not how it goes in Shotokan. I told him she asked about my way, not the Shotokan way. He assured me I could get no power from such a position. Really?... I just smiled and nodded and he lumbered off. The girl then told me that she did not like shotokan because it was too rough. She showed me her arms. HUGE bruises up and down both of them. If Shotokan did that to her, she really wouldn't like Kyokushin or Uechi. I told her she should put some liniment on them. She didn't have any, so I let her borrow mine. She couldn't get it on right so she had me put it on for her, and rub her arms down for about 15 minutes. She thanked me, and we parted ways for the time being. I didn't know at the time, but this was the girl all the guys where after, and this display did not ingratiate myself to them. Everywhere she went there was a thick force field of men around her. I wanted to talk to her more about her martial art, but I wasn't about to go through 3 meters of slobbery testosterone to do it.
On a related note, every night the foreigners would get together and drink alcohol until the early morning, then they would sleep through he morning lectures. I would just go to bed. I crashed this party to train, not to socialize and miss learning opportunities, and Japan hadn't yet fully indoctrinated me into it's alcohol culture. The final day I practiced Ryukyu Kobujustu. The techniques where all ones I had previously learned,but it was great practice anyway. With the exception of a few fat-foreigner-wanabees, and closed minded gate-keeping types, I had a great time. It sure beat going to school, anyway.


After the big favor of getting me into the training retreat I felt I owed my host family a favor of some kind, which meant finally agreeing to go with Mrs. Takeyama to her church. It meant a lot to her that I go at least once, and I figured it was the least I could do. So I agreed to go to the Seicho No Ie church.
This involved getting up at 4:30 in the morning. Not a problem. My teacher used to have me get up and be AT special training by 4:30 in the morning. The only difference is this church trip let me get more sleep, and it wasn’t nearly as difficult.
I was in bed by midnight and up at 4:30. Though I have to say, the morning felt like it came pretty quick. It happened that the same day I went to the church was the same day there was some kind of college field trip, so the place was packed with college students. The first thing I noticed about them was that the college girls all had on very nice dress clothes and where quite dressed up. The college guys all looked roughly like me; all wore jeans and t-shirts, had sleep crust in their eyes, had messy hair, yawned a lot, and looked generally disheveled. The room was one very large tatami style room and everyone had to sit in seiza on the floor for an hour and a half. Many of the college students couldn’t do it. Mrs. Takeyama informed me that many Japanese people these days just cannot sit in seiza position. She then complimented me on my ability to sit in seiza the whole time. In fact, every time we saw somebody she knew on the way in or out, she would stop and introduce me. Then brag that I am a martial artist and very strong. I would say that I wasn't strong yet, which was why I was training in Japan in the first place, but I hoped to be soon. Then we would thank them. The Seicho No Ie greeting is a "thank you" and the farewell is the same. I didn’t know what I was thanking people for, but surely they where helping me somehow.
Durning the actual session Mrs. Takeyama gave me a book so I could read and follow along. Except everyone there read very, very fast, and I did not read Japanese that fast yet. There was about 30 minutes where I was struggling to follow with my eyes, let along say those words out loud. Then at the end came the part I was most intimidated by. Mrs. Takeyama told me about this.
Laughing practice.
I heard you just paired up and started laughing. The thought made me nervous. I couldn’t just laugh on command and I felt like I was going to be put on the spot.
Then we paired up. I was paired with a college guy, who was about my size and age. The leader would say things like "today is a funny day...." and everyone would repeat it. This went on for about 3 minutes, then it was time to laugh. Everyone erupted into laughter. I just faked it. At first. I thought about the funniest things I could, and started laughing a little bit. Real laughter. Then I looked at the guy across from me. He was laughing so hard, I couldn’t help but laugh. Every once in a while, everyone would throw there arms up into the air and laugh even harder. It was quit the endorphin high from laughing so much. That laughing practice turned out to be my favorite part of the whole thing. I guess that's one way to make church palatable for a person like me. I'm fine if I never go back though.


Now it was springtime. As most people know, Spring time in Japan means cherry blossoms. People go out, and spend a great deal of time watching them, and picnicking under them. It's a whole national thing with large company gatherings, school trips, and people going on dates. Every excuse to go out and look at the flowers and trees. I like to take naps under them. A saying in the Japanese martial arts says a warrior and a cherry blossom have shared fates. Both are only at their peak for a very short time, and then they fall. Philosophy and old saying aside, I went out with the Takeyama family for Hanami, or "flower viewing" around the Mitaka area. This would be our last outing together with me living under their roof. The school quarter was ending and so was my stay with them. The school only allowed a home stay for one quarter. I would now be relocated to a dormitory. I was moving from pretty Mitaka to Industrial Hiyoshi (in the north of Yokohama). The Takeyama family actually didn't want me to go, and I didn't really want to move. But we had to abide by the terms in the school agreement. Lots of Japanese red tape, and I don’t understand most of it; So we agreed to get together once a week or so for dinner and conversation ( and maybe I would try to do my laundry for cheap...) and maybe go out and do something.


The dorm I was moving to was the one George had lived in while he was going to school. He was only going to school for the one quarter so his time was up. He was leaving Japan and returning to New Jersey. I was losing my main non-Japanese buddy in Japan. We went out for a final round of handstands, frisbees, and arcade game nonsense. I rode with him all the way to the airport and saw him off. We promised we'd get together as soon as we both could, and then I returned to my new life at the dorm.


My Room in the dorm was small. I could touch the ceiling, floor, and both walls at the same time. I could touch opposite walls with my feet. There was no Hachiman shrine that I could find, and no parking lots either, so I exercised on the roof. The train zipped by my room all the time and was fairly loud. There was a big, uncomfortable bed in the room that took up all the available space. I don’t even sleep on a bed, I sleep on the floor. I did have a sink in my room, but only cold water was available. We were not allowed to hang anything anywhere, or tape things to the walls. I did, though. My room wound up designated with a sticker of Indiana Jones on the door. The basement of the dorm did have a nice heavy bag in the basement for training. Positives and Negatives, I suppose. I just needed to take everything in stride, and have a positive outlook.


Oh, and Hiyoshi smelled bad.


My friend George had left, and I had left my host family and their cozy neighborhood. The intro stage of my time in Japan had wound down, but the shenanigans were just getting started.


-Nash