Dan in Japan (Old)

To start things off I'll repost this piece from the old website about Danny in Japan.

Gareth.

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The past month was very busy for the Bekka-sei students On 29th of April we went to Tokyo to see the All Japan Judo Championships at the Nippon Budokan. Was rather interesting, especially the fight between Suzuki and Inoue in the finals, both men were matched in body size and relative experience, so it came down to a half point being taken off Inoue for being too defensive (or something like that) And that's how the Golden Week started, we had 6 days of holidays, unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad, and we just ended up staying in our rooms, drinking coffee, playing cards, going for walks etc.

Next weekend some of us went to Akihabara district in Tokyo, or the "electronic city" as it might be more famous as. But to be frank, the place is overrated, everything is expensive, and every shop is selling exactly the same items. Nothing too special, weeks are pretty normal here, just lessons and training, so nothing interesting to talk about i suppose.

Last weekend, me, the Brazilian Dave and a Chilian friend with his wife, hit the Roppongi district for some late night partying, it was very fun, lots of interesting bars, but very expensive, (entrance 15 bucks, drinks 10 bucks a piece). So we didn't go too nuts, just dancing with some girls having a few drinks. In the morning, the guys went off back to Katsuura, while i stayed behind in Tokyo to watch the Kanto Region Kendo Taikai, (on a side note, it took longer to get from Roppongi to Nippon Budokan than it did to get from Katsuura to Tokyo) being seriously sleep-depraved didn't help too much hehe. The Budai guys did pretty well, one got to the quarter-finals, but was taken out in encho by the eventual winner. As the Japanese say :"Shooga Nai, no ginger" (sh33t happens in English). This weekend we are travelling back to Tokyo to see the Girls Individual Kanto Taikai.
Looking forward to seeing that one ;-)

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Well, the summer holidays started in Japan. Its hot, steamy, and tiring. Sweating around 4 litres off per hour of practise.
The Budai kendo club activities ceased for the duration of the holidays but i managed to hook up with Micheal Komoto and we`re travelling around the katsuura area visiting dojos and doing extra kendo. Mostly high-school ones, on fridays we practise in the Katsuura Kenshuu centre dojo, which gets visited by the area senseis.
I and Tada-sensei from Budai visited a high-school seminar held over a period of a week. It was inspiring. 140 kids (imagine all of them like clones of mark) doing 30 mins of kakarigeiko, kirikaeshi, haya-suburis etc. I managed to wiggle my way in as a motodachi for this during the final 2 days and man i was beat just receiving.
On free time me and the guys are having off-time in Onjuku (famous beach in japan) drinking beer, surfing, enjoying the sights.

Other than that just counting down the time till I'm back in Scotland...beware ;).

P.S.

congrats to all who passed in the in-club-shinsa, good job.

Dan