Travel Diaries

Diaries From Japan

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    July 25, 2010Alright so it turned out Wednesday was the last practice for everyone and it was crazy hot. They said it set a record for how hot it was. My gi was so drenched. It was just like a normal practice but everyone was struggling the last set of rounds and during newaza because of the heat. Thursday I went to the weight room and did my own workout since there was no judo. It was nice to be able to sleep in for a little bit but I wanted to stay used to waking up early so I didn’t sleep in too late. Friday was about the same workout on my own then homework and studying the rest of the day. I am staying busy at least. Saturday I met up with Jeff and we went around Tokyo. It was pretty fun but Jeff got annoyed because when we went to visit Agehariba, I doubt that’s how you spell it but its the electrical district or whatever and I kept asking Jeff where all the robots were and mentioning that there weren’t that many electrical things and that I still had to push the doors open. He didn’t enjoy my comments. Today we went and watched the kendo tournament in Yokosuka. It took a while to get there but once we did we had fun. I was impressed by Miki and Genki. Unfortunatly, we didn’t get to see Yume because she was the first one to compete. It was a fun day.

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    July 20, 2010So Kenny just left after what was an amazing weekend. Sunday we got to go to the Chiba Marines baseball game and it was awesome. Japanese baseball games are a lot different than American ones. Everything was great about the game except for one thing. I told Kenny to ask this one beer girl to take a picture with me but he paused too long and she walked past and I didn’t see her again and she was the love of my life. Then on Monday morning Kenny and I got killed at badminton. Yes, I’m definitely not very good. Then we got to go to Tokyo Disneyland and we were lucky since none of the rides had that long of a wait at all. It really was our lucky day because then we won the lottery and got to see a show. At Tokyo Disneyland you must enter and win the lottery for tickets to see the night shows. Well, we won and got to see a stitch show. Then when I got to practice the night that Kenny left. It was a kata night and a technical practice for an hour. But it was ok because it was so crazy hot that I sweated as much as I normally do just by doing the kata practice.

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    July 20, 2010 Journal entry,These last have few days have been lots of fun and walking around. My last day which was Saturday Nakanishi sensei told me to give a speech and I did as I was told. Luckily, I had some help from the Kurokawas to help me translate my gratitude to them for helping me the past few months with my judo. That night I was practicing and ran into several problems. For one I couldn’t pronounce some of the words which would make it very difficult for me to give the speech the following day. I was lucky enough to get help from one of my friends(Yamaki) on the pronunciation of several words. The following day I gave the speech and as far as I know I did alright although I think that they were just trying to be nice. Sunday the Kurokawas picked us up and we were off to Chiba. Sunday night we went to a Chiba Lotte Marines game. It was a good game as the home team dominated a divisional rival. Also during the game, I had a kimchi burger which was surprisingly good. The next day Seiji and I played badminton with Hitomi in the morning. Unfortunately I lost to both of them and Seiji and I as a team lost to hitomi. Not the high point of the morning haha…. After that we spent the rest of the afternoon at Tokyo Disneyland. We were very lucky as the lines were no longer then a half an hour wait. We were able to ride about 8 different attractions. At night we got special seats to see a water and fireworks show at the Tokyo Disneyland castle. All this was capped by a few rides on splash mountain. This weekend was fun as we were able to be tourists and see some sights. The final weekend was a lot of fun. Thank you Yasu and Hitomi.

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    July 15, 2010Alright so this Sunday was the inter team tournament at the 81 90 and 100 kg weights and it was exciting. They are a stacked team and one thing that I noticed about their refereeing (the fourth years who aren’t fighting ref) is that in only one match, out of the maybe 15 that went to flags, was there not a unanimous decision on who was the winner. These players all have one mind it seems. I have been doing better and better against the lefties. I am still trying to go with as many as possible and am winning more and more gripping exchanges and am able to have a decent opening for an attack more and more often which is a good thing. To me it seems as though the lefties are more and more willing to want to go with me now that it I am doing quite well against them. Some of them actually come up and ask me instead of the other way around which is nice for a change. Kenny is leaving after this weekend and it looks like I will be on my own. I have been trying to learn more and more Japanese throughout the trip but the urgency has picked up somewhat now that the time for him to leave is drawing nearer.

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    July 14, 2010Hi all….

    Judo this week has been just like any other week. However, the next few days I think that I will see some of my rounds dwindle with the light weights as they prepare for the Tokai tourney on Sunday. That will be interesting to watch as some of the younger guys have a chance to prove themselves against the older boys. Also, morning practices have become really easy for them as they are preparing for a break. They have been doing physical tests/max on weights to see where they are at. Seiji and I have been doing our own thing in the weight room since they are doing the tests. A lot of the starting members and some of the team who are part of the national team are gone this week for a training camp. This past week has been fun because Tokai Sagami high school has been working out with us on a daily basis. These boys are monsters… I really only work out with he 90kg and 100kpg high school players as the those are the only ones who are willing to work out with me. Hope all is well back home.

    Kenny h

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    July 11, 2010Hi all,

    Hope hints are going good back home. Had a nice long week last week of nothing but judo. On Saturday we had a few visitors from the national team. To name of a few the most recent all japan champion( and several other players from Kokushikan) also Shinohara was at practice the current national team coach. Also with long time team veteran Suzuki worked out. I sort of didn’t want to get rounds so that I could watch all of them practice but instead i got my rounds in. We did not have Saturday afternoon practice because 81, 90, and 100kg all had an inter-squad tournament on Sunday. It was interesting to watch as most of the people who won throughout the day 6-8matches. Saturday after practice Seiji and i went for a bike ride. Where to we did not know but either way it was a nice ride. On our way back a car pulled in front of me of this turn place where i didn’t think cars came out of.. I hit my brakes and ran into the curb. Haha i feel Ike a kid again getting in bike wrecks. Starting another week today and this coming Sunday will be all of the lightweights chance at the inter squad tournament. Hope all is well. Oh yeah big props to Mikey!!!

    Kenny h

  • From Mike Kannianen

    July 9, 2010Hey all,

    Good news! Just got out of practice, well actually tonight was the inter-Teikyo weighted shiai, and I fought in the heavyweight division. I won the division on a tie breaker because we all beat eachother, but I was the only person to actually score points off of throws. Sadly though, this feels somewhat tainted because both the biggest (Ochi Masaaki-160kg) and most talented (Dai-chan the captain) players did not fight. My first match was against Shinoushi (I think that’s how to spell it) who is about my weight, maybe a little lighter at the moment. I was agressive and out-lasted him the full 5 minutes, surprisingly. I threw him once with a harai-makikomi for a yuko, and countered two of his throws for yuko scores as well. Also, I forced him into two shido penalties as well by being agressive. So, I won that match. Next was Iwata (Tiger Mask) who is much taller than I am and weighs about 143kg. I could not really get anything going on him because of his strength. I did not grip him as effectively as I normally do in practice, fatigue may have been a factor. I received two penalties, one for non-combativity and later one for defensive posture (I lost the grip fight and he bent me over and stood on me basically, I could not get out). I lost that match because of the penalties, but did not get thrown. The last match was between the other two, and it went scoreless until the last ten seconds when Iwata was given a penalty for ducking his head under. That gave Shinoushi the win by penalty, and me the overall win because of the tie-breaker.

    Even cooler to me was that Maruyama Sensei is now having a Teikyo belt made for me and shipping it to me in the states! Definitely in my top couple accomplishments for my Judo career is that prize (close to getting 2nd at Jr. Pan Ams). At the end of practice when we were lined up they had the winners stand up in front of the group. Today there were only three divisions contested so that was pretty neat. Well, we are now officially down to our last week in Japan. It’s been a great time and hopefully the fun continues for the next few days. Hope all is well back home, can’t wait to see everyone and share some of these experiences.

    -Mike

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    July 8, 2010hi all,

    Well, this week things have gone back to being normal for the team.. well mostly. Monday was a normal practice and got more and more people are working out with Seiji and myself. Tuesday was somewhat different. Seiji and I got to practice and then we were stretching only to have a 4 year player tell us that 73 and under were running. Seiji and I hurried to get changed so that we could go on the run with them. We ran around the town for about 40/45 minutes then took a break while everybody finished the run. After that we did sprints up and around this hill. That was our afternoon practice… it was super hot and humid that day so I was a little dehydrated after that run… all of our clothes were wet and to make matters even worse I didn’t bring an extra pair of shorts so I had to wear my sweaty ones for a while ( they were soaking wet ) YUCKY…. this whole week we have had morning lifting which is a little weird since usually we also have running during the morning… Thursday. Today was different for us. Today we went and worked out at Teikyo with Justen and Mikey. It was fun, today they had an easy practice because the have an inters quad tourney Friday. I did not get a round off of the ten rounds we did… I guess I have gotten used to going four rounds and a break for like 3 sets… however, no break for me today. Needless to say I was dying haha. I mean I was in shape and could move with them and not get thrown but I couldn’t keep my grips going and when I would attack it wouldn’t be an attack that I was proud of. Following practice we went to dinner with the Teikyo coach. This was an interesting dinner as we had just met him but I am friends with both of his assistant coaches who also came to dinner. We went to Korean BBQ and the head coach made all four of us eat quite a bit of food. They kept telling us to eat eat… I am full to the brim and will have fun when I get back. Maybe I’ll start my diet a little bit early. Haha yeah right, a diet in japan. I find that very unlikely. Today was a long day of trains and judo and eating haha. Anyways, I hope all is good back in the CO

    Kenny h

  • From Mike Kannianen

    July 7, 2010Hey everyone!

    Hope everything is going well back home. Japan is still going ok. I can’t lie, I’m ready for some Colorado sunshine. It has been raining and hot (weird combination) for the last couple of weeks. Today actually is beautiful outside, blue sky nearly everywhere for the first time in what feels like a month. The problem is when it is like this it’s the hottest, so I don’t even want to go out and enjoy it! Judo has been good the last few days, preparing for the Teikyo inter-squad tournament. I am fighting in the heavyweights because I could not get within 3kg of 100kg, but that’s fine because I have been fighting heavyweights at least 2 out of every 3 matches for over a month now. Yesterday at practice I thought Justen was crazy because he had to go with Iwata (tiger mask, 140kg) the second, third, and fourth matches in a row…. but then I went with him for 5,6, 7, 10, 11 and 14. Small practice so we kept finding eachother and Miyahara made us go the last round because the partner I had was who he wanted. No real injuries to report, thank god, just the usual bumps, bruises, and soreness. I am excited to fight in the shiai tomorrow, not even nervous for it actually. I guess that is probably because it has been a long time again since I competed. I miss the feeling, that rush you get. This weekend is going to busy with everyone wanting to go out one last time while we are here so we are going to get to hang out with the Teikyo judo boys outside of the dorm.

    I noticed yesterday that my ashi-waza that I worked so hard on the months before I came here is still working. I thought I was just losing it, but the guys must have just figured out my style because I still caught a few guys with nice footsweeps. I also have developed a decent ‘switch’ off of a hip throw fake because they get so defensive. Maruyama sensei showed me an o-uchi variation that I want to show some of the lighter weights and Ian because the grip was just slightly different.

    Not sure how many more journals I’ll send before I get back, but this has definitely been the trip of a lifetime.

    Thank You!

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    July 4, 2010Hi, hope all is well.

    Happy Fourth of July. Judo at the end of last week was the normal for them haha but always fun for me. I got in 11 of the 14 rounds and my body could feel weeks worth of practice. Although one of my rounds was with a Jr. from Switzerland. A Jr. team came in from Switzerland last week and most of them are around 20 years of age. It is good to have a different type of judo style to workout with but one thing that I don’t like is sometimes they take my partners. The people who I go after… oh well though I know I will get enough rounds in throughout the day. This past weekend was the All-Tokyo Jr judo tournament… a qualifier for the All-Japan. Tokai did ok but I think that a few key people had bad days and lost early so they will not qualify. This week should be fun as practice should be almost back to normal with all of the players attending practice. These next few weeks I think that they have a inner University tournament with the members of Tokai…. a ranking tournament within itself… it should be very interesting. After the tournament Seiji and I also joined the Kurokawas for dinner and it was delicious. Thank you very much for the weekend trip to your house! Anyways, good luck to the Jr.s who are competing these next few weeks. Happy Fourth of July and I hope everything is going well.

    kenny h

  • From Justen Otaka

    July 4, 2010Hey everybody,

    We are down to our last 2 weeks here and I am starting to get sad that we have to leave. Practice has not been that crazy lately since there were back to back weekend tournaments, the All Japan Collegiates followed by the All Tokyo Juniors. Teikyo actually had TWO guys make it to the best 4 in the All-Tokyo shiai, one at 55kg and another at 73!! This freshman class is pretty impressive!! This week we get back to normal practices, which means a LOT of tachiwaza for Mikey and I!! I like it also because the coach encourages transitioning into ne-waza, something I have been working on out at San Jose State.

    We went and spent the weekend with my cousin Miki and her kids. Watched their Kendo promotional tournament, then hung around at her house till it was time to go watch 4th of July fireworks with Casey. We went to the roof of a shopping mall and watched the show from there. After that we had to run since we had a long set of train rides ahead of us to get home. Yokosuka to the Teikyo dorms takes about 2 hours.

    Sensei Maruyama is letting Mikey and I compete in the iner-Teikyo shiai!! I will be fighting 4 or 5 guys at 90 kilos and mikey has 3 guys in the open weight category… should be fun, we will try to get pics and/or video for that!

    Take care,

    Justen Otaka

  • From Mike Kannianen

    June 30, 2010Hey everyone!

    Sorry it has been so long since my last update, things got crazy and the internet is expensive, but we found a new way that works for a few minutes. Anyways, the last couple weeks have been intensely packed. If you have been keeping up with Kenny you know all the craziness that we have gotten to do, LIKE BOXING EACH OTHER IN THE ALL JAPAN BOXING RING AT THE PRIVATE OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER. Fun memories. Many more I can share with pictures when I get back. I decided to be with pictures when I get back. I decided to be the annoying tourist that takes like a million pictures, so I will have plenty to share! Training is going well。 Last weekend Teikyo had one of its best ever finishes in The All Japan Collegiates finishing in the top 16. This week the Junior shiai is happening and they have a the Junior shiai is happening and they have a couple kids that should do really well. Uta Haraikawa is an 18 year old stud. Already a starter on the team, and now can show his stuff against guys his size and age。Hopefully it goes well. The weather here is getting annoying though, it is either Really hot and muggy, or hot and rainy. I still don’t understand how it can be rainy, Windy, and hot all at the same time. Well, practice today should be kind of boring, because we are mainly Just letting the junior starters do what they want and fight who they want… I honestly will get 2-4 matches in today, which kind of sucks. Training other than that is going really well。I am down like 9 kilos, and hope to get about 6 more while I am here. It’s annoying how slowly I am losing weight, but I don’t think that the rice is helping that much haha. Hope everything back home is good.

    Mike

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    June 28, 2010This weekend was the All-Japan college championships and it was incredible. Saturday the women competed and the first round of the men’s competition began. The women’s competition was fun because Tokai’s women’s team had some exciting matches and an extremely dissapointing match. For the women’s competition there are five competitors. Two 57 kilos two 70 kilos and an open weight competitor. The Tokai women’s team is strong as they got second place at the Tokyo city championships only losing to Teikyo University. This weekend however, Teikyo got upset and did not make it to the finals. Tokai was in the finals and were tied before the final match and in the final seconds of the last match the Tokai girl was winning the match but she got a shido in the last handful of seconds and ended up losing the match thereby losing the tournament. That penalty hurt. The men’s team had a first round bye and did not have to compete at all that day because they were the returning champions. Sunday was an early day like Saturday because we had another long train ride to the Nippon Budokan but we were excited to watch the tournament. The men looked ready to go and they were. They made their way into the finals with only a few scares. Kokushikan had a tougher road to the finals but made it there as well and ended up avenging themselves from last year by beating Tenri in the semifinals. So the finals began with a huge rivalry. Everyone was screaming it was hard not to get caught up in it. First match Kokushikan won by a yuko in a match that started off the dramatic finals. This entire tournament I had seen only 1 referee conference but in the last twenty seconds of this match there were two conferences and Tokai ended up losing the match. The next match the captain who is 81 kilos fought a +100 guy from Kokushikan who I heard was their strongest player and fought him to a draw. The third match was a freshman named Haga. He won the All-Japan high school championships the year before. He ended up throwing the guy with a beautiful uchimata for Ippon. The fourth match Tokai came in for an o-ouchi and got countered for Ippon and lost. So Tokai had one Ippon and Kokushikan had an Ippon and a Yuko victory. Yoshida fought the next match and fought to a draw. The next match Tokai won by a Yuko so the team score was all tied up with one match to go. Luckily Tokai still had one of their strongest players in Takagi to fight in the last match. Takagi will be competing in the world championships as well at 100kg. Takagi ended up pinning the guy and the Tokai team erupted into applause. Tokai had won its third consecutive championship and its sixteenth total. The celebration afterwards was pretty cool the entire team ended up going down on the floor and everyone picked up the coaches and the captain and threw them in the air and caught them three times. Takagi and Haga also got named to the all star team. It was a great day. Tokai continued its legacy by coming within less than five seconds of winning both the men’s and women’s titles.

    seiji

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    June 28, 2010Hi all…

    This whole week was amazing… We had an interview with Yasuhiro Yamashita and this weekend we were able to watch the Tokai mens team win its 16th Univ championship. The Tokai women’s team got second losing on a penalty that happened in the last few seconds. All day we were able to watch and cheer on the Tokai men’s team. They are all very happy after they won the championships. In the finals they beat Kokushikan, their rivals. It was a very, very exciting team match. The first match was crazy with scores going for each player. The second match was a tie and then the third match a Tokai freshman won putting the score at 1 win 1 loss and 1 tie. The fourth match was a tie and then the 5th match was a win for Kokushikan. That meant that Tokai had to win the last two matches and that they did. It started with a senior pulling off a yuko win an exciting match that could have gone either way. The anchor for the team a sophomore and member of the 2010 world team, Takagi pulled of a win by pinning his opponent for the win. The final score was 3 wins, 2 losses, giving Tokai a third championship in a row and the 16th overall. After the tournament we heard everybody talk and we we ere allowed to be in on the floor with everyone as they celebrated their victory. It was quite an experience being with all of them. Following that we were shown to a room where they had another meeting this time with board members and other people about the championships win. Sato sensei, Nakanishi sensei, and Agemizu sensei all spoke about the big win. It was quite an experience being with all of them and seeing how happy everyone was about the victory. This weekend was very enjoyable as the students were all pumped about the win and even before that pumped about all he matches that were coming up. I am looking forward to the upcoming workouts as I believe I will get more matches hopefully I can even get thrown around by some of the team members… Haha I just found a new goal for myself…get a throw in on a few starting members…. I hope all is well back home and hope that everything is going well…. Best of luck to all of the juniors who are fighting.

    Kenny h

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    June 24, 2010Hi all,

    I am sorry it has been a while since my last journal post. We had a busy few last days. Last weekend we went on a train ride and ended up at a BBQ two hours later and had a nice relaxing Sunday. We meet up with Shinya and meet some of her friends. It was nice to sit and talk and eat with some non-judo people really. Monday it was back to judo. Judo this week has been good and bad. I have gotten in my rounds but a few tournaments are coming up so it makes it a bit harder for us non-university students to get rounds. This weekend is the All Japan Univ. Championships, the big one and then on the following weekend they have a large tournament for people under 20. This weekend is a big weekend for the team. This is the big tournament that they won last year. Round 1 for the men and the whole women’s tournament will take place on Saturday. The Tokai men’s team will not fight on Saturday because they are the returning champions they picked up a first round bye. Sunday the will compete and we will be cheering them on and watching some awesome judo both days. This week we had a very very lucky tour and meet and greet thanks to the Kurokawas. This Wednesday the Colorado boys and Jeff went to the National training center in Japan and we were able to get a tour with the vice-president of the facility. It was amazing we were able to watch a live wrestling practice, play on some of the equipment, take a quick peek at some of the high tech equipment that they are using. We ate lunch at the facility and met several Olympic medalists who work at the facility. Also, Noriko Narazaki used to work at this place before taking another job elsewhere for those of you who remember her while she was staying in Boulder. This was followed by lunch at the training center, and then we headed to our next destination. We were part of an interview with Yasuhiro Yamashita. Mr. Kurokawa interviewed Yamashita Sensei along with a friend and we were able to be part of it and listen. It was for a journal here in japan about coaching I believe. In the interview Yamashita talked about how he wants judo to grow but he wants to make sure it grows in the right way. He wants you to show respect to your opponent and show respect to everyone. This experience was one that will stay with me for a long, long time as I’m not sure if many Americans have this kind of opportunity. At the end of this we were able to take pictures with Yamashita sensei. We ended the day with dinner with the Kurokawas after the busy, busy day. It was a day that we all enjoyed greatly and once again I would like to say thank you to the Kurokawas for the fantastic and one of a kind experience.

    Kenny h

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    June 24, 2010Wednesday we all met up with the Kurokawa’s and they took us on this amazing tour of the Japanese Olympic training center and it was quite amazing. That day was a lot of fun. We also found out that I can jump higher then anyone else. After the tour we went to an interview with Yamashita sensei and I learned that he has a much more global view about judo. We were very lucky to have been considered to participate in the interview and the question we selected to ask Yamashita sensei came from Justen. After the interview, we went to a very good Tonkatsu restaurant which was delicious. However, the next day we were back to practice again. Although we had no morning practice because the college championships are this weekend so we just have judo practice at night. During these practices usually the starting team does their workout then the rest of the team does randori while the starters do uchikomi. We still need to do randori because the under 20 team has the Tokyo junior championships next weekend. I have been fighting as many lefties as I can and I have been doing better against them. Righties I have been doing well against but I would still like to be more offensive. I feel as though I am hesitating too much so I am trying to force myself to take the shot and as many times as I can. Looking forward to the tournament this weekend. Go Tokai!

    seiji

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    June 15, 2010Hi all,

    Seiji and I have moved into the Judo dorms. I think last night after practice when I was washing judo gis and passing other people in the halls they were surprised to see that we had moved in with them. Hopefully this will allow us to get to know them better. The team tournament is next weekend so this week and next week are preparation time. when I do get my rounds in, things have been going good for me. I am moving better every day and my body is getting somewhat used to the punishment that it has been taking. Well at least I hope my body is handling the treatment it has been receiving. I hope all is well back home.

    Kenny h

  • From Seiji Hashimoto

    June 15, 2010Sorry it has taken so long to write we have been quite busy. Judo practice was going really strong for a while because the college championships are not this coming weekend but the next one and the Tokyo junior championships are the following weekend I believe. The Tokyo junior championships are for under 20 so its mostly freshman and a few sopohmores. The team has been having some good, intense practices. We moved into the judo dormitory as well and we don’t have internet access anymore so that will make it a little harder. As for the judo I have been getting things to work a lot better by setting throws up by pumping but I am still not doing well with lefties so I am going everyday with as many as I can which to be honest is not as much fun as you would think. There are a lot of lefties out here unlike in the states. I am trying lots of new things to help me in gripping against them but it is only successful for one or two gripping exchanges and I have yet to find something that will stick. The team is looking good going in to the tournament and I believe that they will repeat.

    Seiji

  • From Mike Kannianen

    June 14, 2010Hey all,

    So this weekend and week have been great so far. Saturday we met up with some friends and Jeff and Seiji and enjoyed a night out. Sunday we went and saw an AWESOME Taiko drumming show with Miki (Seiji, Kenny, Jeff, Justen, Myself) and even better it was only like 3 stops away on the train so it wasn’t even a bunch of traveling. It’s no fun for those guys though because they are even further in the boonies than we are. Due to some unforeseen circumstances with Friday and Saturday’s Teikyo practice not happening (coach went recruiting at the high school tournament) so my ankles got some much needed rest since last Thursday. Because of this, Monday morning I was back at nearly 100%! Rain in the morning pushed running to the indoor track…. Only in Japan will they build an indoor track with a hill, kind of ridiculous. But Justen and I were like that last ones to stop running, which I think made the coach happy. Not only that, but we both busted our butts. When the coach told me to stop I did one more lap with sprints with Justen, simply because it was nice to do something and not have my ankle hurt. It was really wearing on me mentally, but now it’s better and I am all smiles. Practice Monday night was different because the Teikyo starters practiced with Chuo’s starters (Justen and I did this last week, so we were told to stay at Teikyo for the night). Because it was mainly lightweights, freshman, and sophomores we did Motodachi, and I got the sash for the first 8 matches. That was the most I have enjoyed doing Judo in a long time. Again, it didn’t hurt to do anything so I was able to have fun with the guys when we were fighting. And there was only one other heavyweight there, so I wasn’t trying to muscle anyone like crazy either, but instead just move and be loose. Once my 8 matches were done, and everyone switched sashes, Justen went in the next group. I was only able to go about 3 or 4 of the last 6 matches, but that was because people were tired and just didn’t want to fight. Today’s morning practice was the street course to the bridge and back, again, I won the race of the guys about 95kg and up (we run different distance than the lightweights). I caught the guy in front of me on the last stretch up this stupid hill. The next guys were like 10 minutes behind me 🙂 Justen is surprisingly fast…almost makes me mad.

    On the walk to running this morning, when we were walking up the hill to the dojo I looked over and saw Mt. Fuji clear as day. Absolutely beautiful. I may be used to mountains, but that was one of those things you look at and kind of step back to appreciate it and understand the magnitude of what you’re doing. I am 21 years old, and I am training in Japan for 2 months of my life. I spoke virtually no Japanese when I got here. Life is crazy. That was the first time we could see it since we have been here because it is always so hazy. Hopefully I can see it again when I have my camera with me, because I want a picture!

    Hope all is well, and that your eyes aren’t tired from reading another one of my novels!

    Miss everyone,

    Mike

  • From Kenny Hashimoto

    June 14, 2010Hi,

    This weekend was busy as Friday was a good practice and i saw my friend from Teikyo, Hitoishi. It has been a while since I have seen him. Saturday was another hard practice of 12 rounds. My body was definitely feeling it after the week. I got in over 10+ rounds every single night with 3 days of getting the sash for motodachi. Saturday was nice because we were ale to go to dinner with the Kurokawas. Seiji and I had not seen them in a few weeks so that was nice. Sunday we also went out to lunch with Carlos Mendez a judo player whom I used to love to watch when I was younger. It was nice to see him and talk to him. Following lunch with him on Sunday we went to a Taiko concert with Miki, Yuki, Justen, Jeff, and Mikey. It was an awesome performance although we were a little late due to not knowing which train to take. After that we went to dinner with Justen and Mikey. Yesterday’s practice Monday night was not that hard because Kanagawa prefecture police team came and we did not get in that many rounds as the mats were very crowded. Hopefully more rounds tonight. Also today Seiji and I will be moving out of the international dorm and into the judo dorm for the remainder of our stay. This will be good as we will be able to bond more with the players from the team. Hope all is well looking forward to the rest of the week of judo!!! Hope all is well.

    Kenny h

  • From Mike Kannianen

    June 11, 2010Hi

    So we visited Tokai Wednesday and practiced with Kenny, Seiji, and Jeff there. Those guys at Tokai are pretty impressive, I can’t lie. Definitely a step up. Highlight of my trip happened in my second match there: THE Yamashita watched my match with a starting member at Tokai and I almost threw the guys with an ouchigari. I knocked him down, but no score. For those who may not know him he is basically the most accomplished, best Judo player in history. THE Yamashita got up and walked over and gave me about a 45 second lesson on Ouchigari kuzushi (off balancing). I had no idea what to do, because he was talking to me, and only me. It was NUTS! Anyways, away from the selfish stuff 🙂 Kenny, Seiji, Jeff, and Justen were all chosen to have the Motodachi (have the sash and stay out all 12 rounds straight). I was not chosen for that. Instead they sent me to the far side of the mat with the starting members and the Chinese World Team member at 100+kg. That was fun, let me tell ya. I got pretty much mauled the whole time, and LOVED it. Only had 1 match out of the first 3, then I had a boxing match essentially with a guy who Justen said was his hero beforehand, and after that they all were willing to fight me. I ended up going 8 of the 12 matches, missing one for the restroom and 3 for not being able to get a partner. It’s a big dojo at Tokai, three full tatami areas, as opposed to where we practiced last night, which had about one full tatami. We went to Chuo (previously mentioned) with Hitoshi from Teikyo, and luckily for us, the Chuo freshman and sophomores had the night off. It was just the starting members. 16 matches, with breaks after each set of 8. I chose to not tape my ankle, fearing it would provide them a target, and luckily for me, it was the right choice. Not lucky for me was that a guy got frustrated with me and step on my OTHER foot and kicked it with his other leg at the same time, hurting that ankle. It seems to be doing slightly better today, but right now walking sucks with essentially two flat tires for ankles. I was told to sit and ice for about 5 matches, then it was back to work. I ended up getting like 9 matches, and only got in 3 throws. 1 ippon with a switch, 1 yuko with ouchigari, 1 yuko with kouchigari. Clearly I am still relying heavily on my ashiwaza, especially since I can’t explode off of either plant foot right now. On a lighter note, I was icing my ankles earlier today (Friday) and was told that practiced had been canceled at Teikyo tonight due to many injuries and sick people. This is the first time I have been excited to take a day off since we got here. I am using it to rest and ice, because we have judo tomorrow morning, but then Saturday night and all of Sunday off. Much needed rest. I hope to be back to full speed Monday. We had the opportunity to go to Tokai again tonight, but I honestly figured rest would be smarter in the long run. Almost at the half-way mark! I have learned so much, thank you again for this opportunity! I am truly appreciative and taking advantage of everything that comes my way. I have worked pretty hard on my Japanese and can start to carry on basic conversations and feel confident speaking with anyone. By no means even as good as Kenny, but much better than when I got here! Hope everything is going well back home. I attached a couple pictures of Tokai’s dojo and us there.

    Mike