Making progress

Progress in karate isn't just about getting better at training, it's also about making a place for myself in the dojo whilst I do so, both in terms of my actual practise, as well as being part of the group of people who spend so much of our lives there. A couple of cool things have happened recently which have assured me that I'm doing ok on that front.

A few weeks ago I explained to Sensei that I wanted a new gi because I was having to do lots of washing (one gi + four training sessions a week = a hell of a lot of washing, in fact). The next week he brought in two for me to try on, and after selecting the one I wanted I went up to give him the other one back, and to pay him the 7,500 yen that was marked on the packaging of the one I wanted. He wouldn't let me pay, however, and said it was a present. I was really pleased - not only it is a lovely quality gi, but it was also a lovely gesture.

The second thing was that last weekend I was invited to join the dojo folk on a trip to an izakaya. Sadly I couldn't go as it was a friends birthday, but told him I would definitely come next time. He reiterated his invitation yesterday, saying that myself and another newbie were welcome to come and drink and eat all we wanted, and that it would be his treat. Awesome! Given that I've not even been invited to any enkai (work drinks) with the schools, I'm chuffed.

On the training front, things are going reasonably well. I have learnt, more or less, kushanku, which is the longest kata, and also very confusing as it's an amalgamation of the previous five kata's, so you're constantly having to compute what to do next. I have also learnt, in pattern at least, naihanchi, which is a koshi (hip power) driven kata, and is really more advanced than the level I am at now, but Sensei decided it was time to learn it, so who am I to argue. I have decided not to learn any new ones (at least in my own time - it's possible I will be taught some in the dojo) until I have got the seven I now know in tip-top shape.

In my own practise, I've mainly been working on the one area I have serious problems - relaxing and using the power from hip rotation, rather than power from my freakishly strong arms. At some point I'll talk about this further, but let's just say it's a fairly vital issue in karate, and one which is sadly not always given the attention it deserves by Western dojo.

For now, I must get off to my next lesson - the fourth and final first year class of the day. They are good fun, but so tiring!

MokuMoku

MokuMoku is probably the bestest restaurant in the whole of Nagoya. The fact it's a buffet and I'm a pig has nothing whatsoever to do with this fact, oh no siree. Despite having been twice already, last time I decided to photoblog the experience to give you a taste of what you're missing. If you're in Nagoya I definitely recommend checking it out. Heck, there might even be a branch near you - check out the website (recruit a Japanese person to help - tell them it's a matter of utmost importance!).

On your table is a sectioned wooden tray to put things in - my hand is to the right of this shot for scale. For starters I normally start with their fine selection of salads and cold meats:

Clockwise from the cherry tomato at the top:

• something made with kobou - a long root vegetable reminiscent of Jerusalem artichokes.
• sliced meats of undefined origin
• potato salad
• mashed tofu salad (much nice than it sounds)
• cold glass noodle and sweet chilli sauce salad
• a couple of slices of sweet potato
• sausage salad
• in the middle are some mushrooms
• below that are a few bits of konnyaku (a weird jelly-like thing made from burdock root)
• some kind of coleslaw
• tomato and red onion salad
• aubergine and miso salad

You also get free fruit and vegetable juices. This is Jacob enjoying some weird green concoction.

Next up were the mains. In the bowls on the outside, from top to bottom:

• rice soup
• tempura veg - aubergine, onion, sweet potato
• couple of types of rice
• cold tofu

On the main plate, clockwise from the fish:

• a couple of grilled fish
• scotch eggs (really, sukochi egusu being their Japanese name) cooked in a delicious mushroom gravy
• some kind of mochi (sweet rice cake)
• sausage with mustard and ketchup (yay! Only got this so I could have an excuse to smother it in sauces)
• vegetables slow-cooked in miso
• fried swwet beans
• some kind of tasty offal dish
• and in the middle is another tofu dish - maybe mapou tofu

Jacob avec sakana.

Finally, the puddings. Yum yum yum. Always worth saving room for these. In the cup on the top right is coffee - also free. Clockwise from the black bowl:

• hot sweet red bean (adzuki) "soup" with mochi. Love this stuff.
• another sweet mochi as mentioned above
• some kind of cheesecake-type-thing (grape, maybe)
• fresh figs!
• fried bread dusted with sugar (this is a killer - lovely, but guaranteed to tip your full guts over the edge and into "sick mode"
• green tea ice cream

I have to confess to having seconds of a few items for the main course, and another serving of ice cream. By the time we left I felt so full that I couldn't even burp for fear of being sick. Couldn't eat anything for the rest of the day.

JLPT

Since my Japanese study barely gets a mention, I thought I'd let you know that I've just registered to take Level 4 of the JLPT. This is the easiest level, and although I toyed with the idea of jumping in at Level 3, I still don't know a lot of the grammar and didn't want to place myself under too much pressure to learn it all by the exam date of the 6th December (i.e. study might get in the way of karate, and I don't want that to happen ;). As it is, I don't think I'll have to do much studying at all, and can slowly work my way through the Level 3 curriculum in time to take the exam in July next year. I finished a past paper yesterday and gave it to my 6th year students to mark. Should get it back on Friday, when we'll see whether my confidence is justified!

(A bit more than) The week in one post

When I left you a few weeks ago, I signed off with "...I'm meeting Tyler, a friend who I have known since we were at Narita, for lunch. This evening it's kata practise and running, before an early night...". Of course, things didn't work out quite like that. We did meet for lunch, and were joined by Kim, she of the failed Tsumago walk fame. We had some tasty food and went for a walk behind Nagoya station, not going anywhere in particular, just enjoying the sunshine. We came across this bizarre shop front:

We stopped at a park which had loads of stray cats, including a really small kitten with a horrible eye infection. So horrible, in fact, that its eyes were stuck together and it couldn't see at all. It would run after peoples footsteps, and miaow until they passed. Very sad. Even sadder was the fact that there wasn't really anything we could do for it - not speaking Japanese ruled out finding a vet, and I couldn't find anything that appeared to be a rescue centre online. I suspect it won't survive for very long :(

After the park we headed back, and decided to go up one of the towers by Nagoya station to check out the sunset. They were all occupied by swanky restaurants, but we went in one and had a beer, much to the amusement (and derision) of the posh Japanese maitre d'. The view was incredible, despite the fact I couldn't quite manage to capture it on film:



This is Tyler and Kim:

Then it was off for a nice big Chinese dinner and a few beers before heading home. A good Sunday, all in all.

Last week I was at the smaller school, and it was a good one with regards to teaching. We covered directions, which the kids found easier than I thought they would do - always a joy when that happens! Nothing eventful happened, bar the dramatic changes to Paddy.

Sunday was the first Japanese class of the new term. Seems like a nice bunch of students - loads of Filipinos, a few Africans, a few Vietnamese, one German and one American, plus an Indonesian guy who I sit opposite. Now I know the town where my brother in law hails from, I can make conversation (plus see if he knows of any Indo restaurants around here!).

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were public holidays, and whilst I did nothing major, I did undertake fairly extensive flat cleaning and quite a bit of cooking. I made chawan mushi, a savoury egg custard with shitake mushrooms and scallops in. Yukiko gave me the recipe before I left Tokyo.

Tasted great and really authentic, but I'm not sure why it has bubbles on the top. My guess is one of two things - either the steaming temperature was too high, or I didn't strain the egg/stock mixture through a sieve, which you are apparently supposed to do. Further attempts required.

I also made kinpira vegetables:

They were delicious and impressed the teachers when I brought them in to school yesterday for my pre-karate din-dins.

I've been doing some pre-winter flat renovation - scrubbing the floors in preparation for buying a rug, cleaning the bathroom, toilet etc. I've also acquired quite a lot of stuff now, so used my creative and technical skills to make this:

It's a shelving unit constructed from boxes and gaffa tape purchased from the 100yen store. Surprisingly sturdy and, covered with a scarf from Cambodia, not bad looking at all!

The poster above the shelves is from an exhibition put on by a Japanese photographer. He has lots of shots of places we visited, which was cool and made me wish I was back there again! Near to the gallery was a great stationary (-ery?) shop and I got some pretty note paper and a new pen, and spent the rest of the day writing long-awaited letters to friends and family, including three people whose weddings I've missed since being here. Very satisfying to write letters instead of quick notes via Facebook and email. I have another round to send at some point soon, so don't stress it if you think you're due something!

The last big event for the holiday was meeting up with Jacob and having lunch at Moku Boku, the buffet restaurant which readers with a superior memory will recall I've visited twice before. This time I took photos, and will do a separate post with them and a little run-down of all the food!

For now, however, I better get back to my desk since I want to leave bang-on 4pm today so shouldn't really spend my time slacking off behind a screen.

Silly mistaek

This morning, not only did I over-sleep, thanks to my earplug defense againt the-evil-that-lurks-upstairs, but I have just got on the wrong train and am currently on my way to Nagoya. I did wonder why it was so busy, and so late.

Drugstore Wonderland: Rollin' rollin' rollin'

There are an amazing amount of devices available which are designed to knead, roll and otherwise smoosh the facial skin, in order that it stay free of dreaded wrinkles. I would say Japanese women fear wrinkles more than any other nation I have encountered. If I was to photograph all the different rollers, massage things, rubbery gadgets and so on, and include the ones to banish cellulite or give you smooth calves, I'd never have time to blog anything else. Instead I have selected this fine specimen for your amusement. ひんやり means "to feel pleasantly cool", and I love the fact they have a freaky bug-eyed gaijin on the packaging.

PaddyWatch: Bai bai! *sniff*

This is the view that greeted me as I walked home on Friday; that of a dry empty field, devoid of the rice that had called it home for so many months. Where said rice is now is anyones guess, although if I see any hanging up in a nearby barn I will snap some pics.


In case you ever wondered what is on the other side of the field, here is your answer:


If you're new to gai.ninja then check out the previous entries here.

Happy "Respect the Aged" Day!

Today is the first of three public holidays, and it is the official Respect the Aged day. A very nice idea, I think, in which older family members and friends are treated to meals out, flowers, sweets and generally looked after. As a culture, Japan celebrates elderly people, which is just as well since there is an ever-increasing number of them. Also, they celebrate life - I have never seen such a bunch of active and friendly geriatrics as I have here! From the group exercises in the park in the morning, to outings with their friends, to taking the kids out to play in the evening, they still play a big part in the lives of so many people. If only England could foster such a positive attitude to the wiser generation.

The Other Dojo

On Friday I was invited to watch a competition that was taking place at The Other Dojo. It is owned by Matsuzaki Sensei, but he splits classes between there and the big gym because this place is pretty small, as you can see from the photo above (I was sitting against the back wall). It is better suited to kumite drills and fitness work, rather than kata and kihon, but it is a much nicer space to train in since it has mats and also a more traditional vibe, complete with the smell of wood.

Feeling brave, I decided to email Matsuzaki Sensei on Tuesday to see if it was ok to attend training there that evening (relying on my "if you don't ask you don't get" life strategy, which has mainly been on ice since being here) and he said it was; "please come come" being his exact words.

Arriving early, I got to watch the tail end of the kids class. At the other dojo I'd join in, but I didn't want to diddle them out of any space. Practise started with the standard warm-up exercises, then moved on to sets of sit-ups, push-ups and squats. Then we did a few basics to get even sweatier, before progressing onto the hard stuff... I should have had some idea of what was coming when Sensei got out several sets of bicycle inner tubes that had been tied together to create big elastic loops of about 3 metres in length. We paired up (luckily I was with a really nice black belt) and one person held onto the band and the other affixed the end to their foot and stood several feet in front. Then it was twenty or so knee raises and 30 or so maegeri's (front kicks), a change of person, the same, then a change of person and a change of leg. Killer. BUT, afterwards, when kicking without the band, the speed and height you could attain was amazing. Sensei said in Japanese to all of us to try kicking, and I was the only one who let out a quiet "oooh" when I did so! Seriously considering investing in some for my own training in the park.

Next up it was onto the heavy kick pads to do chudan (body height) mawashigeri (turning kick) and maegeri's as hard as we could. Then onto the focus mitts (hand-held) for lighter jodan (head height) kicks, including ura mawashigeri's, which are probably the hardest and most muscle-caning of all the kicks (here is a link to one on YouTube for the curious). After that it was onto sets of doubles - chudan and jodan without putting your foot down.

After all that I thought I'd reach Wednesday, mercifully a training free day, and not be able to walk, but although my legs were tired they weren't hurting, a fact that is probably attributable due to my ever-increasing protein intake.

Yesterday, Thursday, it was back to the normal dojo for a relatively chilled out kata class, and it's back to the small dojo tonight for what could end up being another mental session. The problem with ramping up exercise is the initial pain that has to be endured to get yourself over that hill. I am exhausted but after tonight I know I have a good few days off to recover as it's a public holiday on Monday and Tuesday so there will be no practise. Phew!

Kyushoku - Friday 18th September

Western food today! From top left:

• gyunyu
• sukochi egu (Scotch egg!)
• furutsu zerii (fruit and jelly)
• yasai suupu (yasai = vegetable)
• miruku roru (milk roll)

Rating: 3/5

PaddyWatch - BREAKING NEWS!!111!!

Well, it seems our exciting little story could finally be coming to a conclusion! When I walked past the Paddy yesterday evening, the cutting had already started. Nothing further to report, but in around two hours I will be passing again and so will get a shot to show you the progress. Who'd've dreamt that the excitement would mount this quickly?!

Domino's Pizza overload

Just like in every other developed country, we get a tonne of junk food leaflets through our letter box (I also get actual junk food - found out this morning that a friend had posted a donut through two days ago!). Unlike in most other countries, however, the cuisine is limited to one main type - pizza and other "Italian" food. I normally flick through them, drool over the delicious looking but expensive and calorie-packed items, and put them straight on the recycle pile. However, the latest one from Domino's featured something so... logical, yet so wrong, so right, yet so over-the-top, that I decided it would be wrong of me not to share it with you all.

The items in question are these:

Don't they look delicious? But lordy, I cannot imagine something that's more likely to put your body into some sort of refined food and cheese coma. I mean seriously, who would come up with such an idea? A load of refined flour, covered in a creamy-cheesey sauce, a few bits of processed meat added for good measure, served in a bowl made from pizza base, and covered with even more cheese?! The very idea of it makes my mouth water and my stomach turn. And they could be yours for the teeny price of just ten pounds and 20 pence!

I'm sure I've whet your appetite, so here is the rest of the menu: page one, page two, page three and page four. To give you some idea on pricing, the medium (25cm) pizza featured on the top of page two would set you back 17 pounds and 43 pence! Click here if you want to do any more currency conversions.

PaddyWatch - Week 17

It's been a long time since we checked up on our old friends Mr and Mrs Ricicle and their millions of siblings. I'm sure you've been feeling sick with anticipation, waiting with a knot in your stomach to see what has been happening to them over the summer break. Well, I can reliably inform you it's this: quite a lot. No further growth height-wise has taken place, but they have sprouted their heads, grains of rice a-dangling, and seem to be in their final phase of drying out before harvest, hence the fact that they are now more yellow than green (this is all pure conjecture, of course - all the rice growing articles online are very scientific and not really aimed at a paddy-voyeur).

As an extra-special treat, here's a little factlet I did uncover: rice provides one fifth of the calories consumed by mankind.

RIP, Keith

It's sad news indeed that both Patrick Swayze and Keith Floyd have died in the last few days. I'm of the generation brought up on these guys, but despite Swayze making some amazing films, it's good ole' Keith I'll miss the most.

Long before Jamie came along with his laid-back style and chatty demeaner, Keith was already doing it, in front of the camera with a glass of wine in his hand. Before Rick Stein even dreamt of travelling around cooking fish on a tiny barbecue on top of a cliff on the most remote bay in Scotland, Keith was already there, doing it with a glass of wine in his hand. And certainly before the cult of the celebrity chef invaded us, Keith was there, cooking up a fresh and tasty storm, with a glass of wine in his hand.

Free of bullshit and full of enthusiasm, his programs were always enjoyable and ones that I remember staying up late to watch when I was a kid. It is indeed ironic that he died not only after being told that he had the all-clear from cancer, but also as he settled down to watch a documentary on himself on TV.

RIP, Keith - cheers!

Senseis and Students

Thought I'd do a quick post about the people in the dojo, since I've yet to really fulfill goal No. 4, which involves writing about karate more. Figured I can't really write about training without introducing the cast first!

Matsuzaki Sensei

The main instructor is Matsuzaki Sensei. Born in Kagoshima in 1952 he is now a 6th Dan and is the coach of Chukyo University, which is renowned for producing good karate fighters within the Aichi region. He doesn't speak much English and I mainly try and figure out what he's saying by watching his gestures and body language, and seeing how the student he just shouted at adjusted their technique. His forte is kumite (fighting) and I recently found out the his dojo has trained many champions over the years. In fact, yesterday we had a member of Japan's National Team training with us.

He is helped out by Numata Sensei, a much older guy about whom I know relatively little, despite the fact we speak quite a lot as his English is good. I was due to have dinner with his family as he wanted me to meet his daughter, who went to university in Australia and therefore speaks excellent English, but sadly she had to rush back to Tokyo for work so that won't happen until next time she's down in Nagoya. It's fair to say that Numata Sensei is more of a traditionalist - whilst he recognises the skills required for compeition, both for kata and kumite, he is also aware of their limits, and how they can hamper the development of a more effective (in terms of combat and technique-efficiency) style. In the meeting that I mentioned some months ago we didn't so much discuss my training as karate in general, and how he feels (and I would be inclined to agree) that in competitions the styles are becoming much more generic - it's hard to tell a Wado fighter from a Shito or Goju fighter, for example.

Since starting training here I've mainly been focussing on basic kihon and kata, as I know my kumite is reasonable (if slow, compared to the Japanese) and my kime (spirit) abundant but my basics lacking. Numata Sensei always helps me out, telling me to drop my weight, get lower, twist my hips more, and generally refinines things. It's incredibly useful having an instructor that speaks English, and he also seems concerned about my welfare generally, telling me not to eat too much rice (makes you fat and slow!) and checking that everything is ok with work.

Matsuzaki Sensei tends to just correct me if things need correcting, but otherwise just gets on with teaching the class and training some of the high-level fighters, of which there are a few. He strikes me as a bit of a hard-arse, which is a good thing in a kumite instructor, I think! Having two such different instructors is great, and I feel like I'm covering all my bases.

In terms of the other students, they are a very mixed bunch. There is a small group of young and highly talented fighters and kata freaks. One girl, Judi-san, is amazing - sharp, fast, relaxed - definitely one of the best karate-ka I've seen in Japan. There are a few other girls her age and they are all really sweet and willing to help out the newbies. Similarly there are some young guys - I'd say from eleven up to their mid-twenties - who are very good. Now that I've been there a while, people are starting to test out their English on me, and me my Japanese on them, so we are getting to know eachother more, although the dojo isn't really a place for socialising!

Judi-san (she's a bit older than this now and looks more like an adult than a child)

Although the kids class is supposed to end when the adults starts, there is a big overlap. I normally arrive half an hour after the kids class has started and practise on one side of the hall, sometimes with the older brown and black belts that I mentioned above. Normally when the rest of the adults arrive, the lower-graded children go home and the brown and black belts stay on to train with the adults. In England you rarely see classes mixed like this, but I really enjoy it - it's brings a different dimension to training, and ensures that things remain light-hearted. I think it's very good for the kids to spend time with adults and have more of a sense of discipline in their practise, and indeed some of them show levels of focus and determination that even many adults lack. There are two or three of them that have such good control over their bodies and are only about nine or so. It's amazing to see something so small move with such precision!

Finally, there are also about five or six of us older white belts. Abe-san, who goes to the same train station as me and also speaks some English so we chat a lot, must be in his late 50's. There are a couple of other guys that I would say are between 30 and 40 who are all late-starters too, which means that we spend a lot of time working together. In Shiramizu, or in fact any of the karate dojo I've trained at here, there were no white belts, so I was really pleased to find so many here. Since I've started there seem to be even more new faces, which is promising. It can be intimidating to walk to to see hundreds of black belts, especially if you're having a day when your sense of humour isn't operating at peak level!

With the introductions out of the way, look out for some more karate posts coming your way soon!

The week in one place

One long-awaited and fantastic thing has happened since last week - it's finally got cooler. It feels fresh in the mornings now, and the evenings are cool and breezy. No more air-conditioning, and I think I will move back to my thick winter duvet this weekend too. Anyhow, on with the week...

I felt crappy on Monday, so took the day off. I've suffered insomnia most nights since starting back at work - getting my body used to the early starts has proved hard, and also the guy upstairs is an inconsiderate arse and makes noise all the time. I spent the day trying to sleep, but couldn't, so ended up making miso aubergine and rice and eating some of the chocolate that I've got kicking around (and have had so since Easter - time it goes methinks!). I did, however, rouse myself to go to karate in the evening.

It was back to work on Tuesday to discover that the Head of English wants me to teach from the government issued text book. Fine, but he doesn't have any of the supporting literature, which means I have a text book with empty excercise pages, a bit of Japanese writing, and no clue whatsoever what to do with it. Frustratingly, he seems to lack common sense with regards to this matter, so I have had to explain to him patiently that either he must tell me what he want to do, or find the teachers notes to go with it!

Wednesday and Thursday were straightforward, but on Thursday I attended kurabu for the first time. Kurabu (club) is basically the sixth and final period of the day which is given over to various activities - the kids can choose what they want to do. It includes things like basketball and baseball, as well as weirder things like baton twirling. I wanted to do something creative and ended up in the technology/science club in which we made a kasa bukuro roketo.

Kasa is "umbrella", bukuro is "bag" (specifically a plastic bag, and in this case it refers to the ones given out in the entrance halls of shops when it's raining to house your wet umbrella whilst you shop) and roketo (I hope you're getting the hang of these Japanglish words now?!) is, of course, "rocket". Making it involved blowing up the bag, tying off the top, and sticking cardboard fins on the side and a weighted ring around the top for balance. I finished mine about three times faster than anyone else, so gave advice to the kids who were sticking their fins on upside down, and played swords with the ones who just couldn't be arsed to do anything. All in all it was good fun - the kids thought it was funny to see me there, towering above them when I stood and having to sit on a ten-inch high kids chair. I gave my rocket to one of the boys who had trouble with his and seemed like a bit of an unhappy soul all round, and he was happy about that.

Friday I went to the fabled Other Dojo for the first time, to watch a competition. I'll do an update on training in another post. I got this photo of a rather pretty fountain in Tsurumai Park which is near the station local to the dojo:

For reaons I'm not going to go into on my public blog (even if sometimes you do get too much information!) I had to go to the doctors yesterday (Saturday). My appointment was at 11am but by 1.30pm I still hadn't been seen, and was getting rather pissed off and hungry. Imagine my surprise when a nurse came over and gave me these - a pack of biscuits and a carton of green tea. Wouldn't get that on the NHS!

After leaving there I did some shopping and chilled in the flat. I also read this wonderful short story.

Today, Sunday, I have come to the internet cafe and drunk (drank?! Japan has stolen my grammar) four cups of coffee. WOO! I am about to leave to run/fly/jump in my caffeine-fueled state to the International Centre to register for this terms Japanese classes, then I am meeting Tyler, a friend who I have known since we were at Narita, for lunch. This evening it's kata practise and running, before an early night for next week I am at my other school with requires even earlier starts to get there on time. Bugger.

Kyushoku - Friday 11th September

Clockwise from top left:

• Gyunyu (you should have learnt this vocab by now ;)
• Yasai zerii (vegetable jelly)
• Poku sochu (pork stew)
• Daikon chuna sarada (daikon and tuna salad)
• Raison roru (raisan bread)

Rating: 3.5/5

Kyushoku - Thursday 10th September

Clockwise from top left:

• Gohan (rice)
• Gyunyu (milk)
• Reitou (frozen) mikan (orange) (They are frozen, presumably, so they keep for ages, far outside the normal season. Pleasant enough, but they do have a slightly weird taste)
• Buta (pork) don (bowl)
• Samon frai (breaded fried salmon with sauce)

Rating: 4.5/5

Hiking from Tsumago to Magome

Last weekend, in an effort to fulfill goal number 3 (being more sociable), I arranged a trip to go hiking in the hills outside Nagoya with a couple of friends. In reality, it ended up being hiking with only one friend - Sashoy, who lives a few streets down from me. Kim was due to come with us, but due to several transport-related issues was unable to catch up with us (the timings of the whole thing meant we had to press on or risk being stuck on the trail in the dark), which was a shame.

Anyhow, the walk was along the Nakasendo, the original highway, created in the Edo period, that connected Tokyo to Kyoto. After a getting train and bus to Tsumago, it was an 8km walk through woodland to Magome.


Before we set off from Tsumago we had a lunch a lunch of the local specialities - zaru soba - cold soba noodles with a soya sauce/dashi/wasabi/spring onion "dip" - and gohei mochi (top left in the photo above). These were a revelation in deliciousness - white rice packed onto a wodden skewer, brushed with a glaze of ground sesame seeds and walnuts, sugar and soya sauce, and grilled. They were unbelievably good. Sashoy, like all the Jamaicans I've met here, with the exception of Sharifa, hates Japanese food. She doesn't like noodles so ordered two gohei mochi, and luckily (for me) didn't like them either, so I had both. Sadly this meant she was hungry for what ended up being quite a long walk.

Tsumago is a picturesque little village, crammed with traditional wooden buildings housing mainly restaurants and souvenier shops. It is completely unblighted by eyesores like convenience stores, and even the post office looks like something from a postcard. Here is Sashoy posing with a life-size straw horse!

The walk ended up taking a while, in part because being accompanied by someone meant I couldn't take my usual rocket-fuelled pace, and in part because we walked the route the other way round to most people, and so it was primarily up hill. Oh yeah, it was also about 35 degrees! Thankfully, though, there were some nice wooded sections:

There were also two waterfalls, in which you could paddle in the freezing water to cleanse your sweaty feet.


Not long to go now!

We were presented with this somewhat nonsensical sign towards the end of the walk. Luckily the detour just involved walking up some steps.

The view over the mountains from Magome:

The main street in Magome:

View over the rice paddies before heading home:

We ended up getting a bus at about 6pm. There was some stressing as to where Kim was, as her phone had died, but as we were hungry and exhausted, we bit the bullet and made our way home. It was a very productive day, all things considered, and was also good to spend some more time with Sashoy, which I haven't done much of apart from chatting on train journeys to and from work.

The Week in One Post

One of the changes I want to make to this blog is to reduce the number of smaller posts, and do more substantial ones, primarily about Japanese life and karate. I've therefore decided to do the odd weekly report to bundle-up photos and other bits and pieces into one place. Never fear, though - Drugstore Wanderland, Kyushoku and PaddyWatch will remain as the frivolous goodness they are!

This week started with a spate of domesticity. I cleaned the balcony, which yielded about four dead cicada, accumulated whilst I was on my travels. They are big and stupid and tend to fly into the balcony doors, fll on the ground and land on their back, where they die. This is fine by me as I hate big flying insects. Here is a picture of one with my house key for scale:

I re-potted one of my plants for the second time since April. Here it is next to its original pot. The secret to maing them grow big like this is watering them with the left over water from rinsing rice. Seriously. Works like a fertiliser. Also, giving them any left over green tea has the same effect.

I bought my first daikon (a type of big radish), and made two soups - one with ika (cuttlefish), cabbage and a shoyu/dashi stock, and the other a simple miso. Cooking daikon is one of the most traditional japanese kitchen smells, I think, and reminded me of being back at the Suzuki's place.

The other food purchase was a large quantity of fish, procured from the local supermarket late at night when everything is marked down. At the top of this photo are two packs, each with four fillets, of aji, horse mackrel, which I got for ¥300, down from about ¥800. Below that are three pieces of normal mackrel in a sesame and ginger marinade. Yum. I wrapped them all in cling-film and chucked them in the freezer with the rest of my cheap fish. 11 bits of fresh fish for about three quid is pretty pleasing. Not so pleasing is the price of a lemon to go with them - ¥158!Wednesday saw the return to school, which wasn't pleasant as I suffered insomnia every night and consequently spent the days feeling like a zombie. This made teaching and indeed doing anything productive very hard!

Hitting my new terms goals was mostly successful. I have been doing daily Japanese word lists, comprising of new vocab, verbs and words I overhear and recognise in conversations. The actual memorisation of these, due to the aforementioned insomnia, hasn't gone as well as I'd hoped, however! I've pushed the karate up to about four times a week, again the tiredness affected this and hopefully this week will see it hitting five. The sociability went well, and I arranged a hiking trip yesterday to walk the 8km stretch of the Nakasendo between Tsumago and Magome. Will do an extra post with the photos from this. Next week I am meeting my karate Sensei's daughter, having dinner with my friend Meaghan and collecting my bike, which Laura left me. The blogging changes I have mentioned, ditto the Japanese food.

All in all a successful week, and if I can get to sleep before 1am tonight then the next one will be even better!

Not taking advantage

As I may have mentioned, up until last week all of the martial arts training I have received in Japan has been for free. That includes two months of thrice-weekly Shinji Kempo in Tokyo, training with some of the legends of Japanese (and Canadian) Wado (Takagi Sensei, Toru Arakawa Sensei, Norma Foster Sensei), as well as the two months at the dojo here in Nagoya.

At the latter, I had assumed that the instructors would reach a point and just ask me to pay - I had offered when I arrived but they had dismissed me with a firm "no". I've been chatting to Richard about various karate-related things quite a bit recently, and asked him how he thought I should set about getting more training,until I'm granted access to the higher level classes at my dojo.

What he pointed out was really so obvious that I feel stupid and angry at myself for not thinking of it sooner - paying them. So that night I got the requisite cash together and put it in an envelope with a little note to Sensei to explain what it was. I handed it over with a "kon getsu mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu", loosely translated as "please teach me this month". He looked surprised and asked me what it was. Not knowing quite what to say, I mumbled "ageru" ("I'm giving it to you") which was a bit silly as that's the casual form of the verb, and what the kids say to me when they give me something strange like a mushy peach or a giant insect.

Anyhow, it seemed to have done the trick as Sensei spent extra time with me that class, and I got to don my mits for the first time. Still very far to go on my journey towards becoming even as remotely as skilled as some of the other people in the dojo, but I'm pretty happy and feel more comfortable now that I'm paying my way like everyone else.

Accidentally taking advantage of the Japanese kindness, and of their (and our) mis-reading and mis-judging of expectations is pretty common-place amongst us bumbling gaijin. It happened at school on Friday too...

In between leaving my station and arriving at my work station that morning, I'd managed to bend my train pass and it wouldn't go through the gates to let me out of the station. This particular station was unmanned and I had to press an intercom to speak to a man at a larger station several stops up. A very bizarre attempt at an explanation follwed, and whether he understood or not, he opened the gates and let me out.

This left one problem, though - that my ticket hadn't been through the gates and therefore that journey was not technically finished. Knowing that this would happen, I figured the best thing to do would be to write an explanation, give the ticket man at my station the piece of paper, and let him sort it out, thus avoiding nervousness-induced mumbling and forgetting of important words. On Friday afternoon the Principal of the school was sitting at his desk staring into space (he wins the prize for being the only person to do this more than me!). Since he speaks some English, I thought I'd ask him to check the Japanese I'd written and explain my intentions. This I did, and he did indeed check my Japanese and pronounced it "jyozu". You can see it below, although I'm still unconvinced the last sentence is correct!



Anyhow, after reading it he leapt up from his desk, said something to a colleague in Japanese that involved the words "chotto" (a bit) and "kuruma" (car) and we were off! Off, in fact, to the local station where the Principal of the local school explained that his silly Eigo Sensei had bent her ticket by leaving it in her back pocket, and could he issue a replacement, which was duly done, leaving me feeling grateful but, again, a bit stupid.

Label this a rant

This post is going to be incongruous with your regular programming, being both about things that I don't normally talk about, and written in a style that I don't normally adopt (except in my own head in hours of frustration).

What follows is a bit of a rant about a subject that has likely affected all of us - the illegal downloading of music. What tipped me over the edge and into the gaping abyss of rantdom is a recent Facebook status update by my friend Joe, linking to what he calls "a rather intelligent article by Peter Mandelson" which is designed to sell us the logic behind the governments latest madcap plan - to suspend the Internet connections of persistent filesharers.

Lets start by saying that illegal downloading IS theft, and IS illegal. It's obviously had a huge effect on the profit levels previously seen in the music industry, the effect of which is undoubtedly more significant on smaller bands, who rely on the income from record sales just to survive, let alone buy coke, hookers and brown M&M's.

However, so far punishments issued to downloaders have been completely disproportionate with the crimes committed. In the US the RIAA drops their might on perpetrators like an elephant does shit on a spider; these people - students, housewives, the unemployed and so on - could never afford to pay the fines they are dealt, and indeed a recent article compared the case of Jammie Thomas, who was fined $2 million for downloading 24 songs, to financial penalties for an array of crimes. Amongst other things, it would be cheaper to steal the physical CD, start an illegal dog-fighting club or indeed abduct a child if you were to turn the prison sentences issued into their monetary equivalent. Here is another well-written article discussing the disproportionate relationship between crime and punishment.

On the surface, cutting someone's internet connection may not seem so bad, especially to those who are, let's say, a little older than I am, but these days the internet is moving out of the phase of being a fun but ultimately unnecessary tool, and into one of being vital to global communication. As such I believe that unhindered access to it is a human right, and should be granted as far as is possible (finance and infrastructure notwithstanding). The censorship in places like China is a breach of this right, and restricting someone's access to it in a developed nation like the UK is an outrageous proposition. One only needs to look at the effect Twitter, much as I hate the service, had during the aftermath of the election in Iran, or the prevalence of internet phone services in developing countries to see evidence of this shift. If the government threatened to cut off peoples telephone connection as a result of a crime they committed, however considerable, we would be up-in-arms about the blatant breach in rights - it's time to face the fact that doing the same to someone's internet connection is now entirely comparable.

All this said, these are not the issues that have riled me the most, certainly not enough to spend a considerable amount of time tapping this out on the tiny keyboard of the iPhone. No, that prize goes to the music industry itself(primarily the record labels, rather than the artists), stamping their feet in floods of tears over the toys that they themselves threw out of the pram.

What dear Mandelson, and the rest of the people who whine and wail about illegal downloading, seem to have missed entirely is that the industry had their chance to stem the theft from beneath their noses, but again and again they didn't, as a result, one assumes, of sheer arrogance and failure to heed the demands of their customers, whose desires evolved faster than their bloated bureaucratic arses ever could.

Mandelson mentioned Napster. Ahh, Napster. Where would an article on file-sharing be without you? Seriously, that was ten years ago. Ten years! I was twenty then and had just started at university. What were you doing? Yes, doesn't it just seem all so long ago! In that time, with the exception of iTunes (more on that shortly), exactly just what has the music industry done to cash in on what has exploded to take a market share of 95% in how music is acquired? To save you thinking too hard, I'll spell it out for you - virtually sweet (although I suspect it tastes rather bitter, if you're in the industry) F.A.

With the Internet has come a myriad of new ways to attract and excite fans, as well as to see your wares - things we could never have imagined all those ten years ago - but those who have taken advantage of them, and orchestrated a shift in their business models to truly profit from them, are few and far between.

Lets just look at a few, lest this is all getting too negative. Firstly there's Radiohead, whose widely-publicised "set-your-own-download-price" strategy for In Rainbows resulted in the album going straight to the top of the charts when it was released nearly three months after the digital version. Groove Armada partnered with Bacardi to distribute tracks from their latest EP, using a particularly cunning mechanic which forced fans to share tracks with a certain number of friends before they could access the next one. Then there's Coldplay, who have done some really innovative online promotions as well as created an iPhone app to support their latest release. Their album Viva la Vida is the worlds most downloaded paid-for album, something they achieved by giving one track away for free, and a mammoth 100-date world tour.

Which brings me onto another side of what I mean in labels having to evolve their business model. B.N. (Before Napster) it was all about cycles - get an artist, record an album, choose a single, promote it, get radio play, promote it more, release it, get a tonne of sales from now gagging-for-it fans, repeat four or five times, with the album dropping somewhere in the middle and probably the artist too, as he gets sick from the merry-go-round of interviews, photoshoots and what have you. What Coldplay and even old-timers like Prince (and Michael Jackson, RIP) are realising is that now this process doesn't work so well any more, but that although the money may not come through sales, they sure as hell can get their hands on it by touring or, like Prince, doing a residency of 31 nights at a venue like O2.

I can hear you at the back, jumping up and down going "what about iTunes?!". Well, what about iTunes? They're really the only player in this market, and without any competition they will never deliver a truly optimum experience. They do at least seem to be shedding their DRM, albeit slowly, but for many of us, it's too late. Certainly in my case it is... I download music illegally, of course I do, but once upon a time I made an exception. It was actually for a band Joe manages, Nizlopi. They were going for a Christmas number one, and of course we (Joe's mates) all wanted to help out by getting a few sales under their belt. I'd heard a few tracks and liked them, so what the hell, it's only eight quid, eh? Yes, it was only eight quid, but fast-forward a few years, after several office and home computers with iTunes installed, and all of a sudden I can't play this awesome album any more. And it is truly awesome - a charming set of tracks by hugely talented bunch of guys. What do I have to do to get MY purchase back? Yep, you guessed it - get jiggy with Mr Torrent.

So to jump back on the train bound for Rantsville, which you'll be glad to hear is nearing its final destination, what I'm really saying is that instead of trying to cram their dirty little fingers in a dyke that's already burst, and running after the horse as it bolts from the stable, they should think of a new way of doing things, a better one, and stop their complaining, lest I explode in a shower of idioms. There is some light at the end of the tunnel - PRS have struck a deal with YouTube to allow their music videos to be shown again, and there is also talk of a fee-based movie streaming service on the site, but really - it's been ten years! Time to step up, music industry, time stands still for no man, if you can't take the heat get out of th... *boom*

Bak 2 skool

Sitting on the train on the way to Yawata Shinden and the first day of school seems like a sensible time and place to tell you that my six weeks of pleasing myself, travelling and sitting in the air-conditioning in my pants have finally come to an end.

Instead it's back to school and some new terms resolutions:
1. To study Japanese in a more focussed, less casual manner. I.e. Learning lists of verbs and words instead of doing things on an ad-hoc basis. The next term of lessons starts on the 19th.
2. Doing karate training five times a week (although not necessarily in the dojo)
3. Being more sociable, without spending much cash, and meeting more people, without any of them being socially inept male gaijin.
4. Making some changes to my blogging style now that I'll have free (in terms of cash, sadly not time) access to a computer again. Will write more on this another time, but the general idea will be more substance and less me-focussed waffle (although I'm sure I've said that before...)
5. Learning to cook more traditional Japanese foods.

For now, however, it's time to spend the day teaching our fair language to a bunch of well-rested and consequently even-more-bonkers kids :)

Matsumoto-jo

Through the wonders of the local train service, I ended up with an hours stopover in Matsumoto. Normally this would have been nothing but a monumental pain in the arse, but thanks to the iPhone and some fine planning on my part, I was able to visit the grounds of Matsumoto-jo, one of Japan's three original castles (the other two being Himeji and Inuyama, which at 45 minutes from Nagoya you can expect to see something of in the coming months).


To make the most of my brief stop in this charming town, surrounded by mountains and with a river rushing through the centre, I bought an oyaki, a local specialty that's made by kneading a flour-based dough, filling it with ingredients (in this case aubergine) and then steaming and baking the resulting dumpling according to the chef's preference:


I sat on the bench and ate, and snapped a few photos before hot-footing it back to the station and onto the next train:







Bai bai Matsumoto! Sorry I couldn't stay longer.