Filed under: Aikido, Expat, Family, Japan | Tags: Aikido, Aikikai, Honbu, Japan, Mie, Tokyo, 合気道, 合気会
I have been having trouble finding an Aikido dojo in Tokyo. My problem, isn’t a lack of options but, rather, an over-abundance. This would seem like a wonderful problem to have but I find it frustrating. I am looking for an excellent (not necessarily famous) Aikikai instructor in a dojo that provides as many classes per week as possible. I don’t know what my work schedule will be but I will need to fit training into it somehow. So far, there are plenty of dojo that sound good but their schedules, in general, seem to be awfully limited. Also, I know where I will be for the next two months, Asakusa (浅草), but where I’ll live when my family finally joins me is still up in the air. I need to find a dojo close enough to home too.
This sounds like an opportunity to do some dojo storming! I won’t be traveling dojo to dojo trying to “run the line” of senior students in order to challenge sensei but I think I will take the opportunity to visit as many different schools in the Tokyo area as I can manage in the next two months.
For completeness sake, the schedule at Aikikai Honbu is wonderful. I am sure that will become my default dojo (and no complaints there) but this is an opportunity that I may never have again! I want to search for the senior deshi of Nishio sensei and Kuroda sensei. I want to visit Tada sensei at the Tada Juku (my wife thought “Tada” meant free and that I was being a bit silly looking for cheap schools 🙂 ), Kobayashi sensei in his dojo and maybe even some of the Daito Ryu folks! Whew!
Ueda sensei of the Mie-Ken Aikidokai has very kindly offered to leave my membership here as “open” so that when I return I can train whenever I like. For now, Obata will remain my home dojo but I will be packing up my bags in a week and in the big city very soon.
This is getting exciting!
Filed under: Expat, Family, Japan | Tags: Canada, Green, Hokkaido, insulation, Ise, Japan, Mie, Tokyo, Wyoming
A few things that Japan has not learned in the green department have been chaffing the more sensitive parts of my soul today. The first that leaps to my frozen fingers this morning is the desperate (DESPERATE) need for insulation in homes and buildings. Though the weather in Ise isn’t particularly chilly normally, it is painfully cold INSIDE. Neither the house where my family lives nor the building where I work are insulated. My son’s elementary school has cold concrete and steel walls. Heat leaks through the aluminum framed single-pane windows, doorway gaps, ventilation holes and open bathroom windows (no vent fans where really needed). Ise feels much colder than it really is!
I grew up in Wyoming (Note to non-Americans and New Yorkers: Wyoming is a frigid rectangle in the US section of the Rocky Mountains) so, I am not a cold wimp. However, I do expect to get warm once I’m inside. This is generally not the case here in Ise and in other parts of Japan too. I know the folks up in Hokkaido have discovered the mystery of insulated walls but much of the rest of the country is missing out. In fact, my wife pointed out an ad for “Canadian Houses”. These are 2 by 4 construction type houses with both central heating and insulation. The quotes from owners in the ads all dealt with how surprisingly warm they were even with heat turned low or off. We both laughed hard enough to not be envious — for a while.
The envy came back hard this morning. With the heated seat of the toilet below and a chill breeze through the window above confusing my barely awake body, I decided that I really wanted some of that Canadian house action. Since we are going to move to Tokyo my Canadian House will remain a fantasy. I just have to hope that the combined body heat of 35 million other folks in the greater Tokyo area will keep us warm!
Filed under: Expat, Japan | Tags: caffeine, Dr. Pepper, Ise, Ise-shi, Japan, Kawasaki, Mie, Mie-ken, Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Osaka, Red BUll, shopping
Nintendo DS addicts and crack-heads have a greater grip on the consumer zeitgeist than those of us who abuse other products — but we are out there. A few of us are even over here.
In the old days, I used to have to take the hydroplane to Osaka (up-hill, both ways, in the snow, etc…) in order to buy Dr. Pepper. So, I wouldn’t have thought there were any other Dr. Pepper users in central Japan but then the New Guy showed up. The New Guy isn’t really new, he’s been with the company since long before it was this company. However, he was sent to the US for seven years to work at a subsidiary there (trans: “to be a tool”). Somewhere during that period, the New Guy picked up a baaad case of the Peppers…
Since this was the only Japanese person that I have ever met who admits to liking the stuff, I figured his problem couldn’t be too bad. I was wrong! It turns out that the guy was seriously jonesing for some of the other “caramel colored caca water”. So bad that he went and found a source — a local source! The dude hooked me up the next day.
So … If you’re ever in Ise-shi, Mie-ken and you are in desperate need for the ideal caffeine delivery mechanism (PUNK, don’t even start about Red Bull), drop by the second floor of the Kawasaki-cho LaLa Park. The not-so-trust-worthy looking shop above MaxValue can set you up the bomb. Tell them Eric sent you — you won’t get a discount but the lady behind the counter might get confused and mis-calculate your bill.
Filed under: Family, Japan | Tags: Ise, Ise-shi, Japan, Kintetsu, Mie, Mie-ken, Nagoya
We landed at a run and haven’t really slowed down yet. First day on the ground was hell with the kids in different states of jet-lag and the heat and humidity overwhelming us from the moment we got off the plane. We flew from Narita to Nagoya where we over-nighted. The hotel was very nice and walking distance, for two adults hauling two kids and two massive cart loads of luggage, from the airport. The only draw-back was that the carts didn’t fit into the elevators up to the hotel 🙂 Though the place was really comfy and pleasant we woke up at Lost-in-Translation hours and had a very early breakfast. Megumi wanted to tour the airport as it is a bit of an engineering marvel (artificial floating island etc …) so we gave it a go. We were too early for most of the fun stuff (the robot center was closed and shuttered) so we hopped on the train to Ise.
We took the Kintetsu line which may have been a mistake but we’ve only done it once so I dunno yet. Have you ever heard of a train with stairs? I hadn’t and we had to get through the smoking car to get up the flight of stairs to our seats. Hauling the kids was tough enough but the carts of luggage made it a real challenge. To think that some folks in HR (single, no kids) suggested that the whole trip was easily doable in a day still makes steamed. We made it with only lightly frayed nerves, small bruises and no contusions to speak of.
So, our house, air conditioning, fans, power, water, gas, fridge, cell-phones and washer-dryer (one machine don’t get me started) are all a go. The fiber optics for the phone, net and TV are due on 9/11. My parents can’t wait to get Video Skype going again. The family car, a Honda Fit, arrives next Saturday. I wanted to get a “Life” just to tell people that I finally had one but the Fit was a better deal. I’m looking into single or tandem dual seater “minica” for my commute.
The boat with our stuff hasn’t arrived yet so we are short of most things. Life is better than camping due to the hard work and brilliant timing of my in-laws. They showed up on day three with a pickup-truck load of futons, chairs, tables, pots, pans and anything they could think of that would fit. We were all in awe. Then they stepped past Megumi and me and went straight for the kids… well duh! 🙂 It was great seeing them and we were sad that they had to leave so soon.
Work is going to be funky. I haven’t really gotten a feel for it yet. Suffice it to say Asyst-Shinko is very Japanese — picture stereo-types from 90s movies and you’ll have a glimpse.
Aikido is still on the back burner. I have scouted three of the dojo where the folks in my ryu train but have yet to attend a single class. You can probably guess that I’m close to popping with frustration. I’ll meet the local dojo-cho on Monday. He has already given me permission to train for that evening and provisionally there after. I bought a new gi (Mizuno, light judo type) for the occasion. 🙂
I’ll send this the next time I can find a poorly secured hotspot. Sadly, that’s not a joke.
Little House In Ise 