Your Japanese word of the week is...

"kagami biraki". Translated literally, it means "the unveiling of a round-shaped mirror". In actuality, it's a ceremony dating back to the 15th century where samurai, having made a two-layer mochi (rice) cake offering to the gods for the New Year, break the mochi to share with their family and clan members for spiritual reasons and to strengthen family and clan bonds. It usually takes place between the 11th and 20th of January and so, for the past 40 years, the Nippon Budokan has held a "kagami biraki" and this year, they included martial arts demonstrations from 9 different styles as well as holding a large one hour practice after the demos. I went with Shiramizu as part of a 3 dojo group representing the karate world during the practice session.

But all that was just the end of my 3 day long weekend thrash.

It started (as do most weekends) on Saturday with the Tokyo Auto Salon. It's like the Tokyo Motor Show except it's dedicated to modified cars and the whole culture. And culture it is, because the thing is like a giant, lit night club with DJ's, flashing lights, and dancers. Cars are still the main point, but trust me when I say not everyone there with a telephoto lens is interested in cars...... Regardless, it was awesome just to wander around and take in all the cool cars and cool parts and cool (as well as uncool) ideas that people have come up with. Just as with the Tokyo Motor Show, I'll put awards for some of the more interesting sights I saw but for the sake of brevity, that'll be for another post.

After that, it was karate practice in the evening before heading back out to Tokyo to meet my friend Kay. He's a German engineering intern who lives about an hour or so west of where I am in a place his intern friends have dubbed "Bosch town" because of the engineering firm's large presense there. He does the same style of karate and I met him at the dojo, which he found because he wanted to train while was here in Japan. He had some friends who were finishing their term in Japan and they were all going out to party in Tokyo and he invited me along. I must say, those Germans really like having a good time haha.......

After some (brief) sleep, I went back to Tokyo to meet another friend for dim sum on Sunday. Well, at least, the Japanese take on dim sum, which is all-you-can-eat. But it's not like dim sum as we know it. It's mostly a self-serve buffet affair with one waitress pushing a cart around with food that changes everytime. They also have signs telling you what food they have instead of yelling. But the food wasn't too bad and certainly a welcome taste after 6 months of no dim sum haha.....

Monday was the "kagami biraki" I mentioned above. It was pretty awesome to be in the middle of the Nippon Budokan arena practicing among all the other martial arts. It was also a lot of work to be heard above the kendo group, who were easily the loudest group there. At the end of the practice, they served the mochi in sweet red bean soup. Well, I don't really consider it a soup, but it's identical to the red bean dessert served in Chinese restaurants. I'm not normally a huge fan of it but this time around it tasted great, perhaps because, again, it's been months since I've had it. Natsukashii na~..... (nostalgic)

So there you have it. I don't really know why all those things decided to happen within those 3 days, but it all worked out. I guess all I can say is sleeping on the train is a great way to maintain your alertness, especially with those one hour train rides in and out of Tokyo haha......