Your Japanese word of the week is...

"kincho". It means nervous and what you might expect me to talk about is my dan (or black belt level) grading this past weekend.

But interestingly, that wasn't the most recent nerve wracking experience I've had this weekend. As a matter of fact, last night something else crazy happened. I got pulled over........... on my bike.....

See, I was feeling a bit peckish at night and was heading to the convenience store (or "convenie") for some food. By bike it takes about 5 minutes and so I didn't think much of it as I hopped on my bike to go.

Halfway there, this black and white Toyota Echo (or Platz, as it's called here) pulled up and three (3!!!!) men stepped out. I'm not sure if they're really police or just patrol or something, but they asked me to get off the bike and asked for some information. I can just imagine how odd it must've looked to have 3 guys in a car stopping one kid on a bike........

Anyway, one gentleman pointed out to me (after I pointed out to him I don't speak Japanese) that riding at night without the headlight on is dangerous.

"Oh sorry! Yes, you're right. There you go, it's on now."

While all this was happening, another one was radio-ing (is that a word??) in the serial number on the bike while the third man was checking to see if my lock had a key and if my tire was properly inflated and such. I started to wonder if I was going to get arrested for a wobbly rear tire or something........

Anyways, long story short, I didn't get a fine and the men left, with one man's last three words being, "No. Light. Dangerous." Yes, thank you.........

The weirdest part was that not one of them mentioned that not wearing a helmet is dangerous, too. Honestly, they checked the bike rather thoroughly and only left when they were convinced that it was in good working condition and, rightly I might add, were concerned for my night time safety lest I be run over by a truck. But then again, it's totally fine to bike around with no helmet?? Weird............

Regardless, back to the main point of my weekend heh.......... I did indeed go to my karate grading. In case you don't know, the grading was for my second degree black belt, otherwise known as a nidan. It took place in Urayasu city in Chiba which was about an hour and a half drive from where I am, and near Tokyo Disneyland. There were 12 of us going for the test from Shiramizu, 3 testing for their nidan (including me) while the rest went for their shodan.

I had been putting in quite a bit of self training at the dojo for the few weeks leading up to it and I'm happy to say I passed (as did everyone else from Shiramizu, regardless a few of them not smiling in the picture haha). Although, now that I think about it, having passed it only means the work gets harder since now not only are all the coloured belts looking up to me, so are all the shodan (first degree) students. The responsibility to be a role model both in karate and as a character grows so this is indeed not the end but rather, the beginning.

Still, I'm quite happy because I put in the effort and it's nice to see these things bear fruit.......

This is a picture I "borrowed" (heh) from Arakawa Sensei's blog of us after we got back to the dojo.