Your Japanese word of the week is...

"iwai" 祝い which is a "celebration". Strangely, I've never heard of anyone call it it a celebration. It's always a something-something-kai (---会) whether it's a bonenkai (year end party) or sobetsukai (farewell party), -kai meaning a meeting. But still, there are certain things to celebrate. The first being that this is the 100th Word of the Week! I find that awfully convenient considering it'll be the last Word of the Week (from Japan anyway...) but it also means, having been here for two years, I managed to skip two somewhere down the road haha...... oops.....

Anyways, seeing as my last week here has started, so have some of the "farewell" dinners/parties/coffees/etc.

It was, for example, this past Saturday was my last practice at Shiramizu before I leave for Canada.

I particularly want to thank Okano-san (front L, he has his knee up) who's been extremely kind throughout my past two years here. He's invited me to fancy Christmas buffets, shown me around Kyoto, and, this coming Saturday, has invited me to help him teach at his alma mater's karate club. The latter I'm not sure I can do, but Okano-san assures me I have a lot to offer and I relish the challenge. At the very least, it'll be a great work out.

It was also my last practice at Guseikai.

I apologize for the non-centred picture... I didn't take it =P

I've written about Guseikai before and everything remains true. Headed by Takagi Sensei, it's a well of technical knowledge for all things Wado. Karate aside though, I've also come to know a lot of the members quite well too. The other thing is that, on pure comparative terms, Guseikai is really very different from Shiramizu. Be it practical things like the size of the training space or demographical things like the ages of people there. Despite that, both places have been very welcoming and I'm really grateful for the chance to have met and trained with everyone there.

I'm also grateful, I suppose, for Takagi Sensei asking me to lead the class on Tuesday haha..... well, by lead I mean stand up front and do the count. Things like basics are not often led by Takagi Sensei himself, so this time I got to go up there and keep count. It's harder than you think, counting haha...... mainly because it's easy to succumb to the natural timing of everyone else. But I just stored it in my "Useful for future teaching purposes" box and went with it. In the end though, it was fine. And after class I joined them for their regular dinner-after-practice at the local izakaya.

As for Takagi Sensei himself (see right), it was an amazing opportunity to have trained under him for so long. His has an incredible understanding of the technical aspects of karate and while some of the things he has asked me to understand have left me confused for weeks on end, I'm eternally grateful that he took the time to help me.

Of course, while karate is a huge part of my life here, it's not the only thing. Here's something else...

This is me at a little place called Bauhaus. Opened in 1981 in Roppongi, it's a bar/lounge with a live house band that plays covers of loads of rock songs and is, I'm convinced, one of the best nights out in Tokyo. It's not just that they're good, but the whole atmosphere of the place. They have a mainstay of two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer to which they add a handful of singers. The best part is that between sets, they all work the bar. It feels like it was something started by some friends and they all work hard to keep it going. Actually, that's exactly what it is...

People can even ask to get up on stage and sing or play an instrument of their choice. Those not as skillfully inclined can request songs from a pretty big list that includes most of the popular songs in rock. In terms of performance, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is the funniest to watch, while I find Highway Star by Deep Purple to be the most insane in terms of crazy solos.

I originally discovered the place through my friend Justine back in May (right before I went to Hong Kong actually). She sang for them a few times and became friends with everyone there, so eventually I got to know them as well. Enough that they let me get away with not paying the cover charge haha...... actually, if I did have to pay cover, I probably wouldn't go nearly as much, since it's an exorbitant ￥2835. I suppose though you'd just spend as much if not more on other nights out in Tokyo... still...

Anyway, it's just a good night out with a great band that puts on a great show.

In fact, here a video of them I found in Youtube, covering the aforementioned Deep Purple song (which, in a bit of trivia, was nominated as one of the best ever driving songs on Top Gear, but lost to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now").

The guitarist in white is Masato (who's amazing) with Kei on the other guitar (who's very kind and young beyond his years) and Tomo on bass (who... I almost never talk to haha). The drummer I don't recognize because now there's a different one, who's really nice to talk to as well......

Unfortunately, Masato's left last month to study music in America and they're seaching for a new lead guitarist. Even so, it's still a great night out and, because you can catch the last train home, you can forego the "stay out all night and then try to fix your sleep schedule" routine that clubbing forces you into... wow I sound old haha.....

Anyways, if you're in Tokyo and even remotely enjoy rock music, I highly recommend checking out Bauhaus.

For the rest of the week, I have that university karate session on Saturday and then it's just loads of seeing people one last time kind of thing.

I also have to be all packed by Monday because I'm sending my luggage ahead to Narita because it'd be silly for me to try to carry two suitcases, a carry on, and a messenger bag by myself =P...