Your Japanese word of the week is...

"kogeki-teki" 攻撃的. Kogeki 攻撃 means an attack or criticism (and adding suru after it turns it into a verb) while teki 的 is sort of like the suffix -ly. Or -ish, -like... it basically turns the verb into an adjective... So kogeki-teki can be thought of as "aggressive" or "critical"...

They're still at it...

Indeed they are. The Tokyo Metro system is still going after all the people who are behaving inappropriately on their subways. This month's poster is...

It's just getting more and more ridiculous. Now, the point of the poster is obvious- to give your seat to anyone in more dire need of it than you. And that's fine. I always give my seat up despite the looks of shock and horror the people on the train give me. Giving up a seat?? That's unheard of!!

That's one of the things that still bothers me about Tokyo. Everyone's really polite (as they would have to be for 12 million people to live together), but in reality, there's this constant passive aggressiveness going on, especially on the trains. I personally hate being pushed off the train because I just don't feel it's necessary. The same thing goes with the nabbing seats on the train.

On my commute in the morning at the station where I change trains, there is a guy who lines up right in the front, waiting for the doors to open. And when they do, he dashes on while people are getting off and then sneaks around to the next car to steal a spot in the NEXT CAR'S COURTESY SEATS. It's just pathetic....

So, while I agree with what this poster, I don't really agree with what it says.... Do it at home??

What, like I hog all the seats on my couch and refuse to give them up even if a crippled old man with no neck comes over?? I just don't get what it means....... and it's not a translation thing, because it actually says "Do it at home" in Japanese too =P......

In all fairness, I guess there is no place better to really be "doing" such a thing..... and they do have to keep the theme of the posters going....... it's just.... I highly doubt anyone at home steals the "courtesy seats" from their grandmother..... do people even have courtesy seats at home?!?

Grrr....

This past Sunday (the 8th) was the Kita-Katsushika-Gun Tournament. Kita-Katsushika is a small region that includes a couple of small cities (sort of like how the Tri-Cities would include Coquitlam) but, in reality, was a tournament with competitors from all over Saitama.

As expected with a local tournament, the level was a bit all over the place and despite fighting a cold these past three weeks, I expected to do quite well.

Unfortunately, I ended up losing 3-2 in kata. I think my problem is that I'm still a bit stiff in some movements. And while I'm working on it (and have seen an improvement since, like, 2007), the harder I try, the stiffer the movements become. Arakawa Sensei once told me to never do any movement above 90% power, because the last 10% comes from just tension. And I've yet to consistently find a "competitive zone" where I'm trying just hard enough, but not over-doing it...

Regardless, the person who defeated me went on to take second place so that pulled my ranking into the Top 8, so I got a certificate for it! I do actually feel, however, that I could've won were I matched up against some of the other competitors, but woulda coulda shoulda...

The afternoon was kumite and though I got seeded into the second round, I watched my opponent basically over-power his first round match, including knocking the guy onto the ground. So obviously I was a bit concerned with how the match would go, especially considering he was twice my size.

But going from what I had taken from Olivia Sensei's seminar, I took my time and tried to get good solid counter-punches in. It was pretty hard though and I ended up down 0-2...

Then the timing clicked and I scored two quick counters to even it out at 2-2.

With only a few seconds left, I thought I could manage another one but alas, after the clash, the decision went to him and I was out at 3-2.

To be honest though, I was quite satisfied with the result. I've been trying various ways to fight people who are taller and have a longer reach than me with varying success. But the moves I thought would work worked and I'm starting to seeing the fight a bit better...

Anyway, it's just a lot of speculation and there's not much point unless I'm actually in ring doing it.

I should also mention that I'm no longer doing the grading on March 1st since it's the same day as Seiritsu's graduation ceremony. I've been told there's another grading in June so that's the tentative plan.

Feb 22 is the 10th Annivesary of Shiramizu's annual tournament, so that'll be barrels of fun....

Mar 22 is the Kanto Wadokai Tournament. Kanto includes Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama so the level will be very high. I'm aiming for Top 8 so we'll see =P...