Your Japanese word of the week is...

"tsuitachi" which refers to the first day of a month. Just as how in English we say "January first" instead of "January one", "tsuitachi" is used in Japanese instead. In my case, the most important date in the first quarter of this year is March 1st. That would be, as I've just confirmed tonight, when my next grading is. I certainly don't intend on failing but it's not going to be easy. Especially because I'm determined to grade under the most scrupulous of testers, those in charge of the Tokyo area test.

To that end, in September I started training once a week at Takagi Sensei's Guseikai dojo. It helps that he's one of the people on the grading panel so I'm trying to take in as much as I possibly can in the next two months. However, it's still difficult mainly because while the grading itself only requires me to do all the basics, two kata, and two pre-set partner drills, I don't know which kata or drills I'll be required to do until the day of the test. And because they're choosing two kata out of 4 and two drills out of 10, I essentially need to know all of them....... =P

And while it sounds stressful, it hasn't stopped me from enjoying my time here. For example, this weekend I...

... went to the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon.

As usual, I'll be putting up a couple noteables in a separate post.

... took part in the Shiramizu Arukou-kai, their annual new year walk to a shrine. The name actually comes from "aruku" (to walk) and "kai" (a meet/event), hence the name "arukou-kai".

Here are some pics from Arakawa Sensei's blog.

That's Arakawa Sensei at the head of the line.

It was a cold but bright morning and about 120 dojo members (Shiramizu has nearly 450 students!) came out for the walk which was about 1.5hr each way. At the temple, we prayed and had a short 5 minute "practice". At the end of the walk some parents had hot soup ready for us so it was great fun all around.

... went again to the Kagami Biraki at the Nippon Budokan. Like last year, it opened with an exhibition showing how the head of a samurai clan was given a feast followed by martial arts demos. I managed to catch the kyudo (archery) and karate demos, both of which were quite good.

Following that was the "First practice of the year". Nine different martial arts on the main floor of the budokan all practicing together. It great fun.

These next two pics are, again, thanks to Arakawa Sensei.

That's Carl, the current intern, right behind me.

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......