Little House In Ise

Ray and I were on the train at 9:00 Saturday morning and met the Honbu Dojo youth group at the regular spot beside the Budokan. After waiting outside for a while and then waiting inside for a while longer it was time to dress and have lunch. Bento and tea were provided and the kids went a little stir crazy waiting for the program to kick off.

After standing for Kimigayo (the Japanese national anthem), there were several speeches by local, national and organizational dignitaries. I didn’t think this opening ceremony lasted as long as others that I’ve been through but then again, I wasn’t sitting in seiza packed shoulder to shoulder with a zillion others — Ray might have something different to say about the length of the speeches. After the ceremonial opening of the event the younger Suzuki sensei lead the whole mass of kids in slightly abridged set of traditional Aikido warm-up exercises.

The fourth grade through junior high age kids were then shooed off the mat and first through third grade students had a full class including ukemi, shiko and a handful of basic techniques. There were two other similar classes with Wakasensei teaching the fourth through sixth graders (Ray’s group) and Kanazawa sensei teaching the junior high school kids. Energy level and sophistication increased with each age level.

After the classes ended the enbu began. Students came from all over Japan to demonstrate how their schools do Aikido. There were demonstrations with one student and one teacher and others with large numbers of kids executing kata in sync. It was quite impressive and I was please with the overall level, especially that of the older junior high school kids. They did a great job!

I also found the kids-will-be-kids atmosphere in the stands fun. At one point I noticed a group of about ten kids huddled looking as though they were doing some serious plotting and planning. On closer inspection it turned out that one of the kids had brought a DS Lite and everyone was giving him advice on how to play. So much for observing the demos At the end of the kids section Fujimaki Shihan, Sugawara Shihan and Doshu all gave demonstrations. The pictures below should tell the story better than I can describe it…

Fujimaki Shihan says its time to start the next demo!

Wakasensei shows the kids how Ikyo Ura is performed at Honbu.

Fujimaki Shihan controls the centerline…

A dynamic entry into Nikyo ura (ouch!)

Sugawara Shihan demonstrates iriminage.

Staying inside…

Doshu’s kotegaeshi

Doshu setting up kotegaeshi

This one is always a crowd pleaser –especially when the ccrowd is mostly kids!

Kokoro has been complaining about not being able to do rolls properly. She has been doing what we used to call “egg rolls” — going over from side to side rather than shoulder to opposite butt-cheek. I was proud that she knew it was wrong and even more pleased that in her frustration she came to me for help. As an aiki-geek papa, any opportunity to share my geekiness with the kids makes me super happy. They can sense my enthusiasm and we have a lot of fun.

My plan was to go to Cosmic Center (a public gym) and use their mats but heavy rain dampened that idea… So, when Kokoro brought up rolling again we went up to her room and arranged the interlinking, soft, ABC pads on her floor and did very small rolls. The Squirt favors one side but other than that was actually looking pretty good. I decided that we needed to do a bit more so we tried some forward flat falls. I emphasized the forearm to floor contact for preventing wrist injuries since it seems to be a detail often skipped in kids ukemi training. She caught on quickly and soon we were both making horrible thumping noises banging on the floor.

The noise brought Ray in and he immediately said, “Papa, do yokomen uchi!” Silly me, I did. It turns out that yokomen uchi shihonage is his favorite technique and he has really been wanting to show it off. So he did it hard — it’s a small room and if there had not been a nice friendly wall to keep me up I would have gone down for real. Training at Honbu has really added some oomph to my little boy’s Aikido!

Fourth graders are the youngest kids in that class and so there are a lot of bigger kids. Given his almost five years of Aikido, Ray outranks a lot of them and is the only fourth grader that lines up with the junior-high and high-school kids. That seems to bother some of them — so they resist. Resistance training isn’t always bad for the partner with more advanced skills. For the bigger, less skilled partner, their own resistance may cause trouble but I haven’t heard any complaints if it has. Anyway, Ray has learned how to move and has picked up a trick or two. When I resisted (lightly) his second attempt at shihonage, The Big Guy stuck his foot behind my heel and downed me AGAIN!

Kokoro of course wanted to show off too and she requested that I strike shomen. She did a lovely little ikyo omote. Since she chose that one, I assumed it was her favorite but she corrected me. Her favorite technique is irimi nage and the variation she is comfortable with is a very Steven Segal-esque direct entry irimi nage that just does not match the image of a pretty-in-pink, gap-toothed, six-year-old having trouble with rolls.

I am definitely going to be more careful the next time I give these kids a time-out…

LOVE and PRIDE!

I thought I would share a smile with you.

I was in the bathroom, wishing that the long stick incense that was there fit our short stick incense burner. I called Ray over and asked him to get me some scissors so I could shorten a stick or two. It was a strange request for that special time that most people use for meditation.

Ray asked, “Why? Pants?”

I responded, “No, incense”.

The door isn’t very thick but he obviously misheard me. There was horror in his voice as he tried to confirm what he thought he heard.

“PENIS?!?!”

I almost fell off the throne laughing.

Kokoro trained with Wakasensei the other day. This is a picture of the two of them after class — Ray was in his class and so isn’t in the pic. The yellow strap around her neck holds her Dojo membership card. Most of the kids put their cards on straps so they don’t lose them. I can pretty much guaranty that we’ll lose one or two in the next couple of years anyway but it is a good idea.

Two days ago we realized that the kids were expected to participate in the Aikido demonstration at the Budokan. We hadn’t really paid any attention to the leaflet that came from the dojo. We knew the kids weren’t eligible to test so didn’t read further than that. It turns out that we missed a quite a bit… Oops. So, the kids had their debut at the Nippon Budokan today. It turned out well. Ray knew the techniques and just did what was asked. Kokoro didn’t know what was going on so she just did ukemi the whole time. Her partner was confused at first but didn’t seem to mind once she caught on. Here are a few pics.

Ray, front row left, doing Shihonage from yokmenuchi.

Kokoro was on left side of the middle of the little kids mat.

There were other people demonstrating too…

I like this one of Doshu and his son.

I’m in the hospital library firing off a quick post.  Not a particulalry exciting one and rather annoying for me. The local docs (sensei) removed my appendix on Monday evening.  They’ve given me dire warnings about not training for a month.  It can’t be a month!  The Uchi-Deshi dudes are training with broken backs and crap like that!  This was just a useless little sausage casing!  Grrr!

OK, tantrum over.  I will be patient and report from the sidelines.  This may mean more pictures for folks who are interested in what Honbu looks like on the inside.

Ray and I were biking around the other day when he mentioned that he was thirsty. It was a short ride home so I said we could wait until then to get something to drink. Ray knows me very well so the next vending machine we passed he announced loudly “Oooh look, they have Dr. Pepper!” Simple but effective manipulation that I fell for immediately.

I finally figured out how they managed to make a market for a product in country where most people think it tastes like medicine: Anime porn! You don’t believe me? Here are some pics that I took of the can …

Like other simple, effective manipulation it works for me too.  I bought two more.

The kanji characters for shoji are 障子. Translated literally they mean something like “disturbs children”. There are few words whose origin is more clear and appropriate. Shoji are paper windows and a feature of traditional Japanese homes. As you might guess, they tear easily. Small children must maintain enormous restraint not to rip the paper with their little fingers, crayons, baseballs and jump ropes. I’ve also noticed that “Restraint” and “children” tend to be mutually exclusive concepts. So paper covered windows clearly would be trouble for little kids. In Ise, we replaced the paper in four shoji, twice. Once we did it ourselves. The second time we called in a pro — Grandma. In both cases the need for new paper was due to my two wonderful, creative and clearly disturbed children’s games.

The new house in Tokyo has shoji only in the master bedroom. The paper looks old and soft. It’s a lot like butcher-block that has gotten wet and dried many times. Ours have probably weathered several rainy seasons. On sunny days the paper glows with a friendly, diffuse white light.

On our first day in the new house, I went from room to room making up beds and getting them ready for our first night. I did the kids rooms first and then the master. The bed was closer to the windows than we had planned and while flopping the comforter over the top, I put the first hole in the shoji.

Shoji disturb me too…

With Megumi and the kids in Ise and me here in Tokyo, I have been depending on Skype for my daily fix of family. Every night after work the first thing I do when get back to my “mansion” is to skype home. Usually Ray will answer. With a quick, “Hi papa” and a wave he’ll quickly go back to homework or his dinner. I miss my kids waaay more than they miss me. Sometimes though, they’ll be patient and sit in front of the computer and tell me a bit about their day. Rikimaruo-kun was mean, Ryo-kun got a new video game, Yume-chan won’t play tag if Maya-chan is going to play, etc… I eat up every word.

The other night Megumi was doing something upstairs, Ray had gone to bed early and Kokoro was having trouble with her homework. She sat in front of the computer and held her book up to the camera so I could try to figure out why she was upset. My little Sweet-Heart understood the problem and had gotten it right but when Ray had checked her work he had marked one problem and it was bothering her to tears. We played Simon-says, taking turns being Simon, until she calmed down enough to explain what was wrong. I just wanted to hug her but that technology is not yet available — even on Macintosh.

But it is over, my family moves to Tokyo this week. I will go back to Ise tomorrow (Tuesday) and we should all be in the big city by the weekend. As much as I appreciate Skype, I look forward to having my family together again. They are all going to be tired of random hugs before the week is out!

Unless you are rich, blessed with a company that pays for your housing or are just lousy at finances, to live in Tokyo, requires downsizing expectations about house or apartment size. Usually, downsizing a lot is going to be barely enough.

When house hunting, consider where you want to go every day (work/play) then choose a location that is convenient to a rail line that will take you there. Anything inside the loop formed by the Yamanote line is going to be pricier than places outside with famously expensive locations such as Ginza and Shinjuku topping the list.

To keep costs down, consider living outside the loop. The farther out the cheaper it gets with Chiba and Saitama being relatively reasonable. The Yokohama area and locations adjacent to the Chuo line are also expensive. Try to find a place near your preferred station. Buses may be less frequent than you need and station area parking can be pricey (way out in the Chiba Urayasu area, parking near the station costs about 20,000 yen per month — about $200). Also, avoid living near stations where the express trains don’t stop. It’s awful to stand in the cold, watching trains zoom past knowing they go where you want to be.

Another way to keep costs low is to rent an older apartment. This may sound obvious but the drawbacks associated with it are not. To start with, older Japanese homes and apartments have serious insulation issues and end up being both colder and hotter than new ones. The bigger problems have more to do with space for stuff. An older apartment will only be designed to hold an old-style fridge and washing machine. In both cases, that means very small. For singles that can work, but for families or couples it can be a problem. In some areas, for example the Okachimachi area near Ueno, the local custom was to visit public baths so many older homes, that have not been remodeled, don’t include a bath.

I recommend avoiding any commute that requires changing trains in Shinjuku. I am a crowd wimp, so take the traditional dose of salt, but Shinjuku station and its walking-distance-neighbors are tough to get around in at the best of times. Dante missed out by not including Shinjuku station at rush hour as one of his circles of hell.

If you are renting a mansion (condo/apartment) ask your real estate agent for “bunjo” type. Bunjo mansions are built to be sold rather than rented and so tend to be built to a higher standard (quieter and warmer).

Finally, it helps to be comfortable with using tatami mat size (jo) as a unit of measurement for room sizes. Overall, house and apartment areas will be described in square meters but individual rooms, especially Japanese style rooms, will be described by the number of tatami mats that would fit the room. A typical small room is 6 jo. A typical storage or bonus room is 4.5 jo. An LDK (Living-Dining-Kitchen) that is 14 jo is big.

Good luck!