Friday February 11th

Rested this morning for a little bit.  Today is National Foundation Day or Kenkoku Kinenbi.  On this day 660BC the first Japanese Emperor was crowned.  It is a national holiday and therefore there was no training at the dojo today.  It has been a physically tough week and I was glad of the rest.  It was snowing all day today in Tokyo with some snow staying on the ground in parts.  Big drop in temperatures since I arrived here with the group towards the end of January!

Met with Angelo and Michiko at 4pm at Kaminakazato where we went to a public bath.  This was nice and relaxing and a chance to rest the muscles!  Angelo and I noticed that there were some people in the baths with tattoo's and this was strange to see as this is not usually allowed in Japan as tattoos are associated with Yakuza (Japanese crime syndicate).

After the baths we met with Lynda (an Italian school friend of Angelo) and her friend Nami (a Japanese friend of Lynda).  Nami means seventh (Nana) and third (as in Mittsu).  I think that's right!  We went to a very nice Italian restaurant where we ate (big) pizza.  This was a nice change to sample some western type food again!  Conversation with everybody was good and it ranged from English to Italian to Japanese and even some German as well!  We all travelled home on the train together.  It was a very enjoyable evening!

I meant to write my journey to Nippori train station on Wednesday as I was going to the dojo.  Three Japanese sumo wrestlers cycled up a hill in the opposite direction to me.  They looked so big on their bicycles and were wearing their traditional yukata!  It was very strange for me and I would love to have got a photograph!

Will do some research tomorrow morning and afternoon before training tomorrow evening.  Makita Sensei and Nagaki Sensei will probably be teaching.  Considering I now have my first full week on my own finished I don't feel as anxious or nervous about going to the dojo this coming week! Time to plough on!