Friday February 26th & Saturday February 27th

Yesterday, I travelled to Akirano-shi to visit the Sobajima family.  I stayed with this family for a home-stay during my first visit to Japan in the summer of 2009.  I arranged to meet Yasuyuki (the father) at the police box at the front of Sugamo JR station at 17.30pm.  As I was waiting at the police box, Makita Sensei passed and when he saw me he stopped and asked me if I was going training.  For a split second I didn't recognise him because he was wearing one of those surgical type masks which Japanese people commonly wear if they have allergies etc.  Anyway, I explained to Makita Sensei that I wouldn't be going to the dojo as I was going to Akirano-shi and training at Yagi Sensei dojo in the morning.

Yasuyuki was maybe two minutes late and he felt very bad about this.. typical Japanese attitude where they like everything to be "perfect"!  We travelled by train to Akirano-shi... About a 2 hour journey... It was Friday evening rush hour so we were standing for most of it!  When we arrived at the family home I showered (in Japan you wash a lot!) and then we had shabu-shabu (Japanese "hotpot") and different types of raw fish for dinner.  So the family's grandparents live with them as well.  They are aged 80+ and it was interesting to see how they live with the "younger" family and they just do their own thing!  I remember Scott Sensei telling me that Japanese people typically take out a mortgage that is paid off over maybe 3/4 generations... So this is why the grandparents are living with the family I guess... It was probably their homeplace initially.

I didn't sleep too well Friday night to be honest..  Tossed and turned all night on the futon!  Up at 7.30am for breakfast and then Yasuyuki, Kotoro (16 years old) and I cycled to Yagi Sensei's dojo for training at 9am... Cycling through the village on a bike that was way too small for me was great fun!  We were first to arrive at the dojo and I said "o-hi-sa-shi-buri-des" (good to see you again) to Yagi Sensei.  There were around 12 people training.  Training was a little less intensive than the Hombu Dojo so this was welcome!  We did lots of kihon and Yagi Sensei took particular interest in a slight timing error that I have when I do gyaku-zuki from zenkutsu-dachi on my right side... My punching hand seems to finish a split second after my hip engages into shomen..  This is something I need to look at but it was great that Yagi Sensei took interest in this.  Like the Hombu Dojo instructors, he has a very sharp eye for detail.  We did a lot of kicking techniques with an outstretched elastic band across the dojo, in addition to all Hiean kata and some kihon ippon kumite.

One very interesting story from training... Yagi Sensei has several A4 laminated posters of different Hombu Dojo Instructors such as Nagaki Sensei, Nihei Sensei etc... These are all former/current world champions with very famous reputations.  One of the training drills that we did was for our partner to hold these posters and we had to do different punching and kicking techniques.. Hitting the picture of Nagaki Sensei everytime!  This was very strange for me but funny at the same time as I see and train with Nagaki Sensei for example in the Hombu Dojo all the time!  The kids loved it though and were really smacking the posters!  We finished the session with lots of leg strengthening and abdominal strengthening exercises. 

After training I gave Yagi Sensei a chocolate gift set.. Good old reliable "Ginza Cozy Corner" chocolates!  Yasuyuki told me after training that it was more intensive than normal.. becuase I was training!  For the remainder of the day we did some sight seeing around the local area.. We visited a place where there were "Ume" (plum) trees in full bloom, we visited the house and museum of Yoshikawa Eiji (a famous Japanese writer) and we also went to this really strange place to do some "fishing"!  And we also went to a small local restaurant for Ramen (Japanese noodle dish) in between!  We were all very tired when we got back to Akirano-shi.

When I was leaving the family I was sure that Yasuyuki was going to drive me to the train station so that I could get the train/s back to Nippori.  However, as we drove near the train station Yasuyuki told me that he would like to drive me back to Nippori!  I was really surprised and told him that he did not need to do that but he insisted!  So I was able to sit back and enjoy the journey by road back to Nippori and see lots of different sights along the way.  Got back to Nippori at 6pm!

So it was a very enjoyable 24 hours..  Making friends with people like the Sobajima family is a very special experience as they treat me so well when I am visiting them.. It is almost embarassing how generous they are with everything.  Of course I gave them a gift as a "thank you" but I think the best thing that you can give them in return is to "go with the flow" while you are there!  Day of rest tomorrow... Research, some sightseeing and maybe a visit to an onsen maybe!