Last few days....

Konnichiwa,

This will, unfortunately, be one of my last posts from Japan. However I don't want to keep the wonderfull experience in Japan all to myself so here goes:

 From the dormitory where Advent and me have been living for the last few weeks we have done a lot of judo, not only at the Kodokan, but also at Chiyoda dojo (near Otemachi).

Advent will be competing in the african cup. We wish him a lot of succes. Also thanks for the private investors who prefer to remain anonimous.

Nice uchi mata Advent! Also cheers to Thomas. Have fun in Tenri!

And Atsushi....

for ippon!

Besides doing judo I also went exploring a little more

temple near Asakusa. There I met up with some israeli's. It's true they are all over the place!

We went to a famous bar where we met some interesting Japanese older people who like a drink!
But before that we enjoyed a delicious lunch

yummy..... Sorry Yahel I just had to!! ( i think you can see it's eyes)

And a few nice shots of Tokyo. Ever since I have got my new Nikkon D5000, I love taking pictures - thanks to Atsush for sorting that one out!

favorite coffee place in Roppongi

 Kodokan from Korakuen station

Nihon-ji temple in Tsukiji

Ginza

Tokyo tower by day

... by night. From Atago tower.

End of Kan Geiko and Kyoto trip

Dear readers,
Sorry for the delay but I am back again!

The sensei

One of the last days of Kan Geiko, with a terrific sensei we studied ne-waza

(sorry I haven't figured out yet how to rotate the video)

After that the closing ceremony

After finishing Kan Geiko it was time for a trip

But before we left - electric city!

And while we were walking through the area, I saw an old acquaintance of mine (even though they gave her a funny colour).

That evening we took the nightbus to Kyoto, which was a relatively painless procedure. Once arrived we were in the middle of town - Kawaramachi Dori.

 

We then immediately went on exploring the city's rich heritage of shrines and statues

On the way we saw a nice little bookstore crammed with books. Unfortunately all in Japanese.

At the end of day one, we walked past a Korean grill which smelled so delicious we just had to try it out! Also we made some new friends. Bu the way, such a grill would be impossible to have in Europe, because after 5 minutes your eyes will be in such pain due to the thick smoke and poor ventilation, however this did not spoil the fun for us - and the food...... to die for

We decided the next day to get up early and visit kinkaku-ji and go for a hike

Truthfully I have rarely seen something of such beauty...

Then we went on to Ginkaku-ji to enter to daimonji mountain

It started of nicely, but since Marco-san did not pack his hiking boots, he was facing some difficulties climbing with his fasion-consious shoes on!

From a post we had some nice views of Kyoto

And walking through the forest..

Down the other side of the mountain we entered the grounds of Nanzen-Ji

Some of the wooden temples had been burned down, this was one of the only ones that remained, dating back to the 16th century

Then, on he way out, we passed a traditional Japanese garden

We hung out her for a little while to suck in the atmosphere. Afterwards we walked back into town to catch a bus back to our hotel and pick up our bags and catch that nightbus back to Tokyo

Before we hopped on, we saw went out to see an old castle

Then we went back to Tokyo!

Rainbow bridge trip

Yesterday, randomly we decided to head to the south of tokyo. But not before training(pics of training will follow shortly)

Statue of Jigoro Kano in front of the international office

Then a nice cup of coffee

We then headed south. Something exciting happened: As Marco-san and I were walking of the main path we approached a guard station. Marco was carrying his camera in his right hand and one guard only saw us as we were nearby. Out came running the guard with his gun in his hand, mistaking marco's camera for a gun. Luckily he didn't shoot us and after a good scare we were able to continue up the rainbow bridge

This bridge enabled some stunning views

we then continued the way along the bridge

Down the other side

wow!

Once we reached the other side we explored for a while and decided to head back to Asakusa (pronounced asaksa) by a water-bus that looks like a spaceship

Inside we enjoyed the beautiful views and headed back home to call it a day