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

Taka-kanaka

Again a few really interesting days with the planning of a trip to Kyoto together with Marco-san, a visit to Ginza, a museum and the imperial gardens.

I have been dubbed Taka Kanaka ( as a generic Japanese name), by a friend Kosuke, to fill out an online form for reserving the night-bus from Tokyo-Kyoto. It turns out the shinkansen (ultra-fast train) is also ultra expensive, so we are going to take the night-bus. Right after the end of Kan Geiko we will leave from shinjuku station at 23.30. the bus arrives early in the morning to Kyoto. In Kyoto we will explore the city and also a the Goldon pavilion... kinkaku-ji. Very exciting... more will follow!

Yesterday after training we went for some breakfast with the boys

Later we went to Ginza to check out the area. I saw some interesting items as I walked in a few random shops

Feel like an orange? As they come in at about ~70 Euro's it's a bargain! Of course top quality (genetically engineered)

The tour was continued to the Tsukiji area where we saw a budist temple

In the evening we enjoyed some beautiful views from a top condo

Fantastic!

The next day we decided to explore the imperial gardens area were we found japanese gardners work religiously on the trees

And a statue of a warrior

At one point we were able to enter the water gated outer gardens

Sunday 9th of January - Kagami Biraki

Moshi-moshi!

Today, after training at 10 am, we had a ceremony at the Kodokan due to the new year.

Following a demonstration of Judo Kata (display of techniques)

As an extra we then enjoyed some traditional sweet beans and rice cakes together with a mandarine, to symbolize a sweet new year.

As students we helped serving the food to many highly ranked officials who visited the Kodokan Institute on this special day.

First couple of days in Tokyo

Dear family and friends,

I am so glad you took the time to read this blog! I figured it would much more effective to write a blog rather than contacting everyone separately. Please don't take it personal, it just isn't feasible otherwise.

It all started after a very insightful internship after graduation with a corporate back home. I decided that if I was ever going to spend some time in Japan practicing judo, the time was now, so I acted.

I spent the last week of 2010 in Colorado with my family (thanks Doron for the great time we shared on NYE, it was a blast! - lets try and make the third time even bigger and better)

 Practically immediately after my return to Amsterdam, on the 5th of January I flew from Amsterdam over Paris to Tokyo Narita.

(best flight ever experienced on a brand-new Airbus 380)

After a 10-hour flight I landed in Tokyo - WOW! Right there and then I could how organized the Japanese are. It is simply amazing. when exited the airport it was like being in a twilight-zone or a parallel universe. Everything is different yet so incredibly advanced! And so clean! I got on the tube and went straight to the Kodokan at Korakuen/Kasuga station were I checked into the hostel.

Of course I had made arrangements prior to my departure. The Kodokan (place were Judo was 'invented' by the late prof. Jigoro Kano in 1882) has an international department, were international students of Judo enjoy a warm welcome.

Lucky for me upon arrival 'Kan Geiko' (mid-winter training) was just beginning, from the 6th until the 15th of January. This means training under the cold harsh winter conditions from 5.30-7.30 am. I had already enrolled from home and reserved a spot in the dorm of the Kodokan hostel, which is in the same building.

The Kodokan is an eight-story building with every facility possible inside:  reception, restaurant, shop, hostel, proper showers/baths, gym and of course a Dojo. There is the main Dojo, only accessible from the fourth floor (but located on the seventh). There is also an international Dojo, however I haven't trained there yet.

Super Fantastico!

Once I put my bags down the other guy staying in the shared dorm walked in: Marco from Italy (or Marco-San as after everybody's name comes - San). Immediately we made friends and after our first training we decided to go out and explore town. We started out having traditional breakfast, called a-sa-gohan.
By the way the food here is AMAZING. Japanese have this passion (or obsession, depending how you want to look at it) for fresh food. For as little as ~550 yen or about 5 euros we got a complete breakfast with rice, eggs, miso soup and something else I don't remember the name of - delicious.

Then, after having consumed this lovely little dish we continued our way to one of Tokyo's parks.

It is absolutely beautiful, the pictures we made here would understate it, so I decided not to. After the walk we had to visit a McDonald's for a coffee and a snack. The hostess spoke flawless English and she was OK with having her picture taken (but not before asking permission of the manager).

After that we went to Roppongi Hills, sort of the hip area with a huge sky scraper with an observatory on top. On the top of this building we took some nice shots of the city.

                                    

 And from we could even see mount Fuji in the distance.

Then we went to an art gallery, inside the building  were we saw some interesting art. Make of it what you like, but this was the least disturbing artifact. I don't know why, but there were some shocking pieces of art I am sparing you.

After that it was time to check out Tokyo by night.

This is an interesting vending machine you can see here all over the city.

We walked around for a little longer and than it was time to go to sleep because we had early training the next morning. Sayonara!