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!