The Final Semester Begins
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted to this journal, so I guess it’s time for a long entry. I’ve just been rather busy so I haven’t had time to do it. Over spring vacation, I went to a Jujutsu class. Overall, it was a good experience. It is certainly preferable to the Japanese martial sports I’ve seen so far. I intend to go as regularly as I can with my schedule. I misunderstood the schedule and went on their sparring day for my first class. Fortunately, I knew enough from Hapkido that I could just joined in without much of a problem. It was a little challenging to communicate with them, but we managed somehow. What we’ve done so far has been exclusively ground grappling. Their sparring is a lot like wrestling except there are fewer rules and you go until someone submits. It would be a good activity to add somewhere in the Hapkido curriculum. I managed to hold my own pretty well, though I lost more than I won. We were restricted to ground grappling stuff and I just don’t have enough ground grappling experience to take on guys that have done exclusively that for 4-6 years. Perhaps after doing this class a bit more I will be able to win frequently. I almost won against the instructor on my first go, but I did gradually worse as I got tired. 2 hours of ground grappling is quite exhausting! If nothing else this class will get me in shape. I also sustained numerous superficial injuries from mat burn. The mats we do Jujutsu on are quite rough. I’ll have to be more careful and tape myself up or something next time or I will be constantly injured for the rest of my time here.
I also spent several days in Oigawa with JHayz over the break. We spent a lot of time doing Hapkido and just bumming around. It was much nicer than just hanging out alone in Yokkaichi. I also got to attend the Taekwando class that he’s been attending. I got to meet all the guys he’s been talking about like Mr. Angry and even got to spar with them. The sparring was a slaughter though. The levels were just too different. I had a great time anyways. The last evening I was up in Oigawa, Katie also dropped by, so the entire team Japan got to hang out.
The Saturday before the end of break, I got a call from Justin saying that he was visiting Katie in Nagoya and they wanted to go to Iga-Ueno, the ninja town. Unfortunately, it rained the following morning, so we decided to put off our trip to Iga-Ueno and instead went to Nagoya Castle and bummed around Nagoya for a bit. It was an entertaining day despite the dismal weather.
For the next two weeks, I am working at Shidouka unfortunately. It’s a rather stressful place for me because I don’t like the people here and many of them are the kinds of people that just drain you. I will be glad when this is over. I’m the head of the seminar next week, so I’m also pretty busy. It’s quite irritating. We also had another business dinner party thing Monday evening. I think that was the worst Japanese food I have eaten yet. The meal primarily consisted of raw meat which made me ill later that night. It seems my stomach does not like raw beef.
I have also been working on VeV as usual. Things have been progressing pretty much as they usually do. I spend a lot of time on it, but it always moves fairly slowly due to the size of the project and the level of detail required. We have finally acquired an artist who is willing to do our artwork at a fraction of her usual price because she really wants to be a part of this project. This is very good as Justin and I don’t have the funds to pay her usual fee and we are not making any money off of this project. She is very enthusiastic and does very nice work. The artwork that she has submitted so far reminds me of the Final Fantasy artwork by Amino. Justin and I are looking forward to seeing her final pieces and are excited to have her on the team.
I have one final note. I am now entering the last semester I will teach in Japan. About 98 days left before I’m finished work.
I also spent several days in Oigawa with JHayz over the break. We spent a lot of time doing Hapkido and just bumming around. It was much nicer than just hanging out alone in Yokkaichi. I also got to attend the Taekwando class that he’s been attending. I got to meet all the guys he’s been talking about like Mr. Angry and even got to spar with them. The sparring was a slaughter though. The levels were just too different. I had a great time anyways. The last evening I was up in Oigawa, Katie also dropped by, so the entire team Japan got to hang out.
The Saturday before the end of break, I got a call from Justin saying that he was visiting Katie in Nagoya and they wanted to go to Iga-Ueno, the ninja town. Unfortunately, it rained the following morning, so we decided to put off our trip to Iga-Ueno and instead went to Nagoya Castle and bummed around Nagoya for a bit. It was an entertaining day despite the dismal weather.
For the next two weeks, I am working at Shidouka unfortunately. It’s a rather stressful place for me because I don’t like the people here and many of them are the kinds of people that just drain you. I will be glad when this is over. I’m the head of the seminar next week, so I’m also pretty busy. It’s quite irritating. We also had another business dinner party thing Monday evening. I think that was the worst Japanese food I have eaten yet. The meal primarily consisted of raw meat which made me ill later that night. It seems my stomach does not like raw beef.
I have also been working on VeV as usual. Things have been progressing pretty much as they usually do. I spend a lot of time on it, but it always moves fairly slowly due to the size of the project and the level of detail required. We have finally acquired an artist who is willing to do our artwork at a fraction of her usual price because she really wants to be a part of this project. This is very good as Justin and I don’t have the funds to pay her usual fee and we are not making any money off of this project. She is very enthusiastic and does very nice work. The artwork that she has submitted so far reminds me of the Final Fantasy artwork by Amino. Justin and I are looking forward to seeing her final pieces and are excited to have her on the team.
I have one final note. I am now entering the last semester I will teach in Japan. About 98 days left before I’m finished work.