What's crackin

Lately I have really taken to having miso soup with any rice dish and especially in the morning its really refreshing and simple. I'm going to try different side ingredients to add to the soup thus far I've added pre-cut Wakame seaweed and diced tofu. I also gave Chicken Yakisoba a shot the other day, it went well everything was juicy I think the best thing about Yakisoba is that you can really use any vegetable you have in your fridge which is really handy.

However I won't go into the details of my yakisoba right now, this post will more be about how life's been here over the past week-ish. Being someone who isn't uncomfortable staying at home all day consecutively by nature it's been really easy for me to get couped up indoors and only go out when necessary. Also not being confident in my Japanese and not knowing as many people as well as I did in Australia means that any sort of social interaction or human relationship makes me nervous. Thus honestly I have to say that for the past week I have been mainly indoors, because indoors is easier.

I have an assignment due and I haven't touched my Japanese language work at all nor read my bible much this past week. My sleeping pattern has changed to going to sleep at around 3-5am and as a result I missed my Japanese class yesterday. It has dawned on me that regardless of how much self-confidence I have, if I am lacking either initiative or diligence the result of my time here could be that I met a few people, went to class, did some karate and improved my cooking a little. This is by and large the same pattern I lived by back home. This is vaguely the pattern of a student and as I write this I am asking myself "why come to Japan to live the same life here as Australia?" My mind leads me to the conclusion that I need to change.

But where to start?

Soup day

Today I started and finished my day with soup which has finished up my dashi stock reserve. I'm currently making another batch :)

The dish is called Nyumen, it uses a variety of noodle called Somen (Japanese wheat flour noodles, like udon but with the thickness of spaghettini) and I accompanied that with some Miso soup.

Water is brought to boil in a deep pot and then somen added and cooked for 2-3 minutes to taste. Drain the noodles out and leave to one side in a colander. In the same pot put some dashi soup stock (I used about 2 cups per bunch of noodles but I think next time I'll use 1.5 depends how much soup you like) bring that to a boil, along the way add one tbsp of soy sauce, half tbsp of mirin and a little salt to taste per bunch of noodles. Also while the soup is being heated up wash the noodles you left in a colander and finely chop up some green onion and choice of vegetables, I just used half a carrot you don't need much. Turn down the heat to low and cover while you prepare miso.

For Miso soup I wanted to use the other half of my carrot so it's included here but I'll try a tofu recipe soon. I think about quarter tbsp per cup of soup stock is used. Put all the soup stock in a deep pan or small pot along with carrot and bring to a boil. Once there gather some stock out and put in a separate bowl to dissolve the miso and turn the heat down low. Mix thoroughly and return the Miso slowly to the main pot when it has largely calmed down. Stir Miso and serve both dishes.

I had this for breakfast and dinner it's really good in the cold, quite filling, builds stamina and quite quick to make if you have stock ready.

Inbetween this soupfest I had Lifegroups (sharing and coffee time!) and church :) But now I have to do my assignment, probably the rest of the week till friday :(

Katsudon and Kombu

Today for a late lunch which turned into a dinner I decided to try Katsudon, a dish I really enjoyed back in Sydney and over here as well. Turns out it's really easy to make and perfect for one or many people. In order to make this dish you ideally prepare everything fresh but it is also a good way to reuse leftover Dashi (soup stock) and/or Tonkatsu (pork cutlet schnitzel). First up I'll explain what I did for Dashi and Tonkatsu.

　　If you read previous posts I explained that you can make Dashi quite easy just from soaking and heating dried shiitake mushrooms. Today I tried to use Kombu (Edible kelp) and Katsuoboshi (dried flakes of fish) to make Kombu-Katsuoboshi soup stock. The desired amount of Kombu (I used 4cm by 30cm strip cut in three) is soaked in 4 cups of water for half an hour. Then I started to cook the kelp on medium heat and when it's just about to start boiling take out the kelp gently, put in some katsuoboshi, turn off the heat and cover with a lid. Strain the broth through a colander, put the katsuboshi and kombu back in the pot and refill with another 4 cups of water. Heat to a boil and hold the heat for 3 minutes, let it cool a bit, strain and you're done.

　　For Tonkatsu cut the fat off you're desired number of pork cutlets and hammer out thinly. Salt and pepper both sides now, this also helps to sterilize the meat. Evenly dash flour on both sides and pat it in lightly. Dip into beaten egg and then place in a dish of bread crumbs, press, turn over and press again. Place in a pan about medium (180 degree) heat for about 2.5 minutes a side. Once done place in paper towel to drain the oil out. Serving by itself, simply cut into strips.

　　Before you make the actual meal I suggest having the rice already cooked cos this is really fast :) Place half a cup for each pork cutlet you used into a pan on medium heat, along with a quarter of an onion, one tablespoon of soy sauce, half a tablespoon of mirin and eighth teaspoon of sugar per pork cutlet. Turn the heat onto low, put the pork in and leave for 2-3. The final step is to turn the heat on high until it starts to boil. Beat up one egg per cutlet and pour over the meat and onions, turn the heat down low, cover and leave to simmer for about 3-5 minutes.

What happens in the pan is by some witchcraft the omelette absorbs the soup and onions and attachs itself to the meat so that it becomes one whole soft substance. This is served over your rice. It is so delicious, making it myself I'm confident to say is better than what you get in restaurants. I enjoyed that for dinner along with Bourbon Grape Soda (I bought a bottle of 720ml bourbon for $8AUD so I've been enjoying that alot lately :D)

Okonomiyaki and Empi

I haven't posted recently so this one will have three main subjects. Apologies if it's a bit long :)

Japanese class started! This tuesday and wednesday I went to Japanese class for the first time! I have two different teachers one for reading/writing and another for listening/speaking. Having separate classes that focus on these language mediums is really helpful, we still do some conversation in the R/W class and vice versa. Both teachers are heaps nice and really helpful. The material so far is a right mix of challenging and comfortable I hope at the end of this year I really improve alot!

Tuesday night was Karate night woo! It appears that the way tuesday works is they practice a specific Kata each month. This month is the before mentioned Kata, Unsu. We went through some practice drills and standard techniques, the most interesting part for me was Yoko Geri Kaege practice. After we finished stretching and warming up sensei asked us to lie on our right side with our right leg bent providing support but the thigh inline with our torso. Next he demonstrated how we were to grab the inside of our left foot with the palm of our hand. Following that he stretched is leg perpendicular to the floor towards the ceiling with the foot parallel to the floor, pointing towards his head. As we followed suite he continued to explain that this position is what you aim to achieve in a fully extended YGK kick. Viewing from side on he showed us his position, then stood up and bent over resuming the same position however standing up and bent over. Next he showed us how it looked from fighting stance, and in all three views the kick at full extension was remarkably similar, including is body posture and angle of the foot. Apart from being similar his kick looked freaking awesome, stepping forward and unloading that kick to someone's nose or throat would hurt. After this we did some more practice on certain points of Unsu Kata and finally we as a class performed the first, second, third Katas followed by Empi and Unsu. It was my first time doing Empi so when went through I paid special attention to the Kata so I could remember it later. Counting it all up now I haven't but don't fully know three black belt Katas - Empi, Unsu and Niju Shiho. I'm definitely gonna keep going to this class, the Kata training is heaps interesting.

Food Update!! This evening I took a shot at making Okonomiyaki (means whatever you like grilled/cooked). Essentially it's a Japanese-style savoury pancake with two main versions that I know of. The Kansai style okonomiyaki is more commonly called Osaka style and in m opinion is a more basic/easy pancake to make. Hiroshima style has some common base ingredients but the cooking method and final result differs. I made both and first I'll start with explaining Osaka-style.

First up mix 2 cups of basic flour with 1ish cups of dashi soup stock and refrigerate for an hour-ish. This is your batter (makes 4 small pancakes), after it has settled in the fridge add to it a handful of finely chopped cabbage (the finer the better but don't go crazy), finely chopped green onion (long thin green stalk with a white base and short roots, make sure of course to chop off the roots) and some tenkasu(tempura flakes, small crispy bulby thingys). Mix that around and just before hitting the pan, make a hole in the batter, crack an egg into it and stir some more. On medium heat with a lightly oiled pan poor your batter contents onto the pan and using two spatulas keep the pancake together with a thickness of about 4-5 cm. On a separate plate start frying 3-5 thin slices of pork, make sure to flip about 2.5-3 minutes in. After about 5-6 minutes places the pork ontop of your pancake base with the less-cooked side facing up and then carefully clip the pancake. Best way is to gently squeeze the top and bottom with your spatulas and then flip in that position. another 5-6 minutes on this side and it's done! Before serving sprinkle aonori (finely finely chopped seaweed you can buy) and katsuoboshi (dried flakes of fish) and okonomiyaki sauce or tonkatsu sauce.

The best way to do Hiroshima style is have all ingredients ready for immediate use and beware you need two pans that can fit the pancake of size you want to make. In one pan (medium heat, lightly oiled) pour only the base batter until it assumes the size you want. Sprinkle ontop in this order: finely chopped cabbage, bean sprouts, 3-5 thin pork slices and some more batter over the top should be 3-4 minutes for it to get ready. In another pan place some soba, shake the pan and move the noodles around while they separate for about a minute. Then add tonkatsu/okonomiyaki sauce and stir-fry for another minute. Once soba is ready, flip and move the pancake base over the top of the yakisoba, you should mould the yakisoba to the size of the pancake and then hold together with spatulas for about a minute while it sticks to the pancake. After 30 seconds-ish crack an egg and break the yolk in the first pan. Flip and move the pancake ontop of the egg and hold there for about 10-20 seconds. Before serving sprinkle aonori and green onion :)

(You can also use beef instead of pork, or be creative and try lamb or duck, just make sure its thin)

Personally I prefer the Osaka-style its much easier to cook but I'll save the judgement for when I go watch some pros make Hiroshima style :)

Also a good tip i learned is to cut the pork slices in half or thirds before using, that way you can pick the pancake with chop sticks easier. I have got a long way to go in making this, in the restaurant it cuts easily but mine doesn't so I'll have to watch some pro's do it. After my batter mixture runs out up next will hopefully be Katsudon!

Takenoko Gohan

So this morning I gave Takenoko Gohan a shot. It's quite easy to do once you've done the groundwork. The groundwork is basically: bamboo, dried shiitake mushrooms, Aburaage Tofu (type of deep-fried tofu) and less so rice.
　The bamboo was prepared as I stated in the previous blog, see that.
　About 7 medium sized dried shiitake mushrooms were put in 4.5 cups of water to soak for 10 minutes, then brought to a boil on medium heat. Then heat turned off and left to rest for 20 minutes. This forms what's called a shiitake-dashi soup stock.
　Rice is washed vigorously to get the bran out, the way I did it was putting it in a colander and bowl. Basically keep washing until the water becomes clear, instead of murky white and leave to rest for about 20-25. One cup per person.
　Poor boiling water over the Aburaage and leave to soak for a bit, I used a 4 by 8 slab for two cups of rice.

Now to come together:
　Strip a few more layers of bamboo, and slice into thin 2cm by 2cm pieces. Do likewise slices for the Tofu.
　Put the rice into the cooker along with 1.2 cups of dashi soup stock per cup of rice.
　Bamboo shoots and Tofu goes over the top, I didn't mix it through but I will the second time and see how that goes.
　I also added the Shiitake mushrooms I used to make soup stock, I won't the second time to see the difference. But once they are used to make stock, you can eat them like an entree just make sure to cut off the stems before serving.
　For seasoning 1tbsp soy sauce, 0.5tbsp sake, 0.5tbsp mirin, 0.25tspn salt PER cup of rice.
　Rice cooker does the rest :D

I think this is a great home-meal for heaps of people if you have a big enough rice cooker. When the rice cooker was finished all the soup had gone into the rice so it was super moist and tasty to just eat the rice, the bamboo was tender however I didn't use chilli in the preparation process so it didn't have any zing. Warning: extremely filling!

Learning to Cook

Yesterday Shane's (Credo Shane) friend Teisuke brought over Shane's stuff which he had left here last year so I went out to buy a few of the basic things needed to cook Japanese food. There's basically a handful of ingredients that are widely used: Sake, Mirin (sweet Sake), Soy sauce, Miso (Soybean paste), dashi soup stock, sugar, salt (pepper not so much). I still haven't bought Miso and although there are several ways to make dashi soup stock I chose the simplest which is soaking dried Shiitake mushrooms. I also got some four and breadcrumbs so I can give stuff like tempura and tonkatsu a try. At some point I also found a recipe for noodles but for now there is one dish I'm focusing on.

In Japanese cuisine geographically speaking there is a traditional practice to cooking meals that include ingredients which are in season. This is a very good practice for a few reasons, ingredients that are in season are fresher, tastier and in abundance which also makes them cheaper. So fresh, tasty, cheap food (or which ever order you prefer) sounds might good to me! The dish that I first want to accomplish is Takenoko Gohan, which is basically Bamboo shoots in rice. The bamboo needs to be prepared a few hours or even a day before it is used so from here I'll explain my cooking adventure this morning.

Since the bamboo shoots takes the longest cooking time I started them first. The bamboo section that is used for this dish is layered like an onion. What you want to do is wash the whole thing, then make a lengthwise cut about half the radius of the whole, and subsequently peal those layers away. This goes into a saucepan, filled with enough water to cover the whole, along with rice bran (nuka) and two pieces of small chili (the first time around I'm not using chili). Bring this to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer for about 40-50 minutes depending on the thickness, ideally you want to be able to easily pierce the bamboo with a skewer. I did this and put the rice (2 cups) to cook in the machine.

Bamboo actually finished before the rice so I turned off the heat and let it cool down by itself. When the rice was nearing completion I started on my Bacon-Omelette. Simple dish that I do all the time with bacon, ham, almost anything works with omelette. Three small strips of bacon and 3 eggs (quite high fat content be careful, its about 15-20 grams of fat total), beat the eggs seperately and heat some oil in a pan, mediumish heat. Put the bacon in first by itself, let it absorb some oil and just quickly saute, if it's thin this won't take more than a minute. Once it looks thoroughly cooked pour the beaten egg over the top, salt and pepper to taste and turn down the heat, Side note, the smaller the pan, the thicker the result and longer cooking time. I love half to one inch thick omelettes so I used a smaller pan. If it's still runny on the top but cooked down the bottom flip it but make sure the uncooked stuff doesn't go everywhere. Once that and the rice was done, pour the pan contents onto about half the rice serving and EAT :D At this point I didn't have miso soup but it would go great with some soup.

Now notice that one half of the rice is still in the machine, what to do....Onigiri baby! One cup of rice will make 3 small onigiri, I didn't think about this before hand so I didn't bring a stuffing with me but its trivial to buy some tuna/salmon in a can, or some umeboshi (I'll try this soon). Wet hands and rub in some salt before you pluck the rice out, this stops rice from sticking to your hand, cools your hands from the hot rice, salt helps sterilize/preserve the rice and adds flavour. Basically you can use what ever technique works for you, but I clenched my 4 fingers together and used the thumb to oppose them, in a kind of V formation. One hand goes ontop of the other, the underhand controls the thickness of the onigiri, whereas the overhand molds it to shape. The trick for me to getting the right shape was to shuffle it around alot and subtly mold it each time. After molding I wrapped some Onigiri seaweed around the underside and folded the excess to size. By the time I ate them (lunchtime) the moisture from the rice soaked up seaweed flavour so even though they had no filling they were the best! I stored my Onigiri in the fridge and then drained my bamboo shoot. Changed the water, stripped back a few more layers and put it in the fridge too.

All in all I made breakfast and lunch for about 300 ish yen. Another side note, RICE IS SO EXPENSIVE. Japan doesn't allow rice importation to protect domestic production. So I paid basically $25 for 5kg, and that's the cheapest I found...I'll let you all know how my bamboo rice goes later :)

Seriously Natto is just out of date spider eggs

Today I started off the day with some light video gaming pwoohoo, and then headed into uni a bit early to exercise before meeting my professor. After a short swim I ducked into the gym (which is totally free as a student of the university) to check out the place/equipment. I have to mention that there was one dude....who wasn't really the skinniest person on earth, wearing Spandex. Japanese really take their training seriously, take note of that. The gym is reasonably well equipped I'll be making good use of it, the two things is does lack are a proper punching bag and a 45 degree leg press. Those two pieces of equipment I love using.

I met up with two other aussie students and went to meet our professor. Being a sydney ex-pat he was heaps helpful because he was sympathetic to the fact that Tokyo is heaps different from Sydney. We spent most of the time discussing our workload, subjects and general things to know when in Tokyo. The subject I decided to do aside from my Japanese classes is Sculpture. I've tried my luck with the brush and pencil, but never really thoroughly tried sculpting. I guess the main thing that drew me to that subject was the only piece of artwork I ever took interest into was 'The Thinker' by Auguste Rodin. I saw it when I was in Paris as a child and it's probably the most significant thing I remember, besides the hazelnut spread and banana crepes stalls that were on every corner. Class starts in late May so I'll let youse (yes I did just use youse) know :)

After a time we bade our professor farewell to find our arts teacher. Can I just say that Tokyo Tech has some really top notch people teaching here. Anyway she was heaps sweet and she said we more than welcome to join her class, we did need to submit a piece of writing about why we wished to do the subject and what piece of artwork had the greatest effect on us. I will of course choose 'The Thinker' but I have plenty of time before class begins.

We split up because I thought about eating at the cafeteria but it was closed so I rejoined my classmates back in Shibuya. He took me to a place called Sukiya, which is kinda like Japanese Fast Food. If any of you have been to Yoshinoya in Sydney, it's that kinda deal. Although Yoshinoya isn't competitive here so it kinda bombed. Anyway being in Japan I figured I'd have to try Natto at least once, so I ordered it with a set meal of rice and some chicken soup. Natto is basically fermented soybeans, the texture is a little chewy, quite mushy and sticky. The smell is well it's fermented so it smells to me like what mould would smell like and the appearance....the brown soybeans are stuck together in a packet, because of the fermentation process there are small threads connecting the beans together. The threads kinda look like spider web and eating it for the first time was quite messy. I gave up about a quarter way in, I really couldn't take it. That will be probably be the first and last time, unless someone can convince me that there exists a way to eat them in which they actually taste good. Lucky I had the chicken soup and rice to clear away the taste in my mouth..

Reunion and Kata Unsu

Started off today by meeting Hop-senpai, he was my tutor for contemporary Japanese back in Australia. He's currently doing his own research into ODA (overseas development aid), specifically how Japan issues ODA to its mostly Asian neighbouring countries. We had lunch at the uni cafeteria WHICH I totally forgot about, mainly forgot about much value for money it is. So from here on whenever I can I'll be lunching at my uni, not to mention that the カレーライス(Japanese style curry and rice) I had was awesome and only 252 yen pwaha! I should at least gradually try out everything on the menu :) Hop gave us some encouragement, and good advice about making the effort to make Japanese friends. I thought that was quite wise considering a talk I had with Rachel about the same concept, and she replied that there are two Russian girls at her dorm/uni that constantly hang out with each other. Thus, even though they DO actually have names, they are simply called 'The Russian girls'. So with that in mind, I plan on expanding my avenues of contact from uni/karate club off-campus/church to possibly include a sports club on-campus. Unfortunately there isn't a cooking club otherwise I would have joined that in a heartbeat. I hope people are friendly in the gym, I intend to finally find out 2moro as well as meeting my academic advisor for the first time.

After bidding good-day to Hop the rest of the day was largely uneventful until......karate-time! By eventful I also wish to include that I got lost getting to Karate and so got there with about 2-3 minutes to spare instead of the 20 I was aiming for. This class was longer than normal, 2 hours. After the usual warmup exercises, we did some unorthodox. First up was a direction changing exercise consisting of 8 consecutive moves in 4 directions that make you end up facing 180 degrees away from where you started. We did this direction training with the low block, knife block and a 1,2 combo. It is really hard when you are going full pelt, racing each other as you do. For me it's even a touch harder because I'm quite tall my limbs need to travel longer distances to arrive to execution point. Which means that to even keep up with them my limbs need to be moving faster then theirs and they werent'. It was good training. After that we did some swivel training, this type of training focuses specifically on the short moment when your body snaps to face a different direction. The goal is to as quickly as possible finish a technique in a different direction to which you are facing while of course having harmony between the technique itself and the turning of your body. What I mean is if you block too early without letting your body follow the block, the block is too weak and basically just wont work, on the other hand if you snap your body before you finish the block you have lost the inertia being delivered from the turning of the body into the block so again your block is weak. Everything needs to be simultaneous, the grip of your toes engaging the swivel of your foot (we swivel on the ball of the foot), the strength from your core turning your hips and your shoulders bringing the arm to bear on the attacker. It either snaps as one or doesn't no consolation prizes.

Next we did some practice on my favourite kick, Mawashi geri, roundhouse kick. First we did some practice showcasing how the kick is practised as Kihon (basics). This differs from the Kumite(sparring) use of the kick because in sparing bringing the kick around like in kihon just takes too long, so the shortcut version is used, launching the kick from the front instead of the side. The only application of a full roundhouse in Kumite that I can think of is a the variant of the standard roundhouse that has the kick coming diagonally down instead of horizontally, for the purpose of penetrating a block or guard. The full roundhouse also has quite a bit more power, but it's no use when you can see it coming. The two shortcut methods we practised actually started with a feint. The first method involved a feigned (you can actually complete the feint though) front kick and then switched around to come across the head. The front kick feint's purpose is to draw the opponent's guard down leaving the head free. Second method is feigning a kick to the opposite side of your target side, and then switching to come back around and impacting an unguarded area. This is why I love this kick, when done right it's the sneakiest kick in the world, I think.

After kick training, Sensei helped us through some pieces of a Kata called Unsu, though I didn't know it at the time. We went through certain points of the Kata that he wished to stress and elaborate on, before performing it as a group. Our unorthodox training matched the attitude of the Kata, it was very unorthodox. My favourite part in the Kata is when we drop to the floor and execute a round house kick why lying on our sides. The Bunkai (explanation/application) of this move is that our front leg has between sweeped to a point where it has caused us to fall forward. The kick is ideally aimed at the groin area, as such an area would be unguarded after a sweep, or maybe even a knee to push our opponent back giving us time to reset to standing position. With that I bid you all good night.

Cold

Today has turned out to be a really cold day! I tried to get into uni for a workout to at least warm me up but it's closed! lame! My clothes haven't even fully dried yet. Today is indoor day :)

Jesus Lifehouse

Yesterday went to church, the place is called Jesus Lifehouse. The service started at 5:30pm and everything was fully bilingual, singing, announcements, preaching. I don't want to make too many comments yet because it only being my first time it would only be off my assumptions. There was quite a few young people, including some Aussie ex-pats, students and other people from various nations. I spent most of the time after the service talking to a guy called Tony from St Louis. He's a Black Hawk Pilot for the US Army, I think he said he's stationed in Sagamihara-shi, only 25 and already flying, pretty awesome. He invited me to his Life group which meets before the 4pm service at Starbucks (If you're thinking "Americans and their Starbucks" as I was the whole church goes there on a sunday too so its not so outlandish). On a side note I have to mention that US military personnel stationed in Japan have free subscription to American Cable TV, this includes ALL UFC fights....cool much?!

Also I got a phone today, Samsung 740SC from Softbank. Buying with credit card and student discounts might make it a little cheaper or equal to that of a prepaid phone, but it's a much better phone. I tried to go before church to get the phone but I forgot my passport at that time and the estimated waiting was an hour, so I just decided to pop in after church. No waiting time, just how I like it. If you want my new portable contact details leave a comment and I'll email it to you :)

Today don't have anything on I was expecting to have go find a phone but I've handled that already so I think I'll go for a swim/gym.

Ooo I totally forgot, I did my first batch of laundry yesterday. I didn't turn out perfect I might need to wash the whites again, the machines here aren't terribly clean...but first I'll try to hand wash what can be hand washed.

Noob Exhaustion

Today was my first lesson of Karate in Japan, but before I get to that it was also my first time in the uni pool. So basically the best way I can describe their system of getting into and out of the pool (yes theres a system for this too) is a series of checkpoints. Checkpoint one is to sign in at reception and receive a locker key. On the way downstairs to the pool change rooms you take off your shoes and stow them on a shelf. Once you enter the change room you of course change and bring with you your student/pool ID cards in a thin water tight bag. Then you proceed to showers, followed by stepping up into a footbath and then down into the antiseptic bath this is shared with females. From here is quite a flight of stairs to pool deck with a trap. It's like an Indiana Jones moment if your not used to it, as your walking up two shower heads turn on and splash you (they can't really clean given that you are walking through them. Anyway after that you check in your bag on pool deck and receive a band that has the same number as your locker, finally you enter the 2m deep pool (no shallow end). Probably the two most weirdest things however are 1. There are no designated speed lanes....lovely 2. This pool employs a one way lane system i.e. you dive in and swim one lap, then you need to change lanes to come back to the side you dived in at. Me being me I of course went against the system and nearly collided into someone. That was when the staff guy pointed that part out. I swam about 2k but I was feeling fine so off to Karate I went.

So the first thing I did when I rocked up was walk into the head sensei's change room, a black belt explained that the change rooms were in the dojo. And to my shame 80% of the people came early so they all saw that. After a short self warmup class warmups began. For warmups sensei counts 1,2,3,4 and we join in for 5,6,7,8 if he counts slow we don't bother. Today we basically when through Kihon which is basic movements (I should at this point say that 80% of the class were black belts including some non-Japanese and 10% were brown belts, so it doesn't stop when you reach the top, hah that rhymes). Every move was first done slowly then more quickly, and then full speed with Kiai (kick ass shout that makes babies cry, but seriously the strength of the fighter is determined by their kiai, it is the show of your fighting spirit, kiai weak = techniques weak). After each type of technique we get a breather, you might think this is easy since each set is only about 25-30 reps of 1-2 techniques. Guess what, it ain't, the last time I went to Karate class was just under 2 weeks so I most likely didn't lose much endurance, thanks to my sensei in Australia who by the way kicks our arses as it is to keep us in shape. After 45 minutes of that I was sweating and breathing hard. After that Sensei got serious...combos...went down to half the reps but double the techniques and one step forward. My legs were already burning from the lunge-style kizami zuki (off hand jab) we did before, now we had kicks, spinning, stepping that's just killer. I should also mention the fact that my lungs pretty much decided to stop working half the time. Basically they were going beyond their current limits and started to seize now and then. Before I died, it was Kata time. We went through the three higher Heian- Katas, then Sensei took just the black belts through a Kata. We non-black belts returned to perform the highest Heian Kata, Heian Godan. Lungs still were somewhat back to normal, but Sensei had a cure for that. Ippon Kumite, I think this is the right name, anyway basically we found partners and practiced a few combos that we had practised earlier against actual people. After 3-4 sets it was time to bow out, and with that my first lesson was over. To be honest I think it was wishful thinking on my part to swim before class, my endurance is not that good yet it seems. By the way incase anyone is wondering why I didn't pace myself, if you are going to pace yourself in a martial arts class don't bother coming you're wasting your time (unless its skipping thats different, I hate skipping by the way).

Since I would be going to karate quite often I decided to walk to the nearest station I can use my student commute card, which was about 40-50 minutes away from my dojo. Needless to say after taking my 3 trains to get home, and finally seeing my bed. I dropped onto it and slept 2 hours easy. Tomorrow is Sunday so church time for me yay!

Walking and Train-ing and weird meetings

So if you can't guess by the title I spent quite a bit of time on the train and walking around. First thing we did today was bravely go out with only a map telling us exactly where to go, to find the local Immigration service desk. After about what seemed like 45 minutes of backtracking and circling we found the service desk and picked up our Alien Registration Certificates (basically in Japan red tape takes so long that they give you a certificate that is temporary until you receive the actual proof of registration). On the way back to the station (we passed it on the way) we dropped by the post office to try and pay our Gakkenbai and Gakkensai I mentioned earlier. This time we didn't get any weird instructions, quite simply handed over our money and Bob's your uncle. Getting that paid made my day, I was quite anxious about it. Our group split up at the station, I wanted to head into Shibuya to check up on mobile phone prices. We looked at AU phones because we were under the impression that they carried a student discount. The plan descriptions were written in kanji so it was really hard for me to understand, but upon talking to one of the AU representatives at the store we found out that we basically had two options taking on a two year contract and paying a 9975yen cancellation fee before we leave or getting a prepaid phone that can't even send/receive emails. I didn't like either option so I decided to think about it as I hoped on the train to get to uni.

At around 1235 I arrived at the uni office looking for a certain sensei to deliver a copy of my Alien Registration Certificate as part of my bank account application. Luckily for me everyone was out to lunch when I rocked up, I decided to ask where to apply for pool membership. At first I went to the actual gymnasium, where a kind old dude was explaining the way to use the pool (theres a certain entering/exiting procedure involving changing into swim clothes, shower, footbath, antiseptic bath, picking up a key for a locker and signing in at the desk, locking your clothes, and then swim time baby) you also need to have a swimcap at all times (really good rule you would not believe how much hair needs to be plucked out by hand out of the filters). However my japanese isn't that awesome so I only understood about 50-70% of what he said the rest I deduced from the website. The man also pointed me to the Student Support Division, where I could actually buy the membership card which costs 5000yen....FOR A YEAR! AWESOME MUCH! Anyway I decided to visit my new dojo and get membership there BUT I forgot to bring my Karate Passport from Australia so off I went back home to get it.

While at home I did some research on mobile phones, and one of the first things I found out was that the student discount that AU offered is not available from August 2009 LAME! So upon a recommendation from a friend of a friend who has become a friend of mine (yeah decode that) I started looking into a phone from Softbank. I found something cheap I like that I can get on prepaid, which might be the best option for me. But time was flowing and it was already 3pm so I had to leave like now to get to my dojo and uni before it closes. SHUPPATSU! (Japanese word for departure that I've started using cos it sounds awesome) Incidentally, I met one of Australian classmates and we headed off to Shibuya to have another look at phones. This time I looked at Softbank phones and found my phone and another better model with a much better camera, there wasn't a huge difference in price that I could see and from what I understood theres a 6months - 1 year contract option....that's what I thought but you need a bank account to have a contracted phone, so I decided to wait until I get a bank account. Even then I think I'll need someone that Japanese to translate the details otherwise I might end up with some weird deal. I left my friend at the store who wanted to find a small laptop and headed out for uni again.

Hoping off at Ookayama station I ran into another Australian classmate heading into uni to try and hand in our certificates. Our sensei had passed onto to another colleague to collect our papers for her, as she was absent from the office again. With that paper in the right hands I left my classmate to walk south towards the train tracks and hop onto a train for Kugahara. It took me about 15 minutes to find the place I did a couple of circles around certain blocks because all I remembered from the map directions was that it was close to the station. Turns out the dojo is in the basement level of a small building, the dojo is smaller than I imagined however the juniors class was quite small so it appears that this club isn't hugely popular in Japan. A smaller class means I can train better and have closer friendships with my fellow karate-ka (karate practioners). I didn't introduce myself to sensei because he was teaching but the office clerk who was there managed to get me registered and ready for training this month. First training is on 2moro morning, I'm heaps excited!

With that done, I headed home but just before I got to my apartment I went for a little walk to the 24-hour hyakuenya that I've mentioned earler. And met another Australian classmate along the way, the same one I went to Shibuya the second time with. Spent about $12 considereing each item costs about $1.20 I got quite a bang for my buck.

Now that I'm home and fed I'm gonna try to study until bedtime and then first thing tomorrow KARATE IN JAPAN BABY O SNAP SNAP!

Going to uni for the first time

So yesterday I went to my uni to do some more applications and introductions. The person guiding us through was heaps helpful, we even managed to score permission to buy a tekiken ticket. Its basically a special ticket that allows you travel from home to uni without buying a ticket everytime. I paid 26xxx yen for 6 months even though semester only goes for 3 months I'm telling myself that I will be swimming there during holidays. Also karate is only a little further from uni so it'll help me to get there as well once I organise that. But right now there are more pressing matters. We were given an application form for Gakkensai and Gakkenbai, which is basically two forms of insurance one is for accidental damage to oneself and the other is accidental damage to other people/property. Thats all great but when we went to the post office to hand it in the lady gave us some weird instructions that even the guy who finished level 8 didnt understand. He plans to ask his friend to help him/us with paying it but since I have nothing to do today and I wanna go into uni to buy a pool membership I was thinking of going to the international student office to see if they could give me some clear insructions about how to pay this thingy. There was also a welcoming party on last night I went and met some people, and listened to announcements by various activity clubs that happen on dorm premises. Taekwondo poeple kicking and breaking things, even a karate kata that looks very similar to Tekki Shodan in my style and of course Aikido people throwing each other around. There was also some announcements about Japanese language and culture classes, but I forgot them all. I did however ask one of the taekwondo guys if I could come to their class and practice some sparring with them. He said it was 'ok' but since he wasn't really excited about the notion I don't know if I should actually go through with the idea.

ファミレス Family restaraunt

I just had dinner at a family (literally 2 cooking staff and young waiter) run Japanese restaurant. When we came through the door it appears that they rarely if ever served foreigners so we waited a while before they decided what to do with us. We first had a seat in the sit down area that was raised above the normal floor, this was for me comfortable considering I had two and a half seats to fit in. Adjacent to us were 2-3 families with accompanying children, they were lively and rather easy going nice families. I made smiling friends with one of the kids he was cool. We politely asked what a certain dish was and they responded very welcomingly to our curiosity. The waiter was rather shy but we managed to order something in Japanese. I have to say given the warm family feel of the restaurant which was present in the food I liked the place alot. Not to be forgotten though I did catch a cursory curious/dirty look from one of the other mother-age customers which I found funny, also upon leaving the restaurant seemed to laugh at the entire situation of foreigners being in their restaurant. Love the place, 5 stars!