From Alejandro Masias
June 5, 2008 :
Hello Coach,
Well we have arrived safely and things have been going great. We had our first practice on Wednesday. Holly cow, I should be a yellow belt again. I have thrown a few people, they have thrown me plenty of times. I have also been learning to improve my ouchi gari. We have done some sight seeing, mainly in downtown Tokyo. Justen is doing great job of translating and speaking the language. He really knows his way around the this place. The food is great and the people are very friendly and nice. These seem to be a great bunch of judoka. When they throw you it is so clean and smooth. You almost like it. Anyways, things are going well. I am very tired, but I can feel my body starting to get use to it. Take care and I will keep you posted. Thanks again for this wonderful opportunity.
Sincerely,
Alejandro
From Lucas Mignogna
June 8, 2008:
Hi all,
So we arrived Tuesday afternoon, met up with Yuki who is one of Justen's friends and also a teammember here at Teikyo. Fetched our bags and headed off for the train. Once we got to Shinjuku we ate some ramen which were pretty tasty, then were off on our way to campus. Once we got there we hiked over to the dorm to find out we were staying in the freshmen community dorm room. Which is kinda packed with judo gis hanging everywhere and bunk beds.
Wednesday, we got up and went to introduce ourselves to the head sensei and the assistant coach. That night we went to our first practice which was 15 rounds of tachiwaza. I could only go every other one. The caliber of the judoka here is incredible. Far more than I had anticipated. I literally didn't win a single match. After practice it was straight to the pool some cool relaxation.
Thursday, we got up at 6:30 am and went to morning practice which was weight lifting day. So we did bench press, military press, squats, and curls. Then we went around town just to tour and shop. Evening practice was (and always is) randori and it was not so tiring as the first night because the jet lag had worn off. But I still got my butt kicked by even the littlest of judoka. After wards I showered straight away and turned on the cold water because my hands and feet were burning from mat burns and gi burns.
Friday started out great, we went to running practice in the morning and played soccer and got embarrassed by the lacrosse girls because I said good morning to them when I thought they were talking to me but they actually were talking to the girls behind me. So Owen (a team member) said later that day that the lacrosse girls say "hi." Anyways, we then went to evening practice and this was my day to get even with some guys. Three rounds into practice and I was doing so well with getting revenge on this one guy until I dislocated my knee for the third time now. Luckily it went back into place on it's own. So we went to see the team doctor who is an ex judo team member, and said what I already knew. So, this trip has kinda become bust for now, especially since I'm only here three more weeks. But I'm already walking around nornally without crutches and starting to exercise it, so I might be able to practice lightly the last week I'm here. We'll see!
So tomorrow I'll started weight training continuously throughout the week and we'll see how things go. I gotta tell you how frustrating it is to come half way around the world for a single purpose and then in the beginning of that purpose have it crushed, which is why I said before that I have kind of been feeling like this trip is a bust. But not entriely, now that I'm back on my feet I just have to do what I need to do and make the best of the rest of my stay here. And for all of you beginners out there reading this, I can't stress enough how important it is to learn your techniques well and continue to practice them correctly or else you could end up hurting yourself or others like me.
On a different note, I have to give a lot of credit to Justen for being a terrific guide for Alex and I. He has come a long way by being out here by himself for so long. I don't know how he did it.
Japan is a wonderful place, I couldn't imagine any other culture that is full of respect for others and it's surroundings. People here are very polite no matter who encounters who, except for Yakuza, and there are no guns, not as much stealing as one would think and just overall generosity. Oh yeah and the factor that people are not prude here at all. For instance the judo guys are always naked. It kinda makes me feel ashamed how we are so closed minded of the human body in America. But that's why Japan is such an awesome place, because it is like nothing you would ever see or experience anywhere else. I love it.
Well that's all I have for now, I'll write again when we come back to the internet cafe. Take care! Jo ne!
Sincerely,
Lucas
From Alejandro Masias
June 13, 2008:
Hey coach hey everybody,
Well we have made it through the second week and holy cow my body feels like its been in a war. We do judo six days a week running in the morning and practice at night for 2 hours. It is basically show up, stretch, walk up and down the mat a couple times and then randori for about an hour and a half straight. Today I did 7 matches in a row. Now I know that does not sound like much, but when you are fighting guys who have down this their whole life six days a week, 7 rounds takes a pretty good toll on your body. It would be nice if we could have a Wednesday off or something, but this is Japan my friends, that is why they are the best at this sport. I am starting to get use to the gripping which has really helped me keep up with some of these guys. Today the captain of the team gave me some great advice on how to free you sleeve when they have a good grip on it. I would love to show you when I return
Our comrad and friend Lucas has suffered a knee injury and he is out for now. He can walk on it but it will be a little while before he can do any judo. Please prey for him and keep him in your thoughts as it is frustrating for him not being able to fight. He does stay active by lifting weights and getting stronger.
We also had a chance to walk around Tokyo today in the down town area. It was really something to see. Justen, our very own Justen is doing a great job of getting us around. He is like a personal guide. He has not gotten us lost once the entire trip. He is doing great with judo. He really gets some good throws in there. WE are watching out for each other and we are keeping each other healthy and focused. Well tune in next weekend for the chronicles of Tiekyo Judo. See ya.
Your friend and comrade
Alejandro Masias
STAY STRONG and STAND PROUD
P.S. Warren the spanish sounds great keep up the good work. Tell everybody hello.
From Justen Otaka
June 15, 2008:
Mt. Fuji
The Spartan's dorm room
Alejandro at a station platform contemplating life's vicissitudes.
Justen in the dorm contemplating.....
Pain mitigation
Teikyo University Campus
Training buddies
Training buddies
Training buddies
Shopping for supplies
Neighborhood shrubbery
Neighborhood shrine
Neighborhood temple
Spartans on campus
Spartans on campus
From Lucas Mignogna
June 20, 2008:
Hi all,
Sorry it has been so long since my last update. There has been so much going on and not enough time to write about it all, so I'll do my best right now.
As far as training goes, my knee is getting back to full strength day by day. I started running on it last week and have been doing sprints and such this week. I started doing uchikomi two days ago as well. It felt alright but still a bit unstable. Meanwhile I have been watching Alex and Justen battle it out with the other judoka here from Teikyo. It makes me jealous because I want to be on the mat so badly. Hopefully I will be able to do some actual randori the last week that I am here.
On the note of fun stuff, last weekend we went to Fujikyu Highland which is an amusement park about an hour away. It has one of the world's fastest roller coasters, the world's record holding highest roller coaster which is also super long, time wise. The three roller coasters that we went on make Elitch's seem like such average coasters. It's crazy. We went to Shibuya the night before and partied and came back in the morning because the trains stop running after midnight. We were dragging when everyone else was running to work and going somewhere to start their day. Shibuya was crazy because there were so many people packed into one major intersection, never ever have I seen so many people in one place at a single time.
The food here is off and on. Some of it...well most of it is really good, but then there are some dishes that are not so great. I'm definitely not starving I'm trying to keep from going over 81kg. I'm about 80 in the morning and after workouts in the evening I'm about 78.
We skipped practice tonight because we were doing a hell of a lot of sight seeing. The part of town where we are is completely different from the places downtown that we have been visiting. We went to Asakusa to see the Temple, Ginza which is one of the world's most famous shopping districts, Harajuku, as well as a few other places. Yesterday morning before all of that though, I ran with one of the teammembers here who placed third in the All-Japan Championships last year. His name is Miahara. Only a year older than me but looks like he's in his mid 20's the way he's built. Anyways so when I said I was going running after lifting he wanted to go with me and so I showed him what we were running and he gave a sigh because we were doing sprints on a part of the course that we were running. He's not a very good runner because he's so stalky but I can only imagine how he is to fight. He doesn't work out here at Teikyo because the team here doesn't have as much "spirit" as he likes to be around. So he trains at Chuo and the Kodokan.
We have been getting lost on the subways and monorails so many times it's awesome. Jumping over the gates and running back and forth through the stations has fun as hell even though we have no idea where we are going half the time. Don't worry we've only hopped the gate like once because we were going to miss our train and we paid afterwards anyways.
That's the gist of what has happened so far. Got tons of pictures but can't spoil them till I get home, so if you want to see them you'll have to ask me in person. Ok I might put up a few in a few days when I write next. Again, sorry this is only my second update out of the whole time that I have been here. I'll try to get on it. Bye for now.
~Lucas
From Justen Otaka
June 22, 2008:
Hi every body!
Well first off, good news about Lucas: He's been running without pain or swelling and doing uchikomi at practice with the same results. So looks good, but still not sure if he will /should fight the last week he's here. Alex and I stopped nagging him about taking it slow since he knows his body better than we do, and since he's been working out pretty hard without visible swelling.
Alex is really catching on to the grip fighting, he really has caught on quickly. Much more quickly than it took me!
He has been working on two "new" throws for his arsenal; ouchi-gari and haraigoshi. He's slammed a couple people when he uses them as a set up and/or combination. Plus I don't know how he does it, being his first real "hardcore" training, but the guy goes like 8-9 rounds in a row, EVERYDAY!! Gotta say, he's really fighting his butt off.
I took the guys to Asakusa last week and I'm pretty sure they loved it! The town has this wonderful temple with multiple shrines and other cool classic Japanese buildings as well as an extensive shopping area filled with knickknacks, clothing, souveniers, and food that is all screaming Japan! We also went to Ginza, which is to Tokyo what 5th Avenue is to New York City. Cool stuff. I tried on a $2000 Armani suit just for kicks.
But Anyways things are going well, this next will be really exciting because theres the All-Japan College tournament followed immediately by our trip to Hiroshima. Bullet train time! Can't wait.
Hope everyone is doing well back home!
Justen
The Panda
Asakusa-1
Asakusa-2
Asakusa-3
Asakusa-4
Picnic-1
Picnic-2
From Lucas Mignogna
June 28, 2008:
Hello all, this week was back to fighting. Monday through Wednesday I went three rounds each just to make sure I didn't over do it. Thursday it was on. I got back into my rhythm and tore it up. Only got thrown once Thursday because I made a dumb mistake going against Kobuto, who is a middleweight player, and he caught me with a foot sweep.
So after practice Wednesday I was feeling down about how horrible I had fought so I wasn't feeling very hungry. But as I was walking into the cafeteria heading towrds the drink station, Yuki holds out a giant mountain of rice. He knows me too well because I couldn't resist and ended up eating a whole lot of food. Hara-epai!
Thursday night after practice Kawashima sensei took Alex, Justen, and myself out to dinner. It was nice to actually hold a conversation with him because I have never really spoke to him before. Anyways, once we got back from dinner we were hanging out in our room at the judo house and Justen found a cockroach under my bed pad. I took off screaming upstairs looking for Miura because I was hoping he would protect me. If you haven't figured out by now, I HATE COCKROACHES! So he wasn't there so I brave it and come back downstairs looking for Alex and Justen. Alex finds me and restrains me while Justen has the half dead cockroach in a pair of hashi (chopsticks), and is coming right at me. So I break free and grab the umbrella that is near me and start flailing that thing everywhere to keep Justen away from me. Finally they showed some mercy and threw it away.
Friday, we slept in and I woke up and went for a long run. When I came back, me and Alex went to the dojo to do some exercises and get cleaned up. Then we went to yakuniku, which is an all you can eat and drink restaurant. Needless to say I was not coherent enough to even attempt singing at the karaoke bar that we went to last night. That's all I'm going to say about that. No elaboration.
So now we are off to watch the Teikyo team at their shiai today. Hopefully they do well! GO BEARS!
~Lucas
-
Alejandro Masias
June 30, 2008:
Hello coach, hello everybody,
This past weekend has had to be one of the most eventful and educational weekends of my entire life. I dont think I have ever packed so many activities into one weekend before. On Saturday we went to the All-Japan College Championships at eh Budokan center in Tokyo. This was very different from any tournament I ahve ever been to before. It was a team competition which ment that there were no weight classes. Each college had to choose there best seven guys to go up against seven guys from the other colleges. Teikyo won there first round and made it to the second round of the tournament. The second round they had to fight Kokushikan who happen to be the defending champions from last years tournament. Teikyo did well but was not able to pull off enough victories to advance to the next round. This tournament was very exciting to watch there was a lot of great judo action going on. I saw many ippons and many different styles. I even got to see some of Japans former olympic champions who are now coaching at various colleges in Japan. The audience was another site to see. The peopel watching were very enthusiastic. They had tons of energy. They were cheering and chanting all together for their college. Tons of clapping and cheering made the tournament even that much more exciting for me. The tournament lasted 2 days.
On Sunday after the tournament we hoped on the Shinkansen bullet train and headed for Hiroshima. My friends this trip ws one for the ages. The bullet train was like an airplane only on the ground. The inside and seats were just like flying a 7-47. It was such a great trip. I also had a chance to see a lot of Japans country side from the window of my seat. The trip took about five hours from Tokyo to Hiroshima. When we arrived we stayed one night in a hotel and got up Monday morning and headed to town for some site seeing.
We went to see the A bomb dome were the atomic bomb had been dropped. We also walked through a park were they had various shrines and memorials dedicated to the victims and peoeple who died fromthe bombing. The most touching part for me was the Peace Museum. I would love to show you the pictures when I get home because some of them are very intense. This was big eye opener for me. Walking through this museum gave me a whole new perspective on the war and the after affects of such a decision to drop a nuclear weapon on a country. To see the pictures and images they had in that museum made me want to cry. In fact when I saw the final portion of the museum and walked out I alomost broke down in tears. It really made me ask myself can there be peace without violence. Hiroshima really prides themselves on being a peacful city now. But it is really sad that it took such an event to trigger an act of peace. If you ever get a chance I highly recomend visiting hiroshima and the museums and memeorials it will change your perspective on war forever. Well my friends I hope you have enjoyed this last entry. I will write again next week. Take care and keep your heads up.
Your friend
Alejandro Masias
STAY STRONG and STAND PROUD
-
Lucas Mignogna
July 1, 2008:
Hello,
So a lot has happened in the few days since I last wrote. I left off when we were about to head to the shiai at the Nippon Budokan. It was the All-Japan Collegiate Team Tournament. Teikyo did alright, they won their first bout with one school. That night the Kurokawas took us to dinner at a very expensive tonkatsu restaurant. The food was so good I didn't want to eat it all because then it would be all gone and no more to eat. I guess this is where I finally realize to true meaning of savoring food. Geez mom! The next day they were up against Kokushikan which was the reigning champions last year. So Teikyo ended up losing by one match which we were proud of them for, because they fought their hearts out.
After the tournament, it was time to head off for the shinkansen (bullet train) to take us to Hiroshima. So we booked it to the Tokyo Station and then got on the train to find our seats. Once we got going, the ride was so smooth. The farm country was beautiful with the rolling hills and wide fields. The trip there was about a five hour train ride. It was awesome. Hopped in the cab and headed off to our hotel room which was very nice. The fare for this whole trip was $275. Expensive but well worth it. Anyways, we arrived at our room around 7. Got showered up then went to eat okanomiyaki, which is a type of noodle dish that Hiroshima is famous for.
The next day we went to our inclusive breakfast buffet, then went to out the door to head to the Hiroshima bomb memorial and museum. Once we got there we started snapping pictures right away. The cab driver who took us there was very nice and liked to speak English. He told us to be careful and warned about people who might try to hustle us. In the end we didn't need to head to his advice because the people here are so kind. Back to the story. We saw the ruins and such then the Remembrance hall which had a list of all the lives taken. After, we went through the museum which was gut wrenching and horrifying. We saw the graphic and gruesome pictures of how bad the destruction and chaos was immediately and long term after the bombing. It was so sad and depressing. You never truly know how much these people yearn for peace until you experience this imagery. Nuclear bombs are so horrible that they really should be abolished. To be in the place where the world's first atomic bomb was used in warfare is surreal. To walk around and imagine that right where we were standing people were going about their lives through the war and all of a sudden 350,000 people were immediately dead. The long term affects that the survivors dealt with after wards was also just as hard to swallow. The story of Sadako did it in for me. She was two years old when the bomb hit. Survived the initial stages after the fall out but when she turned 11, I believe, she developed cancer. Through her eight months of suffering she did the 1,000 origami cranes that are supposed to incur health. She actually made over 1,300 paper cranes. She wanted so desperately to live that she continued to make them up until hours before her death despite the pain she was suffering.
To know that there are people in the world who live to inflict pain and death upon others or who are so ignorant of others wills to live is so shameful there aren't any words to describe it all. Needless to say Justen, Alex, and I definitely learned a whole lot of lessons that day. It was a very sad and depressing day indeed. But then Misawa, the team member who arranged our trip for us called and asked us what part we were at. So we told him we still to get a cab to the fairy. "Let's go! Let's go! OK yeah!" And then he hangs up on us. Haha, his way of telling us we need to hurry along so we can make our train back to Tokyo.
So the whole day was not a depression episode. We took the fairy across to the island of Miyajima. It has a very popular shrine and temple there. The whole island was inhabited by these tiny deer that coexist with the people very well. They are so used to people that you can walk up and pet them. Cute, they are. So we walked around a bit, bought some souvenirs then back to the fairy.
We ended up making it to the Hiroshima station for our shinkansen with plenty of time. We caught dinner which was okanomiyaki again and it was delicious. The ride back was just as pleasant as the one coming in. I liked the city of Hiroshima a lot. Better than Tokyo, because it has a slower pace to it.
We ended up making the midnight monorail to our town of Otsuka on the last train. Tuesday we woke up, met up with Mr. Kawashima again so he could take us to his brother's restaurant inn Yokohama. On the way there we stopped by the Tokyo Tower, which is taller than the Eiffel Tower, cool. Along the way we took the very scenic route and walked around the town of Kamakura. It reminds me of a small beach town in southern California. We got to take some pictures with some girls who were dressed in tradition Japanese kimono-like attire at the shrine. While there we also ate sweet potato soft cream which is like ice cream. It was so good. I want more. After a lot of driving around and sight seeing we finally went to the restaurant and ate a private meal with just the four of us. The sashimi was excellent as well as most of the rest of the food.
Then we came back around 11:30 PM. Today I am going to meet up with Daisuke, my last host student, and his family in Nogata. His mom is so excited to see me that Daisuke made me send her a text message on his phone last time I saw him. But that's about all till tomorrow when we go to a castle near by. And then it's my last practice Thursday night before I come back so by for now. See you all soon.
-
Justen Otaka
July 16, 2008:
Hi Warren!
Alex and I are doing well, practice has been pretty good for us both lately. Alex is really starting to get his combinations down. His gripfighting and footwork are coming along as well. i told the assistant coach that he likes ne-waza so he had Alex go against Teikyo's #2 guy 3 rounds in a row on the mat. Alex only lost once and almost pinned the other guy several times! Good stuff. Our last two weeks will not be so hard though, testing season is coming and we will only have Judo on Tuesday, thursday and saturdays (sound familiar?).
OK well we are both looking forward to coming home, and hope to see everybody soon.
I am also sending a bunch of pics, specifically from our Hiroshima trip.
BYE!
ジャステン 大高
Dinner with Kawashima Sensei.
Alejandro and Sensei Kawashima
We all scream for ice cream!
Oh, Deer!
Oh, Dear!
A classical Shinto shrine.
Hiroshima
The Castle
The Beast
The Battle
The Peacemaker
Justen hard at work.
A good practice moment.
Lucas hard at work.
Alejandro hard at work.
Alejandro the Tori.
Alejandro the Uke.
Teikyo University Men's Judo Team.
