So last week on Wednesday there was an entry exam for non-Japanese students attempting to enter the regular programs of the university. It's a regular university entrance exam in Japanese, so only the Bekka students got to have a day off. Sweet!

I wish we had a day like that every week. I still had practice (mountain training in the morning and judo in the afternoon), and that just made my day even more perfect. But since I don't get this kind of days off very often, I decided to finally go visit an old acquaintance I made three years ago when my father and I came to Japan to visit my sister, Mrs. Kinoshita.

I was supposed to go visit Mrs. Kinoshita soon after arriving at Tokai, but I didn't really remember where she worked, how to get there, and I also kind of forgot as time went by. But after verifying with my parents via Skype, I decided that it was the best time to go visit her.

Mrs. Kinoshita works at the Yukokaikan (The International Friendship Residence), which is ANOTHER dorm for foreigners to stay at. Everyone in the judo club had asked me if I was staying there, and after answering yes to all of them, I realized my mistake that day. I didn't realize at the time there were two international dorms. No wonder no one understood me when I said it only takes three minutes by foot... The Yukokaikan is approximately 10 minutes biking up the hill, if you can manage it...

Anyways, why is Mrs. Kinoshita important? Well first of all, she helped my father and I when we needed a one night stay near the university back then. She also drove us to the station one day with our luggages! I also believe she helped my sister with a few things while my sister was studying at Tokai.

So yeah, I got to finally go visit her and it was great! She offered me help if ever I needed it.

After the Tokyo Grand Slam, there happened to be a camp at the Kodokan (judo's birthplace), and on Saturday the 13th, all members of the club had to at least take part in this practice. On the other days, if you were free, you were asked to go, but since I have classes every day, that Saturday was the only day I was able to go.

We all got to the station at around the same time, 7:00 A.M. and after grabbing some breakfast at the combini, we rode the train to Kourakuen. Once there, we walked only a few blocks and arrived at the Kodokan. I had been there before with my father three years ago, yet I didn't really remember the building itself. We were the first ones there, of course, and therefore we had the changing room to ourselves, all one hundred and some of us lol. After that, we climbed six sets of stairs to finally make it to the dojo. We sat down as we waited for the practice to start.

Soon, other judokas from different countries started showing up, including some athletes from Canada. Once the practice started, I got to line up with the Tokai team, which felt weird, but since I had come with the team, I felt like that was the only place I should go. Usually at practice I sit to the side of them all.

Practice went well. My coach, Agemizu sensei asked me if my injury was alright and then told me to be careful. I got to practice with a few other guys from different countries and some Japanese from different parts of Japan. I didn't exactly beat them all, but I felt a little more in control compared to the practices back at Tokai. It would be nice to be able to practice with these people more often but, oh well.

After the practice, I went to salute the Canadian teammates. The girls' practice was next and some of the Canadian girls had come as well. I was talking to a close friend when the Tokai team got called back for a little meeting. It felt good to be part of the group even though it's maybe just all in my head.

After that meeting, we were allowed to leave the practice, and do what we wanted. I was planning on heading right back home when I got invited to go do some shopping with some of the judo guys. We went to a few sports clothes shops and I was really temped to buy a waterproof bag. Here in Japan, it would be very useful as I have come to understand. The rain here just falls whenever it feels like it haha.

We ate some expensive pasta, which was good, had some little chats about just regular things other than judo, which was nice for a change. I headed back with a little more hope for what was to come next.

So yesterday, we had another "dash" practice at the university with the team. If you recall, last time, I made quite an impression by being one of the first ones to finish the dashes. And apparently, that impression didn't fade.

This time, the sempai in charge took the four slowest runners out of us all and made them captains for the relay teams. I had never done this, but I could tell there was going to be a little bit of a competition. But what really took me off guard was that, when the time came for the first captain to make his choice, the first name called out was "Shiokawa!". I could tell that everyone else was as surprised as me by their "OOoooohhhhh....". Some even said things like "Saisho gaijin da ne!" which means that he picked the foreigner first.

It was really nothing serious but it really meant something big to me. Slowly, I'm starting to make an impression on the club. I'm making my way into being part of the team just as a normal teammate, which was one of my goals before coming here. This kind of thing helps me to keep my motivation and yeah, made me smile I guess.

So Friday night, we had an early Christmas party. When I arrived back from the Tokyo Grand Slam, everything was already set up. The staff had worked up a pretty good Christmas theme. I was supposed to DJ that night, but since I arrived late-ish, some other guy had brought his stuff so I just let him handle it! I then changed quickly into a "Holiday attire", picked up my laundry, and headed back to the party.

The room was filled with people. Food was on the table, music was playing, and the Christmas trees lit up. There was even a mistletoe station... Hugs were exchanged and I dropped off my present with the rest of them. We had to bring a 5$ present for a kind of secret exchange game.


After chatting for a bit, we gathered in a circle with our gifts. Basically what happened was that someone pressed play on the music and we passed the gifts around as fast as possible until the music stopped. I ended up with one of my Japanese friend's gift: caramel popcorn. I open it, and walked around giving some to anyone who wanted some. After that, we celebrated two birthdays: Chipa Mwenya, and Maho Sagawa, two of the staff from the international dorms. Chipa will be graduating this semester so this will most likely be his last party with us since he plans on moving to Osaka to work afterwards. Chipa was kinda close to me since he could understand the perspective of an outsider trying to fit in Japan. We had some good laughs and I'm sad to see him go.

After that, the music continued for a bit until my friend Kahea and I performed I'm Yours in front of everyone one last time. Some people had missed our performance at the festival and had requested we sing it again. After that the party slowly continued and soon it was over. I helped with the cleanup while everyone headed over to the Budokan to share drinks and stories. I had planned to head there for a bit when I was invited to go to Karaoke with the Japanese staff. Soon, we were on our way down to the station.

On our way there, I threw some leaves onto one of my Japanese friends and suddenly, it turned into a leaf throwing battle. It was funny to see Japanese people be that outgoing and I kinda felt good to have started the whole thing. Everyone laughed as we ran around in the dark, chasing each other.

After stopping by the grocery store for food and drinks, and trying the first Karaoke, which was packed, we headed over to the next one, and I then realized that I had been there with my sister and dad three years ago! Funny how things work out. We picked our complimentary drinks and soon we were all sitting down choosing songs. I didn't know most of the songs they picked, but it was quite an interesting study session. It's quite hard to understand the meaning of a song at that speed. I also picked a few English songs to which they tried to sing along. I noted down a few song names to look up later. I really think I need to start listening to Japanese music. We ended it off with "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars.

We walked back, and said our farewells, and yeah, that was my night.

About a month and a half ago, our teacher handed out papers to those who wanted to participate in the speech contest. Now, since my sister had participated in this contest during her stay in Japan, the teachers didn't really give me a choice. Haha. In order to compete in the final competition, we had to present the first two minutes of our speech first to a few students and teachers. They would then pick the top 10 best who would then be picked to perform in front of everyone.

After writing my speech in English, I had my friend Maho Sagawa and my father translate it into Japanese for me, and I began to memorize. The day of the elimination, I spent 2 hours practicing and I had everything memorized. But as I noticed during my Japanese speech I performed back in Canada, I apparently get REALLY nervous while performing a speech in front of a crowd. Even though I have everything memorized, I seem to still forget as I am performing. And this time was no exception. I didn't think I did very well, and I was surprised to hear that I was picked to go through to the finals.

Even though my dad had worked very hard at translating my speech, apparently it wasn't the best way to present my topic, so after having memorized half of it, my teacher decided to rewrite pretty much the whole thing. Therefore, one week before the contest, I started to rememorize my five minute speech. Now keep in mind I was still going to class, still had tests, homework, and other studies to keep up with. I also had judo practices to attend and other life necessities to perform.

Now knowing about my nerves problem, I prepared myself this time in order not to forget in the moment. I had memorized most of it three days before the event. I practiced in front of my friends many times, my Japanese friends helped me with the intonation, I practiced in front of my class, people I barely know, and my family. We had a rehearsal the day before and I practiced with formal clothes on, knowing that I would be wearing them during my performance, I took pictures from the stage to help me visualize later. I even practiced with my friend by having her read the first three words of any sentence, which I then I had to complete. So, I knew my speech pretty well.

The day of, my teacher and my classmates wished me good luck. I left class early, wearing my suit and tie, and arrived there early, which allowed me to walk on stage one more time before the performance. After that, I went outside to practice some more. A lot of people complimented me on my suit, and one of my friends even told me I looked awesome, and that made my day.

Next, the time to perform. I was number 6; therefore I got to see others perform before me. All the participants were nervous, and you could feel the tension in the air. Soon, I was called up, I walked up the stairs, took a deep breath, smiled, and off I went. I'll let you see for yourself how it went.

Nonetheless, I received some money to buy my textbooks next semester as did everyone, but not only that, I also received a special frame, although I'm not quite sure why. Most likely because of the topic I chose for my speech.

Soon it was over, my stress relieved, and I was on my way back to the dorm. I then hurried as much as I could and made it back for the last hour of practice.

All in all, the experience was... beneficial. I actually learned a lot of grammar and vocabulary thanks to the help of everyone. I am kind of disappointed with my personal performance, but, I can say that I gave it my best.

So this past weekend, the university hosted what they call the International Fair. Basically what it is, is that the students from the different countries come together and make a booth within the classrooms of the 4^th floor of building 8, the building in which I study all day long. It's up to the students to use their imagination in order to show the highlights of their country.

Now I'm one of the only Canadians here so I decided that I would help with the Hawaiian booth. I didn't really help too much with the preparation, due to being busy with judo and my speech, but I came and helped during the days of the fair.

Some people might disagree, but I really think it was a fun experience. I had to hand people leis and take them back, bow, bow, and bow again, apologize and say thank you again and again. We had tons of students coming in, most I didn't know, some I came to befriend. It was very tiring and very demanding mentally and physically. I also had to walk around the 4^th floor in order to promote our booth, playing the ukulele and singing songs.

Now why did I like it so much? Well I think it gave me the experience of working in Japan. You see, whenever you walk into stores in Japan, you always hear: "Irasshaimase!" which means welcome to our store. But that's not it; they always ask the same questions, apologize, bow and bow again even though they made no mistake. This is an extreme politeness that Japanese companies enforce to all workers. No matter what your mood, everyone follows these rules.

I just think I was lucky to be able to experience it at least once, since I don't plan on working in Japan.

Besides that, I also got to see many booths from different countries including Vietnam, Spain, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Thailand, China, Russia, and more. On the third floor, there were also performances from different countries. I got to see a Mongolian guitar being played, I got to hear famous Chinese melodies, Brazilians bands and dances, Arabian dances (in which I joined in haha), and many more. I also got to perform with one of the native Hawaiians, Kahea Kashinoki, and a few songs with a Hawaiian feel. He played the ukulele while I sang along with him to certain songs like Over the rainbow, La vie and rose and, of course, the favourite, I'm yours by Jason Mraz.

With the speech and all, the International Fair ended up being a very interesting experience.

So two weeks ago, we had a school festival here at Tokai! This was my first time participating in such a big event and it was overall fun! Back home, there's no way that the University of Winnipeg could pull something off that is nearly as similar as this, therefore I benefited greatly from the experience.

Now what exactly was this festival all about? I'm not quite sure, to be honest. All I know is that, from the south gate all the way down to the bottom of the "Tokai Hill", tents were set up and sold foods from different countries all over the world. On top of that, if you went up the hill, there were even more booths set up there! In total maybe... 100 or more booths were set up, selling various things (mostly food), where the average price was about 300 yen (about 3$ dollars). There were also concerts here and there, at night some Korean artists came over who are apparently very popular from the looks of it; the line up was huge! Within some of the buildings there was a few more activities from all the rec activities and clubs from the university, such as sign language and drawing. The last night of the festival, there were fireworks, but the best part was that we had no school the next day nor throughout the festival! So you can imagine how much fun it was!

I myself didn't participate too much in it for a few reasons. First of all, I still had judo practices. Second, I wanted to study haha. But I did walk around quite a bit giving "FREE HUGS" with Anzu (my sister's roommate when she came to Japan) and a few others girls. Now what is this whole free hugs thing? Don't ask me, I still don't know haha. I just like doing it and it's fun with Anzu. She kind of sucked me into and I had to say yes haha. We just hold signs saying free hugs and those willing come and give us free hugs. Now in Japan, hugging isn't really a common thing so many people are too shy. ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN! It really hit me that weekend how women can be reluctant to touch anyone. Obviously, I'm a stranger to most of them, therefore it's understandable, but for example, one girl was trying to push her friend to give me a hug, and her friend was soo scared, she fell to the ground in order not to get any closer to me. Heart breaking right? But yeah, during that time, I get to practice my Japanese with my friends so I don't mind doing it. I got a LOT of hugs that weekend.

My friends from the Japanese staff at both international dorms were working to help the Russian booth. I have also come to befriend most of the Russians that are part of the Bekka program and so I would find myself hanging out there as well! I tried their soup which was... okay. My mom has really ruined me for life when it comes to food. I would also help them a little bit, and I helped them bring down the tent on the last day!

One night, after the day of work was done, the staff and I went back to the dorms and cooked Nabe. I wrote already about this and you can read about it here: http://thesoundsofjapan.blogspot.jp/2014/11/friends-and-food.html

All in all, the festival was a pleasant experience and I was glad to be able to take part in it.

Here's a little taste of how it looked.

So two weeks ago, I received my first haircut in Japan! Now when my sister had went, she had told me about how she had such a fun experience going to the beauty parlour with her friend and blah blah blah haha (just kidding France, I love you!) Anyways, because of that, I was really looking forward to going there and getting my hair cut. But a lot of my friends had gone to the surrounding ones and had gotten bad experiences. So I held off on it as much as possible.

Now, since I've come to Japan, one of the Mongolians, called Tselmen, had a pretty cool haircut. This is the kind of haircut that isn't accepted as appropriate for most people in Japan, but it was still cool. And I was surprised to find out that he had done it himself! I gave him compliments that he had done a great job and joked around that he should do the same for me! But apparently he didn't take it as a joke. Every time he would see me after, he would ask me when we were going to cut my hair, and I would answer I haven't decided what kind of style I wanted yet. I was kind of scared and I knew him well-ish but not enough to trust him with my hair haha.

But one night, after studying until about 12 o-clock, I bumped into him going to the showers with his hair cutter. I asked him was he was doing, and he answered he was going to fix a little bit of his hair. Then he asked if I wanted to cut my hair at that time, and that right now was the perfect time. So at about 12:15 A.M., on a Sunday night, I walked into our dorm's shower room to get a haircut from a Mongolian I barely knew. You know you're crazy when...

The whole thing took about one hour and a half, and we debated many times on how we should cut it, considering the fact that I had curly hair and that I was part of the judo club. It turned out pretty well and I was glad with the result. It was a new hairstyle I had never had before and yeah, why not I thought?

I've been getting A LOT of compliments since, so I guess I'm not the only who likes it. Even guys that passed by me during the festival where calling me handsome in Japanese. Now that's something that will go straight to your head haha.

Now I didn't get the same experience my sister did, but I got my own one and was this ever nerve racking. I didn't know him too well, but somehow, I knew I could trust him. That's one beauty of being in Japan.

Sorry guys, these past two weeks have been too busy for me to post anything, but I’m planning on getting you caught up on everything I’ve done during that time! Lots of exciting stuff! I just don’t know how my sister managed to keep a consistent blog going, I really am struggling to find the time. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I ran to the men's dormitory once again for the running practice. We lined up, bowed, and were soon back on our way to the school. During that time, I found out that we were going to do what they call "dash training", basically sprints. I had seen many other teams do it on one of the hills at Tokai, and I was very excited to be able to do it myself.

Once we arrived, we were separated into two groups (66kg and under was mine). Moments later, we left off up the hill. Now I kinda have this problem here where since I don't understand about 70% of what they say, I don't know where I'm running. Therefore, I always have to follow someone. So the first round, we went around the "V" that separates the two hills here in Tokai, which took us about 1 minute and a little more. Then it was the other group's turn. Once they finished, we lined up again, and we were off. This time though, I knew where I was going, so I ended up being 2nd out of that heat, tied with Takaichi, Tokai's best 66kg fighter. The next round after that, I made it first, but what really hit me was that as our group took off, I sped past everyone, and to my big surprise, some of them were cheering me on. Obviously, I think some of them were just joking around, but it felt nice and helped me push myself!

After we had done enough rounds, we walked up back the hill, lined up, bowed and practice was over. Me and a few other teammates stayed around to chat and work a little more. Masaya came to me and we carried each other once up the hill on our backs. We said our farewells, and I headed back home.

The next day, yesterday (Wednedsay), during the night practice, I went to the underground part of the dojo again with the other injured judokas. I had originally planned to do some rope uchikomis, but just as I was finishing my 4th set, they pulled out the big white ropes they use to work their arms. Ever since I had come here, I had always wanted to try doing this, but had been either too shy to ask, or too scared to fail in front of everyone. They had set the ropes up right behind me, obstructing me from being able to continue my exercises. The judoka performing the ropes first was Hayato Watanabe. I had seen him fight in Osaka as well as in Tokyo, and he is no doubt one of Tokai's strongest fighters. During the breaks at practice, he had sometimes approached me and asked me a few innocent questions. Even though he seems like a tough guy, he usually smiles when talking to me, which gives me some relief. But this time, after watching him perform the first set of ropes, I asked him if I could try it. He said that once he was done his three sets, I could definitely have a go at it. Two sets later, it was now my turn. I wasn't scared of anything, just afraid not to be able to finish. But soon Takahashi who was the timer yelled out: "Hajime" and so I was off.

It was tough alright, but Hayato stayed the first set to encourage me and push me to go faster. That really surprised me. He then asked me if I wanted to do two more sets, and even though my arms felt dead, I agreed. I thanked Takahashi for taking the time to time me. Every 20 seconds we switched the type of exercises with the ropes and he would yell out 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.. SWITCH (in Japanese of course) before each one.

But once again, I was caught off guard. Even though Takahashi was just there to time me, he would also push me harder when I would start to slow down. And he wasn't the only one. As the other judokas passed by, some of them would say: "faster, faster" in English to cheer me on.

After I was done my third set, I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that I could no longer move my neck, due to having not used those muscles in a while. I performed a few other exercises, during which I spoke with Matthew Baker, another half-Japanese who is part of the Tokai team, and Yuri Nishikawa, a girl who trained with my sister three years ago and has now become my friend!

All these experiences give me a slight feeling of belongingness, which is I think a big part of university sport teams here in Japan. I still have a ways to go (like over 100 more judokas to befriend haha), but this kind of experience just helps me persevere and gives me a little boost of motivation.