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.