On Wednesday morning, after our weight training practice, I weighed myself.

Body weight: 67.8 kg
Body fat (%): 8.9 %

This is the lowest I have been in weight in almost two years, including back when I was in Canada.

Work hard. Play hard. Fail. Succeed.

Being abroad for a long time, most people gain a fair amount of weight, as did I. In January, I was at 73.6 kg I believe, meaning I have lost about 6 kilograms. How did I do it? Let's just say I wanted it.

As my mom always reminds me, when you decide to do something, you'll do it. You'll do it because you can. The only thing that's stopping you is you.

Trying to care for my face, I have often gone to various super markets to look for facial products. By doing so, I noticed a slight trend in the products most of the stores hold.

Let's start by saying there is a lot of choices. For example, within the same brand, we have a moisturizer, facial cleanser, acne care cream, nano million scrub (don't ask me what that is), and white clear foam (still no idea). Each of them have a slightly different purpose. There's something for almost all your needs. Now that being said, all of these come from the same brand. This is where I believe the Japanese system fails. Only the big companies' products are sold in all the stores. Now having studied business, this create a monopoly, allowing no chance for competitors (companies) to enter and possibly provide a better product. The big companies offer soo many products, and are so well known that most consumers don't even think twice about their products. The products are most likely very good, but still I find it slightly disturbing.

This isn't just limited to facial products. The judo guys all have Under Armour sports clothes. I thought it was just because they wanted to look cool and had lots of money, but when I went to get myself a few shirts, I noticed that half the store offered just that same brand.

This probably has a link with the people and culture. Since most students receive money from their parents or work a part time job, they can afford these expensive products. In Canada, I always felt that image was important, but not every piece of clothing I owned had to be from an expensive brand. But here in Japan, image is considered of utmost importance, so they tend to buy expensive clothes. Which leads to smaller companies to fade out.

When I was at the camp, I heard a funny expression: "Mitami janakute, nakami." It's meaning is :"It's not the outside that matters, but the inside." Now trying to compare that mentality with how Japanese value their own image, I still don't quite understand.

When my sister was here, she stayed at the girls' international dorm, which is quite similar to mine in terms of space, washrooms, living with a roommate and people from all around the world. Obviously, just as Kaikan has its supervisors in case anything happens and to perform small chores, LKan also has its arsenal of staff. One of them, is called Hayashi (family name), and she was there when my sister stayed at the LKan.

Now ever since I've come to Japan, I have visited her many times, and she has always greeted me with a smile and snacks. She usually asks how I'm doing, tells me to sit in the lobby, and brings me something to eat that she purchased ahead of time. She even calls the Kaikan sometimes to see if I'm there and asks me to come over. She also contacted me by text once. Last time I went, we spoke for about an hour about her past and her husband, my sister, and me. It's quite interesting. I don't exactly understand 100% of what she tells me, but I can say that I understand most of it.

Now I went to see her again today. We have come to the point where she gives me her working schedule, so I know when to go. I don't always go see her, but when I do have the time, like today, I go over there, say hi and study in the LKan's lobby. She'll come and bring me something to eat, or give me money to buy something at the vending machine. She's always nice to me which is something I enjoy very much. Sometimes, I bring her a little present too.

Small note, but important nonetheless, without my sister living in the LKan and keeping a good relationship with Mrs. Hayashi, this could never happen. I wouldn't know her, so I have to say thank you to my sister for that.


Remember this sis?

We started the day with the weird morning stretching, a little early, and then off to breakfast.



After breakfast, we had to finish packing and get everything completely cleaned from our room before practice. Luckily, I had packed most of my stuff the night before. I finished up my stuff, packing everything so that I could just place my gi in my luggage and go.



At last, here came the last practice. Now by this time, everyone was tired, and you could feel it.

After the first fifteen minutes, I felt something weird with my shoulder, so I decided not to do much that last practice. I didn't want to get a stupid last-minute injury. Which is what Fubuki ended up doing. He pulled his right middle toe during the last 30 minutes of the practice, and will most likely not be able to practice for two-three days.

After practice, we took pictures with our same year students. I normally stand with the 2nd year students, but I talk mostly with those from the 3rd year, so I was told to go in with them for the picture!

We then took the next hour to pick up the mats and clean the gym.



Lunch time, then onto the bus.

As I walked up the hill near my residence in the unbearable heat, pulling my suitcase, I recalled where I was last week, and how far I had come. This week has taught me a lot. A lot about the members of the club. It has shown me how they think. I was able to participate in the training camp with the Tokai University Judo Team this summer. One more goal completed.

Sweat, blood, and fire is what I left back there. But what I brought back cannot be put into words.

Early wake up, morning streching, then breakfast.


Two hours later, practice. Fought lots this time, and soon time for lunch.


After lunch, we had plenty of time to sleep. I slept for two hours. Then time for practice. This time we did ground work again, and then another circuit training. Still with Fubuki, I pushed myself as hard as I could. By the end of it, I was tired, but satisfied. Yet, after bowing, I noticed Fubuki invite his friend for a running training. I asked if I could join, and it ended up just being the two of us. We ran up the hill just like we had the second day of the camp. Twice. It really killed me, right after practice, and I can't believe I did that. After that, we did five more dashes up the hill, and headed in to eat supper. Once we had finished, I headed off to the shower, and then soon came the time for reading.

This morning, no morning practice but we still had to get up early. We gathered in front of the gym, and basically just streched for like 2 minutes, and then went to go eat. I have no idea why we did that, but I kept my questions to myself. Something you learn to do here in Japan.

After that, we all took a nap, and then to practice.


This time, Sato sensei showed up. Agemizu had left the day before, but here came Sato sensei haha! He asked me if I was okay. He had only came for that one practice, but it shows how much he cares for this team.


After that practice, we ate lunch, and we all passed out. Now after one hour of sleep, I woke up, and went to go see if I could wash my gi. You see, in Canada, we never washed our gi during a training camp. Unless we were at a hotel with washers, but that was rare. Now the Japanese in general are very concerned about self appearance, and so every one washes their gis. I had not brought anything for that, but today, probably because he thought I stank, Fubuki let me use some of his detergent! While everyone was sleeping, I woke up and went to check if any of the machines were open. One just happened to be finishing. I wasn't too sure how to use it, so I asked the first year student who was pulling his gi from it what to do. He kindly helped me through it, and I was very thankful.

Today, we were supposed to have a reading period before our second judo practice, but it apparently got cancelled.

I then prepared for practice, listened to music, and then on to the mats. This practice went pretty well. We just did ground work, and I won a lot of fights. But I have to say most of them were tired and didn't try to their best. But I still felt good.

Once practice was done, I rushed to get my laundry done, and then into the shower room. It was packed. You see, at the resort, there are also people training in other sports, and one huge group of track and field boys are here. They take up a lot of room, and when I entered the shower room, there was no way to move. We were in total maybe 40 people in that small room. I would call that a very "Japanese" experience. Unfortunately, I couldn't grab a picture.


After eating like two ice creams, I watched the guys play the werewolf game again, and went to my bed where I watched some videos on my phone. I was still the first one to go to bed. Funny.

Early wake up. Prep, and head out to the front of the gym, wearing my running outfit. Bow in, and we split into light, mid, and heavy weights. Our group went downhill and onto a path made within the small forest we had entered. Our coach told us five rounds, but we ended up taking a longer path, one round 1,700m, so were told to stop after three laps. This morning happened to be a good morning for me. I was 3rd coming in from that long run. Then we had to sprint once around a small path, and out of all the athletes in my category, I ended up being first to come in from that sprint. Now everyone is tired, but considering that so am I, I felt pretty good. That was our last running training. From now on, I believe we are going to walk in the mornings, or so it says on the schedule.

I stayed extra long to stretch my legs, got back, entered the shower, and raced to the food hall to eat my meal.

The mountains were gorgeous this morning.

The second practice was similar to yesterday's! We started with our gi tops on, doing some gripping exercises out in front of the gym. Then, we saluted a man that came and gave the team some money. After that, we headed into the dojo, and performed some exercises which were similar to what we did yesterday. Timed exercises with a partner. Again, I was with Fubuki, and we held through the whole way.

We finished, and off to lunch. I won the janken (rock-scissors-paper) game again! Yay! Two for me!




Today's judo practice was earlier, since we had a BBQ planned at night. It started well, but at one point I just couldn't move. I reached my limit. Of course it was hard, but that's not why. My gi was soo hard and everytime I moved or my opponent pulled my sleeve or even just standing there, the burns on my skin from the gi just made it impossible to use any of my strength. So I took a break during the practice, unable to move. I should probably buy a long sleeve under armour shirt or something...

After that, in and out of the bath, and off to the BBQ. I got stuck with all the first year students. Haha, they served us all rice, and we started cooking. I took the initiative, and placed the meat on the grill. We kept eating, and we kept adding meat onto the grill. But on top of all the meat we had, we kept receiving meat from our sempai (seniors), which made it impossible to finish our own. At one point during the meal, they started a weird competition of imitation where they took turns imitating funny things, or people they knew. I didn't quite understand it all but it was entertaining to see they had this ritual.




After having filled my stomach with more meat that I ate in the last week, I chatted with some friends, and walked back to my room.


After brushing my teeth, I watched some of the boys play a werewolf game that Japanese all seem to love.


One more day over.

Up at 6. Washroom. Running clothes. Meeting at 6:45. We ran up the hill here twice, which is one very long slow slope up. Then we did some sprints. After that, shower, and breakfast. Now we had our first decent break.



Since we had some time, and I knew that at the end of the week, I wouldn't want to do so, I went out for a walk, and took some pictures of the surroundings (Fujimi Heights, Nagano, Japan).

Now the next practice was my first time doing something like this. We made our way outside in front of the gym with just our gi tops. We ended up doing about 30 minutes of gripping exercises outside, in the sun, in shoes, shorts, and judo tops. I thought we would end there since we do have a third practice, but no. We grabbed our stuff, and headed to the open gym area where the trainers had prepare a series of exercises. They had placed various weight exercises tools in two big circles, one for the heavy weights, and the other for us, the light weights. We each grabbed a partner, and I was paired with Fubuki. What happened next was what I had watched many of them do just before a tournament. We do every exercise for 30 seconds, then move to the next one. Fubuki went up first, and I cheered him on through the first round. Then it was my turn. It was hard, yeah, but I just felt glad I was part of them doing it. I had always wondered how it was to do so.

I'm thankful for Fubuki for cheering me on the whole time, it kept me pushing. Sometimes, Masaya from the group right ahead of us would cheer me on too, yelling "Mamoru! Hayaku!" with means hurry up Mamoru (my Japanese name). We did two rounds each, and then finished off bowing.

After changing, straight to the food hall. This time, I was forced to sit with many of the 4th year students. I didn't really talk much, but when I didn't I was stared at harshly. Then one of them called me Michael, and then said he didn't know my name. I realized that because of the language barrier, I was an easy pray for them to pick on.

This is going to be a hard week. Physically, but also mentally. One can even say emotionally?

Next practice. Was hard. My back, neck and arms were completely ripped off their skin. Lots of gripping we did. Lots of gripping.

Now after supper, I did something I never thought I would do at a training camp. I went for an extra workout. Fubuki was the one who invited me. He said he was going to do some exercises, and asked if I wanted to join. At first, I thought it was crazy. I was thinking about the next day to come, and how I didn't want to be too tired, but then I thought, hey, if he can do it, so can I. And so I went to the gym area of the camp, and worked on my abs, my back, and my pectoral muscles. Unbelievable. As my father often told me before I came here, this is not the kind of level of dedication I will find when I come back to Canada.

I woke up in time, ate breakfast, finished my last packing, and took a taxi down the hill to the meeting location. After going to the washroom at the nearby supermarket, I got on the bus, and waited for the bus to leave. I was sitting in the very first seat, which felt lonely at first, but after a while, I realize it allowed me to sleep, have a better view, and not be forced to talk. The bus left at 8:30 from Tokai, and we were gone. I decided to try sleeping for the first bit, since nothing interesting would come up. After about an hour, we stopped at a pit stop for those wanting food or needing to go to the washroom. Not much happened really, but here's some of the scenery I saw.


We got the camp, and scrambled to our room. I believe the coaches had done on purpose to place me with some of my closest friends as roommates, for which I was grateful.


Here's our room.


After resting for 45 minutes, we went to go eat. This was interesting. Everyone had their food served by the 1st year students (I have been ranked with 2nd students at Tokai), and we all waited for the coaches to come in and sit before we started. Here's what we ate. I actually ate too much which made my stomach hurt before practice haha.


Our first practice was almost exactly the same as the ones back in Tokai. But this time, we worked on a few more different drills and gripping techniques.

After we were done, I iced my shoulder, strechted. Once that was done, straight to dinner. Once that was done, we showered and took a bath! Yep we have a BATH! Then I basically started getting ready to sleep while the guys watched a drama. They were soo into it, it was funny to watch them. I passed out first in our room, thinking I should try getting lots of rest on our first day here.

In preparation for the upcoming summer training camp, I performed various activities. I obviously packed my bags and such, making sure I had enough shampoo, tooth paste for example. I also prepared my medicine for my throat, making sure I had enough. Since this was my first time going out to a training camp here with the team, I wasn't too sure what to expect, and with my father being worried, it only made me worried. So I contacted many fellow club mates and those in charge to make sure I had the right information. It took many messages back and forth since no one seemed to know anything...


Now one of the biggest parts of my preparation for this camp started two weeks before. In order to perform my best at this camp, and not get any injuries, I had to make sure I was in my best condition. I must say, since it was summer, it wasn't always easy to get myself motivated to go and kill myself doing chin-ups and such. But I managed to get enough exercise in to feel confident.

Yoooouuuussshhhh! Here I come training camp.