Yesterday, after having packed everything up, I left my dorm, headed towards the station.

On my way there, I passed one of the judo guys from the club, and he invited me to come say hi to a few of the member who were eating in a restaurant nearby. I walked in and sure enough they were there. I congratulated them on the tournament, which they had just won and told them I was off to the hospital. They wished me good luck, and I left. After getting the last little things I needed, I walked up the stairs to the station and onto the train. Two stations later I walked off, and met my aunt who was waiting for me at the taxi stop. We rode the next taxi to the hospital and headed to the short term hospital stay part of the hospital, as I had been indicated.

The other day, I was doing weights in the dojo's basement with some of the boys, and a guy named Nomura had been doing some exercises using two dumbbells of about 8 kg each. After I was done with one exercise, I went over to the bench next to Nomura's while he went to chat with a few other friends. I was tempted to take his dumbbells, since he didn't seem to be using them seriously, but I decided to go pick up those of 10 kg instead.

When I started doing my exercises, I heard him yell out something. I wasn't really paying attention to their conversation, to be honest, but I caught that one. He had said that I had taken his dumbbells, speaking indirectly to anyone listening, but not expecting me to catch on. On top of that, he had used the term "Mamo-ri" instead of my real name "Mamoru" to make sure I didn't understand. But many people had addressed me by that name before so this time, I caught on. I caught on and simply told him that no, I had not touched his dumbbells and that they were still where he had left them, near the bench next to mine.

He was slightly surprised, put down the new dumbbells he had already picked up, and returned to his bench and quickly changed the topic of conversation with his friend, most likely slightly embarrassed.

Not a huge feeat, but I think that catching on to a conversation while not paying attention is something one can only achieve with a certain knowledge of the language. In other words, progress has been made.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Mr. Sato has been taking fairly good care of me. But it has come to a point that I can't even believe. First, he helped me at the Yokohama practice. Then he invited me for supper and drove me back to the university. He also said that he would drive me back every Thursday.

But it did not stop there. The next practice on Friday morning, after the warm up, the fighters for that weekend's tournament lined up to throw, as they usually do. They called out whoever they wanted as partner and got to practice throwing before their tournament.

Now I never thought I would ever do such a thing since I'm not part of the team and I have no tournaments. Yet as we were doing our normal uchi-komi during the warm up, Mr. Sato called me and told me that I would be joining those throwing to practice the combination he had shown me the night before. I could NOT believe it. But as the athletes were called up to line up, I kept my eyes on Mr. Sato who soon called out my name and told me again to get in line. That way everyone knew.

My first partner was Fubuki, but I went and asked many different fighters, including Honma, the coach who had accompanied me to the Touin Gakuen University. I think I threw over 30 times in those seven minutes, the most I have thrown since I have been here. Many were wondering why I was up there and one even asked me if I had a tournament coming up. I didn't care, I was up there. It was an opportunity to throw, and I didn't waste any time.

Once that was done, I was quite exhausted. I always wondered why the fighters would take their time throwing. I understood why, haha. Mr. Sato told me I was done for now, and the practice continued. About five minutes before the "randori" started, Mr. Sato once again called out my name. But he also called out Haruka Tachimoto's name. He brought us to one side of the dojo, took a chalk and a belt, and just as he had done for many of the team's top athletes, he made me draw two circles onto the mats. After that, he showed Haruka and I what he wanted us to work on. We had to practice a specific foot sweep while hoping in the shape of the circle. We did this maybe 40 times. He would come back from time to time, show us something new to work on, and we were off again. Haruka is quite a strong athlete and knew much more than me what to do, so she gave me tips here and there. After that, he told us we were done, and we could go back to the normal practice. I thanked him and joined in as much as I could.

By that point, I was quite exhausted. It has been a while since I had done so many repetitions without breaks. The club doesn't really usually run that way. But it just gave me more energy. To have someone look over you while everyone else seems not to care can be quite... moving. Motivating. I am very greatful for him taking the time for me.

Ever since my father and sister came to visit me in April, Mr. Sato had started telling me that once I finish my classes, he would take me to a different university to practice. Somewhere a little less stronger than Tokai, where I could get a more... fitted practice. Well, according to Mr. Sato of course.

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.

So two weeks ago, I had found out that my throat problems where caused by polyps growing on my vocal chords. I then had an appointment to see the doctor again two weeks later. And that was yesterday.

I ended up being a little late to my rendez-vous, but Shizuko and I eventually made it to the hospital. After the doctor took pictures of my throat, it was clear that my condition wasn't getting any better. In fact, it got considerably worse. The polyps had grown out.

I took another appointment with the doctor for in one month. At that time, if it has not gotten better,  I will have to start consider having the surgery here in Japan. According to the doctors, it is a quite frequent operation; many singers receive it during their career. I have never had a surgery in my life, and so this is quite frightening. If they ever make one mistake, my voice might not come back to what is was before.

I will keep you all informed of the results next month.

As mentioned in my blog previously, I had caught a cold back in April, and in May I finally decided to go see a doctor since it was still persisting. I was sent to a first doctor, which I visited 3 times, bought a lot of medicine, with no apparent result. I asked at the university if they could find somewhere better, and they sent me to another clinic where I received more medicine, (all the while continuing the other), yet nothing seemed to work. Now at the beginning of this month, I decided to try out a clinic in Yokohama, recommended by my girlfriend, but I only ended up receiving more un-effective medicine, half of which I already had.

After a weekend out with my friends in Shibuka, Tokyo, it really started becoming a serious piece of concern, (as if it wasn't already after 3 months). At this point everything exploded. I was in contact with my mom and dad, and my dad contacted his aunt, who contacted a doctor she knew who worked at the University's Hospital. At the same time, I caught ringworm, which is a desease that many judo athletes get due to the moistness and body contact. Now with the family, doctors, judo club's secretary as well as others all involved, everything just reached another level. But we ended up getting me an appointment at the University's Hospital, located in Isehara (two stations away from Tokai.).

Now this hospital is nothing like the small little clinics I've been to. This thing is HUGE!! On July 23rd, I headed out by train at 7 a.m. to the Isehara station where I met my great-aunt Shizuko who had come all the way from Bunkyo-ku (close to two hours away) to help me. She apparently had woken up at 3 a.m. that day. So we waited inside the hospital until they opened for clients. We wrote my information on a paper, and waited till they made my card. (They make cards for all the hospitals in Japan. I now have like six...) Once that was done, we were sent to the nervous system's department to go meet doctor Haida, who had come to Tokai a week before to arrange this whole thing. Shizuko is a close friend to him, and this connection helped us have an appointment much faster. After explaining my condition to him, he sent us to the proper department, the oral and nose department haha, and there we filled more papers, and waited some more.

Finally, Shizuko and I entered another doctor's office, and after asking me a few questions, he inspected my vocal chords by entering a camera through my nose. What came next was... expected but unwelcomed.

I had polyps growing on my vocal chords, which explains why it hurts when I talk. One part is hard already, while another part is still soft, meaning it has a strong chance of fixing itself by taking pills. But if this gets worse, I will have to have a surgery, or so I was told.

So at the beginning of this semester, I caught a cold and it's been on and off ever since, but my voice just doesn't seem to come back. Up to this point, I've downed over 250 pills, been to 3 different hospitals 8 times, and reduced my talking enormously. This has really taken a hard hit on me because I'm someone who enjoys talking to everyone and making them smile. That's also one of my methods of learning.

Now, another problem has emerged. The next speech contest is coming up, and if my voice is not strong by that time, I won't be able to perform well.

I'm really trying not to talk, but it's almost impossible. I'm going to have to start really ignoring some people in order to not talk. Not a fun experience, but I guess I'm supposed to learn something from this.

So since mid-April, it has been getting very warm here in Japan, reaching up to 30 degrees celcius, which has made quite a change in my wardrobe, but also in class.

But despite this hot weather, I have caught a cold since the beginning of class and up to today, my throat still hurts. I've been to the doctor, twice now, and I've been taking loads of medicine but it doesn't seem to get much better.

I also went to go see a dermatologist because I've been getting dark spots on my face. He also gave me medicine, and a few recommendations.

I'm not going to say I am thankful for this, but I'm kind of glad I had the chance to do this. You see, going to the hospital is something we take for granted back at home. But this time, I had to go to a Japanese hospital, alone, and figure everything on my own. I had to fill out papers with characters that I didn't know yet. I had to listen carefully to what the doctor was telling me to make sure I answered correctly.

If I could have avoided the whole thing, I would have, but on the positive side, it gave me an experience while testing, once again, my Japanese.

So since our kitchen got renovated, new stoves were also installed! I was really excited to use them, yet hadn't paid much attention to them. But when came time to cook for the first time, I was told that my old pans would no longer work on these stoves. They had brought IH stoves (induction heating), which only work with IH pans (which have a special bottom to allow the heat to transfer). I was NOT impressed.

That night, I used my friend Miguel's pan, but the next day I set out to buy my own. Shotaro came to make sure I didn't buy the wrong one. I must say that these pans are not giveaways. They were quite expensive, and I believed it was in my best interest to buy two of them. But at least I had received a pan from the Iwasa's and the Brazilians so I technically never bought my own in the first place. I also took the time to get a better knife to cut vegetables since it was really bothering me and getting dangerous to cut anything.

I ended up getting two pans of my favourite colours. Check 'em out!


Now, when I came to use the stove, I also found out that you can't lift the pan. I had learned from watching my roommate how to stir a pan with the flick of a wrist, and I quite enjoyed it. It saved me time, effort and sometimes having to wash and extra spatula. But now, as soon as you lift the pan off the stove, the heat shuts off.

In other words, my cooking style was forced to change, but I guess it's not too bad. Here's some examples of what I have done so far with these bad boys.

This next semester has now already started. The first week was very easy for me. I had studied ahead of time and most of it I already understood. This gave me time to study extra on my own time with Miguel. We are studying an extra textbook on vocabulary which is made in such a way that we study a certain amount of words per day, take a small test, and do that every day till the 7^th day where there is a test of the past 6 days. It went well for the first week, but this second week has been too busy and we didn't get very far.

Besides that, our listening class is probably the hardest since Miyagi sensei seems very determined to force our ears and minds to adjust to the Japanese language. Nishiyama sensei is quite kind and gentle, and teaches us in a such a simple way so that we can all understand. Yamamori sensei is just as she was last semester, nice, clear, and funny!

I'm really going to push through this semester, because I think if I get to complete the extra two textbooks I'm studying as well as the course, it will go hand-in-hand to benefit me in everything. Already, some of the vocabulary and kanji I studied are coming up in class.

With that being said, I also plan on going hard in judo practice. I really want to rejoin the normal practice, which I have started since the beginning of April, but I'm still quite scared.

Finding a balance and working hard is what I plan on doing during this next semester. Here I go!

Just like the semester before, all students studying Japanese have to take a placement test in order for the teacher to understand how much Japanese they know, and then create appropriate classes for everyone. Now, me having studied throughout most of the spring break, I had high expectations. My sister herself had managed to jump 4 levels while studying here at Tokai. With this is mind, on April 2nd, I took the test which seemed much easier than last time. I don't think I did my best; I was a little distracted and out of it that day.

Today, thanks to my father, I was able to recognize Yasuyuki Muneta who had come along with the policed team to practice at Tokai. Why thanks to my dad? Well because he took the time to show me all these videos of the Japanese Judo legends back home.

Apparently, Mr. Yasuyuki has been working for the Japanese National Police Academy and is training their judo team. I was just watching innocently the practice when I spotted his eyes. I recognized him right away. One look at the name on his back, and sure enough, it was him. He was quite loud, shouting at his partner as he fought away. Of course his career is over, but I must say I was quite glad to have seen him in person.


For those of you who don't know, Muneta is a former Senior A (+100kg) of Japan, twice World Champion (2003 and 2007). You can see him in action in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU8Rym-OpaI

Now I'm also going to take the time to give you all a report on my judo/injury status.

I've gone from a cast, to a brace to nothing at all, to being able to bike, to run, to do weights, and soon, very soon, to practice. I've been doing weights with the team again for at least two to three weeks now, and during most practices, I go downstairs to do weights on my own. I also started running a little bit, and will be going to my first mountain training tomorrow. I officially went to one before, but it turned into a dash training at the university, after which some of us stayed back and played soccer. At first it was ok, and I was running all over the place, but after a few contacts with the other team, I knew I couldn't keep it up without further hurting it. But soccer was still fun since it was something different for once.

I plan on being back into full practice by the end of March.

My weight has reached its highest point since the new year, at 73kg, but has been stable at around 71.8kg for the last few weeks. It is REALLY hard to lose weight when you don't have a great chef cooking all your meals (my mom), or can't practice fully. Plus on top of that, I keep receiving all these cakes and treats from friends and acquaintances haha so that's not helping either.

Yeah so another wind has come to help me carry on this fight.

In Japan, the school semester ends at the end of January. Therefore, on January 31^st, the judo club held its annual graduation party for the 4^th year students graduating. At the same time, they use this celebration to congratulate the participants in the All Japan University Team Competition which was held in Osaka last October.

First, let me start by explaining the practice that morning. Everyone was obviously excited for the celebration that night. But there was also something else completely different. As I watched, I came to realize that all the 4^th year students were fighting, and it seemed like they were not allowed to say no to anyone. Therefore, fight after fight, they fought and fought, becoming more and more tired. But I guess since this might be one of their last time fighting, they had fun. Everyone was laughing at how tired they were.

For the last 30 minutes of the practice, the graduating students were all put in a line in front and they were allowed to call anyone they wanted to throw three last times. After getting thrown, everyone could throw the senior three times as well. In that moment, I could really see the years that had passed through each member. Every member wanting to get thrown one last time by his seniors, no matter the size, laughing and reminding each other of old jokes. But in that moment, I didn't really feel part of that group. I was still the lonely foreigner. Except, I realized soon enough that one of my friends, Daisuke, was up in line throwing everyone. I had forgotten he was graduating. My leg was still hurting, so I hesitated for a moment, but then trusting my heart, I stepped up in front of him to take my falls. He smiled at me and thanked me for coming. He threw me lightly due to my leg, and then I had a go at three throws myself. We bowed, I congratulated him, and I walked back to join the others waiting on the opposite side of the mat.


The practice ended by an announcement that we had to wear suits for the ceremony.

Except the only problem is that they all own the same exact suit, and I knew that. Three hours later, I showed up at Comsquare, with my grey suit. One of the 4^th year students told me I looked sharp, but as soon as I walked in, as predicted, all eyes landed on me. Imagine this, all these Japanese guys in their black suits, white shirts, and me, the foreigner, showing up with a grey suit and a purple dress shirt. I kind of felt proud, but then again, I believe I was a hot topic of conversation for the first 15 minutes.

Finally, after about 20 minutes of waiting, we were called to the front of the room. Many people came and made speeches, most of which I didn't know, and congratulated the winners of the team competition as well as the graduates. The food had been served in front of us, and only the 4^th year students and the coaches had been allowed to eat. The first, second, and third year student had to wait. And booy did they wait! After about... two hours of speeches and comments, and all these things, they were finally allowed to eat.

I chatted a little bit here and there with some members I knew, took a few pictures, gave a gift to Agemizu sensei, and then I had to say my goodbyes. I had to go DJ at the Farewell party for the International students. Besides, most of them were going to go drink, if they hadn't already. Most of the 4^th year students were already drunk, which made it really funny to watch. After congratulating Daisuke one last time, I took my leave from the room, wondering what is must feel like to be them.