Showing posts with label Difficulties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Difficulties. Show all posts

Preparations for Take Off
December 30th, 2015

Before I left, I had to prepare many things in order to leave without too many problems. I mean, I've been in Japan for one year and three months. There's gonna be a few glitches here and there.

The first task was my luggage. I had to pack over a year' worth of things into two suitcases. Wasn't gonna happen! So I had to send home about eight boxes by boat. Finding the boxes, bringing them back to my dorm, packing everything, getting the right papers, filling them in, calling in someone to pick up the parcels or bringing them to the post office were all tasks that had to be performed to complete this. Yet as if that wasn't enough, many problems happened. My boxes were returned to the post office about three times after being sent out. Why? Because in Japan, they think too much. Haha, no, well more likely because they don't understand the mailing system in Canada, and they didn't believe that the address I wrote down would be sufficient for the boxes to reach my house. A very interesting experience. But the third time the boxes came back, I heard from my friends Yusef and Haruyuki, was the day before I left. They were asking me to go there and sort out the problem, except that was pretty much impossible. So I asked my friends to take care of it, and they did after about one week of panic.

The next part was cleaning my room and getting rid of the objects I no longer needed. I left a lot of things to my friends Nnadi, Yusef, Islam, and Sorata. I sold some other things as well, although I didn't make much money. This included all my kitchen stuff, pans and plates, the appliances such as my rice cooker and my toaster, as well as some other practical objects such as blankets and note pads.

The last part of my preparation was saying good bye to everyone, which in itself was quite a task. Over a year, I got to meet many MANY people from around the world, and saying goodbye to all of them was obviously impossible. So I mainly kept it to my close friends and those who helped me out during my stay here as well as most of the Judo teachers and coaches.

I had already started about three or four months before I left, knowing that I wouldn't get to see them anymore, and so I was mentally prepared for it. I told myself not to cry, and I held back most of my emotions. I gave hugs to dozens of people, people I would most likely never see again, but had been a great part of my life here in Japan. The separation was harsh, but I knew it would come, so I felt in a sense relieved. One other thing that helped was the fact that we will have the Internet to easily keep in contact. So as I stated on my Facebook page, it's not a "good-bye" per say, but more a "See you later" kind of separation.

(The last picture I took at my dorm.)
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Tokyo Grand Slam 2015 - On the Other Side
December 24th, 2015

Last year in September, during the All Japan Junior tournament, I had the chance to go see one of my senseis, Akinori Hongo, who had come to Canada to learn English and French. During his time here in Canada, I met him a few times, and even participated in one of the camps he directed. 

Now last year, I had gone to speak to him alone, this being only a week after I had landed in Japan, thus I didn't know much Japanese. Yet I knew his English was very good and so I was not afraid to approach him. At that time, we had spoken simply about my trip, and what were my plans from now on, and the entire conversation took place in English.

This year, at that same tournament, there he was again, and I took the chance again to go see him. Having learned a lot more Japanese by then, I was confident I would be able to handle a conversation in Japanese. After about 5 minutes of talking, he told me he was really surprised with the level of my Japanese, and suddenly asked me if I'd be interested in working a part time job at a major tournament. I told him I would be very interested, although deep down I didn't believe myself able to. He went and checked with a man working there, and came back and told me he would contact me later on if the position was open. We exchanged contact information, and I returned back to my teammates to keep cheering our team on.

About a month later, a message came saying that there would be a job for after all me at the 2015 Tokyo Grand Slam, as an interpreter. My heart sprang out of my chest. I believed this kind of opportunity quite the honour, especially considering that I have only been in Japan for one year. He then asked me if I could come in for an interview, just to get in contact once at least before I started working. We arranged a date to meet, and I then told my parents about the news. They were really proud of me of course. 

Then I started preparing for it, and that's when fear kicked in. What was I thinking? I do NOT have the skill set to translate that fast or well enough to work at such an event! What if they asked me to translate live? I would never be able to handle that. I have reached a very good level of Japanese, but I am far from mastering it. After speaking again with my parents, I decided that I would just see how things are. I verified with my boss what exactly I would be doing and it didn't seem like it was something I couldn't handle. All I knew was that this was not going to be an easy task.

Before I actually started working, I was asked to participate in two different meetings, during which we went over the plan of the tournament and how it was to be run. There were people from TV Tokyo, one of Japan's biggest television companies, people from construction companies, people from electric companies, and people from the All Japan Judo Federation, for which I was working. I didn't understand everything, but I got a general idea of how many things had been planned in order for this tournament to happen.














The week of the tournament, we started the preparations. I went many times back and forth from the AJJF to the Kodokan to the Tokyo Gymnasium (location of the tournament), and started to get familiar with the place. All I did most of the time was simply fill in cards in card holders for all the coaches, athletes, VIPs and etc. I also tried to listen in as much as possible to all the conversations, gathering even more information which would be necessary to perform a good job.

The two days before the tournament, the people from the IJF (International Judo Federation) started arriving at the site. This is when I came in. I was asked to transmit messages here and there, back and forth from Japanese to English and vice-versa, mostly verifying information. I got to meet many people, and surprisingly a lot of them spoke French. 



The day before the tournament, something I was not expecting happened. I was simply talking with one of the IJF staff members, when I was called over in hurry to the main room. I walked in to discover that the tables had all been moved, that the IJF members were all sitting facing the rest of the Japanese organizations. My boss showed me the seat next to him, and I sat down, feeling like I had made everyone wait. My boss, Mr. Takemura then told me that he would need me to translate for him to the IJF, and back to him what the IJF was saying. Without any further information, he then started the meeting.

My heart stopped. For about ten seconds.

What did I get myself into this time...? 

Throughout the meeting, I translated my best what I could from Japanese to English, and then back to English, and I found out that I was the interpreter for the WHOLE meeting, and so I was not only speaking and translating for my department, but for everyone in that room. There were many moments where I didn't understand my own boss' explanations, not just due to my level of Japanese, but more so that I didn't understand the functioning of the tournament in general. But I managed to help them communicate and most of them were kind enough to me with their explanations.









I made it through that meeting and the rest of the tournament. I was told to translate a speech from Japanese to English and another one from English to Japanese (before it was performed of course), as well as ask many questions about presentations, and the running of the tournament. I was also asked to help with the medical department at one point where an athlete suffered a concussion. At that time, I met the doctor that had helped me with my knee injury back in January, Mr. Miyazaki, which made it even more interesting.



Over all, I must say it was a great experience. I went through many tough times, but it allowed me to see a whole other side of the Japanese. It has also placed me in a much better position when it comes to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, during which I wish to work, and also to most of my friends and teachers of the Judo club who saw me working.


Another big thank you to Mr. Hongo and Mr. Takemura for the opportunity.


(Kotaro and I from the other side.)









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A surgery in Japan
October 27th, 2015

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.


After arriving, we had to talk to many doctors and nurses, sign a lot of papers, and were explained many times what would happen from now on. We then moved to my room. Originally, I was supposed to stay in a four person room, but since it was full, I got to stay in a single room for the first night. I might stay here one more night, but as of now (time of writing), I don't know. Best part is we don't pay extra. After having many more doctors and nurses come to explain more stuff, Anzu arrived. We headed the three of us to grab some Starbucks which was just in the building next to us. We had a nice conversation, then my aunt returned back home. Anzu and I chatted for another hour and a half and then she also took her leave.

I was left alone, for the first time in a hospital. I took my shower, and then waited in my room while dinner was served.

I ended up going to Starbucks again since I wouldn't be able to eat from 9 PM that night until the next morning (safety precaution). I'm used to it thanks to all the judo tournaments for which I had to cut weight. 

I made my plan for the week, hoping that I'd be out of here as planned on the 29th, watched some videos on my phone and went to bed. 




(I wrote these simple sentences that I would end up using often. After the surgery I would not be permitted to speak for a week so, better prepare.)

(October 27th - The Day Of)

They woke me up at 6:45. I was so surprised lol. Once again, thanks to the judo practices, I was used to it, but I found it interesting. Now comes the long wait. I'm not too scared. I met my doctor yesterday and he seemed a lot more confident that it would go well. I'm just trying not to think about it. I'm smiling and telling myself it will go well. Nothing to worry about. Everything is in Japanese, so I'm making this like a new experience. Just really pretending like this is all a game. 



(View from my room.)


9 AM - They just attached this thing to me. This is my first time having such a thing.


Until the time of the surgery, many people came to visit.








It was nice to have them all around me. 

The surgery was delayed by about an hour and 15 minutes. I stayed as calm as possible, making jokes with everyone. When the nurse came to get me, I smiled to everyone and said bye bye! It was time for the surgery.


The nurse walked me down to a special elevator section for staff use only. I walked in with her and tried making conversation. After all it was my last time talking for a while, so I might as well right? We reached the third floor, and I got to see a part of the hospital that I had never seen before. I walked into the room with the nurse and was told to lay down onto the chair. I did as they told me. The doctor asked me a few questions about how long I've been studying Japanese and so, and after a few answers I made all the nurses in the room laugh. Then the doctor asked me if it was okay, and I said yes. He placed a mask over my mouth, weird air started coming through. He told me I would start to go numb soon, and then I felt all the energy from my body get sapped away (my first time every feeling that).

I woke up to the doctor telling me he had performed the surgery without any problems. I was on a different bed, being moved and rolled out of the room. As we paused for a second, I took the time, still dizzy from the drugs, to ask them again how the surgery went by writing it down on a piece of paper. The nurse repeated again that it had gone without any problems, and so I held her hand and started to cry. I think they were a little surprised but one of them said out loud: "I guess he was worried wasn't he.". Which I was. It hadn't been easy hiding the fear all this time. I was still so confused. They rolled me to my room, where Iwasa, Anzu, Shizuko had been waiting. They told me congratulations very briefly, and then left me. I stayed there stunned, and soon, passed out.

(The moment after my surgery.)

Now, next day was long, but I finally became able to eat. I ate normal food, which surprised me, but unfortunately was not any better haha. I found it quite boring to be there alone, not being able to do much, but my friends started visiting me in the afternoon. I had to write down everything on paper. Sometimes, when the nurses came into my room, I would completely forget not to talk, and start answering them, and they would be like: "uh.. Are you supposed to be talking?" which reminded me to used my handy pen. It was quite the job to communicate my feelings and thoughts by writing things or using hand signs. Quite frustrating. But I was glad for all those who came to visit me. It made it less boring and I appreciated the fact that they took time for me.


(Well... this is food I guess.)


(Chipa and Nnadi came!)


(Hayato senpai and Anzu came!)




(Islam and Yusef came!)

The next day after that, the doctor checked my throat and it was perfectly fine, so I was released as planned at around 10 AM. I rode the train silently with my aunt, and walked back to the university.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped me throughout this whole process. This has been a very... new experience for me and having people around me made it easier to deal with.

As Mr. Iwasa would say: I just lived another experience here in Japan. The experience of going through a surgery.








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My last judo practice at Tokai
October 26th, 2015

So about two weeks ago, on October 9th, I had my last judo practice at the Tokai University Judo club. After one year of practice with the team, following them to tournaments, training camps, morning runs and hard weight sessions, I have now taken my leave.

Why? Well for many reasons, the biggest one being my surgery, which will happen tomorrow (at the time of writing). I had some preparations for the surgery such as purchasing the needed articles and making sure I understand the procedure. I also had to start my preparation for what is to come after my surgery, since it seems like I will be quite busy. Not being able to talk will make these preparations quite difficult, therefore I took the opportunity with this time I got. The last reason was that I wanted to have a little fun with my friends before I leave. Once my surgery is done, going out with friends will become quite difficult.

To say thank you and good bye to the team, I wrote a speech, which my dad helped correct, and after that practice, I said it out loud to those who were there.

One thing I noticed was that as I was practicing the speech, I would end up getting very emotional as I said the last line. I came to realize that I worked hard throughout the year. One year ago, these guys whom I barely knew came to be a part of my daily life. This club became my second home that I shared with these guys, and I must say I went through a lot.

As I said the last lines, the emotions filled me up, and I couldn't help the tears that came to my eyes. After I was done, the whole club bowed to me, and gave me a round of applause. I shook Agemizu sensei's hand and returned to sit down with everyone.

Agemizu then spoke to the club for about 5 minutes about what I had said and my whole stay in Japan, which was very nice of him. The practice ended, and I asked if I could grab a picture with everyone.

(The one picture I got the whole year haha.)

After the picture, a lot of guys came to shake my hand and tell me thank you or good luck. One guy was even crying. Fubuki and Kotaro invited me to diner, and all the coaches came to thank me one last time.


That night, I ate with Fubuki, Kotaro and... which was a good ending to it all. After spending a few moments in Kotaro's room, I headed back to my room, a huge weight off my shoulders.

(Me, Kotaro, ..., and Fubuki at Peers.)

After one whole year, I survived. Partially.



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Finally a coach
September 12th, 2015

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.

(The club installed new mats during the summer vacation. Here they are.)

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One year in Japan
September 12th, 2015

Recently, I just completed one year of living in Japan. It also represents one year of living in Tokai which is also the longest amount of time I have lived alone... I'm currently at the same tournament I came to watch with the team soon after my arrival in Japan. In other words, I've been here for a while.

How do I feel about it? I feel like... I'm not at all the same person. I feel like I made a lot of progress. Progress with my Japanese, my judo, my lifestyle, my attitude, my perspective on things, and maybe just as a person. I've been through many hard moments which forced me to better myself. These moments really showed me who I am as a person, and from there I was forced to make decisions for myself.

During this one year, I made a lot of friends. A lot! And most of them helped me somewhere along my journey. They taught me Japanese words and grammar, or simply things about the culture. My friends brought me to see new places, to taste different cuisine at new restaurants. I cannot be more thankful.

Here in Japan, I have probably suffered my biggest injury, a partial tear in my left knee ligament. I will now also be going for my first surgery, the removal of polyps on my vocal chords. My stress level rose to a level where it was almost too hard for my body to handle. I went through many hard times during my one year in Japan.

Now my trip is not over yet, but the time for me to go back home is near. I just thought I'd consider how far I had come after one year in Japan.

(One year ago, this was the first tournament I went to see with the team. I attended the same one this year, but in a completely different manner.)

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A practice at Yokohama
September 11th, 2015

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.

Finally, that day came. Last Thursday, one of my coaches brought me all the way to Touin Gakuen University, located near Yokohama. We went there by train and the last little bit was by bus, taking us a total of an hour and fifteen minutes. Pretty far for a practice.

(The entry to the University.)

(The English club.)

Once we arrived, Sato sensei had arranged that I get to see that university's English club. They have this room set up for Japanese students to come and practice their English. Of course, it's still summer here, therefore no students, so I was simply introduced to the staff. It felt like a good atmosphere and I really wonder how it must be when all the students attend.

Soon came time for practice, and Honma (my coach) and I headed to the dojo. It was suprisingly quite small with only two fighting areas. Being used to Tokai's enormous four-mat dojo, it was slightly a shock. But no time to think, I was soon on the mats and the practice was on its way. 

The practice reminded me of those back at the University of Manitoba. They ended up doing about 35 minutes of warming up and uchi-komi. As Honma also noticed, Tokai only gives us a 15 minute warm up, and 10 minutes of uchi-komi. After that, straight into randori. 

Now I didn't expect to throw everyone there, but I was still expecting to feel slightly stronger. But no chance there. Everyone I fought had a very strong defense, and were stronger with their grips. Their throws weren't as crisp as those at Tokai, but I still got thrown around. I made sure I took proper breaks, for my body as much as my mind. But it still made me quite frustrated. After about a hour and a half of fighting, Mr. Sato called me over and made me do uchi-komi with Honma san. He showed me a few things that I should work on and made me repeat it a few times. 

After that, he allowed us to leave the practice early (around 8 pm). The practice goes till 9, making it a total of three hours. CRAZY! Anyways... Since we come from so far, Mr. Sato apparently allows us to leave early. This time, we had a ride back home. His *daughter* had come to pick us up, and drove us back to the university. On the way back though, to my big surprise, his daughter suddenly pulled up in the parking lot of a restaurant, and Mr. Sato told us to get out. I understood at that moment that he had just invited us to dinner. 

I had a very tasteful meal made up of sushi, "kaki-age" fried vegetables placed in a nest-like shape, as well as "miso soup". Mr. Sato had also ordered a few side dishes for us to eat. By the end of the meal, I was quite full. During the meal, the conversation switched between two topics: My improvements in Japanese, and Honma's judo experiences. But as everyone noticed, I didn't have too much problem following the conversation. It felt good to be complimented by Mr. Sato, one of Japan's most respected figures in the sport world.

(My supper. Yum...)

(Yeah, I just did eat with Nobuyuki Sato.)

Mr. Sato has really taken me under his wing even though I mean absolutely nothing to him, to the university or to the club. I cannot be more thankful for his efforts and all the encouragement he gives me. Of late, he has even started teaching me directly at the club, but that will be for another blog post. 
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Samurai Blue (Japan) vs Cambodia - My first Professional Soccer Game
September 5th, 2015

About a month ago, I went out to dinner with my friend Ryoko. That night, we had a nice talk, and she ended up inviting me to a soccer game. She had purchased four tickets, and one was still free. I said I would check my schedule, and according to the time, I ended up being free.

On September 3rd, we left the Tokai Station at around 4:09 P.M. It took Ryoko, Maho and I two hours and more to get to the station near the stadium, located in the Saitama Prefecture. As we went there, we saw more and more people wearing the Japanese soccer team's jerseys. This kind of event doesn't happen too too often, and so I was very lucky to be able to go.

As we got off the train, one could not believe the amount of people. Just getting out of the station took about 15 minutes. We grabbed some gyozas to eat during the match and headed to the stadium. I had never entered such a stadium. Even the recently built stadium near the University of Manitoba is still unknown to me. Thus, I was quite excited. This would also be my first time (at least that I can remember) seeing a live professional soccer match. 

(Once off the train... )

We got to the gate of the stadium and found out that if we entered, we wouldn't be able to leave, and so we had to wait outside. Why? Our fourth companion had not arrived yet. He had been to a job interview and was coming on his own. We ended up waiting about an hour and a half for him, making us miss the whistle, the start of the game and the introduction of the team. We missed about 15 minutes of the first half, thanks to Kazuto. Great... I was not happy. He most likely went drinking with his friends after his interview. Ryoko had worked hard to reserve those tickets, and I found it very rude of him to be soo late. 

(The view from outside the stadium.)


But the game ended up being interesting. The Japanese dominated the whole game. And I got to see all three goals. At half time, I went to see my friends. You see, we were all split up. Ryoko had done her best to find seats near each other, but it had still been quite difficult. I grabbed my gyozas, and chatted a bit before returning to my seat. The next half was on. 

(This man is holding a sign that says where the end of the line is for the men's washroom. That's how many people there were.)

Japanese people really like cheering. Just as my father and I witnessed three years ago at a baseball game, there was an enormous amount of people there to cheer. The whole sections behind both nets were strictly for those part of a cheering group. I don't believe they really stopped cheering, beside the half time break. 

Every time the Japanese team scored, the crowd went nuts, and everyone was on their feet. Those cheering for the Cambodian team must have felt quite intimidated. I spotted a small group in a section made for them.

The final score: Japan (3) - Cambodia (0)

(Me, Kazuto, Ryoko and Maho.)

I was really thankful for Ryoko who invited me to this game. We made our way back, just the two of us (Kazuto and Maho had other plans afterwards.). We ran our way through the crowd until we reached the station. Had we had not done that, we never would have made it back. The amount of people was just unbelievable... we ended up being soooo packed up in that train. We needed to make it on time for the last train back home, and thanks to our running, we made it back all the way to Tokai. 

(What a view I had.)

A great experience.
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