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.

So about two weeks ago, on October 9^th, 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.


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.


After one whole year, I survived. Partially.

Since I will no longer be taking courses starting from September, in normal circumstances, I would not be allowed to stay at the Kaikan. I would have to find my own apartment or place to live. But for me, the Kaikan is VERY cheap and is a perfect place to live. It's close to the judo club, has many good features such as a good kitchen and Internet. Simply moving out for two to three months would be very unfortunate. But lucky for me, since I'm pursuing judo here, I asked Mrs. Mitsumoto (the judo club's secretary) if she could try contacting the school for me and ask if I'd be allowed to stay here. Apparently, that worked, 'cause I was told last week I needed to change rooms since someone else would be entering my old room with my roommate. I might get to spend the remainder of my time in my new room alone... !!!!

After one year in the same room (304), I am now staying in room 303. When my sister lived in the LKan (3 years ago), her room number was 303. Coincidence?

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.

Now that school is over, I do actually have a break! The judo club is also off for a bit so I can now take time to breathe, think, and yep, you guessed it, plan. Even though it's summer, I want to take advantage of this time to centre myself, to take time to think, and prepare myself for the next wave. So what are my plans for the summer?

First let's talk about what I want to accomplish.

 - I really REALLY need to clean my room. Since I am not even sure that I can stay here in the Kaikan after September, I might as well prepare myself for the worst scenario. On top of that, I found my mind going a little crazy last semester, due to the status of my room. It took me more time to find things and in the end caused me more stress.

 - I would like to make some music. I haven't really talked about my music here yet, but I'm still doing as much as I can to continue making music during my spare time... This summer, I want to make a couple more tracks and a few more mixes. I don't really have time to do so otherwise.

 - I want to go to the beach! And I already made plans to go!

 - I want to keep working out. I have a training camp with the team during the third week of August, so I want to be at my best for that.

 - I want to eat well. I want to gorge myself with fruits since I haven't really done so since I've been here. I also want to find easy recipes that are full of vegetables, high protein, and so-so carbs. That way I'll be ready to go for the next term.

 - I want to keep my studies going. Japanese (language) is now part of me, but I still need to keep at it, especially while I'm here.

 - Lastly, I want to have some fun. I think I've had a lot of fun already since the summer started, which is great.

Now a few events that are going to happen this summer include going to Disney Sea with my girlfriend (August 9^th), the training camp with the team (August 17^th to 22^nd), and climbing Mount. Fuji, most likely at the end of the summer.

Now I have one last goal. I want to write a lot of blogs, so as much as I can, I will try to write one blog a day (or week) for most of the summer. The topics might get a little wild, but that's just more fun isn't it?

Also, I should probably say that most of those with whom I have studied with for one year now will be heading back to their own country throughout the summer. Miguel will be leaving soon, Carlos already left. Slowly but surely, the Kaikan is becoming more and more empty every day. Quite sad to think that I will most likely never see any of them again. But who knows.

(Note to self: I have to keep in mind that I need to start looking into resuming my courses at the University of Winnipeg in January.)

On March 25^th, almost a month ago already, I was able to attend the Tokai University Graduation Ceremony.

Now just to give you a little background on the Japanese culture, first of all, most students have a set time of 4 years of studies, with the first semester starting in April, the second one in September. They do this for four years, and as long as they passed all their courses, most of them all graduate at the same time. Also, it is very common for some people not to attend their own graduation ceremony. Some of them have already found a job and are working hard or being trained.

This day was a very special day. I would say that about... 80% of the friends I have made so far in Japan were now all graduating on this day. This meant that it would most likely be the last time I see them before I head back home. So I packed up some of the organic hand soaps I had brought from Canada into little packages, making one for all of my friends. I also printed out and framed a picture for Chipa and Anzu, who were the ones who helped me the most since I've been here.

Now I actually had to attend two ceremonies. Since they all had to graduate on that day (but there were too many students to fit the gymnasium), they needed to separate the arts and the sciences students. And still, the room was filled! First up was Chipa's graduation. He graduated from the Architecture Department. I watched the ceremony which lasted about 1 hour. Gift where given to those who excelled, speeches were made, a video was showed and it was then time to leave.



After that, I gave Chipa his gift, and he headed off to his department to receive his certificate.

Two hours later, I headed back to the gym to attend the art's ceremony. But this time, my friend Kenta who was a staff at the dorm, invited us to go down with him. Being a little crazy, four of us who aren't graduating headed with the graduating students to watch the ceremony from a student's perspective. It was quite funny, and it didn't bother anyone. Since I won't really be graduating from Tokai, this gave me the opportunity to know how it feels to graduate from a Japanese university. Besides that, the ceremony was exactly the same.


After it ended, I had to chase down all my friends to take pictures with them and give them gifts. They all had to head to their departments, so it was quite interesting to try and spot them out of the hundreds of students coming down the road. Here they are, all dressed up for the ceremony!







*I didn't get a picture with all of them since some of them took it on their phone and still haven't sent them over...*

Most of my friends were graduating from the International Department, so I followed them there, and ended up listening to the last speech they received from their teacher. I must say, it really felt like I was graduating. Many of them actually asked me if I was haha!

Random but funny, the judo guys that were graduating saw me at one point, and asked me to take a picture with them. Most of them had never spoken to me before, but I don't mind. I just don't think I'm never going to see that picture since I don't have them as friends on Facebook.

But yeah, after saying goodbye to everyone one last time, I headed back to the Kaikan. That night, we had a supper to celebrate Chipa and Kenta's graduation and departure from the dorm.



Feelings:
 - First, most of my friends are going to leave, which makes me quite sad. I had really built this family atmosphere with all these friends I would come across on the university campus. Many of them had helped me at least once and I was really thankful for them.
 - This means that next semester, I get to start "anew". Since most of my Japanese friends are leaving, this makes me anonymous again. Not a bad thing I guess.
 - Every single one of them said that their four years had gone too fast and they wanted to stay here. All I could think of, is how fast my own trip had gone so far, and it really just made me scared that I wouldn't be able to accomplish all my goals within the remaining time.

One thing you might notice, and that I also noticed that day, is that most of my friends are girls! Well, what can I say... haha, no I did not do this on purpose. It is because most girls' Japanese is quite easier to understand, and they actually teach me Japanese. Also, guys in Japanese simply approach me to have "international experience", and so I prefer to keep my distance, although I believe I might change this for this next semester, but we'll see. ;-)

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.

On the last day of January, we had the graduation ceremony for the students who are leaving this semester. This included most of the Koreans, the Hawaiians, and some others as well. Our teacher had asked us to go (even the ones not graduating yet like myself), just to support our classmates who were. The whole ceremony was taking place in the Comsquare building, the same one where the International Friday Night had taken place, and where most celebrations take place here in Tokai.

All the students were called one by one to receive their certificate, which is quite normal, but what differed from Canadian ceremonies, was that each one of them had to bow to the crowd, to the officials, then, again once they received their certificate. With about 30 students graduating, that makes for a lot of bows...

After the ceremony, there was a buffet served and we were allowed to talk and enjoy what would probably be our last time together. I had to leave a little early, since there is apparently no rest for the judo club.