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.

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.

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.

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.

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.