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.)

So yesterday, I was able to see one of Japan's biggest fireworks display in Yokohama. On my way there, around 2:30pm, I ran into a couple of friends who were apparently also heading there. They offered me a ride since they were driving there. Now going by train would have most likely been faster, but it was a hot sunny day, and I felt like being with friends. So off we were, seven of us in a car, to Yokohama. I played music from my phone the whole way there, and we danced and sang while some slept. Must say it was quite fun. It's been a while since I've been in a car compared to Canada, where I ride one mostly every day.


They dropped me off an hour and ten minutes later in front of the Yokohama station. I said goodbye, thanked them for the ride, and entered the station to meet Arisa who was waiting for me. I also got the chance to meet her mother for the first time, which was interesting. After that, we headed off into the station, looking at many different shops, and then eating lunch at a fairly nice restaurant. The meal reminded me of my mom's cooking, and it made me think about my return back home.

After that, we started getting ready for the fireworks. We sat down in one spot at first, but as soon as the fireworks started we realized we could only see half of it, so after about ten minutes, we decided to get up and move. Now this is when Japan shows itself. The number of people walking in the streets is just incredible. There were over 20,000 people watching these fireworks. Whatever you believe to be a reasonable amount of space in Canada is reduced by about 6 times here. Basically a sea of people, of which we were now part of. We found a better spot in the end, and stood in the middle of hundreds of people taking pictures of the sky.

I must say, these fireworks were not bad at all. I saw some that changed colour halfway and others that changed shape. In the end, I believed it was worth it.


After it was over, we decided to go see Anzu who was working at Coldstone at this time. Now, after the fireworks, everyone obviously heads into the mall, so it was jam-packed. We spotted Anzu working hard with the millions of customers coming at her. Japan is crazy. Anzu managed to get them to sing a song for us which was really nice to see in person. I had heard from many people and seen many videos of her doing so, but seeing it live was just that much better. I must say, Anzu is just a great person.

While eating our delicious ice cream, we headed to the Osambashi, a boat shaped hall built half into the water. Last time I came here, again with Arisa, we had seen a world championship of Coma take place. This time, we simply went there for the view of the city. We stayed there watching the city's lights flicker.

I don't see this kind of scenery in Manitoba, and so this really blew me away. A city built by the Japanese society. If any of you have a chance, please take the time to check out the view of the Yokohama city at night from Osambashi. It's something to see during one's lifetime on Earth.

About two weeks ago, there was an announcement at the end of practice: an offer of a part-time job for the following week's Friday's fourth period. It caught my interest so the next day, I asked the announcer about it. I told him that it might be odd, but I would like to try this job. He said he would enquire if it was possible.

About two days later, he informed me that it would be possible for me to go, but there would be no payment, just food. I told him I would think of it, although I was pretty certain that I would go. After verifying I had nothing that night, I told him I'd join, and on Friday April 17^th, I walked to the front of the university's gymnasium to catch the bus picking us up.

I wasn't the only one going of course, 20 other judo members had also been selected. There were others that had already walked over there. I stopped at the new convenience store near Comsquare (where International Friday Night was held), bought some cough lozenges and masks, and then got ready to ride the bus.

I got a seat near the front, and no one else sat next to me. I guess that has its ups and downs. We were given "bentos" which is the Japanese word for packed lunch, and ate while we received an explanation about our job that day. After confirming with my friend Kato, I found out that our duty that day was to bring a "o-mikoshi", a portable shrine all the way up a mountain, pulling it using ropes, that it would take 3 hours in total, and that some part of the mountain were up to 45˚, which made it fairly steep.


We arrived at the city of Oiso, and were immediately directed to a lounge room to wait until the beginning of the festival, which was about one and a half hour later. We were given cookies, and our outfit for the evening. Everyone then pulled their phones out to relax and chat. I just laid down on my back pack, and grabbed about 20 minutes of sleep. After that, we started getting ready. This was the first time I would wear something like this. I had never really thought much about the outfit before, but it is true that the festival's workers all wear the same thing. I was glad to be able to take part in this. Not many foreigners get to do this, especially be treated like a Japanese and not a foreigner.








Just the first climb up the mountain was ridiculously steep and dangerous. Soon, we got the signal to start and we pulled a little bit on the rope. Now I thought it was going to be much harder, but with the staff there, and everyone, we had quite a lot of breaks. The whole way up, we would pull for about 10 seconds, then wait for 5 minutes. They needed to anchor the ropes all over the place to ensure the safety of the shrine and so that the rope wouldn't get too tangled up. They would called out: "Hippatte!" which I found out means to pull haha, and we would then all pull until we were told to stop. We did this the whole way up.

Now soon, it got really dark, and we couldn't see too much, which made it even more dangerous. You would often hear someone say: "Abunai!" which means dangerous, when they slipped or fell. Some of the old town folks were walking around with head lamps.

The whole thing felt like we were a team, which made it quite cool since like I said before, normally, I never could have been here. Thanks to my effort in class, this is what I get.

At about 5 minutes before reaching the top, the squad stopped us all to take a break. We were given onigiri and water while reporters and cameramen shot reports on the shrine and some of the judo guys. I was probably filmed in the background somewhere, but I didn't bother asking when it would be aired.


After that break, we carried the shrine up the last part of the mountain and the celebration started. They started bouncing the shrine up and down, like they do very often during festivals here in Japan. But what was even cooler is that I got to carry the actual shrine myself and bounce in a circle with everyone! It got quite heavy at one point, but I must say I was quite happy to have done it!

After that, they brought the shrine under a tent, and the formal part of the ceremony started. A man dressed in interesting clothes walked in and out carrying things, saying long monotone sentences which might have been a prayer? Names of the important related people were called out. When this whole thing was happening, I had found a spot higher up a tree so that I could see better. One of the man in front of me gave me a look, and told me to take off the ribbon I had on my head. After that, I looked around, and everyone else had done so already. They must have announced it, but I didn't even catch any of it or noticed when everyone took it off. Maybe it's just a custom during festivals.

Once that was done, we were served champagne, and were soon on our way down the hill. We all grabbed a part of the rope and walked slowly back. This was also dangerous but I made it back without injuries.

We handed the outfits back, and were served a meal. We only had about 20 minutes to eat before the bus left, but it wasn't too bad since I was given two bentos in total, which have since served me as lunch. We were dropped off in front of my dorm, lucky for me, and I walked back home, to my room, feeling accomplished and happy!

On Monday April 6^th, after my morning practice, I went to my guidance class, during which we purchased the two other textbooks I need for class. After that, we were free! Since we already knew the rest of the information, we didn't need to attend the other two guidance classes. And so Miguel invited me to go to the sea with him and Shingo. I wasn't too sure I wanted to go since I did have a practice later that day, but in the end I decided to go.

We all grabbed our bike and headed out to a part of Hiratsuka (the city where I live) that I had never seen before. There were still sakura which made our journey there and back gorgeous. After about a 30 minute bike ride, we arrived at the beach. There were a few people surfing in wet suits. This day had been the warmest day since the end of winter, and so those crazy for the waves had taken the chances to get out there. Miguel had brought a bathing suit, but I had not. But it was really warm, and so not too long after that, Miguel, Shingo and I were all jumping into the waves. This was my second time seeing the ocean in my life, and my first time here in Japan.




I don't know if it was the accumulated stress, or the pressure or being responsible all the time but after about 5 minutes of playing in the waves, I lost myself in the moment. I can honestly say I became a child again, jumping into the waves and letting them carry me back to the shore. I laughed, and laughed, and screamed, and laughed again. Miguel and Shingo were there with me, being smashed by the strength of the waves. I think the waves just helped me wash away the big stress I had been carrying for a while. In that moment, I felt free, which is something I had not experienced in a while.









We ran down the beach, climbed up the side of a small creak leading to a river, started a sand fight and ran some more. Finally, we washed ourselves off, and headed back to the Kaikan. I really have to thank Miguel for that because he always takes me on these odd excursions, but I enjoy them very much. It's something that I wish I could do more often, but going there once was a great experience.

Japan is widely known for its traditional culture, but also for its weird culture. There are many odd things embedded within the culture that a lot of people actually enjoy. For example, in the convenience store, there are porn magazines for sale. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. There's also a lot of odd anime, manga, and TV shows magazines.

Now, since a while, there had been talk of going to what they call "Chinko Matsuri". "Chinko" means penis and "matsuri" means festival. So in other words, there actually is a Penis Festival here in Japan. Now, I have no interest in this kind of thing, but many of the students were going and asked me to come along. In the end, I decided to go see this side of the Japanese culture. This was April 5^th, the weekend before school started.

I learned that this actually happens to be the most popular festival among the foreigners in Japan. Once we arrived at the station, which was near Yokohama, the streets were already filled with people, mostly foreigners. Even the train had been filled to the walls. It was raining, so we ended up buying umbrellas there. We then headed to the starting location of the festival, and waited in the midst of hundreds of umbrellas and cameras for about 20 minutes. Then it started. They carried out three huge penises while shouting words of encouragement. We all just laughed so hard!



After that, Valentina and I wanted to find ourselves some candy, and so we got in line. After about 15 minutes of waiting, I came out of the shop with a bag of sexual part shaped candies. Just watching people eat these was really hysterical.

It was getting quite cold, so we headed back to Yokohama, where we had planned to eat at a Chinese buffet! This was my third time here in the Chinatown of Yokohama, but my first time in an all-you-can-eat restaurant. Jokes, laughter, and smiles accompanied us while we ordered and ate many different dishes!




We headed back about one hour and a half later, still laughing about the day's adventure.

During the month of March, Miguel and I had decided, after a few discussions, that we would like to do some exercise together. We ended up with a few choices, and one of them was wrestling. Miguel, being crazy, dared to fight me in the Kaikan's backyard.

Miguel and I had a few matches, which I enjoyed for more than one reason. This was exercise, and at the same time I could practice judo which would help me come back from my injury. I must say, Miguel is quite brave, but there is no way I would lose to him. I threw him a few times on the ground, sometimes being dangerous due to the fact that Miguel has not done judo, and does not expect certain movements.

After this first time, we invited Chipa to join in. He accepted and one day, we were all out in the back of Kaikan, pushing each other around. Now Chipa is much stronger than Miguel, and probably stronger than me, but he still has no experience in man-to-man combat. He got me down once or twice at first, but then I got the hang of his style and to his surprise, made him fly all over the place.

Why is this important? Well like I say, I could "practice" some "judo" without being watched or judged by everyone else. Also, when fighting Chipa, I really felt his strength. I mean, he's 10 kilos heavier than me, and he plays rugby, which made him quite hard to push around. But I still stood in there, and managed to find a way around it. Now yeah, it's not a fair match, but it still gave me a little boost of confidence and also showed me that our biggest enemy is ourselves. I think it's time I overcome my own fears.