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.

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.

On January 25^th, I went out with Chipa to Ebina. We had planned about a week ago to try to go buy some REAL pizza at Costco, here in Japan, and after finding out that our friend Mina had a membership card, we quickly made plans to go. Now, we didn’t plan to just buy pizza, but also other types of food that you can’t normally get in Japanese supermarkets, therefore, if we went by train, it would be a pain to bring all that stuff back. Thus we decided to rent a car! And that’s where Chipa and I were headed off to that day; the rental shop. 

On January 5^th, toward the end of the first judo practice of the year, I was fighting a heavier and stronger fighter from the club when something unexpected happened. I was getting slammed all across the mat, but I didn't really care because I was learning from him and it was good practice. Suddenly, I caught his foot with a foot sweep of my own and almost pulled a throw out of it. A little bit more confident, I got up and faced my opponent. I posted out my right hand grip to stop his high grip, but he managed to bend me over. Just then, he backed up a little, and I knew he was going to go in for a throw, and so I prepared to stop it. Because of that, I ended up being really far from him when he threw, and I blocked the throw (left uchi-mata),  landing on my left knee. That in itself would have been fine, except what the fighters in Tokai do is they explode even more at that moment. As he pulled my upper body across, I had no time to change my leg's position and was forced into a overly extended position. I felt a little rip in my hip and an acute pain in my knee. I yelled out in pain. At first, my partner didn't realize that I was hurting, thinking I just yelled out in defeat. But after a while he started asking me what was wrong.

The time froze for a few moments. I curled up in a shrimp position, my whole body shivering, fearing the worst. I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do. Suddenly I heard him ask me what was wrong. Obviously I was hurt. Soon, others came to surround me. Then people picked me up and carried me off the mats. I was placed on a stretcher, and given ice. My opponent just asked me what had happened, and soon left after to go back to practice.

I really hated myself in that moment. Why didn't I just take the fall? I knew this one wasn't as simple as the previous injury. Yasuhiro Yamashita sensei came by and saw me in pain and asked me what was wrong. I explained what had happened, and he awkwardly touched my injured area, then walked away. One of the trainers was nice enough to show me a few exercises on how to help my leg heal once it would be strong enough to move, but who knew when that would be.

I lost a lot of hope that day. I didn't understand why it had happened. I've been really trying my best to follow the practices and even though I get slammed all day, I push myself to stay aggressive.

I called my friend Chipa to help me walk back to the dorm because I knew I wouldn't be able to alone. Once we made it back, I set more ice onto my leg. I put ice at least 6 times that day. I called my sister and told her what had happened. She gave me a few more tips on what to do and not to do.

I went to bed completely devastated, my leg raised onto my pillow.

The next day, I limped around to get to classes. A lot of people asked me what was wrong, and I can't blame them: my walk was ridiculous. My leg was in a lot of pain. One of my friends, Valentina, noticed this and begged me to go to the hospital and even offered to go with me. So after school, she helped me limp over to the bus station, onto the bus, off the bus, and into a clinic near the station, where she had went when she had broken her knee cap a few months ago.

After waiting a few minutes and filling out the necessary papers, we limped over to see the doctor. He could see that I was in quite a lot of pain. After a few tests, his verdict was a 2^nd degree tear in the MCL. He then recommended that I use a supporter. I tried it, but it didn't seem to give me any protection at all. His next recommendation was a cast. I had never had a cast and so I was a little hesitant. I called my sister to ask her opinion but it was around 1 A.M. in Canada, therefore she was sleeping. After a few minutes of deep thinking, I made a decision.

It was my first time seeing how they put a cast on. One thing I have to say about the doctors here is that they are... different than in Canada. There were like four of them around me, two holding my leg and moving it too quickly to my liking. I was soo scared someone would trip on it or drop it or something. They placed the tissue over my leg, and the doctor molded it to my leg. I had to wait a bit there, my leg on a stool for the whole thing to dry.

Valentina was there next to me, and I was grateful for her presence. But I could not help but let out a few tears. I would have to wear this thing for two weeks, and in total, my full recovery would take up to three months...

After paying the bills and grabbing the crutches, I limped out of there. It was really hard to use the crutches. I looked up the proper way later on Youtube just to make sure.


January 15^th: It's now been a week and two days since I got injured. Last Tuesday, January 13^th, I went back to the doctors and asked them to remove the cast. When my sister had found out about it, she was a little skeptical, and told me it would be best for me to use my leg. Therefore I used my leg in the dorm at first, and by two days later, I was no longer using the crutches. The cast was putting a LOT of pressure to different areas of my leg, and I actually had to take pain killers, which I never do. But I knew the sooner I started using my leg, the sooner I would heal.

The doctor used a tool that looks like a cutter, but only melts, and cut through the cast. Once the cast off, my leg was soo weak, it scared me. It was very itchy, and as I tried to bend it, it shaked uncontrollably. I even started to regret my decision. After tapping my leg, I was out of there. I called Chipa again to help me walk in order to go find the Judo Club's hospital, as my father recommended I go there. I forgot where I had went last time, and therefore we walked around a lot before I called Mrs. Mitsumoto to help me find where it is. It took us another 20 minutes to get there.

Once there, I consulted with doctor Miyazaki, and he opted for a smaller brace. He gave me a few tips and off we were. I was grateful for Chipa to be there because even with the brace, for the rest of that day, my leg felt soo weak.

Today (January 15^th): My leg is getting stronger and stronger. I can now actually walk down and up the stairs. My strut is becoming closer and closer to normal, yet I still get some jolts of pain when making a false step. Yesterday, I went to the dojo to say hi, and start my rehabilitation. I walked back in forth with my brace at first, then without, to get my leg used to walking again. After that, I spent half an hour just slowly bending and unbending my leg. It hurt terribly, and it would tremble soo much. After that, I ended the session with chin-ups and pushups. After eating, I put ice on it to let it cool. Today already I see that yesterday's efforts paid off. As I said, I can now walk down the stairs, which is quite the challenge since it forces you to bend your leg to a specific extent.

Hope is there, yet I know it will take time, therefore I'm not rushing it. I just don't see any reason not to smile. After all, I can still study and talk with friends so no point wasting this time complaining!

Note: My family has been giving me soo much support it's crazy. My "aunt" came over all the way from Tokyo to visit me for like only 10 minutes since she was worried. Also a lot of friends have been very supportive, and I want to say thank you!

Last weekend, on September 13^th and 14^th, there was an all Japan tournament in Saitama, a city about 2 hours north of Tokai University.

Being a member of the judo team, I am pretty much obliged to go, even though I'm not officially part of the team. On top of that, I wanted to go. I hadn't yet had the chance to go see a tournament in Japan, therefore I opted to go.

I asked a few of the club members how I could get there, and soon, I was offered to have someone take me there. Now in Japan, everyone uses the train system to get there, but alone, without being able to speak or read much Japanese, one can easily get himself lost, and end up 5 hours away from the destination.

So on Saturday morning, I woke up early, got to the train station minutes before my teammate did, and we were off to the tournament. We only ended up taking two different trains, yet we had to transfer into a completely different company line, and then walk for about 30 minutes to get to the tournament site. All I had to do was tag along, and not lose sight of my teammate, which alone can be very difficult with the overwhelming amount of people there are in Japan.

Once at the tournament, I sat with the Tokai University team and began to watch the fight. First things first, as soon as I had seen my teammate at the train station, I noticed he was wearing dress pants, dress shoes, and a university polo shirt, while I was wearing a casual shirt, sweats, and high tops. At that point, I already knew I was going to stand out that day. And so I did, but that was the least of my concerns that day. The fights were quite interesting, considering these were the best of all Japan fighting. I really enjoyed the integration between the universities and the tournament. During the tournament, I spotted Akinori Hongo, a former judoka, one of Japan's best during his time, who had come to Canada for a few years to help coach our national team, during which time I had the pleasure to meet him many times. I wanted to go talk to him, but I was told by my teammate it would be very difficult to do so.

You see, in Japan, judo is run through the school system. By the time you reach high school, if you are serious about it, you are practicing full time at the related high school of the University at which you want to practice. Therefore, there is a big attachment to the team, and so everyone attends the tournament to help cheer on the teammates. Only the best U21 of each university were chosen to participate in this tournament, and Tokai is considered to be one of the strongest universities. (By the way, Yasuhiro Yamashita trained at Tokai during his time. He is now Vice-president of the university and I have met him many times already.)


We bought our lunch from a convenience store nearby. I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning and so I devoured a huge plate of some kind of spaghetti as well as 2 litres of apple juice, and melon bread. MERON PAN and APPLE JUICE are my favourite snacks and I will probably write a post just about them haha.

During the tournament, my teammate who brought me there informed me that he was going to stay the night in Saitama with the rest of the team. Yet I had to return to Tokyo because I had a date with a few friends, which meant I had to either find someone else to help me, or return alone. Fortunately, a few members of the Denmark team, who are currently training at the university for a few days, were at the tournament that day, and so I asked them if I could tag along with them to get back home. They said of course, and I left the tournament with them, having no idea what was going to happen.

As soon as we got to the train station, I knew this was not going to go well. They had come to Saitama by a sky train. I asked them why they did, and their answer was: that's the only way here. Yet I knew that wasn't the case; I hadn't come by sky train. Yet, having no choice, I followed as they boarded the train. They seemed to have a good idea of where they were going. We chatted and joked around for a while, and soon we had to change trains. This is when it got complicated.

It might be very difficult to understand what it is to try to find your way in a Japanese train station when you can't read Japanese. Trust me, it's near impossible. Fortunately, the father of one of the Denmark teammate had brought along a list of which trains to take. Yet even with that, it's still difficult. We ended up taking the wrong train, having to come back a few stations, asking questions, taking another train, switching lines again, asking more questions, changing completely to a different station, asking more questions, all while I made sure we were on the right track by trying to read Japanese kanji.


By the time we got on the last train home, it was already 7:45 at night. I was supposed to meet with my friends for supper around 7:30. Had I taken the same trains I had come to the tournament site by to go back, I would have made it back by 7:00.

The last train took me till 9:10 to get back to the train station near Tokai. The whole time, I knew that panic would arise among many people. First, my friends waiting for me. Natsumi was the one I had been in contact with and I knew that she would be very worried. She is a very close friend of my sister and must have felt responsible for my well-being. I knew she would have contacted my sister to inform her of me missing, as well as a few other teammates. Now one thing you might not understand is that I didn't have a phone on me. I had no way of reaching them. The last time I had spoken to them was 6 hours before through my teammate's phone.

I felt terrible for making them worried and frustration then started to build inside me. I hated the fact that my Japanese wasn't good enough. I hated that I couldn't yet read most kanjis. I hated that I didn't have a phone or a visa, I hated that no one spoke English, but mostly, I hated myself for not preparing myself enough for this.

I walked out of the train and I knew that Natsumi would be waiting for me at the entrance. As soon as I got to the gate, I saw her, as she smiled in relief. I apologized for making her wait as I tried to explain what had happen. She told me it was alright, of course it wasn't, and simply asked me to follow her to the restaurant where three other ladies where waiting there anxiously for me. Embarrassment filled me as I was told that the whole men's judo team had be notified I was missing as they tried to locate me. Not only had they posted on twitter, they had sent private messages to sooo many people. I felt very fortunate to have such attention from people I hadn't even met yet.

We ate supper together and laughed a lot as they explained what had happened, as I explained my side, and had just casual awkward English/Japanese conversations. I was glad to have them there that night even though I felt bad for making them wait.


They gave me some directions as to how to get to the tournament the next day, but more than that, they found someone I could follow in order to get there the next day. Our farewells were exchanged and I was off back to my dorm.

Sunday morning, I woke up early, did some packing, yet I ran into some problems while taking a shower. I realized that I was going to be late. I rushed to the station on my bike, where I parked it, and as I was running down the stairs to the dock of the station, I could see the train leaving already, taking my "guide" with it.

I then had two choices:
   1. Go back to the dorm.
   2. Get on the next train.

This is Mamoru Vincent Blais-Shiokawa we are talking about. So I got on the next train, with NO idea what THAT day had in store for me. Fortunately I had a picture on my tablet of which train to take. But as I mentioned previously, it is very hard, even with a map and schedule, to find the right trains to take.

I got to the 2^nd station, where I had to change trains and lines, found the right train, or so I thought, and was about to get on when I had a thought: I didn't know how to get from the train station to the tournament site nor did I know the name of the tournament site. Slight panic overtook me. Fortunately, I had brought my tablet with me. I reached for it in my bag and searched for available Wi-Fi signals. I tried many, until I found one I could actually use for free. First thing I did, call Natsumi. No answer, she must have been at work. Called my sister, I had no idea was time it was in Canada, but I didn't have many options. Fortunately my sister answered. I explained the situation and my father and sister both helped me. Using LINE, Google maps, Facebook, Notes, screen shots and more, they managed to give me a precise idea on how to get there. It was bye for now since we had no idea if I was going to be able to find another Wi-Fi signal if ever I got lost again.

I was about to board the train, when I decided to ask one of the "train people". Thank goodness I did, because he told me I was on the wrong docking station. This is one of the hardest things about the train system. Both signs for the docks have the EXACT same information, yet somehow they know which one goes where...

After getting on the train, switching trains again a few stations later, I finally arrived at the right one and was on my way out when the gate stopped me for having insufficient fund in my PASMO card. I was rushed by so many people waiting behind me. I ran to the nearest booth, filled my card up, and out  the gates I was. But did I really make it out of there in one piece...?

I took a taxi to the tournament site by asking: "Saitama Budokan ni ittekudasai." Which means: "Please go to the Saitama Budokan." I paid him 1000 yen, around 13$ for a... 8 minute ride... But it got me there so I'm not complaining.

As I made my way to the Tokai's University's sitting area I tried to remember the name of the teammate I was supposed to meet that morning. I sat down, my teammates slightly surprised to see me. Quickly found out who was my guide and apologized for not making it there on time.

As the fights started, the intensity of the cheering was still there. One of the managers of the team, Gou-san, came to talk to me as well as Haruka Tachimoto's brother, Shoo-san (Haruka is very famous in Tokai since she is highly ranked in Japan in the -70kg category. My sister had the chance to train with her and they became friends. She was also at the supper with me the night before.). It felt nice to have some people talk to me, even though our discussions were limited, mostly me asking questions and them trying to find a simple answer for me. After a while, I looked around the different universities and noticed Kyle Reyes, one of the fighters from Canada, who trains at Nihon Daikagu, The University of Japan. I then went to go say hi even though I doubted he remembered me. After a brief talk, I was back to my seat when I was offered to go get lunch once again. No meron pan this time, but I downed another 2 litres of apple juice. As I sat back down in my seat, I thought it would be nice to take a picture with Kyle, so I reach for my tablet in my back pack... and found out that it was missing. Panic once again overtook me. My teammates tried to help me find it, asking me when was the last time I saw it. I then realized that it must have been when I loaded extra money into my card, since I knew I had it on the train, and I wouldn't have just left it lying around in the train.

This is where Japan shines. My friends called the station and, to my relief, they confirmed they had it. Now had this been in Canada, my tablet would have been stolen. But Japan is probably one of the safest place to lose something, if that even makes sense. But yes, they had it, and would hold on to it until I returned.

As the tournament reached its ending, I decided to attempt to talk to Hongo sensei. I asked some of the staff and they immediately escorted me to the Joseki area, where I must have seriously stood out in my bright blue shirt. It was slightly intimidating. But I soon caught Hongo sensei's attention and I was glad that he recognized me. We discussed my stay in Japan as well as his new position in the Japanese judo community. We left on the promise to keep in touch and that we would most likely have dinner together some time.

Once the tournament was over, Yazawa-san and Shou-san walked with me on the way back and asked me to join them for dinner. We ate ramen in a small, authentic shop, discussed as much as we could about various things. The food was good and even though most of the time I didn't understand their discussion, it was still a pleasant time. We then made our way back to the station, and asked for my tablet. I had to fill out some papers but I didn't know the address of Tokai nor its telephone number so my friend looked it up online and wrote it down for me. We were then on our way back home.


It had been a long day and so, on the train ride back, we were all falling asleep. Talking was minimal as we switched trains. Finally, we made it to Tokaidaigaku-mae, the train station near Tokai, said our farewells, and went on our separate ways. I unlocked my bike and rode my way back up the hill to my dorm.

What did I learn from this? Well, the one thing I learned is that, even though I tell everyone that I made it to the tournament site alone that day, in reality, I didn't. Natsumi, Haruka, my father, my sister, the people I asked, they all helped me make it to the tournament that day and without them, the chances that I would still be out there are not slim. Without the help of my teammates, I wouldn't have found my tablet. The one thing I don't really like is having to rely on people, but I think I learned my lesson today that I'm going to have to do just that for a while. Of course I can prepare ahead and do some research, as my sister suggested I do, but no matter what, I'm going to always be missing something. Fortunately, I am not alone.