Shibu-Yeah!

I open my eyes.

What time is it? All the lights are on, and I'm still in my street clothes. I haven't even managed to get underneath the sheets?

More tired than I thought I guess..

The clock sits above my pillow, built into the bed frame;

5 o'clock.. so much for sleeping in.

Is it light out? I can't tell .. there are no curtains, and the cover to the single window is slid shut.

My head still hurts.. let me rest my eyes for a moment...

It's now 9 this time.. I should probably try to get out of bed.

Sitting up, there's a groggy feeling in my head; brain still trying to escape through my eyes. I look at myself in the mirror: my hair is messy.

I stumble into clean clothes, and prepare to visit Jason's room.

I approach the door cautiously, not sure what to expect. I don't hear any screams, so I decide to take the leap. I knock.

I hear a stirring, and the man himself, Jason, answers the door. He goes on to dutifully inform me that his wife must begin preparations for hotel departure, which means that we should probably go and grab some breakfast in the meantime. Amanda appears from the neighboring room and joins us on our quest.

We spend a good amount of time surveying all of our possible options, however Jason seems to have a certain place in mind.

A walk through a long mall, and a couple side streets later, we arrive at our destination.

Inside, there is seating at a long bar, and to our immediate right are two curious machines covered in buttons.

After closer inspection, (being that I am no stranger to these sorts of things), they quickly reveal themselves to me as the units that dispense food tickets. Knowing this, I fish around my pockets for coins.

Each button is accompanied by a picture and a price. Most of them seem appetizing, and it is at this time that I realize we have walked into a curry shop.

I ask Jason what he thinks is good, since he happens to be the connoisseur. He shows me the one he likes, puts in a few hundred yen, pushes the button, and like magic, a little white ticket appears out of the machine. I waste no time in doing the same and taking a seat down at the bar with him.

Jason mentions to me that he has never had to wait more than 60 seconds for his food. A clock is conveniently mounted on the wall directly ahead of us, and the countdown begins. However, before we can even begin to question the staff's efficiency, there are already three bowls of miso soup down on the counter.

I take this to be a double edged sword. Yes, it is good to have your food quickly, but most likely it is just sitting in a saucepan on low heat. Personally, I would rather wait a while for my food, and have it be made to order.

It wasn't bad though.

After we chow down, we mosey over to the hotel and pick up Michelle (Jason's wife).

At this point, we really have nothing particular planned, so the ladies insist that we go visit a small toy store.

Shortly thereafter, we arrive at said toy store. Michelle particularly shows Jason some things she thought he would be interested in, and I go wander off. I end up gazing at the wide array of Airsoft Guns available on display. Mid thought, Jason comes up next to me, and points out that he actually has a couple of the guns on the wall. Not fake plastic ones, but the real deal. He goes on further to tell me that he actually occasionally teaches a course in gun safety and handling. I'm pretty much completely ignorant when it comes to that stuff, so I told him to sign me up for the next session.

We spend some time cruising around Kashiwa and enjoying the sights. It's raining a bit, and the wind picks up, so we don't stay out too long.

Jason and I grab our gear and head off to train once again.

I've been told that the Honbu Dojo is usually packed full of people, and that half of the training there is avoiding all of the other people and their stray punches, however due to the poor weather, and luckily for me, there are even less people training today; maybe 15 or 20.

As we get warmed up and chat before class starts, a young guy named Ben from St. Louis, whom I talked with a bit the previous day, approaches me and asks if I would be his training partner. I am somewhat surprised that he'd ask me all of all people (maybe it's my hair, or just my good looks), and he goes on to say that he is wanting to take every opportunity to train with new people that he can. Complimented that he would waste his time with a newb such as myself, I gladly accept his offer. Coincidentally, moments later, Jason asks me if it's okay if he trains with someone else today (funny how things work, eh?).

Nagato Sensei bows us in and then asks Jason to demonstrate a technique. After watching it a couple times, he tells us to go for it.

Now for me, this here is one of the main reasons why training in Japan is so different. Nobody is there to tell you how, or if you are doing the technique wrong. It either works or it doesn't, and you just have to do it.

After a few minutes Sensei steps in, and then shows everyone how a pro does things. He make a few points, and then tells us "Okay, go!". Again, at this point, my mind is usually melting, attempting to digest what was just displayed, and how to replicate it.

This series of events repeats many times. Hopefully that gives you an idea of how things go.

Later on, there is a break. We all sit down, Sensei drinks tea. He asks me where Santa Cruz is. I tell him it's near San Francisco, so, naturally, he asks about sharks, etc. We talk about all sorts of stuff. Eventually the subject gets turned to endangered species, whales, and even tuna. (It's all very relevant, trust me.)

We train for a half hour or so, and finish up.

Before heading out, Sensei gives me a "Ganbate kudasai!" which pretty much means "Give it your all!".

Shortly after we rendezvous with the ladies once again back in Kashiwa. The plan for tonight is Shibuya, the heart of Tokyo.

In preparation for the epic journey, Jason reveals a thrice folded map from the inside of his jacket pocket. As the captain of our humble pedestrian ship, he plots the course along the many subway and train routes. Myself having never been there, I take his word for it.

30 minutes later, we're off the train and ascending a flight of stairs. We pop out in a small square filled with people. A bronze statue of a dog sits nestled amongst some trees not too far away. Jason tells us the history of it, and says its a popular meeting spot. This is obviously true, do to all the lonely people waiting around nearby.

Once finished with the dog, we step over to the corner of the main intersection, which is just absolutely jammed full of pedestrians. Our eyes and ears constantly being assaulted by the giant television screens mounted on the buildings above..

When you think of Tokyo, this is it.

Once the light turns red, the levee breaks, and the humans flow freely into the street.

As if walking through all of this people isn't hard enough on it's own, each one of them (including you) is holding an umbrella.

Once we land safely on the other side, our first order of business is getting dinner. Again, Jason has a particular place in mind, so we head in its direction.

However.. it's under construction..

Plan B:

Walk around until we find something.

After much debating and just about as much walking, we settle on a place called "Saizeriya", which services "Italian" food. I don't particularly know which is more authentic; the name or the cuisine..

The place is packed, but there just enough room for us to squeeze in.

The menu is large, and everyone finds something that they are happy with. They've got melon soda on the fountain, and you can't beat that.

Garlic bread, pasta, mini pizzas. Not quite like how I'm used to, but the food is pretty good.

After dinner, all we do is pretty much stroll around and soak it all in (somewhat literally since it's still raining).

Other than the train ride back home, which was super crowded, that pretty much wraps it up.

[.. I need to stop writing so much and get to the point..

Ja ne!