The day
following Ozawa-sensei’s incredible kindness in treating us to such a
large dinner, Mihori-san (our guide to the dojo on the first day) took a
day out of his schedule to show us around Takaido and help me get some
kendo gear. Considering that today he is heading out to Okinawa with his
fiance Stephanie for a holiday, I was surprised with how willing they
were to accommodate us. Mihori and Stephanie showed us where the pool
and sentou (like an onsen) are near Nicky’s place, and took me to a shop
where I bought my shinai. Afterwards, he invited us back to his
parents’ house, where they had an entire spread of food prepared for us-
his mother made all of these great dishes... no one went hungry, that’s
for sure! His dad was really cute too; despite being warned that his
Japanese was a bit awkward, I found that I could understand him
relatively well, so that boosted my confidence a bit.
After dinner, Stephanie took me to her
room, where I proceeded to try on her old kendo uniform- it’s a bit
short, but because it fit me, and she was trying to get rid of it... I
got it for free! I was really surprised, since I just thought she was
going to lend it to me for a practice. It’s also a huge stress off my
back, since if I decide to continue the sport, the hakuma and gi run to
about $60USD a piece. Yikes!
It was getting pretty late after
dinner, so I decided to head home, but, directly after school today, I
went back to Nakano for my first real practice. Mainly, I worked on
footwork with Ozawa-sensei, and then sat on the sidelines when everyone
put their armor on (it would be too dangerous for me to keep
practicing). I had a lot of fun, and if I’m allowed to say so, I think I
look pretty cute in the uniform <(^0^)>... Hopefully I can get a
picture of it soon. We’ll see.
In any case, I’m super tired now, so I’ll leave this entry at that! (^.^)v