Junior Aikido National Meet at The Budokan

Just before we left for the UK we went to the annual national meet in Tokyo, the kids all seem to love it but it is quite hard to get pictures of them because there are about 2,400 kids in there!

They start off with a speech and warm up, they they are split into age groups. Ebi-kun is now in the 3rd group, which is 5th and 6th graders. From our dojo there was only 1 kid for the junior high group and he didn't want to do it by himself so Ebi-kun had to double up and train with the JH kids too. He actually loved it because he got to learn some moves that normally he wouldn't get to try yet. I imagine the sensei all thought he had a growth defect of something, he is little for his age as it is!

Then each dojo gets a few minutes to do a display of the their skills. There are 5 marked areas and it all moves pretty quickly. Ebi-kun is throwing H-chan in this pic, can you spot him?

 Then the university dojo's get to show off their skills, it still amazes me how little amount of effort seems to take place and then the opponent is on the floor...

Finally the head dojo have their sensei come and strut their stuff, more throwing around...

And finally, the great grandson of the chap who founded aikido comes on, does a speech and, yes, you guessed it, throws a load of people around. He starts with just the one but then moves onto three...

Thankfully it wasn't too hot this year, Ebi-kun left a happy bunny !

Saitama Prefecture Aikido Meet

Aikido is a non competitive sport so instead of tournaments, the organization arranges display meet ups. This year it was held at Koshigaya, about an hours drive away.

This was a kids meet up and about 170 kids were there. Normally, at his own dojo I can spot Ebi-kun easily because he is the only one with an orange belt but here there were belts of every colour and some tiny kids in the mix too.

After the warm up, the big sensei demonstrated a move then the kids paired up to practice, it was a bit dangerous having so many kids on the mats at once! They could have done with a few more mats down I think.

The sensei's wandered among the kids checking that they were doing it correctly and they also got to practice with kids from other dojo's. There are a couple of kids or 'the naughty boys' as Ebi-kun calls them that mess around a lot so he doesn't like working with them.

After an hour of practice, it was display time. Each Dojo had 4 minutes to strut their stuff. Ebi-kun was paired up with 'big naughty boy'! You can't see the belt but he's the one with his feet in the air!

The kids seemed to enjoy it and it was the right time of year, in the winter the dojo is freezing and in the summer it's like a hothouse! They finished off with a group shot but I couldn't quite get everyone in, 10p if you can spot the boy...

Next Sunday it's back to the regular dojo and the Sunday after that my mom will be here to watch!

Aikido at the Budokan

This is completely out of sync, I was the unofficial photographer for the day and it took me forever to edit all the pics of all the kids!

It was an annual national Aikido meet for the kids, we missed it last year because it clashed with our flights.

Let's play spot the Ebi-kun... I'll give you a hint, he has an orange belt and is sat next to someone with black hair...

It's an all day event and they start with warm ups and group training. Then in the afternoon each attending dojo gets a few minutes to show off their skills.

Waiting for their dojo's turn...

This year Ebi-kun is the highest ranking in the kids from his dojo but still one of the smallest (but not the youngest, he just happens to be a bit of a squirt!)

It was a fun day and not too hot in the dojo but outside was awfully hot! We finished off having dinner at a nice Italian place.

Sunday Morning Rituals...

Now the Aikido dojo has been refurbished Ebi-kun is back at the regular dojo at the same time every week. I used to sit and watch, or read a book whilst he practices but then a new mall opened 5 minutes walk away! Excitement. Trouble is, the mall doesn't open until 10am and aikido starts at 9am. Bummer.

So I have taken to going for a long walk and exploring the neighbourhood. We used to live a 10 minute bike ride from the dojo but I never really explored this end of town, I say town, I mean rice paddies!

The rainy season is upon us so the flowers are out, these are stunning but make me a little sad because I know the hot humid weather will be with us soon...

Something you don't see much of, graffiti, interesting that it's often in (bad) English! I have no idea why, maybe it looks cooler or something!

Very humid day, looks like all the rice has been planted, the gray valleys now look green and the paddies are so noisy with the frogs!

One of the honour boxes, this one is a bit flash and the only one I've seen in this neck of the woods sell flowers! There is a price for the veg and flowers, you drop your money in the box and take what you paid for. I do love that these exist!

Then when I've done my hours ramble I head up to the mall for a nice coffee and some "me time"! Not a bad way to start the day.

All about the orange...

Ebi-kun had his aikido grading a couple of weeks back and on Sunday he was upgraded to orange belt! One happy little boy! We were all surprised because we thought he had to do one more exam before he would get orange!

This of course called for a celebratory cake... what is better than an orange cake? A chocolate orange cake of course!

I washed and sliced the orange and put it on the bottom of a silicon pan and sprinkled with brown sugar then used a standard chocolate sponge recipe, added some orange peel and the juice of an orange to the mix for good measure. it could have handled more chocolate I feel or maybe choco-chips. It was lovely though and a good way to celebrate!

Aikido Grading

Yesterday was grading day at Aikido. There were only 4 kids being tested this time round, you have to attend a certain amount of practices to be eligible for grading, Ebi-kun rarely misses training so I think he has done every grading since he started.

His opponent is a JH student and quite a bit bigger than him! This lads family all do Aikido. I can't tell you the names of the moves, so here are some pictures instead!

The final part is when one of the adults throws the kids 10 times...

Turned out to be a busy day, after the grading we went into Omiya. Had a lovely lunch at an Italian place then the boys went off to watch the opening match for the new football season, and I went for a mooch around the shops and a nice coffee with my book! I don't like to strain myself!

We have to wait about a month to find out if he passed his test, I will let you know...

Aikido training and Oh My Gosh...

Ebi-kun is still training every Sunday. Starting aikido after the bullying incident was one of the best things we have done, he is far more confident and knows that he can handle himself if any other issues ever arise.

It's cold in the dojo, so I hung around for a short time then headed off to the new mall that has opened 5 minutes walk away. 

I usually grab a coffee and do some studying, I also needed to buy a present and as I was walking around the TOY section, I spotted this...

Lost - for - words!!!

Aikido and blow darts...

Recently, we have been the first to arrive at Aikido so Ebi-kun has been getting some 1:1 lesson, bonus! The other kids seem to arrive 30 minutes late.

I think we only have a week or two left at this dojo and then we go back to the usual place, it has been refurbished so we weren't able to train there for a few months.

This week there was a stamp rally going on in the rest of the building and one of the activities was traditional dart blowing. Somehow I got roped into having a go, it was  good fun and I'm pretty chuffed with my score - plus I beat all the lads hahahaha.

This is a sport I could take up!

The boys went off and did the rest of the rally and Ebi-kun ended up winning a pot plant. Fun for all concerned, I love these random festivals that we accidentally stumble upon!

Aikido BBQ

Waaaaay behind with my posts thanks to Halloween! So the day after the halloween party we had the Aikido group BBQ held at Maruyama park. I didn't know until last year they even had cabins and BBQ spot! 

In good Japanese style, the drinking started early - which was actually just topping up for me since I'd had a glass or two! at the halloween party.

We were, of course, back to our gorgeous selves. The food was excellent but i always feel a bit like a spare part, it's mostly the blokes there and you know what blokes and BBQs are like!

The kids spent most of the time racing around, stopping only for food.

Oh yes, and then there was bingo, once you had a line you could pick a prize but then had to do a pose for the camera, the guy even had a set of 'pose' cards!

We finished up a round three and headed back, great weekend, very busy which means I could have done with a day off on Monday! If I wasn't already taking Friday off I might have been tempted to do that.

The weekend that flew by!

Time seems to be whizzing by at the moment, autumn is always busy for some reason. Saturday the boys went to play football, I had some work to do, so I caught the train into town. Popped into Tokyo hands where I spotted these funny stickers....

I'm still trying to figure out who would buy them! We had the afternoon with friends, the boys all played together and we kicked back and relaxed.

Sunday morning was aikido, we still haven't had the results from the grading so we still don't know (officially) if he has got his orange belt. Hanging out with his aikido buddies...

We stopped at a cute little cafe for lunch and I spotted this rather strange clock that looked exactly like a piece of toast!...

And this is why i will never get bored living in Japan, all the crazy and quirky things that go on here, I love it!

I'm busy getting everything ready for the next round of My organized Chaos, the registration is open until Saturday, so I recommend getting in quick! If you want to learn more about it all, the free training videos are still up, you can watch them HERE. Hope to see you over there!

Ebi-kuns Aikido Training

I don't always go to Aikido training with the boys, it depends if I think the Dojo will either be freezing cold or way to hot and if I have other stuff to be doing at home. It was good to go any after a break and see how Ebi-kun is doing…

He's a lot more confident these days and much happier at school, which is obviously good!