On Thursday I woke up at 2:00 AM, ate breakfast, took a walk, jogged, and did hotel-room yoga. 🙂 Used Social media. Took a nap from 5:30-6:30. Went to my old gym Groundslam at 9:30 and Katsumura-san opened up the gym, wearing my T-shirt I had given him! 🙂 He gave me his new one, a bright green one with his likeness as Charlie Brown. XD Seichiro Ito was there alone for a while, and then Tokoro and then Kunioku showed up! 😀
Katsumura-san put on gloves and sparred! It was so great training with him again.
It was awesome to get to train with Kunioku-san! He was my “trainer” for like 3 or 4 years, although I remember him not wanting to call himself that bu I still did because he always helped me and traveled to the US and London to corner me.
I think he only came in because I was there, because he had just fought. (I say “Just” but he actually fought a week before me, so he’s due to get back to training anyway. He won! Yay!) It was the first time I really trained “with him” as opposed to “be trained by him” in MMA. We had grappled with Rodney last year, but this was interesting. His takedowns were really top notch and cage work and I could not get away.
(left to right, Tokoro Hideo, Seichiro Ito, Me, Katsumura Shunichi, Kunioku Kiuma)
I showered and then rushed over to Hirama where I met my host mother 😀 It was so nice to see her again! She gave me tenugui and chopsticks as a present! 😀 😀 I love the chopsticks, but I never know what to do with the tenugui. :/ I don’t wrap anything (lunch boxes, my head, etc) with it like is suggested. I had just trained so I didn’t feel guilty about eating a lot of sushi. XD And chocolate cake!
I went back to my hotel after that to rest, first getting an OUTSTANDING FOOT MASSAGE at “Relax hands.” Man, I can’t find a place in Vegas as good as the places in Japan. whyyyyy not? I also went shopping at Daiso in Lazona.
Then I met Meiko in shimokitazawa at 7 PM. Before that, I ate Red Mango’s new flavor of Mon Blanc frozen yogurt. omg.
so frozen yogurt is not popular in Japan but the company Red Mango just came over in November of last year. 😀 Meiko gave me a towel as a gift. It was so nice to catch up with her! 😀 Last time I met her in a group of 3, so it was nice to get one-on-one time with her.
Friday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn as usual, and decided that I had enough time to see another movie. I forget which friend but somebody who I didn’t expect to recommended “Bakemono no Ko.” I saw it and it was really good!
It had a really Japanese-style sad ending but it wasn’t supposed to be sad. For Americans, it was sad. For Japanese, it’s supposed to be uplifting and teach a lesson. I know this, so I kind of forced myself to think of it in the Japanese style way.
I had some lunch and met Tsuru at Dotour where I ate two pieces of milk crepe cake. XD
It was so cool just sitting and chatting! Last year when I visited, I only went to his restaurant but we didn’t get alone time because he was working and cooking.
Then I met Brittany in Shinjuku and we went to this pancake restaurant where we cook our own pancakes on a grill. “Slappy cakes.” I enjoyed that a lot.
very unique experience! and so nice to see Brittany again. We then went to Suidobashi to the Fitness shop and a pro wrestling shop to find a souvenir for Tom. Found some nice stuff and then the staff threw in a poster for free! 😀 😀
I went home, rested, and met Goto and we went to Rising Sun – Lion Takeshi’s dojo. I taught class, doing wall escapes and stuff. It was fun! It was cool to spar with Goto-san again! (far right, red and black)
On Saturday, I met Brittany at ten AM in Harajuku and spent most of the day with her.
We went to Kiddyland, and then Shibuya for shabushabu. YUMMY MEAT!
Then Disney store. And Asakusa! My favorite places and favorite food in Japan!
Then in the evening I met Goto-san for sushi. so happy!