Japan trip 2016 part 4: Mon & Tues (sparring, cat cafe, sakura)
Monday I woke up, ate, finished Memoirs of a Geisha, which was amazing btw, and went to pro practice at Groundslam. I had been really looking forward to it, and hoped my former coach Kunioku-san would go. He didn’t, and I was reminded of my disillusionment with Japanese MMA. No warmups together except shadow boxing. I grappled with Kaki. Did MMA with Gaku. He’s a fun partner. Landed a few new moves. Sparred with Tokoro-san. Then somebody else. Then chatted with one of the guys and Uno-san. I tried not to butt into their conversation but I was very interested in their talk about holding their hands up. I hate Japanese people’s no-guard and one guy was explaining how he tries to make himself look bigger by opening his hands. Uno-san was saying that Americans all hold their hands up and tight. I told them how my hands hover and guard different areas of my face. I wonder if they were actually interested or pretending, but Uno-san said that my guard has changed since I was last here and I’m a lot less stiff. That’s good, I’ve been working hard enough at my striking! I love Uno-san. *_* He’s one of my top favorite fighters, along with Matt Serra, Joe Lauzon, and Randy Couture.
I then sparred someone who front-kicked me in the gut like 20 times as hard as he possibly could and I couldn’t defend it because he was so fast and accurate. I thought my intestines were gonna rupture! I felt like I was really fighting in the cage…
I watched another match where this one guy was doing jumping knees to the head, elbows, etc. damn, they play rough in Japan. It’s normal. I shouldn’t say more.
After I showered, I went to Ikebukuro and met sakura and we went to a cat cafe! She’s a close friend of mine and former training partner at Keishukai. It was my first time to go to a cat cafe.
The cats TOTALLY ignored us and wouldn’t play with us.
But cats sleep most of the day but in the cafe, people bug them so they can’t, and were probably just wanting to sleep. lol But the atmosphere was quiet and relaxing, and honestly, I was mentally shaken up after that training session, so it was super nice.
This cat had a “Lion hair cut.” lol
Then searched for and found Animate and she bought me an Owari no Seraph folder. lol Then I said, “I want Tako Yaki!” so she found a gindako and we sat and ate some.
The afternoon had passed by then, so I went home and rested and started reading my new Dragonlance book.
Tuesday I went for a walk and got lost LOL so my 15 minute walk turned into an hour. I had to ask three people the way three different times.
Then I met Goto-san for tea from 10:00 AM to 11:30 and he inspired me to write a new book. Then I caught the Narita express at 1 PM from Musashi kosugi and was on my way back to America! Evening flight at 5 PM. 🙂…