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<\/a>\nI wrapped them in my collectable towels, so I\u2019m killing two birds with one stone. They are HEAVY. ^^; I\u2019m gonna worry about them. If that box gets lost, I\u2019m gonnna start stalking the shipping company employees, lol<\/p>\n
Then I brought a bunch of books to the used book shop (Bookoff), and then met Mana for lunch in Kawasaki! I write about her in my book, which should come out in a few months!<\/p>\n Then I hopped the train to Atsugi (it took a full hour). Here is the mascot of Atsugi:<\/p>\n a pig (there’s a super famous pig intestines shop there that people travel to from miles around. And Ayu are famous so there’s one on it’s head. lol Weird, right? I wanted a picture with Mr. Fishy-head-Piggy, but I would have to line up behind the 3 year olds in a long line…..no thank you. <\/p>\n I used to live in Atsugi, thus knew about this yearly festival. I met Sakura at 3 PM! Sakura is also a very special friend. I met her 6 or 7 years ago, when she came into my former dojo, Wajitsu Keishukai Tokyo Honbu. I remember I was there for her first class. I taught her how to shrimp! And actually, I didn\u2019t like her at first, because she kind of didn\u2019t take what I said seriously. I was like, \u201cDo this and this.\u201d And she was like \u201cUm, I dunno if that\u2019s correct. Excuse me!\u201d and she asked Moriyama-san, our lead teacher. I was like \u201cGrrr.\u201d -_-; But I forced myself to work with her and be nice, and we started getting along more and more. Then I noticed that none of the other girls in the gym really wanted to work with her, so I started working with her every time. When she started listening to me, things went smoother, hahaha, and we became great friends. We met outside the gym for meals and stuff, and hung out together.<\/p>\n So basically\u2026the way I understood fight prep in Japan is \u201cmotodachi-\u201c that means when everyone is doing group sparring, you stay in the middle and spar a lot with no breaks. No coach ever EVER took me aside and just coached me. I didn\u2019t get coaching unless I asked the teacher for advice. That\u2019s just the way it worked, and I thought it was normal. People used to ask me, \u201cHow\u2019s fight camp going?\u201d I replied, \u201cI don\u2019t know what \u2018fight camp\u2019 means, but training is going okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course I wanted to try certain techniques, so I stared arranging to meet Sakura an hour before regular class. Sakura helped me with fight prep for like two or more years. Just her and I in that dark, wonderful basement that was the home to our fighter\u2019s hearts. Only hard-core fighters would love that place and wanna go there, we used to say. Haha<\/p>\n I often had to teach her technique first, so I could do it on her and she resist. So I was raising my own training partner. She wrote a very touching blog entry about me just now, saying that I was the reason she was able to fight professionally, and she didn’t give up. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Thank you for that, Sakura. Thank you for helping me prepare for my fights, and being there to support me. She has also been a good friend and we had many girl talks. <3\n\nThe Ayu Festival is named after a popular river fish called \u201cSweetfish\u201d that are found in abundance in the Sagami River. \n In the olden days, Samurai used to spear them for target practice (says Wikipedia). They\u2019re popular to roast with salt over an open fire pit. I go to this festival literally every year. I haven\u2019t missed one. Once I was sick, and I still ate a fish on my way home from work. Lol For the past three years, I\u2019ve gone with Sakura. <\/p>\n We went to village vanguard and I found this T-shirt that I JUST HAD TO GET. And somebody in the restaurant we went to laughed at it and started talking to me, hahaha. Worth the $20 already. And there are fireworks at the end, from 7 PM to 9! Japanese fireworks are so cool. Unlike American ones which go \u201cBAMBAMBAMBAM WHOAAAAAA\u201d huge explosions finished in like 20 minutes, Japanese ones are creative, smaller, but they can make designs and shapes in the sky. There\u2019s time in between each set, for people to relax and enjoy and make an evening out of the performance.<\/p>\n I think fireworks are like fighter\u2019s lives \u2013 bright and glorious, but short-lived. But the especially spectacular ones live forever in our memories.<\/p>\n Oh yeah, and when we first arrived, we stopped by Crave Hair Style, and said goodbye to Takahiro-san, the stylist who does my hair every time I fight in Japan. <\/p>\n
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\nWe went to the Wired Caf\u00e9- I\u2019ve always wanted to go there for a meal! \ud83d\ude00 I got this Japanese-style \u201cTaco Rice,\u201d which had taco-beef, avocado, cheddar cheese, tomato, a few tortilla chips over white rice. SO YUMMY. XD
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\nI really enjoyed talking with Mana. I met her in college, 10 years ago, on my study-abroad year in Japan. My Japanese university ICU had a welcome program where one of their students who studied English volunteered to meet the foreign kid at the airport, and take them to their host family. So Mana was the VERY FIRST Japanese person I ever met in Japan! \ud83d\ude00 And we are still friends! ^^ Now she has her own successful business and job (two of them!) I\u2019m so proud of her. <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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\n“Oh my god!!”<\/p>\n
\nLike this:
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\nOver the course of the afternoon and evening, she cried once in a while. I said, \u201cDon\u2019t cry! We\u2019ll always be connected on Facebook and everything.\u201d But when my train pulled up and I gave her a hug, I started sobbing like waterfallsssssssssssssss. ;________; <\/p>\n