{"id":5831,"date":"2015-10-03T16:06:11","date_gmt":"2015-10-03T22:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/?p=5831"},"modified":"2015-10-03T16:11:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-03T22:11:42","slug":"japan-trip-2-slappycakes-w-bri-groundslam-and-rising-sun-training-restaurant-meetings-w-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/2015\/10\/03\/japan-trip-2-slappycakes-w-bri-groundslam-and-rising-sun-training-restaurant-meetings-w-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan trip 2: Slappycakes w\/ Bri, Groundslam and Rising Sun training, restaurant meetings w\/ Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday I woke up  at 2:00 AM, ate breakfast, took a walk, jogged, and did hotel-room yoga. \ud83d\ude42 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! \ud83d\ude42  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! \ud83d\ude00<br \/>\n Katsumura-san put on gloves and sparred! It was so great training with him again.<\/p>\n<p>It was awesome to get to train with Kunioku-san!  He was my &#8220;trainer&#8221; 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. <\/p>\n<p>I think he only came in because I was there, because he had just fought. (I say &#8220;Just&#8221; but he actually fought a week before me, so he&#8217;s due to get back to training anyway. He won! Yay!)  It was the first time I really trained &#8220;with him&#8221; as opposed to &#8220;be trained by him&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/ground-slam-day-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/ground-slam-day-1.jpg\" alt=\"ground slam day 1\" width=\"612\" height=\"612\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5832\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n(left to right, Tokoro Hideo, Seichiro Ito, Me, Katsumura Shunichi, Kunioku Kiuma)<br \/>\nI showered and then rushed over to Hirama where I met my host mother \ud83d\ude00  It was so nice to see her again!  She gave me tenugui and chopsticks as a present! \ud83d\ude00 \ud83d\ude00 I love the chopsticks, but I never know what to do with the tenugui. :\/ I don&#8217;t wrap anything (lunch boxes, my head, etc) with it like is suggested.  I had just trained so I didn&#8217;t feel guilty about eating a lot of sushi. XD And chocolate cake!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/roxy-sushi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/roxy-sushi.jpg\" alt=\"roxy sushi\" width=\"288\" height=\"384\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5833\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I went back to my hotel after that to rest, first getting an OUTSTANDING FOOT MASSAGE at &#8220;Relax hands.&#8221; Man, I can&#8217;t find a place in Vegas as good as the places in Japan. whyyyyy not?  I also went shopping at Daiso in Lazona.  <\/p>\n<p>Then I met Meiko in shimokitazawa at 7 PM.  Before that, I ate Red Mango&#8217;s new flavor of Mon Blanc frozen yogurt. omg.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/red-mango-froen.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/red-mango-froen.jpg\" alt=\"red mango froen\" width=\"306\" height=\"408\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5834\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>so frozen yogurt is not popular in Japan but the company Red Mango just came over in November of last year. \ud83d\ude00 Meiko gave me a towel as a gift. It was so nice to catch up with her! \ud83d\ude00 Last time I met her in a group of 3, so it was nice to get one-on-one time with her.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/meiko-at-restaurant.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/meiko-at-restaurant.jpg\" alt=\"meiko at restaurant\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5835\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFriday 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&#8217;t expect to recommended &#8220;Bakemono no Ko.&#8221; I saw it and it was really good!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bakemono-no-ko.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bakemono-no-ko.jpg\" alt=\"bakemono no ko\" width=\"625\" height=\"376\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5842\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nIt had a really Japanese-style sad ending but it wasn&#8217;t supposed to be sad. For Americans, it was sad. For Japanese, it&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>I had some lunch and met Tsuru at Dotour where I ate two pieces of milk crepe cake. XD<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tsuru-cake.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tsuru-cake.jpg\" alt=\"tsuru cake\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5836\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was so cool just sitting and chatting! Last year when I visited, I only went to his restaurant but we didn&#8217;t get alone time because he was working and cooking.<\/p>\n<p>Then I met Brittany in Shinjuku and we went to this pancake restaurant where we cook our own pancakes on a grill. &#8220;Slappy cakes.&#8221;  I enjoyed that a lot. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pancakes-brittany.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pancakes-brittany.jpg\" alt=\"pancakes brittany\" width=\"512\" height=\"384\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5837\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n 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! \ud83d\ude00 \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n<p>I went home, rested, and met Goto and we went to Rising Sun &#8211; Lion Takeshi&#8217;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)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/rising-sun-lion-gym-selfie-stick.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/rising-sun-lion-gym-selfie-stick.jpg\" alt=\"rising sun lion gym selfie stick\" width=\"576\" height=\"432\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5838\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, I met Brittany at ten AM in Harajuku and spent most of the day with her.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bri-and-roxy-in-asakusa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bri-and-roxy-in-asakusa.jpg\" alt=\"bri and roxy in asakusa\" width=\"384\" height=\"512\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5839\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n We went to Kiddyland, and then Shibuya for shabushabu. YUMMY MEAT!<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bri-shabu-shabu.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bri-shabu-shabu.jpg\" alt=\"bri shabu shabu\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5840\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThen Disney store. And Asakusa! My favorite places and favorite food in Japan!<\/p>\n<p>Then in the evening I met Goto-san  for sushi. so happy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday I woke up at 2:00 AM, ate breakfast, took a walk, jogged, and did hotel-room yoga. \ud83d\ude42 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! \ud83d\ude42 He gave me his new one,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cultural","category-friends","category-training","category-13","category-9","category-4","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5831"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5846,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5831\/revisions\/5846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/roxannemodafferi.net\/RBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}