Ukemi, The things you'll do for Mrs. Sensei/A Terrifying Image (Images), and Catching up/Ketchup

Over the last several days I have been able to add falling from techniques back into my Aikido by modifying how I fall (ukemi).  I've been doing backfalls with a straight right leg that resemble a cross between yoko-ukemi (side falls) and the ukemi that Dan Hayes Sensei and his school do (what we call panda rolls).  On one side it's basically the ukemi Dan Hayes's school uses--on the other, I have to kick out my right leg since it won't bend and sidefall into a panda roll (to use the momentum to get back up).  It's more exhausting physically than regular falling, but it allows me to take backfalls again.  I also have started taking front falls from pin techniques by modifying heavily how I fall (special care needs taken when I take tenkan versions of techniques that spin me down--I have to one-legged squat on my good leg for a brief interval on one side, but the other is a bit too complicated to explain what I do.  To get back up I do an exploding pushup (kind of like a clapping pushup) onto a straight right leg and a bent left leg.  Again, much more exhausting than usual falling, but I can at least fall (and extra workout is probably good for me)).  After a few classes of that, I was able to add in front rolls again by doing a combination of our yoko-ukemi and a panda front-roll (keeping both legs straight--it's basically a slapping roll/rolling tumble with a modified angle into a panda roll).  It's good most of the time but all of these falls are 1) more exhausting than usual falling and 2) take more space than usual falling, which is a bit of a problem when there are a lot of people on the mats; as such, I've added several other unique 'straight-leg' falls into my repertoire.  It's been a bit rough, physically speaking, but it's been good, and I think the Sensei appreciate me putting in the effort to train hard (especially since I'm able to overall take regular enough ukemi that it doesn't hinder my partners.  Several people have not even realized I'm injured and just think I fall strangely).

Beyond the usual ton of practices, cleaning, walking quickly large distances, and serving tea, the last few days have had some other interesting occurrences.  Wednesday was a national holiday for the first day of Spring, so we had no classes and headed out with Mrs. Hiroaki Sensei and their daughter, Kaho.  They wanted to show us the young and hip parts of town near Shinjuku and Shiboya.  It had been a cold night, and our trip started out with a beautiful (but chilling) wet snow!

We stopped one station before Shinjuku to eat at a Russian restaurant; entertainingly enough, they served Bierock (which is a Russian food the Volga-Germans who settled our area brought back with them).  I found it rather funny to be eating near Russian nesting dolls with an actual Russian (Anya, the uchideshi) in the middle of hip Tokyo when the food was something I can get almost any day in my home city in Kansas (and which brings back memories of home).

After a delicious lunch, we moved on to a famous street crossing in Shinjuku.  I got a kick out of all the umbrellas--from several angles it looked like the streets were rivers with lily-pads floating down them (or drifting around them as the current took them).

After that, we hit up some different stores in the area and then went to a special photo-booth store that high school and college girls go to; it was completely full of photo booths and girls in various costumes and/or with quite a bit of makeup on.  Apparently it's a normal cultural thing for them to go to such stores and get themed photos taken--the photo booths (and there were dozens) modify the person getting the photo taken with software (shrinking the face, enlarging the eyes, putting on digital lipstick).  As you can imagine, it felt strange to be one of about five men in a store filled with dozens of girls taking glamour shots (the others looked like bored fathers or boyfriends--I thought one guy was going to fall asleep staring at his phone as he waited).  This jumps into the segment 'the things you'll do for Mrs. Sensei.'  Mrs. Sensei paid for the girls AND the guys to get into one of these booths to get glamour shots.  She was laughing quite a bit and very insistent that O-san (the male Chinese uchideshi) and I join the girls.  I could tell it would make her happy and that she wanted it, so I complied... the things that you'll do for Mrs. Sensei.  I will not scar you with all the images, but I will share (hopefully not to my extreme regret) one or two of them for your... entertainment.  Before the unveiling, though, I want to show you the name of our photo booth.  You English speakers might understand why this name will probably never be marketed in the US and why I was trying not to laugh as I entered it to get a photoshop of myself that would 'glamourize' me.

And here are the kawai and kawaii (cute and scary) results...

Oh the things you'll do for Mrs. Sensei...  

I did get a bit of a kick out of the 'back room' at the photo booth.  It had the only other five men in the building (besides those of us that got pulled in by women).  Five very 'hip' and (presumably) 'hot' young Japanese men were standing in front of a horde of Japanese girls making jokes and flirting at microphones.  Somehow I wasn't surprised--even as I found it pretty funny.

After our photoshop adventure, we went to another part of town and enjoyed some sweets.  I had a bit of fun with Lin-san, our female Chinese uchideshi, by hiding her cake behind the menus and replacing her plate with the eaten remains of Kaho's cake.  Then Anya and I 'ate' a few finishing bites of her cake as she arrived.  Here's the cake and the prank.

Finally, after a long day we went through 'cute' street, where the 'cute culture' people go.  It was... unique.  There were a lot of French-looking shops and tons of 'cute' accessories.  Not too many people were actually fully geared up, though some were (it wasn't really polite to take photos though).  Cute culture would take too long to explain, but it's a regional phenomenon (like liking small faces--hence the photo booth that shrinks your face) that involves wearing clashing and highly colored 'cute' clothes and trying to look adorable.  It results in some strange fashion, to say the least.

Once through cute street, we headed back to our respective dojos, except that Mrs. Sensei and Kaho live above us, so when we were close to home they took us out for some Udon noodles, which were a tasty supper to end the day with.

The following day was a Thursday, which has super early classes at Kodaira followed by Soshihan's women's class back at Tokorozawa, which is always one of my favorite classes.  The rest of the day is typical (multiple classes, cleanings, and transit between dojos).  Friday Kaho cooked breakfast for the Sensei after the morning class and the rest of us helped.  I enjoyed cutting up vegetables and doing monotonous work that had tangible results.  After breakfast, work, coffee, and work, we were allowed our afternoon to do what we wanted.  I ended up heading to Kodaira with Lin-san to get my new hakama (they sell them at an uchideshi discount if you buy it in-house) and give them mine to trim the length some (a 'fringe' benefit--and yes, I love that pun).  I then headed to Hombu dojo (International headquarters) to pick up my yudansha booklet, which had just finished getting updated to reflect my second degree black belt that I'd earned in January.  It will be useful to have it when I go to Germany.  After hurrying back, I only had enough time to do some more chores and gun it back for evening class at Kodaira.  

Saturday was typical--which does include Soshihan's morning class (and shoto following), which is one of my other absolute favorite classes.  After the morning and lunch classes, I was lucky enough to be able to grab some food with Shun-yi (that's how it's verbally pronounced--he's Hungarian and his name has characters in it I can't replicate on here) and his wife, both of whom are students of Kobayashi Shihan and Hiroaki Sensei.  Shun-yi was uchideshi years ago and has seen many uchideshi come and go (he even remembers Dyer Sensei and Jeremy being here).  He has very interesting perspectives on a variety of things, and I greatly enjoy chatting with him about culture, Aikido, and life.  

Following that, I had some work done on my knee by Himi-san, who is a local therapist.  It involved electrodes and an ultrasound machine used to massage deep tissue along with some classic massage.  It felt very good, and I greatly appreciated the treatment--especially since he included some cold packs to take home and refused to let me pay (again--the usual uchideshi price with him is free).  Then I had to hurry on to the next cleaning and class.

This cleaning and class was different from usual in that I was flying solo.  Apparently O-san was helping Lin-san cook at Kodaira, so I was the only uchideshi covering Tokorozawa.  I had to do the cleaning, tea preparation, get Sensei's hakama ready and the lights ready etc. all on my own.  I was able to remember everything and do it correctly, which felt nice.  Doing all of the prep for the class and greeting the students until Sensei came down (95% of the time 5 minutes before class) helped me better understand how the role of uchideshi fits into the community at this dojo.  When it's just one person, they are pretty vital to making everything run smoothly--it was interesting to think about and to think about how other uchideshi perceive their roles.  

Anyway, after class I had to figure out what Sensei wanted prioritized, because I had to be doing multiple things at the same time (folding his hakama, preparing tea, supervising cleaning).  He generally directed me to what he wanted, though often the order wasn't what I expected or he wanted it done in a way that was different than usual.  After the tea and some extra work Sensei gave me after class, I hurried to Kodaira, because (as I'd been informed earlier that day) there was a party for me and O-san as we were leaving; that's what the cooking was for.  Unfortunately, by the time I'd arrived Kobayashi Shihan had already headed up to bed and most of the party-goers had left.  I guess they had changed their minds a bit last-minute and had just done a quick thing after class.  Since that class got done at the same time as the one I was helping with at Tokorozawa (and there's still tea afterwards and the transit between dojos), there was no way I could have made it.  I was a bit bummed, but I did enjoy chatting with Shun-yi and the other uchideshi (and drinking some special Hungarian alcohol and Chinese alcohol).  After that, it was quite late and I needed sleep, so I headed back to Tokorozawa.

That catches us up to today (minus a couple things I'll post about as their own posts).  Today had a bit of down time at the start (the first of the days we get to sleep in until 7:30AM before cleaning, which is epic).  O-San left for kids' class at Kodaira, and I headed out an hour later after getting more work done here.  I missed the train I wanted to catch (there was one to an alternate stop at Kokobunji that I knew not to take from previous experience) and had to super-power walk to make it in time.  I prayed a bit about it, because I knew it was very important to get there as kids' class was finishing to help with cleaning, otherwise it would upset the other uchideshi and possibly Kasahara Sensei, but my body can only move so fast with an injured knee.  I feel like my prayer was answered because everything--even the lights--worked perfectly, and when I got there a ton of members were outside waiting on the kids to finish.

Yano-san, the instructor who is friendly to uchideshi and had bought us all food, asked how my knee was.  When he learned it was still bothering me, he insisted I go to his car and that it was ok (that it wouldn't bother the others if I was late to cleaning) because he was helping me.  He does acupuncture, so I had a pretty good guess what was coming--and I was half right.  He did ask where it hurt and used some needles (they go WAY in--it's crazy to watch, and one hurt a fair bit).  Then, to my surprise, he hooked up electrodes to them--turns out they are conductive needles!  It is a very strange experience to have electric current generated an inch or two BELOW your skin, which makes those muscles convulse.  He used my pain level to set the machine to where it was tolerable, and then I got shocked through some needles for about ten minutes.

I think that it actually helped long-term, but short term it hurt and left my right knee in a bit of pain right before adult class (I had fifteen minutes to change after the treatment).  I managed to make it through the class, but my knee was really hurting.  A group from Macao was visiting, so Yano-san was taking video of the class.  He caught me throwing technique here (forgive the bending in the posture--when your leg can't bend and you need to control where uke lands because the mat is crowded, you modify a bit):

I also noticed something that was making me quite nervous.  My left foot was locking up and hurting more and more over the course of class.  By the end of class, I was limping because of my increasingly sore right knee AND left foot!  Internally I was cussing a bit--these people were going to think I was the injury king and/or a crybaby if this foot got hurt, too.  I've mostly healed up from that weird guy at hombu cranking through the wristlock, but if my left and right legs were compromised I was going to be in a bad state.  I realized after class it had been the super-speed walking while limping that had likely done it; when I couldn't take pressure on my right knee and was hurrying it put extra strain on the left side and left the foot hitting hard--and that's a 15 minute power-walk.  

We ended class with some speeches by the Macao people, and then it was time to hurry back to Tokorozawa for the last class of the day (Sunday only has 3 hours of class-it's part of our break/slow time).  The others biked, and I hobbled.  The left foot was legitimately bad and the right knee was worse than it had been for a couple of days.  I prayed about both as I walked, and once I got back I had to seriously weight how much I could participate in class.  After getting ready, I started massaging my foot heavily for about ten minutes and then class started.  While I was standing on the side as the others rolled, I prayed and felt like I should pull up hard on the outer sides of my foot while dropping my weight through it.  I decided not to question the impulse as I was actively praying and to trust it and just did it--it felt like something was tearing and hurt quite substantially as I did it twice, but afterwards, it was better to put weight on (and got increasingly better as class progressed).  My knee also hurt, but blood flow and circulation to it from falling (I was taking all regular falls) seemed to be loosening it up.  By the end of class, I actually felt good, which was EXTREMELY nice.  Before class I was cold, exhausted, and in a fair bit of pain--questioning if I could even do class.  By the end, I was sweaty, warm, and felt good overall.  My knee stiffened back up later in the day, but the foot has been fine since!  I spent the time after class getting chores and dojo duties done and then responding to some messages and posting on here.  Now it's after midnight, and I need to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Japanese Innovation #4 Ketchup/Mustard Packet
After class and chores and messages tonight before I posted, I went down to the local 7-eleven and bought supper (it's much nicer here than back home--it also contains fully pre-made meals and grocery items!)  I also bought a giant sausage/hot dog on a stick to eat on the way back, because I'd only had coffee for lunch and was ravenous.  The cashier included a ketchup and mustard pack.  I was a bit bummed because ketchup sounded good but I wanted to eat my protein-on-a-stick NOW (that's why I'd bought it).  Outside under a street light, I looked at the packet and tried to figure out where to open it.  Then, through the mysterious kanji on it and the little pictures, I realized that you don't have to find some little slit to get your fingernail in to pry this thing open, NO!  It's built so you can bend it in half and the ribbing on it snaps, opening two small holes so you can squeeze out measured amounts of your condiments as you walk.  Hot-dog-on-a-stick just got classier as I snapped the packet and squeezed out little amounts of ketchup and mustard whenever I wanted WITHOUT hassle or making a mess.  Go Japan!