Back in Hawaii! Whew, it's a lot cooler here ( ^ ^ )

       Sorry for the gap and delay in posting. My netbook had its limitations. I think I overwhelmed it with all the photos and videos I took. I did save most in the external hard drive, but the task itself kept the warning of overuse of whatever keep popping up. For a PC novice like myself there isn't much I can do. Gahahahaha ( ^ ^ ;) Even now I am going through a battle trying to edit and upload the vids. A lengthly battle lies ahead. So I ask all the readers of the Blog to be patient. Instead of creating a new post each time, I will just add on to this one. There probably will not be any order or reason as to what gets posted. It all hinges on what I can get uploaded. Yoroshiku Onegai Itashimasu.

Bo vs Sai demonstration by Ishado Shihan and Yokohama's Nagaie Shihandai.

Ishado Shihan's Sunkei Breaking of 10 roof tiles. The kids were amazed!

More to follow. Waiting for the external drive to finish uploading from the netbook.

Yokohama Dojo Kids trying Tameshiwari for the first time! Most were pleasantly surprised that they succeeded! ( ^ ^)

 Hayashi Shihan leading stretching exercises with a smile.

 Picture prefect front kick 

 Taekwondo style Mawashigeri

Everyone trying to copy Hayashi Shihan's Mawashigeri.

 Gokokuji Temple, Tokyo where my Grandparents are interned. Oyama Sosai's Grave is in the same temple. 

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Oyama Sosai's Grave.

Yokohama Dojo

With Ishado Shihan

With Hayashi Shihan

Sai vs Bo Demo by Ishado Shihan and Nagaie Shihan Dai

It was nice to see "Pekochan" still around! She is Fujiya Confectionary's "star" and has been around as long as I can remember. Since 1950's?? When I was little kid it was always a special treat for me to get to eat some yummies from Fujiya. Of course, I ate here this time around also! Y( ^ ^ )Y

Yokohama is also known for its Chinatown. Discovered a new temple. 

Chinatown means FOOD! Had to figure out how to get into this restaurant! 

Reviewing Shihandai William's Shisochin as done in Kimura Dojo.

Bunkais, Oyos abound and what is seen here is only a very small portion of it.

There also exists numeorus versions of the kata some considerably different while some have ony minor differences. I always tell my students to keep an open mind and that there is really no right or wrong versions of katas.

Group study on effective Oizuki.

Kimura Dojo's core element of Taisabaki.

Day 5 continued ( ^ ^ )

After the morning made it up to Tokyo to watch Kyokushinkan's World Tournament. It was a extreme interest to me as head punches were allowed.

The entrance to the area.

 Attendance aside from family members of the competitors was sparce.

 Team compeition semi finals. There were no retrictions based on gender or physical size. The gals fought boys bigger than them. ( ^ ^ )

 Kids had sharp techniques!

 Compulsory breaking before the fights. Suprisingly quite a few failed and had to try a seocnd time with minimum 2 boards.

 World Tournament competitors. The Bulgarians and Russians were BIG!

 After the tournament went to Shibuya to meet friends for dinner. I needed a Bufferin !

 It was amazing no on bumped into each other!

 Chef making shaved noodles!

 Spicy dumpling soup!

The dumplings were plump and juicy.



Japan Day Five Y ( ^ ^ ) Y

Yokohama Dojo ( ^ ^ )

Last night was the first practice with Yokohama Dojo. It was great! The enthusiasm of all the students was exhilarating. It also felt like a giant pre-school! Gahahahaha.
Will upload some vids later on.....it may take a while.

Negishi Shinrin Park, Sunday's practice location.

Member who braved the rain to particpate in the Sunday morning sesssion.

Also had the Sunday morning Session today. Unfortunatley it was raininh but then again it kept it nice and cool for practice. Three Pokemons and three mommies showed up for the session. The Seniors??????? Fufufufufu. Shihandai had an Iai demonstration to attend so he had a good excuse. Gahahahaha

Off to Tokyo to watch the Kyokushinkan World Tournament. Should be interesting as it uses to face punches with specialized gloves.

More to follow!





Japan Fourth Day??????

It was cloudy and rainy all day, so Michele and her mom suggested we take in a movie at Sakuragicho. (^^)

The Minato Mirai area where the movie theatre was located.

Another view of the plaza in front of Landmark Tower.

Kids can commute to and from school safely by themselves.

A smoking room by the movie theatre waiting area.

Michele and her mom selecting seats for movie.

Close up of the ticket machine.Neat!

After the movie we had the hard task of deciding where to eat!

We all agreed on Tonkatsu!

After dinner Michele and her mom went home while I wandered around the area visiting old haunting grounds. ( ^ ^ )

Needless to say it took a long time getting back to the hotel!
OSU!

Japan 3rd Day

      Today I went to my grandparents Grave at Gokokuji, Tokyo to report the passing of my mother, their only daughter. This was the main purpose of this trip to Japan. I was relieved to see that the grave was in good shape and well maintaned. Unfortunately the concrete Torii gates fronting the grave had become too unstable from subsequent qaukes and had to be removed. Thank goodness no major damage was sustained.

The wooden bucket in front was to carry the flowers and water to the grave. It was a very hot and humid day and I was able to sprinkle water and cool my grandparents.

 Kyokushinkai Founder, Oyama Sousai's grave is also in the same Temple property. I also paid my respects  Sousai. ( ^ ^ )

 The main temple or Hondo at Gokokuji.

 Some monks greeting visitors to Gokokuji

 The keeper of the florist shop on the grounds of Gokokuji.

 A tough looking sentry by the stairs leading up to the Hondo.

One of many memorials on the grounds.

The evening was spent with some FB friends ( ^  ^ )

 Fresh sashimi!

 Fresh mini crabs! ( - -;)

My FB friends. It was a fun and relaxing evening!

Eri, one of my Karate Students in Yokohama. Strong in Karate and Drinking!

She's holding a half a graefruit which is squeezes into the glass of sochu!



Japan 2nd Day

My "home" for the next 11 days. Very compact but has everything I need. ( ^ ^ ).

 Mini Kitchen comes with the basic utensils for cooking and eating.

Mini Refrigerator, Plasma TV, Microwave, Toaster oven and my Bed!!!

The bath! ( ^ ^ ) it's a tight squeeze but I can still soak leisurely in the tub.

Strolled through Chinatown before hooking up with my daughter and her mom.

 Like all Chinatowns in the world, its colorful and jam packed!

 There were a lot more ALL YOU CAN EATS than before.

 Hmmmmm Tempting!

The main temple in Chinatown Yokohama

For whatever reasons there was a Hawaiian Shop in the middle of Chinatown!

 We ended up at Soup Curry place that My daughter loves to eat at.

 I had the 12 vegetables curry at spicy level 3. I still sweated!

 My daughter had the beef at level 5.

Her mom had the Okra curry at level ????? Burn Da Mouth!!! ( _ _ )

BUT IT WAS ONO! (delicious in Hawaiian)

More to follow! Time to catch the train to Tokyo!
Ittekima-su! Y( ^ ^ )Y