Friday
Dinner at Lucky with Eric and some folks. Eric's finally on his way back to NY after several months in his Tokyo office.
Saturday
Laundry, dry-cleaning, 6 taiyaki for breakfast. Had the Denjushiki ("Receiving of the License") for Naganuma, Okazaki, and Ando sensei. Having one Menkyo (licensed) sensei is a big deal, three is amazing. Shiokawa-gosoke gave them each a long scroll, listing that they are licensed in all 20 basic forms, plus the naiden and okuden advanced techniques. Then they each did a few kata (photos later) and finally we went downstairs to feed and drink.
Sunday
Tamitsuji-sensei convinced me to come to practice in the morning, so I went to the newly opened Meguro Ward Citizens' Center. Wow. What a brilliant waste of taxpayer's money! It's a fabulous building that opened a month ago. Completely air-conditioned gym, changing rooms, big lawn...After practice we grabbed some lunch and drove to Hatogaya for some cutting practice. Only about 5 of us, so Tanaka-sensei was giving one-on-one instruction. The result: totally successful one-handed gyaku-kesagiri (rising diagonal cut), four times in a row! I think I'm getting the hang of it, even though I still can't cut cleanly on a draw -- then again that's pretty advanced so there's no reason to expect being able to do so.
Monday
Hiroko and I braved the rain and went to Ueno to try and find Charity and Lee some Korean-made rip-off Kappa tracksuits. Mildly successful. Then we met Masa at Roppongi station and went for a 2 hour thai massage. Absolutely fabulous. This needs to a monthly event!
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