shopping

Hiroko and I had a Shibuya date -- went to Loft and Tokyu Hands to get some supplies (wood putty and black tape to fix my sword scabbard) and look for furniture. We need a couple of small tables, one for next to the couch and another for the bedroom. Failed to find anything decent, but did stuff ourselves silly at T.G.I.F.'s.

Lucky

Valentine's Day, and also our 5th anniversary! Went to Kubota-sensei's practice in Nagatacho for the first time in a while (no Niina-gosoke practice) and then met Hiroko at Lucky for dinner. Mama wasn't there, but someone called her and told her we came in. She was really busy and couldn't come back to the restaurant, but she did give us a Happy Anniversary message and of course they gave us some free food -- I love that place!

quilt

How cool is this?

quilt

Remember when I said my dad is cooler than your dad? Well, my mom is cooler than your mom and dad put together, eating sushi and riding Segways.
My mom maid me the coolest quilt on the planet. First, it's huge, dwarfing our queen-sized matress. Second, it's made with all the cool Japanese fabrics I've been collecting over the years and sending to my mom. Third, it's mostly blue, a color which, as you know, is superior to any other color in the universe.
As soon as I overcome my stupendous laziness, I will download the photos from Hiroko's digital camera and put them up.

Oh yeah, I've just been officially told that as of March I am to be lead the Tuesday student's practice. I guess this means I will get my assistant teaching credential soon, too.

movie and noodles

Saturday Hiroko and I went to see Bowling For Columbine. Excellent flick. Asks the tough question: what's up with Americans killing each other? The murder rate in the US is 10 times more than in any other first-world country. So what gives? Violent history? How about Germany and Japan. Proliferation of guns? Canada's got 10 million households and 7 million guns, but they don't shoot each other in large numbers like Americans do.
After the flick we got some dame fine udon; fat noodles nice and al dente.

On Sunday I went to Nippon Budokan to see the 26th All Japan Traditional Martial Arts(kobudo) Demonstrations. Pretty cool; 30 or so different martial arts, from ancient rifles to spear, sword, naginata, and weaponless arts. Some cool highlights: women in kimono practicing naginata forms from 400 years ago. Best move: woman's naginata gets entangled by attacking guy's sword, he knocks her weapon from her hands and goes in for the kill, but she grabs the short sword in his belt and kill hims with his own sword. Also some cool kusarigama versus sword where the weighted chain is used to wrap up the swordsman's foot or neck.
Much of the sword work was...different than what I'm used to. Alot of it was very slow and deliberate, but maybe it was just my ignorance about other styles. Some cool samurai arts done in full armor, including knife work with takedowns.