The US Embassy residential complex had their annual 4th of July celebration today and we were asked to demo iai. One of our guys is in a HOG (Harley Owner's Group) club and he and his teams always join the parade, and this year we were asked to do a demo.
We got to the compound at 8:45am and saw all the Harleys. Oh. My. God. There were two main groups: the first group all drove white Harleys tricked out with blue lights and POLICE stickers, and they all wore uniforms like American cops...sort of.
The second group drove tricked out bikes. And when I say tricked out, I mean tricked out like this. My favorite was the side car with a big gold buddha statue on it, but they were all amazing.
We wandered the compound a bit while everyone was setting up. It was basically America inside a big wall, in the middle of Tokyo. Very freaky. All the food stalls were run by large, well spoken military and their families, or large well spoken support organization (Lions, Free Masons, etc.) members and their families. Kids everywhere of course.
And it was really, really hot. We weren't demoing until noon, so we hung out and grabbed a little food, checked out the dojo at the rec center next to the pool, got changed, and prepped for our demo.
It went well, besides being really, really hot. Did I mention it was hot?
We did some kata, and then Elvis and I ran through some kumitachi. Not sure if people were into it, but at the end of the last kata when I deflect Elvis' cut and take his neck from behind, a couple of "OH! Got him!" came from the audience, and there was some nice applause. Never had anyone applause during kata when I "got 'im", but I guess that means they had fun.
When it was over, we changed out, got some more food, and took off. I didn't actually stay for the Harley parade because I didn't want to hang out for another hour in the heat, so I headed back to Hombu, dropped off my stuff, and met P and Tonchan at Roppongi Hills, then walked down to the DoCoMo shop to get a new phone. I have gone back to NEC after trying to Sony. I never should have cheated on NEC, my first and only true love. My new phone has 3D surround sound, a huge 3 inch wide screen, full internet browser, 3.2 megapixel camera, and superfast data.
sushi
sushi
Originally uploaded by renfield.
Took Eimisho out for sushi to thank her for writing my mu. We went to Rokuroku on the 6th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi Hills. Confusing building; when we got off the elevator we were in the Oak Door restaurant and had to walk past the bar and across the balcony seating to get to the sushi place. And of course no signs. I seriously think Roppongi Hills was specifically designed to confuse the hell out of you. But damn the sushi was fine!
soro
After class (huge showing, 11 on the floor at once!) went to Soro in Roppongi to check out the food and chat w/the owner about the demo we have to do on Saturday morning. Seems it's the American Embassy employee apartment's (several weeks early) fourth of July celebration, and for some reason we'll be doing an iai demo. Classic American; no planning no schedule, show up at 8:30, probably demo "first in the afternoon". Love that USA planning! Hopefully there will be some classic US style BBQin' tho, so Elvis and I are looking forward to that.
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