Stopped by Honbu yesterday and did some cutting, trying to figure out what to do for my demo at the taikai next week. Cut terribly, so that's probably a good sign (?)
Had a big seminar today. Spent the first hour or so with all the upper ranks going over the judging process and how to use the judges flags, etc. After that I took the unranked beginners and beat them senseless. Actually, I just talked them through a few kata and tried to get them to relax a bit and have some fun. A couple of them will be ok if they keep practicing. So, how many of them will still be here a year from now...?
One of the girls was practicing on her own and kept stabbing straight at her friend, so I commented "Trying to kill off the competition before the tournament? Good strategy, Killer." From now on her nickname is "Koroshiya" (killer). Not bad for a four-foot tall giggly Japanese girl. She loves the nickname. No, really.
Came home and Masa came over for dinner. We had the standard Sunday evening feast; ginger pork, Masa's famous miso soup with pumpkin and onions and a boiled egg, spinach and tofu, cucumber with bacon...
imperial palace swan @ night
Crummy day at work, unfocused at practice, so decided to walk home past the Imperial Palace. Reasonably cool night, and as I walked along the moat, I spied a swan pecking at the wall and generally just swimming around looking chill as only swans can. Felt much better after that.
dog day
After practice I got on the subway with Hata-chan, and a woman got on carrying an Annoyingly Small Dog in a Louis Vuitton doggy bag. I started into my standard diatribe about comparing the amount of money people on their dog accessories versus what we spend on human children living in poverty.
Coincidence? As soon as she got on the subway, my eyes started watering, my throat got all scratchy, and I started coughing. Ah, the joys of allergies. I am usually ok, because in a city like Tokyo it's generally quite simple to avoid animals. But not when they are brought onto the damn subway.
Reminds me of the flight a couple of years ago I took from London to New York. Seems someone bought her cat on board. I started sneezing like a madman, and of course didn't have any allergy medicine on me as I made the obviously silly assumption that this would be a cat-free flight. I asked the flight attendant if she could move the cat to the back of the plane, but she said the owner bought her cat a business class ticket seat, and suggested that I move to the back of the plane. I reminded her that I was a business flyer, on a ticket purchased at full fare, two weeks before flying, going from Tokyo to London to New York to Tokyo, working for a company that flies exclusively on United. I said the choices were simple:
1) The cat goes as far away as possible;
2) We wait another hour and, when my allergy attack gets bad enough, we turn the plane around and land back at Heathrow so that I can be taken to the hospital; or
3) I move up to first class.
For some reason the flight attendant actually had to think about it and consult with ground operations before moving me up to first class.
I have nothing against pets or animals in general. I am totally indifferent, having never had any significant pets of my own. What really festers my bunions are people who treat their animals better than they treat their fellow human beings. Never mind the fact that United was so desperate for the sale that they actually sold a seat to a cat. The cat was actually miserable; crying the whole flight, obviously scared out of its mind from being stuck in a caged box inside an airplane surrounded by strangers for 12 hours, and subjected to violent turbulence and altitude changes. I don't know how desperate the cat owner was for her cat's companionship, but the non-cruel thing to do is sedate the animal and stick it in freight. 12 hours later the cat awakes from its nap in New York, never the wiser.
So this lady on the train, with a dog the size of a sewer rat in a handbag expensive enough to feed an impoverished family of 10 for a year, taking this miserable canine-rodent onto a shaking, noisy subway full of strangers, she's not doing ratdog any favors. The short-haired little chihuahua was trembling in fear and wishing it was big enough to support its own body weight instead of being so pampered (read: malnourished) that it needs to carried everywhere.
The only acceptable animals-as-fashion-accessory: fur and leather. Wear 'em with pride, bonus points for killing it yourself.
Coincidence? As soon as she got on the subway, my eyes started watering, my throat got all scratchy, and I started coughing. Ah, the joys of allergies. I am usually ok, because in a city like Tokyo it's generally quite simple to avoid animals. But not when they are brought onto the damn subway.
Reminds me of the flight a couple of years ago I took from London to New York. Seems someone bought her cat on board. I started sneezing like a madman, and of course didn't have any allergy medicine on me as I made the obviously silly assumption that this would be a cat-free flight. I asked the flight attendant if she could move the cat to the back of the plane, but she said the owner bought her cat a business class ticket seat, and suggested that I move to the back of the plane. I reminded her that I was a business flyer, on a ticket purchased at full fare, two weeks before flying, going from Tokyo to London to New York to Tokyo, working for a company that flies exclusively on United. I said the choices were simple:
1) The cat goes as far away as possible;
2) We wait another hour and, when my allergy attack gets bad enough, we turn the plane around and land back at Heathrow so that I can be taken to the hospital; or
3) I move up to first class.
For some reason the flight attendant actually had to think about it and consult with ground operations before moving me up to first class.
I have nothing against pets or animals in general. I am totally indifferent, having never had any significant pets of my own. What really festers my bunions are people who treat their animals better than they treat their fellow human beings. Never mind the fact that United was so desperate for the sale that they actually sold a seat to a cat. The cat was actually miserable; crying the whole flight, obviously scared out of its mind from being stuck in a caged box inside an airplane surrounded by strangers for 12 hours, and subjected to violent turbulence and altitude changes. I don't know how desperate the cat owner was for her cat's companionship, but the non-cruel thing to do is sedate the animal and stick it in freight. 12 hours later the cat awakes from its nap in New York, never the wiser.
So this lady on the train, with a dog the size of a sewer rat in a handbag expensive enough to feed an impoverished family of 10 for a year, taking this miserable canine-rodent onto a shaking, noisy subway full of strangers, she's not doing ratdog any favors. The short-haired little chihuahua was trembling in fear and wishing it was big enough to support its own body weight instead of being so pampered (read: malnourished) that it needs to carried everywhere.
The only acceptable animals-as-fashion-accessory: fur and leather. Wear 'em with pride, bonus points for killing it yourself.
kimono shopping
Hiroko wanted some kimono stuff, so we spent the day wandering Harajuku/Shibuya/Omotesando. First powered up on Nathan's and then went to the used clothing mecca Chicago and loaded up on han-obi. Then we walked up towards Aoyama and hit a few different places. Got a few used kimono and more obi at a Oyama Kimono inside of Oriental Bazaar.
Got home with a craving for steaks so instead of the traditional Japanese Sunday dinner, we feasted on slabs of dead cow and 'taters, side o' greens.
Got home with a craving for steaks so instead of the traditional Japanese Sunday dinner, we feasted on slabs of dead cow and 'taters, side o' greens.
mugaido
Went to Sakaguchi-san's shop in Takadanobaba and checked out his toys. More of a hang out than a store, he's got some nice papered swords and various bits and bobs. One really sweet shinto blade just my spec; unsigned but papered. Have to get some new fittings on it though, as it's kitted out for display not use and that's just NG.
jon gibson & phillip glass
So my cousin (well technically he's my mom's cousin; he was married to the daughter of the older sister of my mom's mom) Jon Gibson was in town with Phillip Glass On Film. They were performing live while showing the classic Dracula. It was most cool. After the show we hung out with the band for a never-ending tofu feast. Phillip played with his rented cell phone taking videos and we were all being generally silly and just eating way too damn much tofu!
fighting
Glutton for punishment. After three straight days of iai, I went to fighting fitness with Hiroko, in an attempt to do something reasonably cardiovascular for a change. The result: stunning pain. I am so out of shape.?And uncoordinated. And out of shape. Did I mention I also can't hold a beat?
kumitachi
Kumitachi seminar today at Akihabara. Haven't been to Akihabara practice in forever. Nakayama-san and I had lunch first (his choice: deepFriedPork!) and then headed over. Good crowd; about twenty. We did the seated kata first; took forever on the first one and then paced well for the rest of the seminar. Yoshida-sensei brought her mom and daughter, both of whom played in the corner as mom trained.
It was good fun and three hours flew by, but after Friday and yesterday, my arms and back were fried.
Started raining so we cabbed back to Honbu Dojo, put the gear away, and headed home. Hiroko made the traditional Kuroda Sunday Japanese Fest, and there was much eating, and loosening of waistbands, and leaning back on the couch and pronouncing "Umph...full..."
As is the tradition, we ended the evening with The Best Show On Television: Kurobara.
It was good fun and three hours flew by, but after Friday and yesterday, my arms and back were fried.
Started raining so we cabbed back to Honbu Dojo, put the gear away, and headed home. Hiroko made the traditional Kuroda Sunday Japanese Fest, and there was much eating, and loosening of waistbands, and leaning back on the couch and pronouncing "Umph...full..."
As is the tradition, we ended the evening with The Best Show On Television: Kurobara.
gyoza
Cut like ass today, and that's all there is too it. Everyone else did really well. I was in my worst form ever. Shoulder hurt, arm hurt, hand bleeding from scraping it on the tsuba. Lots of excuses, but bottom line is I suck and need to practice more.
Came home after practice, chilled and changed, and then had dinner with Will and The Satch, in town for a bit doing pre-marriage things. Gyoza. Mmm....gyoza. So Good. A little meaty drop of joy in a fresh hand-made skin!
Came home after practice, chilled and changed, and then had dinner with Will and The Satch, in town for a bit doing pre-marriage things. Gyoza. Mmm....gyoza. So Good. A little meaty drop of joy in a fresh hand-made skin!
ow
Too much right arm. My right shoulder is my definitive "old man" body part. It hurts; a nice deep, stabbing pain in my bones. If I put to much muscle into my cuts, it lights up on fire and I see stars. Good way to remind myself to use my hips more.
So like the moron that I am I worked way too hard tonight; doing lots of one-armed cuts and getting my back, shoulders, and forearms nice and sore. Cutting practice tomorrow, too.
So like the moron that I am I worked way too hard tonight; doing lots of one-armed cuts and getting my back, shoulders, and forearms nice and sore. Cutting practice tomorrow, too.
arbitrage
Was chatting with our summer interns and came up with a pretty good example to help explain arbitrage.
Say you're looking to buy a book. On Amazon.com the book's price is USD10. On Amazon.co.jp the book's price is JPY1500, and the used market shows a buyer willing to pay JPY1300 for a used copy.
Assuming an exchange rate of 100JPY/USD, then theoretically you simultaneously buy the book on Amazon.com for ten bucks and sell it used on Amazon.co.jp for thirteen, making a nice three dollar profit. That's arbitrage (with an FX component.)
Of course, nothing is that simple. First of all, if shipping from Amazon.com costs four dollars, then you actually loose a dollar on the transaction.
Or, if the exchange rate moves to 110, then your profit drops to not even two bucks. In fact, if the exchange rate moves to more than 130, your profit is wiped out.
And markets naturally seek to eliminate arbitrage opportunities. So if a whole bunch of folks buy the book on Amazon.com and sell it used in Japan, the used market on Amazon.co.jp gets flooded and the price drops. At our original FX rate of 100, if the price of a used book in Japan drops to JPY1000, the arbitrage opportunity evaporates. (Inversely, with everyone buying the book on Amazon.com, the price could rise up to USD13, and then again the arbitrage opportunity is zeroed.)
Also, as people buy more books on Amazon.com, they need US dollars to pay. Demand for the USD goes up, and a dollar gets more expensive relative to other currencies. Folks holding dollars can sell them for more than they could before, demanding say 130 yen for every dollar instead of our original 100 yen. At 130JPY/USD once again the arbitrage opportunity disappears.
Say you're looking to buy a book. On Amazon.com the book's price is USD10. On Amazon.co.jp the book's price is JPY1500, and the used market shows a buyer willing to pay JPY1300 for a used copy.
Assuming an exchange rate of 100JPY/USD, then theoretically you simultaneously buy the book on Amazon.com for ten bucks and sell it used on Amazon.co.jp for thirteen, making a nice three dollar profit. That's arbitrage (with an FX component.)
Of course, nothing is that simple. First of all, if shipping from Amazon.com costs four dollars, then you actually loose a dollar on the transaction.
Or, if the exchange rate moves to 110, then your profit drops to not even two bucks. In fact, if the exchange rate moves to more than 130, your profit is wiped out.
And markets naturally seek to eliminate arbitrage opportunities. So if a whole bunch of folks buy the book on Amazon.com and sell it used in Japan, the used market on Amazon.co.jp gets flooded and the price drops. At our original FX rate of 100, if the price of a used book in Japan drops to JPY1000, the arbitrage opportunity evaporates. (Inversely, with everyone buying the book on Amazon.com, the price could rise up to USD13, and then again the arbitrage opportunity is zeroed.)
Also, as people buy more books on Amazon.com, they need US dollars to pay. Demand for the USD goes up, and a dollar gets more expensive relative to other currencies. Folks holding dollars can sell them for more than they could before, demanding say 130 yen for every dollar instead of our original 100 yen. At 130JPY/USD once again the arbitrage opportunity disappears.
dtww
Double-Tongued Word Wrester: "A Growing Dictionary of Old and New Words From the Fringes of English".
I used to live behind the Orange Curtain, where I went to school with many an asiental friend.
I used to live behind the Orange Curtain, where I went to school with many an asiental friend.
ebt get-together
Chimi's off to Italy soon, so we went to a Japanese tofu place and then met Shlab (in town from HK) at Footnick Pub for some bevvies and silly-talk. Good to get the old gang together. I think I'm the last married person on the team without kids...
kanda festival
Kanda Festival this weekend around Honbu Dojo. I was practicing and getting ready for next week, with Miyasawa-san up from Osaka. Crazy weather: sunny turns cloudy, earthquake shakes the building, thunder and lightning, rain turns to hail, then sunny again. Not sure if the gods were thrilled or pissed.
yard work
Hiroko pulled up all the weeds and swept up the leaves and we burnt the pile in our 'front yard.'
Neighbors are used to us smoking the neighborhood with the BBQ grill, so I reckon this was no different, although I'm sure it's pretty rare (and most likely illegal) to burn yard offage in front of your house in Tokyo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)