KW Team

The bus left from the Osaka University of Health and Sports Science campus at 7am on Sunday morning, and despite what some of you might think, I DID manage to make it on time!

The trip out to the Maishima Arena was a sleepy one, and an hour or so later, we had arrived to the middle of nowhere. To my surprise however, the middle of nowhere is marked by a massive gymnasium with an even bigger (practically empty) car park.

In true kendo competition style, the doors to ...

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My resilience to various “every day” encounters in Japan is growing weaker by the moment, and all I can say is “thank the kendo gods for giving me an outlet such as training to rid my frustrations!”

Spawned from two separate encounters in one day, my new pet hate is having someone talk about me, in front of me, as if I wasn’t even there. Certainly, my Japanese is not perfect. Yet, despite my best efforts and in-head preparation for an assortment of situations, bank tellers, shop assistants ...

Things I like about Japan:

 Heated toilet seats and the “digi-flush” – I don’t understand why these things are not common place in NZ!? But it has been decided, I’m getting one when I get back!
 Tabehoudai (all you can eat) – is there any greater pleasure than this?
 Nomihoudai (all you can drink) – yes, yes there is.
 Little yakitori restaurants – the provider of the above two pleasures.
 Bédé – those who know ...

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As the kendoka of Japanese universities move quickly into “shiai season”, regular trainings at Taidai dedicate a good portion of keiko time to selection bouts between the regular team members…and the rest of the best!

As a result, for better or worse, I have had the opportunity to practice my shimpan (referee) skills. I say for better or worse, because most of my shiai experience has involved time in the ring in with a shinai, not a pair of flags. Thus, when it comes to deciding whether ...

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Early yesterday morning, I trudged off to Keiko for a 7:10am start…(considering that I’ve been a lazy student for the past 3 years, I’m sorry to say that anything prior to 10am is REALLY early!)

This was the first asa-ren (morning training) that has been held since I joined the school in recent weeks, so I was not entirely sure what to expect in terms of the training menu.

Before we got started, my new cling-on kohai informed that the first part of the training would ...