Today was Saturday, May 20th. I awoke early and laid in bed reading and watching Japanese TV for a while. Eventually, I went downstairs and took a bath and went to the [i]conbini[/i] (convenience store) down the street to get some coffee and something for breakfast. After returning to the inn, I ate and prepared my stuff for Senou sensei’s class at 11am. I met up with Eric and we walked over to Honbu. It was a very sunny and very warm and humid day. I broke a sweat just getting to training! I was happy to see far fewer people at the dojo this morning as that would allow us to actually take our training partners down to the ground.

Senou sensei’s class was good. Eric and I worked together as it would be our last chance before he left Noda-shi to head to Tokyo for the remainder of his stay in Japan. I was a bit surprised that Senou did not seem very interested in actually helping anyone out. He would show the particular technique and give some insights, but not specifically address anyone. It was still excellent training! There was no designated interpreter at this class so I found myself in the position of helping to determine what Senou sensei was trying to get across to us all from time to time. It was fun and I found that my Japanese was actually quite serviceable.

After class, Eric and I walked back to Azusa, stopping along the way to get some well deserved drinks (a bottle of Aquarius is an excellent post-training drink!). I needed to grab an extra shirt for Oguri sensei’s class at 2pm, so we said our goodbyes and I left to go back to Honbu.

Oguri sensei’s class was very enjoyable. He seemed much more interested in helping us out and was very free about demonstrating his techniques on each of the students in attendance. I worked with an Australian gentleman named Ian who was an excellent uke. As the end of the class approached, I found I was getting really tired and dehydrated so I decided not to attend an additional class in the evening. After class, I chatted for a bit with Peter Crocoll and we made plans to train together at Nagatou sensei’s class the next day. I also met Richard Malouf and talked for a bit about his translations and training.

I walked back to Azusa in the downpour that began just as I crossed the tracks by Atago station and took another bath and a short nap. After a while, the rain stopped and the clouds seemed to break a bit so I walked over to Jusco to look for some gifts to take home and to get some food.

There were some cool, inexpensive t-shirts with great non-sensical phrases in English. I was laughing out loud at some of the weirdness on these shirts. I picked up a few as gifts and one great t-shirt for myself. Of course, the Japanese LL size corresponds to about a medium here in the States, so I wasn’t sure if my “totemo happy” (very happy) shirt would fit me or not. I bought it knowing that I could always give it as a gift. I stopped at the food court and got an order of curry rice and then an order of gyouza (dumplings) on my way out.

I spent then night at the inn taking notes, watching TV and relaxing. I fell asleep around 9pm and then got up around 10 to walk to the station so I could call Robyn. It was a chilly, clear night so the short walk back was enjoyable.