Day 1 – First day in #japan for #nhc2jpn18 was incredible. We were extremely lucky to be hosted by Yamaguchi Sensei with a history lecture of Matsumae Sensei and #tokaiuniversity. We then had a lesson in creature movements follower by Japanese #uchikomi and #randori with children training at the club.
In the evening we visited the Kodokan watching a Junior class before heading on for randori which was amazing. For those of you who haven’t experienced it, there were goosebumps!
In the evening we were treated to some Japanese culture and took part in Karaoke in Akihabara.
In the morning we had a split group where some went to visit the Kusakura judogi shop and others went to Asakusa to dress up in Kimono or Hakama.
We then had the huge honour of being invited to view the Tokai University training session where the standard of Judoka was apparent when we spotted Shoei Ono, 2016 Olympic Champion. We were then invited to observe the women’s session by Head Coach Maki Tsukada, Olympic Champion.
This was the final stop demonstrating the progression of Japanese judo from the basics to elite level.
Day 6 – Day 2 at Tokai University campus and we were treated to a campus tour by Hashimoto Sensei and Keiko San including a tour of the museum of Matsumae Sensei and his invention that influenced modern telecommunications.
We were then treated to a lecture by Hatsumoto Sensei on the Fundamental Principals of Judo.
We had the honour of meeting such a great Judoka, Yamashita Sensei.
Later in the afternoon we were treated to a Q&A with Agemizu Sensei (Tokai University Men’s Head Coach) who answered all the questions we gave him for over 20 minutes during a Kata session.
This evening we have had the great honour of being hosted for dinner by The Solidarity of Judo Education. This included dinner with Shirase Sensei, Mitsumoto Sensei, Tsukada Sensei, Mitsumoto Keiko, Ozawa Hiroko and Kinoshita Yoko to create friendship through Judo and contribute to world peace.
Please visit http://www.npo-jks.jp for more information and how you can support a great cause.
Day 7 – time to be a tourist for the day. Went to Hakone and Lake Ashi but of course we had cloud today (!) so no view of Mount Fuji, but we went on a pirate boat, bus, train, cable car, gondola, went in an Onsen and on the Bullet train! Beautiful country, brilliant day. We caught the Shinkansen (Bullet train) on video which you can see here
Day 8 – we were treated to a lecture on the history of Judo at the Kodokan by the Kodokan museum curator, Murata Sensei, followed by a visit to the Kodokan museum. We saw many fantastic artifacts but my favourite was Kano’s gi. I’ve been lucky enough to see it before however it really brings you close to a piece of history.
Later that day we went back to Matsumae Judo Juku where we were hosted on day 1 to observe the judo lessons. We were even treated by Hashimoto Sensei to a lesson on Sumi Otoshi which built on his lecture of the fundamental principles of judo which we were honoured to receive at Tokai University.
Day 9 – we were honoured to be invited by Yamaguchi Sensei to have lunch at the Tokai university club on the 35th floor of The Kasumigaseki Building, Japan’s first sky scraper.
We then explored Asakusa for gifts and to look at the beautiful shrines.
In the evening some of us popped to the Kodokan for training whilst others wrote and practised their speeches for tomorrow’s closing ceremony
We were then treated to lunch by Ogawa Sensei, Kodokan 8th Dan to whom we all have our speeches in Japanese.
