Travelling Knut

I am currently in Japan.
I have been here for almost three weeks now, and it is great!

The whatchamacallit "original" purpose of the trip was aikido no keiko, so the first week we (a bunch of aikidoka from all around Norway) stayed in Tokyo and practiced two-three (some even four-five) times a day at Aikikan Hombu Dojo. Very cool, but extremely intense! Btw, I love the tatami at hombu! Tai-sabaki is very smooth.

Amazingly enough, I got to see a whole lot of Tokyo when I was not training. One day, we started at Tsukiji fish market at around 04:15 and walked up to Ginza and through the Imperial gardens and down to Tokyo Tower and to Roppongi in the evening. Crazy long trip very briefly described. OK, I`ll admit, we didn`t have time for practice this day ..

We spent the week-end in Nagoya (after a late friday singing karaoke with Miyamoto sensei, who can really sing) in an excecutive business capsule hotel. Got to see a bit of the city and Nagoya-jo.

(Pardon me for running through this, but it`s late and I am really tired.)

Next week was spent relaxing in Tanabe. Compared to the twelve million of Tokyo, Tanabe`s population of a mere 80 000 is nothing. And only three of them speak some english! Very interesting ... Through my limited knowledge of japanese, I managed OK (even got a standing offer to stay with a family there the next time I was in town), though pointing and body language gets you miles.

OK, I will go to bed now, so just to "update": From Tanabe to Osaka. From there to Himeji and back again. Again to Himeji and Shirahamanomiya, back to Himeji and down to Hiroshima. Hiroshima-Miyajinga-Hiroshima-Kyoto and that`s where I am now!

Poof!