Back from Japan

Well after a long trip back home and some time to sleep I'm finally awake enough to write a little bit about my week long stay in Noda Nodashi, Chiba-Ken, Japan.

I traveled there to train in a martial art at the home dojo. Let me first say that going to Japan with someone who knows the how to speak and read the language was extremely helpful. I will have to learn these things before I go back. It was a surreal experience for me to be in a place where I was basically like a child...unable to communicate with other adults or read anything.

The flight to Japan was approximately 13-14 hours from Atlanta but I was extremely lucky. I was able to acquire a buddy pass from an employee that only cost a few hundred dollars and manage to get into business class both times. It was risky to travel this way since you could get bumped from the plane but I landed in the big comfy seats both times. This absolutely ruined me for long flights. It will be tough to go anywhere in coach after this trip.

I learned quite a bit about Japanese culture and about the martial art I was studying. To see the masters of this art in action was amazing. Many of these men are in their 50's and up and they're extremely talented. These are men are capable of crippling or killing someone with very little effort. One of the teachers used his pinky finger to bring me to my knees in excruciating pain. It was very eye opening.

While I was there the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and they were absolutely beautiful. Everywhere there were pink clouds of flowers over parks and along rivers. We also visited Asakusa which is like a suburb of Tokyo. We walked up Nakamise-dori, a very crowded market place leading up to the Senso-ji Temple. It was a beautiful buddist temple where pilgrams still come to pray. If you get the chance to travel to Japan I would highly recommend it. It's a beautiful country and I wish I could have seen more but I will go back. In the metro areas there are more English speaking people and you can always purchase a Japanese phrase book to help with communication.