(Thanks to Brian Whitelaw for transcribing this journal and posting the segments on SportKarateCanada.com)
Pete Daypuck’s trip
to Japan – September 2004
The Diary
Day 1 – September 15/16
Pete
Daypuck, a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate from
London Ontario, was recently invited onto the Canadian kumite team to
participate in the JKA Championships in Japan. His fiancé, Sabrina, joined him
on the adventure. The following are highlights from his diary of the trip.
Day 1 - Sept
15/16: Woke up about 6:00 AM ready to go. Dropped Shuey off at Mom and Dad’s
house at 6:30 AM. Had a Timmy’s and boarded the Robert Q at 7:00 AM. Was nice to
see Sabrina’s mom at the station so early to see us off. Sensei Reg (Dad)
dropped us off and bought us the coffees. Thanks Dad!
Arrived at Pearson
on time, regardless of a minor construction delay on the 401. The baggage line
was short so we checked in quite early. Had some time to spend, so Sabrina and I
looked around the duty free stores for a while. Bought 10 souvenir key chains to
give away.
Found Sensei Saeki
at the airport. (He found us). Very surprised - thought he was already in Japan.
Soledad Low was with him. Found Wilfred Seeratan and Elizabeth Seelman from
Toronto. Wilfred is our kata man. Sensei says there are also CJKF competitors
coming from Whitehorse and New Brunswick. Also 8 ISKF competitors from Toronto
(Frank Woon-a-tai Sensei’s group).
I still don’t know
who my kumite team is. Looking forward to setting foot in the Budokan, let alone
fighting there. Also the JKA Hombu dojo. Sensei says we will train there!
Photos are allowed!
The flight is
long. We are at hour 8 of 13, and we’ve watched 2 movies already. Had salmon for
lunch. We have now crossed the international dateline and are over Siberia. Back
home it is currently 9:00 PM Wednesday. Local time is 3:00 PM Thursday! We are
scheduled to arrive at Narita (Tokyo) at 2:45 PM.
Finally arrived at hotel after a long train ride, subway ride and walk. We are neighbours with the Canadian Embassy. Went for dinner.
Woke up very early
– it wasn’t hard as the sun comes up about 4:30 to 5:00 AM! Had a Japanese
breakfast – not sure what everything was. It was alright, but Sabrina didn’t eat
much.
Took the train to
JKA headquarters – 4 floors, with the bottom floor being all administration. The
2nd floor has change rooms and a conference room. The 3rd
and 4th floors are dojos. It is very modern, yet still traditional.
The 3rd floor dojo has exercise bikes, free weights, 6 or 7 makiwara,
and 2 heavy bags.
Tanaka sensei
showed up – everyone was excited. Many other high ranking JKA instructors were
there including Imura sensei and Ueki sensei. Trained on our own for a while –
paired up with Boris from Whitehorse.
Went to a shopping district and market area (Akasaka). Saw our first major temple – unbelievable inside. Back to Aoyama station, ate, went back to hotel and slept.
Day 3 – September 18
Woke up early
again about 5:00 AM – didn’t seem tired. Sensei took us to the Tsukiji Fish
Market at 5:30 AM. One word describes it – INSANE! Thousands of 100lb blue fin
tuna being auctioned off, going for about $10,000 US. In the vendor area, there
are fish as far as the eye can see. Tuna, mackerel, squid, mussels, octopus, eel
and many I don’t even know. Elizabeth, Sabrina and I took sensei out for sushi
at 6:00 AM.
Still can’t
believe the craziness of the fish market. It’s like Wall Street for fish. Even
the drivers were carting fish around at 100 mph on the little ‘smash up derby’
cars. You had to be on your toes not to get run down. It was a zoo.
Back to the hotel
and showered, then to the dojo for more training. Worked out with Boris from
Whitehorse. It’s quite a hike to the dojo from the station. Everyone’s feet are
tired, but it’s all good. We’d all give anything to train at the JKA
headquarters.
Went to Shinjuku
station. Again...INSANE! The amount of people in one spot is mind boggling. 5
corners all packed – the light changes to ‘Walk’ and move fast or get trampled.
It is Tokyo’s busiest station. All high rises are covered in big screen
advertising - Coke, Sony, Hitachi, etc. Video and TV phones are the norm here.
Everyone has one.
Ate lunch at
McDonalds. Sabrina bought a dress from Gap (a 7 or 8 storey building), while
Sensei Wilfred and I just sat on a bench and rested.
Went to a
traditional harvest festival (holiday) with Sabrina, Boris, and Chelsea (from
Whitehorse). Chelsea knew a local girl who was an exchange student in Canada. We
were surprised to be asked to take part in the festival. We had our own costumes
(Happi coats) waiting. We drank Sake with the locals, and helped carry the
Mikoshi (portable shrine) throughout the neighbourhood. Hard work! I couldn’t
seem to get a break as there were not enough people on my side to hold the thing
up and no eager replacements. What a workout. They’ll party all night but we had
to head back to the hotel for curfew.
On the way back to
the station, we passed another shrine and the locals there noticed we were
foreign and simply refused to let us pass until we had a drink and ate some food
with them. We ate wings (and some other stuff?). Had some Asahi beer, gave some
Canada key chains away. They gave us some ‘Karate Kid’ head bandana’s, cheered,
and we were on our way.
Finally made it back. Heck of a long day.
Day 4 – September 19
Woke up late today
– 9:00 AM. We were the last ones to eat breakfast. They were waiting for us –
breakfast is served automatically.
Sensei, Toshio,
Boris, Chelsea, Wilfred and Elizabeth all went to the Junior Shoto Cup. Boris
and Chelsea were competing.
Sabrina and I
decided to take a day trip to Mount Fuji. Had a little trouble figuring out the
train and subway systems without Tosh, but the locals are eager to help. Believe
it or not, we didn’t mess up once!
The train ride to
Gotemba at the base of Mount Fuji is about 2 hours. Once you leave Tokyo the
scenery is breathtaking. Similar to the upstate New York Finger Lakes region but
more tropical. (sub tropical region here). We arrived in Gotemba but
unfortunately Mount Fuji was completely covered in clouds and haze. You couldn’t
even see the outline or a shadow of the mountain. Disappointing.
Sabrina and I went
for lunch at a fairly westernized place called CATS CAFÉ. Gotemba was pretty
touristy as you can imagine, being so close to Mount Fuji.
Took train ride
back and bumped into Saeki sensei in the lobby. Sensei Dick Powell from New
Brunswick was here with his group, and so were other ISKF people from Toronto.
Bed time.
Day 5 – September 20
Woke up early this
morning (7:00 AM). Had breakfast with the ISKF group – scrambled eggs and all
the regular Japanese stuff. Tofu, miso soup, pickled radish, etc.
Straight to the
community centre for training after breakfast. Trained with my teammates from
Toronto and New Brunswick. Only Don Sharp was not there. (ex World JKA kumite
champion – only Canadian ever to win this, and it is very rare for a non
Japanese to win). Too bad. People present were Ray Tio, Stan Tio, Ignacio
Gamsawen, Darren Letson, Eddie Leung, Soledad Low, Crystal Burke, Michelle Ding,
Lisa Hogan and Wilfred Seeratan. Coaches were Sensei Minoru Saeki and Sensei
Dick Powell. Sensei Frank Woon-a-tai was not present. Worked on kumite drills
with Sensei Powell, paired up with Darren Letson.
After training, we
headed directly to Nagano (Boris, Chelsea, Sabrina and I). Took subway from
community centre to Tokyo Station. Grabbed the Shinkansen (bullet train) to
Nagano. We almost left on the wrong train but used a tourist translation book to
ask a lady if we were going to Nagano. Another close call but no huge mistakes
yet! It took about 1.5 hours, the same amount of time to go four times the
distance as we did by regular train yesterday. Arrived at Nagano Station, took
the bus for 100 Yen to the gates of Zenkoji Temple, Nagano’s main attraction. I
thought the other temple in Tokyo was amazing – Zenkoji was unbelievable.
Explaining it in writing wouldn’t do it justice. We got tons of nice pictures,
but no cameras are allowed in the inner sanctuary.
After we’d seen enough of Zenkoji (impossible in one day), we headed back to the station for a late lunch. (5:00 PM). Had Italian for a change and McDonalds for dessert. Back to the Shinkansen and home to Tokyo Station. Tomorrow we train again.
Day 6 – September 21
Up at 7:00 AM for
breakfast. Salmon this time.
Went to the JKA
headquarters with the entire Canadian Team (Don Sharp was not there). Trained
for an hour (Shared dojo with Sri Lanka). Took some group photos. Worked on
timing with Darren from New Brunswick. The Alberta group was here today. Our
men’s team form is looking amazing. They’ll do Sochin, and use Unsu for a
tie-breaker or finals. The team is Stan Tio, Ray Tio and Eddie Leung. They have
a shot at a medal.
We will fight
Scotland in the first round in team kumite. Vietnam has the bye and waits for
us. If we beat Vietnam, we’ll face South Africa on Thursday in the first round
of the quarter finals. 19 teams have qualified, and there are 5 fighters per
team.
From the dojo, we
went to Harajuku, their really expensive shopping district. Huge stores – Gucci,
Christian Dior, Louie Vuitton, etc. Nobody bought anything of course.
From there we
walked further to see a huge Shinto shrine in the middle of Tokyo. Right in the
middle of the craziness they ha a 175 acre park. It was so quiet and peaceful.
The shrine was called Meiji Jingu, and was dedicated to the Emperor Meiji who
opened up Japan’s borders and helped modernize the country in the late 1800s.
The gate was the biggest of its kind with a span of almost 10 metres. The shrine
was very natural and low key compared to the Buddhist temples we’ve seen so far.
Mostly wood (Japanese Cyprus), no gold, silk or bright colours here. Very clean
and simple beauty.
Forgot to mention – while we were at the dojo, guess who walks in.... MIKAMI SENSEI!!! He did battle with KANAZAWA sensei at the All Japan Championships in 1958. The match ended in a draw. Mikami sensei won in 1959.
Traditional
breakfast again. Starting to get tired of it. Didn’t eat much today as I have to
be ready to fight.
Took subway to the
famous BUDOKAN. Amazing feeling walking through the giant gates. Nice stadium,
not sure how many it seats. Two levels of maybe 6 or 7 thousand seats. The lower
level was pretty full. There are around 60 countries I hear. No Muslim countries
though, as their visas were denied. Japan and South Africa have the two largest
teams.
We fought after
Team Kata. The top 4 teams compete in the finals tomorrow (4 pools). Our men’s
and women’s teams both took 1st in their pool. They were amazing. For
men’s, it will be Canada, Myanmar, Japan and South Africa. The women’s are South
Africa, Canada, Japan and Germany.
We fought okay,
but not as good as expected. Perhaps we underestimated Vietnam. Defeated
Scotland easily winning all 5 fights. I won my fight (the 4th match)
2-0 in about 30 seconds. First wazari was a kizami tsuke counter against his
kizami tsuke (jodan) attack. Second point was a gyaku tsuke counter punch to his
kizami tsuke. My timing was better.
We had trouble
with Vietnam. Don Sharp lost the 1st match 2-0 (he won gold in Osaka
in 1996, the only Canadian to win the Shoto Cup). I ended up winning my fight (4th
match again) 2-1. I scored with a kizami tsuke attack (jodan). Then he scored
with a hard reverse punch to the jaw. Must have been fast because I didn’t see
it coming nor do I remember getting punched. It felt like I took a hard shot to
the back of the neck. I was dizzy for about 5 sconds, and I actually didn’t find
out what happened until I asked someone what I got hit with after the match.
Anyway, my second point came in the last 30 seconds with a back leg sweep to his
front leg to unbalance him, and then a reverse punch. Points are hard to earn in
this type of kumite. Has to be a clearly undefended, solid hit, with good
technique and proper zanshin afterwards.
When the 5 fights
were over, we ended up tied. (one match was a draw). For overtime, we sent in
Stan Tio. He fought well but lost. This Vietnam team was very fast and I think
our mistake was looking ahead to South Africa instead of focusing on our
opponents. South Africa destroyed Vietnam. They were way too big and fast. All
over 200 lbs I’m sure, but moved like lightweights and hit hard.
South Africa’s
first match was against Australia. In the first fight, the guy threw a front
kick with the Aussie running into it face first. His nose pretty much exploded.
The Belgium v Venezuela match was crazy too. 3 knockouts. When I say knockouts,
I mean out cold, not moving, paramedics trying to revive them. Venezuela won 3-2
on disqualifications (Hansoku).
I’ve never seen so
many knockouts in my life. At one point it seemed like someone was laid out cold
in every ring. There must have been about 3 doctors and 10 paramedics on hand.
If I had to guess at the total number of knockouts today, I’d say about 20
(conservative estimate), not to mention the bloody mouths and noses. It was
battle after battle. Scary. This was real fighting, not sparring.
This year, they
made us wear traditional foam knuckle pads, which they supplied. I’d say this
was the reason for all the knockouts. Not any padding really – just enough to
reduce the cuts.
Finally got to see
the next Japanese powerhouse fighter, Koji Ogata. He’s big, skilled,
experienced, relaxed, fearless and trained by JKA legends. What can I say? Japan
is putting their future in Ogata’s hands. He fought well and made it to the
finals tomorrow (of course he did). Ogata fought our superstar Don Sharp in
round one (coincidence?). Ogata won 2-0 and Don was the only one that really
challenged him.
Other results that
I can remember:
Women’s
Individual Kata- out of our
4 women, Soledad Low was the only one to win round one. She also won round two,
and ended up losing in round three. Round four goes to score cards (4 pools of
8). Top 4 from each pool go to round five. 8 competitors go through to the
finals.
Men’s
Individual Kata – 3 out of 4
lost in the first round (Wilfred, Ray and Marcel). Ray would have won but lost
some balance at the end of Heian Godan. Stan won his first round after a
tie-breaker. Same with round two. He tied again in round three but lost the
tie-breaker. It was his 6th kata of the morning (not to mention team
kata and team kumite).
Women’s
Individual Kumite – Crystal
Burke from Alberta won her first match; the other three however did not. Too bad, as we had some good fighters. Bad draws
I guess.
Men’s
Individual Kumite – Don lost
to Ogata in round one. Unfortunately, the fight could have been the final. Stan
and Ray Tio lost in the first round. Darren from New Brunswick was the only one
to win round one. He won by IPPON. It was amazing. The Hungarian scored with a
nice hook kick but couldn’t recover to gamae (ready) position. Darren grabbed
his kicking leg and lifted him off the ground, slammed him onto his back, and
punched him in the face. It happened so fast, all 5 referees instantly awarded
him an IPPON which made Darren the automatic winner. IPPON is a potentially
killing blow, with no defence. The Hungarian didn’t get up for a while.
Unfortunately, Darren lost in round two. We nicknamed him “Pile Driver”.
Canada had a rough
time today, with the exception of our kata teams. Good luck tomorrow guys!
I’m happy with my
performance. Two wins, although our team should have been able to beat Vietnam.
It would have been nice to see how we would have done against a powerhouse like
South Africa. I came away from this Shoto Cup with a lot of experience and no
injuries, and an eye opening boost to my karate training. For that I am
thankful.
I still think I
was one of the lucky few to come out of this with my face in one piece. One of
the USA fighters got his cheek opened up with a Japanese reverse punch that also
broke his nose. He won by DQ, but he won’t be fighting tomorrow.
I think both of our kata teams will win medals tomorrow.
Day 8 – September 23
Another great day at the Budokan. It was just unbelievable. As far as kata goes, nobody, and I mean nobody, even fits in the same class as the finalists I saw today. I’m still in awe. I’ll try to get my hands on a video or DVD.
As for the kata teams, the women performed flawlessly. They ended up in 6th I believe, which was their personal best. In my opinion Germany got totally ripped. They took silver behind the Japanese Team who had a timing error. The whole crowd noticed it and showed their disapproval. South Africa took the bronze.
In men’s, Japan won gold, Myanmar took silver (they were unbelievable; apparently they were formerly known as Burma). Myanmar must have an amazing sensei and an intense training program, because they are nipping at Japan’s heels across the board.
BRONZE FOR CANADA! – Way to go boys. Eddie, Ray, and Stan won bronze for the second straight Shoto Cup. They looked clean and very powerful. They’re right up there with Japan as well.
Women’s Team Kumite final: It was Japan over South Africa, with bronze going to Sweden.
Men’s Team Kumite final: Japan defeated Argentina (second straight Shoto Cup final) in a close match up. Bronze went to South Africa. Funny thing is that Japan didn’t even use their best fighter (Ogata) in their 5 man team.
Women’s Individual Kata: Japan took gold, silver and bronze in this division. They simply outclass the competition. Actually, I thought the ladies were better than the men. I’m in AWE. There’s no other way of putting it.
Men’s Individual kata: Again, a clean sweep by Japan. This one was kind of strange – a returning champion took gold and the entire crowd who were not Japanese groaned when the scores appeared. The crowd thought the 4th place competitor from Myanmar should have medalled but didn’t because of the politics.
Women’s Individual Kumite: Fierce battles and size mis-matches. A short Japanese fighter and one tall one, with a tall (maybe 6’ 3”) Yugoslavian girl and a vicious Hungarian rounding out the final four. Satomi Ohuie of Japan managed to beat the Yugoslavian girl in overtime with a beautifully timed Oitsuke to the head which gave her an IPPON. It was nice to see the smaller fighter win. She went on to take the gold. Not only that, Satomi Ohuei is scheduled to assist Mr. Tanaka at our Fall camp in Toronto this October. It’s the first time the JKA has sent a female instructor to a CJKF camp. Last year’s Fall Camp was in Canmore, Alberta.
Men’s Individual Kumite Finals: This was the last event of the day before awards and closing ceremonies. This is what everyone was waiting for. Would Japan’s Ogata win gold and pick up where world famous Kokubun left off? The four finalists were Ogata (Japan), another Japanese fighter Kouichiro Ohkuma, Johan La Grange (South Africa) and a big Swedish fighter. The Swede (Miroslav Femic) ended up beating Ohkuma, while Ogata beat La Grange.
Ogata met Femic the big Swede (actually they are both huge) in the final. They ended with both fighters having scored wazari. After an extra 2 minutes, Ogata was up by a second wazari, and the judges awarded him the gold medal.
After the medal presentations, I snapped a few pics of our Kata Team. I got some pics of the world famous instructors who were judging, but it may be hard to make out the faces. The following chief referees were in attendance: Seguira (JKA President), Ueki, Tanaka (our connection to Japan), Imura, Okazaki, Mikami, Stan Schmidt, Mori, and Kokubun.(not a referee, but now doing movies).
I was amazed with the calibre all round. Most North Americans have no clue of the calibre of karate that exists in the world because we have blinders on. For sport/extreme martial arts, Americans are at the leading edge, but when we talk about REAL karate, we on the sport karate scene are in a dream world if we think we can even compete with other countries when it comes to traditional karate-do.
I’ll tell it like it is; we are good actors but lousy technicians. I’m so happy that Sensei Saeki gave me the opportunity to attend the Shoto Cup. Once again, I feel like a white belt and my training starts all over again. I can now reach new heights after realizing I’m still at the bottom of the heap. You have to see these karateka to believe it. Nothing in North America can touch these Japanese competitors. They don’t need facial expression, fake breathing, they don’t need to hit themselves to make their techniques snap, they don’t drag their kiais on and on, nor does their butt touch the ground in outrageously deep stances. You can feel their power just by watching them move.
After the Shoto Cup we took the subway back to the hotel, got showered and dressed up in our nice clothes. Time to celebrate Ray, Stan and Eddie’s bronze medal. We went out to a nice restaurant; I had squid, sushi, fried rice and Japanese noodles with cod eggs. Good stuff. After dinner we hit a karaoke bar, sang some songs, drank some beer, and had a great time. Sang ‘I want it that way’ by the Backstreet Boys, with Ray, Stan and Boris. The best performances of the night were Toshio’s ‘It’s my Life’ (Bon Jovi), Stan’s ‘Beat It’ (Michael Jackson) – dance moves and all, Sensei Saeki’s Japanese song (nobody knows who sings it) and Chelsea’s ‘Stop right now’ (Spice Girls). The funniest song of the night, BY FAR, was Darren’s ‘YMCA’. He was so hilarious we were all in hysterics.
We headed back to the hotel (speed walking), just in time for 12:00 curfew. (The doors lock automatically at midnight). Sensei paid for everything! We tried, but couldn’t stop him. Thanks Sensei!
Day 9 – September 24
Last traditional breakfast thank God! I love exotic foods but I can’t take it any more. Breakfast is REALLY DIFFERENT than what westerners consider to be breakfast material.
We had a 2 hour train ride on the Shinkansen to Osaka. Checked into our new hotel. This one is a ‘business’ hotel. Still very small rooms, but not so traditional. No tatami, an actual bed, real pillows, instead of the little bean bags, and our own shower instead of the community bath! After check-in, almost everyone took a nap, but Sabrina and I hopped on the Shinkansen for another road trip. It took us another hour and 45 minutes to get to Hiroshima – something we felt we had to do.
Arrived in Hiroshima, met three people from Australia who guided us to the street car. A specific one goes straight to the A-bomb dome. Arrived at the A-bomb dome. Larger than I thought. Weird feeling being there. Took lots of pics. Sabrina’s grandpa, Ken Wood, was naval officer detained in Japan as a POW during World War II. Being in Hiroshima at the A-bomb dome makes the war seem closer to home than just seeing it on TV or in textbooks. Mr. Wood is a Canadian hero and I’m proud to know him. I hope the pictures we bring back for him will reassure him that his efforts and sacrifices in the war will never be forgotten. The plaque in front of the A-bomb dome says it will be preserved forever as a reminder of the devastation war brings to all people involved.
We also walked through the Peace Park and took pictures of the many Memorial Monuments. The most breathtaking was the mound of human ashes, from the 200,000 cremated corpses excavated from Hiroshima’s ruins. The mound is about 15 feet high and is now covered in grass. We took a picture of the remembrance plaque. I hope it turns out.
Heading back to the station, we looked for a MacDonalds. Walked for 45 minutes all the way back and couldn’t find one. Saw about 8 or 9 7-11’s, but no McD’s. Finally saw one in the station, grabbed a combo, and missed the ‘express’ Shinkansen. We jumped on another Shinkansen, not knowing it was ‘local’, and it took us 3 hours to get back to Osaka. It made around 20 stops, instead of the 4 on the way to Hiroshima.
At long last, we made it back – dead tired. Straight to sleep. Real Beds!
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Day 10 – September 25
Woke up early again – 7:00 AM of course. Went down for a CONTINENTAL breakfast – croissants and coffee...mmmmm.
At 8:30 AM, hopped on the train to Kyoto. This was the former capital city of Japan for 1,000 years. We all went but paired up in groups of 4. Sabrina and I paired up with Boris and Chelsea.
There are hundreds of shrines and temples in Kyoto. We picked our three favourites. Sensei said the Golden Pavilion was a must see. Cabbed from the station and made it our first stop. Cost about 2200 yen ($26 CND) for the 20 minute cab ride. Gorgeous ‘Gold’ building with a pond and acres of scenic land surrounding it. Was originally built in the 1200’s as a vacation spot for the Shogun.
Stop number 2 was Nijo Castle. Too much to explain. One interesting element was the ‘warbler’ floor. It was designed to make a whistling sound (like a singing bird) when you walk on it. It prevented anyone from sneaking in. Huge tatami rooms, original wall paintings behind glass for protection. No photos were allowed inside.
Stop number 3 – went to the Heian Shrine. Everything was bright orange. You cannot miss this place. It had a giant Shrine castle (orange) at the entrance, and it was a beautiful example of Feudal Japanese architecture. We took pics with the mountains in the background.
A short walk from the Heian Shrine was the Handicraft Store (another name for Tourist Trap – I snacked on squid on a stick on the way). They had some nice stuff in this 6 floor store. Most of it was way out of our price range, including an 800,000 yen (about $10,000 CND) pearl necklace, but we managed to find a few things. Sabrina bought a nice 1,600 yen hair pin (about $18 CND).
Cabbed back to the station after inhaling a green tea ice cream cake. Grabbed the Shinkansen back to the Tenno-ji Hyper Hotel.
This would be our last night in Japan, so we all got cleaned up and headed out for dinner. I wore some nice clothes because I knew something special was going down tonight. Had a hard time convincing Sabrina to dress nice but I managed. (she was exhausted). We headed out as a group (too bad Wilfred and Elizabeth didn’t come out) looking for a good place to eat. All the places were greasy little smoke pit/bar/eateries since we were in a business/non-tourist area of Osaka. We were ready to throw in the towel and eat at one of these joints (I was apprehensive because I had secret plans that nobody knew about). Then we came across one classy place right beside the station. Lucky for me!
We were all starving so we went in and ordered. At our table was Boris, Chelsea, Sabrina and I. We ordered diced steak, dim sum, potato wedges, spring rolls (I think they had fish eggs in them), and chicken. I also had a beer (to take the edge off). It was now time for the surprise of the night.
I went over to Sensei’s table and asked him to order a few bottles of Sake for me and to give everyone a Sake cup. (I told him I wanted to make a toast to the Shoto Cup). When the Sake came we filled everyone’s cup (Sabrina didn’t want any but I insisted). I got out of my seat, walked up to the front and stated how I enjoyed my experience at the Shoto Cup, and how nice it was getting to know everyone better, etc.
Then I said, “and Sabrina, I just need you to come up here for a minute.” She was still clueless. Sensei was the first to realize what was about to happen, and just about fell off his seat. (I’ll never forget how funny that was). Sabrina comes up, I got down on one knee, pulled an engagement ring out of my pocket, and proceeded to ask her to marry me. She said yes! Her hands were shaking so bad and she almost dropped her Sake cup, tears came down her face – it was priceless. I caught her totally off guard. Considering she didn’t want her Sake beforehand, she certainly downed it pretty fast after that (and another, and a Blue Lagoon). We all had a ‘Kampai!’, and a good time was had by all, especially me.
From the restaurant, we headed to the bar underneath or hotel for another. It was smokey in the bar so Sensei and Boris took off to the Sauna. We stayed for a bit longer. I had another beer and we munched on some kind of pancake/pizza hor d’oeuvres, octopus tentacles, and dried stingray.
Day 11 – September 26
At 8:00 AM, we went down for continental breakfast. Took the train to Tenno-ji Station and hung around for a while. Caught the Shinkansen and headed for Kansai International Airport, just offshore from Osaka. The airport is actually built on a man-made island of recycled garbage and landfill. Brilliant!
The airport is fairly new, but I’m told it is sinking one inch per year. Got to the airport at around noon so Sabrina and I had a nice ‘Italian’ lunch. Did some last minute shopping to get rid of our remaining Yen. I got a nice t-shirt for only 1,000 yen (about $12 CND). Went through security without any delays, and took off on time.
The first meal on the plane was a nice chicken dish with veggies. Watched Shrek 2 for the first time. The second meal was breakfast – I had Japanese style fish and Sabrina had an omelette with sausage.
Last night went fast! We departed at 4:30 PM, September 26 (Tokyo time), flew east for 7.5 hours so far. It is now 1:00 AM on September 27 (Tokyo time), yet it’s only about 9:00 AM, September 26 Vancouver time, We’ll be landing in half an hour. I’m tired now. Haven’t slept all night because all night was only about 4 hours long. It was weird – the sunrise could be seen out the window at about 11:30 PM Tokyo time.
Made it safely into Vancouver. Grabbed our luggage and everyone went their separate ways; Whitehorse, Toronto, Ottawa, St. John, Calgary and Regina. (We ate at Subway with Boris and Chelsea).
We are now
sitting on the plane waiting to depart for Toronto. Departure time is 12:30 PM,
PDT. Arrival is 8:00 PM EDT. (4.5 hour flight). Had a little bit of a nap, and
woke up because food came. Chicken and rice- pretty good meal. I think we are
over Manitoba now – I see a pretty big city, either Winnipeg or Brandon. We have
just under 2 hours to go. Right now it is 7:00 AM on Monday in
Tokyo. Really tired now – time to end this journal. What an experience it was!