The Beast of Shimei Hall

(Statue of a Fox at a Shinto Temple)


This morning, I feel like I have been beaten non-stop with a baseball bat for hours on end. In a way I have, as yesterday morning we trained with the Kyoto Riot Police Judo Squad.

These guys are tough. I was starting to think I was getting good a few days ago as we all threw a few of the guys at Kyoto Uni around + the french contingent, Lee threw the -90 Kilograms frenchie so hard that he didnt get back up for 5 minutes and to rub salt into it he choked another player unconscous (he didnt tap) I bombed a few guys (including Coosez the smaller frenchie) with my Tai otoshi and managed to submit a few of them on the floor aswell. So of course we were feeling a bit flashy. If only we knew what ashita (tomorow) had in store for us.

The next morning at 1030 we caught the underground to meet Sensei Rick at the Police Dojo, as we walked into the compound I realised this was going to be something else as a 6'4 Japanese Riot Cop got out a van, slung his Judo-Gi over his shoulder and walked in the dojo, this guy looked like monster with a shaved head and bodybuilder muscles. I was thinking, ah whatever...must be be local giant. 5 Minutes later after getting changed and entering the Dojo we saw that there were another 40 just like him, with many even bigger.
I'm not going to go into the next 2.5 hours in detail as its all a bit of a blurr, but we got a decent hammering, it was a good session though and I like to think I learned. So we will be going back on Thursday morning this week out for revenge, or another hiding. Either or, perseverence.


(Wolf or not, you be the judge)

After the training we went and saw a few temples in the near locale, I went upto a girl dressed as a Geisha and asked for a picture in Japanese only to hear her respond in a thick american accent " I dont speak Japanese! I speak enlish allright!!" it was a little but embarrassing but I got my picture. Also saw what I believe to be Wolf off the track, aparantly theres lots of wild animals around here: Boar, Fox's, Snake's, Badgers etc.

When we got back home after what felt like the longest train ride, made harder for my as I lost my bike keys and had to run the 5 K's from the train station to our house (wow crazy doing that after hours of Judo, have gotten so much fitter since getting here) we did a quick clean of the house as a mutual friend of Rick Sensei & I's Greg was coming to visit; Greg has lived in Kyoto for 8 years so is a great contact to have aswell as being a good guy. He has a few leads in helping to get me a bit of part time work (1 or 2 hours a week for 10,000 Yen an hour for group teaching) which works out to a couple of hundred NZ'ds!!! would make it easier for me to stay here a longer time as long as it dosnt mess with my Judo schedule - which comes first.
He was totally in awe of our place, hes coming over on friday for our BBQ/Ricks Farewell so that will be cool. Sensei Rick & Yumico also came over and brought us some crackers & half a bottle of wine. Thanks.




(Pocari Sweat, the power of 10 Powerades the ultimate in sports recovery)


After everybody left we all took a power nap to get some energy for that nights training at the local Dojo, we got there an hour early so had to join in with the kids class. When the olds eventually got there and seniors training started it wasnt so bad, especially compared to the hell we had went through that morning haha. We all got thrown a couple of times but we all got some decent throws back on them. The club is more relaxed in its attitude, allmost like the Uni Club back in Auckland.
After training Rick took us guys out to Ramen for dinner, it was really good; for some reason my one was bigger and had extra meat & eggs so I was stoked about that.
Finally dragged ourselves through the door sometime after 10, Lee & I immediatly took care of the bottle of wine which went down a treat.

A few days ago I had a bit of an experience while using our hose shower, this is the 100% honest version before the overly exagerated versions get out from the boys. While I was having my daily shower a HUGE Millapede/Centipede came hooning out of the drain at my feet, seriously this thing was about 25 centimetres long and had big pincers snapping open and shut loudly enough for me to hear the clicking. As brave a man as I am, I did not want to mess around with this thing as it was obviously deadly poisonous - anybody with a brain could tell that. I emmited a loud (Deep) roar, not out of fright but so to warn all the others in the vicinity of this potential threat. I then hastily made my way up stairs, in my haste forgetting my clothes & towel. I was in such a rush as I wished to get a stick to take care of this thing, not run away.


(The Beast of Shimei)

When I returned the beast had been dealt to by Lee who had been informed of the threat by my very vocal warning and so goes the tale of the beast of Shimei Hall.

Training is coming up soon, so time to get my gear together, hydrate and prepare to deal death to my enemies.


J