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[Mar. 5th, 2007|08:31 pm] |
Hey folks, well got some interesting stuff for ya today. I've been back from Shorinji camp for a few days now and it was a very interesting experience to say the least.
First and foremost, we rode the Shinkansen. I would equate taking the bullet train to flying without ever really taking off. You hop on, the rows are set up three seats on one side, two on the other. Its even got the same coloration as most planes. The only difference is you stop periodically at major cities. We got on at Tokyo and stopped in Yokohama, Kyoto, and Kobe, all very popular cities. We covered pretty large area in only about three hours too. Of course, our destination wasn't a Shinkansen stop, so we had to switch back to the normal trains at one point, which was another hour or so, not to mention the initial jaunt to Tokyo, one hour, and to top it all off a four mile walk to our retreat house called a Yaado. Before I get to the actual camp I'll have to touch base on one of the most important things to me...the food.
The meals cooked for us at the Yaado were exemplars of Japanese utilitarian meals. This isn't to say they tasted bad, they were actually pretty good but for the natto. These were the meals that I think a lot of Americans think of when they think of Japan, a few small fish or a shrimp. Or a fried egg and a hambagu (more like a meat loaf than a hamberger) and the biggest portion of the meal was a large bowl of rice. and of course, curry, one of the easiest and cheapest meals out there.
Anyway, onto the main point. The camp took place at the Shorinji headquarters for every dojo world wide. I found out that there are dojos in America, Canada, England, Germany, France, Indonisia, a few spots in Africa, and several other countries. There were college students from across the country there for a grand total of maybe 1200 people. And of course, being the only American, I wound up drawing the attention of a few different people, especially english students, so it was fun meeting new people. However, I also practiced on a hard wood floor for the first time instead of a tatami or a gymnastics mat. Needless to say I wound up with buises up and down one leg. I also got a new experience of practicing with someone on the same level as myself.
Because of the odd time of year I came to Hakuoh, I've been stuck at white belt much longer than I think people normally are. My senpai try to be considerate of that I think, they show me a few things that are from the next level up, heck, even on of the older sensei's let me practice a move whose name translates roughly into 1st backbone throw...that was tons of fun. All the same, I've always trained with someone who was a teacher, rather than a partner persay. So I finally got to share some pointers with some other folks who were on my level. I also had some help with just regular training which is hard to get because everyone else is usually trying to practice stuff at their level. Anyway, thanks to that practice, I had bruises up and down my arm. And I got punched in the bridge of the nose cause I didn't move fast enough, didn't leave a mark though. One of my friends got his lip busted though, so I guess I got off more or less lightly.
I'd actually say the toughest thing was that in six days I didn't see, nor speak to another American in any way, or any other native english speaker for that matter. It was fantastic practice and I can only hope I get another chance like that, but it did get really tough psychologically. I think Americans tend to be more...I think the word is autanomous...than Japanese folks. The doling out of responsability goes entirely to the senpai, where as the first years don't have to make (and don't get to make) a lot of decisions. Now, ask anyone who knows me, I'm not a very rebellious person...usually. I take to structure fine and I know how to listen to authority. But the amount of structure and dicipline sort of started to get to me a bit. Like the concept of walking down the road and the senpai at the rear would call out if she wanted single file or two file lines in case of cars or whatever, and of course, the senpai up front would be responsible for getting us where we were going. And of course, when the day of practice was over, we filed out together despite dinner not being till seven. A group of Americans would have walked rag tag down the road, spread out doing more or less whatever they want, each person responsible for getting themselves where ever was they were going. I'm not complaining, but when you try to fit in with a structure that your not useful, and don't really have anyone to voice your feelings to, it can get tough. Still, I got used to it and by the end it was coming more or less naturally to me.
I also managed to get my first real look at some serious conflict resolution and I gotta say, I was impressed. At one point a piece of equipment got lost, bearing in mind we brought our own stuff and only as much as we needed, we really couldn't spare it, so our captain got pretty angry. Not hissing and spitting angry with lots of shouting, but a very firm tone of voice and a stern reprimand. Later, the first years got together and wrote out a list of things that they felt were rather unfair. I think mostly what it was was that the Senpai were putting a lot of pressure to get them to be more responsible, because they are going to be the leaders next semester when all the third years become fourth years and have to go find jobs. There aren't any second years, thus, the burden gets passed to the next logical set of shoulders. One of the big problems though is that the first year students almost all live on their own, which is a heck of a feat for a college student in Japan. i.e. having to hold down jobs that eat nearly thirty hours a week. The senpai who were with us all live at home, thus one less thing to worry about. Anyway, as if writing a list of well thought out complaints while the third years did the same in a different room weren't enough, the next day the captain apologized for using "foul" language (for lack of a better translation) and for being so strict and explained that he wanted the first year students to succeed, listening to the tone in his voice I could see that he was genuinely concerned for the future of the other students, it was pretty incredible I have to say. Later that same day, we all broke into groups, one of the four senpai to four of the first years. I of course, was a passive listener in this particular issue becuase Culture here seems pretty strict in general to me.
Anyway, once all of that was resolved, the whole issue was dropped and everyone went back to being totally friendly. Although the truth is, they never really stopped, it seemed like they seperated the issue from their friendship. I feel like Americans would have been a bit cold to one another until the issue was resolved, then everything would be fine.
The last day was the most fun for sure. We practiced, we had a short ceremony, and then took a new route going home. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the most incredible slide I'd ever seen. It had to be twenty yards long. You had to climb a hill to get to the top of this thing and it was like a rollar coaster were it went horizantal and you had to push yourself along the rollars to keep going. Unbelievible fun. After that it was a nice dinner and a party to celebrate.
Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that a seventy year old six inches shorter than me punched me (I was wearing a vest) and knocked me back a step. Its nuts to see what a life time of working out and training can do for a human body.
Now that camp is over and there's just me and one other American left, I'm trying to figure out the best way to spend my time for the next month. Luckily I might be getting a few more students, so yay more money. I couldn't really ask for a better job, I basically get paid ten dollars an hour to speak real basic english and practice my Japanese. ^_^
I'll be going to Disney Land this weekend, I'm sure that will warrant its own article so stay tuned everybody. |
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