Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Celebrity Spotlight!

Its been awhile since last updating, but the past week has been really busy and a lot of fun. Some highlights include:
  1. my reintegration of exercise now that I'm set up as a member of the Tokyo American Club - I've been heading over at least 3x a week to build some muscle!
  2. I found a closer Jiu Jitsu academy and started training there last week.
  3. Spent a day over at Dream.6 MMA event (soon to receive its own blog post in my fight sport review featurette).
  4. Sampled Tokyo's nightlife with 2 back to back late nights in Roppongi & Shibuya.
Along the way, I've run into 4 Japanese celebrities all well-known to Tokyoites and a large portion of the Japanese population. Here's a quick bio for each and how I met them.

  • Nobuhiko Takada:
    • Met him at the Tokyo American Club while working out of the weekend in the weight room.
    • Takada was an extremely popular Pro-Wrestler in Japan during the early 90's and drew a crowd of 65,000 during of his fights in a main event in 1996.
    • After pro-wrestling, Takada decided to try his hand at Mixed Martial Arts and headlined the inaugural Pride Fighting Championships event. Due to the success and popularity of the show, Pride was developed into a major promotion in the years to follow.
    • Retiring in 2002 from fighting, Takada became the chairman for Pride and oversaw the rise of the promotion during the golden years of 2003 - 2005. He remained until Pride disintegrated in 2007 on the heels of a Yakuza (Japanese mafia) scandal.
    • Currently, Takada is back to his roots running a smaller pro-wrestling event called 'Hustle'.
      • Being a big fan of Pride I spoke to him for 10 minutes about the company and the current status of MMA in Japan. He was very friendly and offered to work-out with me in the future.


  • Fedor Emelianenko
    • Met him at a special fan greeting session an hour before the Dream.6 event on Tuesday.
    • Fedor is the undisputed #1 heavyweight MMA fighter in the world, with a record of 29-1 (with his only loss coming from an illegal strike).
    • Pride's Heavyweight Champion, 4x World Combat Sambo Gold Medalist (a Russian derivation of Judo), as well as a medalist in Russia's national Judo championships.
    • Currently fighting with AfflictionMMA - a new American MMA promotion rivaling the UFC.
      • The first 300 fans at the Saitama Super Arena were able to speak to and shake hands with Fedor. I was sure to be one of them.
Here are a few pictures I snapped of him


  • Bob Sapp
    • Ran into him this past Friday at night on the streets of Roppongi
    • Former NFL Offensive Lineman (drafted 3rd round but only appeared in one pro game) and brother of Warren Sapp
    • After NFL, the 6'4 375 lbs Bob Sapp moved onto American Pro Wrestling and later... Japanese pro wrestling.
    • Sapp transitioned to K-1 (Japan's premier kickboxing organization) and also Pride (MMA).
Due to his popular personality and gigantic size, he became a huge celebrity in Japan, appearing on TV variety shows as well as a number of commercials in Japan. He parlayed this success into a short-lived music career and released a CD entitled "It's Sapp Time."
CD cover art
    • Currently Sapp is expected to return to K-1 after a 3 year hiatus.
      • Spoke to him for only about a minute where he told me he'll be making his return to fighting this New Year's Eve in Japan.

  • Atsushi Sato
    • Spent Saturday night with him & his friends
    • Lead singer in hugely popular Japanese band 'Exile' (J-Pop/RnB)
    • Exile has 3 of the top 10 songs on iTunes Japan, with one of them "ti Amo" sitting at #1.
    • Exile's latest album, Exile Love, has sold exceptionally well, selling nearly 1.5 million copies in less than four months.
      • I met him with my friends in Shibuya when I went up to a small group of Japanese twenty-somethings and asked them which club to go.
      • They told us to come with them and they eventually led us to the fairly popular "Club Asia" in the outskirts of Shibuya.
      • Along the way his friends told me that he was the singer for Exile, but I didn't really know anything about them at the time, so I just talked to him like everyone else.
      • I think he liked not being asked all the same things his fans say to him all the time and he was really nice to me the whole time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3-SszWA8Ak


(Link to their #1 song ti Amo)



*Well that's all for now. Expect the full Dream.6 review soon. I hope to keep the stars coming!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Fight-Sport Review 1: Sumo



As you may already know, I'm a huge fan of MMA and I also enjoy some other variations such as Kickboxing and Grappling (boxing is boring), so I'll be attending a number of live shows over here to see it first hand.

The first of which happened this past weekend on Saturday, right after I dropped a disappointing match in my return to squash (my partner had played for over 20 yrs...), I caught a train over to Ryogoku Kokugikan - the main sumo arena servicing Tokyo.
mural outside the entrance


The stadium had a capacity of about 13,000 and my friends and I got the cheap seats all the way in the back. Luckily for us, since the stadium was small, there wasn't really a bad seat in the house and we could see the action pretty well.

They had preliminary matches starting at 11:00 am but we didn't arrive until 1:45, right before the 2:00 start of the main tournament. They ran matches in the lower division through until 3:30 before announcing the premier division with the best sumo wrestlers compete in a 15 day tournament in an effort to reach the rank of Yokozuna - the highest rank possible. In order to become a Yokozuna, wrestlers must win two tournaments to demonstrate their power & skill, while also displaying 'hinkaku' - rougly meaning dignity & grace. The Japanese in the past had used the principle of hinkaku to preclude foreign wrestlers from being crowned Yokozunas even if they demonstrated superior strength and victories, but recently they have become more lax on the issue.

For us, we stayed until the end at 6:00 PM and we saw around 25 sumo matches during that time.
Although entertaining, my opinion is that the matches are over far too quickly and it's very hard to determine the very elite wrestlers from all the rest since most victories end up looking fairly similar. We had some good food during the event and I got to speak with a 65 year old Japanese guy who was a big fan of the sport throughout the whole event. His English was almost as limited as the Japanese I know and have learned so far, but we managed to understand each other on a surprising amount of topics.


During a lull in the action, I went to look for some snacks and ended up spotting one of the Russian Sumo wrestlers sitting on the side. I got a picture with him and wished him luck in his match later in the night (which he won!)In the end, two of the Yokozunas fought against competitors in the top division and both, expectedly, won.
Yokozuna celebrating after his victory in the final match of the day

Sumo makes for a fun day, but I won't be following it religiously like I do with MMA.

Click the play icon in the video below to watch one of the matches I filmed....



Next in the Fight-Sport Series: Dream.6: Middle-Weight Grand Prix Finals 2008

...to be followed by K-1 Max World Grand Prix Final 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

A Day at the Beach

This past weekend, we had an extra day off because Monday September 15th was Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan. With the extra time on our hands and some favorable weather behind us, a group of us decided to visit Kamakura - a site famous for its surf beach, giant Buddha, and Zen temples. This would mark my second visit to the small sea-side town since I went on New Years Day with Dan to see its famous landmarks and people worshiping.

We got an early head start on the day in hopes of reaching the beach by 11:00, so we left the dorm by 8:30 and hopped on a few trains over to get there. Upon arrival, all of us were famished so we sat down at a local sushi restaurant that had great value for all the food you could get.
After that, the beach was only a short walk away and without wasting any time, we put down our bags and jumped into the ocean. It was my first time in the Pacific Ocean and the water was surprisingly warm. On the downside, the whole beach was full of surfers, almost nobody was in the water just to swim like we were. The waves themselves weren't the best but some people were able to catch some swells here and there.Moving on, we decided to leave the beach around 3:00 to go see the more historical attractions that Kamakura had to offer. My memory from the first trip came in handy and it was easy to find our way around town to the giant Buddha. Along the way we ran across a creperie which was too hard to resist, and a few minutes later we sampled some soft-serve ice cream (the #1 flavor was 'purple sweet potato', it sounds weird but it was very tasty). Before we knew it we made it to the giant Buddha, one of my favorite spots from before.

Finally, to close out our busy day we walked to the Hachiman Temple located right in the heart of Kamakura. Comparing it to the crowds I saw on New Years Day it was nowhere near as crazy or uncomfortable, but they were actually just starting to set up for a large horse archery festival that was taking place the next day.



Overall it was another great trip and I'm looking forward to more successes like this in the future.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Garden Palace: Beer & Photography Museum



Looking through one of my many tourist books on Japan, one listing that caught my eye was the "Yebisu Beer Museum and National Photography Museum". Seeing that it was very close to Akasaka and just a few subway stops away I headed over to see what it was all about.Ebisu Station

From the station it was about a 20 minute walk in some nasty Tokyo heat before I got the Mitsukoshi (a large dept. store chain) development complex where both the museums were located. The complex had some great buildings and one very large tower called the Yebisu Garden Palace so I decided to grab some food high up and do a little exploring.
Restaurant on the 38th floor, great views

Walking from the Garden Palace to the Beer Museum, I crossed over a beautifully designed plaza with a path that led to a French restaurant in an old European style building.
I was really amazed by all the cool buildings so by the time I finally made it to the Beer Museum it was late in the afternoon.
giant sized beer cans

It was free to get in, and they had many exhibits about the history of the Sapporo Beer Company, one of Japan's oldest brands. After learning a little about how they brew the beer, they had a sample station at the very end of the museum where you can try 4 glasses of different beer for a bargain price. Unfortunately the place was so crowded that there was nowhere to sit, so these two guys I had seen earlier in the museum invited me over to sit with them. There was Chris, a businessman from California working with Morgan Stanley, and his friend Taro, also in business working for a large firm in Tokyo. They were both really cool guys and gave me some great insights into life in Tokyo along with suggestions for places to go and things to do.

After parting ways, I finished up my trip with a visit to the National Photography Museum.

They were running two exhibits at the time: 1)Contemporary Japanese Artistry - which was very subtle and kinda weird at times but nevertheless it was interesting; and 2) Pictures of Early America - a number of old photos mainly from life in American cities from 1910 - 1960, really cool to see. (Dad you would've liked it)

Till next time

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Walk in the Clouds: Part II

We woke up at 10:30 the next morning and got back on the trail by 11:00.

Lucky for us, we were blessed with mild temperatures and no rain during the whole trip. Estimates placed the time to reach the summit around 6 hours, and as you worked your way up the trail there were multiple mountain huts selling food & drinks, with some offering sleep lodgings.
As we continued to scale the mountainside, we eventually crossed paths with an Australian couple in their mid forties. We ended up climbing about half of the mountain together and the guy, Andy, was a retired golf pro and big fan of hiking. He told us some great stories about life in Australia and some of his past trips.

Along the path they had a number of sign posts warning you: "Watch out for Falling Rocks", "Don't Throw any Stones" and my favorite "Watch your Step"...as if we didn't already know.

(this one is for you blair)

So we climbed higher and higher, but unfortunately Kevin wasn't able to keep the pace steady so we had to go on ahead without him. Three men left, undaunted, we were getting close...

...and very hungry, so we stopped to grab some food at somewhat inflated prices, due to the difficulty in getting supplies up the mountain.

Here are a few other pictures at various stations throughout the climb up.

caught in the middle of a cloud
all bundled up
Not on top yet, but above the clouds

After about 5 hours of hard work and strenuous climbing we had reached the summit. It was similar to torture near the top when we were only about 60 feet from the top, since the air was so thin that after every 30 seconds of climbing my heart was racing and it became very hard to breathe. It was a great feeling knowing that we had accomplished what we set out to do and would probably never do again.


Memorial Stone at the entrance to the top of the crater.
highest point of the mountain, took another 30 minutes of walking around the crater to get to.
views from the top


There is an old saying in Japan: "It is a fool who never climbs Mt. Fuji, and a fool who climbs it twice." Unfortunately, we realized why they say it on the way down.... Understandably, we were all very tired from the 5 + hour climb up we had just finished, but since we wanted to get back that night, we didn't have any time to rest up and prepare for the trip down. The trail down proved to be extremely steep with unsure footing for most of it. For 2 1/2 hours we had to focus solely on not slipping and twisting an ankle.
beginning of the descending trail

One part I did enjoyed occurred as we neared the 5th station road exit. Since we were climbing down in the evening, there were a large amount of people going up in hopes of reaching the summit for the sunrise. As we passed more and more Japanese people, I began to call out "Yarennoka!" (Can't You Do it?) which was received well with laughs and answers of "hai", or yes.

The absolute low point of the trip came once we were taking the train back into Tokyo. Between Fuji and greater Tokyo there was a transfer station between the two called Otsuki. By the time we made it into Otsuki it was 11:00 PM and there were no trains running until the next day at 5 AM. So after a long overdue & very late dinner we went to the only hotel in Otsuki. The owner took an odd look at us and told Kevin in Japanese that there "was no room left in the hotel", which was an improbable story. So we had no other option than just sitting near the road at the station and waiting it out. We were all so exhausted from climbing that we fell asleep like a bunch of homeless people (we weren't the only ones, about 10 or so Japanese spent the night doing the same thing). There are no pictures to represent this point of the trip because it was one part I'd rather forget.

Overall, great trip & unbelievable experience!


Monday, September 8, 2008

A Walk in the Clouds: Part I

So it all began this past Friday...

I had class until about 2:00 PM and right after, I planned out our trip to Fuji with Harry (another TUJ student) in the computer lab. We found a website with all the info we could ever possibly need about climbing up; it had suggestions on what to bring, how to get there, what to expect. After we had it figured out I went over to Tokyo's Patagonia to buy some climbing pants, a flashlight & gloves for the cold. It was a good thing I got the flashlight...

So we eventually got the group together for the hike around 6 PM and it consisted of: Harry - from Temple U, Nick - from Amherst, Kevin - Temple U who served as an invaluable translator throughout the trip, and myself.

(me, kevin, harry, nick)



We had to take a bunch of different trains to finally get over to the beginning point of Mt. Fuji's main path called the Yoshida Trail. By the time we started climbing up it was 11:00 PM and pitch black! Thank God I brought the flashlight, we would have been stranded without it.



The path was littered with dirt pits and rock beds and since we were working with limited light it ended up being very similar to running an obstacle course blind! It was very steep going up-hill the whole time and we had to take a bunch of rests but after about 3 1/2 hours of climbing, we made it up to the first rest hut on the mountain. It was 2:30 in the morning and we all slept like babies after the hard work that we had put ourselves through.



But it was just the beginning. The next day's hike would prove to be one of the hardest physical tasks I've ever done in my life... Stay tuned for Part II

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Coming Attractions...

I apologize for not updating recently, but this weekend I climbed up Mt. Fuji and I've been recovering and doing some school work since returning. Expect my Fuji featurette shortly.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Rude Awakening



This is a picture taken from last week the day after I went to Axis Jiu Jitsu...

To give my background in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: I went for about 8 months on and off during the spring and summer before going off to Georgetown, 2 years ago at Matt Serra's Academy out on Long Island. Since then I haven't really had a chance to do it at college since there are no places really close with reasonable pricing. But... in the meantime I've been always pulling different moves on my friends in the dorms - mainly Max, Blair, Heathrow, Tim & Allen.

*Note: Jiu Jitsu is primarily ground based self defense in which you use dominant positions and submissions to subdue opponents. To put it simply, JJ is wrestling with chokes and joint-locks - moves that force your opponent to tapout/submit.*

Back to the article...
It was the first day people were moving into dorms and I got in before anyone else so I had basically the whole day without anything to do or anyone to see. So around 4 pm I decided to check out Axis JJ which is a roughly 25 minute commute from the dorm by way of 3 different subways (good thing I know my way around stations from my original trip back at new years!). After getting there, I sorted things out to rent a gi, the traditional robe worn in training Jiu Jitsu (karate, judo, etc), and jumped right into their 1 1/2 hour class for all skill levels.

They paired me up with a twenty-something Japanese blue belt (about a year+ of training) for the first hour in which the instructors would demonstrate different sweeps & submissions from various positions. This class was a very grip-intensive session in which you need to wrap the gi around your fingers to keep a tight grip on the other guy. Unfortunately, due to my long lay-off and somewhat tender fingers some skin was "abraded" in the process.

But I wasn't about ready to let that stop me, so I stayed on the mat for the remaining 30 minutes of the session which was all out sparing - where you go near 100% trying to submit an opponent. Since I was the new guy in town, they wanted to assess my skills so the first guy they put me up against was a lanky Brit who was a brown belt and had studied Jiu Jitsu for 5 years. Suffice to say that didn't go off too well and he ended up submitting me 3 times in about 10 minutes.

After that, with my fingers bleeding and body exhausted from 70 minutes of grappling they set me up with another blue belt - this one from New Zealand. Technically it was a stalemate since neither of us tapped out, and although I came real close with a submission attempt, he maintained better positions throughout so he would have won by points in a competition format.

At the end of the class I wiped out, but also motivated to get back into the game. So, since then I've let my fingers heal up and have been hitting the gym to build some strength when for next week when I plan to sign up full time.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Living Arrangements




Well that's the neatest you're going to see the room this year. I took those pictures the day that I moved in. Now that I know the area a little bit better I thought it would be a good time to do a feature on it.

So as you can see I'm living in a small hotel-like room with another abroad student from the University of North Texas. The room itself is kinda cramped with all of our stuff inside, there is only 1 desk & 1 Internet jack so sharing is a necessity. Not pictured is our 15 inch TV which has about 14 channels (3 in English - CNN, Discovery Channel, and Fox). Other amenities include a small fridge for drinks and food, a hot plate and a tiny stove. The bathroom in the room follows a similar style to that of Village C, except in this case my head is less than 2 inches from the ceiling and there is little to no storage space. Overall the rooms here are comfortable enough, but there aren't going to be any dorm parties for sure (this is actually a small business hotel with a lot of Japanese residents & guests).

The building is located in the Akasaka region of Tokyo. Akasaka is geographically in the southwest of Tokyo and it is a fairly wealthy area with a history of being a Yakuza controlled zone with a number of hostess bars. This is probably the best thing about the dorm: its location.
We're located 4 minutes from the subway station in Akasaka, and its only a 15 minute walk to the famed Roppongi District which is well known for its bars & clubs which cater to westerners. The commute to school itself is a hilly 40 minute walk door to door which I am making 5 days a week, quite the trek in the humidity that's been sitting here since I got to Japan.

It was definitely odd at first, but the place is beginning to feel more and more like home.