November 11th 2012 - Day 66

After a quick breakfast and a brief bit of time to wake up, I headed straight out towards Edogawa-ku - one of the many wards that make up Tokyo, a little further east between here and Chiba. Why? Because a colleague at work had given me the address and training times for a Kendo club out that way, and it was currently my best looking option. To find out more about kendo, click the wikipedia link bellow, because I can't summarise it on here - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo

I've been studying it at University for 3 years, and am eager to continue my training here in Japan, but I've been having trouble finding a place that practices on the weekend. This place looked like a good option, despite being mostly filled with kids, and myself constantly being referred to as a 'strange person' (probably just a joke for the kids, but not very funny if you ask me). But once practice got started, it all came flooding back and I kick everyones ass. No not really, I haven't practiced in 6 months, and haven't been able to get to the gym for 2. Both my stamina and skills were very rusty and fortunately I only had to endure 30 minutes of severe training, the previous hour and a half being about kata and waza practice (once again, go to wikipedia, takes too long on here). But it was a good experience all the same, and the dojo seemed to have some nice people and it seems some czech republicans some to practice every so often (though none were there today). Although the membership fees are a little steep so I may not return too quickly. We'll see what happens.

Back to the apartment, a quick lunch and quicker shower, and back out again in search of a new adventure. If Akihabara is the centre of anime on earth, then Nakano Broadway is the centre of anime on the moon...or Akihabara second cousin once removed. It is a bit indoor shopping centre filled with mandarake shops - these are second hand stores were you can find all kinds of merchandise you can't anywhere else. From manga to DVDs, toys to figures, you can find it all and at a slightly cheeper price. Although, as you may have guessed, the cheaper price is related to the 'second hand' aspect of the merchandise. But it was a cool place to spend a couple of hours and see a different kind of place to find new anime stuff.

Back to the apartment, a quick rest and a good meal for supper. A good way to round off the day.

One note, Today is November 11th. On this day we remember the soldiers and men who fought and died in the First World War, which ended at 11 o'clock today. In my country we take two minutes of silence at this time to remember those fallen heroes, and I ask that after reading this, you take a few minutes to do the same. I know I will.