Camel Trail by ealingcomedy at Garmin Connect – Details.
Family ride following cycle hire at Wadebridge then onto the Camel Trail to Padstow. We spent the day in and around the harbour area before cycling back to Wadebridge to return the bikes.
Pacific Plaza
January 26, 2010 By 1 Comment
Oriental City was a shopping centre in London that began by specialising in Japanese goods along with an Asian based food court and widened to providing a wide range of Asian goods and services. We would often make a trek from Kent to Colindale so we could stock up on rice and food, Mrs danyul would raid the Japanese book shop, and we would eat from the fantastic food court. We continued to make the trek from Docklands before we then moved across to West London where a 20 minute car journey meant we would spend most Saturdays eating lunch at Oriental City. Unfortunately the site was closed in 2008, despite a very large scale protest to keep the centre open for the benefit of the Asian community, and the owners began to proceed with a plan to redevelop the site for housing and a chain store. The building remains boarded up and empty to this day while no further work on the site appears possible due to the downturn of the economy.
Tetote Factory at Pacific Plaza
Thanks to a tip off from Route 79 I was made aware of a blog entry from Will Eat for Money that a possible replacement for Oriental City had opened under the shadow or Wembley Stadium and was now open for business. We were visiting Japan at the time but quickly penciled in a visit for our return to the UK. Pacific Plaza opened in December 2009 and is located in a very unassuming location, somewhat sandwiched between a sofa store and a discount electrical store. In fact we had eaten at the wonderful Alisan Chinese restaurant in December so had parked in the same outlet car park without even noticing Oriental City. So we headed back and were immediately hit but the smells emanating from Tetote factory, which is a Japanese bakery located next to the building entrance. MiniMe was straight into the bakery picking out melon buns, cream buns, curry buns, and a tuna / cheese / corn bun concoction that we took home to share for dinner.
Doki Ltd at Pacific Plaza
Doki Ltd have setup a tableware shop downstairs, much like the small store that used to be located at Oriental City, and sells large range of bowls, plates, cups, and other Japanese and Oriental style kitchenware. We had a look round but did not buy anything since we are fully stocked in our kitchen although we will probably be back when Christmas time approaches again since my family would appreciate some of the items on sale. All the bowls and plates we previously purchased from the store at Oriental City are in good condition, which gives an indication of the quality of the goods they sell, and I am sure that we will be back whenever we need to replenish our stock.
Food Court at Pacific Plaza
The main draw for us was the food court where we hoped to see a return to the quality of food and the atmosphere of Oriental City. The seating area is smaller than Oriental City and a number of stores are either still vacant or have ‘coming soon’ signs but new tenants have been appearing every few weeks and there is a well rounded selection of food on offer. ‘China House’ dominates the far wall of the court and serves a wide range of dim sum and other Chinese food and there are stores providing Japanese, Thai, Korean, and Malaysian food. We have sampled all the different stores and now have our own favourites that we veer towards on our weekly visit although we are always keen to try something new and so enjoy whenever a new little restaurant opens.
I am not going to go into a review on the food on offer but I heartily recommend a visit and taking a look for yourselves. The atmosphere or general mayhem of a packed Oriental City is not there yet but the foundations are in place and reviews and starting to pop up online:
Japan (part ni)
January 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Japanese Kite Flying
The Japanese New Year period usually sees a return to the more traditional Japanese games including the flying of traditional Japanese kites. This year we headed down to the nearby Ube beach armed with several paper kites to join small groups of other kite flyer’s. This year we also had the somewhat odd site of a group teenagers holding a barbecue while they all lounged in a heated inflatable pool. It was a bizarre site since early January is not a warm or sunny time in this part of Japan plus it was quite a cold breezy day: great for flying kites but not good for running your own portable hot tub on a public beach. Maybe I am not ‘down with the kids’ these days because it looked far from a fun activity to me but the group of teenagers looked like they were having a great time.
Japan has gone through a noticeable period of change in the 12 plus years that we have been making regular visits. I remember the first time that we saw homeless people asking for money or food in a train terminal based in one of the largest cities. It stood out for me since I had never seen any sign of homeless people at any point previously, although of course that did not meant that people were not homeless before, but seeing such an overt example of begging in a high profile location shocked Mrs danyul.
During our latest visit we saw real signs of the economic downturn in Japan;. Firstly, the number of people attending the shrines in a bid to win favour and blessing was astronomical compared to our previous visits. The area where we stay is quite rural and we would normally visit the local shrine on New Years Day and we might have seen 5-10 other people paying their respects. However, on this visit there was a long queue of families waiting to pay their respect at the shrine and additionally a large number of families donating extra to the shrine so that they could receive individual blessings.
During this visit we also attended second hand and antique fair for the first time, which very much resembled an English car boot sale but with the goods on sale from little stalls setup either by small businesses or families selling off unwanted goods. Again, this was not previously a common occurrence in the area of Japan where we stayed and it was a reflection of the economic situation in the country.
Japanese Second Hand Good Fair
Our final family trip this time around was to spend 1 night in Shimonoseki, which like Ube is also based in Yamaguchi Prefecture. We drove across to Shimonoseki with a brief stop at a motorway style service station / dining location for lunch. I had never stopped at any Japanese motorway style services before and it made a distinct change to the expensive food provided in British motorway stops. The food area was run as a small local business and provided excellent Japanese food at very affordable prices. MiniMe tucked into his favourite Japanese curry while I had some fantastic pork ramen that would put any English motorway food to shame. We were soon in Shimonoseki and settled into our hotel ready to spend some relaxing time in the hotel onsen (hot spring baths). Visiting onsen is big business in Japan and there are travel style TV shows that just show various bath locations around Japan with reviews of the facilities and the food on offer.
The hotel is located on the hillside overlooking the Kanmon Straits, which forms an important shipping line that runs between the main Japanese islands of Honshū and Kyūshū. The hotel makes good use of the outstanding view with the baths, with baths both inside and outside, looking directly over the river and the city while the hotel restaurant also utilises full window style walls looking over the city. The city itself is very well known for its fugu (puffer-fish) haul, which is the largest yearly haul in Japan, and all the restaurants specialise in fugu dishes. On this visit we took a local taxi to the Sea Mall Shimonoseki (largest shopping center in West Japan when it was built) and the driver told us that the visitor numbers were substantially down over the past year, especially during the fugu season when people traditionally flock to Shimonoseki, so much so that all the taxi drivers are now all members of the ‘silver fox’ generation. The younger taxi drivers are no longer able to make a full-time wage from their fares so only those that are retired and have other incomes available (i.e. a pension of some sort) can afford to remain as taxi drivers.
Shimonoseki: Hotel Balcony View
I enjoyed wandering around the shopping mall and trying to pick out some gifts for my family while Mrs danyul raided the huge book shop. We are fortunate to live in an age where Mrs danyul can order Japanese books from Amazon and get them delivered to the UK but it is much cheaper to haul some back in our suitcases compared to the shipping charges. I picked out the latest Pokemon movie DVD for MiniMe so he could have something to watch back in the UK when he would no doubt be wide awake with jet lag at an unreasonable hour. I found some nice gifts for my family and made good use of the gift wrapping services from all the shops, which put the UK firmly in the shade. All Japanese department stores will gift wrap something to a ‘basic level’ for free and their definition of a ‘basic level’ is what a UK based store would charge for as their ‘premium service’. Although Japanese stores do offer a chargeable gift wrapping service, I have never had to take up the additional services although I have wondered just how much better they could actually be compared to the fantastic free service.
Our last activity in Shimonoseki was to visit one of the large shrines based in the city. Again, the shrine was full of people and had some fantastic food stalls at the entrance to help warm everyone up in the cold weather. On this visit we decided to ‘donate’ an extra amount of money and receive a blessing from the priest. Neither of us has any strong religious views but we were interested in what happens so after making our donations we were shown into a private room within the temple where the priest discussed our goals and aspirations with the coming year (well… he discussed with Mrs danyul anyway) and then he began to recite various Japanese chants before waving a staff adorned with what looked like white paper chains above our heads. We both thought the blessing was over but were told to stay while the priest then started to play on a flute like instrument while a girl dressed in traditional robes performed a dance around the room. We did not (and still do not) understand whether the dance had any significance but it was certainly an interesting experience and a small view of traditional Japanese activities.
Shimonoseki Shrine
Our latest visit to Japan soon drew to an end as the remaining time flew by with various family visits and MiniMe playing with his grandparents. We all had a fantastic time, as always, and I had a relaxing time of catching up on some reading while not being drawn into any work. As usual our family were extremely hospitable to us and I am sure MiniMe will have some more treasured memories of spending time in Japan.
Japan (part ichi)
January 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Hinomaru ("sun circle")
We usually schedule a visit to Japan at the end of each year to stay with Mrs danyul’s parents and to visit other family in Japan. Unfortunately we were unable to make it in 2008/09 but this year we were able to fly out to Japan just before Christmas. Our normal schedule would be to spend Christmas in the UK with my family and then New Year in Japan with Mrs danyul’s family. This time around we faced restrictions with time off from work so had to leave earlier so no Christmas with my family this time around. They more than made up for it though by throwing a Christmas lunch for everyone before we left, where MiniMe could open all his presents as though it was Christmas Day.
We headed to Heathrow on the 23rd December with a hope to avoid long queues by going through the Virgin online check-in process beforehand. This seems to be a pretty standard procedure these days so we were straight into the queue for checking in our baggage and then straight through security to wait for our flight. Mrs danyul had some time for some last minute gift buying, which is very much a necessity if you are visiting Japan since it is customary to buy close family a friends a gift. I wandered around with MiniMe in tow and bought myself some JVC noise cancelling earphones for the flight. These were the cheapest on sale within the shops area and they turned out to be a reasonable purchase since they cut out a lot of the flight noise and I might consider an upgrade next time we fly.
Our flight was delayed by an hour since the plane had arrived later than schedule and then once everyone boarded, one of the passengers was taken ill and had to be taken from the plane so another hour was gone while their luggage was located and removed from the hold. Thankfully we were soon up in the air and MiniMe could sit watching some kids movies / TV while I watched some movies at well. Nothing of note occurred on the flight, which is always a good thing, and we were soon touching down at Narita International just an hour later than scheduled. I usually have to spend an hour queueing for passport control along with all the other Gaijin but for once everything was clear so I quickly had my body scanned for heat signatures via a camera checking for people with flu, I had my finger prints taken, and finally a digital photograph taken before my passport was stamped and I was free to go join MiniMe and Mrs danyul to collect our luggage.
We used to stay one night in Tokyo before MiniMe was born but then found out looking after a jet lagged child is not the easiest thing to do at 3am, even in a city like Tokyo, so we now catch a limousine bus across to Heneda Airport to take an internal ANA flight down to Ube, which is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The parents-in-law were waiting for us at the airport and thankfully it is only short drive back to their house. They were happy to see the three of us, especially MiniMe, and we were thankful to be able to visit them again.
Giraffe Riding, MiniMe Style
Christmas is not a public holiday in Japan and nor is there much evidence that it is celebrated although I must admit over the years I have seen more and more Christmas decorations dotted around whenever we visit. Mrs danyul’s parents bought a small Christmas tree this year so that MiniMe would have somewhere to put his Christmas stocking all ready for Santa san to visit. They also helped join in the fun by buying a carrot for the reindeer plus some cookies and milk for Santa san. MiniMe had a great time opening his presents with his grandparents and I think they had a nice time being part of MiniMe’s Christmas for the first time.
New Year is a public holiday in Japan and it is a time of wide celebration and also a time for families to get together once more. It is traditional for the ‘oldest son’ to host a dinner on New Years Day, which all the family are invited to. On our early visits to Japan this would mean a lot of visitors since Mrs danyul’s father is the oldest son in a large family so there would be a lot of people arriving at the house for lunch. It is also traditional to give gifts of cash to all the children so it is a very lucrative time to be a child in Japan! As the years have passed we have found that our New Year celebration has diminished each year, mostly because of older relatives sadly passing aways, but also from family members gradually moving to different parts of Japan. On our last visit we moved from a very large gathering at Mrs danyul’s parents house to a more smaller lunch (approximately 20 people) at a local hotel, although again it was hosted by the ‘oldest son’ within the family. This year we just had a visit from Mrs danyul’s brother and his son so we had a small family lunch at home although we did join the crowds at the local shopping mall and also at the local shrine.
Feeding The Lions
The shrine visit is a fundamental part of Japanese culture and a lot of people will celebrate the New Year by being at a shrine as the clock hits midnight; some of the large city shrines heave with crowds at midnight and form the location for live television across the entire New Year period. We went to visit the local shrine on New Year’s day and this time around it was packed with people and for the first time ever we had to queue to pay our respects. It seems that during a time of economic decline more and more people are returning to their local shrine to ask for good luck through the coming year.
We then took a day trip to the Yamaguchi Safari Land, which is just over an hours drive away. MiniMe loves to visit Safari Land every time we come to Japan and I must admit that I really enjoy visiting as well. Safari Land consists of a small theme park area that is free to enter, although you have to pay for tokens that are then valid across the rides, and the Safari Part itself where you could either pay to drive through in your own car or take a guided tour through on a bus. We always go for the guided bus since you also get to feed the various animals on the route through the use of some metal tongs that can be pushed through grills along the side of the bus.
Safari Bus
We arrived at the park to find the first available bus tour was already full so we signed up for the second bus and then took a walk around the theme park section. MiniMe went straight to the go-kart track where he was now tall enough to drive one of the ‘skid karts’ around the track provided that he had an adult sitting next to him. I drew the short straw and had several scary laps of the track with MiniMe at the helm while Japanese pop music blasted from speakers dotted around the course. MiniMe loved it although I hope his driving skills improve as he gets older.
We’ve been visiting the Safari Land for quite a few years now and it was strange to see MiniMe aiming for all the older kid rides this time when previously he would just want to sit on the little kid cars, which do not move anywhere and just resemble the small kid rides you find outside supermarkets in the UK. He did insist on riding the giraffe around, which has a small motor and wheels on the legs, but I suspect that will not be repeated on our next visit since he’ll deem it a ride “for babies”.
It was soon time for our bus tour so we grabbed some drinks from the plentiful vending machines (there are vending machines everywhere in Japan) before taking our bench seat on the bus ready for the tour to begin. This time we had the lion bus and we were soon being driven around the park. Our first stop was to feed some zebra and a camel by holding out some small pieces of bread with the tongs but on a first attempt one of the circling hawks dive bombed the side of the bus and helped itself to MiniMe’s bread. He was not happy with the birds so I had to let MiniMe use my bread while I kept a lookout for more cheeky winged beasts.
Japanese Shrine
The bus then moved through various security gates as we headed into the more dangerous animal sections; first stop was the cheetah enclosure where we have the opportunity to hold out pieces of meat from the side of the bus. Next we moved through the tiger enclosure and the lion enclosure where again small pieces of meat were dangled out of the side of the bus ready for the growling large cats to take their feed. I was once again on hawk duty since the somewhat suicidal birds would swoop down across the side of the bus trying to grab the meat before the tigers or lions could snap their jaws shut. It would not surprise me to find that the lions get an accidental bird lunch on occasion.
The tour pulls to a stop in a ‘petting zoo’ style section where the small goats, llama, and kangaroos seem even more aggressive in their pursuit of people to feed them. There is even a small enclosure where there seems to be hundreds of guinea pigs hopping about but the small furry fiends give Mrs danyul the heebie jeebies so we stayed away this time.
The final stop on the way back to the car park was at the elephant house where MiniMe had great fun holding out carrots and other vegetables for the baby elephant to snack on. Again, Mrs danyul keeps a distance from the elephant since it’s trunk sways around sniffing for food and it does not seem to discriminate between food and scarves if you get too close. This ended our visit to Yamaguchi Safari Land and we headed home with a very content MiniMe snoring in the back of the car.
2009 – danyul.net in review
January 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment
danyul.net
My very first post on danyul.net was published on the 28th May 2008 , which means that 2009 was my first complete blog calendar year. I am a sucker for any type of top 10 /100 list that reviews a year (or decade) or a review of the year type article so here is my guide to danyul.net through 2010.
I changed my WordPress theme in 2009 to the Streamline theme from StudioPress and I have been making various little tweaks all through the year. Our spring flowers started to appear in February 2010 and we visited Stanton House in the snow in the same month with some friends. The weather may have been cold and but with great company we had a really good time while enjoying the Japanese second hand goods sale. March 2009 saw us take our first karate grading of the year and we both took a fairly substantial step forward as we both successfully succeeded in gaining our brown belts (3rd kyu).
April was a lean month in terms of blog posting although it did see the post that generated the most search traffic to the site as I solved a technical problem with the FTP service on my server (more on that subject later). May 2009 saw myself and MiniMe continue our karate training by attending the JKAE Spring Course, where we really enjoyed the training led by Osaka Sensei. I can well believe that people travel long distances to have the pleasure of training alongside Osaka Sensei and his joy of karate and teaching shone through the whole course. I would love to see Osaka Sensei return to either the JKAE Spring or Summer course in 2010, where I would try to persuade Mrs danyul that attending all the course days does not make her a lonely karate widow.
July was a busy month for karate as we attempted to grade to 2nd kyu on the 3rd July, where MiniMe picked up a temporary pass instead of a full pass, and then two days later we were both competing at the JKAE National Champioship. I had no issues with MiniMe not passing his grading completely since his karate mojo had started to wane through 2009 and this was very much reflected in the quality of his karate both in training, in grading, and in competition. When we first started our karate training, our goal was not to race to a specific belt or win medals, but rather to train alongside each other in a martial art that MiniMe would find beneficial immediately (physical fitness, discipline etc) and also in the future (self defence). We had a great time competing at the Nationals and I am sure we learnt a lot more about our karate through the act of just being there rather than winning any medals.
August was a busy month as we took a family holiday to Cornwall where me and MiniMe developed a love for surfing and body boarding while Mrs danyul took to exploring the Cornwall coast and enjoying the hotel spa facilities. The JKAE Summer Course rounded off the end of the month as we returned to Guildford again to train alongside visiting Sensei’s from Japan and familiar friendly faces. In September 2009 we descended on Spitalfields market in London along with 30,000 other people for the first Japanese Matsuri. The 2010 event is already scheduled and firmly in our diary to attend once more, where we hope to see the stalls branched out even further across the market to accommodate all the visitors. The end of the month saw another karate grading although this time it was just MiniMe by himself to successfully clear the previous temporary pass gained at the 2nd kyu grading. I did not grade since it was never my intention to race ahead of MiniMe and it is fair to say that the colour of your belt does not necessarily reflect a persons dedication or skill in karate.
October saw me and MiniMe both get a year older although it’s not something that I blogged about (no idea why!) so instead we had to settle for attending the JKAE All Grades Course and for me fixing a technical problem with the VoIP system used at work. I have strong hopes that our office BroadWorks platform will be replaced in 2010 with the company standard platform and I can finally lose responsibility for our office phone system.
November saw a family outing to Brighton as I competed in the Brooks Brighton 10k and I hope to run the same event in 2010 as well as some other 10k and half-marathon events. Finally we reach December, which was another busy karate month as we attended a fun Brown & Black Belt Course and then both successfully graded to 1st kyu before heading off to Japan for a much needed family holiday. We are still visiting family in Japan as I type this and I haven’t made any Japan posts yet but so that will have to wait until early January 2010.
The most significant personal event of 2009 for me, the unexpected death of a friend and business associate, did not get a post but like a boulder dropped into a pond, the ripples are still fanning out into 2010. Our karate progress is also getting snagged onto some political maneuvering so it looks like changes are afoot in the year of the tiger.
So as a final look back at 2009 let’s have a look at the most popular parts of danyul.net. I use AWStats and a WordPress Stats plugin to analyse the logs of who visits my site although unfortunately the WordPress Stats plugin is only something I have recently installed so I will have to just rely on the AWStats report for the 2009 review. Here we go…
There were approximately 3,950 unique visitors to danyul.net in 2009 which was made up of 6,347 visits (1.6 visits per visitor). This equates to 23,988 pages visited (3.77 pages per visit) with a total of 74,550 ‘hits’ (11.74 hits per visit). A total of 1.37GB of data was transferred (226.17 KB per visit). July recorded the highest amount of unique visitors (401) and the highest number of visits (805) and the highest amount of pages (4,273). The highest amount of hits were recorded in March (10,752) as was the largest amount of bandwidth used in a month (166.30 MB).
The 10 top level visitors were:
- Unknown (IP address only)
- Commercial (.com)
- Network (.net)
- United Kingdom (.uk)
- Non-Profit Organizations (.org)
- Japan (.jp)
- USA Educational (.edu)
- Poland (.pl)
- Israel (.il)
- Germany (.de)
It is worth noting at this point that I exclude my home, work, and ‘other’ personal IP addresses from my stats package so everything recorded reflects actual visitors rather than me updating or checking the site.
The top 10 visiting browsers were:
- MS Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Mozilla
- Safari
- Opera
- Unknown
- Google Chrome
- Netscape
- Curl
- LibWWW
The top visiting operating systems were:
- Windows
- Macintosh
- Unknown
- Linux
- Symbian OS
- RISC OS
- Unknown Unix System
Finally, the most interesting stats of 2009 (to me anyway!) were the top 10 search keyphrases used by visitors to find the site via a search engine. I have tinkered with the list a little from its original listing since a few in the top 10 were identical topic searchs but the keyphrases were slightly different:
- proftpd fatal socket operation on non-socket
- spring flowers
- san agostino beach resort
- hot 3ex
- danyul.net
- sensei eric pich
- kumite
- gary stewart karate
- minime
- sensei
Brighton 10K
November 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
10k completed and just before MiniMe claimed the medal
I have been running for approaching 2 years although mostly just as a more endurance based exercise compared to the short sharp busts of exercise experienced in karate. Although I always enjoy completing a run I sometimes find it hard to motivate myself to get out there in the first place. So as someone motivated by gadgets and setting goals, I bought myself a new iPod nano in 2007 with the Nike+ widget for measuring and recording my runs. This worked wonders for my running motivation so I decided to try and enter the 2010 London Marathon and base my training on the assumption that I might be lucky enough to get a spot. In preparation I entered the Brooks Brighton 10k, which was held on Sunday 15th November 2009 along a storm lashed Brighton seafront.
By the time the 10k rolled around I had already received my rejection letter from the London Marathon so I entered the adidas Silverstone Half Marathon so I still had a target and continued my training for the 10k. The Brooks Brighton 10k was recommended to me by a friend since it’s a very flat course although it did not help that a storm decided to throw itself at the South of England across the weekend so I was keeping a keen eye on the weather. Thankfully the Sunday morning saw a break in the storm and we were lucky to escape with no rain for the run although there was bit of a sea breeze blowing into us as we ran along the seafront.
Mrs danyul and MiniMe accompanied me to cheer me on and I was soon lined up with the other 3,000 or so other runners waiting for the start. I decided to put myself quite far back at the start but that proved to be a problem as the starting gun fired and I was finding it difficult to find my pace whilst weaving through some ‘slower’ runners. This proved even more troublesome since the start section is quite narrow compared to the rest of the course and gets even narrower as the club runners turn at the end and come back towards you. I didn’t really like to waste energy crossing across and darting through some of the crowd but equally I wanted to hit my natural pace as early as possible to get some semblance of a good time.
Once we hit the turn at the end of the first stretch there was more room to maneuver and finally we were going back past the start line to the much wider seafront section. I soon settled into my natural 10k pace and thanks to some tunes from Podrunner I was soon on my way. The sea breeze was not too harsh although I did make sure to grab some of the water on offer so I could get the salty taste from my lips. I finally settled in a group that were running at the same pace as me and the longest stretch was soon over as we turned and took advantage of the tail wind. With the pier a firm target in the distance I picked up my pace a little and was soon heading to the finish line with MineMe and Mrs danyul cheering me on. I had little to give for a sprint finish, so I had paced myself well, and jogged across the finish line to receive my medal.
MiniMe soon took ownership of my medal and once I grabbed some of the free drinks of offer we walked back to the car so I could stretch a little and then get changed. Thanks to all those involved in the organisation of the race and I will definitely be back in 2010. My stats for the race:
- Category: Senior Men
- Category Position: 552 / 720
- Gun Time: 55m14s
- Chip Time: 51m37s
- Chip Position: 1292 / 2519
The time was a personal best for me over 10K although with a better starting position I will be aiming for under 50 minutes on my next timed / measured 10k.
Japan Matsuri
September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Audience watching the main stage, Japan Matsuri 2009
Saturday 19th September 2009 saw 30,000+ people descend on Spitalfields Market for Japan Matsuri – London Japan Festival 2009 to celebrate 150 years of Japan/UK relationship. We live in the midst of a large Japanese community in the Ealing area of London and with Mrs danyul being Japanese and MiniMe being half Japanese we joined the crowds along with nearly everyone we know from the Japanese School London. We were not sure what to expect at the Japan Matsuri since it was the first to be held in London but we had a great time amongst the very large crowds.
Did I mention the crowds? It was packed! The official web site mentions that they expected up to 15,000 people but there were more than double that number on the day. Thankfully we played it safe and decided to each lunch before we left just in case the food stalls were busy because boy were there some queues for the various food stalls. Our intention was to grab some snacks as we walked round but after bumping into friends as we arrived we were soon warned not to bother with queues as they had waited up to an hour to get their lunch. The crowds were also mentioned on this londonist review and it was the theme of conversation for weeks for everyone we know who attended.
However, don’t let the talk of crowds put you off from attending the already planned 2010 Matsuri because I am sure it is going to be even better than the 2009 event. We joined the crowds from Liverpool Street station, where we could already see quite a few people dressed in traditional Japanese Kimono, and then started to wander around the event. There were people dressed in traditional Japanese clothes, there were people dancing, there were stalls of food and other goods, there were games to play, in fact there was plenty to do for everyone. It was also a fantastic opportunity for us to catch up with people we hadn’t seen for a while because nearly everyone we knew from the Japanese community was there.
Japan Matsuri 2009
Sadly we missed a drumming display from MiniMe’s old Japanese nursery but we did get to watch the Akido demonstration and also what seemed to be a singing competition. There were also various other stalls all around the market and although we didn’t buy anything (those crowds again!) we still had a great time looking at everything and picking up some business cards for the items we liked.
So we will be back in 2010 and we would like to thank all those involved in setting up such a wonderful event. Hopefully next year there will be even more stalls and they will spread out into all the market areas. I know I am very biased but it would be great to see a karate demonstration from JKAE in 2010 as well.
Cornwall 2009
August 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Mawgan Porth beach
We spent a lot of time looking for a suitable holiday destination this year although as usual our search took so long that we ended up leaving the actual booking until quite late. Last year we visited the Mark Warner San Agostino resort in Greece where we had a fantastic family holiday and we considered visiting San Agostino again or visiting one of the other Mark Warner resorts but we decided that we would find somewhere with a more balanced climate this time around. I loved the hot sunny weather in Greece but for Mrs danyul it was a too hot and for MiniMe it was difficult trying to make him rest at times to make sure he was not in the sun all the time. So this year we looked at various options in France, Switzerland, and Austria before deciding to stay closer to home with a family holiday in Cornwall. Our selection criteria was based on finding a location with plenty of individual activities (such as sailing for me and spa like facilities for Mrs danyul and kids play for MiniMe) and having a dedicated kids club so MiniMe could be looked after and play with other children. After much deliberation we settled on the 4 star Bedruthan Steps Hotel on the North Cornish Coast.
We looked at the options of flying to Cornwall since the Newquay Cornwall Airport is very close to Mawgan Porth, where we would be staying for the week. However, we decided to tackle the 6+ hours it would take to drive and packed out our car with all the things we would need for a UK beach holiday. In true danyul family tradition we packed far too much under the rationale that we would need both summer and winter clothes given the English weather. The drive to Cornwall was pretty uneventful but we did stop at a great litle pub in the countryside for lunch and take in some of the scenary. Sadly we did not make a note of where we stopped since it was unplanned and based on ‘we’re hungry, next exit please’.
MiniMe with his sand castle
The exterior of the hotel looks a little dated and we were not sure what to expect when we pulled into the car park but thankfully the interior is everything that you would expect from a 4* hotel. The entrance to the hotel is a little strange in that you enter directly onto a stair case and the reception is down a small flight of stairs and then situated to the left. I would not really think to mention it here but since our holiday I checked out a number of online reviews for the Bedruthan Steps Hotel and a few people make negative comments regarding trying to find reception on arrival. However, the route to reception is clearly sign posted and is so easy to follow so I cannot understand why some reviewers make a big deal out of this.
The check-in process went smoothly thanks the very friendly reception staff and we were soon negotiating our way around the hotel to our room. We had left our booking very late so there were only 2 rooms available at the time; a double bedroom with attached kids room with bunk beds or a discounted similar room above the kitchen. Although we like the idea of saving money we equally do not want the sounds and smells of the kitchen hitting us plus all the noise from early morning deliveries. Our room did not have an ocean view but it was extremely modern, clean, and very spacious: everything we needed for our stay.
Mawgan Porth beach
The hotel is a 10 minute walk from the beach along a slightly steep winding path down the hill side and we soon wandered down to explore and make our first sand castle. We had paid for breakfast and evening meals although children were not welcome in the main restuarant at dinner time so either had to attend the kids evening meal or sit in the lower part of the restuarant with their parents. MiniMe was booked into the evening kids club so he ate at the kids supper before we took him to the ‘Dolphins’ kids club. There were various group names for the kids clubs (e.g. Dolphins and Sharks) and they were split by age. I cannot remember the age splits but initially we were a little worried that MiniMe would be bored in the Dolphins club since he was at the top age for the group. However, he was soon enjoying himself thanks to the wonderful staff and all the friends he was soon making.
There were plenty of other activities at the hotel for kids outside of the scheduled classes and MiniMe loved to play in the Jungle Tumble play area. When we could pursuade him to stop throwing himself into the ball pools we also used the inside and outside swimming pools, the assualt course, and the tennis courts.
MiniMe soaking up some sun before surf lesson
After a hearty buffet style breakfast we took some time to speak with the on-site surf instructor Nick and book a lesson for me and MiniMe. Surfing is big business in Cornwall thanks to the great conditions and the influx of tourists so there are surf clubs all along the coast. The hotel has its own surf shack on-site where you can book lessons and also hire equipment (e.g. surf boards, wet suits, and body boards) and there is also the King Surf School near by in Morgan Porth located at Betty’s surf shop. We did look at booking some cheaper group style lessons at the King Surf School but the minimum age was 8 and with MiniMe still 7 we stuck with some private lessons via the hotel surf shack. Neither of us had surfed before so we pass our thanks onto Nick and his team for the great tuition given. All the staff were well qualified and I had no hesitation in trusting them with the safety of a very fearless MiniMe. To say MiniMe took to surfing like a duck to water would be an understatement (pun not intended); we took 2 private lessons and then the both of us were out everyday surfing or body boarding by ourselves.
We took some time on a more miserable rainy day to visit the relativly nearby Eden Project. I think all visitors to Cornwall make a visit to the Eden Project at least once and although not cheap it is well worth the visit. MiniMe loved the kids area and was soon running around grabbing materials to build a tiny boat from ‘sustainable materials’. The aim was to build a small boat and then push it out to sail in a small pool like area where the boat would ‘dock’ at a small island with some playmobil figures on it. There was a helpful adult in waders to help the boats around and MiniMe took his task very seriously and was very proud when his boat made it to the island.
MiniMe surfing
The more educational aspects of the Eden project also kept MiniMe inspired and we had a great time walking around the domed areas and learning about various fauna and associated wildlife. Even on a very grey British day we had a great time exploring and learning so recommend to anyone visiting the Cornwall area.
We soon settled down to a activity driven schedule: MiniMe would race to reception every morning to register for the kids supper by picking from the days menu. We would all eat breakfast together from the extensive buffet before MiniMe raced off again to join the Dolphins group for their morning activity. I would then head off for some surfing or spend some time with Mrs danyul before we all hooked up for lunch somewhere. In the afternoon I would keep MiniMe in check, usually through surfing together, while Mrs danyul would spend time in the spa or taking a bus to one of the local towns so she could explore. MiniMe would join his friends at the kids supper and we would leave him there safe in the knowledge that the kids staff would be watching over them and then taking them all back for the evening Dolphins session. I would eat with Mrs danyul in the fantastic hotel restuarant before taking a walk down to the beach and back to the hotel again before settling down in the bar area. Soon it would be time to collect a very worn out MiniMe and get him to bed all ready for the next day.
MiniMe surfing... ?
I have briefly mentioned the food through this posting and it is well woth highlighting the standard of food available at the Bedruthan Steps Hotel. The hotel takes great pride in sourcing local seasonal produce and this is firmly reflected in the quality of food available. Each morning we were presented with a buffet style breakfast selection consisting of an English cooked breakfast using local produce, a choice of cereals, and a selection of fruits and yoghurts. MiniMe would dive into the cereal options while Mrs danyul developed a previously unknown liking for porridge. I stuck to the more traditional English breakfast option along with some toast in a bid to fill myself with energy for all the days activities.
There was a small cafe style area at the hotel offering lunch, although you had to have your wits about you if sitting outside since the seagulls had their beady eyes fixed on anything edible. We tended to eat in and around the Mawgan Porth area for lunch while for supper / dinner MiniMe joined the kids club for burger / nugget style food although we did make sure that he had equal amounts of vegetables on his plate as well. This left dinner for just the two of us in the hotel restuarant where a set menu was on offer each night consisting once again of local produce for staters, main, and dessert. The food was fasntastic and there was an extremely well stocked wine selection to go with your meal. However, after a few nights dining in the hotel we wished we had not paid / booked for a hotel dinner every night; not because of the quality of the food or the standard of the service, which were all excellent. We just found ourselves wanting something smaller some nights rather than a three course meal every time. If we return to the Bedruthan Steps Hotel in the future then we’ll probably go for breakfast each morning and dinner the first few nights and the last few nights of the stay with a gap in the middle to eat at other local restuarants. This isn’t a reflection on the food provided but just an acknowledgment that sometimes we wanted a smaller meal while it was hard to resist the fantastic three course meal at the hotel since it was all booked in advance.
MiniMe surfing
The hotel had plenty on offer for all age groups: there was a room for teenagers that had a TV and a Wii inside, there was a small gym (adults only), a snooker room, an adult room with pool table & TV, 2 outside pools and 1 inside pool, plenty of play areas outside, 2 tennis courts (although 1 is ‘undersized’ and has some interesting ‘bumps’ to make games interesting), and I am sure there is more that I cannot remember. Also, each room had a feed to a set of DVD players in the reception area and there was a timetable of adult and child movies showing through the day. This was very welcome to us because we would want MiniMe to take some rest occassionally and the kids movies proved a great distraction to either keep him out of the sun for a little while or to let him rest before we went out for our next activity.
The hotel also arranged various morning / afternoon / evening activities for both children and adults to attend. There were severl morning visits from local attractions to show some sea life or some other wildlife so the kids could interact with the animals and the parents could be pursuaded to schedule a trip to the visitor attraction they were advertising. The afternoon / early evening saw a varierty of kids entertainers; such as a clown or party games or a magician. We found these events were aimed at a younger age group than MiniMe so he was not really interested but the toddlers were having a great time. After dinner there were more adult themed events in the bar area with visiting musicians and one night there was a team quiz night for all those interested.
I mentioned that the majority of kids entertainment events were aimed at the ‘toddler’ age group but MiniMe and some of his friends from the Dolphins group were really looking forward to watching the magician. However, the magician seemed obsessed with everyone being quiet throughout his performance and was constantly telling the adult group in the bar and surrounding groups to be quiet. MiniMe and he friends were standing along the side walkway watching and were talking to themselves wondering how he was performing the various tricks. No-one was being particularly loud but the magician was constantly telling everyone around to be quiet even though there wasn’t much noise; he was clearly getting more and more aggitated and his attitude left bit of a sour taste so we ended up taking MiniMe away before the magician completely lost the plot. I don’t know whether we caught this guy on bad day but we felt he was a bit weird and overly obsessed with anyone making any noise in the hotel public areas.
We tended to stay in Mawgan Porth for the majority of our stay although we did venture out to the Eden Project and also on a short visit to Newquay. We were not that impressed with Newquay as it seemed to be dominated by cheap and tacky souviner stores selling t-shirts or various kebab / burger stores. So we cut our visit short to Newquay and instead drove along the coast and stopped off at various little towns along the way and had a much better time. Mawgan Porth was enough to keep us happy for the week with Betty’s Newsagent & Surf Shop stocking everything we needed alongside the pub or nearby restuarants for food and drink.
MiniMe surfing
So it was a big thumbs up from the three of us for Mawgan Porth and the Bedruthan Steps Hotel. The facilities in the hotel were excellent, the kids activities and care was excellent, and there were plenty of adult activities to keep me and Mrs danyul happy. The weather was not great while we visited but it was warm enough for t-shirts and shorts and it was the perfect weather for Mrs danyul who doesn’t like to be out in the hot sun all the time.
The highlights of our trip:
- Childcare at Bedruthan Steps Hotel
- All the facilities at Bedruthan Steps Hotel
- All the staff at Bedruthan Steps Hotel
- Mawgan Porth beach
- Surfing at Mawgan Porth
- The shops and restuarants at Mawgan Porth (especially Betty’s)
- A great mixture of activities for kids and adults
The lowlights:
- The weird magician
- Newquay did not live up to expectation
We all had such a great time that we have already booked another weeks stay at Bedruthan Steps Hotel and we look forward to visiting again and exploring Cornwall in 2010.
JKAE National Championship 2009
July 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
MiniMe performing Heian Nidan in team kata
After competing at the JKAE Kyu Grade Championship in 2007 and 2008 plus attending the JKAE 2008 National Championship as spectators, it was time for us to step up and challenge ourselves at the JKAE 2009 National Championship. The event was held at the Elmbridge Xcel Leisure Complex in Walton on Thames on Sunday 5th July and saw karateka travel from all over the UK to compete.
The championship followed the same format as the previous Kyu grade championships with individual kata and kumite events but with the addition of team kata and kumite events. The major difference being the change of rules in kumite for adults and the very high standard of karateka competing across the board. Both of us were competing in our respective individual kata and kumite events while we were both also competing in the team kata events. I was not competing in the team kumite competition and there was not an equivalent for MiniMe to enter.
We arrived at the venue nice and early to get our bearings and to also make sure that the registration went smoothly. We have attended a number of karate events at the Xcel leisure centre and although it has nice facilities, you can end up struggling to find a parking space unless you get there early. The Nationals are usually held at the Guildford Spectrum, which caters for large groups of people with disparate hobbies (ice skating, gymnastics, swimming etc) all arriving on the same day, but at the Xcel centre you are very much competing for parking space with the swimmers and the other sporting clubs.
Thankfully the organisation of the Nationals was up to the usual high standards of all the JKAE events and it did not take long for us to find our nominated Kilburn representative to complete our registration. We were soon both adorned with our competitor stickers and joining everyone in the main hall for a warm-up and stretch.
danyul entry sticker
All the competitors, the judges, and the JKAE committee lined up for the opening ceremony, which included a short speech from Ohta Sensei wishing everyone good luck. Next up was the task of finding the location and times of our first events, which for both of us would be the kata event. At the Kyu Nationals the kata event was split by both age group and grade; however, for the Nationals we were just split by age. MiniMe was grouped in the boys 7-11 years old kata group, which was open to 3rd kyu and above (brown-black belts), while I was competing in the male individual kata 21+ years where competitors were again 3rd kyu and above. For MiniMe this meant quite a wide age range to deal with, especially since he would be one of the youngest competitors, plus the mental issue of having to compete against black belts.
The format was the same as our previous Kyu National efforts, with competitors being called up in pairs where the senior judge would flip through various sheets of paper and then call out the kata name from the sheet pulled at random. I was hoping that MiniMe would avoid Heian Godan as the chosen kata but lo and behold Heian Godan was called out for MiniMe and his opponent. I know that we have to learn all the kata and should have the ability to perform any of them at request but we had only just passed our 2nd kyu grading 2 days before so we had been spending a lot of time practising the kata Bassai Dai. Heian Godan shares some similar movements to Bassai Dai and with just a brief drop in concentration you can find yourself all to obviously suddenly stuttering briefly from kata to kata. We had spent so much time practising for the grading that we had not put the required effort into all the kata ready for competition and MiniMe found himself stalling through Heian Godan. This meant a successive elimination during the first round of kata but I was proud of him for going out there and trying his best. MiniMe still has another 4 years in the same age group so hopefully he can put in a better performance as our karate training continues.
MiniMe entry sticker
The competition was in full swing and since there was some time before the male 21+ heats, we took some time to watch some of the younger competitors performing their kata. I am always amazed at how the kids can perform under the pressure and the kata was of a very high standard across the board. If I could perform kata to that level, at any point in my karate life, then I would be a very happy man.
Soon it was time to begin my heats and I was up against a fellow brown belt Kilburn competitor, although one who trains at one of the other Kilburn venues, and we were drawn to perform the kata Heian Nidan. I managed to keep my concentration together and put together a reasonable kata, in my view anyway, and then it was over to the judges for their verdict. I did not take a view of how the judges voted but the senior judge did raise their red flag, which meant that I was through to the second round. I sat and watched the rest of the people competing on the same mat and it was soon time for me to return but this time I was up against a black belt. I long ago learnt not to judge a competitor by the colour of their belt so I went out to give my all and once again Heian Nidan was drawn. It was not my most accomplished kata performance but on the day it was not good enough and I was eliminated in the second round. I was happy with my kata performance and more importantly I had achieved my overall aim of going out there to enjoy myself and improve my karate in some way.
Mohammed Salih
I had a short amount of time to track MiniMe down so found him in the cafeteria area with a hot dog; thankfully he is at an age now where I can arm him with some cash and he could sort out his own food and drink if necessary. It can be very difficult trying to coordinate where we are both meant to be, especially as I cannot persuade a family member to sit and watch through the day, but MiniMe was quite content to feed himself and keep himself active by speaking with friends or playing on his Nintendo DS.
There was not much time to finish eating before MiniMe had to be back into the hall ready for the team kata event. This was a new category for us compared to the Kyu Grade Nationals but we had both been training for a month or so with our respective teams. The children’s team kata is mixed and open to the 7-15 age group (although the results document does state 7-11 for some reason) so his team were really up against it in their bid to try and make the finals. The team gave a great account of themselves and their performance of Heian Nidan was excellent. Sadly they did not make it through to the finals but with only 2 teams going through from the mat and so many teams competing then it was always going to be difficult. With such a wide age range there were very experienced black belts, some of whom are part of the national squad, then it was always going to be an uphill struggle. However, if their team remains together and continues to train together then they have a good chance since they have the opportunity to compete as a team for the next 6 years.
It was soon time for me to compete in the team kata event and our optimism of gaining a respectable result soon vanished when we realised that the mixed adult team event was not limited by grade, so we were the only team of brown belts lined up against some very experienced black belts (1st-4th dan). Our goal quickly changed from ‘reasonable result’ to ‘give it our best and not come last’ as we watched all the other teams perform then it was quickly our turn onto the mat. We performed Heian Sandan as our chosen kata, where we were the only team to perform a Heian kata or indeed a non-black belt kata, and it was down to the judges to score. I cannot remember our score since the performance and walking off the mat went by in such a blur but we did not receive the lowest score so were very happy with the end result. We seemed to be the only kyu grade competitors in the team kata event but we’ll be back for more next year as the 3 of us enjoyed ourselves so much.
MiniMe kumite
I tracked down MiniMe and we took some time together to eat some lunch and discuss how the day had gone so far. Our remaining event was the individual kumite and MiniMe was soon needed back in the hall for his event, which was the boys individual kumite ages 7, 8 & 9. MiniMe was on slightly firmer ground with this event since we had been practising kumite for the grading although we had given any focus to competition and the slight changes in rules and the need to wear gloves and a gum shield. He progressed through 2 rounds but was then up against one of his fellow Kilburn friends who was also a member of the same kata team. MiniMe made an error on his age uke block and the judges awarded the tie to his friend by 3 votes to 1 and that was the end of the Nationals for MiniMe this year.
It was finally time for my kumite event and the first time to stand up tall with some full contact kumite. There was a grade split for this category so I was in the brown belt to black belt (1st dan) category while the 2nd dan and above grades competed separately. I had a bye in the first round so sat down on the edge of the mat to watch some action and to try and compose myself. I was soon called up and was facing a black belt although again I paid no real attention to the colour of his belt. Unfortunately my aim to keep composed and to use correct technique seemed to slide away as the bout started and we both received a warning from the referee to control ourselves more. I was soon a point down as a front kick (mae geri) landed against me and from that point on I was chasing the bout. I did manage to sweep my opponents front foot but he managed to spin away quickly before I could follow it up and we were soon out of time.
To be honest I cannot remember much of the bout although I can clearly recall my lack of composure, my lack of technique, my lack of control and for some bizarre reason I kept dropping my line of sight down rather than focusing on chin level as normal. All the things I practice each week in training went out of the window and I know it is just a loss of concentration due to the pressure of competing in front of a audience against an opponent I had not seen before. I did really enjoy the experience though and took away a lot to work on ready for next year. While I know that I will not ever be competing for a medal, I do know that learning the composure to compete under pressure will improve my karate.
MiniMe checking for kumite results... there is always next year
I had promised to take MiniMe swimming once our competition was over so we both changed and headed to the swimming pool. It was good to soak away some of the aches and pains from the day before we went back to the cafe area to grab some food before making our way to the hall to watch the finals begin. We both sat and watched all the competitors parade through into the hall ready for the finals and then sat through some of the kata finals. As always the standard was excellent and some of the juniors really stood out. I can see the level of competition increasing each year as some of these juniors coming through the ranks. Unfortunately we had to leave since MiniMe was at school the next day so we missed the senior final events.
We did have time to catch the Boys 16-20 years kata final and I have found two of the performances online via YouTube.
First we have Mohammed Salih performing Unsu:
Second we have Jack Morgan performing Nijushiho:
Checking the 2009 National Results on the JKAE web site I can see that Mohammed came 1st and Jack 3rd. I am not sure whether it is the camera angle of the camera type but both do not give full justice to each performance as I remember watching them on the day. Thanks for making the video available!
We both had an enjoyable day and we both took something away to practice in the dojo ready for next years competition. As always I would like to thank everyone involved in arranging the Nationals, all those who took time to come and cheer on their family / friends, and finally a big thanks to everyone who put themselves on the line and took on the challenge of competing. Some were there to win medals and they were a joy to watch; however, I doff my hat to the true karateka who went out to improve their karate and not just make up the numbers.
JKAE National Championship 2009
2nd Kyu (part 1 of 2)
July 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Preparation for Bassai Dai
On the 3rd July 2009 we returned to Willesden Sports Centre for a training session with Ohta Sensei, followed by our grading for 2nd kyu. Following our injury plagued grading in March I made sure that MiniMe kept well away from any activity where he could sustain an injury.
We arrived nice and early for the training session so avoided the fight for a parking space. We sat down in the cafe area with some snacks while we had a quick run through of the grading syllabus. MiniMe had lost a bit of his karate mojo over the past few months since the new school year began in April (he follows the Japanese school year) had meant a substantial increase in homework. It had also been a busy few months for me as I was busy working long hours each day so our little practice sessions at home had disappeared.
The training session was good as usual and I always enjoy the one off training sessions with different Sensei since they take us out of our comfort zones. This session was no different as we worked on different combinations and worked with different partners. Again, the pre-grading training session with Sensei brings all the Kilburn students together so it brings the opportunity to train with partners that we have not seen before or those that we only really catch up with at the grading sessions.
For the last part of the training session we were split into our respective grades to practice kata with the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st kyu grades (brown belts) going through Bassai Dai, the 4th kyu grades going through Tekki Shodan, and the dan grades… well… I can’t remember what they were going through since we were so busy :) There was a lot of focus on the correct hip movement for Bassai Dai along with showing the correct stance. Of course that is on top of knowing the correct movements and also in my mind being able to demonstrate that you understand the correct application through the kata. The training session was soon over and we took a short break before proceeding through our grading syllabus:
- Basics (Chudan Jun-zuki->Sambon Renzuki<-Jodan Age-uke+Gyaku-tsuki->Chudan Soto0uke+Yoko Empi [Zenkutsu-dachi to Kiba-dachi]<-Chudan Uchi-uke+Gyaku-tsuki->Shuto-uke+Nukite [Kokutsu-dachi to Zenkutsu-dachi]->Mae-geri->Rengeri [Chudan/Jodan]->Mawashi-geri->Yoko Ke-age [Kibadachi] left/right->Yoko Ke-Komi [Kinadachi] left/right->Yoko Ke-komi [Zenkutsu-dachi]
- Kata (Bassaidai)
- Kumite (Jiyu Ippon Kumite – Jodan/Chudan/Maegeri/Yoko Ke-komi left only)
MiniMe waiting to be called, 2nd kyu grading
As usual I was put through as one of the first groups along with all the adults. Sensei Eric made a general comment to us as a group pointing out that our lack of flexibility, certainly compared to the children, showed since our kicks were all quite low or involved some leaning. It is certainly a comment to take on board and I do find it difficult to prioritise my time for any stretching outside of our normal dojo training sessions. We all sailed through kata and kumite with no further comments although that does not always infer a positive result at the end.
I sat down with the rest of the parents to watch the rest of the grading and it was soon time for MiniMe to progress through the same process. There were no immediate comments about basics but there were a series of comments directed at him by Sensei through both kata and kumite. Firstly, the lack of any stance through the kata was evident to me so must have really stood out for Sensei and there was no hip movement at all. Sensei asked MiniMe to repeat the kata again by himself but again there was a lack of any stance or hip movement throughout. I later received feedback that Sensei could not believe this was the same person who cleared all his previous gradings so had asked him to repeat the kata as a another chance. There was also some quite strong immediate feedback from Sensei through kata telling MiniMe to show more power through his attacks.
Ohta Sensei
MiniMe was not a happy bunny after the grading as we headed downstairs to receive our results. I had achieved a clear pass but MiniMe had received a temporary pass along with comments on his kata. I cannot argue with the results of the grading and the recent loss of karate mojo by MiniMe, specifically his Laissez-faire attitude to training over the past few months. So it was time to give MiniMe a ‘bump’ and help him get his karate mojo back in time to repeat the same grading in September.