Daily Life Part 3

Alright, now it's time for the fun stuff. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I have kendo practice at 6:00 PM. I head over to the girls locker room at about 5:30 unless I have traditional Japanese literature. The girls "locker room" is basically just a small room located in the building that's right next door to Meimeikan. On the first floor is a convenience store called AM PM. Upstairs, however, there are a whole bunch of rooms for clubs and stuff I'm assuming. Once I get on the right floor I go down to the kendo girls' room and take off my shoes before entering.

The inside is basically a small rectangular room with two sets of low shelves on two walls and everybody hangs up their uniforms on hangers that hang off of the wall. Usually when I get in the room I just set my bag down on the floor and go grab the uniform I'm being lent. First I put on the keikogi which is the top part of the uniform. It's really easy to put on. You just slip your arms into the sleeves and then you tie the inside tie and then the outside tie and you're done.

The hakama (bottom part) is a bit more difficult. You stick your legs into the legs and then you drop the back part which has a stiff band of cloth at the top. There are strings coming out of either side of the front part of the hakama which you wrap around yourself twice before tying it in a bow in the back. Then you pick up the back part which also has two strings attached to either side of it. You wrap the strings around you so that they are in front and then you put one of the strings through the strings from the front part and make a square knot with it. Then you tuck the excess strings into the side slits of the hakama and you're ready to go.

Then we go downstairs and go to the next building which has a gym and a couple of dojos in it. The gym is on the first floor. We use the dojo on the third floor which the high school kendo team uses before us. We have to take off our shoes before we enter the main part of the dojo and we can't wear socks either. We usually start out with basic stretches and then we run through some warm up exercises that use the basic form of kendo. Then we go off to the side where the other members suit up in their armor. We gaijin just kind of sit there in seiza (sitting with our feet tucked under our bottoms) while everybody suits up. Then they start off with their group exercises. Sometimes they make me join in sometimes I'm left to my own devices, but they always give me feedback which is nice. I think the guys kind of ignore Thomas sometimes.

Once kendo is over, though, I have to get dinner and then I catch the school bus back to Fuchinobe and then the city bus back to my house. And I'll write more next time. I have four mid-terms coming up next week, so I better get cracking!