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On Thursday, June 17th at 11:30 I had an interview with Mr. Kenji Okada, the Counsel General of Japan at Chicago.  The Counsel General is located in the heart of downtown Chicago – I drove on my own there. I kept the speed limit (70 MPH) on the Interstate and with cautious driving I arrived in about an hour.  Bought a cup of coffee at Starbucks, and took a breath in front of the Water Tower Place which is right in front of the Office.  (kind of elegant…)  Now to the Counsel. I reported my activities of the past 2 months in his office as well as the status of […]

Indiana Championship took place at Portland Indiana on Saturday, June 5th.  I visited together with Doug Tono, the owner of Tohkon Judo Academy.  It was a 4.5 hour drive from Chicago.  In a fully chartered gymnasium, 300 participants gathered together!! We hauled TATAMI on the previous day (June 4th) and spent 2 hours setting up the event site.  It was the first time for me to setup a competition site, and now understood how tough a job the supporting staff are going through. I didn’t even think about this before I retired as a competitor. In the competition 16 kids participated and the results were great.  11 Gold, 3 Silver

Exciting times go so fast.  May felt like just an instance. While continuing my 4 lessons/week curriculum, I started to get worried on how to teach the Cubby Class (ages 3~5)  I also needed to prepare a boat load of information for my Visa application (My Resume, Competition Records, Recommendation Letters, and to dop it off my transcript from my University – contents of the transcript – top secret.) As for my personal life, I made an unforgettable experience travelling to Arizona during the Memorial Day weekend.  Acquired a lot of stuff in my exciting days!!  And now, approaching the time I need to leave.  A bit concerned about the

I participated in the All USA Judo Competition in Reno, Nevada that took place on May 15th and 16th. I was a 3.5 hour long flight from Chicago, but the main objective was to meet with the Chairman and the Executives of USA Judo (Keith Bryant) to request support for the O-1 Visa (Same VISA Type as Shohei Ohtani and Rui Hachimura).  We had discussed about detailed conditions for this support, but it was the first time we met.  I am not so good if it’s not on the TATAMI, being nervous, I met to request the above support. The meeting with Keith was brilliant as my thoughts and his

It’s been a month since my arrival to Chicago and now enjoying the best time of the year.  Continuing my 4 lessons/week at the partner dojo (Tohkon Judo Academy)  Initially I was just excited to meet the cute little kids, but now I feel a bit more responsible.  I need to make sure that the kids do their best at every lesson, and they go home with confidence that they did.  I ask myself with this question too. My education style still has a lot of room for improvement but I take this positive to push myself even harder.  Regardless, the smiles of the kids gives me the best power

After my arrival on April 4th, I started by 4 days/week lessons at the partner dojo (Tohkon Judo Academy) starting on the 6th. The smiles and the effort of kids are the best vitamins for me! (see photo) However, in my personal life, it was a VERY BUSY 2 weeks. I had a 3 hour interrogation at immigration. They did let me in, but I will require a VISA next time… I had a problem with my ears and had my first doctors visit (Nihon Clinic) Struggled to find the prescription drugs, and ended up searching through 4 pharmacies.  What I had taken for granted in Japan takes 4x the