Recounting my 6 months in Japan.by Hugo Dewar

To Littlewood Sensei and Auckland University Judo club,

Recounting my 6 months in Japan.

During my time in Japan we often joked about the phrase, “opportunity of a lifetime.” We joke that it was being used by people who weren't the sort to take advantage of such opportunities themselves. It was a cruel joke; but it made us feel better about the fact that we were in a foreign country and often outside our comfort zones.

The thing is; those people were right.

In Japan I made new friends, improved skills, learnt new skills, experienced life away from home, had a high level of independence and access to world class training. At age eighteen and for things to be so fresh and new and to come at the time that they did, truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity and one I'm glad I took advantage of.

During my time in Japan I did a lot of judo, suffered in 35 degree heat, got beaten up, went to parties, drank strange beverages like green tea cola, ate variably delicious food, broke several of my fitness records and was fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people.

Judo in Japan was great and I miss it very much.

Kidotai (riot police) judo was the strongest and I enjoyed the newaza and tachiwaza battles there. Kidotai judoka were friendly but tough and we had to earn their respect. We were well treated there, despite our low statuses. Kidotai was a one hour bike ride away, but despite this I enjoyed training there and I was always happy to see my favourite Kidotai judoka and to do hard training with them. The Kidotai Sensei and the senpai seemed to grow to like me. One day Sensei even ushered me into his private quarters, where I was allowed to sit and eat my bento.

The Ritsumeikan boys were fun to train with, but many of them hated me for some reason. Sometimes this just made for good, hard randori. Other times it made for me getting beaten up for most of the lesson, with atemiwaza often the order of the day.

Despite this I chose to train there, because I enjoyed the training and had a lot of respect for Katsuga Sensei and his patience with me. It was prefential also to the butt flopping judo style of the Kyodai dojo, where I trained for some time.

Enshin and Daishin were social dojos with some tough players, but mostly club level guys. We had a lot of fun at these dojos and forged good friendships with the players there.

We competed in several competitions, with mixed results. Though I only placed at one event, I enjoyed the chance to see the things I was practicing work in competitition and during the times they didn't, I took advantage and looked on it as a chance for improvement.

Japanese judo taught me the importance of kumikata, of posture, of fluidity and humility. As long as you have the right way of processing the information coming at you, big improvements can be made. Much better players can be defeated by relaxing, gripping efficiently and aggressively and anticipating their actions.

I spent a lot of time with Jordan and Ivica and although we frustrated each other a lot, strong friendships have come out of the experience. These sorts of friendships are ones you only develop through a shared experience like this Japan trip. You come to know people at their lowest and highest points and pick up funny tit bits of information, such as that Jordan is funny, sleazy and prone to exaggeration and Ivica is secretly a nice guy.

I would also like to thank all those judoka and friends who gave me support while in Japan.

Thanks for making the experience possible for me and all the best for the future.
-Hugo Dewar.
Shimeikaikan graduates, their waza has been set in stone forever.

back left Tim,front left Jordan ,center Hugo ,back right Lee and front right Ivica