Judo. Chris Pembleton reports after getting his black belt Japan . Unabridged version.

My name is Chris and i,m originally from Mt.Roskill
It was the first time I have flown past AUSTRALIA

The first few days in Japan where in Tokyo, the city is awesome the Japanese people are so nice and friendly and polite!! I made lots of friends, travelers and Japanese alike and managed to get my head around Tokyo,s intricate subway system which is incredibly efficient, visited an aquarium art, exhibition with fuzzy as fish and l.e.d lighting. An Art exhibition with fuzzy as Urban sustainable design concepts, Meet up with a humans of Tokyo photographer, Tried some pretty interesting feeds which at times can be hit and miss when the menus are not accompanied with pictures. I got naked with a bunch of old Japanese men at the local Onsen and had some electric shock therapy in one of the bathes. Trained with the Maranouchi police and drunk with them at a all you can drink hall. Fought at the Kodokan winning my first fight and drawing my second against a big Frenchman lasting the whole fight with no points to either side but unfortunately had to be a win to continue, in the process i injured my shoulder pretty bad and i have had to tactically stay of the mat for a while. trying to drink my shoulder better in Roppongi (thuggish night district) where they encourage you to do a all niter by shutting down the trains till sunrise! Frustrated about not being able to do judo i headed to Kyoto for the next week and and tentatively stepped back on the mat at the police club there. Never figured out how to say go easy, sore shoulder yet. pretty sure they where just playing with us anyway. came out of training with a aching sore shoulder that in no way felt healthy.  in-fact i had 3 physios and two Thai 'professional' massage on the same shoulder the week before i left NZ just to be safe but its never been this bad. O well not the end of the world as I still had faith it wouldn't effect my performance in the end i just need to balance my training in Japan(what i aim to take a lot from) with the ability to compete at the next Shodan.

I took the following day off and found a English speaking doctor who proceeded to tell me no judo for at least a month and gave me a prescription for a bunch of purple and red pills. Not willing to accept the fate dictated to me by this doc I vowed to return to the mat the following day. In the meantime i cheered myself up by touring the Kyoto art museum and local galleries via bicycle which i thoroughly enjoyed and made friends with a cute Japanese girl whom was holding one of the galleries and had some pretty buzzy pieces on display. Now would be a good time to mention that riding a bike around Kyoto is up there on my favorite things to do.. stopping to check out all the buzzy shops, parks and temples all the while dishing out friendly rings of the bike-bell to the locals{im such a asian)! Not to mention the sweet az giant river you can ride alongside with plenty of chill out spots along the way.. Also some nice bridges to chunder under when one is trying to bike off their hangover!

The boys where training in Osaka so i timidly packed my judo gi and jumped on the train with them upon arrival we were ushered upstairs to get changed where to my excitement i found that the dojo doubled as a judo-therapy clinic and was packed with machines and therapy beds. My mate Stue mentioned my bung shoulder and next minute a very happy me was getting electric therapy and needles thrown at my shoulder.. Mr Matsuura the clubs Sensei and judo therapist told me I had done my rotator cuff but i could do judo again in a week or so, apparently some bone wasn't sitting quite right and after therapy he did what he could to maneuver it into place. When i explained I had a tournament that weekend he emphasized with me, strapped me up and sent me down to the judo session where he proceeded to line me up some lightweights and girls to fight ha ha i have only included this part about the girls for everybody else entertainment.. but to be honest i was just so happy to be back on the mat!!

The next day i took it easy at Doshisha Uni club only fighting a couple times. Made my way back to see Sensei Matsuura on the day after for some more judo therapy and to step my training up a notch. He gave me 3 lightweight black belts (actually one was a white belt) in a row and I bet all three which did wonders for my injury state of mind I was trying to shake. After this I
Ended up spending the night in Osaka then came back to the hostel on Saturday to relax and mentally prepare.
Sunday was comp day and the rest is history.. nailed the fights and exam to earn my Blackbelt, Japanese style!

Celebrations went well into the early hours getting pretty much the whole party crew at the hostel, on gin-juice and and prework out cocktails before hitting Kyoto town and finishing the night with some shenanigans down by the river and a Big-mac combo!

The following morning I got up early and took a ride down to the river.. mainly because I was to hungover to stay in my bunk but regardless I found a nice spot to dangle my feet in the currents and even though I was pretty hung I managed to Zen out and contemplate.. All-though I've trained hard to get here the black belt is ultimately just a belt, but more so it is a state of mind and attitude that I will respect and constantly work to uphold.

My last few days in japan scheduled to see all the sights were instead filled up with more judo sessions as priority especially since I need to make up for lost training sessions due to my shoulder which, thanks to Mr Matsuura, was now well on the mend! Still enjoyed myself, especially at the Dojos!

Big thanks to Stu who was like the Guru godfather of the Japanese Trip, mad respect!

Did i mention that i have big photo shoot display at Q. Theater. 311 Queen st Auckland ?
Its awesome!

chris