Ben's 2019 Japan Trip - familiar faces, tributes and a timely visit.

The most recent member of University to do a pilgrimage to Japan is me, Ben, University's usual Saturday coach who has conveniently timed a trip with the Rugby World Cup.

While I'm currently dealing with a knee injury that has prevented me from competing all year, I've decided to take advantage of being in the home of judo by doing newaza and finding opportunities to practice kata before Nationals.

That began on the third day with a visit to the Kyoto Riot Police, joining them for their newaza training whilst recovering from the Scotland vs Samoa game in Kobe from the previous day. A few players were taking the day off as they had a big shiai in Ibaraki that same weekend but it was good to join them on the ground instead of just being tossed around in tachiwaza as per usual.

Instagram filter used to mask sunburn from previous day

On the following day, given that newaza had to be my go-to, it made sense to visit Kyoto University - a kosen judo club renowned for their newaza. 

Later that week, while having to be in Osaka for the Georgia and Fiji game, I visited our sister club, Daishin Judo (and Orthopaedic Clinic), for their Friday night training, along with former University member Kazuma Handa.

With a day left in Osaka on the Sunday, I went with former club member (and previous Saturday morning coach Yoshio Kanaya), to Minoh City, where the Judo New Zealand team has been carrying out a training camp and cultural exchange. 

On the second week, after returning to Kyoto, I decided to pay a visit to the former university of Sensei Rick - Doshisha University (which, coincidentally, is currently coached by one of the Riot Police, Sano-san). I hadn't been to Doshisha in my previous two trips to Japan so it was good to finally make the journey, especially in the year after sensei passed away.

The haka pose was totally their idea, not mine!

After my last training in Kyoto before heading out, I had the opportunity to work on katame no kata (which I will be doing at Nationals both as uke and tori) with Abe-sensei from the Kyoto Riot Police, who just happened to be licensed to teach katame no kata in Japan. 

Overall, despite being limited in my ability to train, I'm pleased that at least I still managed to squeeze in some judo into this trip (otherwise all the ramen would probably put me into a new weight division!) Unfortunately my time in Kyoto's been cut a bit shorter by the oncoming typhoon causing me to head to Nagoya a day early, but all-in-all, it's been a good trip and I'm looking forward to being back.