Omotesando Dojo

A meet up for keiko was planned on the kendo world forums for the 26th at a dojo in Omotesando (I don't think I ever caught the name of the place). Two other people showed up, a friendly Swede who spoke fluent Japanese (I gather he practises regularly at this dojo), and a polite American who teaches kendo back in the states. They both had far more Japan experience than me, and were also far better at kendo, so I think I was lucky to meet them.

The dojo itself was rather tiny, but still very nice. There was lots of bogu stored in the wall (see photo), the floor was solid but still had some spring to it, the changing room set up was different (as I'm so used to just changing in the dojo), and there were minor differences in rei. We did some kihon and then keiko. I got beaten up as usual, but did one kaishi do that I'm really proud of. The sensei was really nice, he always smiled and laughed whenever I laughed when he got a hit on me (which was all the time, he was super fast!). I also met a Spaniard who works in Japan as a professional photographer, and Kotomi and me talked to him a bit after practise was over.

It was a nice experience and I had fun.