Kendo!

I'm going to kendo lessons twice a week now and loving it! The gym I do kendo training at is at the end of the road in the photo on the right. I've invested in a shinai (bamboo sword), which the friendly shopkeeper gave me at a discount (perhaps because I'm a foreigner!) One day I was riding to Kendo with with my shinai slung over my back when I passed a group of schoolgirls who were staring at me and said loudly in Japanese: "Coooool!" I was a little embarrassed because that would never happen in Australia!

As well as the physical training, the lessons give my brain a real workout too, because of course they're entirely in Japanese and I can only understand a very small amount what my Sensei is saying. So I just copy what my fellow students do and it works out ok most of the time, though sometimes I end up doing something really stupid! It's good fun though, and it helps my Japanese too.