This Saturday, Sasha arrived from Sweden, so we are now 4 uchi deshis, which makes cleaning a bit quicker, but the clothes drying racks and storage space a bit tighter for a week until Shin leaves.
On Sunday, we accompanied Kobayashi sensei to some demonstrations in Higashi (-------?. An annual event, with demonstrations from a number of local aikido and karate dojos. We took part, doing demonstrations as representatives of Kobayashi Kodaira dojo and then took ukemi for Kobayashi sensei's demonstration.


Myself and Sasha


Myself and Kobayashi Sensei

Apologies,.. the photos are a bit dark.

Then we moved onto a party for the real celebrations. Good food, lots of beer and sake,.. and lots and lots of speeches,.. EVERYONE said something to mark the occasion:

The Pa-Ti. Witness the queue of speakers in the distance..


Shin, Myself and Sasha


My German speaking Japanese friend, Uchino San.


The student contingent show us how to party proper..