Sensei Nobutoshi is the son of Risuke Otake, who currently runs the school in Japan. Sensei travels to the different schools outside of Japan to make sure they are maintaining the appropriate standards.
It was really fun and I got to learn new stuff, which Sensei taught me himself. Once Sensei show you something new he expects you to go work with the more senior students to practice.
First is the airplane. We flew in a huge 777 from Hanoi to Saigon, which is a 2 hour flight. The engines were amazing. I could stand up four times in one of the engines they are so big.
More cool was getting on the plane. I got to walk up on it from the tarmac. I never got to do that before. First we drive out to the plane on a bus, then we get off and walk up these huge step ladders to get on.
On the first day when we arrived we found a Starbucks. Turns out there are two in Saigon. So, we just had to go in there.
They are way cooler here than in the US. Starbucks outside the US are still large with loads of places to sit and hang out. Much better than the small drive threw models that are in the US. There is even an upstairs to this place.
There were loads of people downstairs and it was quieter up here so we came up here to have our snack. It also let us look out over the streets.
Looking out from the window, there is always lots of traffic. There are something like 6 million people in Saigon, maybe more.
I like looking out the window.
I had blueberry muffin and my dad had a strange green tea cheesecake. Green tea is in loads of things here.
OK, now to the cool stuff. The sword fighting.
This is my first training with Sensei. He is demonstrating the techniques to me and I am working with Sensei Malte. Sensei Malte is Dutch and run the school in Viet Nam.
During this trip I got to learn two new Katas from Sensei Nobutoshi. This means I am now training in three Katas.
Once I am finished working directly with Sensei then I must go out and work and practice with all the other students. For this training five very senior students flew in from Russia, one from Belgium and one from Singapore. These seven people worked with the senior students in Viet Nam and the rest of us.
The place we are training, the Dojo, in Saigon is amazing. It is owned by a Vietnamese man who is a Hollywood stuntman. He built the dojo and lots of different schools train here.
One of my favorite parts was training with the Russian students. They were really really good and worked very hard with me and the other students. There were also really big. I am glad my sword is longer.
While we were there we had a function with the Japan/Vietnam friendship Foundation. Here there were demonstrations of different Japanese martial arts and Sensei Nobutoshi demonstrated as well. This is me standing with Brian. Brian is Canadian and trains with us in Viet Nam.
This is are entire group after the event.
Finally, this is my dad training with Sensei Nobutoshi.
Now that I have trained with Sensei Nobutoshi in Viet Nam, I get to go train at the main Dojo in Narita Japan. We hope to go in January, where I think I get to train with Sensei Nobutoshi again. If I am really lucky I may get to train with his father, Sensei Risuke. Also, while in Japan I hope to go visit the various temples and shrines associated with Teshen Katori Shinto Ryu and the Samurai.
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