Memoirs of a Gaijin

Memoirs of a Gaijin: (ten times better than the movie but still written in English!)So! Seems about time that I got my act together and posted a bit before I come home (12 days everyone). Too much has happened during the holidays for me to write out, like Christmas, Japanese New Year, back to school cleaning (again) so! I’m going to tell you about the most awesome thing ever (the other stuff was awesome too, just this was awesomER)! The 2006 Jigoro Kano International Judo Cup that took place this last weekend. About a month ago one of my Judo senseis asked me if I would like to wear a kimono with four other girls and help pass out awards at a tournament and I figured when else would I be able to wear a real kimono and see such a big Judo tournament live (plus it was all free). The tournament started on Saturday with the lower weight classes. There were a handful of countries represented, mostly athletes who have been to the Olympics or had won in the World Judo Championships held in Egypt last year (no Americans). My job as kimono girl was pretty easy minus the kimono. I think the lady who was putting it on me was trying to squeeze the life out of me. They kept asking us ‘is it tight?’ and we just kept saying ‘no’. I was afraid if I said yes she’d pull it tighter! Putting on the kimono took maybe an hour, the obi (belt) took the longest to do. My obi was about three times my height and somehow got all wrapped around me. I made the mistake of staying up late the night before, because let me tell you, yawning in a kimono is impossible! Anyway, once we were all strapped in and ready to go we had to maneuver ourselves into a taxi and to the Budokan in the pouring rain. The Budokan, I believe, was built in the 80’s for the Olympics, it kind of put off an 80’s vibe. It’s quite impressive inside though. Since our job was to pass out awards we had to wait until the final matches until we could go out into the arena. All us kimono girls had little chairs on the sideline and as far as I’m concerned front row seats! Since patrons aren’t allowed on the main floor it was like VIP! Anyway we did our thing and after the tournament and everything was over we went Judo athlete hunting, hehehe! I got to shake hands with Akimoto, who took gold in the 66kg category, and with Kanamaru who took bronze in the 73kg category! See how awesomER this is?! And I had maybe five seconds of fame when they played the tournament on NHK television. Well at least the back of my head is 5 seconds more famous than the front…