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Tomorrow I am going to begin training in Judo at the Kodokan. According to Wikipedia, the Kodokan is “the headquarters of the judo world”. You can also check out the Kodokan website.

I received my black belt in Kenpo Karate which I trained in mostly as a kid. I did go back to the same dojo when I was older and trained there for a few months every now and then mostly during the summers but never did much seriously there after I received my black belt as a kid.

Judo is more about grappling and throwing while karate is more about striking, punching and kicking so although both are martial arts, they are still pretty different.

In terms of my martial arts knowledge, this is a good thing since I will be able to round out my skills by learning more about throws and grappling which I didn’t get much training in when studying Kenpo Karate. On the other hand, because it’s completely new material, my karate training will not help me so much perhaps.

In any case, tomorrow is February 1 which means it is a new month so I can join and begin studying at the Kodokan. I am not sure what to expect but look forward to meeting some new people there, learning about judo and also having the opportunity to get out of my room more often and exercise.

It will also be nice to study at the Kodokan since judo is known worldwide and as Wikipedia says, it is the headquarters of the judo world, so as a judoka (judo grappler), it is a very prestigious place to study. Judo is also a martial art started in Japan so it is nice to take advantage of the fact that I am living in Japan and can study this art.

In any case, I am continuing to learn more Tagalog which is interesting from my martial arts education standpoint as well because when I studied Kenpo Karate, at my studio we also learned arnis which is a martial art using rattan sticks developed in the Philippines. So, perhaps if I learn Tagalog well enough, I can take a trip to the Philippines sometime and learn more arnis there.

Now that I am settled back in to my place here, I want to pick up my language learning in the other languages I want to learn: German and Mandarin Chinese. I am still a bit worried about money though since I am not at the level I want to be at but things are still progressing so I cannot complain. I continue to work each day but I will have to gain more discipline to fit judo and language studies into my day, as well.

On that note, I will try to go to sleep early tonight and wake up early tomorrow. Tomorrow is a Monday and the first day of a new month (February, also my birthday is in 8 days), so it will be a perfect time to begin new habits.

I noticed the moon is getting fuller tonight. I don’t know why but I have noticed since this last summer that every time the moon begins to get fuller, things just naturally go my way.

It is no exception now, either. It’s late so I want to go to sleep so unfortunately I cannot write much.

However, I put down a very good piece of structure in a certain project I am working on that has very high potential for profit. I am very pleased with its setting up and now I will await the results.

Also, I gained the energy to begin my studying in Tagalog. I hired a teacher off of the same site I use to hire my workers for my other projects. She basically makes flashcards for me for my flashcard program so I don’t have to spend my time typing in the words. It is also somewhat of a surprise since I never know exactly what words I am going to get. In any case, I made good progress today and learned 200+ words in Tagalog. I also feel like I got a lot more used to the vocabulary and feeling of Tagalog so that will make it easier to learn later on.

Additionally, on a forum I frequent, a member there private messaged me about a thread I had made concerning finding e-mails online of people who want to learn French (for my French learning project) and he basically said in his message that he had run a test for me and got a list of 200+ e-mails for me of people who potentially might want to learn French. Now all we have to do is sell them!

When I got off the plane, I always seem to have trouble at customers. It’s like the last gate you have to pass through before you are really free to run out into the country.

In the past, usually I forget to fill out the form and I have to go all the way back to their counters and fill it out. This time though, I remembered it so I wouldn’t run into that problem.

I went up and saw that there was a completely open line so I went over and gave my form to the woman and the passport. She asked me if I could open my bags, I said, “sure” (although I wonder what would have happened if I had told her “no”).

Since I left most of my stuff in Tokyo, I didn’t have a lot of normal things coming back… like clothes and such. Instead half my large suitcase was taken up with a pull up bar still in the box with the flash images of a guy and phrases like “Get Strong… Get Ripped… Quick!”

This girl actually opened this box, took a look inside, saw a bunch of metal pieces for 2 seconds and just decided it wasn’t worth her time and closed it. Then she asked me if it was okay if she could see my other bag (the smaller one and I also wonder what would have happened if I had told her “no” here, too).

She opened the bag and in this bag, I had entirely vitamins and health supplements. I had like 10-15 bottles of various shapes and colors. She immediately closed the bag. I don’t know what she must have thought about me seeing me coming all the way from America to Japan with just an “Iron Gym” pull up bar and 10-15 bottles of supplements but I am sure it was more amusing than some of the other travelers.