This month started with a demo with the Aishinkan group on July 1st. Sakabe Sensei put the whole thing on by himself, so it was a pretty amazing experience to be a part of. The Shoheijuku Aikikai school's demo in Fukuoka was much larger, but I enjoyed participating in this one just as much if not more. I had a lot of freedom in my own personal demo, and there were a lot of different kinds of demos to participate in. Sensei's speech at the end was interesting too. He talked about the fundamentals and some of the more universal aspects of Aikido. I wish I could somehow show you some of the video... big project, "learn to use computer." (By the way, my name was listed in the program (4x!) like this: トーレン　ジュリー. cool, huh?)

Hey, also, there was that awful typhoon that came here Saturday. I had language class in the city that morning before it came. (By the way, I passed the practice Japanese Proficiency Test in class!!) When I got back, the wind was already starting to blow things around, so I shut myself up in the house for the rest of the day. There was almost no rain or storming, so it really wasn't all that bad. But I imagine it must have been terrible up in the Tokyo area when it finally took on its full force.

I'm gonna post this now even though it's not done. Experiencing technical difficulties--computer cut out three times now. first time that's ever happened, cutting out, I mean.

Guess this will have to wait a little longer...