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Editor's note: Liese Klein has recently returned from her stay in Japan. As our readers know, she has been providing a picture of what it is like to live in Japan and practice at Aikikai Headquarters. In this column, she summarizes her experiences and provides some advice for those considering such a pilgrimage. So You Want To Visit Japan by Liese Klein With its flowers, tasteful tinting and portraits of famous authors, Japanese money can be quite pretty to look at. But it has another, quite alarming quality -- it has a tendency to disappear at a frighteningly rapid pace. So when people ask me about visiting Japan to practice Aikido, that's the first thing I stress -- you need lots of money. If you go for a visit or to live without a job, you had better get together a considerable nest egg if you want to have a good time. Of course, everyone has their own definition of a good time, and their own idea about what they want out of a Japan experience. The first thing you want to figure out is how long you want to stay. To get a taste of Hombu Dojo and life in Japan, I recommend at least a few weeks, preferably a month. Longer than that -- as in a few years, takes quite a bit of up-front investment and commitment. When to Go First, for those who plan a brief visit, I recommend that you plan your trip for the spring. The Japanese winter is bitter cold and lasts well into March, as two of my friend from Florida found out this year, much to their dismay. Those two tropical transplants spent much of their visit huddling under blankets on my floor and taking hot showers. And the summer in suffocatingly hot and dirty, making Hombu Dojo into the equivalent of a pressure cooker on high heat. Unless you are from a hot and humid climate, it will take you at least a few weeks to get used to training in the Japanese summer, time you will spend uncomfortable, dehydrated and winded. Better to come either in late April or May, when the weather is reasonable and things are turning green. (You will miss the cherry blossoms, but spending a nasty winter in Japan is a big part of appreciating the experience, in my opinion.) Another good thing about spring is that there are some interesting events around that time. Hombu Dojo members make the trip to Iwama in late April for O-Sensei's birthday -- a trip to Iwama is only worth it on that day, I have learned. Any other day of the year, visitors to Iwama are treated very rudely and chased off the dojo grounds. The Aikido Shrine is also locked up the rest of the year and not very interesting. In May during Japan's Golden Week holiday, visitors can also ask permission to attend the Saku Dojo international seminar, hosted by Endo Sensei. Saku seminars are some of the few events where you can get out of town and train intensively with a Hombu teacher and a big group of Japanese and international Aikidoka. It's worth a trip. Where to Stay Hombu Dojo of course has no formal accommodations for visitors, so it's better not to even ask. There are, however, two hotels very near the dojo which are reasonable, the Business Hotel and the Strada. At about 6,000 yen and up a night, however, they aren't exactly cheap for a month-long stay. There are youth hostels and YMCAs that charge about 3,000 yen a night, but that's still pricey in my book. If you are going to stay a month or so, better to arrange a room in a gaijin or guesthouse, furnished dorm-style rooms that charge from 60,000 yen a month. Check out the Tokyo Classified web site (www.tokyoclassified.com) for listings of guesthouses around town. Cheapest of all is crashing with a friend or fellow national from your country-start networking now! There are people from all over the world at Hombu, and some are willing to lend floor space for a small fee or good conversation. The Spaniards and South Americans seem to have the best networks for this kind of thing-but best to ask around before you go. What to Do Don't get any fancy ideas about seeing all of Japan unless you have major cash. I took a low-budget sightseeing jaunt to Kyoto earlier this year-taking public transportation and staying at youth hostels-- and spent almost 100,000 yen for two days. The biggest expense is travel-the bullet train tickets alone cost 14,000 yen each way. If you do want to do some traveling outside of Tokyo, look into a Japan Rail Pass that will save you lots of money. But I think if you are serious about checking out Hombu Dojo, you better spend most of your time in Tokyo. There are lots of temples and Buddhas and interesting things to see within walking distance of the dojo. You can also eat cheaply around Shinjuku, where the dojo is located. What You Will Spend I'll give you an idea of what you can expect to spend in a day. On a typical day off I used get up, eat some toast for breakfast (a six-slice loaf of bread is about 200 yen), drink some tea (cheap), then walk or take a subway to downtown Shinjuku (one stop on the subway near Hombu is 170 yen, most places in Tokyo are from 200-400 yen each way). Then perhaps a visit to a temple (500 yen), museum (1000 yen), or a movie (1800 yen.) Perhaps a snack break (some noodles for 700 yen) or a copy of the New Yorker at a bookstore (1200 yen). Then a beer break (small bottle for 400 yen) and perhaps a chicken sandwich at a fast food place (600 yen). Then another beer break. The money just disappears, trust me! If You Want to Live There In my case, I went without a job, but with contacts through friends who set me up with an apartment right away. With first and last month's rent and a special "landlord's fee" of one month, I ended up shelling out about 180,000 yen up front. It was winter, so I got sick as a dog, and it took me a few weeks to find a job. My first paycheck showed up almost two months later! I was broke and miserable for quite a while. But in fact, as an American with an English degree, I had a very easy time finding a job which paid a decent wage (250,000 a month for 20 hours/week work). Anyone from non-English speaking countries or without a college degree, beware. It's quite tough to find a job these days, so wait before you put down money on an apartment. There are jobs out there for anyone, but it can be quite tough, and not always strictly legal. Hombu does sponsor a very few cultural visas, which allow people to work and study Aikido, but those are increasingly difficult and must be arranged entirely from outside of Japan. Just save up as much as you can and be prepared to eat Cup Noodle (100 yen) for a while. I recommend the curry flavor. Training Life Hombu has a full schedule of classes, starting at 6:30 a.m., with classes at 8 a.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 and 7 on weekdays and Saturday, and 6:30 a.m., 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. If you plan on attending morning class, think about living near the dojo as trains start running only around 5 a.m. or so. If you live far away, you may not make it. Most people soon get into a routine where they go to classes they like and schedule around them. However, it is almost better to just visit for a short time, because as someone working full-time and living in Japan I often had to miss classes I really wanted to go to because of work. In retrospect, I wish I had planned better and scaled back my lifestyle so I could live on a strictly part-time job. It's just so hard to give up the beer breaks and magazines. Speaking of beer, if you plan on visiting Japan soon perhaps the best training you can do is building up your alcohol tolerance, as many dojo events revolve around booze. I suggest a four-beer-a-day regimen, with added shots of sake and whiskey as your departure date approaches. Non-drinkers: Stay home. Just Go For It! Well, there are a lot of things I could cover about life in Japan, but it's almost better to learn things the hard way. Just remember that there are many excellent older teachers there and many young exciting teachers coming up, so you are guaranteed an interesting training experience. Just stop making excuses and get that plane ticket today! |
