Kali-fornia love

When I first got to Japan, I was taking Aikido classes because I was so intrigued by the beauty & flow of this Japanese martial art. But as I was progressing, I didn't see how Aikido could be useful in real-life situations when the danger is at an all-time high. Kali is more of a practical combat application that focuses on offensive & counter-offensive tactics with triangular movements. It is indigenous to the Philippines that dates back to pre-Spanish colonization around the 16th century. The main focus is on blade (knife) work but also utilizes the baston (stick). By learning how to use the knife and the stick correctly, empty hand fighting is easier because it's the same techniques...basically, your hands act as the blade/stick. The popularity of Kali is growing, especially in more action movies like the Bourne Identity that use kali techniques in their knife fighting scenes. Luckily, there was a Filipino Kali group on base so I decided to check out a class back in July and fell in love with it ever since.

Shin-Kali is the name of my group....we are the official Pekiti-Tirsia Kali training group in Japan but also incorporate some jiu-jitsu into our program. Pekiti-Tirsia Kali is the only system of Kali that the Filipino military uses as well as the military forces in India. There are several Shin-Kali groups spread throughout Japan (Tokyo, Roppongi, Osaka, Saitama) but I am a member of the school in Yokohama which is headed by Sensei Satoshi. He is full Japanese but grew up in the Philippines so he is way more Filipino than I am. In addition to Sensei Satoshi, Yoko is a senior student that helps Sensei Satoshi run the business side of the school, and Lakan Guro (high-rank) Vince who is a Filipino-American who ran the Yokosuka training group. LG Vince is in the Navy who recently got stationed in the Bay Area so he is busy trying to get Shin-Kali going in the states. We all miss LG Vince but Ben (who I recently went to dinner with at the Lockup restaurant) is now leading the group in Yokosuka.

Satoshi Sensei, LG Vince, Yoko

   

The techniques we learn in class are used in occasional sparring sessions where we really get to test our skills. We only use a fencing helmet and lacrosse gloves but everything else is fair game. Trust me when I say that during this short time, I've had my share of cuts & bruises. But it's totally worth it because it gives me an opportunity to see what areas I need to work on using the stick & practice knife.

About a month or so into joining Yokohama, I had my official "initiation" which consisted of me sparring everyone from white belt to Sensei for one minute rounds and only about a 30 second break in-between to catch my breathe. After getting my finger nail broken off and getting back kicked in the stomach by LG Vince, I was now a part of the Yokohama family. I say family because
we train hard, fight hard, and sometimes get into each other's faces but at the end of the day, we still care about each other and like to have fun over a few drinks.

Back in October, we had a Shin-Kali gathering where all the schools around Japan came to Yokohama for the day to participate in some really cool Kali-related scenarios like gang war, man-down, blind-kali, & escape from North Korea. All the sensei's were keeping tabs of the stand-outs of each game and were going to hand out prizes accordingly. Although I didn't excel in one particular game, me and LG Nikko did get honorable mention for our fighting throughout the entire gathering and got awarded training bastons (sticks) which we were really happy about.

 

 

I am so glad that my cousin Merve, who also trains in a different style of Kali (Sayoc & Atienza Kali)in Los Angeles, insisted I at least try out a class and see how I like it. Shin-Kali has given me the opportunity to learn more about myself, learn how to protect loved-ones, & make new friends. 

 

Thanksgiving & Getting Locked Up

Can't believe that it's already that time of year for the holiday season to begin. Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving! Bern and I spent our first Thanksgiving here in Japan with our family away from home, The Cariaga's. We all decided to try out the Thanksgiving Day buffet at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. Reservations were for 5:30pm so we thought this would be a great opportunity for us to do some sightseeing beforehand. Since J.R. is a huge anime fan, Bern and I took them to Akihabara which is the anime capital of Japan. He was so excited to see all the shops filled with Pokémon trading cards and anime figurines! After walking around for a few hours, we grabbed a quick Italian lunch and then headed to the Honey Toast Café for dessert. There are similar cafes in San Diego that serve these delectable treats but nothing to this scale. Bern and I tried their chocolate banana honey toast with vanilla ice cream...one of the best desserts I've ever had, no doubt! Really glad Kristine spotted this place as we were walking around Akihabara because now we can take visitors there to try it out for themselves.

After our time in Akihabara, we then boarded a train and headed towards the other side of town to the New Sanno Hotel. This is a hotel only for U.S. Military personnel so they had a special Thanksgiving Day buffet with over fifty American-style items on the menu....everything from the turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, & pumpkin pie was on point. Even though we miss all of our family & friends back home in SD, Bern and I are extremely thankful for having the Cariaga's with us in Japan. Our time here has brought us closer and made this experience even that much better. Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

 

 

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Bern and I got "locked up" at one of Yokosuka's newest restaurants The Lockup. It's a scary-jail themed restaurant that my friend, Ben (one of the guys in my Kali group) invited us out to.

 

 

 

This place carried the whole scary-jail theme to the T... Our table was in a jail cell with steel bar doors at the entrance, the wait staff were all dressed up as cops, and even the menu had some really cool science-themed drinks & food. It was all you can drink so we tried a whole bunch of these cool drinks. Thank goodness that Ben's girlfriend, Yugumi, is Japanese or else we would have been so lost in trying to understand everything. Had a great time and hope we get to hang out again soon outside of kali class!

 

 

     

  

A Special Surprise for Bern's Birthday

There's no doubt that Bern will forever remember what happened for her birthday this year...and it's all thanks to Bern's sister Beverly! Bev found out that Bern's favorite singer, Jason Mraz, was going to be performing in Tokyo on November 14 (which is only three days before Bern's actual birthday). Bern actually knew about the concert a few weeks prior but found out a little late as tickets were already sold out. Luckily, Bev worked her connections and managed to get us tickets to the show. We wanted to keep this a complete surprise so all I told Bern was that we were going to Tokyo and that's it; she had no idea whatsoever what was going on. When we arrived at the Tokyo International Forum that night, I told her to wait outside while I got the tickets at will call. Luckily, there were no big signs or posters marketing the event. As I was picking up the tickets, the representative asked me if I knew anyone in the band because the tickets also came with two backstage passes. This completely caught me off-guard because I thought I was just getting tickets. At that moment, I knew Bern would freak-out even more knowing that she would actually get the opportunity to meet Jason Mraz after the concert...and boy was I right! I went back outside to tell Bern the good news and she was absolutely shocked.

This was actually our third time seeing Jason Mraz live in concert, the first two were back in San Diego at The Spreckles Theater & The Coors Amphitheatre. The performance included songs off his newest album as well as some of his past hits; a very entertaining show overall!

After the show, we went backstage and were anxiously awaiting for Jason Mraz to arrive. Bern had the biggest smile on her face.

I actually met Jason Mraz briefly when I was working for the Padres. He sang the National Anthem for Opening Day one season and I happened to be near the suite elevator as he was heading up after his performance. But Bern getting to meet Jason Mraz was like a dream come true for her! When he finally got out, I thought Bern would go crazy but she played it cool surprisingly. I mentioned to him that it was her birthday and so he signed our ticket stub as well as taking a few photos. It really made me happy to see her filled with such excitement. What a wonderful moment, Thank You again Bev for making it possible! 

Still shocked from the meet 'n greet, all Bern wanted to do on her actual birthday was have a nice & relaxing day. So we just stayed home while she cooked Filipino spaghetti (which is sweeter than normal spaghetti & includes pieces of hot dogs) and I baked her a strawberry cake. Bern wanted to see the romantic movie The Best of Me which was playing on base so that's the only time we left the house.

 

Overall, I truly believe that this was one of Bern's most memorable birthdays. The 17th of November was just another ordinary day in the calendar before meeting her, but now it means everything to me. Hope you had an amazing birthday Beautiful! Love You!        
     

The goddess of mercy of the white robe in Ofuna

Recently, Bern and I went to Ofuna to check out the beautiful statue of the goddess of mercy. Bern's been wanting to visit this statue for a while now because it reminded her of a gift that her father gave to her as a little girl. Construction on the statue began in 1929 and was nearly completed in 1934; but work stopped due to the outbreak of WWII in the Pacific. Due to the extensive damage of the war, work halted on the statue for the next 20 years but was finally completed in 1960. The goddess of mercy carries the prayers for peace on Earth.

We were both in awe while standing in front of this majestic statue. It was a very calming, almost soothing feeling just to be in her presence. Bern was very happy to finally get to see this statue which made this a very worthwhile trip!

 

 

 

 

        

The arrival of the Cariaga Family & Mark's Birthday

Hello readers! Hope all is well!

So much as happened since the last time I updated this blog.... Bern and I experienced two serious typhoons, I stopped taking Aikido in order to train in Pekiti Tirsia Kali, which is a Filipino combat system (another blog on this to follow), but more importantly we welcomed our friends to Yokosuka, The Cariaga Family; Ted & Kristine, along with their two boys J.R. & Kristian. Bern and Kristine used to work together back in San Diego and I knew Kit from high school. Ted also worked with my Mom at Paradise Valley Hospital so there was definitely a six degrees of seperation going on here. When a HR position became available, we were glad to hear that Kristine had applied and actually got the job! Since their arrival at the beginning of September, we've been showing them around town and trying to get them acclimated to their new life here in Japan. Needless to say, it's been really nice having them here with us!

They recently moved to an awesome apartment about two train stops away so Bern and I thought this would be a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone...show them how to get to Tokyo by train and to celebrate my birthday.

The day beforehand though, Bern treated me out to a nice steak house called Station Grill. We both feasted on American-style prime rib which was absolutely amazing; the meat was cooked just right and was soaking in au-jus sauce. Afterwards, we decided to go for a night-cap and check out a chu-hi bar. Chu-Hi's are basically flavored shoju and carbonated water. There are tasty but very potent...so much so that Bern started feeling the effects halfway through her drink! We then went home to eat the chocolate cake she had made me for dessert; a perfect way to end my birthday night.

Oishi Ne!

 

Outside the Chu-Hi stand 

 

 

 

On to Tokyo....

Bern suggested we go to Hooters from my birthday which I had no problem with! haha But another good reason too is because it's located in heart of Shibuya, not far from the famous Shibuya Crossing. We thought this would be a cool thing to see for the Cariaga's first time in Tokyo. Even though Bern and I had been here before at night, there was a totally different vibe during the day so it was nice we got to experience both.

The Shibuya Crossing, Hachiko the Dog, & Mark City

Just like home

After our Hooter-rific lunch, we wanted to check out the Harajuku district of Tokyo which was only one stop away from Shibuya. The main focal point of Harajuku is Takeshita Dori, it's a long and narrow street where Japanese fashion & culture collide. On Sundays, people like to dress up as their favorite characters which is commonly referred to as "Cos-Play" (costume play). Not sure exactly why, but we didn't see too many people dressed up that day. Whatever the case may be, this whole area was just oozing with Japanese pop-culture...a must see for visitors!



Walking through this crowd was crazy!

   
I had a great time turning 33 this year! I want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to my wife, The Cariaga Family, & to all my family and friends back home for the birthday wishes. I definitely felt the love and can't tell you enough how much it means to me!

   
  

                           



        

Hiroshima, Miyajima Island, and yes....MATSUNAGA TOWN!

August 28th marked our 4th year wedding anniversary so Bern and I decided to get out of Yokosuka and travel south to Hiroshima. The reason why we decided on Hiroshima is not only because of its historical significance during World War II, but it was also the closest metropolitan area near the town of Matsunaga! What better way to celebrate two people becoming a family than visiting your own city right?!

In order to get to Hiroshima, we took our very first ride on a bullet train!

The speed of these bullet trains is around 150-200 mph so it only took us about four hours to get there. Even though we were traveling at such a high speed, it really didn't feel any different from the local commuter trains around town. It was a nice, smooth ride to my surprise. The inside of these trains are also very similar to that of an airplane cabin; plus they have entire passenger cars for bathrooms & smoking rooms. We were lucky because the tray table in my seat was broken so the staff moved us to a first class cabin with bigger leather seats and more leg room. SCORE!

 

 

Once we arrived in Hiroshima, we checked into our hotel and immediately headed out to board another train to Matsunaga town. As we were approaching the station, Bern could tell how excited I was to actually step foot into a town with our own namesake.

 

Matsunaga is more of a quiet, small-town. There wasn't any big touristy things to do in Matsunaga town. The city's only claim to fame is that it became the largest producer of geta (Japanese wooden footwear) in Japan during the Meiji era (late 1860's). In fact, there was a huge display of geta inside the Matsunaga city hall.

After exploring Matsunaga town, we actually found the same sushi go-around restaurant we normally frequent in Yokosuka so that's where we ate for our anniversary dinner.

The next day of our schedule was jammed packed because we only had one full day in Hiroshima. So we first started by visiting the Hiroshima Peace Park & Museum. A quick history lesson for those who didn't know; but Hiroshima was the first city in history to suffer from a nuclear bomb on August 6, 1945 during World War II. Three days later, U.S. military forces dropped another atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki; the extreme devastation led Japan to surrender to the Allies. Needless to say it was quite a somber experience to be in the exact hypocenter where the atomic bomb exploded. At the foot of river stood one of the few remaining structures that managed to survive the blast. The A-Bomb Dome was the former Industrial Promotion Hall that held military offices during the war.

          

 

At the entrance of the Peace Park stands the Children's Peace Monument; it was dedicated to the children who died as a result of the bombing. Around the monument are a number of displays with many sets of 1,000 paper cranes (Japanese symbol of longevity & happiness). Further down was the Peace Flame that was first lit in 1964; it will remain lit until all the nuclear bombs in the world are destroyed. At the end of the park lies the Memorial Cenotaph; a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that holds all the names of those people killed by the bomb. If you look straight through the cenotaph, you will see the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome.          

The Peace Museum is the final stop at the park which covered information from the build up to the war to the actual bombing and aftermath with substantial displays/pictures throughout. Here are a couple of those displays that I thought really made an impact:

Before and After:


This next collage starting from the top left going clockwise shows 1) the atomic bomb actually exploded about 2,000 feet above the city. 2) Wax figures of people with their skin melting off due to the extreme heat & radiation of the A-bomb. 3) A clock counting the number of days since the A-bomb. 4) Display of what the actual atomic bomb looked like. 6) A globe of the world showing all the countries that have nuclear weapons (the U.S. has the most)

Leaving the museum, we felt so bad for what happened here to the people of Hiroshima. But at the same time, the Japanese forces committed serious atrocities themselves from the Pearl Harbor attack, to the Nanking Massacre in China, and even the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. So I guess the important lesson here is that War is wrong...it's ugly and should be avoided as much as possible!

Moving on, afterwards we took an hour ferry ride to the island of Miyajima, which is famous for their Torii (Shinto gate) set in the sea that was originally built in 12th century. Upon arriving, we noticed a sign at the ferry terminal warning visitors that wild deer roam freely on the island. There were many people who actually enjoyed going up to the deer and feeding them...we were not one of them!

The first item of business was to eat lunch so we went to a restaurant that had ozashiki (Japanese style seating). This was our first time eating like this and while Bern found it to be quite comfortable, I had more of a difficult time trying to adjust but still enjoyed the overall experience!

Walking through the town, we came across the world's largest rice scoop (shakushi).

Miyajima is known for their rice scoops as well as fresh oysters. There were a myriad of stands selling grilled oysters for super cheap so we had to give them a try. I actually just started eating oysters a year ago, usually raw though so eating them cooked just wasn't the same. Bern had to finish the rest of our order.

The great Torii was a sight to see! It's just too bad the weather wasn't cooperating with us, but we still managed to get some great shots of this historic Japanese landmark.

 

 

To get different vantage points of the Torii, we went to the Itsukushima Shrine that lies directly behind the Shinto gate. This particular shrine, built in 593, is dedicated to the three Shinto goddesses of the sea, fortune, & accomplishment.

 

 

We also went up the lavish mountainside of Miyajima Island to check out a five-story pagoda & the Senjokaku Pavilion. This massive, open-aired hall was built in 1587 to honor the samurai warriors who died in battle throughout Japan.

 

 

As we were walking back to the ferry, we noticed that it was now low-tide which allowed us to step down onto the sea floor and take some more pictures of the famous Torii.

 

  

Heading back to Hiroshima, a last look at Miyajima Island...

 

 

On the last day of our trip, we managed to also visit Hiroshima Castle. It was originally built in 1592, but due to the atomic bombing, it had to be re-constructed shortly after.

 

 

Do you think I can pass for a samurai? haha

 

 

After the castle, we headed back to the hotel to gather our belongings and walk to the train station. We had about an hour before the train arrived so we walked around the station and found a mini-food court that had a few restaurants serving Hiroshima's famous okonomi-yaki (Japanese style pancake with various ingredients). It was pretty good, although I had mine without the egg.

 

 

I never imagined I would one day get the opportunity to live here in Japan! The best part of this whole experience though is I get to share it with such an amazing person! Already in these past six months, we've managed to do a lot of cool things. I look forward to all the wonderful memories that still lie ahead for us here in the land of the rising sun.

 

I Love You Bern, Happy Anniversary!