Spring 2015 Funabashi Karate tournament

 Ian is the only white kid

He won two third place medals! 

 a proud family, mummy taking picture

 lined up with all the other winners.

He did well, considering his last match was against a guy about 10cm taller and about 5kg heavier than him. 

So it will be off for Chinese food tonight to celebrate.

Ian's latest Karate belt: Brown

Ian is only the second student in his Karate dojo class to advance through a belt level twice! He was awarded a brown belt on November 2, 2014. He was given his certificate and belt tonight at his class.
Picture to follow

Ian does the second level green belt test

Ian is the first boy on the left front row.

This is a better shot of him from behind.

He begins his kicking test.

Afterwards, we went to Lalaport Tokyo Bay, in Funabashi, Chiba, We had lunch at Sweets Paradise which is an all you can eat pasta and dessert buffet restaurant. This is a very popular place for Japanese ladies and little kids. The food wasn't too bad. But I don't want to eat cake for a while!

Ian places third in Funabashi Spring Karate tournament, 2013

He was pretty suprised as he thought he didn't do so well. He placed third in his Kata age group (funny thing was, all three participants were from his dojo) but in sparing, he placed third, which really suprised him as his second fight was a long drawn out match, about 3 minutes. Proud of my little guy either way. Leena was a good sport too as she never fussed at all during the whole 5 hours we were there.

New Nerf gun

Ian had a karate test last month, and was so good, he was advanced two belt levels. He went from orange to purple!
Thus, I got him his newest NERF dart gun, a N-Strike Barricade RV-10. It 10 round magazine semi-automatic soft dart gun. He's been blasting and reloading for the past 3 hours.

Dancing and Karate

It's been a bit of a busy weekend here in Japan. Ian and Leena had a dance event on Friday, for a charity event held in Kamagaya. The event is to be an annual event to assist the recovery effort for Tohoku, Japan, the area hit by the big earthquake.

Leena as a butterfly

The local neighborhood festival.

These are the pictures from the dancing.
There were some interesting samba dancers but if you've seen them once, you've seen them all (and I've seen the same ladies 4 times this year, though they are marvelous, though my wife was daring me to take shots)

I'm dancing again?

Do I have to wear this makeup?

Left foot, right foot.

Just before the samba ladies showed up.

Then on Sunday, Ian had his first Karate tournament. He won his first sparing but lost to the second. There was one kid who placed third but he was a real spoiled sport. He threw his gloves on the mats and had a temper tantrum. The umpire scholded him in front of everyone for being such a bad sport. Of the students in Ian's dojo, only one managed to get a medal for his kata or drill style. However, it was a fun event. Even Ian's sensei concured with my opinion of this kid. Totally disrespected the match, the players, judges. Sure he was only 6, but in any sport, acting up like that is bad. (Pictures to follow)

Ian's Karate test

After four months, Ian was the only new student from his Dojo who was given the chance to try out for the next belt. All of the judges, parents, and other high level students felt he did a great job. For video clip please view youtube japanesehighlander Ian's Karate test

He was nervous but gave it his best shot, which meant that he passed.

The next week, he got his belt and certificate.

One proud little fella!

 

Ian's new karate gi

Ian was so pleased to get his first uniform. He was also told by his sensei that he could possibly go for his first belt test next month as he trains so hard and has such a good attitude.