Iaido - the art of cutting with a Katana

Now, as a kid, I loved Japan. Mostly because of samurais and their powerful Katanas. Now, the reasons for me liking Japan have evolved a bit since then, but there is still something essentially very Japanese about samurais and katanas. Samurais, and the codes they live by, still resonate in Japan today, and many of the old codes and rules of conduct still apply in today's Japan (or should, at least). The katana is also somehow symbolic of Japan's constant strive for perfection.

So, when I saw an activity called "Iaido - Japanese sword experience" in our language school's event calendar, I immediately signed up. When signing up, I sort of figured we'd get to play around with wooden swords and maybe see a katana, and if we were lucky, see a pro wield one. So imagine my excitement, when I realized that we were to actually get to use one!

OK, we started off with practicing with wooden swords (fair enough, really). Which was already quite good fun, especially as we were taught by the dojo's grand master. Then, after about 2 hours of practice with the wooden swords (practicing just one cut, the easiest one, obviously, cutting almost vertically down from holding the sword over ones head), we got the real katana.

The plan was simple enough, cut down on a rolled tatami mat, and cut it cleanly in two (this is the reason the cut is actually sort of diagonal rather than vertical, as the rolled tatami mat stands vertical).  Easier said than done, as the cut still needs to be reasonably accurate, and straight, for the tatami mat to be cut cleanly in too. A lot of zen Buddhism was invoked as well, about emptying the mind before "cutting".

Anyway, I got three attempts at my mighty enemy the tatami mat. The first one sort of half failed (meaning I hit the rolled-up tatami map but didn't cut it cleanly in half). The 2nd attempt was much better, I managed to hit the tatami mat more or less where I wanted, at the right angle, so the tatami bundle was indeed cut in half cleanly. A feeling of calm and relief overcame me... The third attempt was OK, but not as good as my 2nd cut.

At the end, the masters showed how the tatami mat cutting should REALLY be done, demonstrating some pretty impressive combinations. All in all, a fantastic experience - a great way to spend 3 hours really! 

Janne and Katja visiting Tokyo

We were very happy to welcome my brother Janne and his girlfriend Katja in Tokyo - they were visiting Japan for 2 weeks. Their travel plan was a bit unusual in that their flight landed in Fukuoka (located on the island of Kyushu), from where they took the legendary Shinkansen down to Tokyo (passing by Osaka, where they spend the night).

We decided to meet for dinner in Ueno on their first night, which is where their hotel was located. After some searching around (finding the restaurant serving just the kind of food one wants is not always an easy task!), we eventually found a nice-seeming restaurant not to far from the train station, just of Ameya Yokocho (a busy shopping street in Ueno). Actually, the main reason we picked the place was the English language menu. The food wasn't all that great, in the end...

The next day, before meeting Janne & Katja, we were finally going to see a Sumo wrestling tournament! We've wanted to go to one each time we came to Japan, but they only take place on odd months and as it happens, we've always visited on even months... Until now! This time we managed to get tickets!

So off we headed to the legendary Ryogoku Kokugikan - the sumo stadium located in Ryogoku (not far from Asakusa).

Sumo wrestling is, of course, one of the most popular and traditional sports in Japan. The origins of sumo go back centuries - the sport became professional during the Edo era (so during the 19th century). Of course it's about as Japanese as a sport can get, so it's quite ironic then that the 4 current Grand Masters all come from Mongolia. Unfortunately, only 3 of them were participating today (the others were injured). There is actually a sumo museum at the Kokugikan which I suppose tells more about the history of the sport, but we didn't have time to visit it this time around...

The proceedings started about 3 o'clock, but we only joined around 4:30 (with Matsuoka and his son, who joined us), since the better matches are towards the end of the day (with the grand master having his match last). It was just about as mythical and exciting as I expected. There is a lot of ceremony involved - the ceremonies and build up lasts for a few minutes, whereas the actual match often only lasts for a few seconds (but those seconds do tend to be very intensive indeed). The subtleties of the sport were clearly lost to us, but to summarize, the grand master was defeated in the last match - a big upset!

After the sumo tournament, we joined Janne and Katja for dinner in Akihabara, our restaurant guide Matsuoka had picked a nice Izakaya for the occasion. The quality of the food and drink was, as expected, perfect. And nice to be able to show a proper Izakaya to Janne and Katja as well - visiting a proper Izakaya is of course a mandatory experience during a trip to Japan!

The next day, we were meeting Janne and Katja for lunch at one of our favourite restaurants at Tokyo - the Tofuya. We discovered this wonderful place during our trip to Japan last year. Basically, they've disassembled a sake brewery from the Japanese countryside, and planted it in the middle of Tokyo (just by Tokyo Tower). The rooms are all traditionally Japanese (think tatami mats), the service is impeccable (think Ryokan), the food, crafted around tofu, is delicious (think kaiseki). There is even a beautiful Japanese garden in the middle of the place, which can be seen from the dining rooms. Anyways, the food was just as wonderful this time as last time around, oishikatta desu as the Japanese would say!

After lunch, we sped down to Iidabashi for our courses, after which we headed over to Asakusa where we were meeting Janne and Katja again. After checking out our favourite Tokyo temple, Sensoji (unfortunately it was shut when we arrived, but it does still look very evocative, lit up in red as it is after sunset), we headed off to dine. This time we tried Okonomiyaki, kind of Japanese pancakes/omelettes (actually Okonomi means "whatever you want" in Japanese, so basically the ingredients of an Okonomiyaki are very diverse).

Euro 2016 action in Marseille

You may have noticed EURO 2016 is on in France at the moment. I tried to get some tickets through the UEFA lottery during the spring for some games played in Nice, but failed unfortunately. So when Aki told me he had a couple of spare tickets for tone of the quarter-finals, I was more than happy to join the Finnish posse for a bit of footie!

The game was in Marseille, which meant leaving work a bit early, and catching the TGV from Antibes down to Marseille. The voyage went smoothly, and I then got the metro down to the train station, where I joined Aki and the rest of the Finns outside the impressive new football stadium (Le Stade de Velodrome). The game was between Poland and Portugal. The pre-game atmosphere was great - a bit surprisingly, the atmosphere was mostly created by the Polish fans (after all, there are a lot of people with Portuguese origin living in France!).

The match itself was, unfortunately, no classic. I had high expectations given that one Christiano Ronaldo was playing for Portugal, and one Lewandowski playing for Poland. Lewandowski did score the first goal with an impressive strike in the 2nd minute (his first in the championships - a bit disappointing considering his record for Bayer Munich).

After a rather uninspired starting period (where Ronaldo looked rather disinterested), Portugal picked up the pace in the second period, and eventually scored a well-deserved equalized thanks to a brilliant strike form promising young Renato Sanches.

After two periods of extra-time, where most teams seemed content to keep the status quo, it was time for penalties. My heart beat for Poland, but Portugal edged ahead thanks to some coolly taken penalties. All in all, a deserved win.

The trip back to Antibes was a bit of a pain, I was back at home around 3 AM in the morning. Still, it was definitely worth it! Not a classic match, but great atmosphere - I particularly liked the effort put in by the Polish fans. And no sign of the sad hooliganism that's marked way too many matches in this tournament!

1 hour, 51 minutes of pain

Last time I braved the Nice semi-marathon was about 8 years ago, when I managed to complete the ordeal with a respectable time of 1:59 (what bugged me at the time was the fact that the official time was 2:01). I haven't dared to give it a go since, but this year, I decide to give it another go. I was quite hopeful about beating my time from 8 years ago, since I've been training quite hard for the past year or so.

Things started off rather badly, when I realized on Saturday evening that the only people allowed to get their bibs on race day are the ones travelling from outside the Department. But, I decided try my luck and show up in the morning before the race anyway, hoping they would make an exception. Turns out it wasn't a problem at all - loads of people picked up their bibs just before the race. So no excuse not to participate then ;-).

Conditions were pretty good for the race, meaning it wasn't too hot (the sun was hiding behind a rather dense cloud cover). I started off at a pretty good pace, heading towards a time of something like 1:45. I managed to maintain the pace for about 8km down in the port of Nice, which is when I hit the first wall, I started to feel the lactic acids, so I slowed down a bit. Thankfully, I managed to keep things under control, and maintain a pretty decent pace.

By the we arrived at the Promenade des Anglais, around the 10km mark (which is when the more reasonable people ended the race, whereas some of us fools continued towards the 21km mark), I was still on pace for a sub-1:50 finish, which was about the best I figured I could do. Then, around the 12km mark, running down the Promenade, things started to get tough, fatigue was hitting me pretty badly. And in addition, the sun decided to come out from behind the clouds (something I'm normally very happy about, but this time around, I'd rather have preferred it stayed behind the clouds).

Things got progressively tougher, but somehow I managed to maintain my pace. Around the 18km mark, I got a big boost as Mathilde arrived on her bike! That boost, I'd like to think, is what allowed me to make it to the finish line! And how about the time? 1:51 - something I'm more than happy about! Definitely about as good a time as I was going to get in my current condition, and a big positive surprise to me, given the difficulties that started at the 8km mark already.

Marathon next, then ? I don't think so... This was hard enough, can't imagine doing twice the distance! But never say never...

Antibes Sharks vs. Rouen

One of the great things about the place I work at is that there are plenty of "extra-curricular" activities available through the "Commite d'Entreprise". One of those is that the CE has 5 season tickets for Antibes Sharks, the local basket ball team. I'd been to see them once already, with my dad and my brother, a couple of years ago, at the old stadium.

So me and Ilario decided to book out 2 of them for this evening, when the Sharks were facing Rouen. We arrived at the brand-new stadium (the Azur Arena), and got through security with less hassle than during the recent Nice football game.

Rouen were 17th in the League (Antibes and Roen play in the 2nd divistion of France), so it ought to be a winnable game for Antibes. Things didn't start very well, as Rouen took an early lead. But as the Antibes team warmed up, they picked up the pace, and eventually Antibes took the lead. Mostly due to their American reinforcements, actually, the top 5 scorers on the Antibes team were all American! (including one Tim Blue, who actually won the Finnish championships a few years ago for KTP).

In the end, after a rather exciting match, Antibes won with a score of 87-81 (the score was very close right up to the end, so the Sharks victory wasn't a foregone conclusion...). The hero of the match was Akim Mitchell, with 33 points scored. Tim did pretty well too, with strong defensive play and good play on the rebounds.

Entertainment during the breaks was, as always, provided by Sharky (player number one) and of course SHARKSANGELS!

All in all, good fun! Wouldn't mind going along for another game.

U Giru de Natale

I've gone all bonkers this autumn, and started doing loads of sports. Swimming, running, mountain biking, you name it, I've done it (slight exaggeration... ;-) ). So, I was quite keen to take on the legendary Monaco 10 km Christmas run with a few colleagues of mine.

I headed down to Monaco with Philippe. After getting our bibs, we headed of for a quick coffee, as we showed up a bit early for the race (we wanted to be sure not to miss the start!). And then, time for the big race... There were quite a few people from work there, all in all we were about 10, I think.

I started off easy, as I knew the race was a deceptive one. 10 km is quite a short distance, but this is Monaco, which means there are a lot of slopes going up, and going down. The first 3 kilometers were quite easy, as it was relatively flat going, but then, it was time for the first important ascent - the staircase leading up to the Principality palace, "on the rock". Actually, it turned out not to be as difficult as expected, as the narrowness of the staircase leads to a kind of human traffic jam.

From then on, the going was pretty easy, until we got to the 2nd major ascent, the one taking us up from the port to the casino in Monte Carlo. But I'd dosed my strength quite well, so didn't have too much difficulty with that part either. And from then on, it was all downhill, as we ran downhill along the seaside to the goal, back in the port. Finally, I crossed the finishing line with a respectable time of 51 minutes. I even felt I like might've been able to do a bit better if I'd have had a bit more pace in the middle part of the race.

As expected, I wasn't the top runner at my company, that honour went to Olivier, who actually wan a basket of goodies for his efforts!

In the evening, I was quite happy to reward myself with a big meal at the Polygon Riviera (the swanky new shopping centre in Cagnes-sur-Mer), where we met up with Aurelien and Julie for a bit of a pre-Christmas meal. We decided to go to a rather classy-looking affair called Maotsumy, an Asian restaurant. We had a pretty decent, if overpriced meal there. Great to see Julie and Aurelien!

OGC Nice vs. Lyon

It's been a while that I've been wanting to go and see a football game at the new football stadium in Nice. I've been to see games at Monaco a couple of times, but to be honest, the atmosphere there leaves much to be desired. Not surprising, since the stadium could probably fit the whole population of Monaco... And, as any local should say, the REAL football team on the French Riviera is OGC Nice.

So I was glad when Ilario agreed to go and see Nice take on Lyon (one of the best clubs in France) on Friday. We left the office early on, to be there well on time. Due to the tragic recent bombings in Paris, we were expecting heavy security. And heavy it was, indeed, the security guy even asked for my press card when he saw my camera (thankfully, I was able to get in with my toy).

The stadium was indeed impressive, and the fact that it was nearly full, made for a great atmosphere. I would've expected a game like this to be sold out, I suppose people were scared to go due to the recent events in Paris. Anyway, in homage to the victims, the Marseillaise was sung by pretty much everybody in the audience, as was the usual Nissa La Bella. All quite emotional.

And the game itself ? Fantastic! I was more looking forward to seeing some of the Lyon players - the energetic and skilful French international Mathieu Valbuena (currently caught up in a sex tapes scandal) and Alexandre Lacazette (the surgical striker, chosen player of the year in France last year). And Lyon did indeed show off their offensive skills at the beginning of the game, testing the shaky Nice defence throughout the first period.

However, much to the joy of the locals, Nice was the team that opened up the score, in the 20th minute, with Germain scoring a fine goal! All in all, a fine period from Nice, even if Lyon had more possession. During half-time, we ran into some ex-colleagues (who as a side note informed me, much to my bafflement, that all the beer sold at the stadiums is without alcohol. I didn't even notice - and I call myself an avid beer drinker!).

The 2nd half carried on with Nice pushing on, confident in the lead. And in the 48th minute, Nice went into a commanding 2-0 lead thanks to an own goal from Lyon! The victory was sealed by Koziello in the 71st  minute. 3-0 then, an impressive score from the Nicois!

All in all, a great match and a great night out! I will for sure go and see the OGC Nice, rather than Monaco matches from now on should I fancy a bit of footie.

AS Monaco vs. Bern Young Boys

There are two big football teams playing on the Cote d'Azur. There is OGC Nice, who play at the brand-new, futuristic-looking Allianz Riviera stadium, who in spite of a rather average team (they finished in 11th position last season in the League 1), have a pretty strong following on the Cote. Then there is AS Monaco, who have a pretty good team (finishing 3rd last season, and making it to the 3rd qualifying round in the Champion's League), but they struggle to fill their 18,000 capacity stadium. For obvious reasons - Monaco only has a population of 36,000 (and no self-respecting Nicoise would go and see AS Monaco play!)

Anyway, my cousin Mikko and his family were still visiting, and since Monaco was playing Bern Young Boys for the Champion's League qualifiers, I was happy to join Mikko and his two suns to check out the game! After being predictably stuck in traffic and having some problems finding parking, we eventually made it, just in time for kick-off.

I was quite surprised to note that there was a pretty good turnup for this game, the stadium looked more than half-full. The last AS Monaco game I saw, a rather lackluster affair against Bayer Leverkusern, last Autumn, managed to draw a much smaller crowd.

This game was something else altogether. Monaco clearly outclassed Bern Young Boys, winning 4-0 in the end, after goals from Cavaleiro, Kurzawa, Martial and El Shaarawy. Top entertainment, I think my guests from Finladn enjoyed it too! We finished off by a "delicious" hamburger meal at McDonald's! (by the time we made it out of the match, we weren't exactly spoilt for choice!)

Busy day in Nice

My good Portuguese colleague Gilbert has been talking about taking us to a Portuguese restaurant for some time, so we figured this Saturday would be as good a time as any for a Portuguese lunch. We also invited another Portuguese colleague, Martine, for the occasion.

Mathilde and I decided to cycle into Nice, using the excellent Velo Bleu service. We arrived "a bit late" (hmm, 30 minutes) due to some rather optimistic scheduling on my part (the restaurant, Cok Bafa, is located a bit further away compared to where we normally cycle, near Place de la Liberation). Gilbert,  Martine, her boyfriend Xavier and their little baby girl were already having aperitifs...

Anyway, I instantly took a liking to the place. It's by no means a fancy place, rather the opposite in fact (more like the sort of place where you get served "home cooking" type fare), which was just fine for us. The place was jam-packed with mostly portuguese and Cap Verdian people, another very good sign. And the waitress took her orders in Portuguese rather than French by default. So, all very good signs. And what's most important - the food was excellent. What I call honest food - I had some sucking-pig - just excellent.

After this introduction to Portuguese cuisine (a first one for me!), we said our farewells to our Portuguese friends, and headed into the town centre, where we had a rendez-vous with our good friend Marie, whom we see sadly rarely these days. Since we'd had a rather light lunch (I'm being ironic there, in case you didn't realize...), we decided to head off for some coffee and cake to an ominously named Pink Cofee (indeed, everything is very pink there...). I trust Marie when it comes to coffee and cakes ;-). Anyway, the coffee was good and so were the cakes, and it was great fun to catch up with Marie again!

For the evening, it was hockey time, as I met up with Mikko for a game between Nice and Dunkerque. Well, I missed all of the first period and most of the second one as well (including two goals from fellow Finn Karri Koivu), but did see all of the third period. Nice pulled off a well-deserved 4-2 win, and Karri was selected man of the match. Go Nice, go Finland!

And then, time to catch the train back home to Cagnes-sur-Mer. My train was delayed, which allowed me to enjoy some rather surprising piano music played by a young chap (they've decided to put pianos in French train stations - an excellent idea if you ask me!).

Cycling & Ice hockey!

It's been quite a fantastic autumn so far (one would believe the summer is still here, even though October is approaching fast...), and we've made the best of it after a busy summer (going to the beach, swimming, doing sports, having drawn-out aperitifs, that sort of thing ;-).

Luckily, the trend continued this Saturday, and this time we decided it would be a good occasion to head to Italy - it's been a while since we've gone! We decided to head off to Sanremo, and do a bit of cycling. We'd read on the internet about a cycle path that follows the coastline, so decided it was pretty much the perfect day for it. And it was indeed! We rented a couple of bikes by the seafront, and headed eastwards towards Arma di Taggia.

I can warmly recommend this cycle path to anybody wanting to explore this beautiful stretch of Italian coastline. It's quite easy going, but the views are occasionally stunning. And what's great, there are plenty of beaches to stop on for a bit of a refreshing swim or a rest, and plenty of places to have a bit to eat or drink. The perfect way to spend an afternoon. I'd say this was the perfect time of the year to do the cycle route - when the sun is still out and about yet not scathingly hot. We cycled a bit past Arma di Taggia, to the end of the cycle route, and then headed back to Sanremo (where we rewarded ourselves with an ice cream at Grom, our favourite chain of gelaterias...).




For the evening, I had a rendez-vous to see some ice hockey with Mikko and my dad - Mathilde was kind enough to drop me off at the  hockey arena in Nice before heading back home (seems that ice hockey isn't her cup of tea, as they say....). Nice were playing against Bordeaux this time around - a touch team (top of the league just now).   

 

Not a very good game from Nice - in fact they played really poorly and thoroughly deserved their 3-1 loss. Thankfully the goalie had a good game, otherwise it could've gotten even uglier. Especially their performance at powerplay was just, well, rubbish. Our fellow Finns  Räikkönen (not Kimi ;-) also had a decent game, scoring a goal and getting in a couple of good tackles.

But anyway, it was good fun to hang out at the stadium with the Finnish fans!

AS Monaco vs. Bayer Leverkusen

I've wanted to go to a football game for quite some time now, but just haven't gotten around to it. Last year, thanks to a rather impressive lineup (which included James Rodriguez and Falcao, who sadly both left them team after last season though), AS Monaco made it to the Champions League. So I sort of randomly noticed on their web page that they were playing Bayer Leverkusen today, so I decided to go for it, and got three tickets (for me, my colleague Ilario and dad).

We headed off to Monaco well and early, 2 1/2 hours before the match, to give us enough to time to have dinner before the big game. No problems with traffic, nor parking (parking is never a problem at Monaco!), so we arrived with some time to spare to have dinner in the port near the stadium. We had nice salads at an Italian restaurant (finding it rather amusing that they're not allowed to serve alcohol since it's a game night - that's Monaco for you!).

For the game then. First disappointment - there wasn't much of an atmosphere. The stadium is big enough to host 18,000 people (which is about half of Monaco's population) - so apparently the stadium is pretty deserted on most match nights. This time wasn't an exception - I reckon a third of the seats at most were occupied. Mind you, the AS Monaco fans did actually make quite a lot of noise relative to their meagre numbers...

The game itself wasn't much of a classic either. Bayer dominated the first half, without being able to create many scoring chances, with Monaco playing very passively (unfortunately we were also at the wrong end of the pitch). So it was a goalless draw at half-time. Monaco were a bit more active in the second half, and indeed managed to clinch the game winner in the 61st minute after a well-taken shot by Moutinho, which took the goalie by surprise after a deflection off a Bayer defender. Pretty efficient finishing from Monaco - one scoring opportunity, one goal.

So not a great classic of a game then, but still, an experience! Next time I'll probably go see Nice place though - the atmosphere should be a bit better at their new stadium.

Football time!

As you may have noticed, the football world cup is on! Which is a good or a bad thing, depending on whom you ask ;-) Me, who normally don't watch football on telly (and am even less likely to actually play it for real!), strangely transform into a football fanatic for 4 weeks - stuck glued to the telly whenever a match is on.

France was playing Honduras this Sunday - so I decided to head down to my favourite drinking establishment to watch the game with Ilario, Vincent and a friend of his. 'twas all quite good fun - looks like the French national team is finally getting their act together with a quite convincing 3-0 win (even though it has to be say Honduras didn't exactly impress). Allez les bleus!