Ohayo Gozaimasu

To me, the Sunday morning beginner's class seems more like a tight-knit club where the same members are together every week. Before class, the locker room is empty except for a few students trickling in. Loud blanket-greetings of "ohayo gozaimasu" ("good morning") can be heard at this time. It must be because of the special Sunday-only membership that a lot of students take, but for whatever reason, there seems to be a lot of camaraderie. On weeknights, or even after the Sunday class, there are too many people in the locker room at one time; a loud greeting would be a bit awkward (or maybe it wouldn't be heard at all).

On Sundays, quite a few university students and company employees visit Hombu to train. They can be spotted by the name of their company or university on the sleeves of their uniforms. It's sometimes interesting to train with these students because I can detect a slight difference in their style from move to move although our dojos are all Aikikai-affiliated. Their greetings on the mat are sometimes different as well. Instead of bowing to the partner right after stopping, they wait until partners have changed, then go back and bow to the old partner. It is a little confusing.

I have heard that aikido is different from one person to the next since no two humans are exactly alike. That's one reason I like to see demonstrations where instructors from all across Japan participate. Even instructors at Hombu might have slightly different styles; I think it's good to attend as many different classes as possible for this reason. There are some instructors who I prefer to others, but that's just because of personality and so forth. Sometimes I get a little frustrated because an instructor will correct me when I do the variation that I learned in another class -- at the same dojo. In cases like that, I go back to the DVD and watch how Doshu (the head of Aikikai) does it. I'm pretty sure all variations are approved by examiners during testing. I haven't had any problems yet.

On a different note: The building of Hombu is quite big (five floors), so I sometimes notice hallways and doors that I hadn't realized were there. On the second floor, to the left of the beginner's dojo, there is a short hallway. I've recently noticed that one of the doors in this corridor has a sign in English! (It's always great to come across my own language in Japan.) It says "International Department" and also includes a notice in four languages which reads "English, Spanish, French, and Russian are all spoken here." I'm not sure how long this so-called department has existed or what it consists of, but I was extremely curious nonetheless. I'll have to inquire at another time...