The resumption of our Club practices has been further pushed back. The facility is not open till July 19th. We will start ours on Wednesday, July 22nd. Initially we will not put on kendo gear. We will have lighter practices with warm-up, foot work, suburi, Kata, Bokuto Ni Yoru Kendo Kihon Waza Keiko Hou and so forth, just fundamental practices. We will require you to wear mask or mouth and nose coverage. If your coverage blocks you breathe, you may stop your practice immediately and rest. I expect to finish practices earlier till our bodies return to get to former stages. We will try to maintain safe distance between kenshis and having less facing each other while practices. If you are not sure to restart practices till vaccines and effective medicines developed, you can watch practices or stay home.

 

After Governor’s “Stay-at-Home” order imposed on us, Media reports some problems increased.

 

1. Domestic Violence People stay home and see spouses and/or partners all day long. In stead of realizing how wonderful he/she is, they pick on each other by seeing only bad things while neglecting your own faults. I was lucky not to explode on my wife because incidents come around are milder. Before complaining, I could ask myself, “What about you?”

 

2. Alcoholism Alcohol sale has been increased greatly because many including former alcoholics did not have much else to do at home except drinking, thus relapsing. After Kendo practices, beer tasted good. So, I had my share of drinking. However, my drinking is much reduced. One reason is that I gain weight by drinking without practices. Another is that it is not fun to drink alone without kendo friends.

 

3. Depression Social interaction is very important. My activities are reduced to almost zero. Accordingly, there was not much interaction with others. Social isolation will cause depression among people. Luckily, my family, kendo friends, Church zoom meetings and Rotary Club Activities kept me with people. Lucky to have a good family and friends.

 

One of kendo students after receiving a favor from me asked, “How can I repay you?” I told him, “When you become able to afford repaying me, probably I am already dead.” I am not giving young ones help, favor and assistance in order to receive repayments. My teachers, seniors and grandparents gave me favors in order for me to become a better and successful person in whatever I was doing. For me, if those who received my assistance are accomplishing, that is the best reward or repayment I can have.