Sompo Japan

Training at Sompo Japan went well. The company itself looked much as I had left it eight or so years ago, apart from the lifts which have been refurbished.

I met up with Watanabe-san in the security entrance in the upper basement. I arrived earlier than Watanabe-san and the security guards seemed keen to let me upstairs once they knew I was there for kendo. Carrying kendo gear seems to be a universal security passport in Japan.

I had met Watanabe-san a couple of times before and like almost everyone else I have met since being back eight years seemed to have no effect whatsoever on his appearance. Of the eight people other than myself who turned up for training three (including Watanabe-san) were people I had met before. I had trained with Haga-san once or twice the first time I arrived in Japan the last time i was there but he was transferred to Hokkaido very early in the piece. Tanaka-san was the only person I had trained with regularly. Tanaka-san has moved up in the corporate world and is now a department head.

Of the other people who were there Goto-san was the most senior. The others were all younger than me. There was only one girl. The other members who I used to train with have been redistributed to other parts of the country, but many of them will be back for trianing next week. Training is on Sunday next week ahead of the national Corporate kendo championships on the Monday public holiday.

Training was good. Watanabe-san is the captain and is a natural for the position. Tough guy with a reserved sense of humour. We trained kihon for a little over half an hour, had a ten minute break and then did jigeiko for another half an hour. A few of us went out afterwards for lunch at "Shohei", a Chinese restaurant that was a favourite of the staff of Sompo Japan when it was still Yasuda Kasai. Nothing tastes better than beer after kendo.

Looking forward to more training next week.