mtfester@netMAPSONscape.net wrote:

> So, about a week ago, the Japanese National High School Judo team
> shows up at Cahill's (at least, 12 of them did.) 10 guys and 2
> girls. They were supposed to work out on Monday with the San Jose
> State team, but for vague reasons SJSU couldn't take them. So, they
> spent 2 nights at Cahill's.
> 
> I missed Monday night, but showed up on Tuesday. They pretty much
> mopped the floor with the guys we had. I also noticed they were much
> more physical than the adults, fighting to the wall (and maybe a bit
> beyond) in a coupla cases. The head coach was saying that about 5 of
> the kids were ranked in the top 5 in Japan, and it showed. We have
> several ex-US champs, and some ex-Olympians, but nobody did any better
> than hold their own (course, our best are over 30, and only train
> 2x/week, but it was still impressive.) 
> 
> Coupla incidents of note, both involving me any my family. My younger
> daughter (orange belt, 12 years old) worked with one of the girls. The
> girl was very polite, but seemingly bored, and tried to explain some
> things to my daughter. My daughter told her in Japanese to speak
> Japanese, and all of a sudden she started chattering like old friends.
> She spent the rest of the evening working with my daughter off-and-on.
> 
> Two of the boys really p*ssed off some of the guys during standup. They
> constantly shoved off near the wall, pushed down on them after the
> whistle, etc. So, when it came time for newaza, a coupla Cahill's guys
> pushed me towards one of the  Japanese kids. He took me a bit too
> lightly at first, so after I passed his guard the first time, I let him
> go and we started again. I got his back, and got a choke on him. He
> grabbed my little fingers and started twisting. Now, this is illegal in
> judo, but not uncommon (though illegal) in BJJ, so suddenly I was in my
> happy place; the rules are really more "guidelines". I cranked on the
> choke, he got his chin under it, then I really torqued it. He held out
> for about 5 seconds, then tapped out hard. He refused to work out with
> me after that, and started complaining LOUD that I was "too rough"
> (moi?) He started to complain to his coach, who started laughing at him.
> First, his coach told him not to grab fingers if he doesn't want to be
> beaten up. The kid (btw, the kid was about 15 lbs bigger than me) kept
> complaining, then another coach came over and said "That's why you don't
> let people get your back!" (I liked him.) Then the first coach came back
> and told him to be quiet "cause he speaks Japanese", pointing to me. A
> second Japanese kid (this one smaller than me) asked me to roll then. He
> was very nice, didn't do anything dirty, so I took it easy on him. The
> Cahill's guys tried to steer me towards the other guy who'd been  a
> jerk, but he just walked away, having heard the complaints of the first
> guy. Then the first guy was forced by his coach to roll with me again,
> but this time he was much more polite, so I just took his back and
> didn't rip on him. He was actually very nice after that, and apologized
> for the fingers, then asked me about BJJ. We chatted a bit (I love
> contributing to international understanding.) 
> 
> Anyway, afterwards, several people told me that grabbing fingers is very
> common among Japanese judoka. Good to know, in case I ever compete
> internationally. Also, either styles of judo change as they get older,
> or the new generation has a much more physical style (almost European)
> thant  the traditional Japanese style. A pity, if so.

Interesting story, but dammit, i kept waiting for someone to bring out 
the rubberwood.