It's been a long time since my last entry. A lot of that had to do with the bodogFIGHT I wasn't supposed to talk about. As October 4th approached, preparation became my everything, leaving me nothing to write about. In addition to not sharing bodogFIGHT information, I had other rules to follow, such as the mandatory limp home every night, dragging myself to lift weights when I didn't feel like it, and trying not to eat sweets. And of course, every fighter knows that right before the fight date, they're probably going to get hurt somehow. I was no exception, although it happened a month before, leaving me plenty time to heal, but also to worry about preparing adequately.

Myself, Wendy, Minnie Mouse, and Neveen.

Let me take a step back. After winning my rematch against Megumi Yabushita in May, I unsuccessfully tried to find another fight. I actually got to relax for a time. In September, I went to Tokyo Disney Sea with Neveen and Wendy. As a first-timer, everything in the magical world of Disney impressed me, but I wanted more stomach-wrenching roller-coasters, baby.

Many people have tried to give me sightseeing advice, starting with the sentence, "When you go on vacation, you should..." "Nope," I interrupt them. "No vacation for me." I only get ten days per year (which I've used already) and if anything, I need to save them for fighting. I have no opportunity to do things on weekends due to my work schedule (8:00 AM to 5:30PM on Saturday and Sunday). It was a rare treat to take a two-day vacation to go to Suruga (three hours west of Tokyo) with five of my training partners. A Keishukai network dojo was hosting an in-network tournament, plus a barbeque the night before. I planned to eat yummy food and watch the fights from a relaxed position on the side of the mat. At that point I knew I was fighting in bodogFIGHT, but I still had time to gain and lose a pound.

Watch Out Roxy! (from Editorial)

On Saturday, we drove past Mt. Fuji and went to the famous Gotemba Outlet malls on the way. I couldn't see what the big deal was; they were just like any other outlet store: expensive, and none of the shoe stores had my size, damn Japanese and their small feet. I'm 27 cm and their women's sizes end at 25.5. After arriving in Suruga, we ate lots of sashimi (raw fish) and fried chicken, hung out with the Suruga gang, and set off fireworks at 1 AM. My day finally ended around 2:30 AM, when I tripped over sleeping bodies sprawled across the dojo mats to get to my borrowed futon. Sunday morning fifty fighters filing into the dojo woke us from our slumber. Masaki Yokoyama from my dojo branch actually won his weight division. He did it with a horrible hang-over, sleeping between his matches.

On September 24th I turned twenty-four years old. I worked all day that day, but had a party a week later with my friends at Tofuro, my favorite Izakaya (Japanese-style bar/restaurant).
"I can't believe my baby is twenty-four," my mother told me over the phone. I nodded to myself, thinking about how many more years of my fighting career I have left. I imagine it'd be difficult for me to fight past my mid-thirties just due to wear and tear on the body.
People still do it, though. Plus, I want to have kids some day, but the best time to raise kids would coincide with the prime of my fighting career and health (so to speak). Well, first, I guess to have kids, you'd need a husband for that. My mom got married at twenty-two and I don't even have a boyfriend. Thinking about it boggles my brain, so I prefer not to.

Ka-me-ha-me-ha!

Then came the huge fight opportunity with bodogFIGHT early October that was supposed to be a secret. Let me take a moment and talk about it. My injury healed enough at the last minute to assuage my fears. Soon, I found myself walking down the street on cue as the bodogTV crew followed me to work. In addition to coming to Berlitz, they wanted to film me at my dojo.
I said to my pro-fighter comrades, such as Yushin Okami, Tetsu Hada-iro (Tetsu Suzuki), K-Taro Nakamura, etc, "Hey, come to practice on Saturday! A filming crew from America is coming!" They said, "Oh cool!" but none of them showed up.
It kind of made me want to hit them, but I'd probably walk away worse for the wear. Well, not probably.

On the day of the weigh-ins, I found myself face to face with my opponent, Shayna Baszler. Unable to produce any sort of evil glare without looking ridiculous, I settled for a thoughtful expression. I hate meeting my opponents before fighting. I fear I'd start to like them and my emotions will effect me when I'm trying to pound her face in. I couldn't avoid talking to her without being rude, however, and we ended up promising to be enemies before, and make friends after the fights. Both avid fans of Dragon Ball Z, we posed DBZ style during the face-off. I left the weigh-ins forcing myself to mentally imagine kicking her face without feeling bad. After the fight, which was more than a little traumatizing for me, I took her and some other fighters on a tour around Tokyo. We had a great time.

Shayna and myself feasting.

I managed to make it to both recent HEROS events as a fan and supporter of Caol Uno and Yoshihiro Akiyama, rather than a reporter who had to stay up all night writing an article. I made it to a few Japanese movies without subtitles, such as Death Note and Udon.
Although I couldn't understand every word, I've noticed that my Japanese ability has improved, even if not as quickly as I'd like. I still nurse my dream of becoming a translator. (If anyone has any part time job offers, email me!)
On one of my days off, I went to Tokyo Dome City where Korakuen Hall is located. I ran into a convention of cosplayers (people who dress up like Japanese animation characters) and got my picture taken with the Full Metal Alchemist crew. I am an anime otaku (maniac) at heart.

Then came October, and we all know that means Halloween! The Japanese haven't quite figured out what Halloween is all about. They have a knack for adopting other countries' customs and latching onto the commercial aspect, such as selling candy, cakes, etc. When it came to the actual day, though, there was no event at the end of the build-up. They paint faces on pumpkins with no creativity at all.
Children don't go trick-or-treating, but stores sell costumes anyway.
Every year, Berlitz takes it upon itself to teach Halloween lessons to kids, which I helped prepare along with Wendy. We took our kids classes 'trick-or-treating' from door to door in the office. They had an excellent time decorating persimmons in place of pumpkins.
Speaking of pumpkins, I deemed it absolutely necessary to chock up the twenty dollars to buy a big, orange, American-imported pumpkin at a flower shop. My Egyptian friend Neveen then received a carving lesson from yours truly, and we produced an extraordinary, if not dumb looking, jack-o-lantern. It's wonderful how I'm able to still hold onto my American holidays even though I'm living in another country.

Myself with the FMA officers.

For some reason, I wasn't into dressing up this year. I suppose that comes from not being ten years old anymore. Then we were invited to a Halloween party by a Berlitz colleague.
"You gotta dress up," he said.
I picked up a five hundred yen ($5) witch hat, dressed in black, grabbed my 100 yen ($1) house broom, and went with Neveen to this awesome specialty Izakaya restaurant in Kawasaki. I put on the witch hat in the crowded rush-hour train, and enjoyed the reactions of the people around me. Someone next to me choked and coughed- an obvious attempt not to laugh. A few teenagers giggled, and everyone around me carefully inched away. I doubt anyone but a foreigner would do that.

The food sucked, but the place made up for it in entertainment.
Staff dressed like monsters, police men, and mad scientists, and ran screaming through the halls. The customers sat in rooms which had bars on fake windows like a dungeon. For not being into Halloween, this place did an excellent job. I just wish I could understand what they were saying over the loudspeaker. Something about the monster coming to kill us all. I'm sure it wasn't too important or they'd say it in English, too. (Just kidding. Really!).

Next time, I shall teach you how to make a Thanksgiving dinner without an oven, plus show you a magical heaven called "Ice Cream City."
Where on earth is that? Why, it's right next to "Pastry City" in Nanja Town Amusement Park, Tokyo.

Roxy, I can't believe you took a subway in Tokyo with your Halloween costume on! (from Editoral)

To e-mail Roxanne, please click here!

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