"You can't boil a Thanksgiving Turkey!" my mother spluttered over the phone, as if I were committing some sacrilege.
"Yes, you can!" I calmly replied.
"No, you can't!"
"I did! It was delicious!" I laughed.
There was a pause. "Really?"

I'll start the diet tomorrow.....

My lack of column updates is directly related to the sacrifice of my only full day off from work. Understaffing sucks. But I am thankful for many things, so might as well start out with Thanksgiving 2006 in Japan. It was a little rough not being with the family, but missing holidays was the choice I made when I moved here.
I gathered up a few friends, bought a frozen turkey at COSTCO, and raided the import store for pickles, cranberry sauce, and other Thanksgiving necessities. Lugging the big bird home in my book bag, I then confronted the problem of having no oven to cook it in. This was solved with a big knife and pot. Thus, my Thanksgiving dinner party was a big success.

Also in November, my fellow fighter friend Mandy Stewart visited Japan we went to a Shooto show together. My Keishukai teammate Hideki Kadowaki fought and won. Before that, however, we visited the best place on earth: Namja Town. (http://www.namja.jp/) It was a mini-indoor theme park, featuring the Namco's kitty character. It had little adventure role-playing games like Ghost Street, Demon Forest, as well as food-themed sections, such as Gyoza Town (Chinese dumplings), Ice Cream City, and Desert Country (a little redundancy here? but see me caring?!). We ate like a lot of food, probably more calories than I take in in a week.

Osawa intructing at Keishukai.

In December, my office held a Christmas party for the kids. My co-worker dressed up like Santa and we did a pot-luck dealie, handing out presents to the kids. It seemed so natural for me- you pass by a mall in the States and see a Santa with kids on his lap, but at this English school was probably the one and only time any of these Japanese kids would ever have that experience. Then it was time for my own Christmas present to me- a plane ticket back to the States!
Through a combination of vacation and unpaid leave, I took two weeks off to visit my family in Boston and New Jersey. There, I feasted upon Taco Bell, turkey, my Aunt's Italian home cooking, and low-fat chocolate milk (not at the same time, though), which are a few of the many things I can't get in Japan. I also bought five pairs of shoes (in one day) to take back with me, since apparently no Japanese woman has a foot bigger than size 8.

In February, I had the honor of fighting in Fatal Femmes Fighting (http://fatalfemmesfighting.com/), the first all-women's MMA promotion in California (second ever in the States next to HookNShoot).
The entire trip was a blast. I traveled with Masako Yoshida, who ended up losing to light-weight tough-girl Lisa Ward, Yoko Takahashi, who ended up losing to Jen Case, and their cornergirl Nao-chan. I enjoyed a good tough fight against the skilled Cassandra Blaso and won by split decision.

K-Grace: Roxanne single-legging Marloes Coenen in RD2.

Coming home, I jumped right back into the wonderful world of work.
Then, my striking coach moved away, leaving me wondering how I could reincorporate striking into my weekly diet of training. One day, I got to the dojo early one Sunday and found another pro-fighter also there early. I soon found myself seated next to Shooto fighter Kenji Osawa, chatting about FFF.
"So you're champion?" he said. "Congratulations. That's amazing! You got a belt? Wow!"
"Thanks. Well, I almost don't feel like a champion."
"Why not?"
"I have no confidence in my striking," I replied. I explained my situation, saying I hoped I could find some Keishukai pro-fighter to give me privates. The problem was I worked full time, so I needed someone who could match my shift schedule.

I actually didn't know what a great striker Osawa was, but after a big pause I asked if he would do it. At first he apologized, saying he was too busy training, so I asked if he knew of anyone else who could help me. I must have seemed so depressed and desperate, that after a lot of "hmm"-ing and consideration, he said, "Okay, I'll do it! But it has to be in English only!"

Thus began a wonderful exchange. His motto is "Have fun while training!" which is perfect for me, who needed a positive lift when it came to striking practice. I threw myself into it full force with
renewed enthusiasm, just in time for K-Grace（http://marupro.com/k/) May 27th, the first all-women's MMA cage fighting event in Japan. It used the actual "Cage Force" cage, which is ironic because I want to fight in Cage Force someday. Osawa helped me out a lot, and UFC/SHOOTO vet K-Taro Nakamura also went out of his way to give me advice and go over technique with me. With them in my corner, I beat Korean Hee Jin Lee, and Japanese MMA star Megumi Yabushita, enabling me to meet Marloes Coenen from Holland in the finals.

It was the fight I'd been hoping for since we both competed in the Smack Girl open weight tournament in 2004. At that time, I'd lost to Yabushita, and she'd lost to Erin Toughill. I couldn't wait to get in the cage. But when her first punch connected, I knew I was in trouble.
"That's stro-" was all I had time to think before hopping back and jabbing myself. We closed and she grabbed behind my head in a powerful clinch, delivering knees. I managed to duck out and clench her body in a bear hug.
Although I'd initiated the push toward the cage wall, the strong Dutch woman muscled us around. My back slammed into the cage with a metallic crash.
What power.
My feet had left the ground for an instant.
We struggled on the cage for a while, me managing to turn us around pressure her, but unable to get the take down. The ref separated us, and when we met again in the center of the cage, she caught me with a hook. I went down dazed, but managed to fall into a defensive position. The round ended with a failed arm-bar on my part, and a close call with an ankle lock from her.
In the second round, I ducked under her heavy hands and got a single-leg take down. From inside her guard, I maneuvered her into the cage wall and shoved her back against it. Posting up, I threw some "ground-and-pound," defending an arm-bar attempt. After gaining side control, I managed to take full mount, raining down punches. The round ended like this. I walked away with the split decision, respect from my teammates, and a $10,000 prize.

Tanabata floats.

No, I'm not going to Hawaii, or buying a fancy car. The money is staying in my bank account and maybe will find it's way into a mutual fund, guided by my investment-savvy father.
In July, I enjoyed The Star Festival called Tanabata, which commemorates the meeting of a heavenly cow-herder Hikoboshi and Princess goddess Orihime. These two lovers are allowed to meet only once a year on July 7th, prevented the rest of the year by the Milky Way river of stars, and strict orders from the king of heaven. After falling in love, they had slacked off and wouldn't do their work.
But hey, everyone deserves a little love, right?

Dressed in summer kimonos called Yukata, people flock to the festival. The tradition is write a wish on a strip of paper and then tie these to a bamboo pole. My friends and I dove into the flood of families and couples in Hiratsuka, a city nearby that put on the festival. We wandered under floats, past food stands, and dancing shows.
What did this fightergirl wish for? Romance? Victory? Money?
Nope. Health, of course!

Along side other four year olds, I tried to catch a goldfish with a thin paper scooper, and of course, it broke and fell through because I have no skills. The nice lady gave me a tiny little fish in a plastic bag as consolation prize, which for me, was just as good as catching the bigger one I wanted. Unfortunately, it died two days later.

Fight opportunities and offers have increased for me, notably Bodog Fight, Fatal Femmes Fighting, and K-Grace. The big problem, as always, is getting the time off from work. I almost envy my pro-fighter buddies who work part time and train full time. They could go fight whenever they want. But then again, they have no money. So what are ya gonna do?

To e-mail Roxanne, please click here!

Vol. 10 >>

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