Projekt Label

Final Day!

Today is my last day here along with the final installment of “The Road To Japan”. First off, I have to thank all the readers who actually had an interest in reading about my experiences and allow me to share them with you. This trip has been more than words can explain. I will come back to LA with a whole new level of motivation and drive. I can’t wait. I also have to thank Projekt Label and Inspirit Clothing for without you none of this could have been possible. Lastly I have to thank Rumina, Taiki and everyone at Roots gym for the unbelievable hospitality that you have given me. I truly felt apart of your family. I hope I can return the favor and give you the same. That being said. Lets conclude this journey.

The Final Day.

Today I woke up around 9am really feeling banged up from last nights party. Lucky for me at 11 Shooto Champion Lion Takeshi and his student were coming down to Roots for 1 last day of hard training before I left. YIPEE…
I got a little coffee and a small bite to eat attempting to soak up the alcohol from last night. Of course that didn’t work. We started out with a little warm up and then right into some grappling. I actually felt ok at this point. I did about 4-5, 5 minute rounds and actually felt descent. No strength, but descent. Then Lion wanted to put on the gloves and do a some MMA sparring. I knew this wasnt going to go well. We geared up and went through our 1st round. At the end of the 5 minutes I felt like I was gonna pop. My stomach was wrecked. Nothing like trying to push an intensive workout in while slightly hung over. Not the best idea. We pushed through the second round, but that was it. It was time to reverse the process of last night. I rushed to the restroom and praised the porcelain god (sorry for the horrible pun). After my short break I came back into the gym only for Lion to say…”1 more..last in Japan”. Of course I had to say yes. I geared back up and had another round. This round I put all my eggs in 1 basket and actually was the best round of the day.

We showered up and were off to eat. Rumina took us out for lunch at this really small restaurant that I guess is really hard to get a seat at. Once inside and seated, the guys all had some stuff I couldn’t swing. Salmon eggs, full shrimp, mackral..not my cup a tea. Instead, I had some mixed sashimi, rice and miso soup. Again, amazing. It’s crazy how all the food in Japan has been unreal. I wish the states were like that!
After lunch Rumina wanted to grab some sweets famous to Odawara. Apparently people travel from all over Japan for these deserts. I forget what it was called but was basically homemade bread filled with this cream that was made from scratch. OH MY LORD it was good. We finished up the delicious goodness and Lion headed home. I now had a few hours to relax before my final training here tonight with Mamaru.

Around 7pm we started Mamaru’s Muay Thai. Thank god I felt way better than this morning. We did about 60 mins of drills, 30 mins of sparring and I felt great. Class ended as did the final training session of my stay.
After class, I said more goodbyes to a bunch of the team and packed up all my stuff from the gym. We closed it up at 10 so Taiki and I ould head for Dinner with Katsuya his girl friend.

Tonight we ate back at the spot owned by one of the gym members. He served us some incredible dishes. Oconominyaki (sorry if I killed the name of it), Soba and this battered chicken dishes. I’m not gonna lie. This could have been the best meal of the trip.
On are way home from dinner the guys wanted to me to end the trip on a fun note. So we stopped off at a Japanese adult store and browsed around. Yes its the same as ours .
We arrived back to the house so I could finish packing and get this right up before I head out in the morning.

This road may have come to end. But the journey has just began. Thank you for being a part of it!
Tomorrow I will post a collection of photos from the trip. I hope you enjoy.

END

Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 12:
Today we were supposed to wake up early and head to Ground Slam gym for our morning training. unfortunately last night Taiki ended up getting sick so we did not go. Instead we slept in so he could try to feel better. It actually worked out better for me since they were throwing me a going away party tonight.
We finally got out of the house around noon and headed over to Anake’s shop to hang out until we had to open the gym at 2. I had some fun trying on some of the cool glasses he had for sale.
Back at the gym I finally had some time to catch up on emails and some other things I needed to take care of before heading back home.
Around 6pm students starting filling the gym for Ruminas MMA class at 7. The class was packed. Around 8 my friend Yoshi made it back down for a little training and then the party. The class ended and it was time to roll. Students mopped and cleaned the mats, we stretched, and then it was about 90 minutes of good hard rolling. Yoshi, Rumina and myself all got some good rounds in together along with some really good technical tips that Yoshi taught. It was a good night of training. Now it was time to let loose.

We left the gym around 10:30 and met about 15 of the gym members/fighters at a restaurant for dinner and drinks. It’s amazing how welcoming they were to letting me into their circle. I really felt as if I was leaving my family. We spent the majority of the night laughing, drinking, taking photos and just having a good time.
Dinner was served and all kinds of different foods were brought out. fish Sashimi, horse Sashimi…yes..horse sashima, it was amazing!! Natto, Natto in disguise (I’m not a fan of this stuff and got tricked into eating it. For those of you are unsure what natto is…is basically fermented soy beans…), and a whole bunch of other small snack stuff that were really ridiculous. After dinner and the celebration we finally headed home about 3am.

Tomorrow is my last day in Japan and will therefor also be the last installment of the blog! I hope I having been able to share this experience with everyone that has taken time out of their busy lives to read my rants. We have one more day!

Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 11:

Today was our day off from training. Taiki had to open the gym but I got to sleep in for the first time this trip. I woke up around 11, grabbed some coffee and headed to the gym to chill out. At the gym, there was a few guys sparring in the ring and a few guys rolling on the mats. I love walking into a gym seeing guys putting in work.
After about an hour or so Rumina, with 2 of his friends came to pick me up and it was off to Tokyo to watch a Shootboxing event. If your unfamiliar with Shootboxing it’s actually kinda cool. It’s basically Muaythai (without elbows), takedowns (big throws score points) and standing submissions. Standing Vale Tudo.
We made the 2 hour drive to Tokyo. When we arrived it was time for a little site-seeing and shopping before grabbing a bite to eat. Today we ate Soba. It was ok. Nothing super special (considering everything so far food wise has been unbelievable). After lunch we stopped by a few of Ruminas friends shops. The 1st was a clothing store called Mobstyle. They sponsor a bunch of the big MMA fighter in Japan. Not to mention they make some really cool stuff. Clothes and MMA figurines. I wish it would branch out to the states. Ouside the shop I even did a little flag pole training . This time I got a photo. The 2nd was a skate shop called FTC which is actually also in San Francisco. There clothes are super simple. My kind of style. Waling out, we ran into Satoru Kitaoka who was the big name draw from last nights pancrase event. Of course Rumina was friends with him.
It was time to head to the arena for some fights. The event was held at the same location as Ruminas. The Tokyo Dome. Except in a smaller hall. Once inside Rumina said his hellos and then we were escorted to our seats by the promoters of the show. Front row. They were great seats. Shinya Aoki was sitting next me.
The fights were awesome. The First 3 were all girls. Man, they went at it. It didn’t look like they had much power but they were ferocious and had massive amounts of heart. After the girls, Tenkei Fujimiya was up. Tenkei is an MMA fighter who I have trained with on my last trip to Japan. He fights out of Lions gym. The fight was a slug fest. 4 rounds of pure action. Tenkei dropped a split decision in the end. Great fight non the less. We watched the last 2 fights which were also great. 1 of which was another guy I had sparred on my last trip from Ceaser Gym in Tokyo. He won. I might actually want to do a fight in Shootbox. Looks like a lot fun.

The fights ended and it was time to go eat dinner. Curry! We went to this famous curry spot in town. It was amazing. I had the spicy Chicken Curry with melted cheese. It was nuts. So good. They have a list of options for the spicy level. Ranging 1-5. Rumina and I both went for a 4. PHEW it was hot. You know the hot that makes you sweat and feeling like your short of breath. It was that hot!…not gonna lie. I kinda want to experience the 5 just to say I did.
After Dinner we made the trek back to Odawara. But, not before Rumina wanted to splurge 1 last time before his eating normal begins tomorrow. Mcdonalds!

Tomorrow is back to Ground Slam gym in the AM and then in the evening its my going away party! I leave early Wednesday, so they thought it would be better Monday night than Tuesday. It should be another great time.

Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 10:

As my journey closes in on its ending days the experiences still stay at a crazy high.

Today we woke up at 8am and met Rumina along with 6 other guys at the gym for our Saturday run. Like before we jogged out about 2 1/2 miles until we reached the stairs for our sprints. We raced each other to the top 4x, did push ups and then it was a shadow boxing cool down before the flag pole training. YES…flag pole training. I wish I had my camera with me for this because it was crazy cool. It’s basically a grip, shoulder and balance exercise where you grab different vertical poles and elevate yourself horizontally (completely straight) as long as you can. Rumina killed us all. I couldn’t do it at first but got the swing of it by the end. I think I was able to hold my longest for 3 seconds. Then it was another 2 1/2 miles back to the gym.
As we arrived to ROOTS we walked into an interesting class taking place. It was a HULA class. I guess Ruminas wife puts it on with a whole bunch of other woman 1 or 2x a month. I watched for a few seconds but had to rush into a shower so I could head to Tokyo for my PKG teamate Kengo Ura’s big fight for the King of Pancrase Title.
I headed to the train station, except this time I was traveling solo. My friend from the states (Yoshi) was meeting me at the station in Tokyo. But the challenge was getting there. There nothing more nerve-racking then being in a foreign country and attempting to travel without out any means of communication or being able to read signs. Taiki told me the ride from Odawara to Tokyo is about 90 mins. I really wanted to nap on the train but was afraid if I did I would miss my exit and not even know it until hours later and then be stuck, lost in Japan. A little over an hour into the trip I thought I heard my exit so I got off the train. immediately panicked that I screwed up. You know that gut feeling you get sometimes. I looked around for any kind of signs that said I was in the right place and found nothing. In fact the only signs that I saw were saying “this train to Tokyo”. OH my god, I think I got on the wrong stop. It was only about 70 minutes into a 90 minute travel. I then calmly walked around the giant station looking for a phone so I could attempt to call Yoshi and tell him how much of an idiot I was. I knew this was going to happen. After about 15 minutes of searching, I found no phone. I was lost. FANTASTIC. Just as I had started to figure out plan b i heard a voice “YO!” oh my god it was Yoshi!! I was in the right place after all. It was such a relief. I told him the story and he just laughed his ass off.
We left the station and he took me for a little sight-seeing and lunch through Shinagawa. This place was AMAZING. It reminded me of a crazy version of New York filled with beautifully architecture, giant high-rise buildings, Crazy japanese style mixed in with a bunch of foreigners. It was intense. The stores were just the same. Yes ladies….I went to Kitty land! no it wasnt that great and yes it was filled with floors of different hello kitty and various other characters stuff. blah blah … There was even a condom mania store. HAHA. was kind of silly but I had to go.
Now it was time for what we came for. Kengo’s fight.
We took I believe 5 different trains to get from Shinagawa to Tokyo. It was ridiculous. I could never be able to handle train traveling every day. It would drive me nuts. Not to mention the cost just adds up. But we finally made it.
The event was in a 2 story small club or concert hall. I think maybe 2000 people or so. The prelim started and we watched fairly un interested. Both Yoshi and I really had no interest in the fights until the unexpected happened.
I forget what fight it was, but the japanese fighter was dominating control up until the 3rd round. Then it happened. He took the other fighter down against the roped and somehow his ear grabbed onto the rope on the way down. The 2 fighters went one direction and the ear went another. It ripped completely off. I have never seen anything like that before. Both men scrambled to their feel and kept fighting completely unaware. The ref stopped the fight to see what was on the floor. Its was gruesome. When they realized what it was, the fight was instantly called off and the guy was unwillingly rushed to the hospital. CRAZY!!
After the excitement it was finally go time. Kengo and his opponent made there entrances in the ring. My nerves started pumping like I was getting ready to fight. I was excited for him. The bell sounded and both men went at it. For 3 rounds Kengo traded leather back and forth. It was a great fight. By the final bell it was hard to know who the winner was. I though Kengo had it 2 round to 1 but you never know with the judges. The score cards were read and it was a split decision. the crowd was silent as they waited for the announced to crown the champion. The dramatic pause finally ended with Kengo being named the king of pancrase. They presented him with the title belt and a crowning ceremony. I was so happy for him.
The event was over, said our good buys and it was time to make my way back to Odawara. This time I paid close attention and it actually made it fairly easy.

Today was another great day of experiences. I cant wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 9:

Today we actually got to sleep in a bit. By a bit, I mean waking up at 8 instead of 6:30. Once we were up it was back to the train and off to Yokohama…again. Except this time we were training at the famous Shooting gym with Shooto Champion Lion Takeshi.
As we arrived to the small and dark feeling gym I knew today was going to be good sparring. Lions gym is known for having amazing stand up fighters. Today it was myself, Taiki, Lion, lions student (Shooto ranked #2 in the world flyweight), a 70 kilo fighter and 1 other bantamweight.
There’s something about going to a new gym and just having eyes looking at you as fresh meat. You just know your being tested by everyone in the room. The only thing you can do is either bring it or crumble. Today we went at it. We put on the little MMA gloves, started out with some shadow boxing followed by mits and then it was right into sparring. Because the gym was so small there was usually only 2 guys in at 1 time. This actually I think made the sparring a little bit more like a fight. We exchanged partners bell to bell for about an hour and then took the gear off for a little wrestling with one of their guys who has a fight in 2 weeks. He was wrecked after the training today.
Now it was time to head back to Odawara and get some rest before training Muay Thai tonight with KOTC and Shooto champion Mamoru.

Back in town I went to Taikis and crashed out for a few hours before heading back to ROOTS. Its friday and my body was feeling it. Face was a little swollen, legs were sore, had a stinger in the neck and yet was anxious for tonight!
Around 7:30 it was time for Muay Thai. Today we started the warm up with skipping rope on a weighted jump rope for 10 mins. I know that doesnt sound long but holy shit that kills your arms. I’ve gotta get one for home! After the rope it was shadow boxing, stretching then technique. Mamoru taught us some more amazing clinch and knee drills, both of which we sparring at the end. The guy is not only an amazing fighter but an incredible instructor as well.
Class ended and I was spent. We hung out for a few as Taiki locked up the gym and it was off to bed for the night.
Tomorrow I go back to Tokyo for my PKG teammate Kengo Ura as he fights for the King of Pancrase World Title. I can’t wait!!! WAR KENGO

Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 8: A day to remember.

Today was an amazing day filled with great training and incredible once in a life time experiences.

We woke up at 6:30 this morning to catch the train and head back to Yokohama for training with Shooto Champion Katsumura at the Ground Slam gym. As usual once we arrived into Yokohama the train station was packed with people. Except today it was CRAZY packed. People were squeezing to fit their way in. From the outside it looked as if the train doors were going to pop from having too many people pushing up against it. Ironically there was no yelling or any sense of unconformability.
Once at Ground Slam gym, it was more of the same from before. Bell to bell MMA sparring with everyone switching partners each round. I think this was my best performance thus far. Everything felt like it was clicking. My punches, kicks, takedown and submissions seemed to be on point today.
We trained for a little over an hour and then it was back to Odawara. One the way to the station we checked out this dope pro shop. There was so much cool stuff there but I didn’t bring enough cash with me to buy anything. Funds are running short. I did how ever buy this amazingly delicious fish pastry thing. Oh my god it was crazy good. It was basically this fried cream cheese filled pastry thing shaped like a fish. I wish I could explain better what it was but ill probably ruin the image. Just check out the photo .

Back in Odawara it was time for lunch and a little site seeing. Katsuya (A gym mate and pro fighter from Roots) Came and picked us up from the gym and we were on are way for Ramen. If you have never had authentic Ramen before… Holyshit this was good. I’ve had it a few times back in LA but nothing compared to this. It was simply amazing.
After lunch Katsuya drove us about 2 hours deeper into the country where we went to check out this enormous outlet shopping center which was right next to Mount Fuji and a famous Japanese temple in the city of Gotemba.
The shopping center was so big. I think the craziest part of it was that it was completely surrounded by a super green forest. Something you would never see in the states. In the mall there was all kinds of American style outlet shops (clothing, watches, shoes ect..) But I did walk into probably the biggest Puma store ive seen. Again, I wish I had more money. A lot of the gear in the shop I havent seen in the states are were really dope. The Japanese fashion is actually really cool. The way they mix colors and the cuts of the jeans have really been catching me. hopefully ill pick something up before I leave. Now was time to check out the temple.

The temple was a complete surreal experience. I’ve never been a big religious person but have always been more towards the spiritual side of belief. That being said, this temple was a “Place of Peace”. The gardens that surrounded it were amazing. Brilliant flowers, water falls, and it all just gave off such a feeling of welcome. We followed the garden up leading to the Temple that had 3 men praying on their knees. Watching for a few minutes as the men transitioned from a harmony of vocal prayers to drums and finally both at the same time. After the temple we walked another uphill path which led is to the main shrine. Now maybe this was all in my head and you will say ive lost it, but as we walked up the hill I felt a complete blissful feeling of energy running through me. It’s difficult to explain. The feeling really made me have to stop and just look off to the trees and take it in. This was just a moment that almost seemed as if this is what the trip was for. I couldn’t have been happier.
At the top of the hill there was a Peace gong that people were encouraged to ring before walking up to the shrine. The shrine was majestic. Statues of Buddha made of gold that were surrounded by ancient traditional fighting platforms that overlooked Japan when stood on. Everything about this place was completely surreal. We even had to take off our shoes before walking up to the statues. After a bunch of photos we now had to unfortunately head back to Odawara for tonight’s grappling training.

Back at the gym Katsuya taught his Jiu Jitsu class and then we all rolled until the lights went out. When they came back on, everybody started singing happy birthday in English. Its was Taikis birthday!! He opened a few gifts and then did a birthday routine on the thai pads. I think it was 26 kicks on each leg. I somehow got a gift also from Katsuyas girlfriend. It was some really cool Japanese Dragon boxers.
We closed the gym up and headed an hour outside of town for Taikis birthday dinner. Korean BBQ.
The food here was ridiculous. Plate after plate, different beef cuts kept coming out. I even had Liver Sashimi. Yes…it was delicious. We drank a few beers, had a lot of laughs and concluded an amazing day. I think we left around 1 am.

Tomorrow is back out to Yokohama for training. Except this time we will be going to the famous Yokohama Shooting Gym to train with Shooto Champion Lion Takeshi and his team.

Enjoy the photos!
Chad “SAVAGE” George

Day 7: Today I was finally back to normal. I woke up around 10 and went for my own walk around town. It’s actually really cool to wonder the streets alone. Making my way through the small country town (which was still set up like the big cities with all the shops crammed together) I Bought some breakfast, coffee, did some sight-seeing then headed over to ROOTS gym member Anake’s clothing store which was near by. We hung out while talking about hip hop and American fast food. It was an awesome conversation. He really wants to eat Taco Bell!

Around 2 I finally made my way over to the gym and met Taiki who had just opened up shop. We spent about an hour watching some good ol NCAA wrestling videos on you tube. He had never seen that level of wrestling and was amazed at what he saw!
As the gym members started to come in, they one by one started asking me to roll spar with them. I think I must have done 1 hour straight with a cycle of maybe 4 guys that kept rotating on me. Exhusting…but was a lot fun. I took a rest on the mats since my training was coming up. About 25 mins into my nap I was asked again to spar. This time standing. How could I say no. This is what came a here for right? As soon as the timer beeped, my timing felt like normal! My jet lag was finally over..I was ecstatic. I think it showed by the way I started moving. This wrestler was back to normal. Power doubles, lateral throws, high crotch transitions and my submissions were on point. For the 1st time this trip my grappling felt right. Was a great feeling.

After training again, I now only had about 35 mins to relax until it was time for the GI Jiu Jitsu class. Just before class started my friend Yoshi from the states showed up to train. Yoshi is an outstanding black belt who used to live in LA and now lives about 30 minutes from ROOTS. It was so cool to see a familiar face while in Japan. Now it was time for some GI.
We learned some awesome gi sweeps and then had a nice long spar session. I started with Yoshi and made my way around the room. The rounds seemed like 4 minute rounds that we must have done 10 of. I was spent.
After class Yoshi and I took of the GI’s and he showed me some really cool modified submissions to stuff that I already do. They were awesome yet simple changes. The moves even caught Ruminas attention. He even eventually made his way over and we all drilled together.
Training was finally over. It was time to shower and go eat. When I walked off the mats I guess one of the kids who train at ROOTS mother had cooked me some food since she heard I loved the food in Japan. That was so nice. It was a squid dish, with sides of beans, roots and potato salad. It’s crazy how kind the people have been. Yoshi went home as did we. Today was an overall great day.

Tomorrow is back on the train at 6:30am to the giant city of Yokohama to train again with Shooto champion Katsumura and Takeya Mizugaki.
Sorry if todays writing is horribly written. Its been a long day..The photos will be up later today. The blog site is having issues again with uploads.

Chad “SAVAGE” George