On a recent expedition around Tokyo I found a remarkable fossilized specimen.

Statue in Aoyama Gakuin (青山学院)
On a recent expedition around Tokyo I found a remarkable fossilized specimen.

Statue in Aoyama Gakuin (青山学院)
As I’ve become more serious about aikido I’ve found myself wanting to write more about it. To that end I have started writing the occasional blog entries under the name avparker on Aikido Waza Journal.
I don’t really expect anyone to read what I write, it’s more for my own benefit, but there’s a lot of great info there by other contributors. In particular Eric, who runs the site, posts an amazing amount of material.
Despite my intentions, I categorically failed to update this blog in 2009. So I thought I’d give a quick list of some of the memorable moments of the year. I’m sure I’ll forget lots, this is just what comes to mind.
合気道 – Aikido
I’m happy to say started training again in Aikido at 合気会本部道場 (Aikikai Hombu Dojo) in Shinjuku in late 2008. I had stopped training in Melbourne after only 3 months, which I will always regret. I started training once a week, but now train 3 or 4 times when possible. My classes are completely in Japanese, which is another plus.
日本語 – Japanese
I’ve been learning for a number of years, but I’m still intermediate level. I felt like I improved quite a bit in 2009.
色々 – misc
Holiday in Bali
Spent just over a week relaxing in Bali. The weather was amazing, 32 degrees and sunny every day. Thanks to Bron for finding such fantastic places to stay!
Became an uncle
Congratulations to Penny and Ken, who had their first baby, my nephew Keiran, on 2nd November.
My nephew Keiran Fretwell
No, I didn’t run it, just took some photos.


I saw many other people enjoying the cow-parade, so I thought I’d share a few candid photos I took.
And here are some of my previously posted photos showing people interacting with the cows.
During the cow parade there was a temporary “shop” in the the Marunouchi building. They were selling model cows, of various designs from previous cow parades. They even had plain “paint-your-own” cows for those frustrated artists among us.
One of the most interesting was “CowGirl”:
I’d like to see a real-life version of that!
January 31st, 2009: It’s finally time to post the remainder of my search. I’ve faked the post dates to match when they were found.
Today I finally found the remaining cows. The final 3 “mini-moos” were spread through the upper floors in the Oazu building, so were almost impossible to find without the map.
The final cow was on the other side of the JR Tokyo station, which I’m pretty sure isn’t technically in Marunouchi.
Today’s cows: 64
Today’s mini-moos: 71, 72, 73
Total cows to date: 65 of 65 cows, 8 of 8 mini-moos, 10 of 10 cows of europe.
Remaining Cows: none.
January 25th, 2009: It’s finally time to post the remainder of my search. I’ve faked the post dates to match when they were found.
I found 2 of the remaining “minimoos” with the help of the map. They were on the third floor of the Marunouchi building, in quite a nice spot overlooking the autumn sunshine outside.
Today’s cows: none
Today’s mini-moos: 66, 67
Total cows to date: 64 of 65 cows, 5 of 8 mini-moos, 10 of 10 cows of europe.
Remaining Cows: 64, 71, 72, 73.