"Well, it's been my experience, that experience for the sake of experience, usually isn't a very good experience at all. Unless there's a reason for your experience, a purpose, or you learn something from it, then, well, there's not much point."
Bernard Walton. Adventures in Odyssey, Episode 274: First-hand Experience.
Ninjutsu is undoubtedly the most important something I have learned in Japan. Nay, it is the most important thing I have learned in life. I owe the success in my daily life to my deftness in Invisible.
Adventures in Odyssey is one of those haunts from childhood that never quite leaves you. This quote was playing in my mind the other day. I've since worked this into my short answer to the ubiquitous question, "So why did you come to Japan?" Er, the part about learning things I mean.. I've come to learn new things. It's true.
THE PHOTO: We visited the Iga Ninja House in Mie prefecture late last summer. We underwent an intense day of ninjutsu training--instruction in the shuriken/ninja star arts and advanced sneakiness techniques--as well as received professional advice in ninja tourist hachigane/forehead protectors. My hachigane, of course, hangs by my door, ready in a moment if there be a requirement of my ninja skills.
