Learning from scratch

I recently signed up for motorbike lessons at the driving school in Nago. My friend Ollie and I are working on this together, though separately - as he lives on the far south of the island and I live north. We're both taking the middle class license class (400cc and below). And today (Thurs) was my first day on the bike.
It was awesome! Sure, I didn't actually do that much, other than learn how to lift the bike from a tipped position (heavy - use your legs!), how to mount, operate all the basic controls, set the bike into a standing un-manned position, manage the clutch and gas, manage simple turns, proper acceleration and braking, and enter into traffic.

My instructor today, Uechi-sensei, was cool and he inspired confidence in my own ability right away. Though I forgot to turn off my blinker for about half a lap, and stalled the bike 3-4 times (once in 4th gear going sooo slow - but I was only following his lead), I didn't drop it and it felt really good. There's definitely a lot of room to improve in shifting, meaning reducing excessive revving or smoothing out the starts and gear changes. But who wouldn't have lots of room for improvement after only one formal lesson. I once rented a 125cc bike in Thailand for two weeks, but that thing seems like a toy compared to a 400cc machine.

So I'm really excited to get back and knock off a lesson here and there. Since I had already successfully converted my US license to a Japanese, not only is the class cheaper, but the coursework is reduced to practical lessons only, meaning just driving and nothing in the classroom. This is good news, since it let's me get done more quickly, but not too quickly as to blow through everything and not learn any good skills.

In fact, the course consists of 17 total classes: 9 in the first step (or １段階 ichi-dankai) and 8 in the second. After succesfully completing the first step (and I believe after an evaluation), I'll move on to the second step, completing the course with a succesful run on the examination, which includes the following: basic setup and manuevering, slalom, the ippon-bashi (google it), emergency braking, rough terrain (maybe?), the crank (think Tetris shapes on the road), the figure 8, and various other basic safety considerations when turning, accelerating, braking, etc.

Perhaps the coolest part of it all is having to have bought gear for the class. I got a helmet and basic leather gloves as required. Of course, once all is said and done, I'll have to upgrade the gloves to something more suitable to my style. And boots; don't forget boots. But I'm not going to worry about that. There's still at least a month to go before finishing the course, given intermitent work assignments, travel, and my brother's visit to Japan.

But rest assured, once Ollie and I have completed our training, passed our tests, bought and insured our bikes, and reached beautiful points on Okinawa on two wheels, we'll flood you with pictures and stories and have a good time doing it.