Muketsu Invades Cambridge (Late Entry)

Hey. So during the Gasshuku in Boston, there was a party at one of the aikidoka's house. But while everyone else went to the party, I decided to hang out with one of my best friends and roommates from college. He is a graduate student in physics at Harvard University, and he and his wife took me on a tour of the campus, his lab, and the town. Since this has nothing to do with Aikido, I'll keep this pithy and show you only the few photos that I thought was cool to share.



Yeah, so apparently Harvard has its own "Brew House." I'll have to admit, they have a better selection of beers and better food and service than our own Brew House back home.



This is an actual traffic signal in Cambridge. Cool.



This is a statue of John Harvard. It is also called "The Statue of Three Lies." Why? Well, first of all, the inscription reads "John Harvard, Founder, 1638." Well, Harvard was actually founded in 1636. Second, John Harvard was not really the founder of Harvard University. And third, the image of the guy in the statue is not really John Harvard because no authentic pictures of this John Harvard ever existed. So I guess you can say that those who came out of Harvard are just a bunch of liars. Anyhoo, there is a tradition where visitors rub John Harvard's shoe for luck. Since the statue is a total lie, I don't know what kind of luck I'm going to get.



To one-up this tradition, I decided to climb up onto John Harvard's lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas.

Oh well, till next time, Happy New Year! Gassho.

-Andre ("Muketsu")