Asoryu-san

Where we live is a wonderful place for cycling, especially if you are like me and ride in the hills and mountains. The autumn colors are beautiful, but it is late in the fall and the cold weather has already begun. Soon, it will be too uncomfortable outside to do much cycling. In preparation for the end of cycling, I joined a local health club.

Wait, not so fast. You can't just join. You have to take an introductory class to learn about club rules and how the equipment works. It only takes about an hour, and I understood almost 3 words that the guy said. Inconveniently, the class is offered just once a month. Just as flexible is the terms of the membership. Everyone has one choice, you can join for a year, and that's it. Also, your one year membership begins last year on April 1st, regardless of when you actually join. April Fools Day seems appropriate for a health club membership when you think about the fact that most people who join will go 2 or 3 times and then get lazy and flop on the couch to watch TV.

Complaining about the ridiculous and inflexible rules is a waste of time as there is only 1 health club in town and no competitors within a 45 minute drive. As the annual cost is just $25 or so, why complain? Soooo cheap, but its subsidized by the local city and probably costs a lot more if you consider what tax payers contribute.

During the introductory class they type up a membership card for anyone who paid the annual fee. On the membership application I carefully wrote my name in Japan's Katakana language, the one they use for foreign words. Only the Katakana symbol for "N" and the symbol for the sound "So" are very similar and I apparently didn't write my "N" clearly enough. From now on, I will be known at the gym as Asoryu instead of Andoryu (Andrew). You can call me Aso for short.