Hello Friends and Neighbours,
Just a quick note here to explain a little why this blog has been a quiet for the past week. I usually get updates to this site almost daily, but we had a very special event occur. You may not know, but for many years I was a karate student, and a karate teacher and coach. I first came to Japan way back in 1992 and I trained in karate almost religiously for about 20 years. I loved it, and I am grateful to my karate teachers beyond anything I could properly express.
Along the way, I was told by my teacher, Taniguchi-Sensei, that I must write a book about the experience of “growing up” in karate, and to introduce the training and experiences I had. So, I created a book called, “Karate The Japanese Way”. My approach was not to go on about what a great karate guy I was, but rather, just to show, like you would peeking through a window, what a typical karate dojo looks like. My teachers modelled for the text and I simply explained as best I could what they were doing, and what the emphasized to make good karate technique.
Anyway, along the way I also created a Karate Discussion Forum called “Karate Underground” and we attracted about 35,000 people who practiced or taught karate around the world. My book got some exposure and I was in a position to be like a concierge for karate study and practice. It was great, and I could make contact with smart and talented karate teachers around the world. One of them, and a man who is quite famous in Shotokan karate circles, is Sensei Richard Amos.
Amos-Sensei got in touch with me some time back and I suggested he come to Shikoku with some karate colleagues. His group typically goes to Tokyo and stays close to the main dojos and famous instructors there, but to take a bit of a break, he agreed to come out our way. This last week or so was doing my best to prepare for his visit and to hang around for their visit. I will be bombing this site with information about their time here, as well as the stockpile of articles and videos I want to introduce too.
Thanks for being so patient with my slow pace these days. I promise to do my best to catch up!!
