Our Dojo Trip to Japan, August 2001

By Richard Mosdell

Typhoons, sweaty Sumo wrestlers, mid-night barbecues, massive tuna heads, bullet trains and karate, karate, karate. That kind of sums up our two-week tour of Japan from August 16^th to 30^th for twelve adult members of Kenzen Karate Vancouver (well, Leslie Bowers from the Victoria was also with us so we knighted him with an honorary Kenzen membership). We planned the trip for over one year, even to the extent of having informal Japanese lessons every Wednesday night after our karate class.

We first arrived in the huge metropolis of Tokyo, stayed over night in a traveler’s hotel in one of Tokyo’s many downtown districts, then caught the first high-speed bullet train the next morning to the World Games in Akita, Japan (four hours northwest of Tokyo by train) to watch the best of the best of World Karate Federation (WKF) competitors from around the world. BC’s own Norma Foster was there officiating with the new WKF rules. The competitors at the tournament are supposed to represent the highest-level of WKF competition in the world, with only regional (like Pan-Am) and world medallists attending (the World Games is held every four years in a different city around the globe for those sports not yet in the Olympics). With hours of videotape full of fantastic kata and kumite, especially from Italian and Japanese teams, after the two-day competition we zoomed by bullet train south to the Kyoto area, just in time for a quick karate class before a large typhoon hit middle Japan. The next day in Osaka, which is close to Kyoto, we were actually trying to get in the Osaka Castle when rain “drops” the size of gi bags bombarded us for several minutes. For several days we went sightseeing, which included ancient temples and seeing monster, mechanical crabs attached to buildings, as well as we attended a Goju karate class consisting of incredibly un-fidgety kids (not an eye blink from bunch during kata). Our new karate friends treated us to a fantastic barbecue where we were force fed by four generations of super friendly people late into the night. Near the end of the first week we zoomed up to Tokyo for our own style association’s big yearly tournament; the JKF Wado-Kai National Championships. Being a style-specific tournament, both grass roots and Japanese national champions mixed it up with the old WKF rules, while again the kids really impressed us with their amazing ducking and dodging kumite abilities, even with helmets on (everyone from high-school grade down wears Mizuno helmets). The final day was held at the impressive Nippon Budokan, the massive martial arts hall located beside the Emperor’s palace. One of the highlights of the trip was going out to the celebration party with the winning Dojo team, Dr. Takagi’s Guseikai Club A Team (which is the same Guseikai group as Norma’s club in Burnaby). And what a party, as it included much dancing, singing and drinking of champagne by everyone right out of the huge silver trophy cup!

During the last week of the trip, we visited the large, chaotic fish market in Tokyo called Tsukigi to see a wild variety of fish, including massive tuna, from all four corners of the Earth, while we also visited a full-time Sumo dojo where bottom to top ranked rikishi (sumo wrestlers) demonstrated their incredible power and agility during their practice session. We also saw the strictest martial arts etiquette I’ve ever witnessed! While we went sightseeing in both Tokyo and Kamakura (south by an hour) during each day, we attended JKF Wado-Kai karate classes each night and we’re treated many times to dinner by our different Japanese dojo hosts, which was very special.

Most of our group had never been to Japan, so this was a trip of a lifetime. We as a group also have to truly thank one of our members, Rie Moriyama, who spent countless hours before the trip on the phone checking for inexpensive hotels, researching sightseeing spots, coordinating with different karate groups and making our itinerary plus then leading us during the trip to each destination, checking we bought our train tickets right, helping us order meals, and basically volunteering all her own time for two weeks to make our trip as memorable as possible. (Rie and I got engaged just before the trip so I promised her on our honeymoon there would only be the two of us.)

Japan is a very different place, and not always easy, but it is modern, clean, orderly and the many people we met were welcoming and extremely nice. We have now connected with many new friends, and I can easily recommend a Japan trip for all other karate students who’ve always dreamed about it.