This morning seemed to be like any other morning.
I woke up early as usual (darn rainy season) and headed for the kitchen. Some people claim they can never eat anything in the morning, but I’m the complete opposite! After examining (and effectively taking care of) the contents of the fridge, I wasn’t completely satisfied though. Still hungry.
So… I headed for the cupboard. I remember storing some peaches there.
But wait! There’s one drawer in the countertop that I have never opened. Maybe there are some old dusty crackers in there? You …

Today I thought we would look at two stories. More exactly, two Samurai stories!
The first one is an old story often told by Mr. Otake Raisuke (master of the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu, the oldest verified school of Japanese martial arts), which goes a little something like this:
A long time ago there was a young samurai and his fiancé who were deeply in love. One day his fiancé was walking through the forest when she was attacked and seriously mauled by a man-eating tiger! No matter what the young …

Last week, while browsing some Karate books, I found a really interesting book.
It is in English, and on the front page it says (with big letters): “The 100 Deadliest Karate Moves”. I just had to read a little!
I won’t do a review though. But let me quote a little. If you are a sensitive person, you might want to skip this.
First, let’s look at some of the techniques the author thinks are especially good for self-defense.
I have not made anything up. This is straight from the book:
15: Side Kick to …

Yesterday I visited a very special “dojo”.
It was not your average dojo though… because they didn’t practice any martial arts there! They did something completely different…
Let me guide you.
To actually find the dojo is not the easiest task to begin with. After zig-zagging through a number of small alleys and cobble streets, you will se this:

Other view:

That’s the dojo.
A beautiful, wooden, old-style Okinawan house. When approaching the entrance, you immediately get a sense of what is going on in this dojo:

That’s a Shiisa.
“What is a Shiisa?”, you may ask. Well, …

The life of a typical Okinawan boy (or girl) basically circles around two things:
School…
and Sports
When they don’t sleep or eat, they always do one of those two. Either they’re studying in school (or doing homework at home) or they are doing physical exercise (sports) with their schoolmates. Quite a busy, yet somewhat simple life.
Now, if the kids of Okinawa (and Japan in general) are so busy, with school and activities, how can they have the highest life expectancy in the world (81.2 years old in average)? Shouldn’t they be burned …

Training in Japan (or anywhere in the world with a Japanese teacher) can sometimes be both fun and frustrating. Fun because you learn so much and experience a different culture, while at the same time frustrating because you don’t understand everything, or very little!
I am about to help you with the last part.
Let me introduce my Basic Practical Word and Phrase Guide for Surviving Training in Japan (or what I would like to call the B.P.W.P.G.S.T.J)
Here I have collected the 20 most frequently used basic words (10) and phrases (10) …