looking for opinions

[BruceSteveRoy]

I am just curious what you all would do in this situation. My wife is a Naval Officer and she and i are currently studying Hung Fut in the DC area. Her tour here is supposed to end in 2008. We both don't like living in this area and i have developed some medical problems since i moved here due to the air quality being so bad (most seriously asthma). but the people here are rude, the traffic sucks, its overly developed and overly crowded, too expensive etc etc. (just tying to convey that we don't like the area). but i love my kung fu school, i love the hung fut style and my sifu is a great man. our next tour will probably send us to japan (either yokosuka or okinawa) and we are both excited about going.

so here is the thing. she was told that there is a pretty good chance that she could shorten her tour here which would mean leaving for japan in 2007 instead of 2008. i have not been able to find any kung fu schopols in either of those areas and even if i do i will almost definately have to start a new style. this means one year less of training under grandmaster tai yim. but it gets us out of the DC metro area which i think would improve the over all quality of our lives. also my earning potential goes up if i move there. if we stay til 2008 we are only delaying the inevitable but i think i can learn a lot in one year at this scholl provided that i dont get injured.

so if you all were in a similar situation. where you loved your school but hated your living environment would you stay an extra year just to train?

[David Jamieson]

no.

life first, everything else comes after.

just my opinion, but ifyou deny yourself opportunities, then you are denying yourself opportunities.

martial arts is available everywhere, one teacher or the next is ok, after all, the real mccoy is what's in you and if you find it within, then its everywhere.

teachers are guides, not hitching posts and styles are a set of ideas and concepts, principles and methods that are either effecttive or ineffective depending on the time you invest in them.

If you want purpose in your life then you have to make that purpose, it's not gonna fall in your lap and no one will give it to you and don't get stuck in the idea that there is only one teacher for you and that nop other teachers are of equal quality or better...or worse.

there's plenty of martial arts to learn in japan. plus you can always send postcards. :p

[bodhitree]

Go for the Judo, only complementary to kung fu! enjoy some seafood. Martial arts can be trained anywhere and you may learn new things.

[Ray Pina]

I'd be real surprised if you couldn't find quality instruction in Okinawa, the birthplace of what would become karate.

[Ray Pina]

I'd be real surprised if you couldn't find quality instruction in Okinawa, the birthplace of what would become karate.

[BruceSteveRoy]

"I'd be real surprised if you couldn't find quality instruction in Okinawa, the birthplace of what would become karate." ~Ray Pina

i have asked around quite a bit and there are a lot of karate schools and one kenpo school and i was told that someone on the base has a small shaolin do class but nothing that i am looking for. i will probably go back to judo while i am there. i haven't done it in a few years so i hope i remember it all.

[MasterKiller]

i have asked around quite a bit and there are a lot of karate schools and one kenpo school and i was told that someone on the base has a small shaolin do class but nothing that i am looking for. i will probably go back to judo while i am there. i haven't done it in a few years so i hope i remember it all.
Of course, you have an excellent opportunity to see just how your kung fu training can work against/in conjunction with whatever style you take in Japan.

[PangQuan]

ill put my vote in with a better quality of life.

[FuXnDajenariht]

think of how much more your health will suffer in that year and then how good will your training be? plus you can get a headstart on the new style you will inevitably have to take.

training in japan is the dream of thousands of martial artists. think of it as a great opportunity. :D

[charyuop]

I would go for Aikido instead of Karate....but just a personal choice.

[YiLiQuan1]

I lived in Japan, stationed at Camp Zama, from January 1999 through September 2002. Though there are certainly many schools to choose from, the same issues that exist in the US and elsewhere (e.g. questionable schools, bogus teachers, etc.) are still present in Japan.

That having been said, if you find yourself at CFAY (Yokosuka), I have a friend that is a senior student of Taika Seiyu Oyata of Ryu Te Karate that works on the base. If you don't mind the travel, there is a school originally founded by the fat man of Bagua, Wang Shu-jin, that is still going (at least it was when I was there). I forget what city, and it'd be quite a bit of traveling for someone from CFAY (it was 2 hours from Camp Zama, and that's closer to Tokyo than CFAY is), but if you're dead set on CMA training, that's an option...

[Mr Punch]

Bruce, you actually going to Okinawa or somewhere else?

I know at Yokosuka there's just about everything MMAwise you'd want to train, or at least within easy traveling distance you can find nearly everything.

And if it is Okinawa, there should be Okinawan karate nearby which is the original karate, and a lot of it is surprisingly flowing, not to mention badass and very sought-after. They'll work you though. Because a) they work everybody, and b) because of various ****ty behavior from your compatriots they hate the US squaddies.

But either way, training in Japan is great if you find the right place.

[BruceSteveRoy]

I would go for Aikido instead of Karate....but just a personal choice.

i studied aikido for 4 and half years and as much as i enjoyed it i think at this stage in my life i want something a little more physically challenging. not that it wasn't but i like it when i work to the point that i am so exhausted there is nothing left and aikido never did that. although it is fun to be thrown and to throw people. but i think if i am going to throw ppl i will go back to judo.

[BruceSteveRoy]

i would like to stick with the traditional CMA but if i am unable to find somethign i think i will study goju ryu and or judo. i have heard that goju is an excellent style and from what i have seen it is powerful and flowing which is what i like about hung fut. it has the power of hung gar and the smooth flowing movements of fut gar. i just don't want to start something that is so different from what i have been learning bc when i get back to the US i will find a CMA school again and i don't want to have to unlearn habits from another style. i guess the problem is that i have a very small but interesting brain and i worry about confusing it. and of course tere is always the option of traveling to hong kong for a few weeks every couple of months and learning what i can there. that one though is up to the wife. as much as she supports and encourages my MA studying i dont know if she would like me doing that. we'll see.

Thank you all for replying you have helped a lot.
Regards.
~steve