OT Japan

[Ish]

How many people on this forum live in Japan?

[red_fists]

Tokyo.

[red_fists]

Ish.

I know that there are more KFO Members in Japan than have replied.

Why you wanna know??

So ttt it is.

[red_fists]

Hana-mi finished roughly last Weekend.
Some late blooming Trees still got Flowers on.

Had 2 hectic weekends off TCC practice in the Park.
But atleast we entertained the other people.

On semi-drunk Guy tried to copy our moves and kept falling over.

[Mr Punch]

Tokyo.

Yep, it's done, but the cherries are still pretty enough in hazakura. To be honest I prefer plum blossom for quiet reflection, but the cherry sure does take the biscuit for the paradox that is the out and out riot of delicate beauty, and the assault on the senses that only several hundred projectile-vomiting businessmen with a genetic indisposition towards alcohol can offer...

Is there not a wc school down Osaka way? I thought there was one affiliated with Eishunken (based in Yokohama), and there were one or two people from one of the Hawaiian schools down there. I suppose you've tried the local press? If not, have you thought of shorinji kenpo (the version founded in the 1920s, not the old style). I've heard that it looks and feels a bit similar...

Anytime you're in Kanto, send me a pm and I'll be happy to roll with you/exchange ideas/differences.

[BIU JI]

Fisrt off greetings !

Anyway my question to you is about the level of popularity of kung fu in Japan and how is it considered generally there?

Is your sifu Chinese/Japanese or gaijin ?

Is it welcomed by Japanese arts ?

I hear it can be difficult for gaijin to start business there, I'm curious as to the image of CMA there !

Onegaishimasu !

[red_fists]

Fisrt off greetings !

Greetings & Salutations.

Anyway my question to you is about the level of popularity of kung fu in Japan and how is it considered generally there?


It seems to be fairly popular over here, where I live CMA schools number roughly the same as JMA schools.

There are also BJJ, Kickboxing and Capioeira Schools. Those styles are gaining popularity now.

Actually a lot of People remark that I do Tai Kyoku Ken(we are actually kempo) and even come up and ask question
when I train in the Park.

We got about 4 Groups on the weekend doing TCC, Hsing Yi & BaGua there.

Yoyogi Koen and others also have their TCC, Tai Ki ken (Yi Chuan), etc. groups training.

Is your sifu Chinese/Japanese or gaijin ?
My Sifu & Sijo are Japanese, Sijo studied in Taipei/Taiwan though.
But there are quiet a few Gaijin that teach CMA here as well.

Is it welcomed by Japanese arts ?

I haven't encountered any bad feelings yet.

I hear it can be difficult for gaijin to start business there, I'm curious as to the image of CMA there !

It depends, if you simply want to run a small school on the side it is fairly easy.

Many People teach either inside a park or rent a room at the local Community Centre or a trainings hall at a school.
Some Dojo's also rent space to other styles.

Examples:
I train in what is actually an Aikido Dojo, that we rent for our classes.
This we do with the sanction/help of the local muncipality.
One Shorinshi Kempo Dojo I know rents a School hall.
Having your own premises and running the school full-time is very different and quiet difficult to set up.

My Sifu teaches full-time, but she does so at 5 different locations during the week.
A few other TCC Guys also teach at multiple locations during the week.

Check the Japan Times to see a few ads for Classes run by Gaijin.

Hope this helps.

[red_fists]

Hi.

Another problem for you might be fees and getting Students to attend on a regular basis.

Fees:
I have seen Kwoons charge from 2.500Yen a Month to over 30.000 a Month.
It seems to be more dependant on location rather than level of Instruction.
Some Schools run out of a Fitness center and in taht case your Student gets to pay both the centers and your Fees.

One Kwoon works on a coupon system for classes. There might be others.

Regular attendance:
Most Japanese tend to work late and only leave the Office at around 08:00pm or later.
Overtime is common and often not announced till it happens.
So weekday classes will be mostly housewifes and younger Students.
Even at my Kwoon where we only do Saturday classes we tend to have most of the students only show up irregular.

And Student retention tends to be a problem in both JMA & CMA.

Most Japanese study MA during their teens and than forget about MA totally once they enter university.

Older students I have seen tend to be 35 and up.
But this might vary between styles.

Another warning. Lots of japanese love to collect certificates and like, Plus, Japanese society is geared towards passing exams to get papers.

Hope I am not discouraging you.

[Kumkuat]

Originally posted by BIU JI
Fisrt off greetings !

Anyway my question to you is about the level of popularity of kung fu in Japan and how is it considered generally there?

Is your sifu Chinese/Japanese or gaijin ?

Is it welcomed by Japanese arts ?

I hear it can be difficult for gaijin to start business there, I'm curious as to the image of CMA there !

Onegaishimasu !

I'm neither of them, but I did live in Japan and learned there.

Kung fu seems to be popular. At least wushu is. Martial arts is pretty common around here. You'll see kids running around with bow for kyudo, shinais for kendo and stuff like that.

One thing it was cool though was I was practicing my chen taiji and a guy said, "ooh taikyokuken," and left. Whereas some americans would say something like dancing or just kung fu.

My sensei was a japanese woman. She supposivly learned from Wang Xian and one of Wang's top japanese student who was as a woman. My advisor's (who is a big name Aikidoka in my city) sister also played taiji. A lot of women taiji player it seems...

[red_fists]

A lot of women taiji player it seems...

Yep, so it seems. The style I study also tends to attract more women than men.

Acutally a lot of Japanese women are now starting to look at boxing & MA for fitness and self defense uses.

Fitness Kickboxing and Fitness Capoeira seem to be latest fad.

Atleast we ain't got Tae Bo yet.

[Sho]

red_fists,

But university students have much much more time than high school or middle school students in Japan. Of course, some arts can be done as bukkatsu such as kendo or karate but so much time goes for school that most people doing martial arts extensively are mainly the university students.

[red_fists]

Hi Yuen.

Most Japanese from what I see simply want to play when they are at University.

Once they have passed the Exam to get into univeristy they tend to play as passing is kinda guaranteed.

But experiencs will differ.

[Sho]

red_fists,

Yup, that's correct. And that's when people have the time to play around (including training in MA).