JohnASE

For those who don't know, Tokon is the brand used in the U.S. by the company that sells under Kamikaze in the rest of the world. Someone else claimed the rights to the name here. I think the Kamikaze Europa is the same as the Tokon Europa. Tokon is an excellent quality gi, as are Tokaido and Shureido, but there's no such thing as a best gi. Just look at the diversity of the answers here and their reasons. Each karateka has different needs and wants and experiences. The OP mentioned WKF approved gis. If that's what he wants, Tokaido and Adidas both have WKF approved gis, including gis designed specifically for kata or kumite. I think thebudostore, who posted above, has them listed on their website. We sell some of them too, but we don't have our site up yet, and we don't have a policy for selling into Costa Rica.

No answers? I guess I'll throw in my $0.02. Satin is a glossy fabric. It can be made of silk, but it doesn't have to be. It can be made of synthetic materials. I should know this, but I think the Tokaido satin belts we sell are synthetic. I would guess that if a company sells silk and satin, that they're both really satin, but one is made from silk and the other is made from a synthetic. I don't know much about the differences between the two, but I'd bet that knot break in is more dependent on the material inside the belt than the covering. A silk or satin belt should only be silk or satin on the outside. Inside is probably cotton or polyester or a blend.

Tournament cut gis tend to have shorter sleeves and pants with a longer jacket. You say you have "so much extra material in the back, from neck to waist." Does that mean that tournament cut gi jackets are too long for you? If so, and you're hemming sleeves and pants anyway, maybe a standard cut gi would fit you better. Maybe not. If you have a local vendor, you might want to try some on. Just a thought. I assume you're not in the Los Angeles area, but in case you are, the main distributor for Toyo is KI International in L.A. and Shureido U.S.A. is in nearby Orange County, CA. Making fit recommendations over the internet is tough. People with the same build won't necessarily like the same fit. Since you didn't mention it, I assume you're not a woman. Women tend to have narrower shoulders, so a stocky woman might find a gi that fits their chest or belly, but find that material bunches up at the shoulders. You did say you like the Juka Emerald cut, but I'm not familiar with how it differs from other cuts, so can't help you there. Maybe someone else can.

Snagbranch, this is an old thread from 2006. As you might know, several high ranking members have broken away from the IOGKF since then for differences of opinion over issues like the one brought up by the OP. I believe the USA chief of 2006 is no longer with the organization. This thread is not kind to him, but from what I understand, he had the best of intentions. I don't have all the details, but from second hand info, I believe he was trying to make things better for the organization and for his sensei, not line his own pockets. Personally, I don't think kyu ranks should be excluded from membership, but I can see why it might be nice if lower ranks weren't required to join a national or international organization. This could result in lower costs for beginner students who aren't as sure that they want to be there. Later, when they're more serious and can see the benefits, then they can join. Just my $0.02.

These numerical weights refer to the weight of the fabric per square meter or square yard. A heavier weight gi will usually be thicker, but also often denser. This means a 16 oz gi won't usually be twice as thick as an 8 oz gi. It might be 1.4 times as thick and 1.4 times as dense for example. As mentioned, heavier gis are more durable than lighter gis in general, but there's a lot more to quality than just how thick the material is. The stitching is also very important. Is the OP's location Greece... the country? If so, options will be different than for us in the States.

I'm thinking about buying an electric motorcycle. Brammo dropped the price of their Enertia, and it's now selling through Best Buy, who also arranges financing. There's a federal tax credit which knocks 10% off the new $8k price. If they get approved for the California rebate, that could take another $1500 off. That would be under $6k! The bike is pretty cool. It's not very fast, but it'll make a great local commuter. Top speed is about 60 or 65 mph. I think range is about 40 miles. No gas and less maintenance makes it pretty tempting, and no exhaust smell! The Best Buy in my area doesn't carry it, but I hear the one in West L.A. does. One of these days, I'll have to fight the traffic to get down there and check it out.

I'm kinda late to this topic, but some gi sellers will sell separate tops and pants so you can mix sizes. It costs maybe 15% to 20% more that way. Many Japanese styles will use tournament cut gis. Tournament cut usually means shorter sleeves and pants with a longer jacket. You might want to look into it, although there aren't very many medium weight tournament cut gis available. The Adidas US Star and Tokon Spirit are both available in tournament cut. I would guess that you'd have to hem a tournament cut gi anyway, but I could be wrong. From your height and weight, I would've guessed you're a size 7 in most medium weights. Of course, that'll vary from brand to brand, and people with the same height and weight will often have different shapes and needs. Oh, and one thing about hemming. Most heavy weights will have multiple rows of stitching and some will have separate pieces in the hem. Maintaining this is more work and usually tailors will charge more. A light or medium weight will usually have a simpler hem.

We used sell the Brain Pad. It also used to be called the Jaw Joint Protector. It's a double, but it puts a lot more material between your top and bottom teeth than a regular double. That allows for a much larger breathing hole. The idea behind it is that you'll have greater cushion when you get hit in the jaw so that less energy will be transfered to your jaw joint and less to your brain. We stopped selling them because they didn't turn over quickly enough with our customer base, not because of any problem we had with the product.

I WILL see this movie. I don't know if I'll spend the money to see it in a theater or wait until it goes to video, but I definitely want to see it. I don't expect it to be true to the original, and that's okay. In the original, most of the comedy went to Ralph Macchio while Pat Morita was serious most of the time. I would guess that the roles will be reversed in the new movie, with Jackie Chan being pretty comical and Jaden Smith much more "cool" than Daniel Larusso was. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I haven't seen the trailer yet. I was sorry to hear it was set in China. I live a few minutes from Reseda where the original took place, so I would've liked to have seen it set in the Valley again. Especially since Jaden lives somewhat close, if what I hear is correct. I suppose an exotic location could be kinda cool. I wonder how much will be in English and how much will be subtitled. As far as the kung fu vs karate thing, being of Japanese descent, I would've preferred seeing karate, but I think they could do a good job with kung fu, too. I don't mind, as long as they don't follow the old kung fu movie tradition of making the Japanese karate-ka the bad guy! I haven't heard much about the plot other than what's in this thread. I hope it doesn't come off like a Chinese martial art version of Tokyo Drift.

Exactly! It's great that people are sharing info about what their group does, but I don't think people should say that their way is right and anyone else's is wrong. People should accept that others do things differently, and that their way might actually work for them! As far as the original post goes, I assume the main question is more about when someone should be considered capable of running a dojo than when they should be called sensei. Like sensei8, I don't see any reason a 1st degree black belt shouldn't open a school. I've known many who have successfully taught after-school or park and rec programs on their own and even a couple who opened brick and mortar locations. Obviously, a 1st degree black belt can only teach so much, but many kept up their training and have advanced in rank since then. Those who haven't mostly stick to beginner to intermediate programs. A little off topic, but I've also known a few minors who ran schools. They taught, and their parents helped with the business side of things until they were able to take over themselves. Almost all of them also had the benefit of their instructor's guidance, as sensei8 suggested. Some bought out existing schools, but I think one or two started their own from scratch! It's amazing what truly motivated teenagers can do.

Hmm, I thought Blade96 might have been a martial art reference, but maybe it's skates? Congrats on completing your work! My wife will complete her requirements for a BA in Journalism next week. She might not "walk" though. She's just glad so to be done (almost). I think her ceremony would be in May, too. I hear newspaper jobs are tough to get these days. No one reads papers anymore. I wish you good luck getting the sportswriter gig!

Chuck. Eureka. Top Gear. Chelsea Lately. Cash Cab. Comedy Central Presents. Big Bang Theory. Love Joss Whedon's stuff! (He made Firefly. Not Castle.) I almost put Dollhouse on my list. At least 2 of Firefly's crew have been on. Whedon seems to really love reusing people. Had a Keifer sighting Sunday night! Saw him at the LA Live complex in downtown LA. I walked over there for dinner from the LA Auto Show. It was funny watching the double-takes as people walked past him.

Relator gets to me. Nucular gets to me. There, they're, their gets to me. Bo staff, I don't mind. If nothing else, I think if it as a clarification. When you just say "bo," some people thiink "bow," as with arrows. Even when you say "staff," some people think of big walking sticks or wizard staves. "Bo staff" is less likely to be misunderstood. Then, I start thinking about set theory. I don't actually believe bo=staff. Is bo a subset of staff? Staff is not a subset of bo. Is bo staff the intersection the set bo and the set staff? That's great! Love it!

Too many variables. I think it depends more on the individuals and what you know about them. Of course, like everyone has already stated, choosing a nunchaku says something about someone's judgement. I believe that around here, you can carry a knife if it's not concealed, but a chuck is a felony. I'd bet that if something did go down, the guy carrying the illegal weapon would get in more trouble. Why risk it? Isn't there a legal weapon he'd be happy with?

When I was a kid (late 70's), a guy try to stab me with his afro pic.

Good luck with your first tournament! My only advice for you would be that whether you do well or not, or enjoy yourself or not, you can always learn something from the experience.

When I think of discontinued cereals, Quisp is the first one that comes to mind. Little discs of sweet deliciousness. Well, that's how I remember it anyway. Hey! You're from The Valley? That's where I am now! I grew up over the hill, in Hollywood, but I had friends who were part of that whole Valley Girl generation. Valley Speak was in full force then! Gag me with a spoon, toootally, tubular, etc. Thankfully, most of them outgrew it, but I still hear a little sneak in every once in a while.

The manager claims to have offered to comp the food, but they had them arrested for paying the bill without the tip? That doesn't make sense. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a mandatory tip! That just sounds wrong. The point of a tipping system is its flexibility. I knew that some places added gratuity for parties of 6 or more, but I figured it was probably still optional. If it's mandatory, it's more of a service charge than a gratuity. Yeah, I know that's just semantics, but using the right words could help avoid confusion like that which occurred in the referenced article.

Don't know much about hapkido uniforms, but the description says 10 oz. If it were a karate uniform, I would consider it a medium weight, but a pretty heavy one. If it were 11 oz, I'd call it a heavy weight. ProForce is an AWMA brand. They have it in black or white.

Well, you probably wouldn't wear your black belt to a cocktail party either, but I can see someone going to a professional conference with "PhD" on their name tag.I guess I'm against rank bars too, but I can see how they might be helpful in some circumstances. I've seen people line up by rank. Bars would make that easier. If I'm at a tournament, sometimes it's interesting to know what rank people are. Oh, and I suppose having visual evidence of rank can be motivational the way color belts are. This is harder for outsiders to recognize, but I've seen some groups use the color of embroidery to denote rank, white for sho-dan, silver for ni-dan, gold for san-dan, or something like that.

Wow, I feel old. Has Jhoon Rhee gear drifted into legend? If I remember correctly, Jhoon Rhee developed dipped foam sparring gear, and I believe he is credited with inventing it. His brand even used to be called Jhoon Rhee. The original stuff had laces for the fingers and toes instead of the plastic straps used today. IcemanSK might be right about the 70's, but I'm not sure. Later, they changed the name to RheeMax. I'm a little sketchy on the details, but I think a few years ago, the Rhee family sold the business to another company. I think it was just last year that RheeMax brand sparring gear stopped being produced. I'm a little annoyed that I don't have a more complete picture of what happened near the end. As a RheeMax distributor, I would have thought we would have been better informed. To be fair, our purchasing had dropped way down, and I'm sure the people involved had a lot on their minds. I should've made an effort to keep in closer contact. We still have some old RheeMax stuff in stock! Eventually, we'll get around to closing it out, but we still have customers for it. I just looked, and we even have some old stock with the Jhoon Rhee labeling. It's marked "Jhoon Rhee Saf-T." We'll probably ebay it eventually. Jhoon Rhee/RheeMax gear was good quality, and all the people I had contact with at the company were a pleasure to do business with, from warehouse workers to sales staff to Jimmy Rhee.

It's difficult for anyone here to give a definitive answer on this, even after viewing the video. Each tournament or each sanctioning organization could have different rules for judging kata or kumite. People can give general answers, but unless they're familiar with the rules of any given competition, it's hard to say who should win, especially if it's at all close.

I agree with what's been said here. No reason to wait until you get in better shape. 31 is far from too old! Getting fit takes work. Learning karate takes work. Be prepared to push beyond your comfort level. Talk to the sensei to get a better idea of what to expect. I would guess your first lesson will probably include basic dojo etiquette, stretching and warming up, a basic punch or two, and a basic block or two. Nothing too strenuous. Usually, they teach you a few basics and tell you to go home and practice. The basics are all about repetition. I'm sure private lessons will allow you to earn rank, but I'm not sure if your instructor will allow private testing. Probably not for the higher ranks, but maybe at the lower. That's just a guess though. You'll have to work that out with your instructor. Regarding glasses, I've seen some people wear sport glasses (combat glasses?) with frames that rest against the face and elastic straps that go behind the head. My friend wears these for basketball. Something like this wouldn't be necessary for regular training, just maybe for sparring. If your regular glasses won't stay put during regular training, I'm sure you can find some kind of strap that will keep them in place.

It's amazing how fast the world is changing. The strides in engineering made over the last 50 years boggles the mind.

Could be either. You have around 7% shrinkage, which sounds like a reasonable amount for a couple washes. Mislabeled belts do happen, but I'd say it's less likely. Of course, the sizing chart you used might not be accurate. If you're planning on washing your belt on a regular basis, I'd allow for shrinkage. Exactly. It depends on the material. Cotton will tend to shrink more than poly/cotton, but some cotton is preshrunk and some poly/cotton shrinks more than you'd think, so you never know. However, I'd bet the cotton in belts is not preshrunk much, if at all. Some belts are colorfast, and some are not. Colorfast belts should not bleed onto uniforms, but I can see how people might want to do this just in case. Mixups at the factory do happen. If belts aren't colorfast, repeated washings will make them fade.