Hi everybody, I'm new here (though I've been lurking for quite some time now). I have a question that I hope some of you Shotokan/JKA people can help me with. In about a year or so, I'll probably move to another city to go to grad school, and of course I'm already considering the options when it comes to karate at the new place. I currently practise wado-ryu, but there doesn't seem to be any wado dojos where I'm going. So I've started thinking about Shotokan, there's a JKA dojo close by. However, after checking out their website, I was left with a few questions. It says that the chief instructor has had 4 years of instructors training at the Danish JKA honbu dojo, which sounds pretty promising. Yet, it also says that he archieved his 5th dan at age 30. Am I way off when I think that that's a very young age to be graded this high? Or is this normal within Shotokan/JKA? Also, the assistent chief instructor recieved his 1st dan after three years training. What do you think about that? Does all of this sound normal to you, or is it something I should watch out for? Thanks, and forgive if my questions sound naive, I am not that experienced.
