Training in Japan

[tamirg]

Hello all,

My name is Tamir, from Israel, I've arrived to Japan a few days ago, hoping to stay for about 2 months for Karate training. I have been practicing Kyokushinkai and Shotokan for 10 years back home, and I'm looking for a good dojo in\around Tokyo where I could practice the same styles.

So far I have met some nice, helpful people, yet none of them spoke a word of English... The websites I found are mostly Japanese as well.

My question is - does anyone know a good dojo here where they speak a bit of English or even better - a friendly face in Tokyo that can assist with finding a dojo?

I would highly appreciate any help..

Cheers, Tamir.

[NightOwl]

I know of a somewhat popular kyokushin dojo around here- again though, you are going to run into language problems. It's kind of hard to avoid as most people don't really speak English enough to really communicate well. If you are looking for a gaijin oriented place, you could try looking at roppongi, but I am assuming that if you are coming to japan you are looking for the 'authentic' experience, and in that case you are going to have to deal with communication issues for the time being. More importantly, do you have a steady income and a place to stay/ visa? If you don't have a visa, the police have the ability to ask you for it with no pretext, and they will deport you if you don't have the right papers on you. Add on top of that the new fingerprinting laws, and you really have to be careful. I don't mean to come off as harsh, but I try to be realistic when people say that they want to train in japan. You need to plan ahead of time and have to realize that it is a foreign country- you can't have people adapt to you (they won't), but you have to adapt to them. If you know any higher ups in the shotokan community, I am sure that they can get you in contact with some people.

[tamirg]

Thanks man.

Fortunately I've found a good place to stay here in Tokyo, and I have a visa for 3 months.

I would definately preffer the authentic place, if they will have me of course... I think that if there will be even one english speaker in the group that would be enough..

Any recommendations?

Would showing up at the honbu be a good idea?

[marie curie]

I was looking for a place for when I visited Japan- the fruits of my labor were this:

1. Most Martial Arts schools in Japan are just as "modernized" as those in America- they are a business and mostly full of children.

2. There are few crazy-serious traditional schools left, and generally you are heading to Okinawa to find them (the origin of most Japanese Karate), not Tokyo

3. They do not want you- no offense- but they are very picky about who can train, you have contact them way ahead of time and give them a good reason to let you train with them. Also, they are disinclined to accept foreigners.

[Killer Miller]

Unless you know someone at the traditional dojos, they will beat the crud out of you until you become one of the respected karate-ka. And, I don't think you will be there long enough to achieve that status to enjoy the training. You definately have to earn your respect.

Just a fact of life over there - you are gaijin...

- Killer -

[Ninjanoir78]

Hello all,

My name is Tamir, from Israel, I've arrived to Japan a few days ago, hoping to stay for about 2 months for Karate training. I have been practicing Kyokushinkai and Shotokan for 10 years back home, and I'm looking for a good dojo in\around Tokyo where I could practice the same styles.

So far I have met some nice, helpful people, yet none of them spoke a word of English... The websites I found are mostly Japanese as well.

My question is - does anyone know a good dojo here where they speak a bit of English or even better - a friendly face in Tokyo that can assist with finding a dojo?

I would highly appreciate any help..

Cheers, Tamir.

are you still in Japan, if you are back from Japan, let us know about your Training!!