Taking Nicolas to Japan.

January 24, 2011. Written in Taipei, Taiwan.

Taking Nicolas to Japan.

Every big modern city is multicultural. Every city is not only itself, but has a Japan, a France and probably even a Turkey. In this case, the Kyokushin Karate Dojo I had been visiting in Hong Kong for a while, felt almost more "Japan" than Japan itself. It sounded like a good idea to invite my friend Nicolas to this place to come and have a look. He may like it or not, but that he was going to have a special and different experience was a fact.

I waited for my friend in front of the station that is nearby the Dojo. Together, we walked to the old building and took the elevator to the 10th floor. The door was already open. One guy with a blue belt was practicing his kicks in front of the mirror.
"Osu" I said before entering the Dojo. In Karate, this "Osu" is a word you use to greet or reply to others. Nicolas imitated this while laughing. He had already hear my say this just as a joke sometimes, but he seemed surprised that we actually say this. We headed into the dressing room, where I changed in my Karate suit. While changing, the teacher arrived. Tashiro Sensei is a Japanese Karate teacher, living in Hong Kong since 1992. In the daytime he works as a fashion designer, and mainly designs Chinese dresses. Nearly 20 years have passed since he has moved to Hong Kong, but he is still as Japanese as a person could possibly be.
"Osu!" I said to him and bowed deeply.  The difference between my formal behavior and Tashiro Sensei's simple, natural behavior must have been interesting to see for my friend. In Japan, the difference in behavior towards your senior is huge compared to the way you would behave towards someone that is less than you.

Not only Tashiro Sensei, but also the students at this Dojo behave very Japanese. This is because Tashiro Sensei is not only teaching his students Karate, but also tries to learn them some Japanese manners.
"Karate is a Japanese martial art. Those that want to practice, should learn the Japanese spirits first" are his words.
For me as well, it is really fascinating to see how all these Hong Kong students take care of their seniors with respect and would never argue with the teacher and do exactly as he tells.
"It is very cool to see how much respect people show to their teacher. That is something different from all those people in Europe that keep arguing with teachers while they hardly know anything about the subject at all" Nicolas said.
I told him that this also has its bad parts, because people tend to just do exactly as they are told, which kills a lot of creative opportunities. But I guess that you just can't have everything. If you want creativity, you will get disagreements, if you want respect and believe, then some of the creativity will have to let go.

At around 7:30 the training started. I was told to teach the first part of the class, which is called "Kihon". This is the basics of Karate, and is practiced in the exact same way every time. Loud shouts are made while utilizing Karate's basic techniques. A Japanese speaking Englishman helped Nicolas imitate the movements. All of the sudden in the middle of loudly shouting guys seemed like a little too much for my friend, and I noticed that he couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

Nicolas joined the whole training, and did a great job in trying to follow us. He even joined the "Kumite" part which is actual fighting.

After the training, we took a picture with the whole group, and changed back into normal clothes.

"Man, you guys say Osu more then a thousand times a day!" Nicolas spoke to me while he was putting on his T-shirt next to me.

After the training, we went to a local Japanese restaurant with the group. Everyone was sure to pour the beer and Japanese Sake to Tashiro Sensei first, and made sure to fill it as soon as it would be empty. When getting alcohol poured into your glass, all the students politely took the glass with both their hands, and bowed to the person that was so kind to do so. Yes, we were really in Japan.

I spoke with Tashiro Sensei in Japanese, while the others conversated with each other in Cantonese or English. Vincent, a guy originally from France with Hong Kongnese backgrounds, was happy to be able to talk in his mother tongue with Nicolas.
When sometimes Tashiro Sensei would talk to the group, everyone politely stopped their conversation, and listened what Sensei had to say while sitting with their backs as straight as possible, repeating "Osu" to his messages. It really made me remember all those years of Karate in Japan. It definitely wasn't an easy life, but it was filled with days of hard work an satisfaction for sure.

After leaving the restaurant and having said goodbye to Tashiro Sensei, we walked the streets to the train station. At some street-food place, a young man was teaching an old man how to fry the chicken wings. We were back in Hong Kong again.