How to train in Okinawa over Christmas...Part 1
Welcome to Okinawa! Only slightly jet lagged after nearly 24 hours of flying!
Six months ago I had a wonderful opportunity to travel to Okinawa, the birthplace of karate. While there I had the extreme honor of training with several different karate masters, all of whom imparted some amazing wisdom about the martial arts.
I found out about this seminar through an online mailing list with Karate by Jesse.com. For those of you who may not know, Jesse Enkamp or the Karate Nerd, has some great articles and videos online over here if you haven’t had an opportunity to check them out I encourage you to do so after you’re done reading this blog. Back in August of 2018, he announced that the Karate Nerd Experience 2018 would be held in Okinawa Japan. The list of instructors was absolutely amazing and I couldn’t pass up this fantastic opportunity.
Arriving early meant I could explore! I hung out in a local music shop, played sanshin with the owner, and picked up a new one too.
As many of you out there know, I am not always the best at checking my email. (Shock and awe!) When I finally did find this email, I was literally the third from the last to get the spot. This is a great example of taking these opportunities when they come up, because otherwise one might miss out. The Karate Nerd Experience changes locations every year and so far they have not repeated a location, and had not yet visited Okinawa, which is why I was very excited and jumped at the chance to travel to Okinawa to train.
The time frame for this event was over the holidays starting on December 26 and going to just before the new year. Knowing that travel during this time can be very difficult, I wanted to make sure that I left early in order to get there and not be late. I arrived in Naha city, the capital of Okinawa, with a couple of days to wander around and enjoy the fantastic offerings that that city had to offer. It was surprisingly easy to travel internationally by myself. Like a lot of Japan, Naha has a very excellent transportation system and is quite safe. So it was very easy to get around. For those of you that are interested in traveling, pay more attention to upcoming blogs as we start to outline some of the different ways adventuring can be done affordably and easily.
Okinawa is a fantastic little island akin to Sarasota, Florida. The only major difference is that they have mountains! While there I was able to go to the seminar hosted at the Okinawan Karate Kaikan Exhibition Hall. We also visited the infamous Dojo Bar, trained on the beach, had a private reception dinner and show at the Chinese Gardens, and a tour of Shuri Castle and historical World War II era sights. Because I was there early, I had a few days to explore the city. I arrived on Christmas Eve, and was able to experience Christmas Day in another Country…and wish my wife a Merry Christmas from the future! The holiday was practically nonexistent, except out of marketing (check out the gallery below for some fun shots) and many of the schools and businesses were still operating because it was not a recognized holiday. Exploring the City, I found a memorial to the founding families of martial arts, some pretty fantastic shops, and took some time to train in the local budokan, the state-sponsored marital arts exhibition hall located by the Bay.
In order to train, I had to purchase a ticket out of a vending machine. For those of you who know anything about Japanese culture, you know that there’s a definite love of vending machines and Okinawa is no different. This one had time allotments for different arts including karate, jujitsu, and even sumo. The training hall itself had many different floors, with some wood floors and some tatami mats. Upon entering the karate hall, I happened upon a fellow martial artist from Bradenton, Florida! He introduced me to his instructor who then invited me to join his dojo and train with him in Okinawa in the future. I visited the budokan twice because the first time it was closed. Not because it was Christmas, but simply because it was a Tuesday and on that day of the week the space is closed. Training in the budokan was a great way to keep up with my studies on the trip, and as Misha and I traveled throughout Japan, later on, I discovered that many cities had budokans available for use.
In my next blog about the trip, I’ll talk more about the seminar itself and the incredible teachers I met and had the honor of working with during my visit. If you couldn’t make it to Okinawa this year, I’m happy to share what I learned. Come check out my Pangai-noon Karate classes Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm.
