Summer Training Begins

Today marked the beginning of Summer in Japan. As a person who loves the heat, Summer is my favourite season followed by Autumn and then Spring. I'm not a Winter person at all! Fortunately, unlike my past experiences living in Tokyo, Winter here in Kyushu is very mild, more like Spring back in New Zealand.

SPECIAL SUMMER TRAINING

I had a special 'assessment' training today where I videoed several kata; namely Empi, Bassai-Sho, Sochin, Unsu, Gojushiho-Dai, Junro, Kibaken and Joko. Kihon nor kumite were

assessed

indepedently from the kata. I wont harp on, however, I will say that my results were thankfully very pleasing. My karate as of June 1st 2008, is at

the highest point in my life thus far. My target now is simply to keep improving for myself and in memory of my teacher, Asai Tetsuhiko.

I'll continue to teach and propogate the karate that Asai Sensei directly taught me, and hope to continue contributing this technique to my friends in IJKA and JKS Japan, in addition to others interested in Asai Karate around the world.

OSU!

© André Bertel, Japan 2008