Hamid Abassalty hopefully needs no introduction, he is the number one person in Japan to contact if you want to safely purchase a Japanese made traditional karate dogi (karate uniforms) or obi (belts). His business, kuroobiya (click here for the website: www.kuroobiya.com), is synonymous with 'satisfaction'. That is, he makes sure his clients get what they want. He will 'give you the edge', especially in regards to world class karate uniforms and belts.________
Last month I spent three and half days in Nagasaki on holiday with my wife (Here's a link to the post: http://andrebertel.blogspot.com/2009/03/nagasaki-trip.html). And to be honest, until the very last minute we had planned to travel to elsewhere. So on the way I decided to call Hamid (who has lived in Japan/Nagasaki for over a decade) to see if I could train with him (at his dojo, instead of being restricted to self-training in my hotel room, or at a local shrine). He said “sure, so when are you coming?” And I answered “We should be there in a couple of hours and will be staying for just over three days.” Clearly shocked in the positive sense, he replied by telling me, “My dojo is unavailable right now as it is having spring cleaning… But, I’ll do my best to sort out another facility!” Sure enough, within a few hours, I received a call… “I’ve arranged a dojo for the next morning.” This to me is true karate spirit. Need I say more?
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I wish more karateka were like Hamid, that is, they talked with their karate as opposed to playing politics. I thoroughly enjoyed our training together, and look forward to the next one.
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© André Bertel, Japan 2009
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