Greetings and salutations. I am an avid practitioner of martial arts, have read topics on this board over the years, and finally decided to sign up. I studied Shuri-ryu karate for a couple of years as a kid, did a short stint studying o-Mei Kung fu and San shou, later another short stint in aikikai aikido, bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis in private lessons for a little while, and most recently have been practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for a little over a year and a half. I recently spent 6 months in Thailand where I learned the Chen 39 Laojia short form. I've been in the US Air Force for 13 years and am currently stationed at Yokota AB in Japan. I look forward to having some good discussions with you all.
Greetings from Tokyo
- Thread starter kuniggety
- Start date
welcome to the forum.
Thanks for the warm welcome! While I was exposed to Aikikai aikido, o-mei kung fu, and san shou, the exposures were all too brief to really influence my practices. They were each for only a few months at a time because of a variety of work/moving issues. I didn't really practice anything for many years but these past few years I've been training hard. I was studying bak sil lum & Northern Praying Mantis and had just started to really get a feel for the two styles when I got orders to here in Japan. I couldn't find any schools to study either close to me but it got me to finally give BJJ a try. I'd never done any grappling before and instantly fell in love with it. It'll be nice that, since it's so popular, that I will be able to continue studying it wherever I move next. I roll with a local Axis school called Uprising. I've been a visitor to a couple of schools in Hawaii and Bangkok. I'm starting to pile up my hours on the mats and I think I'll be ready for my blue belt soon.
Welcome to MartialTalk!
ballen0351
Sr. Grandmaster
Welcome. I spent some time on Okinawa in the Marine corps. I wish I spent more time over there training and less time partying but that's what happens when they waist all that experience on a 20 year old. Now I have to pay 1000s to go back and train. Soak it all in and enjoy it. I find it kinda funny your in Japan and choose BJJ to train in. Nothing wrong with it just struck me as funny
Xue Sheng
All weight is underside
Welcome to MT
I was shocked to find both BJJ (being taught by a retired American LEO) and Muay Thai in Beijing too, also found Kendo there as well.
I was shocked to find both BJJ (being taught by a retired American LEO) and Muay Thai in Beijing too, also found Kendo there as well.
ballen0351
Sr. Grandmaster
I'm not shocked it's there. I'm shocked he picked that to train when people spend 1000s to get to Japan to train in Japanese styles lol. I'd love to move to Okinawa to train.
I lived in Okinawa too for four years. I was there from 2005 - 2009. There's a couple of reasons why I chose BJJ:
1. I'd never done grappling of any sort before so it was something completely new.
2. I move every few years and spend quite a bit of time traveling so it's nice to practice something that I can find about anywhere. I dropped into a school in Hawaii for a month and dropped into one in Thailand for about 2 months. It was frustrating to study bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis only to move and have no one to continue my studies with.
3. I'm on the western outskirts of Tokyo. If I was on the East side, say over at Yokosuka, or in the heart of Tokyo, it wouldn't be so much of issue. Everywhere that I would be interested in studying at would be a 60-90 min commute to and from. I have two small boys. The BJJ school I go to is literally only a 2 min drive from me. That's 90 min I'm gone in an evening twice a week, so I'm back to help clean up dinner and get my kids ready for bed instead of just being gone all night. Because of my job, I spent enough time away from home that when I'm home I want to ensure I spend some time with my family. This third reason is really my number one reason.
1. I'd never done grappling of any sort before so it was something completely new.
2. I move every few years and spend quite a bit of time traveling so it's nice to practice something that I can find about anywhere. I dropped into a school in Hawaii for a month and dropped into one in Thailand for about 2 months. It was frustrating to study bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis only to move and have no one to continue my studies with.
3. I'm on the western outskirts of Tokyo. If I was on the East side, say over at Yokosuka, or in the heart of Tokyo, it wouldn't be so much of issue. Everywhere that I would be interested in studying at would be a 60-90 min commute to and from. I have two small boys. The BJJ school I go to is literally only a 2 min drive from me. That's 90 min I'm gone in an evening twice a week, so I'm back to help clean up dinner and get my kids ready for bed instead of just being gone all night. Because of my job, I spent enough time away from home that when I'm home I want to ensure I spend some time with my family. This third reason is really my number one reason.
ballen0351
Sr. Grandmaster
No I get it. It was just funny to me. Like when my family and I go to a Mexican Restaurant and my daughter orders a cheese burger. lol
