Over the weekend I happened to witness a Genbukan class whilst doing my own training. It seemed pretty well run but what caught my eye was a small group of Japanese playing table tennis who found the concept of westerners "pretending to be ninjas" (to loosely translate) more than a little funny.
I've encountered this before with other Japanese martial arts, especially koryu and traditional arts. I suppose for many modern Japanese, these arts seem old-fashioned. In many ways the perception must be akin to a Scottish person seeing someone from asia come over, stick on a kilt and take part in the highland games...or study bagpipes.... or counting to ten in a strange brogue....
I was just curious what sort of reactions people have received when others find out about their MA practice?
I've encountered this before with other Japanese martial arts, especially koryu and traditional arts. I suppose for many modern Japanese, these arts seem old-fashioned. In many ways the perception must be akin to a Scottish person seeing someone from asia come over, stick on a kilt and take part in the highland games...or study bagpipes.... or counting to ten in a strange brogue....
I was just curious what sort of reactions people have received when others find out about their MA practice?