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Phong Nguyen-Le
1st February 2001, 02:36
Gassho,

Just came back from a two month holiday in Japan and Vietnam... and wow, was that an eye opener, apart from the usual cultural experiences that you go through (like getting cooked in a traditional Japanese bath... and eating sashimi that isn't fish), I trained at a lot of Shorinji Kempo dojos while aboard, giving me a much deeper insight to Shorinji Kempo.

Of the two months that I was away, I was in Japan for just under 3 weeks, so it wasn't really long enough to stay put, so instead I did a tour of Eastern Japan... trying to get a feeling of what Shorinji Kempo is like outside of my home Branch of Brisbane Australia. Using all the Shorinji Kempo contacts that I have, I stayed mostly with Japanese Shorinji Kempo families and got to train at the Shorinji Kempo branches of:

Inawashiro (Fukushima Prefecture) - where I stayed and trained at the longest. Tanaka sensei also took me to an outdoor onsen in the mountains while it was snowing... one of those truely unforgettable moments of my trip.

Fukushima University - where I got to stay and train with Yamaki-sensei - one of the sensei's that I admire the most (when he first came to Australia, I was still a white belt, but after the last training session with us, he took off his doghi and gave it to me. If I needed a reason to go to Japan, visiting Yamaki sensei was it).

Fukushima-city - where through chance I got to meet a fellow E-Budo memeber... Hi Boris!

Onahama (Fukushima Prefecture) - a weekend with Fuke sensei, one of Kaiso's direct students, is something that you can never forget...

Higashitotuka (Yokohama) - finally got to meet and train with fellow Australian living in Japan, Rodney Webster, who I've been corresponding via email for over a year now...

Kounosu (Saitama Prefecture) - two days with the Honoured Grandfather of the Brisbane Shorinji Kempo Branch - Hayashi sensei... sheer technical brillance... can't wait till he comes back to Australia this year...

Japan is wonderful, I could stay there for years and not get bored, also have some Shorinji Kempo friends in Western Japan yet to meet up with again, not to mention Hombu to visit - but being a uni student, the Yen packs too hard of a punch on my wallet, so I'll have to save that for next time... so now, off to my next destination: Vietnam.

In Vietnam, I stayed mostly in Saigon and the southern cities, but I took the train all the way north to Hanoi (the trains in Vietnam are completely opposite to the beautiful Shinkansen of Japan) but the two nights and one day on the train was well worth it, as I got to train a few times with the Hanoi Shorinji Kempo Branch, and their techniques and randori were excellent, not too suprising when the Branch master works at the Embassy of Japan as a bodyguard!

Anyway, after travelling so much, I really missed and am very glad to be back home and training Shorinji Kempo in Brisbane again. So what did I learn in the two months that I was away (apart from SK techniques)? I learnt that by being a kenshi of Shorinji Kempo, you are not only a member of a Martial Art Association, but a member of a world wide family. Friendship that transcends national boundaries is what I found in Shorinji Kempo.

So if I have but one travelling advice to share: for anyone thinking about travelling overseas to boarden your Shorinji Kempo experience... go for it!


Kampai,
Phong Nguyen-Le
Brisbane Shorinji Kempo Branch, Australia

[Edited by Phong Nguyen-Le on 02-01-2001 at 04:38 PM]

Anders Pettersson
1st February 2001, 17:11
Gassho.

Hi Phong.

Nice story, thank you for sharing it with us.