It also seems clear that unless a person is Japanese, then they will never be "socially" appropriate as a representative of the JKA. Or in other words, rank (or for that matter the skill it supposedly represents) doesn't matter, race does. It is sad, but true. The JKA said it themselves. It seems that Randall Hassell of the American JKA (
http://americanjka.com/ ) was correct when he wrote about racial discrimination against non Japanese in the JKA back in the 1980s.
I spent 15 years of my life training in what I thought was a JKA affiliated dojo and every day after practice we chanted the dojo kun.
Seek perfection of character. Be faithful. Endeavor. Respect others. Refrain from violent behavior. Obviously those were at best just empty ideals or at worst a means to keep the foreigners in line. Would Funakoshi be proud? Is that what "karatedo" is about? I don't think so.
.... Although technically excellent, with the kind behavior shown above taking place, I personally don't think I could ever reconcile in my own mind the differences between what the JKA espouses and does. I'm also certainly not going to pay to be a second class citizen.
All of the above has personally been quite emotionally difficult for me as I had always held my instructors in high esteem. I looked up to them and I feel that I was let down by their actions. It is all quite sad really.
Ron Beaubien