Internship Reunion Party!

Richard here!

l-r Mark, Richard, Arakawa Sensei, Kei (back), Lawrence, Natsumi & Paul

During the Wadokai World Championships week in Vancouver, Canada, the three people to have completed the internship - Mark Taylor Intern-1, Paul Atkin Intern-2 and Lawrence Liang Intern 3 - got together with myself, Arakawa Sensei, Kei Suzuki and Natsumi Tanaka on Thursday, August 21 for an internship reunion party at the North Vancouver Cactus Club on Pemberton.

Kei is actually an original Shiramizu adult class English student from when I started the internship even before Mark arrived in early 2005! And Natsumi is Paul's girlfriend whom he met while he was an intern, and she followed him back to Kelowna! Kei came to Canada on this trip to go visit Paul and Natsumi in Kelowna, and then come to the Wadokai Worlds to see her two sons compete in the Junior events.

l-r Mark, Paul and Lawrence

During the dinner, Arakawa Sensei and I were able to surprise the 3 post-interns with completion certificates, created in both Japanese and English!

Mark's certificate!

Paul's certificate!

Lawrence's certificate!

For some updates on what the guys are up to now, Mark returned to Canada in August 2006 to take over the Simon Fraser University Karate Club (SFU) while entering a carpentry apprenticeship program, Paul returned to Canada in July 2007 to help his father's Shotokan Karate Club in Kelowna and Lawrence stayed on in Japan in July 2008 to help me with the International Department at Seiritsu High School in Tokyo.

Actually, since Lawrence now works for me at Seiritsu, his desk is beside mine in the staff room, so I had to work on these certificates in secret every time he wasn't squatted beside me slaving away, from work I had given him of course!

Once I was done, I sent them to Arakawa Sensei for layout design with logos and printing on to proper Wadokai certificate paper.

Seriously, our internship is the only structured program I know of in Japan for karate, so we are very lucky to have it! Each of the interns spoke glowingly about having completed the full year at Shiramizu and each said he wants to return again one day.

So future interns, you too might receive an Shiramizu Internship Completion certificate one day! Soon we will begin accepting applications for Intern#5 for next year after our English-English current Intern#4 Carl!

(And yes, we are very interested in accepting applications from women too, we just haven't to date.)

Richard

Richard's Wadokai Worlds '08 Report!

l-r Japan Women's Kata Team: Yuki, Kana, Rie
l-r Canada Men's Kata Team:Richard, Lawrence, Peter

Richard here!

The details:

Thu Aug 21 Juniors (open to any style)
Fri Aug 22 Wadokai Worlds adult kata and kumite eliminations
Sat Aug 23 Wadokai Worlds adult kata and kumite finals-only, plus demos

Location: Hollyburn Country Club, West Vancouver, Canada

Arena: Hollyburn Tennis Centre (4 karate rings, finals 1 ring)

The good news is we did bring back some hardware!

Men's Team Kata - gold (myself, Lawrence and Peter)

Men's Individual Kata - silver for Lawrence and bronze for me

Men's Over 35 Kata - 4th place for myself

l-r Men's Open Kata: Richard (bronze), Takuya Furuhashi (gold) & Lawrence (silver)

The Japan Women's Kata (actually high school girls) team all smiles!


These girls had worked so hard for so long getting their team kata ready, you could tell this really meant so much to them, like the end of the journey with a positive result!

l-r Johnny Tesoro, Richard, Kevin Floyd, all former Kenzen Vancouver instructors

At least I got something. And the blue belt I was wearing had 'Vancouver Karate Cup' written on it, which I found in a tournament box that looked really familiar. Well, the Van Cup used to be my event, so really, I was wearing a belt I bought 8 years ago for my old tournament!

Enjoying the very nice patio at Hollyburn!

l-r back row Steven Muskwa Johnson, Kevin Floyd, Lawrence Liang
l-r front row Richard, Mark Taylor (1st intern!), Johnny Tesoro

The very first intern speaks about his experiences!

Hanging out in a karaoke bar with Kakiya Sensei from Seiritsu Gakuen High School in Tokyo.
Mark Taylor, the first intern from Aug 2005 to Aug 2006, kindly answered our questions about his experiences in Japan. After really giving it his all for one year and building up many different opportunities in the internship, Mark returned to Canada where he took over as head instructor of the Simon Fraser University Karate Club in Burnaby, British Columbia (part of the Greater Vancouver area).


1. Just to be aware of who you are, where do you live now, and what is your rank & style in karate? What do you do (work/student)?

I’m a 25 year old Canadian both living and working in Vancouver, training in Wado-Ryu Karate (official Canada Wadokai CZWKA member).


2. To see how your understanding of Japan grew/changed, to start, what was you image of Japan when you were a kid?

As a child l lived in Richmond and so knew little of Japan or its people.


3. When did you start karate? What got you started?

I was introduced to Karate by a friend who was taking classes. My friend quit his training and I continued 5 years and running.


4. When was the first time you met and spoke with a Japanese person?

Prior to my trip I spent some time volunteering to teach English to newly arriving Japanese people in Vancouver.


5. When did you think you wanted to travel to Japan?

Actually, I tried not to think about anything really. I wanted to not have any preconceptions about what to expect or experience.


6. How did you find out about the Shiramizu internship?

Sensei Richard introduced me to the internship.


7. What was your idea about the internship before you arrived?

I thought that it was an excellent opportunity to really experience the heart of Japan and to learn karate from the cradle so to speak. I thought it was a great way to truly immerse myself into the culture and its way of thinking.


8. How was your first 1 week?

A little dizzy actually. They drive on the left hand side of the road and the driver is on the right side of the car. I almost got hit a few times. In London you can still read the signs, in Japan not so much, but you work it out soon enough.


9. What was your most enjoyable event/moment of your internship?

The last three months were the most enjoyable. The swing of things, the people, the language (kind of) are together and so many things are happening that you can enjoy. For me, it was the successful completion of my Shodan test while surrounded by those that had helped me for a year to achieve it.


10. What was the most difficult?

Going to Japan you expect culture shock, but I think it hit me more then I expected. The first three months were by far the hardest, but then something just changes and then it’s smooth sailing.


11. When you were leaving, what were your thoughts, was the internship worth it?

Absolutely worth it!


12. Do you have any interest to come back to Japan?

As soon as possible.


13. Any comments you would like to add for those considering the internship the future?

Take lots of pictures!