Part 1
The following extract is taken from Sensei Manning’s original manuscript which chronicled his 1989 trip to the home of karate.
Tokyo is one of the most populated cities in the World. Estimating its population is difficult because in the central part it varies by about 2 million between day and night, but the oft quoted figure is in the region of 12 million! It’s the centre of government and commerce in Japan and despite having lost most of its historic buildings during wartime bombing or as a result of earthquakes, it is a very interesting place to visit and explore.
Whilst most visitors, I suspect, are content with sightseeing or some other form of conventional entertainment, when I arrived in this sprawling metropolis my priority lay elsewhere; in the dojo to be precise! I had been unable to obtain the exact address of the headquarters of the Japan Karate Association prior to leaving England (note: 1989 was pre-internet of course!) so I immediately began to make enquiries. I say immediately but in actual fact I needed a good 24 hours to get my sleeping patterns back to normal and to adjust to the humidity and the culture ‘shock’.
I had made the long haul flight courtesy of Aeroflot the national airline of the USSR (note: the USSR wasn’t formally dissolved until 1991). I was told that, at the time, it was the largest airline in the World. That’s as maybe, but it certainly wasn’t the most comfortable! To say that I have travelled on more luxurious mini buses is an understatement. But at least I arrived in one piece and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg to get there! I can’t actually remember how much it did cost, but I managed to cobble together the money using a combination of my student grant (note: yes, student grants in those days, not loans!) and the services of a very ‘flexible friend’: Barclaycard!
As the plane touched down at Narita airport, which is located 66km to the east of Tokyo, I felt a little nervous about the month ahead. I had arranged to meet a school friend who was on the last leg of a tour of Australia and the Far East, but I was a little concerned that he wouldn’t remember to turn up. I could speak a little French, but unfortunately they didn’t stretch to Japanese at my school (note: they do now apparently!) and “left downwards block” or “roundhouse kick to the head” wouldn’t have got me far at tourist information! In actual fact most of the young Japanese have a good command of English and the older ones are eager to learn. As it turned out this would be a potential source of income during my stay.
I had struck up a conversation with a chap on the plane, he was a ‘seasoned gaijin’ (foreigner/alien in Japanese) who knew the ropes and who I would rely upon in the event of my friend being conspicuous by his absence. As I walked along the concourse at Narita with the seasoned “gaijin” at my side, I saw a skinny, undernourished, dishevelled youth approaching me. “Hello Rob”, he said, “you made it then?”, and referring to my travelling companion, continued, “I thought you’d brought Frank Brennan with you and there’s only space for one more in my apartment”! With that the ‘seasoned gaijin’ wished me luck and headed off; my friend and I headed to “Kano Mansions” my home for the next four weeks…
(to be continued)
SOUTH NOTTS KARATE 