Teaching in Japan and Training in Kendo

[kendo_chick]

Hello everyone.

My boyfriend and I are planning on moving to Japan next summer to teach English. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a not too big city that has some really good Kendo? We are trying to decide where to go and haven't really made any progress by way of choices.

Thanks!

[KhawMengLee]

Kitakyushu or somewhere around Kyushu.
Ask HYAKU about it, he is there.

MENG

[chidokan]

Hyaku lives in Saga, and his high school won last year's championships....( 16 to 18 year olds) I visited the class, quite good but all kids. The teacher was excellent, he won the all japan taikai a few years ago. Problem is I didnt get time to find the senior club! They did circuit training from 6 am to 9am then 6 pm to 9pm kendo. Apparently most of them stop kendo when they leave school, which is a bit of a shame...

[Ares2907]

Depends on what sort of kendo you're after and how often you wanted to train. If and when you do decide on a dojo to train at, it will probably go down very well if you can get a written reference from someone (your sensei for instance) stating a bit about you etc etc, and/or a reference from the person/s that actually recommended the dojo to you. This stuff is by no means compulsory, but it helps break the ice so to speak.
Most of my training over there has been confined to universities, so I'm not going to be much help to you there, but really it shouldn't matter where you are, there is likely to be a dojo that suits you within easy travelling distance. They're everywhere.
If you're heading toward Fukuoka, I should be able to hook you up, but there are plenty of people on the forum that could suggest places, I'm sure.

[ben]

Also depends how much Japanese you speak. If you speak little or none at all, then I'd suggest sticking to the big cities - they're generally more familiar with the needs of foreigners (railway station signs in romaji, small children don't point and scream "gaijin!", etc).

OTOH, if you've got a bit of Japanese and/or an adventurous spirit you could try somewhere other than Honshu. Kyushu and Hokkaido are both good regions for kendo, but they can be a lot more "inaka" than the Kanto/Kansai megalopolis (eg- don't go to Saga expecting any kind of nightlife ;)).

I concur with Ares-sama, a written intro goes a long way in Japan. Especially if you don't speak Japanese.

b

[ben]

oops! double-post. shitsureishimashita!

:o

b

[Ares2907]

Originally posted by ben
oops! double-post. shitsureishimashita!

:o

b

some people will do anything to boost their post count
;)
-Ares

[stevemcgee99]

I just talked to my wife-to-be about going to Japan to teach english. It's a possibility now. So, I'd like to check out some sites on that, and I'd like to know about training in Japan, too.

I'll be in Japan for three weeks in Oct./Nov., and am wondering if it would be possible to train in kendo or iaido while I'm there, or if that's really unlikely?

[chidokan]

it all depends where you end up living.. a reasonably sized town MAY have either a good iaido or senior kendo club, plenty of kids kendo clubs around in the local schools, but these may get you into other clubs. Where are you staying?

Tim Hamilton

[stevemcgee99]

If her office is closed, we'll go. If it gets strengthened, maybe next year on sebatical.

So, I wouldn't know where we'd be. I understand it's not up to us, right?

[Richie224]

Just a little advice steve there is a minium wage for foreigners in Japan and it also applies to english teachers in private schools (but not state run). This is at the moment @ JY 260,000 before tax ect ect and almost all schools pay that wage including the big ones such Nova and GEOS. There are pleanty of web sites that discuss teaching in Japan for example http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~jonb/ is a good place to start. Hoping I'm not teaching you to suck eggs here and most sites paint a pretty dark picture unfortunately but if you have money saved or don't mind penny pinching you should be fine.

[nodachi]

When I came here, I originally intended on only learning Kyudo. Then one of the kids in the jyuku that I teach at said that he did Kendo in town and I should join his club. He gave me directions, I went and told them in as best the Japanese that I could that I did not speak Japanese well, but I wanted to learn. They had me hop right in the practice, and at the end they asked if I wanted to join. I said yes, the sensei asked the students if it was okay, they said yes, and it was a done deal. Ask your students that you teach here and you are sure to find a local kendo club anywhere. Also, look for local Budokan to train at and you will find the more adult kind of setting. I do enjoy the Kendo club I am in though because there are kids and adults so it has a nice mix, remains serious, but with many comical moments to it all. Hard to describe, but relaxed atmosphere but serious atmosphere is the best way for me to put it.