kendo-bum

The reason I am in Japan is for kendo. I was recently successful in being accepted into a Japanese university to study sports and coaching through the medium of Kendo. I will be here for two years at the end of which I will produce a Masters thesis. The 3 goals I hope to accomplish during my stay in Japan: Better Kendo; better Japanese; and a relevant post-grad degree I can use to take advantage of an ever-growing industry… (sport, not Kendo!)

Mine is a unique situation that would ...

As my first day at Osaka Taiiku Daigaku (A.K.A. Osaka University of Health and Sports Sciences, A.K.A. “Taidai”) draws closer, I begin to understand the frustrations expressed and experienced by my Sempai before me when living...err...surviving in Japan.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a 26 year old, 5th Dan, Kiwi, Kendo-bum. With the invaluable assistance of my older brother (also a Kendo freak, and somewhat worn out by the red-tape rigmarole of setting up shop in a Japanese Uni), ...