The Way of Karate-do is a Focus on Courtesy and Hygiene

I have not written in this blog for a very long time, too long. And to my readers, I apologize. There are many reasons why I discontinued writing. The bottom line is, I was overwhelmed with other responsibilities and had to focus my energies elsewhere.

Now, with the cancellations and closures of many important events in Japan and around the world, I feel like I should write a quick message. March 12th fell on a Thursday this year and March 12th was my 42nd Birthday. We decided to celebrate on the Weekend with a cake. Birthdays are far more low-key in Kumamoto than they are in Nova Scotia. During my 20 plus Birthdays here a cake and whatever I want to eat for supper has been the extent of the Birthday celebration. But, I am grateful that I have been able to spend those 20 plus Birthdays with my wife, and then my wife and daughter, and now my wife and daughter and son. Over the years, I have learned that gratitude is the most important quality to possess. Gratitude changes our perspective. There is a famous quote by Charles R. Swindoll:

Life is 10% what happens to you 

and 90% how you react to it.

How we react to the events that occur around us creates our life experience. In Chito-Ryu Karate-do there are two lists of guidelines that every practitioner is supposed to know and abide by:

道場訓 (Dojo Kun) and 心得 (Kokoro E). In this post I will focus on the Dojo Kun. For the Chito-Ryu style, its founder, the First Generation Soke, Chitose Tsuyoshi Sensei wrote Five Dojo Kun. These are five moral disciplines or 訓育 (Kun Iku). Below is a photo of the Dojo Kun written by Chitose Sensei hung in the Honbu Dojo, Kumamoto, Japan:

I discussed these in a previous blog but I would like to list them again as they pertain to how we Karate-Ka should conduct ourselves in times like these. I believe that it is most important to show our humanity in times of crisis and panic, more so than any other time. The merits of our training can be shown in more than how fast we can punch or how hard we can kick. It can be displayed in how we uphold the responsibility of the Dojo Kun on a daily basis no matter the conditions around us.

The five Dojo Kun are as follows:

1. Always maintain respect for courtesy.

2. Always have a serious attitude.

3. Always use polite language.

4. Always maintain a high spirit.

5. Always maintain a high level of cleanliness.

During this time of world panic due to the spread of the coronavirus, it is important that we keep these five moral disciplines in mind and conduct ourselves accordingly. "Those who study Karate-do must take these five principles to heart" (Tsuyoshi, p. 90). 

Today among the closures, my Sensei presented my good friend and long-time training partner, Hirose Masakazu Sensei and I with our 錬士号　認定証 (Renshi-go Nintei Sho) Certificates and Belts (see photos below).Like my Birthday celebrations here in Kumamoto, there was not a big party attended by many from near and far. There were only a few in attendance. But now I understand that it has never been abut the grandiosity of the celebration. It has always been about the depth of appreciation. I am grateful for the 30 plus years that I have been studying and experiencing this way of life. I will continue, in my capacity to humble myself to my training to keep advancing down this path of experience. And most importantly, I will continue to wash my hands and rinse my mouth regularly.

Renshi-Go Nintei Sho and Obi were presented to 

Hirose Masakazu Sensei and the Author on march 15th, 2020. 

The Author and Hirose Masakazu Sensei 

in front of the Honbu Dojo, Kumamoto, Japan

久しぶりアップ Long time no Post

It has been over one year since I have posted to this blog. I feel bad that I have not been able to contribute more in this medium. However, it is not due to lack of being busy. I have been pursuing a PhD in applied linguistics at Kumamoto University. I am now beginning the second semester of my second year of the three year program. I am learning a lot and am confident that this experience will help me to better articulate my thoughts and clarify my thoughts regarding multiple disciplines.

Since this blog is devoted to the clarification of philosophical concepts related to the martial arts and specifically Japanese Karate-do, I feel it is fitting in this comeback post to start back somewhat slowly and first share with you my current feelings toward my relationship with Japan. Please allow me to back track.

I came to this country as part of my life's journey not much unlike how people find themselves, all of the sudden but not really all of the sudden, inside a dojo for the first time. When I first came to Japan I didn't think I would stay this long. I came to Japan for the first time in 1999 as an exchange student in my third year of university. That experience convinced me to come back to live and work here, but still I didn't think it would turn out the way it did.

My relationship with this country and its culture is deeply rooted in the study of Karate-do. That is to say, if I had never began practicing Karate-do back in the late 1980s, I would probably never have come to this country and certainly not in the capacity in which I did.

I came to Japan because I was searching for something. In my youth, I thought it was a search to understand the secrets of this mystical martial art. Later I realized that my search was actually for something far more personal; I was actually searching for the knowledge necessary to find myself.

People often ask me how I feel about Japan. The common question is: Do you like Japan? Sometimes I am even asked if I love Japan. (日本好きですか？または日本を愛していますか？) Over the years my answer to this question has changed. I was once infatuated with the idea of travelling to this country. Then I was intoxicated with the experiences I had after arriving. Then came the struggle to get by and the emotional growth that occurred as a result of feeling completely alone even among so many people. Finally, I found a strength that came from within and I was able to assume my place, once again or perhaps really for the first time, among others.

After living here for almost 20 years, I am no longer in what some may call my honeymoon phase of my relationship with this country. I am too old and weathered for that. But, like a father seeing the world anew through the eyes of his infant children, I am now able to look at Japan differently and see things in a new light. I can once again see the beauty and feel the power of this mysterious culture. I have delved more deeply into this culture, in some ways, more than anybody I know from my former Canadian life and yet, in other ways, I have not even scratched the surface of its potential.

I am looking forward to once again sharing my journey with you. I don't know how often I will be able to post, but I am still here and still learning so much and trying to conceptualize and articulate it all so that I can share it with you.

Culture-leg

In the last post I discussed some of the differences between high and low context cultures and suggested that knowing these differences can help us to communicate better with foreigners．Taking another look at one of the photos that I added in the last post we can see that North America and Japan are on opposite sides of the spectrum with America falling in the middle of the Left hand side of the Low Context Culture countries and Japan falling on the far Right hand side of the High Context Culture countries.

(Katie Stouffs Grimes on January 26, 2015)



The Trip
I travelled to New York City the day after posting the last blog entry. It had been 4 years since I had been to North America and I was really looking forward to immersing myself in the Low Context Culture and enjoying the subtle and not so subtle differences of the experience. And I did. I enjoyed every minute of my time there immersed in so many different cultures. People of many different colours speaking many different languages and so many different kinds of beautiful! I realised on the streets of New York City that I had been starved of cultural diversity in Japan where there is more conformity than difference and, although the architecture and nature is amazingly beautiful the people who fill the spaces are, for the most part, not very diverse. In my experience in Japan when you pass people on the streets you can predict with a high level of accuracy what language they will be speaking and if there is any spontaneous interaction with the passer by (Which is a VERY RARE occurrence usually initiated by a foreigner) you can guess what they will say. I hadn't realised this with such clarity before. One of the things that really stood out for me on this trip is how often complete strangers have conversations with each other in North America, while waiting in the check out line at the local bagel shop, in the elevator, on the street, for example and how rare these kinds of interactions are in Japan.

Jet-leg, Culture Shock, and Culture-leg
Two things that people often talk about when travelling to such far off places are jet leg and culture shock. The jet leg is caused by the time differences and the fatigue of long travel times. One can cope using various strategies of which there are numerous sites for on the Internet. I have never really had much of a problem with jet leg. I try to stay up as long as I can and wake up early the day after arriving. But, in all fairness I survive on a regular night's sleep of only about 4 hours on average. Culture shock can only happen if you are not prepared for the differences in the cultures. Having been born in Canada and living in Japan for almost half of my life I was prepared for the differences, but what I found was a bit of a 'Culture leg' as I transitioned between the two cultures. This is what I would like to talk about in this post.

 If I could liken the cultural exposure that I have experienced while living in Japan to food and use this comparison to illustrate how I felt during my recent trip to the States regarding the amount of culturally diverse exposure I have experienced in both countries, I would say that I felt like I have been eaten nothing but white rice for four years with the occasional side dish of something else. But, in America every meal was something different, not new, but different from what I had eaten previously and certainly different than the white rice that I had been eating for so long. Now I had the choice to eat steak, tacos, fish n chips, pizza, BBQ, veal, they were all there waiting to be consumed. I am using this illustration to describe the fact that even though I hadn't known it, I had been starved of cultural diversity while living in Japan. Walking down the streets of NYC made it clear to me that Japan, especially rural Japan; cities such as Kumamoto, are still very mono cultural. When you walk down the streets you are surrounded by Japanese people speaking Japanese. But, when you walk down the streets of New York you are surrounded by people of all different ethnicity and they are all speaking different languages. I couldn't help but smile and feel the joy of being surrounded with so much diversity after being away from it for so long.

(Photo retreived at, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/nyregion/25bway.html on June, 10th, 2017)

I have experienced culture shock, well reverse culture shock after returning to Canada after my one year university study exchange in Hakodate, Hokkaido. I noticed all of the 'in your face' differences between the two cultures but I couldn't understand how I hadn't noticed these differences before. And I had no way to justify the validity of these differences. I was just in shock by the way people interacted differently and how food that once tasted so good to me was now way too sweet. Looking back now, I can see that the differences in the way people interact is a direct result of the differences between the high and low context culture. I understand these differences and can switch back and forth to fit either one, but there is usually a leg, especially if I am tired, and switching programs takes a lot of energy. It used to drain me just switching back and forth between languages. Now I know that the reason it takes so much energy is because you are not just switching back and forth between languages, translating in your head as you go. You are actually switching back and forth between cultures and making compensations for each of the other cultural differences, i.e. the differences between the high context culture and the low context culture as you go, dealing with the differences in what Gee calls the "big D" Discourses. These differences among groups of people are more deeply rooted and harder to deal with than "little d" discourse because in "big D" Discourse we are really dealing with behavioural differences and trying to change our behaviours to conform with a set of behaviours defined by a different group.

In his work in social linguistics, Gee explored the concept of Discourse ("big D" Discourse), discourse ("little d") refers to language-in-use. When discussing the combination of language with other social practises (behaviour, values, ways of thinking, clothes, food, customs, perspectives) within a specific group, Gee refers to that as Discourse. Individuals may be part of many different Discourse communities, for example “when you ‘pull-off’ being a culturally specific sort of ‘everyday’ person, a ‘regular’ at the local bar…a teacher or a student of a certain sort, or any of a great many other ‘ways of being in the world’” (p. 7). (Gee, J. P. (1999). An introduction to discourse analysis: theory and method. London and New York: Routledge.)

Perhaps the example of switching back and forth between two completely different computer programs that run on completely different codes is appropriate here. It is impossible to boot and or re-boot two different programs simultaneously on the same computer. But, that is exactly what we are doing when we interpret between languages and cultures. When we switch back and forth between cultures we need to reboot and when we are engaged and interacting within different cultures simultaneously we are running two different programs in our minds at the same time. It is understandable that this process would be draining. This is why there are strict time limits for professional translators and interpreters working for such organisations at the United Nations or at the highest levels of politics and business.

The Demands of Interpreting
"It's an intense experience that can drain even the most accomplished interpreters. To avoid a Qaddafi-like marathon, in fact, the UN abides by a strict timetable in which interpreters work in teams of two, with one typically working no more than 20 minutes at a time before switching to his or her partner. (General Assembly speeches, moreover, are usually kept to 15 minutes or less.)" The "Qaddafi-like marathon" referred to here is as follows:
UNITED NATIONS -- When Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi delivered his notorious 96-minute speech before the UN General Assembly last autumn, no one may have been more aware of each passing minute than his personal translator, Fouad Zlitni, whom he had brought along for the occasion.
Nearly three-quarters of the way into Qaddafi's address, Zlitni collapsed, undone by the effort of translating the Libyan leader's rambling, at times angry, speech from Arabic into English for nearly 75 minutes straight.
Hossam Fahr, the Egyptian-born head of the UN's interpretation service, says Qaddafi's translator went far beyond the normal limits of what an interpreter can reasonably be expected to do.
(https://www.rferl.org/a/UN_Interpreters_Make_Sure_Nothing_Is_Lost_In_Translation/1995801.html)

This exhaustion felt when translating and or interpreting between high context and low context cultures which have very different rules of Discourse is what I like to call "Culture leg". It is not culture shock because you know what to expect, but it is possible one of the most physically draining experiences even though you are not always that physically active during the procedure.

Final Thoughts
After this trip to NYC in May I do have to say that I felt it was a little harder to re-adjust to the lifestyle in Japan. But, I think the bottom line is if you are sincere and honest with those most close to you, you will never be left standing alone when you are in need of guidance. We are all caught between one culture or another and confused on our journey to find ourselves that is why the martial arts are so important to us on an emotional level. And as martial artists we continue to push forward both physically and emotionally in the pursuit of knowledge and development of character. The road we are on is not a smooth one, but personally, I wouldn't have it any other way. So I'll leave you with this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recognizing the Cultural Differences that Hinder Cross Cultural Communication

Heading into the final Months of preparation for your trip to Japan, what should you be doing? Of course, you are focusing on stepping up your training. But, have you been able to step up your linguistic and cultural learning?


I have recommended before in multiple posts that learning important cultural aspects of Asian beliefs and specifically Japanese social structure can make all the difference in your depth of linguistic understanding. To be honest, getting around in Japan with any amount of fluency demands of us more than just knowing where the toilet is. This statement reminds me of something my Sensei, Micheal Delaney once said to us shortly after we were promoted in rank. He said, that "when you attain your shodan level you are told where the metaphorical toilet is. But, when you attain nidan you are given the key to the toilet." After living in Japan for almost half of my life, I think that I can now add to his statement in the following way. The more time you spend in the martial arts the deeper your understanding of how and when to use the keys your are given develops. In this post I would like to help you with your final Months of Linguistic and especially cultural development leading up to your August travels to Japan.


Possibly one of the most important things to understand for this endeavour is the difference between "high context culture" and "low context culture"(popularised by Edward Hall) because this will totally change the way you use the language and improve your communicative competence!


High context refers to societies or groups where people have close connections over a long period of time. Many aspects of cultural behaviour are not made explicit because most members know what to do and what to think from years of interaction with each other. Your family is probably an example of a high context environment.
Low context refers to societies where people tend to have many connections but of shorter duration or for some specific reason. In these societies, cultural behaviour and beliefs may need to be spelled out explicitly so that those coming into the cultural environment know how to behave.
(1997-2003 Jennifer E. Beer )

(Katie Stouffs Grimes on January 26, 2015)

Here are some interesting links to websites focusing on this subject. The first link is especially interesting because it offers a lot of information specifically about Japanese and North American social patterns in the context of high and low context culture commonalities. Follow the links at the bottom of the page by clicking on Japan for more information.
http://www.culture-at-work.com/highlow.html


Another interesting website that presents this concept in an easy to understand way, however with a more general application of high and low context culture is:
http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/Context_Cultures_High_and_Lo.htm


The interesting thing about this page is that it offers us the opportunity to take a quick questionnaire to assess our level of cultural context. I took it and scored 4 points higher leaning toward high context.

(Retreived from, http://my.ilstu.edu/~jrbaldw/372/Values.htm, 2017, 05, 12)

I have not travelled to North America for a number of years so I have not been in a Low Context Cultural environment for a long time. However, I will be going to New York tomorrow and while I am there I will be paying careful attention to this. I intend to write another post after I get back which goes into more specific detail regarding these differences. Please familiarise yourself with this concept and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Essential Kanji for Getting Around in Japan

I apologise for taking so long between posts. I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting for the next instalment of this Japanese language learning series.


April is a very busy Month in Japan because it is the beginning of the new academic year. I have been especially busy as this year I will begin my PhD. studies at Kumamoto University. (Below is a photo of the acceptance for enrolment into the Kumamoto University Doctoral Program) It is a three year course and my research study will be in teacher development. I am excited about this challenge and the opportunity to become more through this process. I will include you on my journey as we grow together over the next three years.



Now let's get into the blog. In this post I will introduce essential Kanji that you will encounter on your travels. This post will focus on the kanji you need to know when you are connecting to flights in the airport of travelling by train or subway. You will see these kanji everywhere and once you can recognise what they mean you will never get totally lost again!


I also recommend that you look at convenient apps that can help you along the way. One of the English/Japanese dictionary apps that I use and highly recommend is, JED Check out the link for download options: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.umibouzu.jed&hl=ja
Furthermore, the kanji that I will be introducing can be found on-line or in textbooks like the Japanese for Busy People series that I introduced in my previous post. I also recommend 250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use (Picture of the cover below) as a very good reference for kanji that you will encounter on your trip to Japan. I should point out that this text deals extensively with very relevant topics such as Trains, Stations, Banks, the Post Office, Shopping, and Real Estate.

For those of you travelling to 熊本県 Kumamoto Ken; Kumamoto Prefecture, for the the first time it may be useful to be able to recognise the kanji for Kumamoto (above) and 九州 Kyushu, where Kumamoto is located in the South of 西日本 Nishi Nihon; Western Japan (the kanji for South and West are written below). Japan is divided into East and West. Tokyo and Chiba are located in Eastern Japan, Osaka and Kyoto are located in the West. Kumamoto is considered to be part of Western Japan
When travelling it is always good to start with direction. In this case North, South, East, and West are of importance to us as well as Entrance and Exit as we will be looking for the entrances and exits in stations and they are all divided into North, South, East, and West.


You will see these Kanji in the 駅 Eki; Station(s) and in the 空港 Kuukou; Airport(s) all across Japan:
北 Kita; North
南 Minami; South
東 Higashi; East
西 Nishi; West


入口 Iriguchi; Entrance
出口 Deguchi; Exit


Now with the few kanji we have looked at how much of the following photo can you understand? It is a photo of the floor plan of Kumamoto Station. Can you see 熊本駅 Kumamoto Eki written in the top left hand corner? How about 口 Kuchi? There are 西口 Nishiguchi and 東口 Higashiguchi visible as well. If you ask for directions and were told to go to the East Exit, where do you think you should go?

These days most stations and airports have English signs. However, the further you travel outside of large city centres the fewer English signs there are. It is still a good idea to familiarise yourself with these kanji. Numbers not are usually written in kanji so you don't need to spend too much tim on them, but Year, Months, and days of the week and are still written in kanji on some tickets so it may be a good idea to be able to recognise them as well.


While in the station or airports you may need to go to the お手洗い O Tearai; toilet, literally translated as (the place) to wash one's hands, sometimes referred to as the "wash closet" (WC) so you may also see signs with the WC written on them. Most stations and airports have the generic Male and Female signs as seen below, but it may be a good idea to know the kanji for man and woman if you don't already know them.

男 Otoko; Man and 女 Onna; Woman are the kanji used to identify changing rooms and lavatories, but they may be written in combination with other kanji as follows: 男性(用) Dansei(yo) or 女性(用) Jyosei(yo) which translates to (for the use of) Men or Women; Male or Female (use).


Now that we can get around and do our business we can venture further. You may have received your tickets from the travel agent, but you may want to purchase tickets while you are here and go for an adventure on the train or shinkansen. In this case you may have to fill out some forms if you are thinking about getting a rail pass, but if you are only buying single tickets you probably won't have to fill out any forms. However, it is a good idea to know dates to make scheduling go more smoothly. Dates are written in the opposite order from North America. And Japan uses its own calender which runs for the length of time of the reign of the emperor to identify the Year. For example, It is now the 29th Year of Heisei, the Month of April and let's say that it is a Monday. The date would look like this: 平成 29年4月10日(月). Monday may be written as 月曜日Getsuyoubi, or abbreviated as (月). This holds true for every day of the week:
月曜日 Getsuyoubi; Monday
火曜日 Kayoubi; Tuesday
水曜日 Suiyoubi; Wednesday
木曜日 Mokuyoubi; Thursday
金曜日 Kinyoubi; Friday
土曜日 Doyoubi; Saturday
日曜日 Nichiyoubi; Sunday


Here is an, easy to understand, explanation of what is actually written on the reserved tickets for the 新幹線 Shinkansen; bullet train.

In order to reserve a rail pass you may have to fill out a form like the one below:



(Commuter's pass application form, 250 Essential Kanji, 1994)



There are some kanji on this form that are very useful to know as they are commonly found on most 申込書 Moushikomi sho; Official Forms and in Japan there seems to be a paper form for EVERYTHING! So let's take a look at the important kanji on the example above.

If you are studying Japanese already you have probably learned 名前 Namae; Name and, more than likely know the sentence 私の名前は＿＿＿. But on the form above you will notice that it is written a slightly differently. 名 Na is there, but it comes after another kanji as opposed to coming before 前 Mae; Before. This time it is read 氏名 Shimei; Full Name or Identity. You have to write your Last name (Family name) first, followed by your first name (Shita no namae). In my case, I would write Waterfield Marc, as you see on the photo of the acceptance for enrolment into the Kumamoto University Doctoral Program at the top of this page. The kanji for 男女 Dan Jyo; male or female are written next to the name to be circled. Under that is a space to fill in your age __才, I would write ３９才 and cross out 様 Sama to the left of 才, by making two horizontal lines through the kanji. This was not done in the example, but after living here for any length of time you would know that it is a common gesture of politeness to do such a thing. I don't want to get into the 'why' this is done in this post. At this point, all you need to know is that this simple act, of crossing out the 様 after your own name on forms like this (especially forms that you need to send by mail) or writing it after someone else's name who you are mailing something to, will send the message to anyone who involved that you understand Japanese 礼儀作法 Reigi Sahou; often translated as etiquette or manners. I would go as far as to say that Reigisahou is the 'backbone' of Japanese social structure.

Moving on, can you recognise any of the kanji in the section to the right of the name and age? You will notice that 平成 Heisei is written along with 年, 月, and 日 followed by some kana and numbers. What do you suppose this signifies?

Below the these two sections is the section to write your 住所 Jyusho; address and 電話番号 Denwa Bangou; Telephone Number. In the section below that you must give the address of either your 通勤先 Tsuukin saki; Place of Work or the 通学先 Tsuugaku saki; address of the school you are attending if you are a student.

The two example forms are slightly different from one another and these forms may be a little bit out of date as the book I am using to reference these examples was printed in 1994, but they still offer us an easy to understand example of the information commonly found on such forms.

I hope this series of posts is helpful to you as you continue your Japanese language studies and as you prepare for your visit to Japan. I know that your time spent in Japan will be an experience of a lifetime. This series is not designed to teach you everything there is to know about Japan and the Japanese language, rather it is my aim to help facilitate smoother travels and help you to develop your own tools of conversation in order to facilitate deeper levels of communication between you and the Japanese Karate-do community and Japanese Nationals in general.

If there is anything specific that you would like me to focus on, please comment on this blog or send me a private message. The Chito-Ryu World Championships "Soke Cup" is 4 Months away, 準備万端、頑張りましょう！