Japan Incentive Group

I’ve lived for a long time in Japan and one thing I have not been particulary good at, and this is likely due to my personal nature, is self-promotion. I should tell you a few things about myself, what I do and have done – not to brag or anything like that – but rather, to show you who you may be dealing with when you choose to work with us here in Japan. Ok, here it goes…

I came to Japan in 1992 and I came with two things in mind for what I wanted to do. The first is to teach – I am a certified English teacher and I love being in the classroom. I am also a karate student and coming to Japan to see “how it is REALLY done” was like a dream unfolding.

I remember the very first day I went to the karate dojo in the sleepy town of Terai-machi. A new friend, upon hearing that I was interested in karate, said, “Oh, there is a dojo next door to my parent’s house. I will take you next Tuesday.” So off we went. I was so nervous.

But when I arrived and bowed in to enter the dojo, a smiling man of about 5’4 walks straight towards me, extends his hand, and says, “Do you want to do karate with us?” I could have melted into the floor.

From that day, and for many days following, I committed to learning karate. I started from white belt and trained very regularly for years, eventually I took my black belt after the most rigorous and rough grading days of my life. And I got into a groove of learning, and then invited to join the teachers in the dojo. I had lived the dream of many thousands of karate students around the world. After I took my second degree black belt, my teacher, Taniguchi-Sensei said to me, “Now you must write the book about karate in Japan – how it is REALLY done. Other people should see that.”

So I did. I hired a photographer and we took hundreds and hundreds of photos. I wrote the book – but it was not about “Mark doing karate in Japan: Mark’s glorious bushido adventures and looking stylish”. No, I just wanted to show the world how karate is taught in a real karate dojo in the heartland of Japan.

At the time of publication, in karate circles, the book was a best seller and went wild. I was an “authority” on karate – but that is not true. I am an authority on looking through a window into a dojo in Japan. Those are different things. And I always wanted to keep that position. Karate, and Japan, and the culture and people are much much bigger than my singular opinionated experience. In my book, and in my work as your link to Japan, my job is to introduce and show and to say, “Look at THAT. Why don’t you go and see what that is like for yourself?”

Karate has long been part of my life – even when I have been on karate sabbatical for an extended time. I still stretch out, work out, try to remember the kata (forms) and not turn into too much of a human-landslide.

But karate training has taught me much, and grew me up too. I learned resilience and determination. I learned how to take defeat and punishment like a man. I learned how to get back off the floor when knocked down. And I also learned civility, kindness, generosity, and keeping a sense of humor, even when it seems everything is burning down around you.

I am indebted forever to Taniguchi-Sensei, Mori-Sensei, and Yoshioka-Sensei of that countryside dojo. Any success I have ever had started from the seed that was planted when I was a 24 year old in their dojo floor.