JAPAN OCTOBER 2023

Sensei Denise Jones and myself travelled to Japan for the Shinkyokushin World Knockdown/Kata Championships on 12th October on a British Airways flight from Heathrow airport.
After a long 13.5 hour flight we arrived early morning the following day at Haneda airport, Tokyo. We had to wait 1.5 hours for our car to the Sequence Suidobashi Hotel in Tokyo only to be told we had to wait till 17.00 hours to check in. A trip to the Headquarter Hotel to pick up tickets and info and a bite to eat mean’t we had a few hours to kill, so hung around headquarter hotel meeting and reminiscing with old friends as they arrived.
The following day saw the first day of the tournament with Kata & Kumite heats – a very high standard in the kata with some exciting knockouts in the Kumite.
It was very nice to see my old sparring partner Shihan Jeff Wybrow & Shihan Nick da Costa of the British Karate Guild at the tournament – we spent some considerable time catching up!!! In the evening we met up with Senseis John Heath & Owen Bentley for food & relaxation.
The 2nd day saw the quarter finals and above proceed through the day, standard was extremely high and exciting!! Before the finals there were demostrations by the Japanese Junior members and an exciting Taito drum show – it was energetic and explosive!! The composer of the Shinkyokushin song then gave a few songs amid rapturous applause from the audience – it was like a rock concert!!!

After the tournament we returned to our hotel and gor ready for the Sayonara party – loads of people with plenty of food and alchahol – I stayed away from the Saki though!!! By now we were very tired so eventually retired to bed.
I had a Branch Chief meeting the folowing day so Sensei Denise went sightseeing with Senseis John & Owen. We met up in the evening for a slap up meal in TGI Fridays and gratefully retired to bed. The weather was good and unseasonably warm, but the downside was, we were bitten by mosquitoes as our hotel was next to a river!!! Mental note take mosi killers and bite cream next time!!
Our last day there we packed our luggage ready and had a little walk and food. We were leaving at 6.00am the following day so just had a relaxing day of it. Early the next morning we met our taxi to the airport and checked in our baggage – spending time in the BA lounge before our uneventful flight back to the UK.
It was a good trip except for the long travelling and mosquitoes – here’s hoping I will be able to make the next one in 4 years time!!
Shihan Alwyn