# Greetings from Tokyo



## kuniggety (Jan 3, 2015)

Greetings and salutations. I am an avid practitioner of martial arts, have read topics on this board over the years, and finally decided to sign up. I studied Shuri-ryu karate for a couple of years as a kid, did a short stint studying o-Mei Kung fu and San shou, later another short stint in aikikai aikido, bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis in private lessons for a little while, and most recently have been practicing Brazilian jiu-jitsu for a little over a year and a half. I recently spent 6 months in Thailand where I learned the Chen 39 Laojia short form. I've been in the US Air Force for 13 years and am currently stationed at Yokota AB in Japan. I look forward to having some good discussions with you all.


----------



## Dirty Dog (Jan 3, 2015)

Welcome to MartialTalk.


----------



## Dr.Smith (Jan 3, 2015)

Wow I thought I was a Hybrid mut.  Thats quit a mix there.


----------



## tshadowchaser (Jan 3, 2015)

welcome to the forum.


----------



## kuniggety (Jan 4, 2015)

Thanks for the warm welcome! While I was exposed to Aikikai aikido, o-mei kung fu, and san shou, the exposures were all too brief to really influence my practices. They were each for only a few months at a time because of a variety of work/moving issues. I didn't really practice anything for many years but these past few years I've been training hard. I was studying bak sil lum & Northern Praying Mantis and had just started to really get a feel for the two styles when I got orders to here in Japan. I couldn't find any schools to study either close to me but it got me to finally give BJJ a try. I'd never done any grappling before and instantly fell in love with it. It'll be nice that, since it's so popular, that I will be able to continue studying it wherever I move next. I roll with a local Axis school called Uprising. I've been a visitor to a couple of schools in Hawaii and Bangkok. I'm starting to pile up my hours on the mats and I think I'll be ready for my blue belt soon.


----------



## Tames D (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome.


----------



## seasoned (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome to Matial talk we hope you enjoy your stay as much as we will enjoy dialoguing with you.


----------



## Brian R. VanCise (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome to MartialTalk!


----------



## Aiki Lee (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome to MT, and thank you for your military service.


----------



## K-man (Jan 4, 2015)

Welcome.


----------



## LibbyW (Jan 5, 2015)

Welcome, I'm new here myself...it's a pretty good place. Lots of interesting threads and things to keep you busy
L


----------



## kuniggety (Jan 5, 2015)

Thanks for all of the additional welcomes.


----------



## Buka (Jan 5, 2015)

Welcome aboard, bro. Sounds like you've been having a fun journey.


----------



## ballen0351 (Jan 6, 2015)

Welcome.  I spent some time on Okinawa in the Marine corps.  I wish I spent more time over there training and less time partying but that's what happens when they waist all that experience on a 20 year old.  Now I have to pay 1000s to go back and train.  Soak it all in and enjoy it.  I find it kinda funny your in Japan and choose BJJ to train in.  Nothing wrong with it just struck me as funny


----------



## Xue Sheng (Jan 6, 2015)

Welcome to MT



ballen0351 said:


> I find it kinda funny your in Japan and choose BJJ to train in.  Nothing wrong with it just struck me as funny



I was shocked to find both BJJ (being taught by a retired American LEO) and Muay Thai in Beijing too, also found Kendo there as well.


----------



## ballen0351 (Jan 6, 2015)

Xue Sheng said:


> Welcome to MT
> 
> 
> 
> I was shocked to find both BJJ (being taught by a retired American LEO) and Muay Thai in Beijing too, also found Kendo there as well.


I'm not shocked it's there.  I'm shocked he picked that to train when people spend 1000s to get to Japan to train in Japanese styles lol.  I'd love to move to Okinawa to train.


----------



## sfs982000 (Jan 6, 2015)

Welcome to the forums!


----------



## kuniggety (Jan 6, 2015)

I lived in Okinawa too for four years. I was there from 2005 - 2009. There's a couple of reasons why I chose BJJ:
1. I'd never done grappling of any sort before so it was something completely new.
2. I move every few years and spend quite a bit of time traveling so it's nice to practice something that I can find about anywhere. I dropped into a school in Hawaii for a month and dropped into one in Thailand for about 2 months. It was frustrating to study bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis only to move and have no one to continue my studies with.
3. I'm on the western outskirts of Tokyo. If I was on the East side, say over at Yokosuka, or in the heart of Tokyo, it wouldn't be so much of issue. Everywhere that I would be interested in studying at would be a 60-90 min commute to and from. I have two small boys. The BJJ school I go to is literally only a 2 min drive from me. That's 90 min I'm gone in an evening twice a week, so I'm back to help clean up dinner and get my kids ready for bed instead of just being gone all night. Because of my job, I spent enough time away from home that when I'm home I want to ensure I spend some time with my family. This third reason is really my number one reason.


----------



## ballen0351 (Jan 6, 2015)

kuniggety said:


> I lived in Okinawa too for four years. I was there from 2005 - 2009. There's a couple of reasons why I chose BJJ:
> 1. I'd never done grappling of any sort before so it was something completely new.
> 2. I move every few years and spend quite a bit of time traveling so it's nice to practice something that I can find about anywhere. I dropped into a school in Hawaii for a month and dropped into one in Thailand for about 2 months. It was frustrating to study bak sil lum and Northern Praying Mantis only to move and have no one to continue my studies with.
> 3. I'm on the western outskirts of Tokyo. If I was on the East side, say over at Yokosuka, or in the heart of Tokyo, it wouldn't be so much of issue. Everywhere that I would be interested in studying at would be a 60-90 min commute to and from. I have two small boys. The BJJ school I go to is literally only a 2 min drive from me. That's 90 min I'm gone in an evening twice a week, so I'm back to help clean up dinner and get my kids ready for bed instead of just being gone all night. Because of my job, I spent enough time away from home that when I'm home I want to ensure I spend some time with my family. This third reason is really my number one reason.


No I get it.  It was just funny to me. Like when my family and I go to a Mexican Restaurant and my daughter orders a cheese burger.  lol


----------



## kuniggety (Jan 6, 2015)

I do see the irony too. If everywhere wasn't so damn far from me I probably would've jumped into a Japanese jiu-jitsu or judo class. It was actually while I was in Okinawa that I had given aikido a whirl.


----------



## K50Marine (Nov 16, 2015)

I was on Okinawa for over 4 years in the Marines. The first time was just a 6 month deployment in 1993-1994 where half the time was at Camp Schwab constantly training in the field (jungle warfare) while attached to 4th Marines and the other half of the deployment was at Camp Fuji on the mainland conducting cold weather training and live fire training. We did get quite a bit of off duty liberty in Tokyo which was awesome! When I reenlisted I got assigned to Okinawa again from 1995-1999. I spent time with various units at Camp Courtney and Camp Hansen and had more free time. I trained in Shorin Ryu Karate briefly under Master Eizo Shimabukuro (Joe Lewis's instructor) and later Master Angi Uezu in Isshin Ryu Karate and earned my Green Belt and participated in numerous sparring matches. One of my life's biggest regrets is not earning my black belt over there, but I guess that is life. One thing that is hard in the Marine Corps is that you are always being deployed and it interferes with off duty martial arts training. While on Okinawa, I got deployed 3 times to South Korea (3 month deployments), twice to Thailand (3 month deployments), and once back to the USA for a school for 2 months.


----------



## kuniggety (Nov 16, 2015)

K50Marine said:


> One thing that is hard in the Marine Corps is that you are always being deployed and it interferes with off duty martial arts training. While on Okinawa, I got deployed 3 times to South Korea (3 month deployments), twice to Thailand (3 month deployments), and once back to the USA for a school for 2 months.



We've been to a lot of the same places! I know all of the camps you mentioned. I know what you mean about the travel. I spent 1/3 of my time at Yokota on the road. I was fortunate to find a lot of places to drop in and train BJJ while on the road (including making it over to Korea). Where in Thailand did you go? The only place I know our forces regularly go for exercises is U-Taphao but I know our presence used to be a lot larger there. I lived in Bangkok for 6 months and got around the country a bit (Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, Sam Roi Yot, Ayuthaya... I'm probably forgetting something).


----------



## K50Marine (Nov 16, 2015)

kuniggety said:


> We've been to a lot of the same places! I know all of the camps you mentioned. I know what you mean about the travel. I spent 1/3 of my time at Yokota on the road. I was fortunate to find a lot of places to drop in and train BJJ while on the road (including making it over to Korea). Where in Thailand did you go? The only place I know our forces regularly go for exercises is U-Taphao but I know our presence used to be a lot larger there. I lived in Bangkok for 6 months and got around the country a bit (Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, Sam Roi Yot, Ayuthaya... I'm probably forgetting something).



I participated in Exercise Cobra Gold 96 in the extreme southern part of Thailand near the border of Malaysia (Hat Yai and Songklah) and my second deployment was Exercise Cobra Gold 97 around Sattahip and Pattaya. I was  Assistant NCO-in charge of the security element working with the Royal Thai Marines military police to secure the CJTF HQ on both deployments. In mainland Japan I've been to Camp Fuji, Marine Corps Air Station-Iwakuni, Camp Zama, Yokota, and of course all over Tokyo (Roppongi!). In Korea, we always worked alongside the US Army, the ROK Army (ROKA),and the ROK Marines (ROKMC) during various exercises. I've been all over the Korean peninsula (Seoul, Pohang, Pusan, Taegu, Camp Henry, Camp Walker, Yongsan Garrison, Camp Hialeah, Camp Humphreys, and Osan AB where Chuck Norris was stationed). The ROKMC are really into their Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido and the Thais love their Muay Thai. Muay Thai is EVERYWHERE in Thailand. My years stationed in Asia were some of the best of my life.


----------

