How is Karate viewed in Japanese society?

[Eastpointvet]

I have yet to visit Japan but I'm curious as to how Karate (and martial arts in general) is viewed by the majority of Japanese society.

In my opinion, most of my fellow Americans trivialize martial arts or discuss it in a patronizing manner due to ignorance and the slew of cheesy martial arts films from the 1970s - 1990s.

Although this is a generalization of Americans, I do believe that there are a handful of exceptions. Those being:

Mixed Martial Arts: I believe that MMA has garnered a universal respect in the US due to the rise of the UFC and other MMA leagues in recent years.

Boxing: Boxing is well respected amongst the average American as well in my experience. This is odd to me seeing that the average American may know someone who has participated in some form of eastern martial arts in comparison to the few trained amatuer or professional boxers out there. Otherwise, it's a no brainer seeing that America has historically produced most of the best boxers in the world.

Krav Maga: Although I don't believe it's as popular as it was about several years ago (at least on Youtube), this art seems to always be met with positive affirmation whenever I've encountered it in various MA discussions.

These are all my opinions of course, so feel free to agree or disagree. I'd like to hear about the experiences any of you may have had with Japanese culture regarding this topic.

 

[K-man]

Interesting question. When I was visiting mainland Japan with my wife some years back I was surprised to find not a lot of martial arts evident and the Japanese people we were visiting were almost surprised that I would be training karate. When I asked about that I was told that there was less MA training in Japan than was the perception.
:asian:

 

[mook jong man]

Interesting question. When I was visiting mainland Japan with my wife some years back I was surprised to find not a lot of martial arts evident and the Japanese people we were visiting were almost surprised that I would be training karate. When I asked about that I was told that there was less MA training in Japan than was the perception.
:asian:

Most people are too busy working their arses off , and when they do have free time they are mostly into drinking , pachinco , baseball , golf and soccer.

I'm having a hard time getting a Wing Chun training group together , because it's just so damn safe over here they don't really have any need for martial arts.
I've had to really press the relaxation and postural benefits of learning Wing Chun , rather than the self defence aspects , because you start talking about self defence they look at you like your a nut case.

 

[ballen0351]

I was on Okinawa for 6 months but I was too busy drinking on my free time to notice anything about training. Then I spent 6 weeks in Korea with the same results sadly

 

[Buka]

I recently spent some time with Billy Blanks who is living between Japan and L.A. His family and dojo are in Japan, a Tae-kwon-do dojo, actually. He had some fun stories. I have some friends from Japan, and since I've spoken with Billy, I've been meaning to speak with a gal who grew up as a Kendo student, but lives here now, and a police officer in Osaka who lived here for a year on a police exchange program. I think it depends on what section of Japan - on what the attitude towards karate and Martial arts is.

I gotta' go ask.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Friend of mines wife grew up in japan and took kendo in school. But when the went to visit my friend hsd a hard time finding any martial arts schools in Japan that look as serious as he had expected to see.

On a bit of a side note, I found kendo, bjj, mma and muay thai in Beijing

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

In order to train MA, you have to have:

- money,
- time.

Today, time = money. People prefer to spend their time to make money instead of to spend their time in training.

 

[OldKarateGuy]

I believe that in Japan, high school students must choose either kendo or judo as mandatory physical education classes. I also understand that, for instance, at the JKA honbu dojo in Tokyo, some popular classes - typically kata classes with Osaka Sensei, for instance - will literally have more than 100 students per class, every night of the week. But, compared to the general population, I guess that's not really very many people for training with a legend in the style. I understand the building itself is pretty unassuming, although the major All-Japan tournaments for the respective major styles seem to be very popular.

 

[Sojobo]

As I understand it, the majority of "serious adult" karate in mainland Japan, is done at collegiate level - or at least competition wise it is (and I get the impression that's all important)!

I guess the views of the general public are going to reflect that.

 

[arnisador]

My understanding is that Judo and Kendo are still the high-status arts and that Karate (apart from Okinawa) is viewed with a bit more suspicion. Heroes use Judo, henchmen use Karate. But I think that's greatly diminished over the years, esp. with things like the popularity of the UFC.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

We recently had a visiting high school student from Okinawa work out with us in our dojo for a short while. She said she learned karate (Goju-Ryu) in school as part of the normal curriculum. We are Isshin-Ryu, but recognized her good form and excellent technique. Very impressive. I presume that because it is taught in public school, it's held in relatively high regard.