Writings on Aikido

Letter to JR

This is the better part of a letter I wrote in the early '90s about aikido to a guy whom we'll just call JR. He had practiced in Japan for several years, but became disillusioned with it and quit, although he still had a great deal of respect for his old teacher. After I wrote it, I thought what I had written was worth saving, especially since I had put much effort into it. I never met JR, although I did practice for a short while with his teacher.

Thoughts on hard practice

An excerpt from a letter I wrote to TB, on something I feel strongly about.

Other Writings

Letter to the editor

This is a letter I wrote to the editor of the Asahi Evening News (English edition of the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese daily) in response to an editorial by well-known Japanese film director Masahiro Shinoda. Needless to say, I was rather pissed off by what he had written, although to this day I still wonder whether he really said what I had thought he said, since I read only a translation (and possibly a poor one) of his editorial. Naah, I'm sure there was no mistake... :-)