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jk
06-05-2001, 03:19 AM
Hello, my name is John, and I'm an alcohol... DOH! Wrong forum... :)

I was finally going to thank Jun privately for maintaining this website (as well as the Aikido-L), but might as well introduce myself at the same time.

I'm out here in the budo hinterlands of Bandung, Indonesia and am currently practicing aikido under Atsushi Yamada Sensei. Been at it for almost two years now. Used to study hapkido (OK, they call it HAN-kido now) in the SF Bay Area...let me tell you, NOTHING translates well except for the high breakfalls.

Y'all take care now, and thanks again, Jun.

Regards,
John Kuo

akiy
06-05-2001, 08:47 AM
Hi John,

Thanks for the "thanks" -- I appreciate it! And, welcome to the AikiWeb Forums. It's great to hear that aikido is proliferating out there in Indonesia. Can you tell us a bit about aikido there?

-- Jun

jk
06-06-2001, 12:07 AM
Hi Jun,

Aikiweb contains quite a few listings for Indonesian aikido dojos...so the answer is yes, aikido has proliferated in Indonesia. Unfortunately, I have only visited one other aikido dojo in the town I'm at, and as such am unable to offer much in the way of commentary with regards to Indonesian aikido in general.

Frankly, I wouldn't be taking aikido up were it not for the martial rigor and skill displayed by my sensei, Atsushi Yamada. In my previous incarnation as a martial artist, I tended to think of aikido as, well, too soft (in a namby-pamby way). I was shown the error of my ways. And besides, breaking baseball bats with my shin will become more difficult as I age, and is not a good way to treat sports equipment. :)

At any rate, martial rigor is not all there is to aikido, of course. Aikido to me can be an excellent tool for the cultivation of empathy. And we certainly need more empathy in this world...

Regards,
John Kuo