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There are many that I miss
having sent my last one out a car window
sparking along the road one night, years ago.
Billy Collins, The Best Cigarette
Time takes a cigarette
Puts it in your mouth
David Bowie, Rock 'n' Roll Suicide
Out with the light.
Let the smoke lie back in the dark.
Edwin Morgan, One Cigarette
two hours later
you know where I was found
smokin' in the boys room
Brownsville Station, Smokin' in the Boys Room
My first aikido teacher Kinjo Asoh sensei, 7 dan, was a heavy smoker when he was younger. In the 1950s he smoked 80 cigarettes a day. He said that he was starting to lose the feeling in his hands when he began aikido training. He was 53 years old. He trained every day and twice on Sundays. It was called training 8 days a week in those days. He stopped smoking immediately. He lived until he was 84.
Japan is late for many things. People can still smoke in restaurants and bars. Even today in the 21st century many sports players smoke. And many martial arts teachers smoke. Sometimes a teacher comes into the dojo smelling strongly of cigarette smoke. They don't have to do a technique. They can just breathe on an attacker.
I have an essay in a charity e-book put together by some writers and photographers to raise money for victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku on 11 March 2011. It costs $9.99.[/i]
12-09-2011 09:25 AM 
