Quote:
Erick Mead wrote:
In perspective though, is this that objectionable, at least on the aikido side? Burma had a good run up to '62 (U Thant) during the initial forays of aikido expansion overseas. One may legitimately differ about the usefulness of maintaining such ties into a repressively closed society, much as we in the States debate the same about Cuba. (For the record, I think the isolation was an understandable reaction, but a short-sighted approach).
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I am having some private correspondence at present and should be circumspect. The visits to Burma were originally part of war reparations and led to a flourishing aikido organization. So it was not objectionable at all. Then everything else happened and the remarks made in the latter half of your post apply here also.
I was careful to mention the IAF, which has, as part of its constitution, a commitment to aikido organizations being democratically run. This is not the case with the Aikikai Hombu, which makes its own judgments in the matter of visiting shihans. However, the shihan in question was an IAF official, so his activities were of relevance to the IAF.
PAG