Thread: Sensei?
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Old 09-18-2012, 02:38 PM   #89
hughrbeyer
Dojo: Shobu Aikido of Boston
Location: Peterborough, NH
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 653
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Re: Sensei?

Quote:
Oisin Bourke wrote: View Post
In the Japanese language words and emotions are perfectly matched. When foreigners speak Japanese, they are much kinder and gentler than when they use their mother tongue. Their facial expressions soften and they are unable to say yes or no clearly. Japanese food also contributes to this metamorphosis — after five days living here on miso soup and rice, the color of their faces is healthier and they look better."

Now, I find these statements... uncomfortable, but the question is, if your sensei starts publicly making statements like this, what does one do?
Choose one or more of the following:

1. Know that that's what your sensei thinks, which doesn't create an obligation on you to think it.

2. Be glad you're learning aikido from him, not languages or culture or nutrition.

3. Look for the underlying truths in what he says. Does speaking Japanese influence how you think? It certainly discourages saying yes or no clearly--is that a good thing? How does it change social interactions? Etc etc.

Evolution doesn't prove God doesn't exist, any more than hammers prove carpenters don't exist.
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