Job Discussion Forums

[acornrevolution]

I am currently working on getting a job in Japan, trying to go the ALT route. I was wondering how common dojos are in Japan. If I get stuck in a rural area, what are my chances of practicing martial arts there? That's actually a big concern for me. I live in Korea now, and dojos (or dojangs) are not as common as one would think. If they are there, they are filled with kids, and no adults, ever.

[parrothead]

There are loads of them, though not always easy to find. It depends on what you are interested in studying, but if you visit a town's information center they should be able to guide you somewhere. If not, ask your fellow teachers.

[acornrevolution]

And this is true for rural areas too?

I'm interested in jui-jitsu, though aikido, judo, ninjitsu, muay thai, bjj, and others would do as well.

[Tiger Beer]

[timothypfox]

I recommend a good website called www.e-budo.com
They take about a day to confirm your registration, but it has a lot of information about different japanese martial arts around the world.
You could probably start a new post there and ask if anyone knows a good ju-jitsu dojo near where you are.
Chances are someone there probably could help you.

Best of luck!

[stevenbhow]

Most of the community or sports centers will have Judo, Karate, Aikido, and Kendo. As and ALT you can probably join the Kendo or Judo clubs if your school has them. As for Brazilian Jujitsu or Muay Thai, it depends. If you are in an area that has a large Brazilian population then the odds are pretty good of finding a school. Muay Thai might a little harder, but sometimes the dojos are more mma style. Not sure about Ninjitsu.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[Miyazaki]

Some info for you.

1. As indicated above, the word "Ju Jitsu" is not known by many Japanese people. So, don't be surprised when you start asking around that they don't know what it is.

2. Ju Jitsu, Japanese Jiu Jitsu that is, is not easy to find in Japan because the main stream population doesn't know about it. They know about Judo, karate and aikido but not many know ju jitsu. Also, foreigners are not always permitted to join the ju jitsu groups that do exist in Japan - they're Japanese only. it's not a rule, but it's fairly common for them to be "Japanese only" for various reasons. You can find Brazilian Ju Jitsu clubs in Tokyo and Nagoya but there aren't too many in these cities either.

If you're staying in Tokyo, you have at a few possibilities of practicing Daito-ryu but your best bet for training in Tokyo would be the Headquarters dojo, called "Shimbukan" in Shinkoiwa. That's pretty much the home base of the style now, and that's where the head of Daito-ryu, Kondo Katsuyuki, teaches. It's located on the eastern edge of Tokyo on the Chuo/Sobu train lines west of Shinjuku. It takes a bit of time on the train, about 30 minutes from Shinjuku Station.

Here a couple of Daitoryu ju jitsu dojos in Tokyo:

1. Daito-ryu Aikijujitsu Mainline Headquarters. Director: Kondo Katsuyuki
Address: 3F, 2-10-15 Higashi Yotsugi, Katsushika-Ku, Tokyo, 124-0031, Japan.
Phone: 03-3694-4500
Fax: 03-3694-7492
Website: Daito-ryu Mainline

2. Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai
Director: Seigo Okamoto
Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Roppokai Hombu,
Sportscenter, Bunkyo-ku, Otsuka, Tokyo
(Myogadani subway station)
Website: Daito-ryu Roppokai

And Nagoya: Daitoryu Aiki Roppokai

3. Judo dojos are everywhere. Visit your local kuyakusho or ask someone at your school to help you find one. Karate is everywhere also. Aikido is probably less common than the first two but still quite available here's a like for the head dojo in Tokyo Shinjuku Aikido Dojo

4. Muya Thai can be found in Tokyo but you won't have much luck finding it outside big the cities like Tokyo, Osaka and maybe Nagoya.

[Apsara]

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Just because it's so rare. There are probably more TKD training centres in Japan than Ninjutsu.

[acornrevolution]

I guess my next question would be, are classes typically in the morning or at night? Working at a private school would open my mornings. Public school my nights, Just curious if it would be a problem.

[parrothead]

Evening during the week, morning on Saturday.

[acornrevolution]

Is it rare for dojos to have morning classes? Is it usually late in the evening (10 or so?).

[parrothead]

From my experience during the week classes are usually around 7pm. You arrive a little earlier to get dressed, stretch, warm up. Lessons are an hour or an hour an a half. Depending on the dojo, you may then have to help clean up, sweep, wipe down. The more interesting, family-run dojos, often let you hang around, drink tea, chat, learn a bit more if you want. You might leave around 9pm on those occaisions. At least in my city morning classes are only held on Saturdays and the rare Sunday. People have jobs or school, so it doesn't make sense to have morning classes during the week.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

People having jobs includes the instructors. There aren't many people who make their entire living off of teaching a martial art in Japan. Usually, the instructor has a regular day job, and running the dojo is a second job.

In my experience classes sometimes start as late as 8:30 and go to around ten, but it's often more like ten thirty before you're out (especially in smaller family run dojos where there will be a kids class before the adults class).

Basically, unless you work a 9 -5 job (or 8:30 to 5-ish) then martial arts will almost definitely be only on your days off.