Job Discussion Forums

[teacherjohn]

Are any of you in Japan teaching English and studying Aikido? I would be grateful for any advice since that is my goal.

Thanks,
J

[TokyoLiz]

On the JET Program, (99, Ehime-ken), I trained in Aikido. I've been in the Kanto area training in budo for the last 7 years and had some exposure to koryuu budo. I know budoka who do Aikido here in Tokyo, both with the police and through the Meiji Shrine's Shiseikan.

What do you want to know?

[Glenski]

[Ryu Hayabusa]

I think his goal is to teach English in Japan and learn aikido in his spare time.

[Squire22]

I came over 4 and a half years ago as an ALT, I also study Aikido here. I studied in England before I arrived for a few years too. I would probably describe my location as semi-rural/semi-urban depending on how you look at it, and in my experience in my location the dojos generally practice in the evenings during the week, or sometime on the weekends - depends on the dojo's schedule - but most seem to hold sessions once on a weekday evening and once on the weekend. Therefore I would imagine that if you come over as an eikawa teacher - their hours usually seem to be Tuesday to Saturday and sometime between midday and 10pm - you might find it hard to find a single dojo to train at, unless you're happy with once a week or you're extremely lucky and the dojo has sessions on both Sunday and Monday. In the bigger cities like Tokyo, some of the larger dojos will have sessions basically everyday several times a day - one look at the hombu webpage will show you what it's like. An ALT gig will provide you with Monday to Friday hours leaving your weekends and evenings free in which case finding aikido sessions will be easy. So think about location - city means lots of dojos and lots of training sessions at different times during the day; rural-ish means not so many dojos and training sessions likely to be in the evenings and weekends.

Not sure what else you might want to know.

[TokyoLiz]

what Squire said- Tokyo is a all-you-can-eat budo city. Aikido and then some.

The tiny town I lived in on Shikoku had training twice a week in the evenings.

[Solar Strength]

[teacherjohn]

Hello! I'm the original poster. My goal is to teach English (preferably at a university since I have experience and an M.A.) and study Aikido as often as possible. I would be grateful for any advice. I have never been to Japan.

Feel free to email me offline.

John
[email protected]

[steki47]

My advice is stay out of eikaiwa if you can. For any number of reasons. Specifically, most dojos have classes at night and on the weekends as others have mentioned. Some dojos may have special AM classes, but that is hit or miss and depends on the teachers/students.

BTW, I did aikido for over four years in the Mie prefecture. Sat&Sun night and a special class Friday morning. Now I'm doing BJJ/MMA and the classes are all nights and weekends. I want to get out of eikaiwa (for a few reasons) and have more freedom to plan a training schedule.

[TokyoLiz]

The OP says he has experience (he doesn't say where) and an MA. If he can't get a job in a uni or college then he can probably find a high school job in the Tokyo area.

Solar Strength, five posts back I mentioned that I was in Ehime-ken and trained Aikido. I no longer train in Aikido.

Budo means martial arts. When the Nippon Budokan does its annual koryu budo demonstration festival, it takes all day to give each one 5 minutes of floor time. Many of the schools are based in Kanto.

In addition, Aikido is represented here by Aikikai, Yoshinkan, and other Aikido organizations represented here. The OP didn't say which one he would like to train in, or if it matters to him.

[teacherjohn]

I am interested in studying Iwama style if possible. Most of my teaching experience has been in the Middle East.

Thanks,
J

[TokyoLiz]

Have you checked out the forum at http://www.aikiweb.com/ ? Perhaps people there could answer your questions about Iwama Ryu dojos in Tokyo.