Chuck Johnson « GaijinPot Blog Network: Japan’s best blogs

Chuck Johnson's Posts

Book Review: The Year of No Money in Tokyo: October 14th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Any foreigner who’s been in Japan for a while can tell you that there’s a lot of ups and downs to living life out here. As a country, Japan seems to prize itself on it’s homogeny, and as such, one sees everything from the Japanese government’s 1986 proud announcement of it’s ‘mono-ethnicity’ (despite having a » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Can you fight with Capoeira?: September 29th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Having trained in a myriad of other martial arts before starting up in Capoeira, I had often heard people say that it’s ‘useless’. As a martial art that integrates elements of music, dance, and gymnastics, I could see why those who come from a hard-hitting, strictly-for-self-defense background would think so. When you see people performing » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Choosing a martial art that’s best for you: factors to consider: August 31st, 2009By Chuck Johnson; As a martial artist for over 16 years, a lot of people have come to me asking me what martial system is best for them, and invariably, my answer has always been the same. “It depends. ” By and large, asking which martial art is the best is like asking, which car is the best: the » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

The History of Breakdancing… in Capoeira?: August 31st, 2009By Chuck Johnson; While training in Capoeira recently, I’d been trying to master a technique called ‘ Queda de Rins ‘ or in English, “Kidney-drop”. To execute the movement one must let their bodyweight ‘drop’ onto their elbow (which in turn braces against the kidneys) while balancing on the hands. In doing it as well as in practicing » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

How to win through losing: August 7th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Not too long ago, I started shootboxing training. Even though it’s a relatively unfamiliar arena with a different rule system than what I am used to, it’s interesting to see how I can adapt what I know to this particular combat situation, and I can still fight with a fair degree of confidence. The funny thing » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

The Art and the Science of Action Directing: Interview with Yuji Shimomura: July 27th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; What is an action director? There’s a lot of different titles for people who are responsible for creating a fight scene; the action director, the stunt coordinator, the fight coordinator, etc, so it’s easy to get confused. An action director is like the overseer. They are the ones who have to think about the drama » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Movements as equations: how not to get kicked in the head: June 23rd, 2009By Chuck Johnson; While training in Korea, I once heard a former member of the Canadian national Taekwondo team, describe Taekwondo ring fighting as nothing more than a system of equations: your opponent moves this way(”A), and you simply have to respond that way (”+ B”) to get the result you want (”C”). At the » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Power and Relaxation: June 5th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; The other day, I was teaching a Japanese action actor how to do the spin for a 720 degree kick and telling him that the key to doing a double spin isn’t power at all…it’s relaxation. If one can completely free one’s muscles from tension at the apex of a jump, a simple twist of the » Continue Reading; CommentsComments

Wax on, Wax off: Cleaning as a martial arts metaphor, Part 2: April 28th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; photo credit: gigile So, in my last entry I spoke on the metaphysical growth necessary to truly master a martial art, and the way that it parallels keeping one’s home clean. For this entry however, I would like to look at it from a more technical angle to draw another parallel: » Continue Reading; CommentsComments