Chuck Johnson « GaijinPot In Japan Blogs

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Finding Flow, Part 2: The teacher: March 11th, 2010By Chuck Johnson; While engaged in a Capoeira Roda recently, the opportunity to engage a lower rank student arose. Having trained beside him on numerous occasions, I knew what he was capable of, and what his relative strengths and weaknesses were. He was in his late teens/early twenties, and although smaller and more inexperienced than I was, physically » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

Japan Snowboarding, Martial Arts, and finding flow: Part 1 – The individual: March 3rd, 2010By Chuck Johnson; Not too long ago, while helping out as an assistant at a friend’s ski camp, I had the chance to go snowboarding for the first time this year. Although I’m certainly not the best snowboarder in the world, I came to the slope knowing what I wanted that day- the feeling of an effortless run- » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

The Best Martial Arts for Action Cinema: Part 2 – Weapon styles: February 4th, 2010By Chuck Johnson; So in the last blog entry, I wrote about which empty hand martial arts are most commonly used in action cinema and for this blog, I would like to explore which weapons martial arts are the most applicable. Much like in the case of empty hand martial arts, which weapon styles are the most useful may » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

The best martial arts for action cinema: Part 1 Empty Hand Styles: February 1st, 2010By Chuck Johnson; Not too long ago, I was approached by a student who wanted to know the best martial art to concentrate on for action. Although much like in the world of practical martial arts, there are those who would argue that one style that trumps all, most experienced martial arts action directors (much like most experienced » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

The Life Cycle of the Martial Artist: December 22nd, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Not too long ago, I experienced an almost comical interaction between one of my martial arts teachers and the grandmaster under whom he was trained. We had a rank test coming up, and despite my having spent months preparing for it, the night before, my teacher told me that it was his decision that he » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

Different paths on the same journey: December 16th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; A few months ago, I went to Korea to visit my former Taekwondo master there, and he took it upon himself to show me his latest feat of physical conditioning. Having strengthened his hands to the point that knuckle, knifehand, oxhand, and 3 finger push-ups no longer represented any kind of a challenge for him, » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

The Round Kick: The Most Universal Tool in Martial Arts: December 1st, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Not too long ago, I was reading about the evolution of the eye, and was surprised to find out that instead of having a common root, some scientists theorize that it evolved multiple times independently. I’ve often wondered if this is also the case for the Round Kick in the martial arts world. Called a ‘Mawashi-geri’ » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

Malicia: The secret weapon of the Capoeirista: November 30th, 2009By Chuck Johnson; Most traditional martial arts are never really demonstrated the way they actually are. Oftentimes the real, and more hard-hitting techniques are downplayed or omitted in favor of showy ones. Judo guys often do flying dive rolls over multiple people, taekwondo guys will do jumping double, triple or even quadruple kicks, and Karate guys will smash » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

The Merits and Challenges of Martial Arts Training Abroad: November 2nd, 2009By Chuck Johnson; While preparing for my action team’s next film project, I recently had the chance to talk to my Katana action instructor through a translator for the first time. Although I’d always been impressed with the depth of understanding he seemed to exude while teaching, what really struck me about the conversation was just how much I’d » Continue Reading; CommentsView Comments

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; CommentsView Comments