Japan Trip - Official Partnership

The way south. To the west rise sharp-crested mountains, cutting bright silhouettes against the sky. Mist clings to their lower reaches and veils houses in dreamy vapor. To the east, towns slope down to the ocean glimmering under the autumn sun to an endless horizon. All the while, the Shinkanzen whistles through the landscape like a silver arrow, a transient permanence like the last line of a poem.

Over Thanksgiving, our team had the incredible opportunity to travel to Japan. For students, this trip was their first visit to the home country of Karate. Even Vazrik Tabata Sensei’s passing a few years ago. From our arrival in Narita airport, delicious food, and landscapes of a stunning elegance welcomed us to a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

We visited upon the invitation of the Japan University Karate Federation (JUKF) to participate in the JUKF AllJapan Collegiate Tournament. Set in the historical Nihon Budokan, the Tournament was an incredible opportunity not only for our competition team but for the entire group. While competing students got a chance to demonstrate their skillset in kata and kumite, the others got front-row seats to a world-class Karate competition. Witnessing the technical precision, timing, and power of the competing teams was inspiring. Many times, we sat on the edge of our seats, watching kumite matches with bated breath and absorbing kata details with eager eyes. Our whole team left the event with renewed motivation to pursue Karate.

Our visit to Japan also allowed us to bond with various Japanese university Karate clubs. While training Karate almost every single day of the trip, we connected with students from Tokyo Tech, Osaka Institute of Technology (OIT), and Nihon University, among others. Exchanging ideas and jokes in mixed English and Japanese, we explored city streets and shared food and tea. In Osaka, our new friends from OIT took us to demonstrations of traditional Japanese arts and pointed out remarkable landmarks. We shared umbrellas in a thunderstorm, compared music preferences, and ran laughing from one end of Osaka to another. This experience forged unforgettable memories and created connections that will surely last a lifetime.

Our day at Nippon Budokan was a unique opportunity, not only because of the tournament that our team competed in, but also because our group signed an official MOU with the JUKF. Sitting in Budokan’s beautiful historical boardroom, our team had the honor to hear board members of the JUKF and our Sensei, Vazrik, present their visions for this partnership. Their common dreams to spread Karate to students and create friendships across countries were inspiring.

Among other things, this partnership established recurring visits between Boston and Japan. Parties agreed that, every year, deserving students should get the chance to travel to Japan to train and learn more about the origins of Karate, while Japanese students at the high school and college level should reciprocally travel to Boston to explore opportunities and forge friendships with our group.

We are honored and proud to have solidified years of friendship into a formal partnership. With this MOU, even more opportunities for Karateka become possible!