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Japanese kids showcase karate-do skills
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Posted on Apr 03 2009
A group of youngsters from Japan is visiting Saipan to conduct several karate exhibitions as well as promote the sport’s kyokushin-kan style to local martial arts enthusiasts.
Accompanied by their instructor Yuji Yamasaki and some of their parents, the martial arts students aged 6 to 9 years old, performed at the Thursday Market at Paseo De Marianas in Garapan.
Prior to that, the kids visited a karate-do gym in Garapan just an hour after their arrival from Japan Wednesday night.
They watched the local students on their regular training regimen at the gym, which is operated by former Philippine national team member Danny Banez since 1990.
Japanese showed some of the basic techniques and styles that make martial arts a very popular sport back in their home country.
Yamasaki said their club, Kyokushin-kan Soto-Wangan Branch, has about 160 students, all in the southern part of Tokyo.
The kids had been invited by PDM Promotions and Kinpachi Restaurant as part of an effort to promote entertainment and beautify the Garapan area, particularly the Paseo De Marianas.
Banez said there is a plan to establish a tie-up between Yamasaki’s club and Saipan Karate-do and adopt the Kyokushin-kai style.
Banez, who holds a 7th degree black belt in karate-do, currently has a total of 20 students.
The gym is promoting every aspect of martial arts, including boxing, kickboxing, and other Olympic sports related to martial arts.
Karate-do is a popular sport among Asian countries and is a regular event in the Asian Games and South East Asian Games.
Banez represented the Philippine national team in the 1987 Southeast East Asian Games in Jakarta.
