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| Karate the Japanese Way The Book |
Well, it finally happened. After a few years of wrestling with this beast of a book I finally managed to get this thing published. It has been so long with all the writing, late night sessions at Mr. Donuts, the revisions, the photography work, the re-shoots, the hassles with literary agents, the decisions to go it alone, hostile lay-out people from Michigan, and countless other details that I can hardly remember how this thing started.
Oh, I remember, kind of. It started about four years ago. I was standing outside in the parking lot of Taniguchi-Sensei's yakimanju shop and he said to me on the day he told me I passed my Nidan exam, “You are having a very special experience here in Japan. You should write a book. You should tell people in Canada what karate is like here in Japan because there is no way for them to see it.”
That shocked me. I mean, I have always meant to write something. I like writing. I enjoy the act of trying to put my thoughts and experiences on the printed page. I had always hoped to be a writer. I took poetry composition classes in university because I enjoyed it, despite having seminars with some very colorful people who were trying to rhyme words with “orange”. Strange, but I digress.
I also remember being particularly unhappy with my job at that time. I was working at Kanazawa High School as an English teacher. It was a hard and lonely job. So, between negotiating the treacherous waters that my supervisor, the evil Mr. Fuchihara, was swimming in, loathing the daily harangues of our principal in the morning meetings, and enduring the harsh chilliness of my coworkers who would sooner drop dead than say, “Good morning” to me, I found a lot of pleasure in typing away at this book. At night, when I went home and had to lie on the floor when I was having odd chest pains, I could escape from that by planning out this book. It helped me face each day of Kanazawa High School. I will tell that story one day too, but first books first.
The first version of this text is nothing like the book we made. I had no idea what I was doing so I just wrote everything I could think of or recall and dumped it into my computer. It was a mess. I had no idea I was such a cluttered thinker. So I made chapters and subsections and started to tackle this monster one idea at a time. Making the web site was inspired, but not my initial inspiration. There are bigger and better web sites out there in the karate world that gave me the idea to “test market” my material. Other karate sites also helped me think about the best way to communicate my ideas clearly and appropriately. I hope I did a good job.
What happened next still blows me away. Karate The Japanese Way was an instant hit. We were hosting the site with Global Hosting and they had excellent raw logs that tracked visitor information. Before we even got the hit counter up we had tens of thousands of unique visitors to the site. Email started pouring in. People from 86 different countries were reading the initial chapters of the book. It was weird. It was unbelievable. It was marvelous. It was terrifying.
I mean, here I am, just a regular guy, living and working in Japan, going to karate lessons, and just trying to find fun in everyday things, and suddenly I have a “readership”. As the book was getting more and more polished, more and more people started asking when the book will be available in print. I could hardly believe that people would actually want to buy this thing. I mean, I like it. It was great for me to put this book together, and I sure learned a lot about writing, karate, and how to teach it. Maybe this book might be of service to you too. Maybe this book will help beginners see karate as I see it here in Japan. Maybe this book will help students see what their teachers are doing against the backdrop of how karate is done in Japan.
So here it is. At present you can order the book through the publisher directly. Click here and you will be instantly transported to Trafford's Publishing. Links with Amazon and Barnes and Noble are in the works as I type these words, and those links will be added when they are available. You can order this book on-line and your purchases will be safe. If you are uncertain about using a credit card on the computer you may also just call their toll free number at: 1-888-232-4444. They have a very pleasant staff who will answer all your questions. If you prefer to order the book through your local book dealer you may also just do so through the ISBN number which is: 1-55369-845-2. Just give them the name of the book and author as well and they can order for you. Support your local bookstore. They might close down and a bar or massage parlor could open up on the same location.
So I hope that you enjoy the book. I sure enjoyed making it, although I am relieved to finally have it out of my hands and into yours. Lastly, and this is something that I do not know of any other karate book author as doing, this book is also GUARANTEED. That's right. If you don't like it you must send it back. I don't want you to waste your money on useless karate books and if my book does not fit the bill for you, you had best send it back to me. I will write you a check for your cost if you mail it to me here in Japan. I think that the book is good, and have no problem putting my money where my mouth is. The only catch is, is that you have to send it to me within 30 days of the date of purchase and prove that you bought it with a receipt. Just contact me through my email address on the front page of this site. Is that fair enough?
If you like the book let me know. If you don't like it please let me know that too. If there are things that you think need to be fixed, changed, revised, or obliterated, send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
Lastly, if you are a karate club instructor or leader and thinking of this book as being something that you would like for your group, please contact me directly. There is no need to pay full retail for your texts and I am sure we can work something out with the publisher.
Good luck in your karate training. I am cheering for you from across the ocean.
Mark Groenewold| Site Home |