Categories
updates

2021 Review

Although things haven’t returned to normal yet, this year – at least for part of it – signalled an ease in the restrictions many of us have been facing since the start of the pandemic. Here in Japan we were never under the (what it looked like from our perspective) often draconian rules that many […]

Categories
updates

2020 Review

Happy new year! Judging by the recent news it seems that the world is heading for more chaos in the months ahead than it faced over the last 10+ months. Perhaps more so outside of Japan than inside it… I hope I am wrong. Here we are working (and importantly, keiko-ing) away pretty much as […]

Categories
kendo updates

What now? (updated)

I changed my mind ….. read this first… As I am sure many kenshi 24/7 readers are aware, the state of emergency regarding the current pandemic has already been lifted here in Japan. It was lifted in Tokyo on the 1st of June, and here in Osaka a few days earlier. Students are already back […]

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updates

May Blues

In Japanese the term “Gogatsu-byo” (五月病) – literally “May sickness” – refers to a sort of malaise that comes over people during May who have started a new life at the beginning of the year, which is the 1st of April here in Japan (no joke). Whether you are someone starting a new job, a […]

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updates

Here we go again

Happy new year! Phew, just when you think you are done, it all starts again! I started kenshi 24/7 in 2008 but my first online kendo presence was actually in 1994 or 95, when I published a website for the club I started in: Edinburgh Kendo Club (almost certainly the first or second kendo related […]

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updates

Decade

Another year is done. 100s of keiko sessions, thousands of kirikaeshi, countless suburi, and a couple of beers. Unlike most years, however, this one seemed to fly by. Probably because this it ushered in some rather significant changes/advances to both my personal and budo life. The main reason for starting kenshi 24/7 a decade ago […]

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updates

Busy busy busy…

Like most people, I lead at times what seems to be an overly-busy life. Part of this is because I live in a large bustling city, but most of it is because of a demanding kendo lifestyle and a super-hectic job. The last two years, especially, have been chaotic to say the least. Now, as […]

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media shiai updates

Merry Xmas!

Mini-update Back in May I announced that I was having a re-think about what to do with kenshi 24/7 and then in September I posted a notice saying that I was semi-retiring posting content… at least for the “time being.” I tried to start a more casual blog on the side, but things in life […]

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updates

Notice

kenshi 24/7 began life as a private kendo-life-in-Japan-blog way back in 2003 before being unleashed to the public in 2008. In the years since then close to 500 posts were published as well as seven publications, three of which are still available on our publication site kendo-book.com. As I write this at the very end […]

Categories
updates

Time for a break / rethink

As long-time readers have probably noticed lately, my (written) output on kenshi 24/7 has been a little bit patchy. This is not due to lack of inspiration or because I am not thinking about and doing lots of keiko, but because I have little free time nowadays to spend writing long articles. This is partly […]