I found Sekiryukan while in Fukuoka training BJJ and looking for a place to train judo. Unlike I first assumed (and I think most would since Japan is the birthplace of judo) it was not easy to find places where adults could train judo in Japan. There are surprisingly many more places for adults to train BJJ. However, judo is practiced in the school system as a sport like basketball and soccer is in the USA, but I only found two places in Fukuoka where adults could train judo.

Sekiryukan helped me get a cultural visa to stay in Japan and practice judo. It's an off the beaten path kinda place. Unlike CCSF in San Francisco where I started training judo, it's not in a fancy new place with olympic style mats, but it's an old down to earth one with a long history of training Japanese jujutsu and it is the head school for the sosuishi-ryu style.

I primarily trained judo at Sekiryukan, but they do have some other Japanese jiu-jitsu classes and are well known for their Sosuieeshi-ryu jujuitsu. Here is Amamiya-san and Shusaku sensei doing an exhibition of knife fighting.

For the judo classes often they don't have a lot of people training, but sometimes they have some special events like for example the 1000 man battle which it is famous for where many people will come to train and try to fight 1000 times in a day.

Judo and jiu-jitsu classes at Sekiryukan

The judo classes are held on M,W,F nights and the Sosuishi-ryu classes are on T,TH. The training here is fairly informal. They do not or did not have an extensive warm up like other places I trained. You can warm up on your own and then they usually do a fair amount of newaza towards the beginning of classes which is good because some judo schools don't.

When I trained at CCSF for 5 years they would do newaza in the beginner classes, but not in the advanced classes. I think newaza is crucial. While the current sport rules of judo don't allow for much newaza the older form of judo did. Getting good at it will give you an advantage competitively and in terms of self defense.

After newaza we would train stand up tachiwaza and then randori. Good people train at Sekiryukan. Some people train there all the time and others come in occasionally. I trained a lot with Amamiya-san, Tsukomoto-san and Shusaku sensei. They seem to welcome foreigners there and some other foreigners would train there too.

While in Japan I was able to participate in some special events too like the shodan shinsa judo black belt competitions, watch a Kosen judo competiton between the imperial universities in Japan and even train Kosen judo once at Kyushu university. Kosen judo is different from Kodakan judo in that it specializes in ground work (newaza) vs. the typical stand up. It was quite cool.

Sekiryukan also took me to a high school in Fukuoka to train judo too once. It was cool and those kids were pretty good. 

Contact Sekiryukan

If you are interested in training at Sekiryukan in Fukuoka you can contact SEIBUKAN dojo in New York first as they handle coordination. This dojo is located in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka city, Japan.

How to stay in Japan and train?

You would need either a job or a source of income from outside of Japan. Most foreigners can stay in Japan for 3 months on a tourist visa and for stays longer you would a different type of visa like: working holiday visa, humanities visa (teaching), cultural visa, etc.

A cultural visa in Japan does not permit you to work in Japan. You have to have your own income from outside of Japan or a significant savings. If you need a job and you are a foreigner teaching English in Japan is a popular option. Sekiryukan helped me obtain a cultural visa to stay in Japan for over a year until COVID hit.

Related:

• How to stay in Japan and train judo (3 ways to do it)
• More pictures of Sekiryukan
• Vlog: training judo at Sekiryukan dojo

For most students it's a requirement for school. So if something is a requirement then you will find some students in there that don't want to be there. That's going to be the case for school aged children-teens. 

Adults may go to class because they want to or it's required for work.

A drawing I did circa 2012.

Chances are you can make their classes better

If you do some training you can change miserable students into fun students. Hint, hint, take ESLinsider's course. Because you don't want to be the boring teacher students dislike. You can learn to make your classes more fun and educational.

In Asia kids get a lot of pressure and have a really full-time schedule. It's kinda sad. Chances are when you were a kid you went to school from about 8am to about 4pm and then you went home or maybe to soccer, or basketball practice. In East Asia a lot of kids go to another private academy after their regular school for more classes. 

That's where the jobs are. Sometimes you'll teach in a private academy and others in a public school.

Sleeping kids, bored kids, noisy kids, silent kids, trouble kids, you name it...

What are the problems?

If kids don't want to be there then they might be on their phone. They might be reading another book, likely a comic. Or they might be sleeping. They might be causing problems like talking loud to their friends, ignoring you, etc.

It can be a stressful environment with noise and chaos.

But you can change that

You can become a teacher they like to go to. Start training yourself and make your classes fun. You can become the teacher they like to go to. If your students are dreading your classes then I bet you will be too. It's all connected.

Now in the States minimum wage has risen quite a bit although so haven't other expenses I guess. Making under a $1000 a month for a fulltime job  and living in Taipei doesn't sound too comforting. I hope you find this video interesting. I think it gives a glimpse into the culture as well and the focus on wealth and money.

I lived in Taichung and Tainan, Taiwan from 2004 to 2006 teaching English. It's an interesting place with a crowded West coast and a beautiful east coast.

A degree isn't a golden ticket in my experience either. Depends what you want to do, but I think for maybe the majority of people out there you don't need it. Don't take on debt. Those loans that come easy for school will be there for you when you are done and if you don't pay them off quickly they will grow year by year.

A degree is a dime a dozen so to speak. Almost everyone has a degree nowadays and many that do are working jobs where you don't need a degree such as in Starbucks.

More info on Taiwan and degrees:

• Do you need a degree in teach abroad? Yes, usually you do but it depends.
• What are the qualifications to teach abroad in Asia?
• What is teaching in Taiwan like?

So far after a bit of reflection I've done this around 9 or 10 times not including returns to NH where I grew up or places I went to college. It all started in the states and then other countries.

Aside from my birth state of Ne Hampsha, I've lived in Brevard, NC, Flagstaff, AZ, Mt Hood, OR, Missoula, Montana, Sante Fe, NM, a couple small towns in Idaho, and San Fran, CA. The first two cities mentioned are where I went to college, but as far as the others go in only one place in Idaho did I have a job lined up before I went there. I didn't have gobs of cash either. I think normally I had around $2000 saved up.

Some of you might have done it too. And the topic of this blog usually revolves around teaching English and life in Asia. So well I lived and taught in Taichung & Tainan Taiwan, Busan and Changwon, South Korea, Shanghai, China, and Fukuoka, Japan. That was a total of 8 years.

In Taiwan and Korea I went there without any job lined up. That is more common in Taiwan and more common in Korea is to set a job up in advance, but I didn't do that. When I moved from Busan to Changwon I did have a job lined up. Actually the first one fell through. It was near Changwon in a small town but it was through a recruiter who was kinda dodgy and then he changed his mind and wanted me to go to Changwon for whatever reason. Desperate for a job and near broke at the time I did it.

In Japan I didn't teach and just worked online then, but it's always possible to find a job.

So in the majority of places that I've lived in I went there with no job lined up. So it is possible. I had some tough starts though.

Speaking of tough starts

I remember in 2004 Taichung, Taiwan was a very tough start. I had never taught English or been to Asia before. And I started off doing some subbing and eventually found a job, but it took many months maybe like 3+ or so and many monthly visa runs back and forth to Hong Kong before I landed a job that gave me the visa. I stayed in run down old motels since there were no hostels there at the time and rented this cheap room in an apartment with a dirty roomate for a few months before getting my own place. 

Me on my scooter in Tainan

After my yearly contract finished in Taichung I moved to Tainan. Tainan wasn't so bad I believe I stayed with an old college friend who was living there at first. But I was all over TW then looking for a new home and almost took a job in Hsinchu, but eventually got a job teaching in Alian, TW and a scooter to boot. Also found a room to rent in an apartment with some other foreigners and Taiwanese. Started training Kung fu too.

If I was to do Taiwan again I would go to the beautiful east coast.

Haeundae beach in Busan, SK

Busan, SK went much smoother. I remember it took about a month to find a job and then I went to Japan to change my tourist visa to a work visa. I didn't have a job lined up but stayed in a hostel till I did and found a close to full time job working 2 or 3-8pm. And I got a real nice studio, apartment with a loft.

I was there for a year and then hung around Busan in jimjibans and eventually got that job in Changwon which was a stressful start as I actually moved into a house in a nearby city and started that job too and then after a week or so my recruiter said I have to move to Changwon. Perhaps the kids didn't like me or something IDK. So I moved to Changwon. I never liked recruiters and I'd say if given the choice avoid them because they are middle men. They don't work for any specific school. Some people have better experiences but I'd say deal directly with the school.

Shanghai, China was where I went after Korea. It was kinda short lived I was there for only 6 months and only briefly had a job. IDK if the visa situation has changed but that was a hassle and complicated and if you are an American (US citizen) you had to pay for every visa like $150. So I had to do some visa runs and the job I had didn't work out cause they said they had trouble getting an official work visa so I bailed and returned back to the states. 

After China there was a move to SF, CA for 6 years and again we had no job lined up and this time we took it onto ourselves to do it with a mix of street performing and work on ESLinsider. Then around 2019 I moved to Japan just living of my website and practicing judo on a cultural visa until covid hit and that wasn't working so well. 

When there is a will there is a way

Be Will Way. That's who I want to be.

So I think if you really want to be somewhere you can probably make it happen. On ther hand if you aren't were you want to be then you're likely to have less luck which is kinda what I got now. Anyways I remember when I first went to Taichung and I met this foreigner in a coffee shop eating his meal and drinking his beverage that I couldn't afford at the time since my pockets were near empty telling me about his story coming to Taiwan. And he said he showed up with only $500. So it's possible.

I had a few schools pay me cash up front when I needed it which I think I did in most jobs in Asia at first. If you do subbing they will usually pay you the same day unless you do many days.

Should you stay or should you go?

I don't know about your situation, but at the moment I am a bit conflicted with staying here to work on my step van and going to Chile for the summer/winter to snowboard and hopefully get a job at the mountain. If I go to Chile I won't be able to work on my van for 2-3 months. There is also no guarantee that I will find a work there or a work to stay situation. And the whole point of going to Chile is to snowboard. Worst case scenario if I have to buy a season pass to the mountain then that's 6-$900. A place to stay that's maybe $5-750 a month, food $2-300 a month and a plane ticket there maybe $1100+. That's potentially $3000 in my first month.

So a lot of expenses. And if things don't go well then I'll come back here with my pockets flat and my van not ready to go for next season. Yet on the other hand my van is going to cost money to fix up at the mechanic, buy wood, solar, batteries, etc. But I've been looking for a job around here since the mountain closed and no luck. Is it because I am so burned out on NH? The universe doesn't want me here? 

I am not that excited to be here in good ol' NH living with my parents. So no excitement to be here in NH but a draw to Chile for the last 3 or 4 years.

I guess it's what I value more - the experience or the van. And that's where I am conflicted. If I want to get stuff done then it makes sense to stay here and work on it, but I'll still need a job at some point. 

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