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Sad news from last year.
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/body-of-hiker-found-on-mountain-1.1763004#.VT9jGmIaySM
Itsubo sensei, a 5dan 24 yr old judoka and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) program that sends, among others (e.g., agricultural, economic, manufacturing specialists) judo instructors overseas to developing countries, apparently got disoriented while hiking in dense fog in treacherous terrain and fell to his death.
The All Japan Judo Federation obituary is too terse to my sensibilities. Given the reported high crime rate in South Africa, they might want to have pointed out that he was not the victim of foul play (which was my immediate assumption). And, they could have explained the contribution of Itsubo sensei, the program, etc.
http://www.judo.or.jp/english/p/31766
I've met a number of Japanese gentlemen (I've not encountered any women, but I believe there have been a couple at least) who have participated in these multi-year, overseas JICA / JOCV missions and they all speak very highly of their experiences. I have a list of them I would like to interview some day. Participation in such is a great commitment, usually 2 years IIRC, and often in primitive or less than optimal, shall we say, environments and accommodations. Probably one of the better ROI international diplomacy efforts in history: a single judo instructor and a handful of keikogi and instructional materials setting the seeds for generations to come. The Japanese effort in this stretches back to the early 1920's or so and Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, even earlier in the benighted clime of Washington, DC.
RIP, Itsubo sensei.
Lance Gatling
http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/body-of-hiker-found-on-mountain-1.1763004#.VT9jGmIaySM
Itsubo sensei, a 5dan 24 yr old judoka and Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) program that sends, among others (e.g., agricultural, economic, manufacturing specialists) judo instructors overseas to developing countries, apparently got disoriented while hiking in dense fog in treacherous terrain and fell to his death.
The All Japan Judo Federation obituary is too terse to my sensibilities. Given the reported high crime rate in South Africa, they might want to have pointed out that he was not the victim of foul play (which was my immediate assumption). And, they could have explained the contribution of Itsubo sensei, the program, etc.
http://www.judo.or.jp/english/p/31766
I've met a number of Japanese gentlemen (I've not encountered any women, but I believe there have been a couple at least) who have participated in these multi-year, overseas JICA / JOCV missions and they all speak very highly of their experiences. I have a list of them I would like to interview some day. Participation in such is a great commitment, usually 2 years IIRC, and often in primitive or less than optimal, shall we say, environments and accommodations. Probably one of the better ROI international diplomacy efforts in history: a single judo instructor and a handful of keikogi and instructional materials setting the seeds for generations to come. The Japanese effort in this stretches back to the early 1920's or so and Afghanistan, Eastern Europe, even earlier in the benighted clime of Washington, DC.
RIP, Itsubo sensei.
Lance Gatling
