Angry White Pyjamas

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Angry White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Angry White Pyjamas: An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo

At this point, I've been practicing Aikido for a few years and related to what I was reading about. I could make comparisons to my own experience. I could appreciate the insight into Japanese perspective that Twigger offers, as well as some of what he learned about himself and Aikido. I sussed out more of what I liked about my current practice (Shimbokukai), and what would not appeal to me in Yoshinkan. It made me think about my Aikido, and the blend of what I'm learning with what I want to carry forward in my own practice and philosophy. Angry White Pyjamas is a book written by Robert Twigger about his time in a one-year intensive program of studying Yoshinkan aikido. Wonderfully oddball ... Here is a cult book all right, which could do for Japan and the martial arts what Hornby did for Highbury and the football terraces (Frank Keating Guardian) Robert Twigger is a British author who has been described as, 'a 19th Century adventurer trapped in the body of a 21st Century writer'. He attended Oxford University and later spent a year training at Martial Arts with the Tokyo Riot Police. He has won the Newdigate prize for poetry, the Somerset Maugham award for literature and the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.At more than one point throughout the year-long course that would change him from pondering intellectual to "bodyguard" for two elderly Japanese women, Twigger thought of quitting. So what kept him going--his friends in Fuji heights, Chris and Fat Frank? Sara, his Japanese girlfriend? A Zen belief in overcoming the will of the self? It was more to do with sheer grit and determination-- a refusal to be beaten. Robert has published Real Men Eat Puffer Fish (2008), a humorous but comprehensive guide to frequently overlooked but not exclusively masculine pastimes, while his latest novel Dr. Ragab's Universal Language, was published to acclaim in July 2009. Robert now lives in Cairo, a move chronicled in his book Lost Oasis. He has lead several desert expeditions with 'The Explorer School'. At the end of the book we hear about what occurred to a few of the others after they completed the course, including one who became an assistant to the teachers at the Yoshinkan Dojo, as well as Twigger’s personal thoughts and his direction. Summary

Angry white pyjamas : an Oxford poet trains with the Tokyo

I was recommended to read this book when I started Yoshinkan Aikido last year. Regardless of how interested in aikido you might be, this is an amusing, at times fascinating, depiction of Japanese martial arts culture from the perspective of an outsider. Yoshinkan Aikido is a pretty small world it seems, and some of the characters in this book, although sometimes given a kind of fear/awe-filled celebrity by Twigger, are likely to cross your path if you take up the art. Robert Mustard in particular tours quite a lot and attends seminars internationally. In Angry White Pyjamas Robert Twigger skilfully blends the ancient with the modern - the ultra-traditionalism, ritual and violence of the dojo (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the twenty-first century - to provide an entertaining and captivating glimpse of contemporary Japan. Soon after beginning regular training, Twigger decides that the only way to truly experience aikido is to do the Yoshinkan Senshusei course, [1] a gruelling 11-month program to train up instructors of Yoshinkan aikido. The course consists of four hours of training, five days a week, in addition to dojo-cleaning duties, special training weekends and demonstrations. Communicates the existential purity of his elective regime with irrepressible passion ... it also has the unmistakable stamp of authentic experience ( Daily Telegraph)I want to re-read and make some notes on a few different things they practiced or teaching techniques, some quotes from the senseis and bits of wisdom. I'm curious about Kancho's book and to learn more about O'Sensei's life. I love that the author used the real names of people, so you can look up Robert Mustard or Chida Sensei and learn about them. Takeno beat up four or five students but reserved his real hard stuff for Mustard. You got the impression that Takeno was suffering from a huge excess of testosterone, as if he had to dominate all men totally, pound them into the mat, until, as Robert Mustard put it, ‘even your eyebrows hurt’.’ How Does a Man Prove Himself in the Age of Nintendo? -- Beginner's Mind -- Cannibal Talk -- Foaming at the Mouth -- Police Academy -- Zen and the Art of Being Really, Really, Angry -- Challenge -- Good Cop, Bad Cop -- The Hottest Summer Since 1963 -- Punch-Up at a Funeral -- The Bad Guys Have Hairstyles -- How to Commit the Perfect Murder -- Survival -- Natural Nazis -- The Mount Fuji Test -- Breaking the Mirror -- An Honourable Exit -- Unlikely Bodyguard In addition, Twigger describes other aspects of Tokyo and his life there, including his relationship with his girlfriend and her family, his work at a Japanese high-school as an English teacher, and stories of living with his two flatmates. He also gives thoughts and observations about Japan and Japanese culture. [3] Adrift in Tokyo, translating obscene rap lyrics for giggling Japanese high school girls, and “thirtynothing and ” Robert Twigger comes to a revelation about himself: He has never been fit nor brave. Guided by his roommates, Fat Frank and Chris, he sets out to cleanse his body and mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow, the author is drawn into the world of Japanese martial arts, joining the Tokyo Riot Police on their yearlong, brutally demanding course of budo training, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against bloodstained and “white pyjamas and ” and fractured collarbones. In Angry White Pyjamas, Twigger blends, the ancient with the modern–the ultratraditionalism, ritual, and violence of the dojo (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs, and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the 1990s–to provide a brilliant, bizarre glimpse of life in contemporary Japan. Angry White Pyjamas: A Scrawny Oxford Poet Takes Lessons from the Tokyo Riot Police by Robert Twigger – eBook Details

Angry White Pyjamas - AbeBooks - Twigger 9780753808580: Angry White Pyjamas - AbeBooks - Twigger

He has also written for newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Telegraph, Maxim and Esquire, and has published several poetry collections, including one in 2003, with Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing. Adrift in Tokyo, translating obscene rap lyrics for giggling Japanese high school girls,, "thirtynothing" Robert Twigger comes to a revelation about himself: He has never been fit nor brave. Guided by his roommates, Fat Frank and Chris, he sets out to cleanse his body and mind. Not knowing his fist from his elbow, the author is drawn into the world of Japanese martial arts, joining the Tokyo Riot Police on their yearlong, brutally demanding course of budotraining, where any ascetic motivation soon comes up against bloodstained "white pyjamas" and fractured collarbones. In Angry White Pyjamas, Twigger blends, the ancient with the modern--the ultratraditionalism, ritual, and violence of the dojo (training academy) with the shopping malls, nightclubs, and scenes of everyday Tokyo life in the 1990s--to provide a brilliant, bizarre glimpse of life in contemporary Japan. The book naturally takes its course through these 11 months as we hear about how Twigger fits into the group taking the course, as well as the wider Dojo family. We hear how his flatmates managed their training, life events that happened during the passage of training (including time spent outside the Dojo and a funeral) and of course, how Twigger progresses. I finally had a chance to sit down and re-read this. The first time I'd read it, I'd done some Aikido in college, but it had mostly faded in my memory other than I remember how clearly-out-of-shape I was at the time, and feeling like such a badass whenever I "got" a technique right.

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Overall really enjoyed it. Bought a copy to lend out to friends at the dojo so I don't have to give mine up.