During my last study abroad to Japan about one year ago I had the pleasure of training in a small dojo near Nagao station. The name of the dojo was 鶴見南支部. My sensei here in the states had given me an address and told be that the instructor there was good, so I was very much looking forward to my first training there. I figured it would be a breeze to find the place once I got to Japan... yet a two hour long uphill bike ride later I found myself sweating beads before class had even begun.
Ueda sensei was extremely kind and allowed me and two of my classmates from Kansai Gaidai to train with his three young pupils over the course of our semester in Hirakata. Those kids trained really hard! I just know they're bound to be great karateka under Ueda sensei's teaching. After all of those knuckle push-ups he had us do every class, even my shrimpy arms got kind-of ripped. I am also thankful to Ueda sensei for putting up with my bad Japanese and teaching me many advanced kata (kankusho, bassaisho, etc.) and also some kata I really should have known already but was neglecting out of denial (like kankudai =_=).
What's more so, this dojo treated us as family. Ueda sensei even invited us to his birthday party where he introduced us to his son as well as a few famous karateka. He also encouraged us to do our best on a daily basis. I remember the kids were always goofing around and playing before and after class, but when the training was going on they became engaged. It really is amazing to see someone teach children so well.
For anyone interested in training at this dojo, please check out the "related link" to find a chart with the dojo's contact information.
Sorry to those of you who don't read kanji!!!
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