Happy New Year!

Early in the New Year, there was a major earthquake centered on the Noto Peninsula. We pray that those who were affected are safe and sound.

Last year, we were able to hold the Sōke’s 99th birthday celebration in November. We were also able to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Motobu Choki’s birth and the 45th anniversary of the formation of the Japan Karatedo Motobu Kai, which had to be canceled due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Sōke (Motobu Chōsei) is in good health, and yesterday he celebrated his 100th birthday in kazoe (East Asian age reckoning).

Last year, I migrated the Motobu-ryū blog on Ameblo, splitting it into a Japanese version (note) and a foreign language version (Medium). I thought I would be able to migrate my previous articles in about six months, but it is not easy to finish. I will do my best to complete the migration this year.

Medium is a purely foreign platform for me, so there was a lot of confusion at first, but once I got used to it, it was very easy to use. I am planning to write an article about the differences between Japanese note and Medium soon.