Episode 884 - Sensei Andrew Corbin
In today's episode Jeremy chats with Sensei Andrew Corbin about his start in the martial arts, linguistics, and how it brough him to Japan.Sensei Andrew Corbin - Episode 884
Sensei Andrew Corbin shares his journey in martial arts, from his early interest in karate influenced by movies and anime to his passion for history and culture. He discusses the different approaches to karate in Japan and the US, highlighting the distinction between sports karate and traditional martial arts.
Corbin delves into the linguistic aspect of karate, emphasizing the correct pronunciation and the importance of understanding the language and history behind the practice. He touches on the challenges of finding the desired type of school and the controversy surrounding the formation of new karate organizations.
Finally, he reflects on the lessons learned from organizational splintering and the complexities of international relations.
In this conversation, Corbin shares his journey in karate, from achieving his black belt to falling out of the practice and discovering Japan. He discusses studying international business in Japan and becoming the first non-Japanese black belt on his university karate team. Corbin also shares his experience surviving a grueling summer training camp and the mental health benefits of martial arts. He emphasizes the importance of mental toughness and the sensei-student relationship in martial arts. The conversation ends with a teaser about a traumatic event where martial arts saved Corbin's life.
TAKEAWAYS
Early exposure to movies and anime can spark an interest in martial arts.
Understanding the language and history behind karate enhances the practice.
There is a distinction between sports karate and traditional martial arts.
Finding the right martial arts school can be challenging, especially in Japan.
Organizational splintering can hinder progress and unity in the martial arts community.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction and Background
02:03 Early Interest in Martial Arts
04:12 Passion for History and Culture
05:33 Interest in Japan and Okinawa
08:56 Academic Background and Teaching
10:21 First Karate Sensei and Training
12:47 Growing Up in Upstate New York
15:12 Linguistic Pet Peeve: Pronunciation of Karate
20:00 Overlap Between Martial Arts and Nerd Culture
22:29 Different Approaches to Karate in Japan and the US
26:15 Difficulty in Finding the Desired Type of School
29:54 Interest in Japan and Anime
35:38 Controversy and Formation of New Karate Organizations
45:09 Lessons from Organizational Splintering
45:48 Complexities of International Relations
45:51 Karate Journey and Black Belt Achievement
47:16 Falling Out of Karate and Discovering Japan
48:40 Studying International Business in Japan
50:53 Surviving the Summer Training Camp
55:25 Mental Health Benefits of Martial Arts
56:52 The Importance of Mental Toughness
58:48 The Sensei-Student Relationship and Community
01:05:21 Martial Arts as a Life-Changing Pursuit
01:10:55 Karate Combat and Fat Man Karate
01:18:23 Spreading Positivity and Gratitude
01:23:47 Teaser: Martial Arts Saving a Life
Show Notes
Connect with Sensei Andrew Corbin:
Instagram: Corbininjapan or fatman_karate
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Show Transcript
Jeremy (00:00.586)
Hey, what's going on everybody? Welcome. This is Whistlekick Martial Arts Radio and I'm joined by Sensei Andrew Corbin We're both laughing about that. You're not even gonna know why that'll be an inside joke with us. I want to thank you for being here Thank you for joining us. What do we do at Whistlekick? We connect educate and entertain in our Efforts to get everyone in the world to train for six months for those of you in the audience if you're new to what we do, please go to Whistlekick.com see all the things that we do and while you're over there, you might jump on the link or maybe punch it in yourself to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. So we're going to find everything for this and every other episode. But Sensei Andrew, thanks for being here.
Jeremy (00:41.906)
Yeah, so the first thing and the folks that are listening are going to miss out on this, but uh, I'm gonna guess it's fair to call you a nerd based on your hat and What is behind you? Is that? A badge you wear with honor
Corbin (00:48.598)
I'm gonna guess it's fair to call you a nerd based on your hat. And what is behind you? Oh, very much so, yeah. A badge you wear with honor? Very much, yeah. I like to kind of pride myself as, um, I want to say that I like to kind of break stereotypes. I have been a, well, I've been practicing martial arts since I was nine. Nine years old.
But I've been, one would say a jock. I was doing, let's see, I was doing soccer and then on the off season for soccer, playing varsity soccer, off season I would play basketball because my high school allowed that. But at the same time, I was watching anime and I've been like, I'm super, super like.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, like Arthurian nerd and Lords of the Rings and Tolkien, all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I definitely am on all of those spectrums. Now we have plenty of people.
Jeremy (02:03.646)
Now, we've had plenty of people on the show for whom martial arts is a nerdy pursuit. Did your nerdiness predate your martial arts? You said nine, so that's pretty darn early. Were you a nerd before that?
Corbin (02:07.714)
a nerdy pursuit. You did your nerdiness, you did your martial arts, and said 9, so that's pretty darn early. Were you a nerd before that? So, interesting probably how I got into martial arts in particular. I was born in 1985, so as you know around that time period, the Karate Kid movie came out, right? So, actually, probably one of my earliest...
Memories was watching the like the I don't know if it was a commercial or what but like the wax on wax off probably like you know when we only had like three channels back in the day and No, yeah Yep, yep, yeah back
Jeremy (02:53.482)
And one of them you had to sit, stand by the TV, depending on where you lived. If you lived in Maine, in the woods of Maine, like I did, one or two of those channels, you had to hold the rabbit ears for it to come in.
Corbin (03:06.646)
back in the analog days before the TV signals turned digital. But there's two memories in particular. There's that, but there's also watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And so, I don't know if you know too much about them turtles, but one of the really interesting
Corbin (03:36.798)
which is he's a rabbit, but he's also, like he's modeled after Musashi, right? The greatest swordsman of all time.
So yeah, I was interested in Robin Hood and Arthurian legend and knights and I guess like that kind of like medieval stuff translated over to my interests in Japan and then yeah, martial arts was just kind of went hand in hand with all that.
Jeremy (04:12.335)
It's a story that we've heard a few times, this idea that childhood environments create a passion for understanding and learning something. And spoiler alert to the audience, you know, you're in Japan, it's late. Thank you, by the way, for your willingness to do that. But we've heard about that from a few folks.
Corbin (04:16.074)
I think that childhood environments create a passion for understanding and learning something and explore it with the audience. You're in Japan, it's late. Thank you, by the way. Ah, it's all good. Yeah, I think you guys are in Eastern Standard Time, right? EST? So yeah, I think because of Daylight Savings Time, I think that kicks me 14 hours ahead of you guys.
Jeremy (04:35.25)
Yeah.
Jeremy (04:44.83)
Yeah, that would, that's what I, if it's one, one 22 there.
Corbin (04:47.466)
It's 1 2 there. Yeah 1 2 a.m.
Jeremy (04:51.438)
Yeah, so it's 14 hours. Actually, the last conversation I had, I don't know if they're gonna come out in this order, but I talked to someone from Okinawa just a few hours ago for the show. So, apparently it's International Day here at Martial Arts Radio.
Corbin (05:00.627)
Yep.
There will be an international day here at martial arts radio. Hey. Well, I mean, what does Jesse Encamp likes to say, right? The Okinawa, the birthplace of karate.
Jeremy (05:12.802)
Hmm. Right. Exactly. Okay. He's not, no, he's yeah. Jesse's great. Jesse's been on the show. I think the world of him and the content he's putting out, I mean, he's, he's about as prolific as you get.
Corbin (05:16.082)
Which he's not wrong, which is actually really interesting.
Corbin (05:27.401)
Oh yeah, no, he's one of my favorite martial arts YouTubers.
Jeremy (05:33.298)
Nice. All right, so you're nine. So actually, let's go a little bit before that. You're eight and a half. And what is it that happens that, because if you're nine, you're probably not bringing yourself to karate class. A parent, somebody had to get involved. What were the conversations? What was it that led you from, I love Ninja Turtles too, I'm doing martial arts.
Corbin (05:33.846)
So you're nine, so actually let's go a little bit before that. You're eight and a half. Sure, sure. And what is it that happens that, because if you're nine, you're probably not bringing yourself to karate class. Nope, nope. Apparently somebody had to get involved. What were the conversations? What was it that led you from, I love Ninja Turtles too, I'm doing martial arts. Well, I think like it was, I think it, in particular,
I think it was the Karate Kid 2, like when they went to Okinawa, right? And so like you were able to kind of see, like it hit culturally like a lot harder than the first one, because I mean the first one is what he's a suburban kid in what I think it's a jersey, right? And right? Yeah. And then, but like, you don't really get that cultural aspect until you...
Jeremy (06:20.455)
Jersey to California.
Corbin (06:28.818)
you like they actually go to Okinawa until they go to Japan. Right. So I think like yeah, right. Right. So yeah, I think like that my father is probably one of the biggest history buffs American history buffs that I've ever met and I think like that.
Jeremy (06:34.018)
They hint at it with the T. Miyagi brings a little bit of that, and yeah, and they definitely continued it with the second one.
Corbin (06:57.346)
love of history kind of translated over, but like when you look at American history compared to world history, America is a very young country, right? So like, and like we didn't have medieval knights, we didn't have like a, well I guess in Japan they call it the Sengoku Jidai, which means like it translates to like the warring area or the warring period, right? So that's when they had like
Corbin (07:27.23)
those kind of mythical figures, right? Well, I mean, the United States didn't really have that. So for me, like that kind of like opened up, like my father's love of history kind of translated into me. And then I kind of deep dived into history and culture of Japan and things like that, yeah. But kind of circling back to your actual question. So I think, yeah, we saw.
Karate Kid 2, and I was like, okay, you know what? I wanna do martial arts, I wanna do karate, right? And my father, he, one of his friends, his day job was a corrections officer in the New York State penal system, and then he would teach karate, or I don't know. This is also a-
This is something that kind of bothers me, right? Because I have become kind of like a linguist and my day job is I'm an educator, right? I teach at university. I teach, well, language, so English, but I also teach, I do an MBA course at the university out here. So yeah, my background is in business.
Jeremy (08:40.878)
What do you teach?
Corbin (08:56.298)
And so I did like my graduate studies on international relations with a focus on finance. So like talking about the United Nations, but specifically like their economic branches. So yeah, I did my undergraduate on Business and Public Administration, or what has now become I guess like a BA.
Jeremy (09:14.934)
Yep.
Corbin (09:24.894)
Business administration, but when I was doing it in 2007 2008 was called BPM or business and public management so yeah, I did that and then what I Minored in computer science and then but when I was in 2007, I studied abroad here in Japan and Said okay, you know what? I want to come back
So after I graduated, I got a job here. Couple years I focused on learning the language and then I enrolled in graduate school and then I started, or I guess I got a job as an adjunct professor at the university that I went to. So that's how that went. But yeah, so my first sensei, actually, his name was Sensei Ratten, he Ratten, in upstate New York.
and he was actually teaching at the time his first quote unquote dojo was in his grandmother's garage so he had kind of like he had you know like a bag in the corner like a punching bag and he had laid out you know like some like foam mats and stuff like that so he had kind of retrofitted the his grandmother's garage
into you know a makeshift dojo and so I think when I was I was I was not his first student but I think like when I was studying when we were studying at that location um I want to say I think like he because I think it was like space wise he never had more than like five students at a time I want to say something like that
And then, you know, as his dojo got bigger and his business got bigger, he moved into the town and he found a space in town. And then actually he found a bigger space. And then, yeah, so he was doing really well, like, I wanna say pro- like the martial arts boom, which, you know, was what, like early mid-90s.
Jeremy (11:43.191)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (11:46.566)
Yeah, that early to mid 90s time, there was a lot of expansion.
Corbin (11:49.938)
Yep. So yeah, my first sensei was Sensei Ratan and his little brother actually went to Okinawa to learn karate, right? So, yeah, he and like I said, his day job was, you know, he worked as a corrections officer, right?
it's more or less a policeman that works inside of a prison. So like, he knew what he was doing. He wasn't, it wasn't a quote unquote McDojo, which I think I was just really, really lucky because there had to have been so many of them. Where in New York, I'm in Vermont now, so where in the city or from East or West of Vermont? Central, actually. CNY, yeah.
Jeremy (12:38.87)
Where in New York, I'm in Vermont now, so where in upstate New York are we? Easter West we're talking about.
Okay.
Corbin (12:47.33)
if you wanted to like draw a line right from like Niagara Falls to New York City, it's more or less in like that middle, that exact middle bit. So yeah, a lot of people don't really realize, but New York State is pretty huge. So like we have...
Jeremy (13:06.954)
It's a big state. As anyone who's ever, you know, once in a while, I have to drive from Vermont to, you know, out Syracuse way. It's a very long drive.
Corbin (13:14.538)
Syracuse way. Yep, yep. It's a very long drive. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I mean, like New York, it has two mountain ranges, right? There's the Catskills and the Adirondacks. And yeah, I was always, I was also very much a outdoors, I guess you would call it a latchkey kid. So my father worked as an engineer for the state of New York. So he was driving sometimes up to five hours one way to go to his job.
But it's all like, yeah, I would get home from the bus. I would like grab my, I have one specific memory of like grabbing my Isaac Asimov book and going out in the back field and finding a place like a tree to just kind of sit under and read and like a deer literally like passing in front of me and yeah. Yeah, I lived by actually.
Jeremy (14:06.038)
We probably would have been friends. That sounds similar to me. Go home from school and grab a book and go outside.
Corbin (14:09.426)
Yeah. Go home from school and grab a book and go outside. Yep. And yeah, so actually my father owned one part of what's called the nine mile swamp in upstate New York. So like my father's father was a full-time farmer but he never really had more than like 10 cows at one time. So it was like a small time farmer, right? So my father obviously, you know.
He got a job as an engineer, but he kept the farm going as more or less like a hobby. So I what and like I My father was born in 1944 So I was very much of the old school thinking of oh, you know children are free labor So we would wake up at 5 a.m to go do chores before you know before going to like eating breakfast and getting on the bus to
go to school.
Corbin (15:12.178)
But yeah. You mentioned something. Sure.
Jeremy (15:12.286)
All right. You mentioned something as you were talking about early martial arts stuff. There was something as a linguist you said that bothered you. I want to make sure we covered that. Yeah.
Corbin (15:22.128)
Oh yeah so um because right if you spell out right if you spell out right karete right it's k-a-r-a-t-e know as someone who has studied several different languages now in what way would it pronounce would it like
someone to pronounce that as karate. You know, like the karate kid, right? When you look at this, like, I mean, maybe caret, maybe caret, right? So like, but, if you heard the Japanese, right, is karate, right? It's three syllables, and the way that the Japanese language works, it's consonant, vowel, consonant, vowel,
Corbin (16:16.298)
the... it does, yes, right? And so like, and actually each one, unlike English, which uses like stressed syllables, the Japanese language is very flat. It's very like, if you hear someone like say a full sentence, it kind of, it sounds monotonous, depending on the person, right? Obviously, a person can inflect and do things, but like...
Jeremy (16:18.446)
It's gotta cadence. Ka ra te.
Jeremy (16:38.082)
Hmm.
Corbin (16:44.45)
the Japanese language itself is actually quite like orderly and so like it's actually so the Japanese language itself is based on five vowels right the Roman letters a e i o u right but it's a is ah e is a I is e o is o and u is ooh right so it's a e o e o
And it's all, and just like Spanish, it's always a iueo. It's not like English where like an A can have like several different pronunciations. It's always a iueo. So the Japanese alphabet is actually, it's so they take the first, all right, the first one is the five vowels is a iueo. And then it goes down the list of different consonant sounds that it uses. So it's the actual, here's your Japanese 101, I guess.
Corbin (17:47.344)
right is uh it's uh and then you have like inflectors where um if you have a what looks like a quotation mark on it on the character it changes ha to ba and if it has like a degree like uh 70 degrees fahrenheit right that degree
Jeremy (18:09.695)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Corbin (18:13.014)
changes to pa. So but it's yeah it's interesting but the nice thing about the Japanese language is that like Spanish right if you see right the a it's always ah so it's ah and then if you see it e so it's ah eh so it's ka da te right it's the same actually it's really funny I actually just had was talking with someone today about that
because like a loan word that we have in English from that is which is even more funny it's actually it's a it's a double loan word because it's half taken from English half taken from Japanese and then it's now it's considered a Japanese word but then when you bring it back into English it's like it's a karaoke right but do you how do you spell karaoke right?
Jeremy (19:03.891)
Oh yeah.
Jeremy (19:08.226)
K-A-R-A-O-K-E.
Corbin (19:10.41)
So based on what I said, how would you actually pronounce it? Yep, because what it does is, Kara means empty, and then Oke is actually short for orchestra. So it's empty orchestra is karaoke. But for some god awful reason, we bastardized it and now it's called karaoke.
Jeremy (19:13.006)
Mmm. Kara, okay.
Jeremy (19:35.234)
Right? And I mean, those words are all over the place. The one that always gets me, and I say it myself, and it drives me nuts when I say it, is the word, probably. Most of us leave out that extra syllable. We say, probably. But we know how to sell it. It's how to say it, how to spell it.
Corbin (19:36.778)
And I mean, those words are all over the place. Oh yeah. One that always gets me, and I say it myself, and it drives me nuts when I say it, is the word probably. Most of us leave out that syllable, that extra syllable, and say probably. Or if you're in New York, like during my college and high school days, we just say, probably.
Jeremy (20:00.106)
Right, it gets even shorter. Yeah.
Corbin (20:00.757)
P-R-O-L-L-Y? Yeah, probably. You gonna go? Eh, probably.
Yup. So yeah. So you end up with... and I'm sure you've spent more time studying this than I have spent. I've spent none, but I've spent some time thinking about it. The difference between written language and spoken language over time. Oh, God. I love... One of my other nerd paths is I love etymology. So like the origin of words. And Japanese in particular is very fun.
Jeremy (20:08.318)
Yeah, it's, it's so you end up with, and I'm sure you've spent more time studying this than I have because I've spent none, but I've spent some time thinking about it. The difference between written language and spoken language over time. And, you know,
Jeremy (20:31.648)
Mm.
Corbin (20:36.846)
because they have three writing systems. The one is like the kanji, is actually pictorial based. So like each one, the origin of the word has an inherent story on how that character was formed. Originally obviously in China, but yeah, it's really interesting.
Jeremy (21:02.242)
Hmm. Okay. So we've covered one of your pet peeves and I'll do my best not to call it karate for the rest of our conversation, but I will likely slip.
Corbin (21:04.462)
So you've covered one of your pet themes and I'll do my best not to call it karate. Nah, it's fine. It's not a big deal. But I will likely slip. Yeah, it's totally fine. Because, well, this is something too, right? Because it's so ingrained in us, right? If I hear someone call it, oh, the karate kid, it just sounds weird to my... That's not the movie. It's the karate kid.
Jeremy (21:15.038)
Alright, so, go ahead.
Corbin (21:32.55)
It's actually, it's very funny, if you want to look back on the series with friends, Ross, he takes karate, where he kind of inflects, he puts the stress on the te. So it's the part where they're inside, right? They can do the inflection on the te. Yeah, it's called karate. It's like, no, it's actually pronounced karate. It's just one form.
Jeremy (21:46.69)
So does Kramer in Seinfeld, right? They put the inflection on that second syllable.
Corbin (21:59.75)
When people want things to sound Asian, for some reason they put that stress on that middle syllable. But anyway, it's interesting.
Jeremy (22:11.238)
But we delve into all sorts of elements of nerdism here because there's a large overlap between martial arts and people who are passionate about things that maybe are a bit unconventional. Of course, in the modern landscape, that's changed a bit. Being nerdy is a bit more acceptable than it was when you and I were growing up. I've got a couple of years on you, but not much. And it's been a nice change to see that.
Corbin (22:29.202)
You and I were growing up. You and I had a couple years on with the Napa. It's been a nice change. Well, I mean, to be quite fair, I mean, like, this is why, like, I love this shirt, right? It says, right, we don't play karate, right? We practice, we study, we don't play karate. We don't play. Karate combat shirt. Yeah. Oh yeah, karate, yeah, karate combat, yeah. And, um, but yeah, I mean, like, then that's something that I...
Jeremy (22:49.558)
It's a karate combat shirt for those of you who are listening.
Corbin (22:57.958)
I think also like my sensei like really instilled in me as well is that like the martial arts like when you start learning martial arts right it's yes there is a sport aspect but um and this is where it gets interesting in Japan is because in Japan now there is like a straight like down the middle faction right there's sports karate and then there's what's called Budo karate or like
Jeremy (23:02.865)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (23:23.785)
Hmm.
Corbin (23:27.098)
self-defense or traditional or... Budō actually translates into like martial arts. So like the BUSHI-DO, the samurai code, it's the same character for BU. And DO means way, so it's the way of BUSHI-DO. So BUDO-KARA-TE is martial arts or like what we would call like self-defense
Corbin (23:55.842)
WKF or Olympic karate, right? That kind of stuff. When you aim for points, it becomes a sport, right? When you're actively defending yourself, it's martial, right? The etymology, right? Martial means you are using your hands and you're ready for combat, right? And it's an art, right? So.
You study art, you practice art, you become better at art, you hone art, right? So that's the way I like to think about it.
Jeremy (24:34.126)
Sure. Now here in the US, and not a secret to anyone, we have schools that are sport, schools that are traditional, but most of them have elements of both. You know, most martial arts schools, maybe competition isn't a focus of theirs, but they acknowledge it. And if a student's going to go, they might help them get ready. Is that the same in Japan, or is that line very dark?
Corbin (24:40.226)
We have schools that are sport, schools that are traditional, but most of them have elements of both. Most martial arts schools, maybe competition isn't the focus of theirs, but they acknowledge it. You know, if students would go, they might help people get ready. Is that the same in Japan or is that line... So that's what I mean, right? These sports karate dojos, they only focus on...
how to score a point, right? So like, and I don't know if you know like WKF rules, the rule set or anything like that, but it's very, but it's very, how can I say? To score a point, you need to check certain boxes and you need to check them enough where the referee acknowledges the point, right, red or blue, right?
Jeremy (25:18.512)
the surface.
Corbin (25:38.598)
So basically these dojos, yeah, I mean, you still get that foundation, right? Because you need to be able to know how to punch. But like if they were in, if these like black belts, right? Were in a situation where they needed to defend themselves against an attacker. Like you get a point and then you wait for the referee.
that it's not really self-defense.
Corbin (26:14.194)
So... And I think, yeah, it's a subject you could probably spend a lot of time on. Like, that's not the most fair... Meh. It's all good. But yeah, that's why actually, like, finding a dojo, a self-defense, like, one that I would, like, consider, um, like, close to the dojo that I grew up in...
Jeremy (26:15.018)
And I think, yeah, I mean, that's a subject we could probably spend a lot of time on, but my gut tells me that's not the place where we should go. So tell us, yeah.
Corbin (26:43.822)
In Japan it's actually kind of difficult outside of Okinawa. On mainland Japan, outside of Okinawa, it's almost entirely sports karate because when they brought karate from Okinawa to mainland Japan, what is it, Funakoshi Gichi, and he founded Shotokan. And Shotokan karate is the rule set that...
Jeremy (26:48.366)
Mm.
Corbin (27:12.978)
then they're kind of like the organization that is, polices the WKF and stuff like that, right? So my particular lineage or style or whatever is called Goju-Ryu, right? So Go means hard, Ju means soft, and Ryu means style, right? So it's the style of hard and soft, right? Which actually Goju-Ryu was one of the first recognized styles.
of karate, which is kind of interesting little bit. I actually have a book I'd like to recommend. It's a, here, actually one of the authors because there's three of them is Koyama Masashi and so he is one of my senpai, right? So in Japan, right?
Jeremy (27:51.234)
Yeah, please.
Jeremy (28:06.443)
Oh cool.
Corbin (28:09.486)
the Senpai Kohai, right? There's upper classmen, lower classmen. There's... Senpai literally means someone with more experience. Kohai means someone with less experience. So, yeah, so this person, right, or this karate practitioner, and he actually, he is one of the kind of leading the charge of like trying to get
karate, non sports karate being taught in Japanese schools, which is really interesting. So yeah, so he, this is actually put out by the Nippon Budokan, right, which is the governing body of all martial arts in Japan, in Tokyo. So this is like the official karate book, but yeah. So, and yeah, so he, I...
When I have trained with him, it was when I was doing my graduate school work. So he was an alumni of the karate team, because it's treated like a sport in Japan, right? So like how a university has a baseball team, the university also has a karate team.
Corbin (29:37.15)
So, yeah.
Jeremy (29:37.314)
All right. I wanna, you mentioned the difficulty in finding the type of school that you want. I wanna talk about it, because I wanna talk about the type of training that you're doing now. But there's a kind of an important piece to your journey that we haven't gone over, which is how did you end up in Japan?
Corbin (29:54.302)
Oh, fun. Yeah. So I again, kind of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That started the journey. And then I want to say when I was in fifth grade, right, my geography teacher, she was a what do you call that? When the host family, right? So her family, her family was hosting a Japanese
Jeremy (30:19.022)
For an exchange.
Corbin (30:23.122)
exchange student and so because she was a teacher she forced this poor Japanese girl to give a presentation about Japan to her you know world geography class so that was probably the first time that it kind of clicked that like it when you're when you're a kid right Chinese Korean and Japanese those three in particular they look so similar that you know
in that how can I say less culturally educated time period like it a lot of people would say like oh yeah no they're Asian or at the time I think it was the term was oh they're oriental right and so they just grouped them all together but I think that was probably the first time that it clicked that like oh wait Japan and
Jeremy (31:12.413)
Mm-hmm.
Corbin (31:21.738)
China are different and so like from there I want to say it was in high school that I discovered anime which yeah again so anime the correct pronunciation anime because it's the a sound but yeah got it see you can pronounce it much better than
Jeremy (31:41.738)
Ni Mei.
Corbin (31:48.362)
Probably about 70% of people who call themselves an otaku now. Good for you. I'm a quick student. I like to learn. To the audience, did you know you were gonna get a best in Japanese and physics today? Probably not. But here we are. Bonus. That being said though, I think for me personally, that's one of the things that I, there is a debate on whether you need to.
Jeremy (31:54.582)
Well, I'm a quick student. I like to learn. I mean, to the audience, I mean, did you know you were going to get a lesson in Japanese linguistics today? Probably not. But here we are. Bonus.
Corbin (32:14.458)
study Japanese or use Japanese in karate dojo, I'm of the mind that you don't have to, but you probably should. I was like, if you don't understand the history of what you're learning, it loses a lot of the actual meaning, to me personally. So like, one of the reasons that I think...
I'm probably, I still identify as like a Goju-ryu practitioner as opposed to like a non-denominational karate practitioner. I also, I like to draw parallels, right? So I would say martial arts has a very spiritual aspect, right? I mean, you're dealing with in like, right? I mean, it's all about, I mean...
Jeremy (32:54.094)
like that.
Jeremy (33:04.423)
It can. For a lot of us it does. I would include myself in that.
Corbin (33:11.678)
when my professor, not professor, when my sensei, Sensei Ratan was teaching it, he was saying, it's a lot of give and take, right? It's a lot of, you're accepting this energy and then you're refocusing it and putting it in a different area, right? And if you wanna think about it that way, it gets very academic because you're using Newton's laws. I think it's what, the third law of motion? Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
right? And especially like when you're when you're practicing Goju-ryu, right? The way that I was taught anyway was that, right, because you have hard and you have soft, right? So you when someone is attacking you with soft, you defend with hard. When someone is attacking with hard, you defend with soft. And it's kind of like a cyclical kind of thing.
And, but then you also kind of get, you know, the kind of, and especially I want to say like, yeah, in the 90s, in particular, like when the McDojos, you know, were ruling the American countryside and suburbs, right, you had a lot of these kind of hippie dippy, like dimmock or like, I can like, kill you with one touch or like, I can manipulate my key in such a way that you will blow.
that kind of stuff. So you get a very kind of religious aspect, right? And you can hit... and in religion you have different denominations, right? And I think karate is very similar where like you have some people who say like, oh right, no, kyokushin is the best, or no, right, shoto-kan is the way, or like even in gojiru, right, they have different styles of gojiru, really. There's like meibukan, and then there's...
I-O-G-K-F as opposed to T-O-G-K-F, which, you know, I don't know if you've been following that. Interesting controversy. That is a rabbit hole I could go into for quite a while. But yeah, it's interesting. It's probably, it's one of the most exciting developments in karate on the world stage in the last, like, probably 30 years, actually.
Jeremy (35:12.576)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (35:16.652)
I haven't... I...
Jeremy (35:24.911)
It's...
Jeremy (35:36.842)
Well, then let's, you know, if that's important to you, let's spend a few minutes there. And then we have to finish how you got to Japan. You're good at dropping the cliffhangers. You're keeping people engaged. Yeah.
Corbin (35:38.506)
Sure, sure, sure. You spend a few minutes there, and then you have to finish how you got to the end. Sure, sure, yeah. You're good at dropping the click-hangers. Well, as I told you, right, I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith and his kind of storytelling, and it's like, well, to tell you this story, I need to tell you this story. And then an hour later, he's like, okay, that doesn't really answer your question, but to answer your question, there, right, kind of thing, right? So really quick.
right so it for me right I like to say that I have three books in my in my Bible right the first one being right this book right which it is it is probably I would say it's probably the definitive book on karate its history and practice because it takes it sure
Jeremy (36:33.322)
And to the folks listening, you know, we'll get that linked in the show notes.
Corbin (36:36.882)
So like the contents that the first it's in it's separated into different chapters chapter one is Okinawa Chapter two is the Kanto region chapter three is the Kansai region Chapter four is a post-war period and then chapter five is a special roundtable discussion That was done with all three authors and like a moderator Right, so that's the first book in my Bible the other one the other two are Actually volume one and volume two of this
particular book, right, which this was actually published by the, it's called the Goju Kai, right, which the Goju Kai is the governing body of the sports karate division of Gojuryu, right, so the Japan itself is separated into different islands, right, so the main island is called Hon-chu.
Okinawa is one set of islands, right? So in Outside of Okinawa the Goju Kai kind of like they handle all of the bureaucratic BS essentially so like when you have Testing procedures or things like that, right? They like when you want to advance in a belt or things like that, right? They are the ones like they're like, okay, these are the rules and if you
want to be a Goju dojo, you need to do it. But there up until two, three, no, maybe even just last year. Yeah, I think up until last year, there were two, technically three organizations in Goju-ryu handling that kind of like bureaucratic BS, right? One is the Goju Kai, which is probably the most...
well-known and probably the biggest because they're the ones that they the those goju-kai dojos compete in like WKF and Olympic it's the sports karate right so that's right goju-kai all right and so they published this is the Japan karate go karate dough
Corbin (39:02.846)
Gojukai Association Gojuryukata Series Volume 1. And then here's volume two, right? But what I like about this in particular, and like I said, probably one of the main reasons that I still identify as a Gojuryu practitioner is that it's in Japanese, but then it's the same thing in English. And so it's a truly like bilingual book.
Jeremy (39:29.218)
Hmm.
Corbin (39:33.07)
So it actually it explains every step in both English and Japanese. So you don't have to like worry or you don't have to think like oh how is it explained in Japan? This book explains it. And so actually like when I was in university right on the karate team, these two books were the books that...
Jeremy (39:33.838)
Nice.
Corbin (39:59.614)
the katha practitioners used for competition.
So yeah, and so yeah, so Goju Kai is one of the organizations. The other one is called...
I'm trying to remember the international one is the international organization of Goju karate dole Federation so I og KF right and The the Japan Branch of that right the original one is J o G KF so Japan organization of Goju-do karate dole
Federation. So this was actually the that the JOGKF was and IOGKF was founded by a person called Higao Namorio, which is one of the most famous karate practitioners in the world, because he actually studied under the founder of Goju Ryu, which was
Tojun Miyagi, right? So he was one of he's I don't know if he is the last living student of Tojun Miyagi, but he's certainly probably one of One of like one of the last of the last right so he founded that organization way back I want to say like in the 60s or the 70s right with the with the permission of
Jeremy (41:26.838)
is one of.
Corbin (41:40.982)
Miyagi's family and everything so like he in every in almost all aspects right he was goju-ryu karate right he was he was the national ambassador he was the international ambassador he was the end all be all of like real quote unquote real like okinawan goju-ryu right and then I want to say probably
starting around like three years ago, the people, the administrative people, weren't so happy that he wasn't making them as much money as they felt he should be doing. And so they essentially, they minimized his role and they said like, okay, yeah, you're gonna be the face, but we're gonna handle this. And he wasn't happy about that. And he was like, all right, well.
Jeremy (42:24.334)
Chalker.
Corbin (42:38.122)
fuck you guys, I'll start a new organization. I started this one, I'll start a new one. And so that's what this, it's called the TOGKF, right? Which is the traditional, oh, I think the O actually stands for Okinawan, right? So it's International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate-Do Federation. Yeah, IOGKF, right? And then, so he just, he started last year, the TOGKF, which is the traditional.
Okinawan goju-ryu karate do for Federation Whoo, yeah, that's a mouthful but Basically, yeah, he's still active. He still teaches I don't know if you if you know this but I think a couple weeks ago or last month was Was karate day in Okinawa and so like he did kata presentations he had his dojo out and basically, he's like saying to like
Jeremy (43:13.55)
That's a lot of letters.
Corbin (43:35.606)
the his former federation he's like what up guys bring it kind of thing so he's like you guys you kind of fucked up you shouldn't know like you need to stay true to the roots he's like if you weren't if you're not gonna do it then I'll burn it to the ground and make a new one
Obviously he's not attacking any of them. He's just like this is what happened and If you guys want to follow my new organization and learn the actual like original way of goju-ryu karate Then you're welcome to but yeah, basically he's just like They they lied to you They said I was incompetent. They said I wasn't mentally fit to lead the organization and Yeah, I was that was a bunch of bull
is basically what he said.
Jeremy (44:32.814)
Yeah. There are times I wonder how far along would we be, not just as martial artists or within the martial arts, but also as society, if we didn't do that crap, right? I've watched organizations splinter to the point of uselessness because somebody wanted to be at the top.
Corbin (44:46.13)
Yeah, I mean... I've watched organizations splinter to the point of uselessness. Yeah, that's the problem. Because somebody wanted to be at the top. Yeah. Yep, I mean, what? What do they say? Like, ultimate power corrupts ultimately?
But yeah, so I told you that story to tell you this story. So me coming to Japan, right? So I learned A, karate is actually Japanese. It's not Chinese. And then at the same time, I kind of learned like, oh, hey, wait, Jackie Chan, he's not Japanese. He's technically from, I think, Hong Kong.
Jeremy (45:02.791)
It's an.
Jeremy (45:09.646)
Keep it going.
Corbin (45:31.674)
right? So it, I don't know, it when you when you study international relations that's a whole hotbed in and of itself but yeah Hong Kong, Taiwan and China they're not they're not they're not best buds but
Jeremy (45:40.547)
Yes.
Jeremy (45:48.01)
We could have a whole episode on, I mean, pick any two. We could have an episode on that. Yeah.
Corbin (45:51.458)
Yeah, very much so. But anyway, yeah, so I was practicing karate all the way up until I went to university because I had moved away and I couldn't find a Goju, North American Goju-Ryu karate dojo near my university. I got my black belt when I was 15, so it took me...
nine to fifteen, so it took me six years to get my black belt, which I think is actually like a pretty good time. Like I think like just saying that like you can tell like my sensei's right dojo was not just like a black belt factory. It wasn't, you know, he was actually you know trying to teach like martial arts and self-defense and that kind of stuff.
I just I don't know I couldn't find a dojo that kind of lived up to my standards And so I just kind of fell out of it for a while so 2004 While all of my friends were you know going to like Mexico or Florida or places for spring break I Did I went to Tokyo for two weeks by myself and this is this is pre smartphones
Jeremy (46:58.21)
You're not the first.
Corbin (47:17.122)
iPhone is not even considered yet. We had flip phones and MapQuest if you're lucky, but internet is not a regular thing. We still have pay phones at that time period, right? So two weeks by myself in Tokyo and I just loved it. I was like...
Jeremy (47:21.527)
Mm-hmm.
Jeremy (47:32.31)
Not on phones now.
Corbin (47:44.726)
I'm gonna be doing this, I'm gonna be coming back. And so 2007, I was able to finagle my way into a study abroad program out here in Kansai, which is like the Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Kobe, that area is called Kansai. And yeah, so I studied international business.
for a semester, went back, graduated, came back to work here in Kyoto. Basically, when I interviewed for the job, I said, I'll go wherever you want me to for locations, but I wanna live in Kyoto. And so luckily, they were able to accommodate that. So living in Kyoto, what I was doing was five days a week, I was going to...
language school for three and a half hours and then I would go to work after that and then About a year and a half of that. I burned myself out Mentally and I was like, okay, but at that year and a half made it so that I could have pretty good conversation in Japanese and from there applied for graduate school and Became the first
non-Japanese official, like non-Japanese person to take part in and complete the summer training camp of the karate team of that university.
Jeremy (49:26.942)
Oh cool.
Corbin (49:27.326)
Yeah. And I don't know how I lucked into it, but that, um, that karate team actually, they, their style of practice was goju-ryu. And I was like, Oh no, really? Like, yeah, I did goju-ryu. And so like, I had my mom like send, take a picture and send an email like with the picture of like my black belt certificate and, uh, the, the people, you know, with
Jeremy (49:30.498)
That's awesome.
Jeremy (49:42.146)
Hmm.
Corbin (49:56.65)
who could make the decision said like, oh well hey, you have a black belt in Gojiru in America, you have a black belt in Gojiru here. So I was also a black belt, right? Actually here, I can show you. This is my actual black belt for the university. So it actually, it's so it's Ritsumeikan Daigaku Karate Dogu.
Jeremy (50:20.128)
Nice.
Corbin (50:26.346)
karate... dobu means like team or club so yeah and so it has like my name as well and yeah so yeah I was the first non-Japanese black belt at the at the on that karate team I was the first non-Japanese to literally survive the summer training camp because it was
Two weeks, I lost, oh my God, I lost 20 pounds in two weeks. Yeah, like we basically, like we woke up, started training karate. It was karate all day. It was, yeah, there was studying, there was practice, there was talking like with.
Jeremy (50:55.53)
Was it brutal?
Jeremy (51:01.377)
Wow.
Corbin (51:18.59)
what they call alumni or like they call them OB, which like old boy or OG, old girl, right? So like the previous, like, like the best of the best of, you know, previous years came to train with us and give pointers and things like that. And because I was doing graduate school, I could also drink. So like whenever the alumni like were,
Jeremy (51:36.747)
Yeah.
Corbin (51:47.282)
you know, drinking after practice, they'd be like, Corbin, come on, come on, you're drinking with us. I was like, okay. So.
Jeremy (51:58.018)
Nice. Yeah, the idea of that style of training, two weeks sounds like about my maximum to go that hard, but that sounds like a great time.
Corbin (51:58.535)
Yep.
Corbin (52:08.882)
Yeah, the only thing was is like the last day, right, it was obviously the hardest, right? So I don't know what you might call it in the US, and I forget the actual Japanese name, but it essentially, if I remember, it kind of translated to like circle of death and.
So what happened was like we would, we, everyone of the current, no actually it was everyone, yeah, so it was the old, the alumni that were, that wanted to do it so it was optional for them, it wasn't optional for us, the current year's karate team. So we got in, we were in a circle and we went into a horse stance and we just started punching and counting to 10.
And when one person finished counting to 10, it went over to the next person. It went over to the next person, went over to the next person. And around the circle it went for literally an hour and a half. And I don't know who decided to finish it, but in Japan, right? Well, actually, I guess in the States too, right? If you have a football team, you have a manager, right? Or a kit man or whatever you wanna call it, right?
Jeremy (53:16.45)
Mm-hmm.
Corbin (53:32.902)
and they like bring water or whatever, right? Well, we weren't, during that time, one of the, I guess it's like a test of sorts, right? So you weren't able to drink water, you weren't able to move, you weren't able to take a bathroom break, you weren't able to do any of this, right, for this entire time. And we were just lit, cause we were in like really heavy doggies.
And it was, it's summer in Japan where humidity is like 98%. We were just like literally the, the managers had mops and they were just mopping up the sweat, right. Going around the circle. Now that being said, right after that was the best, right. That was the, Hey, you did it right. Congratulations.
Jeremy (54:16.692)
Chris.
I love it.
Jeremy (54:27.406)
Hmm.
Corbin (54:27.538)
Like, so they took us to Hot Springs and like all of the alumni basically like paid for a Super luxurious like dinner basically like saying like hey, you know what summer training is over You guys suffered you guys went through it you persevered and this is your reward So yeah, it was it was an experience that I will never forget It's an experience that I probably never want to replicate Once was enough
Jeremy (54:38.132)
Hmm.
Jeremy (54:46.027)
Mm.
Jeremy (54:55.046)
Hahaha
No doubt. Well, that's awesome. You know, you're talking a bit here about, you're calling it perseverance, but there are a lot of ways that we can look at that style of training. And, you know, I'm a fan of it for some of what we do, right? You know, I think, you know, when I started training, it was more common to suffer, right? And here we are, you know,
Corbin (54:58.218)
So yeah, yeah.
Corbin (55:07.505)
There are a lot of ways that we can look at that style of training. I'm a fan of it for some of what we do, right? I think...
Corbin (55:24.114)
Yeah.
Jeremy (55:25.87)
recording this in 2023. Suffering in a martial arts context isn't nearly as common as it used to be. But I think there's some benefit there. And some of that benefit comes from being able to look at it and use it as a yardstick to say, I was able to endure this, I can now endure that. There's a mental health aspect that's involved to be able to hang your hat on something and say, I can get through this.
Corbin (55:29.834)
I think there's some benefit there, and some of that benefit comes from being able to look at it and use it as an art stick. To say, I was able to endure this, I can now endure that. There's a mental health aspect to all. To be able to hang your hat on something and say, I can get through this.
Corbin (55:58.818)
right the what um the catchphrase at the time was what like no pain no gain right and yeah i mean like that definitely goes into that um but yeah going like talking on to your point yeah it very much has a mental health aspect i think i think um i think martial arts done
Jeremy (56:09.134)
for sure.
Corbin (56:28.87)
I mean very much so it's a I mean one of the things you hear all the time It's like mind over matter, right? so like I think Martial arts when it's done best is you are taking control of your body, right with your mind Obviously it has to be done in moderation But finding that balance is very difficult. Yeah
Jeremy (56:53.838)
Yeah. Well, I've been thinking about this a little bit myself in that, you know, I, I had a school a long time ago. I opened a school recently and bringing students up from brand new white belts again over the last few months. And it's, it's a lot of fun, but think about this. It's quite common in traditional martial arts training to get into a horse stance for an undetermined period of time.
Corbin (57:12.95)
Think about this. It's quite common in traditional martial arts training to get into a horse stance for an undetermined period of time. No one's going to say, well, how long are we going to be in horse stance? Or if they do ask that question, they're probably not going to ask it again. But there are very few places in our life where the outcome is not defined.
Jeremy (57:24.446)
No one's gonna say, well, how long are we going to be in horse dance? Or if they do ask that question, they're probably not going to ask it again. But there are very few places in our life where the outcome is not defined. Right. Usually if we're talking about a, uh, you know, a different athletic pursuit, you know, soccer, football, basketball, you know, you're going to run the length of the court, the field X number of times, it might be brutal, but you're still told how much you're going to do that. And.
Corbin (57:36.654)
Usually if we're talking about a different athletic pursuit, soccer, football, basketball, you're going to run the length of the court, the field, X number of times. It might be brutal, but you're still told how much you're going to do that. And even in the context of a lot of martial arts schools, which I don't support this part, but sometimes the end of class can be a little fuzzy. Does it end at 8 or 8.30?
Jeremy (57:54.15)
even in the context of a lot of martial arts schools, which I don't support this part, but sometimes the end of class can be a little fuzzy. Does it end at eight or 8.30? Or if it's the last class of the day, maybe it goes until nine if the instructor's really on a roll. And so we have to develop that toughness, that whatever word you wanna put on it. And I think there's a lot of translation for...
Corbin (58:06.568)
class of the day, maybe it goes until nine if the instructor is really on a roll. And so we have to develop that toughness, that whatever word you want to put on it. And I think there's a lot of translation for the way we approach the world.
Jeremy (58:24.086)
the way we approach the world, some it is mental health or call it other things. I think there's a lot of benefits.
Corbin (58:32.758)
summited mental health or all of the other things. I think there's a lot of benefit. I would 100% agree. I mean I think for karate probably, I wouldn't say it's the only martial art that has it, but it's built into it. The original quote unquote masters right from
Corbin (58:54.546)
like they didn't even really have dojos they just had like okay this is where we're gonna practice right and like their students like didn't know for how long they were going to be practicing one kata right they didn't have a specific rule set even determined at that time right so i think like karate in particular is was i think like it's a it it's one of the reasons
literally study about this type of stuff because like you don't want those kind of traditions lost because they were there for a reason now that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be changed or updated but they shouldn't be just thrown out without good reason so yeah i would agree with that yeah
Jeremy (59:48.354)
I'm with you.
Corbin (59:49.63)
But yeah, no, I mean, sure, go ahead. Oh, I was gonna touch back on that mental health thing. I think, like, as well, right, martial arts in particular, like when it was originally done, right, it was like an apprenticeship, right? Students lived with the masters, right? So like they were literally like a family, a community. And like that is, like if you look at it,
Jeremy (59:50.766)
Talk to me about... Go ahead.
Corbin (01:00:20.566)
from an academic and a research point of view, that's extremely healthy mentally. A lot of us are cut off nowadays, and if we go to a dojo, it's what? Like, I think probably the majority of people go for maybe an hour a week, something like that. I mean, obviously it's different for- It's the same as the average in the US, and it's two to three hours a week. All right, we'll see. But sure, right? So-
Jeremy (01:00:41.926)
I'd say the average in the US anyway is two to three hours per week. Most people go two days, usually hour long classes.
Corbin (01:00:49.45)
But even, let's say that as well, right? So they're getting a camaraderie, right? And probably a lot of them probably also don't hang out with each other outside of the dojo either, right? So they're getting that what, two hours a week, right? 24 hours in a day times seven. I mean, even so, right? Two, like, when you're awake, right? Probably you want to get what, like eight hours of sleep.
you're awake, you're awake what 16 I think if mind bath is right 16 yeah 16 yeah 16 plus eight is 24 so 16 hours right and then two of those hours is at the dojo and you get that camaraderie well I mean if you don't have you know any anything outside of that right you maybe you're going home to your studio apartment and you're gonna go back to work and
you're maybe you don't enjoy work and you don't have a good working like a good relationship with your co workers, right? So going to the dojo is like you're two hours a week where you kind of you get that kind of Community but it's still two hours a week
Jeremy (01:02:03.022)
Right, right, if we take that math, that 16 hours from doing my math right, it's less than 2% of your time. Your awake time. You know, that's a small amount.
Corbin (01:02:09.706)
Right?
Corbin (01:02:14.378)
So, yeah, and I also think something that was probably more common...
Corbin (01:02:25.182)
I want to say probably before the internet age, certainly, but was you had kind of more of a community. You had more of like a group of people that you hung out with or a group of people that you at the very least that you saw regularly, right? And for a lot of people, you know, the dojo might have been that one of those places and the
the sensei literally sensei translates to teacher or educator or Educated one or however you want to put it like the person who comes before Right if you look at it at a model at a etymologically Right and So they're in a position of I mean if you really want to put it that way They're kind of like the patriarch right there. It got kind of like father figure or mother figure or however you want
Jeremy (01:03:06.787)
That's my favorite. That's my favorite translation.
Corbin (01:03:23.914)
put it. But and if they're doing their job right, I mean they are literally taking care of their students. I mean look at just like when we were talking about the karate kid, right? Mr. Miyagi, he was literally like a father or at the very least like a funny uncle, you know? But he wasn't just right his sensei, he was
He was his family, he was his community, he was the person like when, um, when, you know, he was having a hard time and he was like breaking down, right, mentally or like, um, when he was having a, like a crisis of faith or whatever, like, oh, should I continue studying? Right? He talked to Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Miyagi consoled him and he gave him advice and like, I think, you know, that's-
I think martial arts has the potential to be a very positive place.
Corbin (01:04:30.358)
The anecdote that I've given people, and you know, because our mission is to connect, educate, and entertain the traditional martial arts of the world with the goal of getting everyone in the world to train for six months. And people say, you know, first off, that's ridiculous. Yeah, but I like to set my goals high. Two, why? Why is that the goal? Well, we work backwards. I believe martial arts makes us better versions of ourselves. So we can take that and extrapolate and say, martial arts makes people better.
Jeremy (01:04:30.626)
The anecdote that I've given people, because our mission is Whistlekick, connect, educate, and entertain the traditional martial arts of the world with the goal of getting everyone in the world to train for six months. And people say, first off, that's ridiculous. Well, yeah, but I like to set my goals high. Two, why? Why is that the goal? Well, if we work backwards, I believe martial arts makes us better versions of ourselves.
And so we can take that and extrapolate and say martial arts makes people better. And I've with, with my position, not just in this show, but not just with whistle kick, but as someone that people know does martial arts, people come up to me all the time, Oh, I want my kid to train. Well, why? Well, because I did like a year of karate when I was a kid or eight months of taekwondo and it really helped me a lot.
Corbin (01:05:00.246)
And I've, with my position, not just in the show, but not just with Whistlekick, but as someone that people know does martial arts, people come up to me all the time. Oh, I want my kid to train a lot. Because I did like a year of karate when I was a kid, or eight months of taekwondo, and it really helped me a lot.
I've never heard anyone say, I did eight months of basketball and it changed my life. Well, I think it also goes back to like what you were saying before is right. And I don't know, I like the term mental toughness, right? Because that doesn't mean that you're invincible. That means that you're tough, right? You're, you know, you're able to withstand. But that doesn't mean that, you know, you will never, right, break down or you will never need a break or anything like that. So yeah, I totally agree with you.
Jeremy (01:05:22.73)
I've never heard anyone say, I did eight months of basketball and it changed my life. But I hear people.
Corbin (01:05:52.73)
like you said, martial arts, when it's done well, it's, it uh, it toughens you, right? It doesn't, but it shouldn't make you hard, if that makes sense.
Jeremy (01:06:07.79)
Hmm, spoken like a Goju guy. I like that, I like that a lot. Now, before we started recording, you were telling me you've got a couple social media channels, let's share those with folks.
Corbin (01:06:10.926)
I like that, I like that a lot. Before we started recording, you were telling me you've got a couple social media channels. Share those with us. Sure, sure. So as you can see, my name is Corbin and I live in Japan. So I can be found on pretty much everything. Whatever Twitter is calling itself now. Instagram, threads, blue sky.
Facebook although I don't really use Facebook for The Corbin in Japan, but even Corbin in Japan calm They have pretty much everything is all one word no spaces Corbin in Japan and then I have a martial arts specific account That I use mostly on Instagram But it's a it's fat man karate. So it's
Instagram fat man karate was already taken so I had to do fat man underscore karate, but it's that too That comes from I mean as you might see I'm slightly overweight Always has been I don't know it doesn't matter like Even at my like skinniest. I've always been bulky shall we say so No, no, but in Japan like I'm
Jeremy (01:07:33.974)
No judgment here, my friend.
Corbin (01:07:38.002)
like, what's the term? It makes me laugh, but it's not the correct way. It's tragically obese, I guess. Because like, in Japan, right, the average person is rail thin. Right? So like, you...
don't get me wrong, there are people who are overweight in Japan. They are not, it's not that they don't exist, but it is very much the exception. And so like, and Japanese people are not shy about saying like, oh hey Corbin! Right, so like say like we haven't seen each other for like a couple months, right? And it's like, oh you gained some weight!
Jeremy (01:08:17.71)
Hmm.
Corbin (01:08:33.074)
Like they'll just instantly like, oh yeah, you know, I was, I went to some barbecues and they're like, well, you know, kind of thing.
And what kind of stuff are we gonna see?
Jeremy (01:08:47.774)
And what kind of stuff are we gonna see on that account, on the karate specific one?
Corbin (01:08:53.15)
So the karate specific one, I really like karate combat. It's probably my, what would you call it? I was gonna say MMA, and I guess it is because there are taekwondo practitioners as well. So, I mean, UFC is great, but I would say UFC is probably mostly BJJ with some.
I mean you have what like Stephen Wonderboy but yeah.
Jeremy (01:09:26.702)
It depends on the competitor, but yeah, there's, you know, there's a, it's rare that a fight doesn't go to the ground and spend some time there, in my experience.
Corbin (01:09:35.268)
I would say the ruleset is probably geared more towards Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Bellator is a bit more stand up, which I like. But it's still, I would say it's probably geared more towards Muay Thai. There's a lot of them. But I would say Karate, I mean, as a Karate practitioner.
Corbin (01:10:02.782)
like having what I would like to see like karate competition. Like when I was a kid, right? Karate competitions when I was a kid looked totally different to like the WKF and Olympic ruleset. So, right. I would say karate combat is probably, it took the...
Jeremy (01:10:18.769)
Mm.
Corbin (01:10:31.894)
karate competitions of our childhood and made it more of a formal rule set, which I like. And I also, for me personally, I just, I prefer stand up competition as opposed to watching people hug each other for, you know, five rounds. Yeah, that too.
Jeremy (01:10:40.502)
Yeah, go ahead.
Jeremy (01:10:52.646)
We tend to like watching the stuff that we do, right? We rarely talk about things that are topical or kind of time sensitive on this show. We try to keep it what we call evergreen. But right now, Shannon Hudson, who's been on the show, I've trained with, trained alongside, is preparing for his debut in Karate Combat.
Corbin (01:11:01.078)
and time sensitive on the show. We try to keep it what we call ever-credible. Sure, sure, sure. I like that too, yeah. Shannon Hudson, who's been on the show. I've trained with, trained alongside.
is preparing for his debut in karate combat. Nice, nice. Both he and his brother are phenomenal kickboxers. Yeah. And also hoping to see him in the nine round. Cool, cool. And so for anybody out there who's a fan of karate combat, if you're seeing that fight coming, remember exactly what episode Shannon was on. Yeah, I mean, I was, when I went back to New York earlier this year, I met up
Jeremy (01:11:18.202)
Both he and his brother are absolutely phenomenal kickboxers. Shannon also holds the distinction of being one of the owners of nine round. And so for anybody out there who's a fan of karate combat, if you're seeing that fight coming, I don't remember exactly what episode Shannon was on, but go check that out.
Corbin (01:11:40.31)
and trained with El Haj Nidor, Black Magic. He's a card of the combat competitor. But he also, I think probably like you, but he owns and operates dojos, I think three. I think he just expanded. I think he has a fourth dojo in New York City. And his goal is to basically get kids off the street and like teach them.
Jeremy (01:11:46.946)
Hmm.
Jeremy (01:11:51.938)
Nice.
Corbin (01:12:10.278)
martial arts and one of his weekly sessions is at the local police precinct. They let them train in the basement of the police precinct. So when I went to New York City I trained with him for a little bit and we became pretty fast friends. I like, you know, like we were talking about, the kind of camaraderie community.
Jeremy (01:12:38.548)
Mm-hmm.
Corbin (01:12:39.658)
So getting back to what is on Fat Man Karate, the goal of that account is to... I remember something that stood out to me at one time, I think it was a Sammo Hung movie, where he was at the dojo or whatever, and they were like,
Corbin (01:13:08.442)
And they're like, well, look at me. Like, I'm a bodybuilder. Like, you want to fight? We can take over your dojo. No problem. And Sam Ohung just kicks his ass. And he's just like, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover kind of thing. He is.
Jeremy (01:13:20.942)
He is the most underrated martial arts actor of our time, for sure, and I'll share, I don't know that I've ever shared this story. When I was in college, I trained at a Shotokan school, and one of the senior students was part of a kickboxing promotion in town. I went to college in Worcester, Mass, and some segments of Worcester were a little bit rough, and this event was held at a nightclub.
in a little bit of a rougher area. And I'm sitting there with my roommate, my college girlfriend, and we're watching and Scotty comes out. Scotty has lost some weight, but at the time was a big boy, a phenomenal martial artist, but a noticeably big boy. And there were some locals sitting behind me. And they made it very known that they did not expect much.
from Scotty. The bell rings and the string of expletives that they use to express their surprise at the speed with which he took it to this other guy was, it was awesome. Cause I hear him and I just kind of, cause I know him, he was the one person on the card that I knew and I just kind of poked, you know, my roommate, my girlfriend, I was like, just wait, just wait, I know him, just wait. And it was awesome.
Corbin (01:14:30.826)
The speed with which he took it to this other guy was, it was awesome. Because I hear him and I just kind of, because I know him, he was the one person on the card that I knew. And I just kind of hoped, you know, remember me and my girlfriend, I was like, just wait, I know him. Watch this guy. And it was awesome, right? There are things that are universal in this world, that is not one of them.
Jeremy (01:14:50.857)
Right? I mean, there are things that are universal in this world. That is not one of them.
larger people can definitely move fast.
Corbin (01:14:59.403)
Well, I mean, one of, oh God, like one of my favorite fighters right now is, I forget his real name, cause I'm shit at remembering names, but Beast Boy, the UFC, like he's big, but he's fast. And like he'll whip like a spinning back hook kick and just take someone out. And cause his background is in Taekwondo.
So like his feet will just come up and over his head and like, like you don't expect that from him. And then like his celebration is to do a front flip and land on his, you know, on his button and be like, what? Oh, right? It's kind of.
Jeremy (01:15:44.687)
If we're talking about power generation, take a look at Olympic weightlifting. I'm sorry, powerlifting. Take a look at powerlifters. And most of them are what the rest of us would probably point at and say, they're overweight, but they can move weight. Weight moves weight. And if you know what you're doing, for sure. All right, well.
Corbin (01:15:46.27)
take a look at Olympic weightlifting. Oh yeah, yeah. I'm sorry, powerlifting. Sure, sure, sure. Powerlifters, and most of them.
Corbin (01:15:58.23)
us would probably point out and say they're overweight but they can move weight, weight moves weight. You know what you're doing. Yep, yep. So yeah, my goal in creating that account, one was I wanted to focus on karate and like kind of get back into the studying aspect of it. And if you have, I mean having
Corbin (01:16:28.318)
Like, if you can, what I like to do is I like to take certain focuses and be like, okay, I'm going to kind of compartmentalize a little bit and be like, okay, I want to focus on this for right now. And then so I can like change gears in my head. So if I change my profile over, then I change gears from, I mean, you can kind of see behind me, right? Like the Sega Dreamcast and
Jeremy (01:16:56.457)
Yeah.
Corbin (01:16:56.702)
You can't see it very well, but it's kind of cut off by the camera angle. But like my holy grail of games over here. Let's see if we can't. Is that the first one? That is the first one. That's my original copy of Final Fantasy, right, from the Nintendo Entertainment System. Right? So Corbin in Japan account focuses more on like retro games and living in Japan and
Jeremy (01:17:08.952)
Is that the first one?
Jeremy (01:17:15.907)
That's cool.
Corbin (01:17:24.158)
all that kind of good stuff. And then the Fat Man Karate focuses more on karate and martial arts and UFC and Bellator. Cause I mean, what we were talking about, Jesse Encamp, his brother is a Bellator competitor. So yeah, I like following different people and whatnot and yeah. Yeah, fun times. I like to share, number one, I like to share positivity because I figure-
Jeremy (01:17:39.243)
Mm-hmm, all over.
Jeremy (01:17:48.27)
That's great.
Corbin (01:17:53.95)
You know, one of my favorite quotes I want to say is from a book written by the... Oh shoot. Um, I forget the guy's name. I think he's, he's a doctor. I don't want to, I don't know if it's psychologist or psychiatrist, but he spent time with the Dalai Lama. And one of the sayings was like, I think it loosely...
I might butcher it, but it's something like, if you can't help, at least don't harm. Alright, so, and like, if, and I think another quote from that book too was like, gratitude displaces pain, or something to that effect. So it's like, if you show gratitude, if you show positivity, you don't have time for, you know, petty BS or like
Twitter wars or trolls or that kind of stuff. It's like, yeah. So if there's something I don't like, I just don't comment on it. It's something I like, then I share it. If it's something that I think was interesting and might help, then I share that. Yeah, that kind of stuff. That's the type of stuff that I share more often than not.
I don't know if you know this, but was it last month? So November was mental health men's mental health awareness month of November so every day I shared Some either an account or a post or something that I found helpful in my personal mental health journey I know originally
It was a post that I made on the karate nerds Facebook group, but I think attracted I think he's either your co-host or producer or Ander right and so he dropped me a line All right. Yeah as do I But um, and yeah, so the post I made was essentially it was
Jeremy (01:20:00.522)
Andrew. Andrew wears many hats. Wears them all well.
Corbin (01:20:16.406)
personal struggle with manic depressive or bipolar disorder and depression and anxiety and how martial arts has helped me through that. We touched on a couple of things why I think martial arts has helped me with that. I think, yeah, one thing in particular is that I was able to find a community.
that and if you find good people you know um I would say that martial artists are some of some of the best people like because um a lot of them have been through a lot of struggle right if you if you've gone like old school dojos like what I was talking about right my uh the original
Corbin (01:21:15.102)
regulars that were there probably three times or more a week. They were ex-cons. They used to be in a biker gang and martial arts helped them turn their life around. And so like when we were doing, you know, like defending against someone coming at you with a knife, they were like, okay, this is how you do it. Because you could tell they probably had experience with defending themselves against knives. So like we would use...
Jeremy (01:21:39.978)
They done it. Yeah.
Jeremy (01:21:44.263)
Martial arts is for everyone.
Corbin (01:21:45.598)
So we would use rubber knives, realia. And they would be like, well, how you see people hold it in the movies isn't usually how people hold it. If they know how to use a knife, they aren't holding it like that. So they would be like, oh, this one time. And I'm like a 13 year old kid. Right? So. Right?
Jeremy (01:22:05.666)
Hehehehehehe
Jeremy (01:22:11.01)
some heavy stuff.
Corbin (01:22:13.978)
you get people from all walks of life, right? And all different experiences. And I think the world is better for that. Like if you're able to, you know, come together. And I think a dojo is a great place to do that. I agree. And I think we're gonna have to have you back.
Jeremy (01:22:29.118)
I think, I agree. And I think we're gonna have to have you back. We're starting to run out of time here and I wanna make sure that we're able to wrap up gracefully. I don't wanna just cut you off. To the audience out there, if you haven't already paused your video or audio, I want you to go follow Sensei Andrew and check out what he's got going.
Corbin (01:22:37.706)
I don't want to just cut you off. To the audience out there, you haven't already paused on video or audio. So follow Sensei Andrew. Okay, my apologies. Thank you for the great spare.
Jeremy (01:22:54.706)
Okay, my apologies.
Jeremy (01:22:59.262)
Right, right. Sensei Corbin. All right. Well, thank you for the grace there, especially given earlier. Go follow Sensei Corbin and we'll have all this stuff linked in the show notes. But now I'm going to hand it back to you to... How do you want to leave things with the audience? What are your final... I mean, it sounds a little dramatic, but your closing words to them.
Corbin (01:23:07.198)
Go follow Sensei Corvin and we'll have all this stuff linked in the show notes. But now I'm going to hand it back to you. Sure, sure. How do you want to leave things with the audience? What are your...
I know it sounds a little dramatic, but your closing words... Well, I mean, if you want to, I could leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger, kind of hint at a story. We talked about it a little bit before starting this, like when we weren't live, but there's a specific video that I made on my Fat Man Karate account.
that I posted where last year I had a quite literally traumatic event happen to me. And I would say quite literally, and I'm not using, and I'm using the word literally, martial arts saved my life, I would say. If I had not been practicing, if I had not practiced martial arts since I was young, I probably would have died.
Corbin (01:24:19.788)
And that's not hyperbole.
Corbin (01:24:25.418)
So that might be a story we can talk about if and when you bring me on next time. Ha ha ha. And to the audience, thank you for being here. I appreciate your time. Watch and listen.
Jeremy (01:24:31.466)
Yeah, yeah, we can have you on again. And to the audience, thank you for being here. I appreciate your time watching, listening in whatever way, even reading, remember we do transcripts of these. Whatever way you're consuming this episode, I appreciate you being here. If you wanna support Whistlekick and our mission to connect, educate and entertain, anything you can think of to do that seems logical would be appreciated, whether it's you make a purchase or you share something or you check out one of our many projects that we've got going around the world.
Corbin (01:24:42.262)
way you're consuming this episode. I appreciate you being here. We want to support Whistlekick and our mission to connect, educate, and entertain anything you can think of to do. It seems logical, but we appreciate it, whether it's you make a purchase or you share something or you check out one of our many projects that we've got going around the world. We appreciate you doing that. Thank you for doing so, and we'll be back with another episode soon.