Angry White Pyjamas : A Scrawny Oxford Poet Takes Lessons From The Tokyo Riot Police

Rating:
Summary: Lost in Japan
Review: This was an easy read, full of colourful characters and it held my attention although in the end I found it rather sad - pathetic even. It certainly did not make me want to take up Aikido and I didn't feel much in common with the author. Twigger is , I guess, a very clever guy but at the same time I feel that he is a bit of a thug and rather a wastrel. He may have learned Aikido but he didn't learn much Japanese or much about Japan - in fact I found the book curious: every other book on Japan which I have read written by a foreigner betrays the author's love for the country (even if that is laced with some fairly strong criticisms). Twigger betrays no such emotion - I got the impression that he took virtually nothing away from his time in the country. I thought that his descriptions of Japanese food, which he dismisses as horrible, reminiscent of the caricature of the English xenophobe and his other insights on Japanese society were not very insightful.

Rating:
Summary: Aikido Viewed From A Karateka's Eyes
Review: Well, despite being a karateka I bought this book roughly before Christmas last year and found it impossible to put down. I know virtually nothing about other martial arts and while I still know very little, I managed to understand and and enjoy this book about aikido. The tough style of training mirrors what my instructor said about the JKA (except not quite as vicious as bleeding knees, shattered collarbones, etc!) The strict rigors of discipline and ettiquette I found inside the book's pages were impressive. The author's explanation of prejudice against foreign martial artists in Japan is accurate enough to envoke memories of my Chief Instructor's tales of Japan when he was a student. After praising this book I found that four of my instructors and fellow students had also read it and been impressed. This proves that this book is worthwhile for all those interested in martial arts, not just aikidoka. The humourous style of writing is captivating and can make the book a firm favourite.

Rating:
Summary: Cool book...
Review: WOW!!! What a really cool book. This one makes me want to re-live all those wacky times I had studying martial arts in Korea! Twigger would have fit right in with the early 90's "Korea Focus/Hollywood Club" Itaewon set...

Rating:
Summary: Hardcore Aikido!
Review: You thought Aikido was for flower-children? Not in the Tokyo Riot Police program! Get ready for bloody red "suns" on your gi and brute Australians crying from exhaustion. At his first exposure, Twigger discovers what I love about Aiki: "Suddenly I saw aikido as offering an arcane knowledge of the body's weak points. It was a living alchemy; immense, complex, a whole structure of thought and action I never knew existed. Just punching and kicking looked crude in comparision." He also does a beautiful job of expressing the "Black Belt attitude," and how mental strength can overcome physical weakness.