Episode 574 - Sensei Nagano Yusuke
Sensei Nagano Yusuke is a Martial Arts practitioner and instructor at the Karate Dojo Waku in Tokyo, Japan.
Some traditional Martial Artists hate MMA and I understand that completely. But I think when you hate and like in the emotional level, you are losing a lot of chances. There's always something to learn from other styles.
Sensei Erik Johnstone - Episode 570
Starting off living in the US as a child, this self-confessed "casual" karate practitioner became a full-time martial artist in Japan. Sensei Nagano Yusuke, who once wanted to be a football player, knew he wanted to train in Karate when he went into a Japanese Karate dojo for the first time. Presently, Sensei Nagano Yusuke teaches Karate in Tokyo where they teach online as well as actual classes for people who are visiting Tokyo.
Show Notes
Know more about Sensei Nagano Yusuke's school at Karateintokyo.com
For more information and video content, visit their YouTube Channel here.
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey! What's happening everybody! Welcome! This is whistlekick martial arts radio Episode 574 with today's guest, Yusuke Nagano. I am Jeremy Lesniak, your host of the show, founder of whistlekick. Where we love and support the traditional martial arts. How do we do that? Well if you go to whistlekick.com that's where you're going to see all the things that we do from this show to our store and in our store is stuff. 00:26 store has stuff, our store has stuff. And if you find some stuff that interests you, whether it's training equipment or apparel or a program, whatever it is, use the code podcast 15, that's going to save you 15% off, and it helps offset the cost of the show. If you want to find more about this show itself, maybe even this episode go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com we've got a separate page for every single episode we've ever done, they are all available every single one of them for free. Why? Because we love traditional martial arts and we want to connect educate and entertain those of you who also love traditional martial arts. If you want to support our work, you can buy something in the store, you could share an episode with somebody or you could support our Patreon patreon.com/whistlekick We drop exclusive content in there for the Patreon contributors, share a few bucks with us we're gonna share more stuff with you, the more you share the more we give you, it is a great deal. And we can tell people enjoy it because they rarely stop their Patreon subscription. Now, on today's episode I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with someone who was willing to stay up late just to talk to me, I got up a little bit early. Talk to him, Yusuke Sensei and I had a great conversation. We talked about what he's doing with his YouTube channel which has quite a bit of attention. We talked about how he got started and honestly one of the recurring themes was the cultural differences between martial arts training specifically karate training in Japan and the United States, because he trained in both places. And I found those differences are fascinating and enlightening I think there's something to be gained from understanding how we do things in different ways. There's a recurring theme for the show right. And we unpack that stuff and he was super generous, super honest. And I really had a fun time talking with him. So, here we go. Yusuke Sensei, welcome to whistlekick martial arts radio.
Yusuke Nagano:
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me today.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey, thanks for coming on. Thanks for rearranging your schedule. It's a little late there. What time is it where you are?
Yusuke Nagano:
It's a little past 10pm still awake. 02:37
Jeremy Lesniak:
It would be a very short episode if you weren't awake. And it's earlier, you know, we tend to record during normal hours and you know we bumped it forward a little bit, you bumped your time back a little bit because we both wanted to do this and I think that's great.
Yusuke Nagano:
Of course. Thank you so much.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can already tell we're gonna have a good conversation just for a little bit we had before we went live which is great. Now, I start all of my interviews on this show, if in probably the most expected way that I could, it's the most generic question, it's the one that everyone would probably start with but I think it's important because it's the foundation for everything else we're going to talk about. So let's get that one out of the way and see where it takes us. How did you get started in martial art?
Yusuke Nagano:
Alright, so I was around I think 13, 14, when I started yet. I did some casual karate in the states I lived in the US for from third grade to eighth grade. But I started there casually but it was enough but nothing serious. And I came back to Japan and I joined the high school karate team. And that was like my official debut to my karate journey.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How do you, how does somebody go from being casually interested in karate to wanting to be on a team? I mean that's awesome opposite ends of the spectrum.
Yusuke Nagano:
That is true. In the States or I guess from when I was like five years old when I still lived in Japan before moving to the US. I play soccer and that has been like my main thing of my life until I until end of middle school. So it's not like I got more into karate, it was more like I want, I try my best to play soccer in Japan as well. But, culturally, the Japanese, I should say, the club activity or the active varsity team, I guess in the US is very strict and the bridge relationship between the older members, or the, I guess your Senpai's and your kohai can be very distant, depending on the clubs, and for the soccer club. I couldn't, I just didn't have, like, I just couldn't picture myself fitting into that environment. Because the Senpai's are very like a tiger. And I just didn't want to be part of that and since, you know, I basically grew up my teenage life, like the first half of teenage life in the US, that was a different culture, Although I'm Japanese. So, soccer was not my choice and I started looking into other things, and karate was one of the options, but it was my first time like going to a Japanese touch. And I entered there, and how they were doing the kihon and the kata just blew my mind, and it was just so beautiful. And, yeah, I just knew I had to give her a try, and it was different from other sports using any kind of ball like volleyball, basketball, those, I can kind of grasp the tips and how to do. But as for Karate, I just wanted to go like dive deeper into some. I mean martial art or a sport that doesn’t use any equipment, and it's just your body, and that's what fascinated me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I want to go deeper on that moment, you said when you walked into the first dojo in Japan and it was beautiful the kihon and the kata which for people who may not have a Japanese lineage kihon is basics, kata form. Most people are going to. What was it was beautiful that also suggested it was different from what you would experience before, can you tell us about those differences?
Yusuke Nagano:
I guess how focused everybody was. And the, I guess the synchronized motion was what got me fascinated, especially and we have a, I guess one practice where we do the kata as a team. And without one, you don't have any music background, it's just you feeling the other usually to members and moving at the same time. And it's just repetition, repetition, and repetition. And that intensity, I can feel right away from just watching for the first like 10 minutes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I had a feeling you were going to say synchronize it's something that I've always observed when I see video of Karate in practice in Japan. I've never traveled to Japan, I'd like to love to go training in Japan Okinawa, I would train everywhere. I'm sure everybody knows that about me by now. But it's something I see in all the videos is that when people do your basics, your kihon. They are at the same, they're synchronized. They're at the same cadence. And I find that really fascinating and it is as you said I think it's beautiful. And it also makes it easy to see as an instructor who's not quite doing it right, it doesn't look right you can see an 08:29
Yusuke Nagano:
And I guess one of the reason is because my Sensei or my, usually I refer to him as coach, but my coach has mentioned that the count, ichi ni san 08:45. Those are the indications of when the opponent initializes their movement. So, if you can't sense that who can react right away to that count, that means you're going to be late for your movement so that's what I had in my mind and right now when I do basics as well. Some teachers even randomized the counts, so that you really pay attention to the counting. Maybe that was just my organization or my school. But, yeah, I mean, that's what I have in my mind right now and when I practice currently as well. So I think that's the reason, one of the reasons.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It makes sense I like that idea of changing up the count because yeah anybody who's spent time teaching basics in martial arts on account knows that if you as the as the person calling out the number fall into a predictable pattern. They're not actually listening for your word right they're just, they're holding time there, they have a metronome and a sense in their mind and they're just going, boom, and boom, mean you're doing the technique, pick it up. Yeah. Throws everybody off but it's a right I love doing it to people when I'm teaching.
Yusuke Nagano:
Yeah, it's a very good exercise and I think when you're the one that's doing it, when you're the one that's doing the punches, you don't really realize that you're in that same rhythm, until someone else's randomize it for you. So yeah I totally agree.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, you jump on this team and your experience with Karate at that time came from, not just another area, another instructor, but another country and it was different. Was that transition difficult?
Yusuke Nagano:
Cultural wise, slightly. Skill wise, It was basically like starting from a beginner so there was nothing there, felt as like a drawback, but the culture differences were there for the first, I guess, two or three months. I just had to see what everybody's doing, see how people like react to see how people live their life in Japan and accustom myself to it. The reason is, both my parents are Japanese. So when I even when I lived in US, we will speak Japanese at home and the culture is Japanese and the household but the kids that I hang out with you know in the same age group. They're from the US so that's the culture that was used to but you know when it came to the high school in Japan. I guess it was my first time to interact with students at the same age group that grew up only in Japan. So, that was a little bit of adjustment, but nothing so like crazy I guess.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Was it at all frustrating? You described as having to kind of start over as a beginner, was that frustrating? Did you resent that or think about maybe this isn't the thing for me because of that?
Yusuke Nagano:
Oh, no, not really because from the start, I am rather like a logical person so when I, when someone explain something in a logical way. I take that in, I don't like say no to it. So, my Sensei and the coaches at the Karate team. They were very logical and they broke down the movements and they were able to deliver the message in a very easy way. So, since they were able to do that. I was able to naturally just transfer it to their Shotokan Karate style.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And that's where your training show took off.
Yusuke Nagano:
Yes, exactly. 13:04
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. That's what you train in the states too?
Yusuke Nagano:
Yes, but I don't remember so deeply.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can hear you working through some of those memories.
Yusuke Nagano:
Shotok, I think it's very rare. I'm not sure if it is the right word but usually Japanese people only practice one style, or for their whole life, I think. And it's very rare for them to do multiple things. And I think that's both merit and demerit of the Japanese culture.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Can you talk about that a little bit.
Yusuke Nagano:
Since I lived in both worlds in the US, they were the Western world in Japan. I believe what's great about the Western world is that they're able to compare and contrast various things from different viewpoints and ask themselves what works for them or not. So, it's very common for people to do 14:15 Taekwondo, Karate, and take in the skills that they like and they believe it's good for them. And I guess adjusted according to their goal, and the ability for the Westerners to, I guess, listens to their own heart. And from a Japanese perfect perspective to become selfish in a positive way is I think there's a huge merit. And I think that's what's wonderful about the states. I think that's even shown and how I remember, kids in the US, they would do like winter sports and then summer sports, and those sports are different and it just shows in that part as well. And I guess you know if you go into the society people change jobs. And, you know, they do job hunting a lot they would have 2, 3, 4 jobs, you know, throughout their life. And I think that's, there's an underlying; I guess culture of listening to your own heart. Comparing, see what works for you and adjusting your way frequently. But in Japan, what's more valued is for you to continue something, there's a beauty of continually and accumulating little wins. And if you quit people consider as quitting, and not adjusting things that that's a difference. So I guess the merit of the merit of that would be taking a deep very deep dive very deeply into one thing. So for instance, say Karate. Yes, Karate came from China. But, I believe, on the culture of Japan 16:12 Karate too. They develop itself in such a deep way that maybe it will. Maybe it was. There was a needed condition to be cultivated in Japan. And there are so many things that I have been doing Shotokan for around 10 years now, but there are a lot of things that I still don't understand. And if, since I'm going to continue doing it, there's going to be more and more to find out, you know, in the future, but the merit is that they are there like they don't look so aggressively or they're not very. They don't have the strong motivation to look outside of their world. So, People don't compare Karate with Taekwondo does not and don't mind. People don't do Karate BCJ. And all those, it's just not in the thinking process. So, there's you know both pros and cons for each side but it's just it's very interesting to see both sides and as an individual, I try to balance that out. So I have Shotokan as my main branch and does not change. But since I started this YouTube channel in the comment section, since a lot of you, a lot of them living in the Western world, their questions and their comments are going to be based off of that culture of, you know, comparing, and experiencing a lot of stuff. So, I think my thinking process has been affected slightly by their comments and questions. And recently, I've started to do other martial arts, just little by little, like Taekwondo. I'm going to go to Kudo, which is a mixture of Karate and Judo this weekend. And I'm going to Ashihara Karate, which is a Karate that was developed from 18:29. At the end of this month so just, you know, taking little bites of hearing there and see what works for me. I'm just starting to do a little bit about that recently.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, interesting. You talk about your YouTube channel, so let's get into that because that's not a small feat people don't just wake up one day, launch a YouTube channel and then keep it going. Anybody can start anything, but to keep it going. It takes a lot of work you and I were talking about the work that goes into this show. I know how much work goes into what you're doing, it's tremendous. So, why'd you start that? I'm sure you've got other stuff that you could be spending your time.
Yusuke Nagano:
Well, first of all, I love coaching. And I think coaching is different from teaching, teaching is one directional so you don't have any feedback. I mean, the students don't get any feedback, but coaching, it's interactive so. And I found that YouTube was the most interactive platform on the internet being because there's a comment section and potentially, like what I do. People come to my lessons through YouTube. So that was something that I had in my mind for a long time, but my, I guess my main aim, or my main goal is to become the bridge between Karate knowledge in Japan and the Western world or the English speaking countries because I only speak English, but, you know, people will translate my videos. gonna go worldwide but so far English speaking countries. And I actually didn't start from YouTube. I did Instagram first. That was 2018, fall of 2018. I did Instagram and that went pretty well. I think when I got, I think. Right now, I was like, 37K or 34K , I forgot. But yeah, I started there posting short tutorial because they only allow like one minute videos. And I started there. little by little, I find out that people were interested in such tutorials. And after doing that for a year, I had the urge to make longer, more deep videos, so that's why I came to YouTube, and yeah I think continuing to today. Although I took a short break last week.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And how is that YouTube channel evolved and anybody who steps into any content creation is going to refine over time as they start to find what they want to do and what their audience enjoys. What have been some of the changes with what you've presented?
Yusuke Nagano:
I guess, just. This is a very recent change but from the first episode when the first video, or main. I guess content, or tutorial videos. So, breaking down the movements that people usually don't break down. Explain it logically so that everybody can understand it has been the main content. So that will be Kata, a form videos, 22:03 sparring videos, Kihon videos, and the tutorial videos are our main contents are main videos. But recently, I started doing a little bit of historical videos as well, because when I, you know, the deeper I do the research. I noticed that Karate has been developing in various ways and there are both pros and cons to each development and I think it's very interesting to see how I can implement other developments such as let's say for instance Karate, which is, which branched off from 22:47. Seeing their style, I'm pretty sure there are things that I can implement from, I can implement on Shotokan and use it in my community, too. So, I guess, presenting those in the context of video to my audience has been something that I started doing recently and I think it's very interesting.
Jeremy Lesniak:
In the traditional martial arts world of course we always, not always, but we often find these two opposing viewpoints and you kinda have brought them up the pros and the cons of keeping, what we learn as close to the way we learn it as possible. The traditional side versus this other side that allows some evolutions some progress with the art, and people tend to end up in one side or the other. Now I can see both I see the value in both and I'm getting the sense that you might also be one of those people.
Yusuke Nagano:
Yes, I think I have, I'm trying to maintain a good balance between the evolution. Developing side to keeping the tradition side. And I think one. One thing that I tried to keep myself from not doing, is to reach conclusions, very fast too early. As for Shotokan, I am somewhat confident that I know this style very deeply. So, now I started looking into other styles because I can now compare. However, this is just my personal ego. But when I see people that, you know, hasn't learned one style that deeply, and they start implementing other things, then it just starts to get too mixed up, and there's no core. And I think that's one of the reasons why they're gonna have a hard time in the future to find. I guess what works for them or not because it's very hard for them to find the center core, and I feel that daily. When I read comments, when I talk to people. Yeah, but as I said, it's just my ego and come from my cultural background so.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I don't know if it's you and ego and culture because I completely understand and agree. If someone's going to propose changing something, but they don't understand why it is the way it is. That is, at best, premature. But at worst it's arrogant. To watch the way let's see a technique is done. Let's take back stance, which, to my knowledge every martial art, or let's take a front stance it's even more universal. Every martial art has some manner of front stance. The the width versus the length versus the weight distribution versus hip positioning versus foot position, all these angles. You know the physics of it really does come down in physics to say, Oh well. A front stance should be like this, when you don't understand the full body of the techniques. The people who develop style, and how their bodies were built. etc. When you don't have that full context, how can you say this is better or not? You've got to know. You got to know where you came from, is how we determine.
Yusuke Nagano:
Yeah, totally understand. I never felt that until I started making these videos because I'll be enclosed in Japan, and people in Japan. Like I said, don't compare. I mean, ours, they don't but they rarely compare and so I just, I didn't have that. But now I, you know, let's say, like, let's say post the video on front stance. And I get like a huge negative comment from Taekwondo or other martial art practitioners and some comments are just emotional. So those, I mean, there's nothing I can start a conversation because it's just emotional like attack but there are other people to say because of this, this, this, this. I think this stance, it doesn't work in Taekwondo stances are better, and those. I have accomplished, I actually have a conversation on the comments section to see what you know their logic is and how they figured it out so it's been very interesting to have those conversations.
Jeremy Lesniak:
One of the things that I picked up early on as I learned about the discrepancies the differences between different martial arts I mentioned to you before we started recording, most of the audience knows I grew up with two married Karate instructors and came from very different styles if people know the difference between Kyokushin and 28:12 Ryu. Very different. I mean they are. I would say if you didn't, if you showed them to two people and said, this is what they were called most people who didn't know martial arts would think that they were both karate, or that, but it's that in the context. And so one of the things that that I learned as I started to see what other people were doing is that when those criticisms come forward when the you gave the example of a Taekwondo practitioner looks at your video and says well that's not, that's not right. It comes from a lack of understanding that there's more than one way, if I'm going to, let's say somehow by some. I wouldn't even call it a miracle maybe curse. I am placed on the US Olympic Taekwondo team. Even if I start with, let's say, a very traditional like WKF facing forward front stance reverse punch style of fighting. I'm going to change very quickly, even if I don't know Taekwondo. Alright, because the rules the context will dictate what works just as the Taekwondo practitioner stepping into that sort of 29:37 that sort of sparring, he's ready to adapt because the rules, the context dictate what makes sense in that environment. And this is where, you know, you were just talking about the, we're talking about the tradition versus let's call it evolution or growth. We're at the very least changes in martial arts because a lot of things have changed in the last 50 100 years. And the world is a different place. You talked about interacting with those people who make those comments. I'm sure a number of them have learned from you. What do you think you learned from them?
Yusuke Nagano:
Well, first of all, I guess, the perspective that you can compare styles and there's a room for improvement. You know there’s a thing to learn from other styles because, like I said, I never had that thinking process of comparing. I think that's one point, other points. Well, I guess it all comes to that. And so I've been looking into 30:53Taekwondo is, I guess the closest martial art to Karate. I've been looking into their kicks trying it out at the dojo. See what works for us. And one more thing, this was interesting. I was watching the Indian martial art Karate Hyatt,
Jeremy Lesniak:
You did a better job seeing it than I do.
Yusuke Nagano:
Thank you. In their style, the owner of the Masters was talking about how they exaggerate their movements during the practice. And, at the, I guess, tournament or when they're actually going to spar. They minimize the motion and make it simpler, and that phrase was very, I guess it was a very nice way to put. Because in Karate, almost, or a Shotokan. I don't think 31:51 I think has a different ways of thinking but for Okinawan Karate, and I guess the so called traditional the four big styles of Karate Shotokan, 32:06 We practice taught towards the goal of minimizing and to optimize the movement as much as possible so any extra movements are going to be erased during the practice and we, I, I think we don't, we barely exaggerate and we've been on purpose even when we're practicing. And, but seeing that 32:38 video kind of felt that maybe for some practice. It says coaches and Sensei's, with no doubt gets the students to minimize the movement, so them have a trouble in acquiring the skill because it's too It's too early for them to minimize. They still have to practice in big motions and that's what gets them used to it. So, as a coach that struggling, and now I don't, I try not to pressure the students to minimize milk to optimize the movements right away. I let them move dynamically first understand how the body moves the big motion. And then once they understand that, once they have a good understanding. Then, I try moving on to minimizing it. So, it's just a little context change as a coach. But I think that it's very important right now. I just remember that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That makes a lot of sense the idea that we can early incorporate a lot of nuance a lot of tiny motion or movement that's really hard and it takes a lot of understanding and, yeah, it seems to make sense to me start with the big motion and make it smaller as you go and I think that as you were talking about that. I'm reflecting on the number of instructors that I've had. And I think the best ones that I've had, whether or not it was conscious they recognize that they really let us get away with being exaggerated and bigger. Over time okay now shorten this up now adjust this because you know just, even if you think of just power generation right we're new and you don't know how to use your body in a martial art context it takes finger motions to generate power, but it's better and you can snap your hips and know how to, how to rotate and extend and retract joints quickly. 34:49 can come from that step.
Yusuke Nagano:
Exactly. And one example, if the audience does Karate. I like you guys to compare the 35:02 and there is a block called 35:07you move in a front stance three times to the front. And you block with the 35:15 deep heart right above your wrist on your palm. So you snap sideways and you snap the punch to the side, there's a block like that it's called 35:27. If you can watch the recent videos. You'll notice that they only block using the width of their body so they do not pulling their arm to the side and bring it to the front. You keep the emotion minimal do over the arm within the width of their body. However, on. If you research or look for 35:52, they have commodity accounts well they block with the same part, but their block, they used the whole width. So they would fling the arm all the way to the back, and then use the full width. So, wider than your body width to do the block, and although the course, and the direction is similar, the width that you take is very different. And, and so that's why in the organization that I practice that we do. First, because the motions are bigger and do next because it's more simpler simplified. So maybe you can search on YouTube, at home videos and see what I'm talking about. That was just one reference.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That makes sense. Let's pull it back to competition, you've hinted at that a few times. Is competition something that's still part of your, well, maybe not so much right now. But, let's say, a year ago, or prior. Were you spending much time in competition or preparing for competition?
Yusuke Nagano:
I would say, I was spending around 30% of my effort for competition and 70 on coaching. Okay, so let's. Yeah, I think so. I just think that I just like coaching better. I like to develop other people more, and yeah, of course I understand that, I need to be good. And I'm better than them. In order for me to, you know, deliver more knowledge. However, I think it's also there's other sides of your ability to deliver the message and to listen to the other person. And usually I guess martial arts Sensei, or martial arts teachers would be competent in their skills, but some might lack the ability to deliver. And I value both of them. So, yeah, and when I coach. I try our best to get. I mean, brush up the skills are delivering and listening, and I guess, noticing the problem and communication. And when I train, I try my best to make myself better, so I can let my students know. So I guess it's all my core is teaching, or in coaching and the actions that I take. When I work as a coach and when I 38:40 myself. All these to the goal of coaching so I guess my main aim isn't to win in competitions anymore.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When did you discover that you enjoyed coaching?
Yusuke Nagano:
When I enter university, that's when I started coaching. And it wasn't like I planned to become a coach. I just went to my high school Karate team so I can practice because I was still practicing I will just do 100% practice back then. So I will just want the dojo. I was practicing. And then after practice, my Sensei came up to me he was like, coach, very casually. He just had a new paper. And I like wanted to become a coach because you can't, you know you visit so much. I just, I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what I had like what I have to do something new, but, I mean, I just didn't have any reason to hesitate or to say no, so I just said yes, and from that time on, started to slowly realize that, oh this is something that I enjoy doing.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I found for me that anytime I was sharing information with someone or other teaching or coaching or any of the need to convey a concept forces me to understand that concept better. How did your coaching make you better?
Yusuke Nagano:
Oh, that's an interesting topic. Since I guess I've had to put it shortly I'm able to break down the movement, and a more precise way now. What I mean is the high school student in Japan practice a lot. And that's from high school, compared to other strong karate schools. We don't have any; we don't have that long practice hour. Therefore, as percentage wise, maybe, compared to the strongest schools in my prefecture, our practice time will be around, maybe, 60%, or 50%. So we have to make your practice very efficient in order for us to, you know, beat those teams. So, there's no time for us to. I mean there's no time for the coaches to not tell the answer right away. Because, and if the answers aren't clear. The students will get confused. And that's a waste of time. So, from that background. I have to really think about, okay, how should I explain this 41:50 block in a very easy way that everybody can understand. However, easy enough. But deep enough so that they reach a certain level. And that has been going on for me I've been doing it for four years now, and luck also luckily, a lot of students are beginners they start from high school in my karate, so it's easier for you to coach students with experience because they know the basics already. And all you have to do is make adjustments. However, if you're teaching a complete beginner, then you have to start from the concept. If you get them confused in the first few steps, then they're going to get confused for a very long time. So you must lay out things very clearly. And you so with that background it allow me to go over movement that I wasn't even thinking about deeply that I was doing without any deep thinking and reorganize it and reshape it in a way that, like I mentioned that be easy for people to understand.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I find in my conversations that people who enjoy coaching had a strong coach themselves at some point someone that inspired them meant a lot to them. You're, you're already. Sounds like you're already saying yes, who was who is that person for you?
Yusuke Nagano:
I have three actually translated to English, there'll be one head coach and two coaches. The head coach, he actually doesn't have a book, he didn't practice for a long time but he's the judge, Japan Karate Federation. So he has the knowledge and he's a teacher. What he is very good at doing is, like I mentioned breaking down movement and explaining things very briefly, but in it very easy to understand way. So he's able to pick up the core from a very confusing or I guess complicated situation or complicated movement and just pick up the core and throw it to you right away. So I've learned that essence from him. The coaches, what they were very good at doing noise, adjusting their words, and their phrases, according to the situation of the students. What I mean is, let's say, when I was a student. I still learned that when I was, you know, as an athlete. I say, during my 44:52 and in my head I'm thinking, Okay, I have to kick with the Koshi. How do you say that English, on the very bottom part of the bottom of your..
Jeremy Lesniak:
45:10 No, you don't have to apologize you. That's my job. I don't have a lot of jobs on here. What are you talking the others to translate?
Yusuke Nagano:
Thank you, so I'm doing different tech kicking trying to pick up the ball of the foot. That's in my head. But if the coach, just comes up to you and says, use get get your hands up. Get your knee up higher than my focus is on the ball the foot so that advice, didn't stay in my head. So that's bad. That's not a good thing for the coach, and neither for myself. However, the coaches were able to first ask me okay what are you focusing right now at all, let's say, ball or the foot. Because, say, because I cannot deliver power forward. And I noticed that you know my Senpai with the wall the foot so that's what I have in my mind right now, then they can change the message too. If you want to kick straight with a ball the foot. There sure knees too low. Then the ball the foot wouldn't move straight forward. So, in order for your ball to move straight forward. you must lift up your knees slightly more, so that the route becomes a little bit more clear. If they explain it in context, then the points they want to mention, and the points that I've been thinking, connect. And I think that's the is that's the beauty of communication. And I didn't notice that when I was a student. But when I started coaching besides them. I found out that, oh they were using these skills to make the students more comfortable for them to develop, and for the coaches to make it easier for the coaches to deliver their message. So those three people has had a huge influence on me on coaching style. And that's what I feel when I make videos, I try my best to guess and it's hard to have at the same level, because it's not as interactive as face to face conversations. But when I make videos when I tried to deliver the message. I try my best to get it as close to the state as possible, so that I don't just say, I don't just say something to simply that everybody's gonna get confused and people. When I talk to my students, when I roll on classes so when I talk to my students. That's what the their feedback is mainly based around there, and I'm very happy that they are feeling, that they're valuing the way I coach. So, let's find something very happy in the recent day.
Jeremy Lesniak:
One of my favorite questions to ask. Martial Artists has to do with other martial artists. And I'm sure that as you've unpacked your training, and you've met people, and you've learned about other people you've trained with quite a few people in your training with even more now and sharing your knowledge. But if you could train with somebody that you haven't, you could you know if we could invent a time machine. Who would you training? Could be a time machine or in a plane ticket. You've never thought of that?
Yusuke Nagano:
No.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That definitely one of those cultural differences that that's something that a lot of us over here in the West do with this person, if I can design with perfect coaching said it would be, you know, A, B and C. I'm glad that I gave you one that you didn't expect, right?
Yusuke Nagano:
I noticed people, because when I talk to people online. A lot of the posts say, I would love to go to Japan. And, yeah, Just seeing their passion is amazing. Now don't think of that from my side, I have, I don't know, I don't have a specific name, but I would love to have a conversation and do a little training with the best MMA coach in the US. The reason is, they're the expert, and mixing things. Yes, I guess, their development and their skills and how they mix up things are all optimized towards the goal or are we under the rule of MMA. I understand that. However, I might be wrong but I believe they are the ones that are able to compare the most components do most aspect and pick up points. We organize it and deliver it to a specific athlete. And I guess that's something we do not have in Japan, and then my situation in Japan, even the top athletes. If they want to do boxing, they go to a boxing gym or they want to do wrestling, they go to a wrestling. And they have to hop between gyms and there's nothing. There's no organization or there's no coach that I guess organizes everything for you. But in the states, you go to like a big gym, MMA gym and they would have all these different martial arts, and there is a coach there that specializes in mixing, right. So, that's something that I think is very nice to have. And if I can learn that perspective, I can even apply to Shotokan, Karate, let's say, I learned something maybe in for transition. For front stance and I can apply that to back stance transition. I can make a connection, I don't have any examples right now. But I think I'm going to be able to make more connections, more applications within lifestyles as well so that's what I love to learn.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's a fascinating answer and it's one that we've not had before. But here's why I love it. Because, as you're talking I'm realizing that the best MMA coaches and the best MMA fighters will adjust based on their opponent. They don't just say, oh, we're going to watch for, you know, that person's sidekick, is particularly effective were, but they will craft an entirely different strategy and months training that balance of techniques in a dramatically different way in a way that most of us as traditional martial arts practitioners don't do. And I find and I didn't realize I found that fascinating but I do. It's really an intriguing answer. I like it.
Yusuke Nagano:
Like, it's their own development that has happened within the world. And it's, I think it's something very special, because when something is mixed up. It's, it has led into, you know, new improvements, new evolution so yeah I value it personally. So, traditional martial arts artists hate MMA. I understand that completely, but I think you shouldn't be like if you're hating and liking that emotional level, then you're losing a lot of chances because there's always something to learn from other styles, there's always something to get from your side. So, this is something that is my opinion but if you're at the stage of liking and disliking something, then you're missing out on a lot of stuff and I'm pretty sure your audience listens to the podcast because they have the urge and they have the motivation to take in a lot of stuff. So I don't think that's the case with your of your audience, but that's just what I think.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I agree, you know, I, I have my issues with everything. None of us agree completely with any one person on earth one way people are things and, you know, as you said that comparison is something that we do here, especially in America constantly maybe even to a detriment. I think sometimes we go too far. There are wonderful things about MMA there are terrible things about both sides for sure. Let's talk about the future. Let's talk about what's coming, I mean you're working hard, you're training you're coaching, you've got your YouTube channel, you're trying to reach people, you're doing some great work. What's next or where do you hope to take those thing as we look out you know 5, 10, 15 years?
Yusuke Nagano:
15 years.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You can set whatever time on it you want some time into the future somewhere a little bit out tomorrow.
Yusuke Nagano:
So, at least, the goal for this year, 2021, is to start reaching out to other styles, besides Shotokan and to have other style let's say it's maybe 55:13 or maybe even one of the Okinawan styles. Within the our content to content, and our content meaning, YouTube, Instagram, the only lessons we do like to incorporate other styles. By the end of the year, under. But I would love to have the Sensei, that new Sensei, or that new, maybe student or I don't know who it is, but to have a very open minded and a very high skill to deliver messages and high coaching skill. There are tons of athletes and there are tons of Sensei that have a very high skill, athletic skills and skill as within martial arts. But I think, like I mentioned, that's a different skill. If you compare it to ability to deliver something. So, within myself, I'm optimizing the way I teach every day. So, I just want to make the this coaching method or the way you approach students more I guess accessible for other style teachers, and potentially help them on the channel or maybe, I don't know it doesn't have to be my organization, it can be any third party we can make that together and I hope that makes a positive impact on people practicing martial arts.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Great. We've talked about your YouTube your Instagram, where can people find your websites, social media any of that they should be aware?
Yusuke Nagano:
I think my main focus is on YouTube, so if you can type in Karate dojo Waku, how you can find me right away, I have the white and black logo. On Instagram, same thing, Karate dojo Waku. On Facebook too, Karate dojo Waku. And for the website. It's a different domain name, I could change that. But if you can look up karateintokyo.com, you can find details there as well.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Right on yeah we'll get we'll get those links in the show notes so people can check on it. They're driving we'd only be crashing while they take notes. This is awesome. This has been great. I've really appreciated having you on. Thanks for staying up late to do this.
Yusuke Nagano:
No problem.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And so what you know how do you want to send us out. What are your final words for the people listening today?
Yusuke Nagano:
Martial arts can be a very enclosed world. However, it's very important for yourself to stay open minded and for you to find people that are open minded as well and are willing to share their knowledge, and I believe the internet. It's a great place for that to happen. So, I look forward to interacting with all of you on my social media pages well. And let's train hard together and make this year great.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If you've made it this far you know that what I said in the intro held true. Talk about an honest and interesting conversations something a little bit different than what we normally have, because we have someone with a very different perspective, someone who lives somewhere that most of our guests, don't live. I appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you, Sensei. I really had a fun time with this one and I hope that we get to talk again. For those of you listening, make sure you go to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com check out the show notes, check out the transcript, and if that means something to you if you want to help make sure that it sticks around you want to help us cover the cost. You can make a purchase at our store, leave a review somewhere buy a book, or help with a Patreon, you see somebody out there wearing someone whistlekick on, say hello. And if you've got guest suggestions or feedback I want to hear from jeremy@whistlekick.com that’s all for now until next time, train hard, smile, and have a great day.