December 5 at Richmond East Dojo
Vancouver Cup Tournament has always received great support from
Eastern Canada. On the day before the event, we had their fighters and officials,
including Shihan Andre Gilbert, to come to Richmond East Dojo to have
a pre-tournament warm-up. Thank you for your support of the event. Osu!

September 28 at Rotterdam Dojo, Netherlands
Tomomi Inoue from Vancouver has been travelling around in Europe in September
 and had a great opportunity to train at a Kyokushin dojo in Netherland.
 The dojo is run by Shihan Loek Hollander, the IKO International Committee Member.
We would like to thank them for their hospitality and allowing her to train at their beautiful dojo. Osu!

September 13 at Killarney Dojo
The Killarney Dojo had the first class meeting in September.
 Everyone was happy to finally get back to the basement dojo.
It has brand-new Judo mats, mirror, heavy bags and soft mat around the walls.
You can compare the photo with the one below for "Before and After".
　

Aug 10 at Downtown Dojo
The number of students drops in summer because people go away for holidays.
But this particular summer turns out very positive for us. Several new students joined us last month
and a lot of existing students decided to keep training through July and August.
"Following the Martial Way is like scaling a cliff - Continue upwards without rest."
---The first line from Sosai Oyama's 11 mottoes
Hope to see every summer turn out as good as this year.

　

July 23 at Killarney Dojo
The dojo room of the Killarney Community Centre had to be closed
two years ago due to the renovation of the ice rink for Olympics.
Since then, we have been training at the gymnasium upstairs. Because we had to share
the gym with other activities and groups, the number of our classes had to be reduced, and
the gym's hardwood floor was not really favored by our students.
On this coming September, we can finally go back to the basement dojo.
The program managers of the rec centre have already asked us for what we need for the dojo to best function.
The picture above is how it looks now.
An "after" picture will be coming when everything gets done.
Meanwhile, you can check out the class schedule for fall 2009.

July 2 at Fighters Class Richmond East Dojo
Hard to believe it's already July. The first half of 2009 gave us great experience.
In the back to back tournaments from LA, Newton, Montreal, Canadians to NY,
we were defeated, victorious, discouraged, motivated and always goal-oriented.
Our next goal is the 20-man kumite challenged by Sempais Curtis and Alex.
The fighters class keeps going two times a week through summer.
The class offers strenuous cardio/strength workouts and lots of sparring as well as
some unique exercises. The sure way to be stronger is to train with stronger people.
Come and train with our senior members.
If you are more into kumite, contact Sempai Michi for the class info.
　

May 29 at Richmond East Dojo
Haoyin Zheng came to the dojo tonight and trained with us.
Haoyin is a well known fighter in North America whose tournament record includes
2005 3rd World Weight Category Tournament. He started Kyokushin with us in 2001
and moved to Edmonton in 2006 where he found a career.
Every time he visits his family in Vancouver, Haoyin shows his respect to
his original dojo by training with us during his stay.
Here in this photo, Haoyin gives some pointers to one of our young students.

May 11 at Downtown Dojo
Despite that the Canucks game was on, the dojo was filled with enthusiastic students.
Here is the photo which shows you how we divide the class. We usually break it into three groups: Beginners,
Intermediates and Advanced so that the students are able to learn techniques according to their belt ranks.
Here, Sempai Curtis is in charge of instructing more advance kata to senior belts.
(By the way, why is Albert wearing a white belt?)

April 26 at Killarney Dojo
Thirty students signed up for the adult class in the spring season,
and a lot of them are late teens who began Kyokushin in their childhood.
Within five years, these young adults are bound to be more independent of their parents.
When you must handle things on your own between work, family and education,
your true time-management skill will be tested in karate.
We hope they will stay in the dojo as we know they will soon face more challenges in their life.

February 17 at Richmond East Dojo
We were not able to hang a heavy bag since we moved last October,
 But last week, we finally did it. It is connected to a sturdy steel beam,
 so the building gets no damage  no matter how hard you hit it. 
This heavy bag has a quite history. All the international fighters who trained at this dojo
in the past eight years hit it and punched it and kicked it to pursue glory.
It is a symbol of our sweat, tears and blood.
Come and train with it. You will be charged up with the energy transferred from it.