I’m sat on an aircraft with some dude beside me who reeks of beer and cigarettes and who has taken to manspreading in the most gigantic way possible. Oh and he snores. Today, nothing can tame my excitement. You see after 2 failed attempts (pandemic, Cancer), I am going back to Okinawa. I’m sure it is frowned upon to hug immigration officers so I hope that the one I get on entry is in one of those big glass “rooms”.  I am on a flight to Shanghai where I have a few hours and then onto Okinawa, we choose this route before and it’s not too bad. I’ve been hearing stories about long queues in Shanghai when you go through security (again, never understood that) so we shall wait and see what that brings. 

The last few weeks Facebook has been reminding me of the events a year ago. When my world changed forever and I had no idea what was to lie in store but I was extremely frightened. 

The first time I had to cancel a trip to Okinawa it was because of a pandemic, fair enough, the last was, well last year.  So this time I am ridiculously excited. Beyond excited, I’ve been counting the days since I made the booking, the day after the Budosai dates were confirmed. 

Then the dreams started, I would forget my passport regularly in these dreams, trains would cease to run, or if they did I would end up in Brighton and miss the stop for Gatwick.  The best one was where I went to the airport on the wrong day not a day early, but a day late. 

This morning was somewhat dreamlike itself. The bus arrived almost as soon as I got to the stop, the train was gloriously empty and my carriage was right by the escalators as the doors swung open at Gatwick. Even checkin was smooth. I was at the airport on the right day with a valid passport and now I had a boarding card all the way to Okinawa. 

I was the first person to board by chance and then the machine made the international sound for “no”. Again the  very nice lady scanned my card and again nothing. My HR hit about 180 at this point and a huge sense of foreboding. A third swipe, the walls started to come in around me, what could possibly have gone wrong from checking to the gates. Luckily, a man came running over with the news that a technical glitch meant that the flight was not officially open for boarding. Huge phew. 

This is a gasshuku with the theme of ‘Family and togetherness’, which is rather apt with all going on in the world these days. Given that the core of Karate training resides in basics it seems more than apt, in fact it is quite beautiful that we are returning to the basics of the family unit this time. 

I feel as if I have been on hiatus, it’s a combination of the Budosai timings, being ill etc, which means this will be, for many of my IOGKF family, the first time I have seen them in almost 4 years. My non Karate friends sometimes struggle to understand why there is such a bond between us crazy karate folks.  I guess that comes from standing toe to toe and asking some of these people to hit you in the head :), or maybe it’s the conjoined quest for perfection, who knows. That said, it’s not something that happens in every group, dojo etc, we are extremely lucky to have such a range of wonderful characters in our association. I’m not talking about Senseis, for sure there are a few characters in there, but I know that over the next 2 weeks I will have amazing experiences and conversations with folks, I just wish the whole IOGKF could come along!

So here’s the thing, I’ve said to everyone I know, if you would like a postcard from Okinawa, let me know, I will pop one in the post, so I’ll offer again, anyone who would like a card, DM me your address!

Further update, I survived the lengthy queue in Shanghai, had a quick hug with Sensei Linda at Naha airport, found my accommodation, went shopping, went for a run, put a wash on and now I need to sleep!

#IAMIOGKF #IOGKFFAMILYTOGETHER