Tatemae & Honne

Tatemae & Honne

... or the face & the truth.

Things will get exciting in the wild world of Kendo in Trinidad. With the largest provider of martial arts in the country now promoting Kendo just like Subway could promote its new sandwich, we now have to develop the keen sense of self-restraint that Kendo teaches. (I suppose Kendo also teaches to attack relentlessely and question crap, but I will conveniently ignore this for the purpose of making a point).

So we will be confronted with something we may be uncomfortable with. It may or may not have anything to do with Kendo as we know it. It may make us look good, it may make us look like a bunch of maniacs. Either way, all we can do is acknowledge and say "wow, very interesting".

The last thing we need right now is some enemies, and as such, the last thing we should do is disrespect them, however questionable their sport may be.

What is bad about having enemies?
- small country, word goes around quick
- we need all the help we can get in promoting Kendo, so one person pissed off by us, is one person too many, especially if that person is at the head of a dojo
- they have bigger muscles than us...
- who's going to invite us for demos next time?

What are signs of disrespect in this world?
- laughing or any facial expression
- not returning their bows
- interrupting them
- questioning their credibility
- asking too many questions

ok JR?