Angry White Pyjamas

Only at one point did I suddenly think: What the hell are you doing here? Why don't you just walk away? I banished the thought quickly. I knew I couldn't afford the luxury of such thinking if I was going to stick it out for the whole year.

But once he joined Japan's most famous Aikido "dojo", (academy) he came up against all the challenges a life of tough physical action had to throw at him: Sadistic teachers, even more sadistic friends, repetitive training, broken limbs and the ominous "nobbies".

At more than one point throughout the year-long course that would change him from pondering intellectual to "bodyguard" for two elderly Japanese women, Twigger thought of quitting. So what kept him going--his friends in Fuji heights, Chris and Fat Frank? Sara, his Japanese girlfriend? A Zen belief in overcoming the will of the self? It was more to do with sheer grit and determination-- a refusal to be beaten.

Though winner of the William Hill 1998 Sports Book of the Year, this is no ordinary sports book. Intelligent, witty, and downright compelling, the story of a self-confessed "softie" who took on some of the world's toughest and made it through, is one of the best books you will read this year. Peppered with insight into the exclusive Japanese culture and ex-pat life, Twigger's book will make you want to get off your couch and travel to the land of the rising sun straight away-- or at least, once you've finished the book. --Lucie Naylor

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Honest, comical and inspiring - Rated
Having been leant this book by a friend of mine who studied Aikido for a year or so and, being a person that is fascinated by martial arts and an ex practitioner of Judo (a similar martial art) and currently doing kung fu, I was compelled to buy this book myself so that I may own my own copy of it. The book is compulsive reading and once you get into it it is hard to put down. The book is quite comical in places where Robert gets into all number of scrapes and acquires injuries, a Japanese girlfriend and must undertake a visit to the dreaded Japanese dentist!

As someone that has long been a fan of Japan and looking to visit there in the near future this book conjured up all kinds of imagery and ideas of what I might do when I do visit. The book inspired me through hard times during my degree to carry on and make the best of it. From the word go I was grabbed by this book and I have no doubt that martial arts fans and just casual readers will by hooked in exactly the same way. You are with Robert every step of the way through this book. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Take that - and zen some! - Rated
I train in Ju Jitsu at a London club and I can relate with many a wry smile to Robert Twigger's experiences in A.W.P. Although not training to the same punishing level, I see all his dojo types in any martial arts clubs; the sadists, the wimps, the show-offs and all us in-betweens - sliding between fear and fascination, bravado and dejection.

Twigger keeps the specifics of Aikido technique to a minimum which is just as well as textualising any complex martial art is pretty redundant - you have to see or even to feel it to understand what a move is really about.

Instead he concentrates on his feelings, which range between a sense of enlightenment and achievement through dedication and perserverence to the detachment of an Englishman abroad doing silly foreign things.

At times it feels that although he has an eye for reporting the superficial oddities that make Japan the most estranged Western country, he fails to really understand or empathise with the Japanese spirit that he clearly believes is at the root of Aikido. The centre portion of the book also seems to suffer from the reptitiveness of the training itself.

If the way of exploding fists and arthritic knees is dear to you or an exotic source of curiosity AWP is a good read.

insanity, japanese style - Rated
The author is a Englishman in Japan, teaching English parttime to school girls, and sharing a flat with Chris and Fat Frank. They decide it is time to bring some initiative into their lives and decide to begin studying Yoshinkan Aikido at one of the most reputed dojos in Japan. While they train, they notice students on another course who are being pushed to their limit. These are the senshui, or students on an advanced year-long, full-time aikido course. Members of the Tokyo police riot team are sent on this course, though foreigners are also allowed to attend. The author decides to sign up and embarks on a hectic and tough year. No previous knowledge of aikido is assumed, even though many students on the course would be advanced. They are stripped back to white belt and to basic knowledge. The author describes the many different people on the course and the mixed batch of instrcutors that they had. His own personal conflict with one of the foreign instructors made life very difficult for him until he learned to get along.
While an intriguing concept, I feel that this book is somehow very lacking in emotion. The author must be applauded for putting in a years hard work at what is a very difficult art to master, but yet I was never excited along with him. It is a great read for any student of any martial art though, just for the insights in the mindsets of the different people attracted to martial arts.

A brush with why Japan is the way it is - Rated
Japan's a really strange place and it usually takes a gaijin (foreigner) to see this. The West is fascinated by Japan's spiritual past; the Zen monks, tea ceremonies and martial arts. But modern Japan's face is somewhat different and Twigger's description of his daily life in Tokyo is an honest and witty description of the place.

The year-long Aikido course is excessive. But Japan is an excessive place. The candidates have to obey strict discipline, obey rank, get into the instructors' good books Japanese-style, bullying, comments on the nationalistic and regimented side of Japan. Twigger uses Aikido as a metaphor for the Japanese way of thinking and doing things.

Brilliant and inspiring if you're interested in martial arts. Amusing and insightful to those who've spent time in Japan -but I disagree over his criticism of Japanese food!

Rings true to many martial artists - Rated
Perhaps the machismo is somewhat difficult to bear but this is a brilliant read that I enjoyed a lot. You don't have to be into Aikido, or into Japanese martial arts generally, to empathise with the mindsets of the students and instructors.

Thoroughly recommended.