Despite the fact that I understand Sensei's English about as well as anyone, it's still a very limited conversation and there have been times when we both really struggled; him to communicate, and me to understand. In order to interview Sensei Yaguchi for the book, we decided that we would hold the interview in Japanese, using translators. A number of people gave their time and expertise so that he could express himself fully in his native language.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
(on instructing at the JKA headquarters in Tokyo) "I was excited and inspired. I trained and taught every day. We instructors were all paid about the same amount, and our 3,000 yen per month didn't go very far. As a matter of fact, my rent was also about 3,000 yen per month. I was constantly borrowing money from the JKA against the next month's paycheck. Somtimes on payday I would just get a little piece of red paper with a note explaining that I had borrowed so much my entire paycheck was gone."
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