Konan Judo

Hi Konan and JAM Judoka,

I went back to Japan during new years and attended the Saitama Kenritsu Urawa High School alumni association meeting. I just wanted to let all of you know that my senpai, Y. Yamamoto Sensei (70 years old), who build a Yamamoto dojo in Mauritania (He is a father of Judo in Mauritania), appreciated all Judo gi donations from US.

According to Yamamoto Sensei, there are now 121 Judoka in Mauritania. Special thanks to Saito Dojo, YMCA-Ann Arbor, Judoka of University of Michigan, and Judo Team at the University of Hawaii, as well as other USJF members who donated their old gis, 2 years ago.

Yamamoto Sensei is now working with few other Judoka in Japan such as H. Hasegawa Sensei (Senpai) and Kitajima sensei (Tokai U alumni) to help rebuild Judo in Rwanda. As you may know, Rwanda economy was hit hard from the genocide that occurred 17 years ago. So, they are trying revive the Judo program. There are 28 judoka registered in Rwanda Judo federation as of now. I’ve heard that they’ve already put in a paper work to JICA to send Judo instructor from japan but, they still don’t have enough Judo gi to promote Judo there.

Therefore, Judo Team at UH will be collecting old Judo gi and plan to send the gi to Rwanda this summer. If you or you know any one that have old judo gi that they would like to donate to Rwanda, please contact us. Any size or any condition is fine. Old belts are also welcome.

Click here for more information: Judo for Africa program at Judo@UH

Sincerely,

S. Taniguchi (Email)

Head Coach, Judo Club/Team at the University of Hawaii
Judo@UH
Website: www2.hawaii.edu/~judo  and Facebook

The “Judo Club/Team at the University of Hawaii” is a Registered Independent Organization (RIO) of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The club/team is open to registered students or affiliates of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Although this RIO has members who are University of Hawai’i at Manoa students, faculty, or employees, the RIO is independent of the University which is not responsible for the RIO’s contracts, acts or omissions.

This entry was posted on February 17, 2014 at 6:00 am and is filed under Judo News, Support Judo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.