- 14 Mar 2002
- 15,010
- 7,955
- 749
Reported by Kyodo News
Tokyo, January 6, 2001
Fitness plus defense, a new craze for Tokyo women
Aerobics combined with self-defense skills have become the new craze for young women in Tokyo where an increasing number of stalking cases have been reported.
''Suppose your offender comes from that way. You guard yourself with the left forearm this way, kick the person roundhouse with your right knee, then quickly get back by one step,'' instructor Kazue Higashiyama tells people in one exercise class.
A group of young women repeat the karate-like motion to up-beat music in background while Higashiyama goes around with a kickshield, letting each of them punch and kick the shield.
''Don't be meek! Kick with a shout! Shout, shout, shout!'' Higashiyama yells.
The class becomes exited, chanting ''Ha! Ha! Ha!'' at each motion, just fighters in combat-sports do.
Soon, the insides of the studio's glass windows, facing to the winter night outside, fog up, probably from the sweat and heat of the excited women.
The women, mostly students and office workers in their 20s and 30s, gather at the studio after a day's hard work to learn self-defense skills, get exercise and let off stress out as well.
AXIS.K studio in downtown Tokyo launched the special exercise courses in 1997.
Higashiyama, a holder of high degrees in various combat-sports such as karate and aikido, is one of the chief instructors at the studio and devised the courses.
''I have the experience of being confronted by a few men on a street late at night but was able to dodge them with a technique of siding away,'' Higashiyama said.
That gave her the idea to teach self-protection skills for women, she said. ''All we need to know is how to dodge at an initial stage of attack so we can run.''
But many women might feel self-conscious going to dojo (training halls) even if they want to learn fighting techniques, Higashiyama and her colleagues thought.
They also decided the training had to be fun.
So, they arrived at the idea of combining a number of fighting skills with aerobics motions and launched the courses within ordinary fitness gyms.
A gimmick for the new fitness courses is clearly the name, Goshinbics, a coined word from goshinjutsu, or self-protection skills, and aerobics.
The naming, promoted through ads in culture and hobby magazines, grabbed the attention of novelty-loving young women right away and the courses became well known by word of mouth among them.
The number of the students for the courses tripled and quadrupled in the past three years, with classes taking place not only at the studio but also at various gyms at local community centers. Similar courses are also set up in fitness clubs run by other operators with names such as ''Bodycombat,'' which similarly stress fighting sports.
Adding momentum to Goshinbics has been an increasing number of stalking cases reported in Japan, which raised the awareness among women of the need to protect themselves.
Stalking has long existed, but a particularly gruesome case in October 1999 heightened society's attention -- a college student was stabbed to death on the outskirts of Tokyo by a man hired by her former boyfriend.
The victim had sought police involvement after being persistently chased for nearly 10 months by the former boyfriend, who also circulated mail among her neighbors defaming her.
But the police were slow to take action and failed to protect her.
People then criticized the long-held police attitude of taking stalking cases lightly as ''private entanglements between lovers'' and ''noncriminal matters.''
The case spurred people to take precautions, pushing up the number of stalking complaints to police to more than 11,000 during the first six months of 2000 in Japan, 1.8 times more than in all of 1999, according to a National Police Agency report.
Copyright ﾂｩ Kyodo News
Tokyo, January 6, 2001
Fitness plus defense, a new craze for Tokyo women
Aerobics combined with self-defense skills have become the new craze for young women in Tokyo where an increasing number of stalking cases have been reported.
''Suppose your offender comes from that way. You guard yourself with the left forearm this way, kick the person roundhouse with your right knee, then quickly get back by one step,'' instructor Kazue Higashiyama tells people in one exercise class.
A group of young women repeat the karate-like motion to up-beat music in background while Higashiyama goes around with a kickshield, letting each of them punch and kick the shield.
''Don't be meek! Kick with a shout! Shout, shout, shout!'' Higashiyama yells.
The class becomes exited, chanting ''Ha! Ha! Ha!'' at each motion, just fighters in combat-sports do.
Soon, the insides of the studio's glass windows, facing to the winter night outside, fog up, probably from the sweat and heat of the excited women.
The women, mostly students and office workers in their 20s and 30s, gather at the studio after a day's hard work to learn self-defense skills, get exercise and let off stress out as well.
AXIS.K studio in downtown Tokyo launched the special exercise courses in 1997.
Higashiyama, a holder of high degrees in various combat-sports such as karate and aikido, is one of the chief instructors at the studio and devised the courses.
''I have the experience of being confronted by a few men on a street late at night but was able to dodge them with a technique of siding away,'' Higashiyama said.
That gave her the idea to teach self-protection skills for women, she said. ''All we need to know is how to dodge at an initial stage of attack so we can run.''
But many women might feel self-conscious going to dojo (training halls) even if they want to learn fighting techniques, Higashiyama and her colleagues thought.
They also decided the training had to be fun.
So, they arrived at the idea of combining a number of fighting skills with aerobics motions and launched the courses within ordinary fitness gyms.
A gimmick for the new fitness courses is clearly the name, Goshinbics, a coined word from goshinjutsu, or self-protection skills, and aerobics.
The naming, promoted through ads in culture and hobby magazines, grabbed the attention of novelty-loving young women right away and the courses became well known by word of mouth among them.
The number of the students for the courses tripled and quadrupled in the past three years, with classes taking place not only at the studio but also at various gyms at local community centers. Similar courses are also set up in fitness clubs run by other operators with names such as ''Bodycombat,'' which similarly stress fighting sports.
Adding momentum to Goshinbics has been an increasing number of stalking cases reported in Japan, which raised the awareness among women of the need to protect themselves.
Stalking has long existed, but a particularly gruesome case in October 1999 heightened society's attention -- a college student was stabbed to death on the outskirts of Tokyo by a man hired by her former boyfriend.
The victim had sought police involvement after being persistently chased for nearly 10 months by the former boyfriend, who also circulated mail among her neighbors defaming her.
But the police were slow to take action and failed to protect her.
People then criticized the long-held police attitude of taking stalking cases lightly as ''private entanglements between lovers'' and ''noncriminal matters.''
The case spurred people to take precautions, pushing up the number of stalking complaints to police to more than 11,000 during the first six months of 2000 in Japan, 1.8 times more than in all of 1999, according to a National Police Agency report.
Copyright ﾂｩ Kyodo News
