Angry White Pyjamas

Firstly, I'd like to say this is book is a f                must-read. It's funny, fascinating and supposedly, all of it is true. White pyjamas being a reference to the traditional aikido garb, this book is about award-winning Oxford poet Robert Twigger and his real-life account of a year in Japan: "Adrift in Tokyo, translating obscene rap lyrics for giggling Japanese high school girls, "thirtynothing" Robert Twigger comes to a revelation about himself: He has never been fit nor brave." He signs up for the toughest aikido course in Japan, the Tokyo Riot Police course. When you sign up for it, the dojo holds no responsibility for any form of injury or, death. The training is brutal and some sensei have a reputation for breaking and fracturing students' limbs mercilessly. A Google check does show the names of some of the sensei he writes about in the book.

Being a writer I bet that he exaggerated some of the accounts, but true or not, I guess the book is inspiring in a way. How he learns to deal with fear of pain and actual pain itself. The book is not really a celebration of Japanese martial arts philosophy, because often we see the flip side of it in this book. The founder of Aikido intended it to be a martial art of love and non-violence, turning the strength of opponents against them using perfect balance and control. Sadly, some of the sensei's who have reached a high level of skill abuse it and become proud, egoistic and sadistic.

The book skips along at a comfortable pace. The descriptions are snappy and there's alot of humour in the book. Hardly a boring moment. I also think the writer is abit siao. After his aikido course he served as a personal bodyguard, went to Spain for bullfighter training, and spent 4 months in Indonesia trying to catch the world's longest snake. It takes a certain kind of person to do this kind of stuff but, what the hell, he's also an award-winning poet? I thought poets are supposed to be wimpy.