Naotaka Aoki, a black belt in tae kwon do, stands tall among his students. A few days later, he stands at ease while leading 160 service members from the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base on a recent tour of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture. Fluent in English and Japanese, he laughs quickly in every language.
Despite his current appearances, the 45-year-old Aoki was a shy child.
As a first-grader at a school in Kamakura, Aoki hovered on the outskirts among his neighborhood friends, watching silently as they played dodge ball.