In an age when the next new thing always seems so much better than the current one, some sports administrators in Japan have started looking back to traditional Japanese activities and adapting and modernizing them into new fitness regimes. Discipline, often with religious undertones, is an integral aspect of many Japanese sports, but this supposedly outdated value is being replaced with a more bedazzling buzz word: "contemporary."
A cut above
There are few personal fitness exercise regimes influenced by East Asian culture, something that personal trainer Kiyotaka Hanazawa realized when he created shindo — an aerobic routine with its roots in kendo. At his studio in Tokyo, Hanazawa points out that many personal training routines, like the recent weightlifting fad, have Western roots, but Japanese sports, he says, can be just as beneficial, popular and easy to learn.