A book by
Robert Twigger, detailing (
warts and all) his experience training with the
tokyo riot police in their
Aikido course at
Yoshinkan Hombu dojo in
Japan.
I won't attempt to review it in detail but I found it very entertaining and personally inspiring. This is my own opinion but it seems that most of the content related criticism comes from people who are depicted in a not too flattering light in the book.
One of the things that seems to bother a lot of people about the book is the apparent disrespect the author showed at the announcement of the founders death while he was training there. The context wherein this is mentioned makes it clear that he was realy just elated that they might get a week or so off from practice.
The cultural insights the author gives on Japan are once again in his warts-and-all style and clearly shows a side of Japan that does not often come up in travel brochures.
The descriptions the author offers of the "hard men" of Aikido, the teachers and old students are at once inspiring and insightful. One of the names that comes up a lot is Robert Mustard, a western teacher employed at the time of the book at Yoshinkan Hombu who currently lives and teaches Aikido in Canada.
Taking it for granted that the author might have taken some creative liberties with the content, it still manages to be a damn good story