Kid Ethnic: Mixed-Race Adventures in Japan: The Young Boxers

The Young Boxers · 17 December 04

You’re a 17-year-old Japanese dude with agression to spare.

Two young boxers battle.
Boy punching bag boxers

You’ve been packed in classes all day with 40 other guys, some of them large sumo man-children.

You must relax.

So, you find some tape for your knuckles. And you find some friends.

Do you feel more or less agressive than before? Curious.

Boxer preparing to punch.
(All from the cameraphone.)

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Who can feel aggressive after kicking, punching and hitting an inanimate bag for sixty minutes? You get tired, sweat, pant, your heartbeat skyrockets, and yet the bag remains impassive, cool and collected, as if all your efforts were nothing.
Some would say that the bag doesn’t even feel your punches, so feeble they are.

The bag rocks, dude!

As an answer to your question, you leave with a sense of awe for the Supreme Zen Master, the punching Bag.
— Camilo 1241 days ago #
hello and merry sunday from the kes, nippon. ho ho ho!

anyways, i think less agressive. but why do you ask? did something happen?
— ching 1239 days ago #
Nothing happened, no. But the boxer kids just punch the hell out of each other during class. Like I have to physically put myself between them to keep them from punching each other.

I like to think aggressive sports help kids become less aggressive. Because I like aggressive sports.

But I’m not sure if they do or not.

In other news, last week I wasn’t looking and a kid got toilet papered. Yes, toilet papered. During class.

I don’t know how else to explain it: I turned around and his head was wrapped in toilet paper.
— saleem 1239 days ago #
kids can so mean to each other.

i also have a couple of students that are a pain in the arse, but they’re just foul mouthed more than anything else. the boys will do anything to shock and embarass me. they used to bring sex toys into class and this was shocking at first, but now it’s become the norm to confiscate a dildo.

at the moment they’re having a jolly good time swearing in engrish, which is pretty funny though and i know i shouldn’t be laughing sometimes, but it’s hard not to.
(btw. these students are 15 years old)

when stuff like that happens it brings you right back down to earth doesn’t it? however, no violence so far…

saleem sensei ganbatte ne : )
— ching 1239 days ago #
ended up at your website through random friend and extreme avoidance of 20 page final paper entitled “multiracialism and interesectionality at Kamehameha Schools” subtitled “educational policy in hawai`i.”

my friend was adopted from korea as a baby and is now there teaching english. her emails remind me of your posts here. stay well and write more or stop posting so i can finish my paper and get the hell out of wisconsin.

mae
— w mae 1239 days ago #
mae:
But reading this website is kind of like research into multiracialism and intersectionality, no? Surely it can be rationalized.

Ching:
Most of the discipline issues at the Ag. school are just kids reading manga and playing cards. Which means I get to walk around snatching things, and then using them in the lessons. Which is actually really fun.

No real American-style violence yet. There was a semi-vicious head-butting in class yesterday, though. It was the first thing in class that actually made me upset.

I stopped clas and walked the head-butter back to his desk. Then I made him stand there while I stared at him from about two feet away.

It was pretty weird, and I don’t know how I decided to just stare at the poor guy. But it seemed to be really effective.

The whole class just watched me stare, and no one did anything not-cool for the rest of the day.

Overall, the kids are crazy and fun. I mean, I kind of respect a kid insane enough to toilet paper his enemy’s head.
— saleem 1237 days ago #
I miss my punching bag. Of everything I left back Aussieland (with the minor exception of my girlfriend ;P ) its the thing i miss most.

Mindless agression is good for the soul. Its a channel for a release of hormones, endorphins, the mind, the body and almost any form of martial arts teaches good self dicipline and respect. Mostly because you know how hard you can hit and how hard someone can hit you back.

Seriously, I got hit at school. A lot. Its a stupid ‘Christian masculintiy’ thing where I got educated. But the good thing is, these guys got it out when they were 15,16,17 & 18, before they can do real damage. Now most of them would rather chew nails than get in a fight. Guys need a bit of aggression, I think is the way we are built.

As for me, boxing would get me peaking off endorphins for a half hour afterwards but i had nothing to target anymore. Its more the release that is found in physcial action than the actual boxing itself.

Still, its kinda fun…
— Simon 1237 days ago #

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