Mr. Joe Okada, born in 1929, is the only living Samurai in the 21st century. He preserves the Samurai tradition by performing his swordsmanship exhibition around the world, and has appeared approximately 60 times on TV, including the ABC Morning Show and the NBC David Letterman Show in the U.S.
On the other hand, in his daily life, Mr. Okada is a professional interpreter and a guide qualified by the Japanese government. He passed the very tough national examination whose pass rate was as low as 2% at the time. He is also an entrepreneur having started his own travel company in 1968, and has entertained 130,000 guests with his unique tours and another 140,000 by his Samurai show.
Imagine how challenging these tasks were for him: Japanese people had been strictly forbidden to speak English during the last World War, and he spent his junior high school life as a mobilized factory worker making propellers for “zero” fighter planes. He additionally received training to be a kamikaze pilot, resulting in only two years limited experience of English education at school.
As a Samurai, he has fought numerous times in his past life, but has not cut a single human being or animal with his sword. However, he has fought against almost everything - but what he has fought for? It was against former bureaucratic regulations trying to block his business, tough competition with huge enterprises copying his epoch-making ideas without his permission, and against rising yen beating rising sun in the early 1990s, just to name a few.
Eight years ago, Mr. Okada was invited as the first Samurai to visit an Aegis warship of the Self Defense Force. On the deck equipped with cutting-edge missile launchers and fire arms, he told the captain “I wish a sword will always be kept in its scabbard.” His remarks remind me of the legendary swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto, from the 16th century. It is said that Musashi had a philosophy believing that strong Samurai could win a series of victories even crossing swords with 100 enemies, but a truly strong Samurai was a man who did not have to use his sword even on a single occasion.
Mr. Joe Okada’s sword can instead cut apples in mid air and his achievement was once registered in the Guinness Book of World Records. Now he is ready to teach his secret technique for those who wish to learn.