Kenneth Salazar one of the founder of Society Aikido Yoshinkai talk about his history and the status of Yoshinkan Aikido in the Philippines...

I have never been a part of Hombu Dojo because I started my Yoshinkan Aikido training under Takeno Takafumi sensei at the Yamanashi Yoshinkan Nov.1991... it was winter when I first set foot at the Kofu City dojo.About 3 years before that I was a karate student of Hayashi sensei of Seishinkan Karate Dojo at Naoetsu City Niigata Prefecture from summer of 1989 to Autumn of 1991.Seishinkan Karate follows the style and teachings of Kyokushikai Karate but later on I swerved into the wisdoms of Shotokan Karate under Kanazawa Hirokazu sensei.Yoshinkan Aikido attracted me with firm resolved that I would continue to train as long as I could not on the popular notion of seeking an outright rank.It took me 3 and a half years before I convinced myself to take a shodan test under Takeno Takafumi sensei,my uke during that Shodan Shinsa was a student from Bukyoo Daigaku.. it was a religious school..monks and outside Yamanashi prefecture it was in Kyoto Bukyoo Daigaku you can find the best Yoshinkan Aikido club, I'm sorry but that was what I believed...

Yamanashi gakuin dai yoshinkan aikido club was another one but since it was only about a kilometer away from Yamanashi Yoshinkan Dojo..it was considered a part of yamanashi yoshinkan.Most of the guys who won the competition during the yearly embutaikai were students from Yamanashi Gakuin Dai and Kyoto Bukyoo Daigaku.My uke was from that Yoshinkan Aikido Club in Kyoto and it was Tokukura san who was paired with me during my Shodan test.Tokukura san is now teaching at his own dojo at Mie prefecture..he was a full time monk now. Since many guys from senshusei class used to visit Yamanashi Yoshinkan dojo I met all those great guys from the first senshusei class like the terminator Roland Thompson..Jacques Payet..John Coffey..Geordan Reynolds..Mike Mello..John korrapatnick..Sylvia Kerry..Pamela Hunt and the connecting batch of Paul Steven ..and his group followed by new generation of senshusei and that includes Romeo Ballares and his groups. I met Romeo Ballares by phone first because I read a story about him in one of the circulating Philippines Newspaper here in Japan ...

it was summer of 2000 then we finally met in person during the yearly Embutaikai at Komazawa Daigaku in Tokyo it was summer of 2001 just some 15 days after the terrorist attack in New york City and I abled to see Mr. Donnie Azarcon who was among the Kihon Waza contestant which was design for Kyu level he was wearing white belt... I remember he gave me a roll of film for my camera and that was the last time I saw Donnie.Six years before that we used to share everything from bedroom to the last bottle of beer but as luck would have it we went different direction..we parted. We used to quarrel a lot too but that was normal among brothers. It was unfortunate that they never able to participates at the Senshusei training because of so many this and that but its fair to say the fact that ...

it was me who brought the Azarcon brothers in yamanashi. The idea was to find a job so they could sustain their basic needs like a place to live and so on. It took Donnie years before he showed up at the Yamanashi Yoshinkan and that was 2001. I tried to introduced Donnie to Romeo but Donnie refused ... For what reason I would rather not say a word about it to protect his dignity. This is just a sample of an aikido Journey that really took place and not like those fairy tales stories of Yoshinkan aikido in the Middle East.Romeo was an uke of Shioda sensei during the 2001 embutaikai... it was memorable to me because I was just an audience that time and Donnie was on a the line up of Yamanashi Yoshinkan team aspiring to win the kihon waza... Where in 1994 I was also on the same line up but I did able to proceed to the next level until the last 16... Donnie did not even made it to the next level but there was no big deal about it at least Donnie was a part of the 2001 Embutaikai where he did participates at kihon waza competition while Romeo was an Uke of Shioda Yasuhisa sensei. At that time I was with my teacher and buddies from YMCA Yokohama but I did not participate.

I hope those guys who did really took a Shodan test and making so much noise about it is... I suggest tell us your story ... We don't have to quarrel guys because of who is fake and who are the real ones.. In less than a year we will be in Philippines for a full blast operation of Yoshinkan Aikido Philippines..with Romeo at the forefront while I will be watching his back so those guys who might be willing to forget the past lets join us together..and build our Rome in Philippines.