Angry White Pyjamas Robert Twigger This book caught my eye for two reasons, firstly it is about Aikido, a martial art that I practised for nine years (but gave up about 12 years ago) and secondly because it is about an English guy living and working in Japan. My wife read the book first and gave it to me saying, "I hope you get on better with this than I did, it was all a bit dull". Was she right? This is an autobiographical account of 'Twigger' who was living in Tokyo during the 90's, teaching English in a school and sharing an apartment with a couple of friends. One day he wakes up (not literally) to the fact that ...  Read the complete review

Possibly the best book about martial arts ever written. Now when I say that don't misunderstand me, you can't learn any martial art from this book. It is the story of an Oxford poet living in Japan, who realises his life isn't really going anywhere and in an attempt to do something about this sets himself the challenge of completing the Toyko Riot Polic Aikido course, 1 year of high intensity training under merciless and sadistic teachers including some of the finest aikido practioners in the world. The book works so well simply because of Robert Twiggers honesty, you can really feel the emotions he expresses and (especially if you have done ...  Read the complete review

Angry White Pyjamas is a really unusual book. It is well worth a read if you want to try something a bit different. It is classed as a travel book. It is set in Japan. The author is a poet from Oxford who is in Japan teaching English. He decides to learn martial arts. Not any martial art but the toughest kind there is. He signs up for a course that the police do. He finds it really difficult and the book details his classes and how he feels about them. On the face of it, this is a book about martial arts and if you are interested in this field, you will enjoy the book. However, it also gives lots of information about life in modern Japan. ...  Read the complete review