Shintaro Higashi Details Judo’s Branding Problem
Shintaro Higashi is a high-level Judoka with one of the most popular Judo/grappling YouTube channels. He is one of the top ambassadors for Judo and he has been vocal about the issue surrounding its branding.
Recently on his channel, Higashi addressed the three biggest issues that he feels are hindering the expansion of Judo in the United States.
- Education
- Bad Marketing
- Perception Of Danger
The first issue that Higashi brought up is that Judokas in the US are not doing a good enough job educating the public about Judo. Most Americans have no idea what is taught in Judo and put it in the same category as Karate.
The second issue that Shintaro brings up is the poor marketing for Judo in the US. Jiu-jitsu gyms in the US are beating Judo schools a hundred fold.
In any major American city, there are multiple known BJJ academies, while you can probably count on one hand how many Judo schools each city has.
“If you go to any town in the United States now you can see Jiu-Jitsu is very accessible. It’s not the same with Judo.”- Shintaro Higashi.
The third issue that Higashi feels Judo has is with the perception Jiu-Jitsu guys have of the martial art. Many Jiu-Jitsu practitioners who don’t practice Judo often stay away due to a perceived fear that the training is dangerous. They don’t want to get injured from a hard throw.
Higashi’s Two-Step Solution
While these are big issues, Shintaro Higashi feels that there’s an easy fix to help Judo improve. First, he feels that Judo school owners must make the training easier and safer to create a safer training environment.
By doing this, Judo school owners will actively counter the negative perception that Judo has among potential students who already participate in other forms of grappling, like Jiu-Jitsu.
This would not only help build more Judo schools/classes in the US, but also improve the skills of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners. It’s a sad fact, but many Jiu-Jitsu athletes are terrible with standing techniques.
Everything from their posture, gripping, and stances are less than sub-par. If they’re encouraged to train more Judo techniques, they will become more well-rounded grapplers.
In Higashi’s opinion, addressing these two problems will improve Judo’s branding and help them reach more potential students.
Check out Shintaro Higashi’s full video below.
Bobby is martial artist for almost 20 years with a BJJ black belt under Professor Sergio Miranda. He is also a karate black and former combat sports athlete, who loves all things grappling.