Soda Kyoko, Japanese Muslim Who Loves Indonesian Martial Arts

Soda Kyoko. Source: Radio Japan

Jakarta, MINA – Pencak Silat, Indonesian martial arts has been going global, Japan is no exception. Soda Kyoko, a Japanesse woman, continues trying to promote the traditional martial art in her country.

Even it is not as popular as Japanese martial arts, Kyoko who wears headscarf has been learning the sport since 1998.

According to her, the  current Pencak Silat athletes in Japan has reached the number of over 100  people.

“Although it is a bit difficult to promote, we continue trying to introduce Pencak Silat,”  She said.

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She continued, in her country the people who join the Pencak Silat club mostly come from Indonesia and Malaysia and Japanese who loves Indonesian cultures.

In the ongoing test event of Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta, Kyoko who is the President of Japan Pencak  Silat Asociation serves as a judge of the competition.

“We only send one athlete to compete in the upcoming Asian Games (August 2018),” she added.

She started her first training program at Tokyo Indonesian School where  she firstly fell in love with it. (L/RE1/RS5)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)