Word: ishii
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There are people who attend karate exhibitions to marvel at the discipline and focus that the sport demands of its participants, and the ritualism that evokes hundreds of years of history. Then there is karate master Kazuyoshi Ishii, who just likes watching people get their teeth knocked...
...Ishii created the K-1 Grand Prix, an ultimate fighting tournament in which expert practitioners of such disciplines as karate, kick boxing, kung fu, kempo, kakutogi and tae kwon do duke it out to determine which "K" martial art reigns supreme. It's a lot like Iron Chef, with humans taking the pounding as opposed to the veal cutlets...
...founder of the famed Seido Kaikan karate school in Osaka, Japan, Ishii, 48, has respect for the aesthetic and ascetic virtues of the martial arts. It's just that he prefers the martial to the arts, and he believes spectators do too. "To increase the popularity and visibility of karate, we need to professionalize it as part of an entertaining fighting sport," he says. "I want to make K-1 as popular worldwide as F1 [Formula...
...promoter Ishii puts Don King to shame, selling out every event he has ever held, including last year's championship in the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome. In Japan, K-1 fighters like world champion Ernest Hoost, a 6-ft. 5-in., 220-lb. Muay Thai kick-boxing expert from Holland, enjoy rock-star status. The sport is also gaining audiences in Europe and in the U.S. A recent event at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas kept Ishii's sellout streak alive, and a new PlayStation game is bound to hook any American kid who just might...
...Peer, Belgium, after a recent long-haul flight. "It's the cocktail of ingredients," says David Dison, 46, a South African lawyer and frequent traveler. "The cabin pressure, the lack of legroom, the lack of air." But airlines' attempts to share blame with passengers may hold some water. Ishii says she knows she should have walked around, but stayed in her seat so as not to disturb her husband and his neighbor. And some passengers' behavior may expose us all. Briton Judith Wilson says she recently boarded a flight to South Africa, armed with eucalyptus drops and decongestant tablets...