<p>I am a native German, but I came 45 years ago at the age of 22, to Japan driven by the idea I HAVE to learn the Japanese way of archery, called kyudo. Originally I planned to stay 6 months practicing kyudo and then be on my way through South East Asia, later traveling via Australia to San Francisco and be back in Germany after one year.</p><p>However, shortly after arrival I met a certain Buddhist priest about my kyudo practice and immediately followed the priest's advice to stay longer – if I really want to learn kyudo.</p><p>Later I realized, I had to make a living somehow and decided to enroll in a vocational school for acupuncture and moxibustion.</p><p>After obtaining my three licenses (acupuncture, moxibustion, shiatsu & massage) I began working=studying in a general hospital.</p><p>Today I can look back on about 38 years of clinical practice and 29 years running my own little clinic as one of VERY few western foreigners in Japan to do so.</p><p>For the most part of my clinical activity I earned our living through translation. Recently I actually translated the autobiography of aforementioned priest.</p><p>Technological progress has contributed to manual translation becoming obsolete, so maybe I will try and write one or two more books – hoping for the best.</p>
