Given that most martial arts have origins in China, Japan, or Korea, the practitioners of the particular arts often not only wish to know much about their art’s of origin, but many choose to travel to the originating country to study. Organized trips to the origin-land are often advertised in the major martial arts publications.
Do the travelers most often get what they expected out these oversees trips and study? Some do, but many do not. It often depends on what the expectations of the individual taking the trip were.
If the martial artist wishes to see the culture of their art’s origin, to know and understand the many activities and traditions that are part of their martial art, then they are likely to think of the trip as worthwhile.
Often times, those making this type of trip have a belief that going to the foreign country is going to bring a much more significant level of training or experience than they have received in the US. These people may be disappointed, highly depending on where they go, and exactly who they train with.
Martial arts practice has been ongoing in the US for 40 to 50 years. Sometime the instructors here are better or more experienced than the overseas instructors, and sometimes not.
The traveler often has an expectation of training with Super-Grand-Masters who know the art and teaching methods better than anyone, and with a set of completely disciplined and professional students. They might imagine training in Zen gardens, using nothing but 100s of year old traditional training methods.
Often, however, they might find overcrowded studios in major urban areas, with instructors of various rankings and years of experience. Cultural and language barriers may prevent effective communication and understanding among the traveler and his host foreign instructor. Culture shock (being surprised at the customs of a foreign place) often also detracts from the traveler’s experience.
Sometimes the traveler is shocked as they may find the traditions of their art, such as not washing your belt, not letting it touch the floor, and always folder you uniform in an exact fashion, are not actually practiced in the foreign studio that they visit.
Sometimes the travelers main purpose was to just experience training in the origin country, or have their rank certified by a oversees organization, such as the Japan Karate Association (JKA), or the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF) Kukkiwon. These persons would generally have received want they wanted out of the trip.
The financial costs of the trip, which can be significant, also are weighed in the traveler’s satisfaction level, after the experience is over. Many spend a great amount of their assets or modify their lives in order to make these trips possible. If the traveler did not get what they expected, there are not likely to believe the trip was worth the cost.