The Japanese instructor who arrived in Botswana on Monday is a Kofukan seventh dan black belt and works in London as chief instructor. He visits Botswana annually to assess progress though he did not come last year due to a busy schedule. He said at a press conference on Tuesday in Gaborone that it is time to end the visits since Shito-ryu is now well-established in Botswana. Tomiyama is one of the pioneers of local karate with his participation in developing the game dating back as far as 1991. "I am very happy to be here and it is quite visible that there has been significant development in the one year I did not visit," he said. He said Botswana karate has achieved a lot over the years producing more than 50 black belts, four fourth dan black belts and one fifth dan black belt in Million Masumbika.
BKF Shito-ryu hosts competitions throughout the year. Some of the competitions attract karatekas from other styles. BKF is an affiliate of the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) and has karatekas in the junior and senior national teams. "We also have an outreach programme where we send instructors to different parts of the country to spread karate," said Masumbika, a BKF Shito-ryu chief instructor. He added that they are planning to organise an open tournament in Ghanzi later this year or early 2011 as part of the outreach programme.
