{"id":2338,"date":"2021-04-19T15:03:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T22:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seniors.nikkeiplace.org\/?p=2338"},"modified":"2025-08-13T10:52:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T17:52:37","slug":"meet-eiji-who-is-keeping-up-the-good-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seniors.nikkeiplace.org\/ja\/2021\/04\/19\/meet-eiji-who-is-keeping-up-the-good-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Eiji Yoshikawa, who is keeping up the good fight!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Volunteer Spotlight<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Eiji is 60 years young. <\/strong>He was born in Japan in Shikoku, and grew up in a Buddhist temple since his grandpa was a monk. He spent his youth like a monkey, playing in the fields, rivers, mountains, and seas for 20 hours per day. He has also lived in Tokyo, and majored in French Literature at Chuo University in Tokyo.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never listened to adults around me but did listen to Chaplin, Visconti, Fellini, Carne, Picasso, Vivaldi, Bizet, Beethoven, Renoir\u2026 those top filmmakers, painters, composers, etc., who were the \u201creal deals\u201d to this wild kid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since 1980, Eiji has been a professional boxer<\/strong>, and is still fighting for charities<\/strong>. He didn\u2019t marry until he was 45, spending much of his time training boxing champions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI flew probably 800 times through the world and it taught me so much\u201d, he says.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Eiji has coached not only world champions but also anyone wishing to learn from him, as boxing is a learning tool to be a better person in endless and diverse ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Nimi Nikkei Home (before Corona), you could find Eiji in the Kenko Wellness Lounge teaching seniors how to box<\/strong> in the \u201cOutfight Parkinson\u201d <\/strong>program. When the gloves were off, he also helped copywrite Japanese for the website, and make posters. In his role as Volunteer Coordinator, he would help find volunteers, and organize volunteer appreciation events such as movie shows, boxing classes, boxing shows at the Dojo, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re wondering how Eiji first got involved at Nikkei Place, this is how the story goes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a boxing class called MamaFight in North Vancouver. One night, a lady came to watch the class. Afterward, she said \u201cI\u2019m starting a class for seniors with Parkinson\u2019s disease and I need to learn boxing first myself\u201d. I said \u201cI\u2019ll come tomorrow\u201d and I did. Ever since, years of miracle-making class where the \u201cincurable disease\u201d has been proven not incurable. When I heard \u201cParkinson\u2019s disease\u201d, there was no second to wait.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When we asked Eiji why it was important to him to volunteer at Nikkei Place, he summed it up by quoting Mother Thersa – \u201cA life not lived for others is not a life\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time Eiji ran the \u201cOutfight Parkinson\u201d <\/strong>boxing class, he remembered that the seniors looked rather quiet and unsure. However, soon they were laughing out loud with other participants even about the disease and telling new participants \u201cDon\u2019t listen to those bad doctors. Just come here and punch! You\u2019ll be fine, I guarantee!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest surprising moment that came from volunteering with Nimi Nikkei Home happened to Eiji in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found myself fighting again in the ring at age 59 against the 27-year-old Canadian National Champion 3 times within a year just to inspire the seniors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard not to be inspired <\/strong>by Eiji\u2019s enthusiasm and zest for life. We are so happy and appreciative<\/strong> of all the wonderful things he brings to Nimi Nikkei Home – positivity, inspiration, and smiles on seniors’ faces.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we asked Eiji why it was important to him to volunteer at Nikkei Place, he summed it up by quoting Mother Thersa – \u201cA life not lived for others is not a life\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[163,161,162,166,164,165,160],"class_list":["post-2338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-boxing","tag-eiji","tag-eiji-yoshikawa","tag-inspire","tag-outfight-parkinson","tag-teacher","tag-volunteer"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet Eiji Yoshikawa, who is keeping up the good fight! - Nikkei Place Seniors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seniors.nikkeiplace.org\/ja\/2021\/04\/19\/meet-eiji-who-is-keeping-up-the-good-fight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ja_JP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Eiji Yoshikawa, who is keeping up the good fight! 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