Sitting down with a renaissance samurai episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 14, 2026 · 1H 41M

Sitting down with a renaissance samurai

from Unpacking Japan · host Produced by ZenStudio

Meet William Reed, also known as the renaissance samurai. He sits down to talk us about moving to Japan in the 1970s, his lifelong practice of martial arts and calligraphy, and his passion for teaching Namba, the samurai walk. 0:00 Intro0:44 Meet Will5:15 Discovering aikido9:06 Homestay in Japan13:17 Tokyo in 197217:38 Deciding to come back to Japan21:46 Returning in the 80s24:10 Practice of martial arts33:00 Key martial arts teachings44:33 Finding balance with Namba56:28 How Namba walking is different1:00:05 How this is relevant today1:09:56 Studying calligraphy1:17:49 What is good calligraphy?1:25:22 The importance of a signature1:34:11 Looking back--Follow William:https://www.samurai-walk.com/https://www.instagram.com/showmeshodo/https://x.com/william_reedhttps://www.facebook.com/will.reedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/taproot55Follow us:https://unpacking.jp/https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapanhttps://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapanhttps://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshortshttps://www.x.com/unpacking_japanhttps://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/unpackingjapanSubscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

Meet William Reed, also known as the renaissance samurai. He sits down to talk us about moving to Japan in the 1970s, his lifelong practice of martial arts and calligraphy, and his passion for teaching Namba, the samurai walk. 0:00 Intro0:44 Meet Will5:15 Discovering aikido9:06 Homestay in Japan13:17 Tokyo in 197217:38 Deciding to come back to Japan21:46 Returning in the 80s24:10 Practice of martial arts33:00 Key martial arts teachings44:33 Finding balance with Namba56:28 How Namba walking is different1:00:05 How this is relevant today1:09:56 Studying calligraphy1:17:49 What is good calligraphy?1:25:22 The importance of a signature1:34:11 Looking back--Follow William:https://www.samurai-walk.com/https://www.instagram.com/showmeshodo/https://x.com/william_reedhttps://www.facebook.com/will.reedhttps://www.youtube.com/user/taproot55Follow us:https://unpacking.jp/https://www.instagram.com/unpacking_japanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@unpackingjapanhttps://www.facebook.com/unpackingjapanhttps://www.youtube.com/@unpackingjapanshortshttps://www.x.com/unpacking_japanhttps://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/unpackingjapanSubscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/

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Sitting down with a renaissance samurai

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This episode is 1 hour and 41 minutes long.

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This episode was published on April 14, 2026.

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Meet William Reed, also known as the renaissance samurai. He sits down to talk us about moving to Japan in the 1970s, his lifelong practice of martial arts and calligraphy, and his passion for teaching Namba, the samurai walk. 0:00 Intro0:44 Meet...

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