User:Nzgerard1970/sandbox

Born in 1970 in Pukekohe, Auckland, the family then moved to Lower Hutt ,Wellington at around age 3. In 1984 he began training in Japanese martial arts under Mark Pennell of Kei Shin Kan Karate and competed in karate tournaments to Regional and National levels until 1988.

He attended Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) majoring in Japanese and Chinese languages, and here he first practiced Kendo, Yang style Tai-Chi Quan (hand and sword forms) and Bujinkan Ninjutsu. At age 20, taking a gap year from university he decided to become a specialist in Asian languages through direct experience and spent 15months living in Saitama prefecture, Japan.

Back in New Zealand once again, while working out at a local gym he was approached to do an extra role as a military policeman (MP) in the 1992 NZ movie Absent Without Leave (AWOL) with Craig McLachlan. At the end of the same year he headed back to Japan on a one-year scholarship to Osaka University of Foreign Studies, OUFS (Osaka Gai Dai) to improve his language skills and continue training in Bujinkan ninjustsu. After finishing the year in Osaka he headed to Beijing to improve his Mandarin at a small language school in Muxudi,Beijing. By the time he completed the VUW degree in Asian Languages in 1994 he had already spent over 2 years in Japan and travelled around most of Asia. He also completed a post graduate level CerTESOL and went directly to teach in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia under a government program by Yayasan Pelajaran Mara.

Still passionate to learn about Japan and Asia he returned to Japan in 1995 on a post-graduate scholarship from Japan Ministry of Education to research in Political Science. After another 6months in OUFS he went to start post grad courses at Sophia University in Tokyo and was later accepted to the PhD. program in International Relations. While a post-graduate student at university in Japan he began to work for the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) headquarters in Kasumigaseki,Tokyo, dealing with issues on international access to the Japanese market. Hecontinued working there until 2001.

Since 1995 he also became involved in the TV industry. He appeared in numerous TV shows and TV Commercials, print advertising etc. appearing on such programs as Kitano Takeshis "Koko wa hen da yo Nihonjin". He decided to postpone his career in academia after landing his first major role as Mamirov the Russian assassin in "Abunai Deka Forever:The Movie" in 1997.

His fluent Japanese opened doors for jobs as an interpreter (e.g. Interpreting for K1 Grand Prix kick-boxers) live presentation roles (e.g. Tokyo Motor Show), and work as a fixer on movie sets (e.g. MTV Road Rules)

In 2001, taking a break from a busy life in Japan he decided to move to Auckland, New Zealand and follow his deep interest in natural health and nutrition and attended colleges of Osteopathy (UNITEC) and Naturopathy (Wellpark College) where he learned over 20 kinds of natural therapies and massage techniques before deciding to focus on The Bowen Technique as his main therapy of choice. In Auckland, he first met Irmansyah Effendi in 2002 and began to first learn about Open Heart meditation.

3 years later he headed back into the hustle and bustle of Asia and spent 2 years doing a product sourcing business based in Guangzhou, China attending the major trade fairs around China and sending products to European customers.

In 2006 he returned to Tokyo and once again appeared in the movies as a Zombie in "Kisarazu Cats Eye World Series" with Chiaki Kuriyama. While working for Academy Award winning Japanese production house Robot Communications and still actively auditioning for various roles, in 2008 he was back in a larger role as Russian Mafia boss "DekaMafia" in "Sushi Prince Goes to New York" with Tsuyoshi Ihara and action scenes fighting Domoto Koichi of "Kinki Kids" boy band fame.

Soon after the release of the movie Sushi Prince (aka Sushi King) a chance to do a new business with Spain caught his attention.

He is now based on the island of Mallorca in Spain where he is a natural therapist and teaches meditation