Shinohara dispatch collaborator (center left) instructing Lieutenant Piolo (center right) how to keep the distance.Instructor Iiboshi on the left is taken at the PCG base in Manila City on the 13th. (Photo by Tomoaki Takeshita)On the 13th, at the gymnasium of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Farolla Base in the metropolitan area of Manila, two coast guard experts dispatched from Japan began a suppression technique training for Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) instructors. The dispatched this time were Instructor Tomofumi Iiboshi of the Japan Coast Guard School Moji Branch (Fukuoka Prefecture) and Soichiro Shinohara dispatch collaborator of the Japan Coast Guard Mobile Corporation team. Hiroaki Onodera, Chief of the Japan Coast Guard, who has been dispatched from the Japan Coast Guard to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a long-term expert and is stationed in the Philippines, also participated. From PCG, 13 people participated, including 8 instructors who had completed the suppression technique training at the Moji Branch School. On the 13th and 15th, we will review the suppression technique, and on the 16th and 17th, under the supervision of the dispatched experts, the trainees will teach the suppression technique to the PCG members.
The Japan Coast Guard has been supporting PCG capacity building as a JICA project for more than 20 years. Since 2010, two PCG instructor candidates have been accepted each year at the Moji Branch School for about one month of training in suppression techniques, including arrest techniques. I’ve been As the number of trainees who have completed the training for a long time has increased and the need for retraining has increased, this time, for the first time, experts were dispatched to trainees who completed the training at the Moji Branch School.
On the first day, we will review the basics of arresting techniques, such as ukemi, stance, body handling, and spacing. First of all, the movements that the participants are instructing by ratio are shown, and two dispatched experts check them. Based on this, the two experts taught by showing examples such as “how to put weight on your knees when doing lateral ukemi” and “how to use shuriashi to prevent your shoulders from moving up and down”.
Second Lieutenant Rachel Piolo, who received training at the Moji Branch School last year, commented on the use of suppression techniques, saying, “Law violators are drug smugglers, and more recently, onion smugglers. They use firearms against unarmed opponents. You can’t do that, so suppression is very important,” he said.
Regarding the level of proficiency of the participants, Instructor Iiboshi and dispatched collaborator Shinohara said, “We are still at the stage of imitating the shape, about 50 to 70%. In the control technique, each movement has a purpose, so describe it in words. I want them to be able to explain,” and added, “All the participants are serious and have a fun atmosphere. This is a very important factor in completing the hard training. The future is very big.” Told.
Regarding Japanese-style suppression techniques, they said, “There are stages of suppression techniques, such as verbal suppression, suppression using arrest techniques, and suppression using weapons, but the Coast Guard only takes methods that are proportional to the opponent’s resistance and threat. No,” he introduced. Regarding “suppression that does not hurt the opponent as much as possible”, he explained that Japanese style suppression techniques based on Aikido are “very high level in the world”.
Mr. Onodera said, “If the technique of suppressing the use of weapons is inexperienced, it will start to use weapons at an early stage. It’s a basic skill that every country needs.”
Shinohara, a collaborator, said, “Marine crimes are a problem that spans multiple nationalities. From a diplomatic point of view, it is very important to suppress suspects as much as possible.”
▽ Assistant Interpreter Instructor
What caught my attention during this training was the presence of an interpreter, Reggie O’Flynn, who translated the explanations of the two dispatched experts into English and showed examples of his own techniques. While interpreting Instructor Iiboshi’s explanation, he was greeted with applause when he showed an example of how to enter into the ukemi-kamae posture.
In 1996, O’Flynn studied abroad at a language school in Japan. At that time, he entered the Aikikai founded by Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido, and learned Aikido. Since 2012, he has served as an interpreter for Japan Coast Guard dispatch cooperation projects, including suppression training.
Instructor Iiboshi said, “Thanks to Ms. O’Flynn, it was very easy to teach. Her skill level was higher than that of the participants. (Tomoaki Takeshita)
