Mr Ronald Watt receives Japanese decoration
29th April 2010
The Japanese government announced on
the 29th of April that it has conferred the Order of the Rising
Sun, Gold and Silver Rays on Mr Ronald Watt. The award is in recognition of
his outstanding contribution to the promotion of karate and exchange and
understanding between Japan and the UK.
Mr Ronald Watt was born on the 16th
of April 1947. After completing his education at Aberdeen College, he trained
as an engineer and later became a NVQ Qualifications verifier.
He started practicing karate in 1965,
achieving the rank of black belt in 1968. In 1968 he started the Aberdeen
Shotokan Karate club, the first of many he opened throughout Scotland that had
over 1,000 members. This club would later change its name to the National
Karate Institute Scotland.
During this period he became Scottish
Open Karate Champion in 1975 and was a member of the Scottish national team
from 1974-1978. He served as coach of the British national team from
1985-1995. He contributed to the promotion of karate in the UK.
He held a number of lectures in
karate in European countries, especially in Norway in 1989. In 1990 he held
an international karate event in Aberdeen. He contributed to the promotion of
karate in Europe.
He formed the National Karate
Federation of Scotland and joined with the World Karate Confederation. He
formed the National Karate Institute Scotland in 2001 in which he is the
Director and Chief Instructor. In 2001 he organized the world karate
championship that was attended by over 1,000 karate-ka and over 2,000 persons
from 46 countries in the world.
By recognition of his contribution, he became the director of the World Karate Confederation (Shotokan) in 2005. Since 1968 he has promoted exchanges between the UK and Japan through visits of karate-ka to each other’s country and he has contributed to the promotion of exchange and understanding between the UK and Japan.
The ceremony where Mr Ronald Watt will receive
his decoration will be held at the residence of Consul General of Japan on
25th of May.