Chiba Sensei continually felt isolated by both the cultural separation and the growing political one and despite Mr Logan’s effort’s, their relationship continued to grow cold. As a result, Mr Logan suggested Chiba Sensei invite his wife Mitsuko to the UK. Chiba Sensei refused this offer since he wished to follow the terms of the contract as written, regardless Mr Logan booked her a flight to London for sometime in September 1966.
Realizing that he no longer could object, Chiba Sensei felt that despite the problems associated with Mrs Chiba’s untimely arrival, her coming might help open up the stagnant situation.
As tensions escalated Mr Logan and Chiba Sensei had a destructive argument frustrated by the language barrier and terminated in Chiba Sensei shouting ‘Get out of here!’ to which Mr Logan quite logically insisted that Chiba Sensei leave his house. Mr Logan procured him an apartment and he moved out, on the first opportunity he wrote to Mrs Chiba telling her that she must not come and should wait for a letter from him.
However, he was still poor and unable to teach Aikido and therefore, increasingly restless and with a longing for the city, he decided to go to London where the vice president of the BJC, Mr Otani, put him up in his house in Acton in a room once occupied by Kenshiro Abbe.
After returning to his lodgings one afternoon he received a phone-call from Mr Otani informing him that London Heathrow had called to say that Mrs Chiba had arrived. Considering that he had sent a telegram telling her not to come and knowing that Mr Logan had cancelled her flights after their dispute, the news came as a surprise. When he met her at the airport and asked her if she had received the note or had had problems getting on the flight she answered ‘no’ to both questions.
To be continued…
