Michael Hacker is a budōka, student, teacher, musician, writer, linguist, United States Air Force veteran, amateur mad philosopher, and native Iowan. He has spent the bulk of his life nerding out over language and has studied French, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, German, and a smattering of other languages in addition to Japanese. (He’s still trying to recover from the Tōhoku accent that he apparently acquired during the five years he lived in Aomori Prefecture.)
Michael spent a decade—spanning two Emperors, three U. S. Presidents, and countless hairstyles—in Japan, training in Aikidō and other martial arts (e.g., Shōrin-ryū Karate and Mugai-ryū Iai Hyōdō), studying the Japanese language and culture, and earning advanced black belts in tonkotsu ramen.
While in Japan, Michael had the fortune to share the tatami with such luminaries as Ueshiba Kisshōmaru, Ueshiba Moriteru, Shirata Rinjirō, Saitō Morihiro, Nishio Shōji, Isoyama Hiroshi, Donald Moriyama, Saitō Hitohiro, and countless others senior shihan in addition to regularly training with members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Throughout the 1990s, he spent many a day and night training, eating, conversing, and sleeping at the Iwama dōjō. In 1998, Michael relocated to Tempe, Arizona to further his studies with Jiyūshinkai founder C. E. Clark and the students of the Jiyūshinkan.
In addition to being an Honors Alumnus of the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey, CA, Michael also holds a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics from Arizona State University. He has worked as a professional linguist and translator for various companies and agencies of the U. S. government and currently teaches at Arizona State University.
Michael holds the rank of 4th dan, Jiyūshinkai, and is an instructor at the Renshinkan in Mesa, Arizona. In his spare time, he runs Talking Budo.