Visitors to Hakone last autumn are most probably still talking about it. How they were in a cable car and saw a Japanese man in another car, traveling in the opposite direction, standing on his head and swiveling his hips 180 degrees with legs splayed open.
Except he wasn't Japanese, but rather Michael Ho, a Singaporean-born Chinese-British citizen. He is amazingly flexible because he exercises daily, still putting himself through the rigorous regime that made him a top dancer in the U.K.
Michael just spent a year as principal ballet teacher at Showa Academia Musicae in Shin-Yurigaoka. "I was contracted for two years but they reneged on me. The atmosphere changed from the South Pole to the North Pole and I still haven't a clue why. All I know is school officials homed in on my private life, invading both my privacy and the good name and character of Japanese hospitality."