Akemi Chinen Nix was born on July 12th, 1956 in the Gushikawa area of Okinawa, Japan. In 1979 she met Airman Ron Nix at a karate tournament on Kadena Air Base and the following year they were married. Akemi spent several years in the United States, living in Texas and Florida while Ron continued his service in the U.S. Air Force.
In 1984 the Nix family returned back to Okinawa. Soon after, Akemi began her Martial Arts training under Sensei Toma and continued to train at Toma’s Dojo in Okinawa until returning back to the United States in 1992. Her training was occasionally interrupted by the realities of motherhood, but beginning in 1997 Akemi has been able to focus uninterrupted on advancing in her karate knowledge and skills, as well as teaching students at Nix Seidokan Dojo five days a week. Sensei Toma promoted Akemi to Godan in October 2007.
In 1998, Akemi created Nix Hamaya Daiko, an Okinawan style taiko drum group that includes many of the same families who train at Nix Seidokan Dojo. Like the dojo, Nix Hamaya is a family effort. The group has performed at events large and small throughout Okinawa, as well as at the 2008 Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival and at Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. More often than not, the taiko performances include karate demonstrations that feature both hand and weapons kata.
Not only has Akemi taken care of the business end of Nix Seidokan Dojo since its inception in 1997, she has also assisted Sensei Toma over the past decade by hand lettering the names and ranks on all promotion certificates sent to his students worldwide. Her ability to speak both English and Japanese fluently, along with her deep understanding of Okinawan culture and the history of Seidokan, place Akemi in a unique position to explain the traditions of Okinawa to Americans. Akemi looks forward to the new Ryukoku Seidokan Karate Kobudo Renmei as an avenue in which to spread the wisdom of Okinawan heritage throughout the world.