December 19th, 1983, enough said

December 18th, 1983, eve of the All Valley

And perhaps the most awkward kiss in Hollywood history.

A tale of two storms

Typhoon Holly strikes Okinawa, August 1984


Tropical Storm Lee brushes by Okinawa, August 1985


While conducting my Karate Kid studies it has always been important to me to get a correct timeline. The key to Karate Kid's magic and some of it's mysteries is to know exactly when events took place. Of course the most important date of all when it comes to Karate Kid lore is December 19th, the day of the All Valley Tournament.
But December 19th of what year?

The movie came out in 1984. But is that when its events took place? I suppose when you sit in a theater and watch a movie that is taking place in your time period your mind tells you it is happening in real time. I'm sitting in a theater in the summer of 1984 watching the All Valley Tournament, even though it is taking place in December my mind tells me it is that December that is coming up, it is showing my future events.

Or do I sit there and think of it as events that just recently took place? I'm sitting in a theater in the summer of '84 watching the All Valley Tournament that took place December 19th, it must have been this past December, 1983.

I can see people looking at it both ways. However, we were treated to a decent sequal a couple of years later which ended any doubt of a Karate Kid timeline.

As we all remember Karate Kid 2 took place where Karate Kid 1 left off. Six months after the tournament the movie picks up with Daniel pulling into Mr. Miyagi's house with a beat up car after the senior prom, and a horrible baby blue tuxedo to boot. Mr. Miyagi later gets the letter that tells him of his father's illness in Okinawa. The rest we know, but the key is the typhoon that struck Okinawa sometime in August right around the time they were going to celebrate the Obon festival.

Therefore, if the events of Karate Kid 1 took place in 1983 there should be a typhoon that hits Okinawa in 1984. Or if the events of Karate Kid 1 took place in 1984 there should be a typhoon that hits Okinawa in 1985.

Mystery solved. Typhoon Holly hit Okinawa hard in August of 1984 with winds upwards of 80 miles an hour causing major damage and "stranding an estimated 15,000 vacationers" according to the New York Times article. Of course Mr. Miyagi and Daniel being two of them. In 1985 the only storm to hit Okinawa in August was Tropical Storm Lee which brushed by the island with only "light winds". Certainly not hard enough winds to cause the damage we saw happen in Karate Kid 2.

Wack Ass Egyptians' song Dojo

Miyagi Chojun, founder of Goju-ryu Karate

When your temper rises, lower your fists. When your fists rise, lower your temper.

San Diego Chargers #89

Have you ever wondered about the football jersey Daniel wears to the Halloween dance? At that time it would have been a Wes Chandler jersey of the San Diego Chargers.





(from Wikipedia)

Wesley Sandy "Wes" Chandler (born August 22, 1956) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons in the 1970s and 1980s. Chandler played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New Orleans Saints, the San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and holds the NFL record for most receiving yards per game in a season. After retiring as a player, Chandler has become a football coach, and most recently he was the offensive coordinator for the New York Sentinels of the United Football League (UFL).

-Professional Career-

After college, the New Orleans Saints selected Chandler in the first round (third pick overall) in the 1978 NFL Draft,[7] and he played for the Saints for four seasons from 1978 to 1981.[8] Chandler was selected to the Pro Bowl after his second season in the league after finishing with 1,069 yards and six touchdown receptions. He was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1981 to replace star receiver John Jefferson, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers after a bitter contract hold-out. He led the NFL with 1,032 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns for the strike-shortened 1982 season; his average of 129 yards receiving per game that year is still an NFL record.[9][10] Chandler completed his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1988. One of his more notable performances was in a 1981 AFC playoff game known as The Epic In Miami, where he caught six passes for 106 yards and returned a punt fifty-six yards for a touchdown in the Chargers 41–38 victory. He also caught nine passes for 124 yards in a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the following season.

Chandler retired from the NFL during the 1988 season after an eleven-year playing career. During his NFL career, he caught 559 passes for 8,966 yards and fifty-six touchdowns, rushed for eighty-four yards, returned forty-eight kickoffs for 1,048 yards, and gained 428 yards on sixty-seven punt returns.[11] Overall, he amassed 10,526 all-purpose yards.[11] At the time of his retirement, Chandler ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions. He also earned four Pro Bowl selections, including three with the San Diego Chargers.[11] In 2001, Chandler was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.