Australian Budokan Karate

The 7th of February 1922 saw the birth of Mr. Chew Choo Soot. He started working out and lifting weights when he was 15 years old. Between 1939 and 1942, he won four national weightlifting championships for Malaysia. During the Japanese occupation of Malaya, Mr. Chew was first exposed to the martial art of karate. A Japanese military officer hired him at the time to be his personal weightlifting and fitness instructor after spotting Mr. Chew on the cover of a local magazine on physical fitness and health. The young Mr. Chew discovered the officer rehearsing maneuvers during one of the arranged visits.