He surmises, “A few motorcycle riders, bartenders, editors, half-mad karateka, drunks, and writers. They are scattered all over the country, but even if he could find them, they could speak to him with no shared voice. … For half my life I have been in the university, but never of it. Never of anywhere really. Except the place I left, and that of necessity only in memory.”

Lesser-profile Olympians from the Tokyo Games like golfer Danielle Kang and karateka Sukura Kokumai spoke about their experiences with anti-Asian hate last summer.

The 32-year-old karateka collapsed to the mat in pain and was eventually taken away for medical attention.

“As a karate athlete, we’ve been doing this for the love of our sport and martial art,” said U.S. karateka Sakura Kokumai, who finished just outside of the medal places in women’s kata.

Kiyuna has dominated the kata world in recent years, the only karateka to receive a perfect score, something he did in 2019.