For our fellow Aikidokas who are fortunate enough to be able to make use of their TV sets every now and then, some of you must have noticed the recent OSIM commercial aired sometime in March 2001. It starts the Hong Kong actor Michael Wong as an Aikido master working out in his really nice dojo.

The commercial was choreographed by Philip Sensei and four out of five lucky uke-s in the commercial were students of Aikido Shinju-Kai. They were: Stanley Ang, Denny Oetomo, Tey Guan Kiat and George Wee. Others involved were instructor Kelly Tan and our photographer, Qwek Chin Ming.

There was also an Aikido demonstration at Suntec City, Singapore, in conjunction with OSIM promotional road show where Michael Wong came to promote the company's products. This was held in April and attracted a good sized crowd in the shopping mall.

The shooting of the commercial was a first for many of us and was quite a memorable experience. The dojo setting was built specially for the commercial, complete with the artificial morning sun at 30 degrees to the horizon. This artificial sun had a strange effect on our body clock as we were in the studio for two days - till about 2am, but we always felt that it was 9am in the morning. It was as if time had stood still.

Michael Wong, the man of the show, was an amazingly friendly person. Not the type that thinks that he is the great celebrity. He was a fast learner and a great person to work with. In fact, a few of us were lucky enough to have dinner with him on his return visit at Suntec City. The shooting crew were also fun people to work with and took care of us very well.

All of us involved agreed that it was a fun and memorable experience, given that it could have been the only time we would ever appear on a TV commercial. Nobody regretted taking two day leave off work for this occasion.