W T Gillespie

WT writes in the greatest city on earth, Tokyo. Born “behind the Orange Curtain” (Orange County, CA), WT was raised in the SF Bay Area until heading south to UCLA and then law school.

Along the way he has delivered newspapers, valet parked cars, worked construction and as a sous chef, drove a Coca Cola and then a Budweiser truck delivering up and down the SF peninsula, until serving as a trial lawyer, in state and federal court in California - “fighting over other people’s money”. He left the US for adventures in East Asia and writes about them.

He began MA in “Little Tokyo” in L.A. but left for big Tokyo and the Aikikai Hombu Dojo. 8 years later, he moved to London and Beijing. In China, he opened a dojo in an MMA academy which grew to 8 Chinese cities. Along with Aikido and Iaido, William has studied Judo, Brazilian Jujitusu, is a private student of Akuzawa Minoru and recently began Yagyu Shingan Ryu Jiujutsu.

Works include:

2014 - Aikido in Japan and The Way Less Traveled

2019 - Ran Network’s "The Traveler – “Find Your Way”: Interview with WT Gillespie"

2025 - Ran Network’s "Akuzawa Minoru and Aunkai: Nippon Naidō Bujutsu"

In process - “Aikido in Japan Again”

TBD - “Aikido in China – the Art of Peace in the Middle Kingdom”

2026 - Graphic Novel - [title withheld for IP security, lol]