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Rika Usami

Beautiful, ferocious karate champion Rika Usami wants you to eat your mushrooms in new commercial

I like to think of myself as having developed a pretty broad palate, what with the fact that I’ll happily choose to eat things such as cod roe, lotus root, and chicken tail. Still, there are a couple of culinary challenges I can’t overcome, and perhaps my greatest dinner plate foes are mushrooms. I mean, I know they’re good for you and all that, but seriously, they’re fungi, right?

Here with a counterpoint is karate word champion Rika Usami, and the ferociously awesome commercial she made in her new role as mushroom spokes-martial artist.

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The amazing skills of World Karate Kata Champion Rika Usami 【Videos】

Tokyo-born Rika Usami began her karate career at just 10 years old when she joined a local dojo. Progressing through a number of minor competitions during her teenage years, she soon began winning medals in tournaments in multiple countries, ultimately becoming one of the most well-known female karateka in the world and officially recognised as female kata world champion.

When it comes to kata – the performance of choreographed routines intended to demonstrate proficiency in the execution of learned movements – Rika is simply unmatched, and is admired the world over for her dazzling skills. As you can see in the following video taken during her performance at the 21st WKF World Karate Championships in France last year, her movements are fast, powerful and starlingly accurate.

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