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Ken Yasuda was born in the ancient Japanese city, Kyoto. As a son of a samurai family whose history goes back 46 generations, he was destined to inherit the mentality of samurai, Bushido, and Jingi. This inherited mentality of samurai led Ken to become an honorable human being with integrity, strong determination, self-confidence, and courage. This young samurai has excelled in martial arts by receiving the first black belt at the age of twelve. In addition, his natural talent in swimming led him to mark the qualifying record for Junior Olympics. Shining in these activities helped him gain self-confidence significantly.At the age of twelve, he decided that he wanted to become a major league baseball player one day. After going through difficult and competitive entrance exams to get into high school, he felt that it was the right time to go to the United States to achieve his baseball dream.At the age of seventeen, he left his home alone for the US, in pursuit of his dream. In high school in Seattle and Salt Lake City, he proved his skills, talent and efforts in baseball, swimming and academics. Ken stood out not only as an All State Baseball Player and All State Swimmer, but also as an honor roll student with a good artistic sense. Most likely, the artistic sense and creativity were inherited from his father who is an award wining kimono designer in the city of Kyoto.Although he excelled in the sport of baseball in college, he injured his elbow which halted his throwing ability. After going through the extreme depression of losing the only dream he ever had, he came back stronger and more powerful than even imaginable. He was once again a hungry wolf . This was the beginning of his legendary physique.As the top and biggest bodybuilder from Japan, Ken is the first natural Musclemania professional bodybuilder who weighs 210 pounds at 3% body fat on a competition day. His strengths are his symmetry and proportion, which are extremely rare especially among Asians. Ken has appeared on the cover of Ironman Magazine Japan several times, and his photos are often seen in numerous magazines such as Ironman USA, Musclemag, Planet Muscle, and many more. He is well known in the industry of fitness, bodybuilding, pro-wrestling, and fighting in Japan. In Ironman Japan, he also has a talk column, which has been educating, motivating and attracting more readers consistently. Due to his status and recognition of being an international man in Japan, he often holds seminars and appears on TV shows frequently.Ken has appeared in numerous TV shows and films in Japan and some in the US. He presents himself not as a big muscle guy, but more like a superhero with a sweet mask. In other words, audiences and fans look at him as a muscleman with GQ looks and intelligence. This is also becoming more evident in the US as well. At this point, society has never seen an Asian version of Sly Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger although there have been several Asian action stars in Hollywood. Ken Yasuda plans to change all of that. He has acted in several films and some of which he even performed as a martial arts stunt fighter. He aims to be able to act in films with his unique looks and persona by playing characters, which possibly change the typical or traditional image of Asians in general.Ken has been recognized for training and advising numerous athletes, models and many others. Some of the athletes Ken has worked with are: Ichiro (Seattle Mariners), Great Muta (pro-wrestler), Aki Takamura (pro-golfer), Don Frye (Ultimate Ultimate Fight Champion), and the list keeps growing. In addition, he also offers instruction and training on body-shaping for men and women to achieve their ideal body.In the end Ken Yasuda aims to become a person who can positively influence people, society, and different cultures or ethnic backgrounds through the sport of bodybuilding, films, seminars and charity events. He is quoted as saying “Everything I do in my life has to be meaningful. It has to give people hope and motivation, demonstrate morals and show the way of becoming an honorable human being. It is easy to waste your life just by making excuses and living everyday unproductively. One must listen to his/her heart and find out what he/she wants in life. Focus on it, then, one will feel that life is full of excitement.â€
