He was a master of karate and was trained by a dude that beat Chuck Norris in a karate tournament,
http://findingkarate.com/wordpress/tak-kubota/
"On 2 August 1964 Ed Parker’s 1st Annual International Karate Tournament was held at Long Beach, California. Kubota was invited to give a demonstration of his Karate. In the demonstration, he showed his extreme strength and conditioning. He also showed his fighting prowess when he faced three of the finalists of the black belt division, that included Chuck Norris and Tony Tulleners. In an impressive display, he fought them individually, and then all at once. He was invited to give another demonstration at Ed Parker’s tournament two years later."
Takayuki Kubota
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takayuki_Kubota.
Takayuki Kubota played his instructor in Bottle Rocket.