For Sakura Kokumai to step onto the mat at the famed Nippon Budokan with a chance for a bronze medal in karate’s Olympic debut is a storybook ending of its own. Kokumai is Japanese-American, born in Hawaii, and lived most of her high school and college years in the very city where she competed Thursday for the U.S. in kata, a form demonstration event comparable to floor exercise in gymnastics. Her parents live in Okayama, an 8-hour drive west of Tokyo. For Kokumai, ranked No. 7 in the world, to reach the final six at the Olympics – there are two bronze medal matches in kata – wasn’t shocking. Rather it’s fulfilling for a 28-year-old whose parents are Japanese nationals yet identifies with a sport born in Japan (via the indigenous Ryukyu Kingdom, annexed in 1879) through her American heritage. 📷: Robert Hanashiro @kahunabert, for @usatodaysports #TokyoOlympics #karate