Hello there....
I just got the approval e-mail a short while ago, so it looks like I'm the newest Saber Guild member, joining you from Tokyo.
I've met a few of you, I believe. I work for a company you may have heard of called Kotobukiya, and when I was in New York for Toy Fair I jumped in on a class with the Empire Saber Guild. It's also possible we've met at Star Wars Celebrations...
Of course, I've been swinging around stick, toy swords, and toy lightsabers ever since I saw the first movie back in 1977 at the ripe old age of 6 or so. There is a bit more formal training in my background since then... I've done a little European fencing (foil and epee), though not as much as I'd like and a long time ago. I also have done a little bit of Kendo (which I didn't like much, I found it very restrictive) and quite a bit of training with a todou renmei group that I like a LOT better than kendo (think Iaido with more practice cutting on rolled up tatami, and the instructors are also involved in Japanese samurai films or TV dramas involving sword work, so we work on real historical techniques as well as "stage" application). Prior to moving to Japan, I trained in Tae Kwon Do (a more traditional style, not Olympic style) and bo staff (and attended a couple of escrima seminars, though I wouldn't say I'm very qualified in that). I've also sampled a couple of other Karate styles here in Japan over the past few years. Which is not to try to impress anyone with any sense of bad-assedness or anything. Note that I'm also getting older, slower, and finding my knees don't cooperate as well as they used to.
We have a small group here on the western edge of Tokyo that has been meeting to practice. We had been practicing with a group of saber aficionados, but found that they didn't meet very often (once every couple of months) and they were mostly interested in re-creating choreography from the prequels, whereas we'd like to add in creating our own fights as well. I've sort of slipped into the instructor position for our little group (that may just become a Tokyo branch of Saber Guild) and I'm teaching a mesh of historical technique, stage application, and fancy twirly not very practical stuff that makes people watching go "ooh!".