FAQ for
The Karate Kid, Part II (1986) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Karate Kid, Part II can be found here.

No. The Karate Kid, Part II is a sequel to The Karate Kid (1984), which was based on a script by screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen, who also wrote the script for this movie. The Karate Kid, Part II is the second in a series of four Karate Kid movies, including The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part II, The Karate Kid, Part III (1989), and The Next Karate Kid (1994). The Karate Kid movies have no relation to the DC Comics superhero also known as "Karate Kid".

Karate Kid II immediately follows Karate Kid as evidenced by a scene where Daniel (Ralph Macchio), with his trophy in hand, and Mr Miyagi (Pat Morita) are just leaving the All-Valley Karate Tournament. They notice Cobra Kai sensei Kreese (Martin Kove) yelling at Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) for finishing second in the tournament. However, the movie then jumps six months into the future, the night of Daniel's senior prom, when Daniel learns that his mother is moving him to Fresno for two months (for her job), and his girlfriend Ali (from the first movie) has just smashed up his classic yellow car (given to him on his birthday by Mr Miyago in The Karate Kid) and informed him that she's fallen in love with some football player from UCLA.

Miyagi received a letter from Okinawa telling him that his father is very ill. Oddly enough, the letter comes from MIyagi's old girlfriend Yukie (Nobu McCarthy). Yukie was the object of a love triangle between Miyagi and his best friend Sato (Danny Kamekona), who pledged to fight Miyagi to his death. Sato is the reason Miyagi left Okinawa in the first place.

No, it was filmed in Oahu, Hawaii.

Yes. In the first movie, Miyagi tells Daniel how his wife was placed in a Japanese internment camp during WWII while Miyagi went off to the fight in the war. His wife and child died there. Yukie is apparently a flame from his younger days, before he left Okinawa to come to America.

Floating lanterns is a traditional way of honoring the dearly departed in Japan. The practice is called "Toro Nagashi," and it's typically a part of the three days of the Obon Festival. The lanterns are usually decorated with symbols, flowers, and handwritten messages for the spirits that are said to return each year at this time to visit with the living. It is not unusual, however, for families to hold their own personal ceremony at a river close to home, as it was done for Miyagi's father.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? A villager puts a pound of his carrots on Chozen (Yuji Okumoto)'s scale expecting to get 50 yen for them in return. Chozen balances the scale with a weight that reads 1 pound but actually weighs only 1/2 pound, so he has to put another light weight on the scale in order to make it balance. The carrots weigh in at two pounds, so Chozen pays out 100 yen for the villager's one pound of carrots. Not a very profitable practice on Chozen's part. What makes more sense is that the lightweights are used when Chozen turns around and SELLS those carrots to another villager. He then puts on the scale a pound of carrots for which he's going to charge the villager 100 yen. Chozen then balances the scale with that lightweight that reads one pound but actually weighs only 1/2 pound, so he has to put another lightweight on the scale in order to make it balance. The one pound of carrots is shown to weigh two pounds, so Chozen charges the villager 200 yen for them. In fact, if Chozen is really as shady as the film makes him out to be, he probably has a set of superweighted weights so that he can also cheat the villagers when he buys their produce, i.e., getting two pounds of carrots for the price of one.

Hand drum IS one of the proper names for the type of hand-held drum that Daniel used. They are also sometimes referred to as monkey drums or pellet drums. In Japan, where they are considered children's toys, they are called den-den daiko. See a photo of them here.

No. The drum technique, like the crane kick in the first movie, was made up for the film. It appears to involve a block by the leading hand and a strike from the trailing hand. As you turn to the right, for example, your right hand sweeps your opponent's hands from in front of him. Then, as you're still turning, your left hand delivers a strike which he can't defend against. Then you repeat this, turning to the left, but this time the left hand sweeps and blocks while the right hand strikes.

Yukie asks Miyagi to take her with him, but the film ends before Miyagi and Daniel fly back to California. Whether or not Yukie accompanies him must wait to be answered in The Karate Kid, Part III (1989).

Sato vows to bulldoze the village (he owns the land) unless Miyagi fights him to the death. To save the village, Miyagi agrees, on one condition -- that Sato hand over to the villagers the deed to the land. They agree to meet at midnight. Meanwhile, Daniel's new girlfriend Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) is performing a tea ceremony for him. Suddenly, a wild storm rips through the village, sending the villagers scurrying for safety. One of the houses knocked down is the one where Sato and his nephew Chozen live. Chozen stumbles out of the rubble and tells Miyagi and Daniel that his uncle is dead, but Sato can be seen lying in the rubble, his chest pinned by a large timber. Daniel and Miyagi try to remove the timber, but it is too heavy, so Miyagi breaks it with a karate chop. As they help Sato into the shelter, a little girl is heard crying. She's stuck at the top of a belltower. Sato tells Chozen to help her, but he refuses, so Daniel goes and gets her down. After the storm is over, Sato and Miyagi make peace with each other, and Sato hands over the deed to the village. Daniel requests that, since the village has been damaged by the storm, the Obon festival be held at the castle of King Shohashi, and Sato agrees. Unfortunately, Chozen still has it in for Daniel. At the Obon dance, he suddenly takes Kumiko hostage with a knife at her throat and challenges Daniel to a fight to the death. They fight on a platform surrounded by water so that no one else can interfere. As the fight proceeds, Daniel appears to be getting the worst of it until Miyagi begins to twirl his den-den daiko, as do many of the villagers. Daniel gets the message and uses the drum technique to defeat Chozen. When Daniel offers him the chance to live or die, Chozen choses to die. Instead, Daniel tweaks his nose just like Miyagi did when he got into a fight with Kreese after the All Valley tournament. Daniel and Kumiko hug, while the villagers applaud them.