Especially when you consider
Karate is a martial art developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan.
Early life
An Okinawan Japanese immigrant to the United States, Kesuke Miyagi learned karate originally from his father, who had been a fisherman. Miyagi initially had a job working for the father of his best friend, Sato, who was also taught karate by Miyagi's father.
When Miyagi fell in love with a young woman named Yuki, who was arranged to marry Sato, Sato felt dishonored by this, and challenged Miyagi to a fight to the death. To avoid the fight, Miyagi left Okinawa and emigrated to the United States.
World War II military service
After first arriving in Los Angeles, he attended Armijo High School, which is in Fairfield, California, and then he attended the University of California Santa Barbara and was later interned in the Manzanar Japanese internment camp at the onset of World War II. During this time, Miyagi joined the U.S. Army and received the Medal of Honor (he was a member of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, one of the most highly decorated regiments in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients). While in the Army, he taught his Army commanding officer, Lt. Pierce, the art of karate.
During his service, Mrs. Miyagi and their son died in the Manzanar camp due to complications during childbirth, a loss that haunted him for decades. What Miyagi did during the time between the war and the first Karate Kid movie is not fully known. Due to the events in some of the films it is entirely possible he resorted to drink and depression.
Why it was called "The Karate Kid"? Did the film’s producers really worry that people wouldn’t go to see the film if there was no brand recognition? Didn’t they think that Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan would provide enough star power to drive ticket sales?
They should have called the 2010 film "The Kung Fu Kid" instead, or something that would at least fit its setting in China. Calling it "Karate" anything just doesn't make sense.