What the Average Japanese thinks

I was asking one of the Japanese I work with some questions about Kyuodo, and martial arts in general. I told them that I was taking Aikido downtown, and he started laughing... which made me a bit mad... they said that Aikido wasn't very popular in Japan. That Judo & Kendo was the most popular. I'm not sure why they were laughing. oh well... Aikido is popular with me. That's all that matters.