Motegi

I suppose this post has very little to do with life in Japan, although the events in it did take place here. Plus, it happened while I was living here, which should, technically be enough, right? ^_^

Many of you know I like motorcycles, some of you know I follow MotoGP. Well, I follow it on and off anyway, I may not watch every race but I certainly make sure to see who ends up the champ in the end. And this year, one of my favorite riders won the championship, by winning the Japanese Grand Prix. The Japanese Grand Prix, at the track in Motegi, in Tochigi Prefecture.

And the winner this year? After an amazing sweep from 2001-2005, a loss to Nicky Hayden in 2006 and then Casey Stoner in 2007, Valentino Rossi finally made it back to number 1 ^_^

GoGo! Dragons

Apparently, I've never really described where, exactly, Takayama is in Japan. Most of you probably know that it is in the northern part of Gifu Prefecture, but where is Gifu Prefecture?

To answer this, let me first explain that Japan is made (predominantly) of 4 islands, Hokkaido in the north, the elbow-shaped Honshu, the much smaller Shikoku, which sits south of the western part of Honshu, and Kyushu, the furthest to the south and west. Of course there are many smaller islands as well, including the Okinawan chain, but for all intents and purposes, Japan is made of 4 main islands.

Honshu is the largest of the 4 islands, and according to wikipedia,
is roughly 1,300 km long and ranges from 50 to 230 km wide, and its total area is 230,500 km², 61% of the total area of Japan. It is larger than the island of Great Britain, and slightly larger than the state of Minnesota....
The island is nominally divided into five regions and contains 34 prefectures, including metropolitan Tokyo. The regions are Chūgoku (western), Kansai (southern, east of Chūgoku), Chūbu (central), Kantō (eastern), and Tōhoku (northern). (link)

Gifu Prefecture is located in the Chubu region, right in the center of Honshu. The light blue part of this map.

If we blow that map up to only look at the Chubu region, Gifu Prefecture is the one labeled "21", right next to Nagano (#20)

Gifu Prefecture is then further divided into several regions (like the Hida region, the northern most part of Gifu Prefecture, where Takayama is) and large cities like Takayama and Gero. Three years ago, nine towns and villages near the old city of Takayama merged to become the Takayama of today. This expansion effectively made it the largest city in Japan by surface area at 2,177.67 km² (840.80 sq mi). (link) The city takes up more than half of the entire Hida region, and is shown as the dark green section on this map of Gifu Prefecture:


Now that we all know where Takayama is, let me get on to the main topic of this post, baseball ^_^ Many of you know that I am a baseball person. In the US I always went to see the Rockies play in the summer, and here in Japan I often practice after school with the team at KJH, and I go to see most of the tournament games played by MJH. In fact, MJH just won the second round of the fall tournament and will be heading off to the finals this weekend (yeay). Anyway, one of my English teachers is also a big fan of baseball, and last month I begged him to take me to a Japanese pro game.

The closest team to Takayama, in fact the only team in the Chubu region, (and therefore my default favorite team in Japan) is located in Nagoya City, part of Aichi Prefecture. The Chunichi Dragons.

Last year they won the Japanese version of the World Series, the Japan Series, (yeay! at least one of my teams could do it! -_^), and even more impressively, they were the team featured in the 1992 movie Mr. Baseball.

At the end of August, thanks to my awesome JTE and his wife

we got to see them play the Hiroshima Carp at the Nagoya Dome. It was the first time I've ever been to a game in a dome before, seeing as Coors Field is an open-air stadium.

The inside of the dome looks pretty much the same as any baseball stadium, with the exception of an almost entirely astroturf infield and an abundance of Japanese writing everywhere. Except when writing cool stuff like "GoGo! Dragons" on the big screen (10 points if that made you think of Inspector Gadget ^_^)



The game itself was the same as games at home. What makes Japanese baseball really interesting is the differences you see in the crowd. Like the lack of peanut shells (or anything else for that matter) littering the floor. Or how instead of nachos you can buy a bento to eat at your seat

Probably the most interesting aspect of the Japanese baseball game is the oendan or "cheering squad", who sit together in designated "cheering" sections with taiko drums and noise makers and horns and huge flags to cheer their team on. According to my JTE, many of these people follow their team around to support them. Like, even to away games. (o_O) It isn't so much that there are organized cheering squads at these games that surprised me; rather it's that there are actually Japanese people who don't spend every waking moment furiously looking busy and never taking vacation. Who are these people?!?!!

And it's not just the "official" cheering sections that get into it, but the entire crowd who shake off their usual cloak of calm and reserve to rowdily encourage their team. Unfortunately, the battery on my camera died after only a few pictures so I couldn't take any video, but I did find this one on youtube

Another interesting event not included in American pro baseball (or at least that I remember) are the pro cheerleaders. You have, of course, your scantily clad young women, and because it's Japan ridiculously cute furry mascots that ride around on bikes and do handsprings with huge heads.


An interesting experience, to say the least. Of course, in the end, I suppose all that really matters is who wins and who loses. Currently, the Dragons are ranked 4th (out of 6) in the central league with 12 wins and 12 losses, 2 games behind the #1 Yomiyuri Giants, and 7th (out of 12) in the interleague, 3 games behind the #1 Softbank Hawks. Currently, Hiroshima is ranked one ahead of Chunichi, but on this day the Dragons were victorious with a 7-3 win and 2 home runs. And besides, who wants to be called a Carp, anyway? Dragons are WAY cooler

d(^_^)b

Both of my elementary schools had their sports festivals yesterday, this year I chose to go to Kuguno to see theirs. But this post isn't about the sports day itself, it's about the party we had after. At a fancy sushi restaurant in Takayama.

Where I ate this.


My dictionary translated it as the generic "shellfish", though I'm convinced it's some kind of sea snail.And to eat it you have to twist it out of the shell using the toothpick. Anyway, I really did eat it, and for all you non-believers out there (Mom), here's your proof

I was a little worried, but actually it was pretty good. Tasted like chicken, ha ha

DMV

I had yesterday off as an alternative holiday for working Saturday at the JHS sports festival, and I used the opportunity to go to Gifu City to turn in my driver license application paperwork. Actually it's more like a paperwork check. You have to take this ridiculous amount of paperwork to the International Division of the DMV in Gifu City and have them check to make sure you have everything they want before they'll schedule you for an appointment. And they ask you the most pointless, minute questions too. Like, how many questions were on your original written examination, how many did it take to pass, and how many did you get right? ...um, that was 12 years ago (in my case), how the hell am I supposed to remember? And then there was whose car did you drive to take the test? Open or closed course? What kind of physical exam did you have to take? (I guessed eyes and hearing, though thinking back now I think it might just be eyes...) My favorite one was how much money did you spend to get the license (including any driver ed courses and the license application fee). I'm still not quite sure what the point of that one is. Anyway, if you're lucky and you're from Canada or Australia or most countries in Europe, once you get your paperwork checked and you get a scheduled appointment day, all you have to do is hand in your documents on your day and wait to get your Japanese driver license. If you're unfortunate enough to be American (or South African, apparently), you also have to take a written exam and a driving skill test. The written test is as easy as the ones back home, but the driving test is notoriously difficult to pass. And, although this is the INTERNATIONAL DIVISION of the DMV, nobody speaks English there.

Anyway, I went back in June with another ALT and our supervisor to try to turn in this paperwork and was told I needed to have my ORIGINAL license. As in the one from 1996. I told them it didn't exist anymore and they said to get a document that showed every license I've ever had. And they had no sympathy for me when I pointed out that nowhere in the list they give you of stuff you have to have does it say your license must show the date of original issue (mine only showed the date that particular license was issued, in 2005, valid 2 years before I even moved to Japan and way longer than the requisite 3 months). So, I had to request from the State of Colorado, in writing, my full driving record. And 2 months and one document later, I headed back to the Gifu DMV. This time with my friend Angela, who can speak Japanese, to act as my interpreter.

Now, to make this whole process easy, especially for those of us who have to travel halfway across the prefecture to get to this place, they kindly only accept paperwork between the hours of 3 and 4 pm, Monday through Friday. And if you're early or late they won't accept it. Which is why it was so fortunate I had an alternative holiday on a Monday and didn't have to burn a vacation day ^o^

Anyway, we got my paperwork turned in, and this time I got to talk to the slightly more friendly of the two gentlemen who handle this stuff and managed to pass this first round on my second try. Finally! So I've been scheduled for a test on October 6, beginning at 830 am. If all goes well, I could be driving in less than a month! Or, I could go the way of most people and fail the driving test on my first, and possibly second, and third, try. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for me (o^_')b