July 29, 2007
July 29, 2008
July 29, 2009
Slightly tanner this year, but still nothing compared with when I first arrived, ha ha ha, oh Japan v(^_^)v
Tomorrow, yet again, I shall head to Gifu city to get the new ALTs!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Happy Anniversary Japan, Part II!
Today I have lived in Japan exactly 2 years ^^ Last year I wrote a post and took a picture to commemorate, so I figured this year I should do the same. Unfortunately, the weather has been absolute CRAP! lately so it's all rainy out behind me... but, at least this time I remembered to take the picture earlier, and I have a better flash now!
July 29, 2007
July 29, 2008
July 29, 2009
Slightly tanner this year, but still nothing compared with when I first arrived, ha ha ha, oh Japan v(^_^)v
Tomorrow, yet again, I shall head to Gifu city to get the new ALTs!
July 29, 2007
July 29, 2008
July 29, 2009
Slightly tanner this year, but still nothing compared with when I first arrived, ha ha ha, oh Japan v(^_^)v
Tomorrow, yet again, I shall head to Gifu city to get the new ALTs!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
First day of summer vacation, and what do I do? Get up early for my students, of course!
I'm going to Tokyo today with a good friend of mine who is leaving Japan in about a week :(
Since it's her last weekend she said she wanted to go to Tokyo. So, although I've kinda been there a lot, I really had no choice but to go again ^^ darn! Tokyo! Man, that's rough.
Today is also the first day of summer vacation (FINALLY!), and of the regional baseball tournament. If I wasn't going to Tokyo of course I'd be going all weekend (or however long my teams last). BUT, since I'm leaving I figured I can't go. I was pretty disappointed, actually, since I've watched ALL of the tournament games the current Miya san nen sei have played in. I came to Japan right at the start of the second term in their first year of junior high school, which is when they can start playing in games. Also, I was really lucky that my former JTE at Miya was a coach on the team at the time, so it was easy for me to go; I was only able to start watching Kuguno play once I got Tank.
Anyway, in Takayama (and maybe the rest of Japan too, I'm not sure), after the tournaments associated with the first term end, the san nen sei (9th grade) have to stop playing in order to study for the high school entrance exams. So this will be their last tournament, assuming they don't get the top spot and go on to the prefectural game at the end of the month.
On top of this, after the san nen sei retire, there will only be 9 players left on the Miya team. There is a minimum of 10 players required to join tournament games, so essentially, this is also the last tournament for the entire team until the new kids come next spring and boost their numbers.
So there I was, 2 years of game watching under my belt, and prepared to miss the last one. And then last night at the end-of-term party for Miya JHS, while telling the baseball coach I can't go, it occurred to me. My bus for Shinjuku isn't until 130 pm, I'm not meeting my friend until 1, the game starts at 9am. I CAN GO. For the start, at least. Better than nothing...
Unfortunately, it's all the way in Furukawa, which is like, at least a half hour north of Takayama, plus. Even more since I live south of the city. And on top of that I don't know where the baseball ground is there. So I'm meeting the team at the school by 715 ^^
This time yesterday I had a nice, free, Saturday morning waiting for me. In which I could laze around a bit before meeting my friend and going to Tokyo. At the very least, I could sleep in.
Now I'm up at 530am, ha ha ha
PS it's currently raining. Won't that be ironic if I get myself over there only to find out the game has been postponed and I can't see it!
Since it's her last weekend she said she wanted to go to Tokyo. So, although I've kinda been there a lot, I really had no choice but to go again ^^ darn! Tokyo! Man, that's rough.
Today is also the first day of summer vacation (FINALLY!), and of the regional baseball tournament. If I wasn't going to Tokyo of course I'd be going all weekend (or however long my teams last). BUT, since I'm leaving I figured I can't go. I was pretty disappointed, actually, since I've watched ALL of the tournament games the current Miya san nen sei have played in. I came to Japan right at the start of the second term in their first year of junior high school, which is when they can start playing in games. Also, I was really lucky that my former JTE at Miya was a coach on the team at the time, so it was easy for me to go; I was only able to start watching Kuguno play once I got Tank.
Anyway, in Takayama (and maybe the rest of Japan too, I'm not sure), after the tournaments associated with the first term end, the san nen sei (9th grade) have to stop playing in order to study for the high school entrance exams. So this will be their last tournament, assuming they don't get the top spot and go on to the prefectural game at the end of the month.
On top of this, after the san nen sei retire, there will only be 9 players left on the Miya team. There is a minimum of 10 players required to join tournament games, so essentially, this is also the last tournament for the entire team until the new kids come next spring and boost their numbers.
So there I was, 2 years of game watching under my belt, and prepared to miss the last one. And then last night at the end-of-term party for Miya JHS, while telling the baseball coach I can't go, it occurred to me. My bus for Shinjuku isn't until 130 pm, I'm not meeting my friend until 1, the game starts at 9am. I CAN GO. For the start, at least. Better than nothing...
Unfortunately, it's all the way in Furukawa, which is like, at least a half hour north of Takayama, plus. Even more since I live south of the city. And on top of that I don't know where the baseball ground is there. So I'm meeting the team at the school by 715 ^^
This time yesterday I had a nice, free, Saturday morning waiting for me. In which I could laze around a bit before meeting my friend and going to Tokyo. At the very least, I could sleep in.
Now I'm up at 530am, ha ha ha
PS it's currently raining. Won't that be ironic if I get myself over there only to find out the game has been postponed and I can't see it!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tanabata
Today is the Japanese holiday of Tanabata. It's a "star festival" that was imported from China sometime during the Heian Period (794 to 1185). The festival is held on the 7th day of the 7th month in most parts of Japan... except here in Hida where it's a month later, in August. Many festivals get pushed back by a month here; supposedly because the altitude makes the weather about a month behind that of the rest of the country (according to the locals anyway). Whether they do the same thing somewhere like, say, Sapporo, I'm not sure ('_^) I have also heard that many areas observe it August 7 because that more closely coincides with the 7th month of the traditional lunar calendar that was followed in Japan before the Meiji Era.
At any rate, although they don't hold the festival for it until August, everybody here knows Tanabata is SUPPOSED to be on 7/7, as evidenced by the "tanabata jello" I had in my school lunch today (oh yes, school doesn't end here for 2 more weeks) ^^
The premise of the festival is as follows. According to the legend (originally from China and tweaked to fit Japan), the two stars Vega, known as Orihime (weaving princess) and Altair, known as Hikiboshi (cow herder star) represent two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way "river". Only once a year are they able to meet, on the 7th day of the 7th month, for one night.
I feel especially sorry for Hikiboshi in this tale, as not only does bear an incredibly unfortunate name, he also appears to have been very unlucky in his choice of father-in-law.
From wikipedia:
Orihime (織姫, Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川, Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river"). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星, Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
(link)
The main features of the Tanabata festival are the colorful lanters with streamers and bamboo with wishes. Since it hasn't been held here yet this year I can't show you any pictures of them... but, oh, wait...
I have pictures from last year. Lucky you!
According to wikipedia, the streamers on the the lanterns represent the strings Orihime uses to weave
How true that is, I have no idea. I didn't ask ^_^
The best decoration/feature of the festival though, in my opinion, are the wishes. They are written on 短冊, tanzaku, colorful strips of paper, and then attached to bamboo. According to wikipedia, In the Edo period, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper.. These days, however, people write wishes for anything.
I think the bamboo and the paper are burned after the festival, similar to other wishing customs in Japan. And in case you were wondering, yes, my wish is hanging there in the picture, and no, I'm not telling you what it was =D
Unfortunately for the lovers this year, today has been completely overcast with periods of no, light, and very heavy rain. At the moment, if my ears are to be believed, we are currently in a period of medium-to-heavily-rainy. Looks like the magpies won't be making any bridges tonight.
HOWEVER, thanks to Hida's relatively-chilly weather, the lovers will get a 2nd chance next month. Keep your fingers crossed for better weather then (^_^)b
At any rate, although they don't hold the festival for it until August, everybody here knows Tanabata is SUPPOSED to be on 7/7, as evidenced by the "tanabata jello" I had in my school lunch today (oh yes, school doesn't end here for 2 more weeks) ^^
The premise of the festival is as follows. According to the legend (originally from China and tweaked to fit Japan), the two stars Vega, known as Orihime (weaving princess) and Altair, known as Hikiboshi (cow herder star) represent two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way "river". Only once a year are they able to meet, on the 7th day of the 7th month, for one night.
I feel especially sorry for Hikiboshi in this tale, as not only does bear an incredibly unfortunate name, he also appears to have been very unlucky in his choice of father-in-law.
From wikipedia:
Orihime (織姫, Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝, Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川, Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river"). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星, Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if Orihime worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
(link)
The main features of the Tanabata festival are the colorful lanters with streamers and bamboo with wishes. Since it hasn't been held here yet this year I can't show you any pictures of them... but, oh, wait...
I have pictures from last year. Lucky you!
According to wikipedia, the streamers on the the lanterns represent the strings Orihime uses to weave
How true that is, I have no idea. I didn't ask ^_^
The best decoration/feature of the festival though, in my opinion, are the wishes. They are written on 短冊, tanzaku, colorful strips of paper, and then attached to bamboo. According to wikipedia, In the Edo period, girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper.. These days, however, people write wishes for anything.
I think the bamboo and the paper are burned after the festival, similar to other wishing customs in Japan. And in case you were wondering, yes, my wish is hanging there in the picture, and no, I'm not telling you what it was =D
Unfortunately for the lovers this year, today has been completely overcast with periods of no, light, and very heavy rain. At the moment, if my ears are to be believed, we are currently in a period of medium-to-heavily-rainy. Looks like the magpies won't be making any bridges tonight.
HOWEVER, thanks to Hida's relatively-chilly weather, the lovers will get a 2nd chance next month. Keep your fingers crossed for better weather then (^_^)b
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Happy Basude =D
This goes out to my Step Dad Fritz, who is having his "29"th birthday today ^^
Happy Birthday - Click here for funny video clips
Happy Birthday - Click here for funny video clips
Friday, June 12, 2009
Pitagora Suichi
I don't usually watch my tv, since it's all in Japanese and there are no subtitles to help me. But every now and then I turn it on and if I'm lucky I'll find a show called "Pythagora Switch", an educational program for children. I like it cause I can usually understand most of it (since it's for young children the language is pretty simple), it's made to make you think, and generally speaking it's pretty amusing ^^
My favorite segment is called ju pon anime, "10 stick anime". It involves 10 sticks coming together and doing.... stuff =D
One of my all-time favorite songs from the show is the onomatope no uta, "onomatopoeia song", which shows just a few of the zillions of onomatopoeia there are in the Japanese language ^_^
And here are a few examples of the Pythagora Switches (Rube Goldberg machines) featured in the show
This one shows all the stops of the Yamanote Line in Tokyo
Cool show, hu? See? Television can be educational!
My favorite segment is called ju pon anime, "10 stick anime". It involves 10 sticks coming together and doing.... stuff =D
One of my all-time favorite songs from the show is the onomatope no uta, "onomatopoeia song", which shows just a few of the zillions of onomatopoeia there are in the Japanese language ^_^
And here are a few examples of the Pythagora Switches (Rube Goldberg machines) featured in the show
This one shows all the stops of the Yamanote Line in Tokyo
Cool show, hu? See? Television can be educational!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Polini Grand Prix of Japan
This is very, very late, but back in April I gave myself a very cool birthday present. Tickets to see the Polini Grand Prix of Japan - the Japanese leg of the MotoGP circuit. And I talked a friend into going with me too, heh heh. You may remember, I posted briefly about this race last year when Valentino Rossi won the championship at the track in Motegi.
This year the Twin Ring Motegi hosted the 2nd round of the MotoGP championship, and it just happened to fall the weekend of my birthday. The tickets are actually good for the full 3 days of practicing, qualifying, and the final race day, but since I had to work Friday and we spent all day Saturday driving the 6 hours to Tochigi prefecture, we only saw the main event. Which was all I cared about seeing anyway ^^
We left early Saturday morning, our goal:
the "tsuin ringu motegi", located in the town of Motegi, in Tochigi Prefecture. And because my luck is like that, the weather was terrible
Motegi is actually a very small town, so we stayed in the larger city of Utsunomiya, located relatively nearby. Six hours after we left Takayama, we arrived and parked in a very cleverly designed parking lot
why is this so cool? cause look! It locks you in until you pay! genious.
The weather was actually so bad this day that they were unable to do the qualifying laps for the finals the next day, so we didn't actually end up missing anything by burning one day driving. So we entertained ourselves in a mall near our hotel, where I found POPPLES!!! How long has it been since you've seen them?!?! They must have made a comeback.
The next morning we woke up to a slightly better-looking sky...
And headed off to the track!
At this point I was getting quite giddy and couldn't believe that I was actually at a MotoGP race. eeeeeeee!
There are all sorts of booths set up by the various teams and companies represented in the competition, all selling merchandise
Many of them also had replica bikes you could look at or sit on, this is at the Fiat Yamaha team tent. The bike is a replica of the one Rossi rides ^^
At this point they were beginning the warm-up laps, so we decided to go find some seats before it got too crowded. Unfortunately, mother nature had different plans and decided to start pouring rain minutes after we sat down. Our umbrellas weren't up to the challenge in that much rain, and all of the ponchos sold out in seconds; leaving us to run for shelter in the Ducati shopping tent, of all places =D Which is where I got my current favorite sweatshirt (that I was teased about in the last post ^^). I took this pic of a Repsol Honda bike as we were running for cover in the downpour
Lucky for us, the rain only lasted about a half an hour, after which the sun broke through and dried the track. And it actually turned into a lovely day! We were sitting in a pretty awesome section, near to the start/ finish line and one of the curves in the track
The 125cc and 250cc classes each had their races before the 800cc GP one. During which we got to see a bike go down right in front of us
The rider was ok, though I'm sure unhappy about crashing out.
Eventually we got to the main event - the MotoGP class race. Since the qualifying laps the day before had to be cancelled due to the weather, positions were based on the warm-up times the riders had on Friday. Which put my favorite, Rossi (number 46), in pole position
The stands were pretty full by the time this race got going. Check out all those Japanese flags!
There is one Japanese rider currently racing in the MotoGP class, Yuki Takahashi. There are also a few others in the 250 and 125 cc classes. Actually I think the Japanese star of the day was the 250cc rider Hiroshi Aoyama, who came in 2nd in his race. Unfortunately for Takahashi, he crashed out in the first lap, taking down one of my other favorite riders, Nicky Haden with him =( But this is only Takahashi's rookie season in MotoGP, and I am very much looking forward to seeing him develop as a rider ^^
Anyway, we had a pretty good view for the start of the race
And some awesome views of the curve
^ here you can see the 3 leaders - Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi, and Dani Pedrosa (1, 2, and 3 from the left)
A closeup of Rossi and Pedrosa
The race was actually fairly straightforward, the biggest event being that Rossi lost the lead to his teammate Lorenzo relatively early in the race, and was never able to get it back. Aside from the crash at the beginning (which happened on another part of the track so we only saw it on the big tv) and a little back and forth between Rossi and Pedroasa, it was pretty uneventful, ha ha ha
Rossi approaching the finish line
The final results were Lorenzo in 1st, Rossi 2nd, and Pedrosa 3rd
Lorenzo got a bit caught up in the excitement and jumped off his bike to plant the victory flag in the sand
After which his bike stalled and he had to be pushed over to the podium, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
You can hear the Japanese announcer saying near the end "that was a great performance Lorenzo, but please don't stop your engine! ^^"
Before we left we checked out the shops one last time
And I made sure to grab some Rossi schwag
And that was it! We hopped back into the car and began the 6 hour journey back home. I'd say it was a birthday weekend well spent ^^
And in return for going with me to this race, I had to promise my friend I would go with him to see the F1 Japanese Grand Prix race at the Suzuka Circuit in October. So it looks like my racing days for 2009 are not quite finished yet! ^^
This year the Twin Ring Motegi hosted the 2nd round of the MotoGP championship, and it just happened to fall the weekend of my birthday. The tickets are actually good for the full 3 days of practicing, qualifying, and the final race day, but since I had to work Friday and we spent all day Saturday driving the 6 hours to Tochigi prefecture, we only saw the main event. Which was all I cared about seeing anyway ^^
We left early Saturday morning, our goal:
the "tsuin ringu motegi", located in the town of Motegi, in Tochigi Prefecture. And because my luck is like that, the weather was terrible
Motegi is actually a very small town, so we stayed in the larger city of Utsunomiya, located relatively nearby. Six hours after we left Takayama, we arrived and parked in a very cleverly designed parking lot
why is this so cool? cause look! It locks you in until you pay! genious.
The weather was actually so bad this day that they were unable to do the qualifying laps for the finals the next day, so we didn't actually end up missing anything by burning one day driving. So we entertained ourselves in a mall near our hotel, where I found POPPLES!!! How long has it been since you've seen them?!?! They must have made a comeback.
The next morning we woke up to a slightly better-looking sky...
And headed off to the track!
At this point I was getting quite giddy and couldn't believe that I was actually at a MotoGP race. eeeeeeee!
There are all sorts of booths set up by the various teams and companies represented in the competition, all selling merchandise
Many of them also had replica bikes you could look at or sit on, this is at the Fiat Yamaha team tent. The bike is a replica of the one Rossi rides ^^
At this point they were beginning the warm-up laps, so we decided to go find some seats before it got too crowded. Unfortunately, mother nature had different plans and decided to start pouring rain minutes after we sat down. Our umbrellas weren't up to the challenge in that much rain, and all of the ponchos sold out in seconds; leaving us to run for shelter in the Ducati shopping tent, of all places =D Which is where I got my current favorite sweatshirt (that I was teased about in the last post ^^). I took this pic of a Repsol Honda bike as we were running for cover in the downpour
Lucky for us, the rain only lasted about a half an hour, after which the sun broke through and dried the track. And it actually turned into a lovely day! We were sitting in a pretty awesome section, near to the start/ finish line and one of the curves in the track
The 125cc and 250cc classes each had their races before the 800cc GP one. During which we got to see a bike go down right in front of us
The rider was ok, though I'm sure unhappy about crashing out.
Eventually we got to the main event - the MotoGP class race. Since the qualifying laps the day before had to be cancelled due to the weather, positions were based on the warm-up times the riders had on Friday. Which put my favorite, Rossi (number 46), in pole position
The stands were pretty full by the time this race got going. Check out all those Japanese flags!
There is one Japanese rider currently racing in the MotoGP class, Yuki Takahashi. There are also a few others in the 250 and 125 cc classes. Actually I think the Japanese star of the day was the 250cc rider Hiroshi Aoyama, who came in 2nd in his race. Unfortunately for Takahashi, he crashed out in the first lap, taking down one of my other favorite riders, Nicky Haden with him =( But this is only Takahashi's rookie season in MotoGP, and I am very much looking forward to seeing him develop as a rider ^^
Anyway, we had a pretty good view for the start of the race
And some awesome views of the curve
^ here you can see the 3 leaders - Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi, and Dani Pedrosa (1, 2, and 3 from the left)
A closeup of Rossi and Pedrosa
The race was actually fairly straightforward, the biggest event being that Rossi lost the lead to his teammate Lorenzo relatively early in the race, and was never able to get it back. Aside from the crash at the beginning (which happened on another part of the track so we only saw it on the big tv) and a little back and forth between Rossi and Pedroasa, it was pretty uneventful, ha ha ha
Rossi approaching the finish line
The final results were Lorenzo in 1st, Rossi 2nd, and Pedrosa 3rd
Lorenzo got a bit caught up in the excitement and jumped off his bike to plant the victory flag in the sand
After which his bike stalled and he had to be pushed over to the podium, HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
You can hear the Japanese announcer saying near the end "that was a great performance Lorenzo, but please don't stop your engine! ^^"
Before we left we checked out the shops one last time
And I made sure to grab some Rossi schwag
And that was it! We hopped back into the car and began the 6 hour journey back home. I'd say it was a birthday weekend well spent ^^
And in return for going with me to this race, I had to promise my friend I would go with him to see the F1 Japanese Grand Prix race at the Suzuka Circuit in October. So it looks like my racing days for 2009 are not quite finished yet! ^^
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