GlobeTrotter: June 2006

Yo! Summer has well and truely arrived in Japan. Despite the aforementioned rainy season, the mercury hangs out in the 20's all day and night, and the humidity is very uncomfortable....thank goodness for air-conditioning!
From July 1st, I will be teaching at a new school in Omori, near Tokyo. It means I have to travel a little further (no more cycling to work) and the train is one of the busier lines - sardine style.....hopefully its not too bad. I've also lost my Sunday/Monday weekend, in exchange for Tuesday/Wednesday, but on the plus side I will be working more mornings - great for the summer - and I have found some gyms to play midweek basketball (pickup games only).
Here's a few pics of me with Aki, Terry and Saki, dressed in Yukatas for a recent neighbourhood festival. T and I were definately the subjects of many stares as we showed the locals how its suppossed to be done!

Gangsta! T & B represent; Kawaii girls....Aki & Saki flaunt their stuff; Festival stage show

Okonimiyaki..."Oishii desu!"; Who wants to mess with the sword?

Hey Y'all, hows everything goin? Its been a while since I updated so here's a little something to keep you interested. It seems like I havn't been up to much, but I guess that happens once the daily routines are established. I play ball most weekends and my team is 4-2 in our league games. Other than the sporadic bouts of tendonitis I get in my knees (getting old!), I'm loving being able to play and have been playing pretty good.....however, thats gonna come to an end next month, not because I want to, but unfortunately I'm gonna have to start working on my weekends :-( The reason for this is that I have changed from working part-time to working full-time, and that means no more ball until/unless I can get weekends off. The good side to this is that I now have a working visa and can stay here for another year. So, until I can rejoin the team, I'll be back to shooting hoops by myself at the local high school.
Summer has finally arrived with temperatures currently in the mid-20's. This weather is very pleasurable, but the "rainy season" will start this week, local folklore says the rainy season goes for about 3 weeks and involves frequent heavy rain. After that it's gonna be scorching hot and I'll be looking to go to the packed, filthy, little waved beaches near Yokohama, just to cool down. In recent weeks I have been to the Thai Festival in Shibuya, which was basically a Thai "Food" Festival...but great food (and beer). I also saw the NZ movie "River Queen" at the NZ Film Festival in Roppongi. I really enjoyed the movie and was also treated to a Haka and performance by a cultural group before the movie screened. Speaking of movies, "The Da Vinci Code" was a pretty good movie, I'll give it a 7/10. Basically, it reestablished the images in my head from when I read the book, but as a movie it just moved way too fast. If you havn't seen it yet, I recommend you read the book first or you may be a little confused and dissapointed. I'm certainly looking forward to "Angels and Demons", which was the Dan Brown book set before Da Vinci Code....a very good read and I suspect it will make a better movie than Da Vinci code.
I also had a day-trip in Izu, the furtherest I have been from Yokohama, which at 2 hours drive is not really that far! Really nice scenery there, reminded me a bit of Great Ocean Road in Aussie with its rocky coastline.
The next few months will see me doing a bit more travelling...next month I'll be going to Nijima, an Island about 160km south of Tokyo. This place has some beautiful beaches, so I'm definately looking forward to it. August will see the mish to the Worlds in Hiroshima. I'm glad to say Mark and I have got our tickets and accommodation sorted...I'm really keen to see the Tall Blacks try and repeat their dream performance from four years ago. Will also be awsome to see the superstars, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol, not to mention Team USA if they can make the Final, which we also have tickets for. Im out like the Spurs and Pistons, talk to you all later....NBA Final prediction: Mavs 4-3 over Heat...should be a good series. Ja ne.