The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) the largest media company in Japan recently featured a story on Oliver and Ocean and their friends performing in the Noh theatre performance last week. NHK has an English language channel for the international market called NHK World. On their nightly news program, Newsroom Tokyo, they broadcast the story of OIS students learning Noh theatre. Ocean’s interview starts at around the 5:30 mark of the 6:00 minute video. Above is the screen grab, and below is the entire video on YouTube.
I learned the word for earthquake in Japanese yesterday in dramatic fashion. My cell phone and others around me suddenly started buzzing around 2:00 PM with the word jishin and some other instructions I did not understand. It was the advanced warning system here in Japan and it gave us a few seconds to take cover to protect ourselves from an earthquake. I don’t know how they do it, but it provided me a surreal moment, waiting for the anticipated shaking and possible destruction. I froze a bit, but not out of fear but out of excitement and anticipation of the experience. I didn’t go fully under the desk because I wanted to see what would happen. The shaking started slowly and then I could feel the entire building swaying slowly back and forth. A strange sensation!
The epicenter was 11 kilometers deep and around 300 kilometers away from us. Minoh is approximately where the arrow is and the epicenter is the red “x” in the Tottori prefecture. It is one of our favorite vacation spots with mountains and sand dunes. The intensity measured 6 shindo (degree of shaking)on the Japanese earthquake measuring scale which is slightly different from the Richter scale. I would say it was between a 3 and 4 in Minoh, our suburb of Osaka.
Everyone handled the emergency well and were calm and took shelter under a desk or table at school. After the shaking stopped, we checked the NHK news and upon finding out it was far away, we resumed classes as normal.
I won’t forget the experience nor the word, jishin.
One of my favorite holidays in Japan is the national “health and sports” day. It commemorates the opening day of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics . Two years later is was made a national holiday and is celebrated on the second Monday in October. The purpose of the day is to promote an active, healthy lifestyle. What a great idea! Every country should have a day like this. Most businesses are closed and the weather in mid-October is usually really nice which is conducive to doing something active outdoors.
Schools in Japan hold a sort of sports carnival on this day or a weekend close to it. As you can see in the photos in this post, Ocean and Oliver enjoyed our school’s sports day. They played water polo in the morning and field / athletic events in the afternoon. Owen participated in the middle school events, including winning the obstacle course. The day was marked by dance performances, picnics and music.
Owen rounds third in a recent baseball game
Thanks to Steve Lewis for the photos of my children being active!
An interesting side note, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held in October to avoid the rainy season and humid summers that are typical of the islands of Japan. The 2020 Olympics do not do this, starting July 24 and running until August 9.
You are not going to find fresher and better tasting fish and other sea creatures in the world than in Japan. On our way home from the beach last month, we stopped at a fish market and hand selected our piece of tuna. The vendors had a live demonstration of cutting the fish for people to purchase. The market is located near Shirahama Beach on the Kii peninsula, so the catch is fresh. This is also the place of the infamous dolphin harvest featured in the documentary The Cove. I hope it was sustainably harvested.
The day at the beach reminded me of the Mediterranean, with warm water, green hills and lots of people. It was our first beachtime all summer, so it was quite exhilarating. Now that the swim “season” in Japan is over, the beaches will be less crowded and we hope to go a couple of times in September before it gets too cold. Shirahama means “white beach” or “white bay” and it was a very popular tourist beach in the 1970s. Due to erosion, they had to import white sand from Perth, Australia, but I think they have it under control now. It has lost its popularity due to other options being available for beach holidays, but it is still a pleasant place to go. It is about a 2-hour drive from our home.
The Senri & Osaka International School’s middle school baseball team defeated Sons of Light IS 3-0 yesterday afternoon in their second game of the day. Earlier they defeated Kansai University International Academy 14-4. They are now 3-0 this season and on top of the Western Japan Athletic Association. Euan L. went the distance, pitching a shutout and Owen had a clutch 2-RBI double in the fourth to break open the pitcher’s duel. Owen played first base in the second game, and pitched for 3 innings in the first game.
The Sons of Light threatened to score twice in the game. In the fifth inning, the first two batters got on base, but then Euan struck out the next two batters and a groundout ended the inning. In the last inning, a runner was put out at third after a perfect throw by right fielder Rintaro.
After a game there are distinctive Japanese practices of showing respect towards others. The video shows the final out and the post-game team bows towards the opponents, coaches and umpires. It is a nice tradition and manner of ending games, reinforcing sportsmanship. American sports should integrate something similar.
Owen is about to jump into the clear waters of the Kanzaki River on Saturday. We went with two other families for a day of “shower climbing” (canyoning / river hiking) as the Japanese call it on the Kanzaki River in Shiga prefecture. With deep swimming holes, jumpable cliffs, a brisk but not too fast current, clear cool water set in a verdant green ravine, we had a refreshing day in nature. The kids had so much fun walking through the river, jumping off the cliffs and rope swings and swimming. There was plenty of food and good conversation as the afternoon light faded, and we put a full day on the banks of the Kanzaki. Osakans would be surprised that the Kanzaki is so clean near its source in the mountains of Shiga, just east of Lake Biwa. The river flows all the way through Osaka into the bay, and by the time it gets to the urban center, it is quite tamed.
A special thanks to Naoki and Tara for taking us up and Art and Mariah for joining us. There is nothing I like more than an active day outdoors.
Things are very organized in Japan. One example is the candidate boards at polling stations. This is a municipal office in our neighborhood and in preparation for the election on July 10, the 8 candidates are neatly posted in their positions on the board on the left. One does not see signs haphazardly posted around the city. There are strict regulations for all political campaigning.
This is a historic election because it is the first election where 18 year olds can vote. The voting age was recently lowered from 20 to 18. The election is for the upper house of the legislature. The television NHK was at our school this week filming Kwansei Gakuin university students speaking to the Japanese grade 11 and 12 students about voting. The voting rate is around 50% for most elections here. The 18 and 19 year olds are only about 2% of a population that is heavily skewed to an older demographic, so it will probably not affect the outcomes of the elections very much. I think it is good to get younger people voting and hopefully it will bring fresh ideas and innovation to politics and the economy.
Nice to see the bullpen car survives in Japan professional baseball!
Owen, Oliver, Kenta and I went to yesterday’s Hanshin Tigers versus Soft Bank (Fukuoka) Hawks Nippon Professional Baseball league game at Koshien Stadium. In a pitchers’ duel, the Hawks defeated the Tigers 1-0. Kodai Senga pitched 8 scoreless innings to improve his record to 7-0 in 12 appearances. Soft Bank, the biggest cell phone and internet company in Japan, really does a good job in baseball operations and has far and away, the best team and organization in the league. They are 44-17 this year to be atop the Pacific League and have won the Japan Series the past two years. Senga is one of many excellent pitchers for the Hawks. They originally were based in Osaka and were owned by a railway company before being purchased by a department store in 1988 and moving to the southern city of Fukuoka.
The Hawks had great pitching from Randy Messenger, the 6-6, 265 American import. He played for the Florida Marlins, San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners in his 4-year MLB career. Messenger has played for the Tigers for 7 seasons and is their ace, despite being sent to the minors briefly last year. Messenger pitched 8 strong innings and the Hawks scored the only run in typical fashion in the third inning. After a leadoff hit, a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. They love sacrifice bunting here. Senga got a hit to move the runner to third and then a suicide squeeze bunt play brought the runner home. Messenger also had one of the 4 Tigers’ hits and deserved a better fate.
Other observations:
The Asahi beer girls must have been uncomfortable in the hot temperatures but beer sales were quite brisk.
This was a rare interleague game, as the two leagues (Central and Pacific) only play each other from May 31 to June 23 in a 144-game season. There are only 12 teams total, six in each league, so it must get boring to play the same 5 teams all the time.
They still use the bullpen car to bring in relief pitches. The car at Koshien is a convertible. Much better than the golf carts with a baseball on top like in the 1970s MLB.
Our man Tsuyoshi Nishioka got the start at third base for the Tigers and of course struck out twice and grounded out to first base. He has the best song of any player, however. (see video below) The fans are constantly singing or slapping the plastic bats together.
The end of the school year is always busy and I don’t have much time for family and personal reflection. I am catching up on my blogging with a post about last weekend.
Much of my time last weekend and this week has been assembling a basketball hoop. We purchased a plexiglass board, adjustable hoop from Costco, which was on sale. It has pushed my mechanical ability and has required drilling, using two wrenches simultaneously, hoisting the backboard up to connect to the pole, etc. all the while reading through a 70+ page manual. Many of the parts’ bags were open and so searching for nuts, bolts and small parts has been tedious. The only good thing about the experience is spending time with Owen! He is a patient and positive kid and the reason I am putting myself through this. We will certainly enjoy the hoop once it is up. With vacation looming and typhoon season on its way, I am hesitant to finish and put it up while we are away for 6 weeks. Several times in the process I have wanted to write a strongly worded letter to the Lifetime, the manufacturers of equipment. Can you make it a bit more complicated so it will take even longer than the 4 hours normally required to assemble it?
June and July is the rainy season here in Japan and there has been plenty of grey skies. The humidity is crazy high and combined with warm temperatures, it feels like tropics. I always loved summer growing up and would rather be uncomfortably hot rather than painfully cold. It is so humid that paper left on my desk has that soggy feel. Sunday afternoon whiffle ball continues and last weekend, Ocean hit a walk-off double, with Owen scoring the winning run. Oliver had a chance to make a catch that would have extended the game, but he completely missed the ball. We all had a great laugh, even Oliver. I love baseball and think my kids like it too. The rain kept everyone away from our neighborhood, Matsuide park, except for us. A memorable afternoon for me.
On Saturday night the administration team went downtown Osaka for dinner and drinks. We had a lot of laughs. The urban Japan scene is fun and so different from where we live in the suburbs. I wouldn’t want to live down there, but it is a good night out. Below is a photo of the 70-meter, 18-story OS office building. There is lot of interesting architecture in Japan CBD (central business districts).
Friday I attended the AISA (Association of International Schools in Asia) meeting hosted by the Yokohama International School. AISA is our high school’s athletic conference and includes international schools from Korea, Japan and Taiwan. It was my first time visiting and I wanted to give my impressions.
Gate to “China Town”
Yokohama is continuous with the Tokyo being part of the largest metropolitan area in the world, but on its own, it is a city of almost 4 million people. Thanks for US Commodore Matthew Perry landing with his “black ships” in 1853-54 just south of present day Yokohama, it went from a small fishing village to the first port and enclave that foreigners could use when Japan opened up to the world. The Tokugawas chose Yokohama because it was not too close to Tokyo. The Yamate area where the school is located, is on a bluff overlooking the bay, and it had a Mediterranean feel to it. It was still Japan, but one could notice the foreign style residences, which are much more spacious than regular Japanese housing. There are spectacular views from the park and foreign cemetery on the hill. We had lunch in the largest “chinatown” in Japan and there is a fashionable shopping district similar to Tokyo’s Ginza, called Motomachi close by also. It seemed to be a really nice place to live, although probably very expensive.
Mount Fuji can be seen from the school
The port is huge and well developed like most urban coastline in Japan. The reclaimed land holds a large warehouse converted into shops and restaurants. There are plenty of parks and a bicycle/running trail all through the bay. They were hosting a major tour event by International Triathlon Union on Saturday. It inspired me to run a bit faster to see all those young men and women in such excellent physical condition. I stayed at the Hotel New Grand, the same hotel that General MacArthur stayed after Japan’s surrender ending World War II. It was one of the few places undamaged. Large, western-style rooms, a decent Western breakfast buffet and an International Herald Tribune delivered to my room in the morning, made for a very relaxing stay. I see why MacArthur stayed here.
MacArthur leaving the New Grand Hotel – 1945
The highlight for me was the opportunity to watch the Osaka Hanshin Tigers play the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars on Friday evening. The Nippon Professional Baseball game between the fourth and sixth place teams in the Central League was played to a capacity crowd. The stadium is much smaller than the Tiger’s Koshien stadium and there were more Tiger fans than the home fans. I finally got to see a Hanshin victory thanks to Ryota Arai hitting a ninth-inning home run to give the Tigers a 3-2 win. It is interesting to see Japan’s take on the American sport of baseball. I was shocked to see the starting pitcher for the Bay Stars pitching while his team was batting to keep loose. In the MLB, managers are restricting the number of pitches to reduce injury, and in Japan, they disregard this. He threw 112 pitches before being taken out in the 8th inning, but with his between innings throws, he probably threw over 200 pitches. The between innings throws were not game speed, but they were pretty hard. I don’t understand it. Anyway, it was an enjoyable game except for the tight seating arrangements. I was in a group of large North Americans and the seats were designed with smaller people in mind.
I really liked the feel of Yokohama, much less busy than Tokyo and I would like to bring the family up to stay sometime. It would make a good weekend get-away and has something for everyone in my family, shopping/restaurants, the historical Yamata district and lots of parks.
Other observations: 
Bill's Blog 