Best baseball game ever!

Hansin Tigers
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

Wow, i just got back from a Japanese baseball game, and i was totally impressed. This was probably the best game i have ever been too. Not only did the Hansin Tigers defeat the Nagoya Dragons and retain their first place dominance with a 5-3 win in a thriller complete with a come from behind 2 run homer, the atmosphere in the stadium was amazing. (think of a game 7 atmosphere...and that is half of what this was).

First off, before the game started, we got there early and saw batting practice. There is a job at Hansin Stadium where a young man (maybe 30) wears a helmet and has a whistle and stands in the outfield stands and blows his whistle if the ball might hit someone. There are about 20 of these guys that simply watch and wait for a ball to come screaming into the stands and then they blast their whistles like their lives depend on it. Even with this measure of secrurity, i saw a little old lady in a red sweater get hit twice by fly balls (remember, this is before the game even started). Apparently she is deaf, but she got nailed twice in the span of 20 mins. She was tough.

Then the game started, and i was prepared. I had bought my ballons (i will explain later) and picked up a pair of plastic thunder sticks that i would wack against eachother for 3 nonstop hours.

Also, i had to practice being a fan before i went to the game. Each Tiger player has their own fan dance that the fans do when they are up to bat. Each dance is different. Imagine one player gets 50,000 people to do the macarena and scream his name. Then the next player gets them to do the Hokey Pokey. Im serious, each player has their own unique dance. This was great. They really get into cheering. That is when a group of Americans i saw in the row in front of me joined up with myself to teach the japanese fans The Wave. Well, we did great, we spread out around the stadium and the fans loved it....but the police did not and we almost got in some deep trouble. My japanese translator informed me that they had never seen that in their stadium and they didnt like how excited everyone was getting. hmm ok.

Now to the ballons i bought. The highlight of my game experiance. Everyone buys 4 ballons and after the 7th inning stretch....where we dont sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game...instead, 200,000 ballons equiped with whistles are inflated and released on cue after we sing the team song. This was amazing. So the pic i have included is moments before we all let them go.

I am now hooked. I am looking for season tickets!!

First Haircut!

Today could have been a traumatic time for me. I needed a haircut. I mean i really needed a haircut. I couldnt put it off anymore....but i was afraid. How would i tell the hairstylist what i wanted? I have heard of some horror stories. I guess it makes sense, how often to they cut gaijin (foreigners) hair? Surely the hair and styles are different.

So today i borrowed Adams bike and biked around and i found the familiar blue and red spirals outside of a shop...i have found my hairstylist. I walked in and spoke as much japanese i could to try to make it more common for him. Bad mistake. He then replied at a mile a minute in japanese phrases well beyond my comprehension. To add to my shock, the hairstylst's son started giggling because he realized: 1) i had no idea what they were saying, and 2) his father had to cut a gaijin's hair.

I drew on my miming skills from performing comedy but i had to realize i was not trying to be funny, this was a serious matter. I showed him i wanted my hair cut short. I did this by using my fingers to show him about a cm of length. He nodded and put my bib on me. I then decided what ever happens happens. I decided to shut my eyes and go with the flow. I had realized that if he was messing up, there was no way i could tell him how to fix it. So i sat there, forcing my eyelids shut. I felt clippers, shavers and all kinds of sprays and tickly brushes. I admit i cheated and peaked one time and i thought i was going to have a bowl cut.

Then came the scariest part...with my eyes closed, i felt a blade on my neck. It caught me off guard but he was using a straight edge razor on my neck, and behind my ears.

He then made some sound that i took as "finished" and i had a drum roll sound playing in my head as i slowly opened my eyes...and....wow, it looks pretty good! I was so nervous, but the cut looks great.

Now, do i tip? I tried and left them some money, but he promptly came out to my bike and gave it back to me! He now has a loyal gaijin customer!

mini

100_3044
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

Everyone knows that there is a generalization that Japanese people are smaller in size then other societies. Well, besides being small themselves...everything else here is tiny. Food portions are smaller, cars are smaller, and soda (pop) cans are smaller. I mean, c'mon...i want to have a Coke after a day of work but what is 5oz gonna do? Its just a tease.

Today, Mark Terwey and i walked around Osaka and we went into McDonalds. We were both surprised that there are 2 sizes of drinks. Nothing odd about that, but when Mark asked for a large, she said they dont have large. Only medium and small. So.....wouldnt the medium then graduate to the "large" status and the small can stay "small"? Why do they call their largest size beverage a "medium"? This was a problem that Mark and I talked about but couldnt find an answer.

Automatic Doors

Osaka is a lot slower as a city than many other large cities. Many people believe this is due to how many people live in Osaka (roughly 2000 per square centimetre at last count - indeed, I have 5 people sat in my apartment right now to keep that statistic correct). However, I do not believe this is true, for I have solved the slowness issue: automatic doors.

Before you dismiss this idea outright, I want you to walk to the nearest convenience store - now see how close you need to get before those doors open. Like me, you've probably actually walked into them a couple of times while being engrossed in the latest 'Enquirer' issue. I'm still confused as to why an automatic door should be designed so that you will probably have to stop to allow the door to open. This would mean that manual doors are quicker. Maybe it's a politeness thing, so that you feel the doors are being opened for *you*. Maybe it's to stop the door being set off by people walking past. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that since there is a convenience store every 100 feet in Japan by law, that's a lot of doors, and thats a lot of slowing down.

Watering Concrete

One thing I noticed when I got here was people watering the concrete in front of, and around their shops and houses. At first I thought they were cleaning it, but there was no scrubbing, or detergents, just someone holding a hose (or if it was kind of hot, sitting with a hose, or even just leaving the hose in the street and going inside for a nice cold Kirin Ichiban..beer) .

I approached a friend of mine about this, as I was curious. I know concrete is really popular here, and I thought maybe it had become some kind of shinto deity, whereby if you watered the concrete it might grow, or give birth to little concretes or something. Apparently, it's nothing as interesting, as it's called 'uchimizu' (in italics to show it's a real Japanese word). So I decided to go and find out a bit more about it and found quite an interesting webpage about it from a Osaka based group here in the section titled 'water to feel'. Indeed uchimizu is for keeping the dust level down in summer, and easing the heat a little.

I should say though that while that site is interesting for a while, bits like ,"The sensitivity that seeks taste and poetic sentiment in water, however, perhaps has developed only in Japan, where people have long lived with nature as it changes from season to season." That sounds a bit strange given that all Japan's rivers are banked and bottomed with concrete, and several mountains are covered in it too.

For the blind

For the blind
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

One thing i had always pondered (among the many things) is how do the blind find those little bumps on signs? So sure, there are brail words under each sign....like an elevator sign, but how do they get to the elevator, let alone the sign to find those ever so important brail directions? Do they run their hands along the wall desperately hoping to find a sign? And they are all at the same height (the signs that is), and im sure that is due to some regulatory rule, but what do short (or midget) blind people do? Are they forced to carry ladders and guess where a "tall person" sign with brail might be? Well, if you are blind and live in Japan, fear not. The Japanese government has taken great care of you. Across the entire country....and i mean all over, the government has placed brail sidewalks. Yep. Everywhere you walk, there is a line with raised "bars". Simply follow the raised bars until your feet step on some raised "bumps". The raised "bumps" mean that the blind person has to make a decision. I.e. turn left or right or wait for a cross walk signal (complete with a beep to let you know when it is safe to cross). So, as you can see in this pic, there are raised bars along a line, until it forks, then there are raised bumps, and the person needs to decide to turn and head towards the ticket machine, where the bumps tell the person to stop. Then, convienently there are buttons that speak the directions, so reading is not necessary. I also think it was a good idea to make the "brail line" yellow so it is easier for the blind to see. One of my favorite things to do in Japan is to try to go a whole day without opening my eyes. It can be done. I made it until 3pm one day. It gets hard when going to the bathroom because the raised bumps do not descriminate based on sex. So either the bumps and bars are for the blind, or the severly dumb people...either way it is a great tool for society.

My Bed!

My Bed!
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

Ahhh, the sweet sweet comforts of having a bed again! I went 2 days without a bed, but all is well now. Where was it you ask? well, it wasnt where i thought it would have been. About 7 stories below my balcony is a large balcony that juts out quite far, almost 4 times as far as my balcony sticks out. I anticipated it to be on that balcony and when down to the ower of that balcony (who owns the building...hence the vastly larger balcony) and i tried to explain to her that my bed fell off the balcony. Since she didnt speak english, i had to use hand gestures and miming....judging from her surprised reactions, i think she thought i was going to jump off the building. So i gave up on that conversation. I later went below her balcony and found MY BED!!! It was laying on someones bike. I should have waited around for the owner of that bike to come down, it would have been funny to see their reaction. But at least i am back in the civilized world having a bed and.......hmmm, i guess that is all i have in my room. Thanks for your prayers and concerns though about my bed!

Osaka Parking Lot

Osaka Parking Lot
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

Somewhere in this tower are peoples cars! It is about 10 stories high and wide enough for one maybe two cars (note the car coming out for a scale reference). To park you car, simply drive your car up to the door, get out and then a nice worker comes, punches in some numbers into a panel and the door opens and he takes you car in there and it dissapears. I literally sat by this (it is on my way to work) and watched a lot of cars go in, i dont know where they go, but they can handle a lot of them. I thought they would also go below, but the train line runs directly underneath it. So i think they shrink them and stack them in the tower...only to add water later and expand them when the owner of the car wants his/her car back.

Must be seafood?!

Must be seafood?!
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

Most of you know that i dont like seafood and must wonder how i cope over here....well, when you walk around town and see giant crabs on the outside of a restuarant, I use that as a clue that they dont specialize in chicken...and i quickly keep on walking. I have spent the last 5 days looking for a giant chicken on a building, which i have yet to find, but i have hope.

Osaka city

Osaka city
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

So today i was at work and this is what i see from our break room. Work is kind of mundane and repetative. Osaka has a population of 20 million people....that is the same as the entire population of Australia! the main difference between Osaka and Australia is that i am the only blonde here.

I Lost My BED!

Media Plaza
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

ahhh!! if you look at the picture below you can see what my bed was (not much). Well, today i put it outside on the balcony of the 8th floor and secured it with the 2 provided clamps to hold it to the balcony. Well, i came back 8 hours later and i have no bed. I guess the wind took my bed. No i feel like i am camping since i have nothing to sleep on, but instead of waking up and fishing, i have to wake up and put on a suit and teach kids.

My Bed

My Bed
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

This is it. This is my bedroom. It comes complete with paper doors like in the movies, tatami mats for flooring and a "futon" which is basically a thick blanket you sleep on. Home sweet home!

Osaka Dingoes

Osaka Dingoes
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

So today i had my first practice and footy game. We play at a "field" by Osaka Castle. Why i put "field" instead of field i will explain later. I went to the park to look for the field, and after having my picture taken a few times, i finally found the field. It was a huge sports complex and there were about 150 japanese playing various sports on the "field". I saw three japanese teenagers suit up in full football gear (aka american football) and the proceeded to have about a 3 hour practice that looked intense...all without a ball. Talk about dedication. There was also a lot of soccer, frisbee, and heaps of baseball being played. Then i found one guy with a footy ball. I made the guester for a handpass and he looked shocked. After pretending to know eachother's respective language, we played a bit. Then out of the woodwark came about 20 japanese and one aussie. It was crazy. We practiced a bit then played eachother for my first game on japanese "soil". so why the "field"...? Well it didnt have any grass, we played on gravel. YES, gravel. The same brown gravel that makes up a baseball infield. Even though i am finally bigger than some people on the opposing team, i still get knocked down a few times and getting smashed into the gravel is not fun. There was a huge mix in the skills of the players. Similar to in the states. There were a good number of players that were speedy on the field and were like ninjas with their movements. (sorry, i had to use ninja). The handpasses were crisp and the kicks accurate. Maybe that is due to the fact that taking a mark means you wont get tackled into the gravel. We won our game today and we are preparing for an Anzac cup coming up soon. I only got a behind today as i was in the back pocket. It is going well here though, and from what i can tell after just one game, the Japanese team in the international cup could have some potential. I will keep you posted.

Staffa
MN Freeze

Grass?

grass?
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

This is our football field!

Ninjas in hiding?

Ninjas in hiding?
Originally uploaded by mtstaffa.

As i was walking today to go to footy practice, i saw three or four karate kids (ha) sitting on some stairs. They all had black belts so i decided not to talk shit to them. I think they were ninjas in desguise. Ninjas wear black, but this was around noon and that would be hot, so that is why they looked like karate kids and wore white to keep cool. I think i figured out the way of the ninja, they dont seem that sneaky.

Japan!

Well i made it to Japan! First off i am having a blast but it is really odd being a blonde haired kid here. I have had my picture taken a lot already and people point at me. I have done a lot of traveling before and when i have been in places for extended periods of time, i really felt i could become a local. that is never going to happen here!

so for my first night i went out with 3 japanese guys: Hide (said he-de), Bobo (Bob-O) and Ken-chan. They have been really fun and we are planning on going out tonight too.

Today i went to Osaka Castle to see where i am going to be playing football. It is a huge castle with a massive series of moats around it. My favorite part of the castle is how they have kept is cultural history yet updated it for the 21st century. Imaging a 100 foot wall of massive stones quarried from the earth hundreds of years ago....then cut a hole in the side and run a elevator shaft outside the wall and then a mini bridge from the elevator to the wall face so that handicapped people can get in. It looks really odd. and there is a massive air conditioning unit right at the base of the castle. I will take pics and post it.

I have to run, but i will post more soon!

Konban Wa