Toys of the week...

Welcome Ninja Fans,

View of the main 'hall'

Friday was another of the WHAG outings – this time devoted to checking out the Ramen Museum. It was a bit of odd set up and not really that interesting, but it certainly was worth the trip for the bowls of ramen! Also while there our picture was taken by a pro photographer who was taking shots to celebrate one of the stores 10yr anniversary book. Hopefully in November or thereabouts I will find said book in the stores J

Fascinating stuff.....

The weekend then saw Kate and I attack the ‘Kitchen Warehouse’ district of Tokyo. The warehouse comprises a street several kilometres long and is lined with stores for everything to do with kitchens – ranging from the humble tin opener (which we needed) to tables with built in bbq (Korean style) all the way to plastic food.

How would you like that pasta?

The train trip there was without issue (no friendly Indians offering back rubs nor backpacks getting stuck in the door) and only took us about 30 min in total from Yokohama to the north side of Tokyo.

On our shopping list was (as mentioned) a tin opener, a whisk, a masher and a Bamix/hand blender/food processor thingymabob.

What on earth do we need those for I hear you ask, well last week I embarked upon some cooking adventures and made a soup which needed to be pulverised. Let me assure any fans out there that you can make broccoli soup taste A1 (especially if you add cream and extra cheese).

Anyway back to shopping….. as you can see by the pics of our purchases, we may have got a little distracted. The cake tin is awesome – Dad, Sammie and Cussy I think the days of you carving funky shapes out for birthday cakes is over or at least if the boys want cars….. there was also a train one, but Kate said I could only choose one :( 

Some of the purchases

I also really wanted a vegetable chopping knife so we trawled through several shops before finding this little gem. The real clincher was when they said they would engrave my name on the knife for free and it would only take 2 mins. They really should have asked my name before saying that, coz it took the poor guy about 10 minutes to transcribe it to Kanji and then another 10 to engrave. After all that we have no idea whether it is actually my name but it makes for a good story!

for the lack of a better word...... AWESOME!!

Your name is WHAT??!

At 4:50am on Sunday morning we were awoken by a ‘smallish’ aftershock of about 6.5 I think. I still don’t know when the shakes become quakes in their own right, but this one was classified as an aftershock. In any case it ruined our sleep as the rocking isn’t as soothing as it was when we were little tots!

Sunday lunchtime we went for a short ride to do some more shopping only to discover it was, ‘bring your pet to the shop day’. I must remember to take Kate shopping on this day more often as Kate’s affinity for all creatures great and small ensures the shopping is over much quicker than usual!

Until next time….

Rugby

Welcome back Ninja Fans,

July 2^nd saw Kate and I venture to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, the ‘spiritual’ home of Japanese rugby. They were to play Samoa as part of the IRB Pacific nations tournament (our equivalent of the tri-nations).

Not having followed the Cherry Blossoms previously, we had no idea how the game would go, but were hopeful our adopted team would have a win.

A sinking feeling descended upon us when we saw the starting lineups. The standard size for the Samoans was about 190cm and 100kgs (+10cm +10kgs for a lock and +15kgs for the props) and all could run like the clappers (the props for only 15m though). 

Not much difference in size at all

The poor Japanese were not as physically imposing at all, their locks were actually 2 naturalised Poms (we think) as was one of their centres and their half back? 

Spot the dirty little scrum half...

With the exception of these chaps, the Japanese players prob averaged 175-180cm and about 85kgs. Don't get me wrong, they were quick little sods, but quick only gets you so far for so long.

Oh nu! I'm beeched as bru!

In any case, the opening 3 minutes saw one of the Samoan backs run directly at a pack of 4 Cherry Blossoms who were scattered like a bunch of pins hit by a 15 pound bowling ball. Not to long after a similar play happened and the home side were looking at a drubbing. It also didnt help that the two of the naturalised players who were taking the shots at goal for the home side had delusions of grandeur and they werent even close to making the distance on their first 3 penalty attempts!

Good hit -- not sure about the angle of the props necks though

To their credit they adjusted their style of play (one would dive at the legs, not trying to tackle, just tangle and 3 would jump on the back to effect the tackle) and were looking to stage an unlikely come from behind win when I put the mocker on them and suggested to Kate that 9pts was not all that much to reel in with about 20 mins in hand.

Needless to say traffic was one way after that and they lost  by about 20pts.

Perhaps not the most stylish, but that skirt sure looked comfy

Despite the result, a good night was had by us and we look forward to the Blossoms play USA in a few weeks!

Rookie Mistakes 101

This week also saw me venture into Tokyo to apply for a tourist visa to visit China in September with my folks. I got off to a relatively early start (for me) and was out the door by about 0930. I reached Tokyo by 0950 and it was at 0951 that my day went the shape of a giant pear.

Firstly, some tips for young players dealing with the transport system here;

1) Never lose concentration when wandering the maze of a station and don’t be afraid to check you are on the right platform, going the right way. Several times if need be!

2) Never wear a bag/backpack in the train if you can avoid it. Always try and have it in hand in front of you.

3) Never  be afraid about packing the scrum a little tighter – there is ALWAYS room to fit another person in, just be prepared to invade someone elses personal space (or lose your own).

4) Never think you will be okay walking around in 33C/80% humidity

As you may have surmised;

1) I lost concentration

2) I did not have my back pack in hand

3) I didn’t pack the scrum as tight as needed, valuing my personal space too much

4) I walked around in 33C/80% humidity.

This resulted in a catastrophic chain of events that ruined my morning and went something like this…. Firstly I got onto the train going the opposite direction to what I needed for no other reason apart from the fact I was in lala land.  Essentially this would not have been an issue…

BUT

I also did not have my backpack in hand, so when I managed to squeeze onto the wrong train I was not able to see if I had cleared the door. Again not a big issue…..

UNLESS

You don’t pack the scrum as tight as you need to and a clip of your back pack ends up getting caught on the other side of the doors, effectively trapping your bag and bar cutting said clip off the bag, you ‘aint going anywhere til the doors open again. At this point I was not overly worried as I figured 2-3 stops, maybe 5 in a worst case scenario ‘my’ doors would open and she’d be alright.

Unfortunately, 13 stops and 45 min later instead of being a stones throw from the embassy I was on the opposite side of Tokyo.  With about 90 minutes before the embassy closed for the day. ‘Not happy Jan’ doesn’t really do my frustration justice. Credit to those nearby me on the train though -- either they didn't notice me getting progressively redder and more and more pissed off, or more likely had sufficient control not to piss themselves laughing at my expense (as I am sure most of you would have done)

Needless to say once I was free, (I felt like James Franco) I experienced a euphoria that normally only comes with extreme blood loss and/or malnutrition but was able to duck, dive, dodge and dip to a station near the embassy.

With 30 min to go before closing the ‘Mr Glass half full’ inside of me was brimming with confidence that I was only 15min walk from the embassy. Unfortunately the 15 min walk turned out to be about 25min walk as there were some hideous hills involved. Oh and not a small amount of perspiration too. At 1150, Mr ‘Glass half empty’ promptly took the glass and found an uncomfortable place to put it. I don’t think we will be hearing from Mr ‘Glass half full’ any time soon.

The following morning I decided to try again and this time with surgical precision I was able to locate said embassy (ironically it had a really big wall), apply for my visa and retreat to a/c comfort having only lost 5kgs of sweat (vs the 10kgs lost the day before). Easy once you know how!