Cutting the Cake

DSC00519
Originally uploaded by KumamotoMark.

November 20, 2004 - Kumamoto City. Joe and Michiyo got married. It was an excellent ceremony. There were about 50-60 people to witness the historic event. It was in Japanese style, they started the ceremony wearing Japanese style and changed about halfway through into western style. Click here for the photos from the Wedding. (You can view the pics individually or as a slideshow.) I would have taken more but I was video taping much of the ceremony as well. Congratulations to Joe and the newest version of the Fingerhut, Michiyo. We get to do it all again in January, this time in St. Louis, American Style, sho nuff.

Little busy

Sorry to those who have been checking back lately, I have been pretty busy. Joey got married yesterday and I have tons of pictures and video from that, so I'll be editing and putting it all together in a DVD. I'm shooting for a New Year's release. Also, I have lots of planning for an upcoming mid-year seminar for JETs. Then I got my trip home in January. On top of all that, I am trying to go snowboarding in Nagano over Christmas. But check back once in a while and keep in touch. Oh, and I just got a copy of the Pistons/Pacers brawl. Some pretty amazing stuff, very scary.

Penrose Park Velodrome

I was happy to see this article on the Post-Dispatch site. I remember seeing this thing on the way to school everyday in high school. I always thought it was a remote-control car racing track. Shows what I know. I hope they can raise the money to restore it. What they need to do is ask Nelly if he wants to chip in a couple hundred thousand for improvements in his old 'hood.

Slowly turning the globe red

We had an amazing Hash this Saturday in the city. There were 26 people there and 17 hash virgins. Quite exciting. The weather was gorgeous and religion was one of the best ever.

I found this web site on fark.com . You enter all the countries you have been to and it creates your own personalized world map. So here is mine. My visitation of a country only means that i've set foot on land there, including airports only. It's a little intimidating. I consider myself fairly well-travelled and yet look at all the places I haven't been. Something to shoot for.

Tabuse-san denasai

Tabuse-san haetenasai.
Originally uploaded by KumamotoMark.

Tonight was the second night of the regular season in the NBA. Just another opening night to most people, but no, not tonight. To your right, you see the very first Japanese player in the NBA checking into his very first NBA game for the Phoenix Suns. It was a historic night indeed. Not only did Tabuse record his first minutes, he knocked down his first 3 pointer and went on to score 7 in 10 minutes trash time against the woeful Hawks. Tabuse caused a stir a year ago when he joined the Denver Nuggets training camp, yet he was cut just before the season started. This man is only 24 years old, about 5'8. I've seen him a few times on the highlights, and he is tremendously fast. Nike has a commercial on TV here in Japan right now showcasing him, if I get a chance, I want to record it. Once Nash goes out with spasms this year, we can look forward to Tabuse lighting it up every night.

A feast fit for Kyushu Danji...

Basashi!
Originally uploaded by KumamotoMark.

Here it is, the finest delicacy of Kumamoto. This is the infamous basashi. It is a fine quality cut of horse. Enjoy as is, no need to cook. This was served at the ryokan me and Manami stayed at in Kurokawa, the famous hot bath resort town in northern Kumamoto.

My own quake

Coming from Middle America, one thing I haven't had to spend 2 seconds thinking about all my life is...earthquakes. There was that guy who predicted a massive tremor in Missouri on December 2 that one year, but that's it. It was always somewhere far away, like out in California or on TV when I'm tryin to watch the World Series. When I came to Japan, I heard people saying, "Yeah, they have a lot of earthquakes out there." In a way, I was a little excited to experience one. I never felt one before and I had no way of knowing what it felt like for the whole structure of the Earth to be trembling. Of course I stood by the train tracks as the train rumbled by, but was that really what it felt like? Would I soon have an answer to this question? Well, yeah, sort of. Japan is indeed a country that experiences its fair share of quakes. The biggest one in the past generation was the Hanshin earthquake in '95 that killed over 6000 people. October 23, there was a pretty big one in the area of Niigata, 2 hours form Tokyo, 38 people died. I was sitting on my brother's couch back in spring 2003 and there was a slight tremor, could not have been more that a 2. True it was a quake, but very minor. Then came last night. I don't recall what time it was. I was sleeping, of course, when all of a sudden I woke up to my bed shaking. In the confused state of awakening, I just held on tight. In my semiconscious state (and due to the recent publicity), I immediately thought earthquake. It sooned stopped and as I lay there, I heard the heavy machinery continuing work on the main road near my house. I was back to sleep fast. When I woke this morning, I didn't even remember it. Well, I won't say that, it only registered as one jumbled image in the entirety of my dreams during the night. When I got to school, someone mentioned it and I had to think. Oh yeah, that did happen last night. I suddenly became slightly panicked. Wow, what if... Turns out, it was a quake of magnitude 3-4. That's a pretty significant shake, though there was no damage. My supervisor Yuji told me it was the biggest one in about 4 years. I spent a lot of time watching coverage of the Niigata quakes recently, and I can't imagine experiencing a big one like that. This is a land of natural disasters, and last night made me rimind me that anything can happen anywhere.

What's Tuesday again?

Kahoku plunge
Originally uploaded by KumamotoMark.

It is the night before the big erection day in America and there's one thing on my mind. You guessed it, jumping off waterfalls. Shortly after I arrived in Japan in August 2002, I discovered a new hobby and something I have pursued with persistent passion during my time here. My brother and I have driven thousands of km's in search of new conquests, gushing torrents that are created as water rushes from the central highlands of Japan towards the ocean. There has got to be a way to check this, but I would venture to say that Japan has the most waterfalls per square km than well, a lot of places. And Kumamoto has some gorgeous ones. Too many to mention. The picture here is the first one I jumped off (and will be the last) in Japan. It is located in Kahoku, about 1.5 hours away from our city. It is about a 10m drop, i'd say. Then there is the Amakusa Waterwheel, which is not only a nice waterfall, but a suspension bridge over the falls make the jump a very intense and body-jarring 15-20m drop, likely the highest jump you can safely attempt in Kumamoto. Another one that ranks near the top is the freshwater-saltwater falls that Joey and I discovered out on Yakushima. The frigid mountain stream falls away into the temperate sea with about a 10m drop. Last spring, my thirst for more waterfall action took me to the 100yen shop (everything about a dollar). I found a detailed map of Kumamoto with waterfalls marked. I spent a few days early this summer driving around and locating some of the best-kept secrets around. Japanese people tend not to be huge river-swimming fans, preferring a nice safe pool or hot-spring bath. Since my brother left in August, the one I have been going to regularly (in the heat of summer) is Nanataki. It is only about a 45 minute drive away. And although you can't attempt a jump from the top of the falls, the swimming hole is second to none and jumps can be made from nearby boulders. The summers can be pretty hot here, but this has been one way I've found relief and the adrenaline rush I crave. I even named a photo collection I put together for my brother's 27th birthday, "Jumping Off Waterfalls: The Fingerhut Brothers in Asia 2002-2004" Check it out on Amazon.