Another City Hash

Click for Mashiki Dan's photos from the hash! Thanks, Dan.

Saturday, May 19th witnessed the 28th running of the Kumamoto Hash House Harriers in Kumamoto City. The weather was gorgeous as 14 dogs (plus 1 Father Time) gathered on the rooftop of Tsuruya overlooking the city and the course they would run. The hares, Disco A** and S**t***k shortly took off down the stairs and out into the city. After a Shimotori/Kamitori mix up, the dogs were after them as the path snaked through the western edge of downtown. The flat course then took a turn for the not so flat, as the dogs discovered some of the finest (and cheapest) love hotels in the city. After checking out a shrine and a massive tori gate, they continued to Mannichi Yama, former property of the Ohm fanatic religious group. After a trek down through the woods and a long straightaway, it was On Home! to Inari No Oka, a nice rock park on a hill overlooking southern Kumamoto and Uto. C**k Sprinter continued his hash dominance by winning his 3rd in a row followed closely by Kathy. As we saw a beautiful sunset, we were reminded that indeed, "Love is like a spring..." Religion was carried out and saw the aforementioned Kathy be immortalized at her 2nd hash and her very first religion. We welcome sister "Hi and Squeaky" to the Kumamoto HHH. Thanks to everyone for coming out, special shouts to brother Lettuce for being Father Time, B**chiro and Emily for coming all the way from Miyazaki, Erica for coming from America and Mashiki Dan for the photos above. ON ON!

Waterfalls of Miyazaki: Weekend Getaway

After Saturday’s successful Hash, (see above post – coming soon) I was pumped to take Sunday and Monday (some national holiday) to explore numerous waterfalls in the neighboring prefecture of Miyazaki. I was intrigued by my friend Adam's post of this web site. When I looked at the map of Miyazaki, I noticed an area of heavy waterfall concentration. The area was in the eastern-most area of Miyazaki Prefecture, Shiiba Village. I knew exactly where I had to go. Although the weather is still a little cold to do any waterfall jumping, I was excited to do a little research for future jumps.

Manami and I set off in her sister’s sweet Toyota Land Cruiser Prado:

I get too nervous maneuvering that beast around narrow city streets, but once we get to the country, I hop behind the wheel. On our way, we come across various interesting things. A road swept away by an autumn typhoon: Manami gets a closer look over the edge:

One of many obstructions we encounter on a thin mountain road:

A mountainside decimated by the chopstick industry:

Sure enough, we begin to find the waterfalls as promised. A tall one cascading over rocks:

A few with a powerful stream source:

And finally, we find what we came for, the jumpers. The first one is hidden fairly well and I have to crawl through some foliage to get to the top of it:

It is a high flow stream that falls about 5 meters into a clear deep pool:

Then we happen upon perhaps the best one I’ve seen in Japan. Ukonoko Falls just across the border in Gokase, Miyazaki:

At first, I am intimidated by its size and the massive cliffs surrounding the lagoon on 3 sides. Upon closer inspection, (that’s me behind the falls)

I see that it may be a jumping possibility. It would require an inquiry to the pool’s depth and some cajones to attempt the 20 meter plunge, no doubt. Come summer, I plan on returning to both of these jumpers for implementation of phase 2. Stay tuned for footage.

Fukuoka Damage, OH YEAH!

Fukuoka Damage, OH YEAH!
Originally uploaded by KumamotoMark.

Just saw this on FARK.com. Hilarious, apparently this damge was not due to the earthquake today...

Kyushu Quake!

10:53 AM, Sunday - was laying in my bed and felt the quake, it was only a 4 on the Japanese scale here in Kumamoto. Fukuoka 2 hours to the north got it the worst. Some pictures fell off my wall and a cup fell off a shelf but other than that, everthing is good. It really lasted a while, I'd say it shook for a good 35-45 seconds. There were several different waves within the shaking.

I am heading to the mountains to look for waterfalls until Monday, national holiday. The City Hash yesterday was excellent, more on that soon.

#25, what have you done?

I haven't been following most of the drama about steroids recently in baseball. Basically, I think my sister Lynn puts it best. Congress should have a lot more to spend precious time and money on than this. But with that said, I couldn't help but feel a wave of despair upon seeing that McGwire chose to plead the 5th all the way down the line. Since 1998, I considered one of the most memorable moments of my life the experience of being at the game when he hit #67 and 68 at Busch Stadium. Jim Caple at ESPN pretty much summed up my feelings on the Congressional hearings yesterday.

If you are in the states then you know, March Madness is here. I paid even less attention to college basketball this year than I normally do. I followed the Billikens' disappointing season, but that was about it. However, I was very surprised and delighted to see the Washington Huskies get a #1 seed. They are of couse led my SLU's former head coach Lorenzo Romar. In his debut season coaching the SLU Billikens in 1999, he was responsible for yet another pantheon moment for me. The Billikens entered the C-USA Tournament that year with a record near .500 and low expectations. Here's what happened (from espn.com):

Twice during the 2000 regular season, Saint Louis got crushed by Cincinnati -- including, about a week before the Conference USA tourney, an 84-41 pasting against the then-No. 1 Bearcats.

But when Saint Louis -- 15-13 in the regular season and 7-9 in the conference -- faced Cincinnati again in the tournament quarterfinals, they won 68-58, a huge upset even when you take into consideration that Cincy's Kenyon Martin went down in the game with a broken leg.

Then the Billikens won two more -- four wins in four days against higher seeds -- to gain the conference title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Of course, I was the Billken Mascot for those 4 frantic games. After Cincy's upset and the win in the C-USA Final against DePaul the band and cheerleaders rushed the court. I was in the middle of it, of course. Proudly, it was the closest I have ever come to hyperventilation/asphyxiation. So good luck to LoRo and the Huskies!

The Professor's Triumphant Return

Yesterday, I returned from the Pearl Line Marathon 20k race feeling exhausted. I checked my e-mail as usual and found out some awesome news. Professor Quintana, aka Joe Debiec is triumphantly returning to Kumamoto City! He was a teacher here from 2002-2004 and was an integral part of the Kumamoto Hash scene and just general enjoyment. He is coming from Vail, CO to take a position teaching English at a local language school. He is coming in early April, just in time for Hanami. Kumamoto welcomes back The Professor.

In Joe’s honor, I want to post a fine picture taken after his own Kyokushi Hash in local pub Sanctuary. The title of the picture is Unbridled Debauchery and I think it’s one of the finest shots ever captured with my camera.

From left to right: Alana, DJ Chu-hi, Muppet, Leslie, Katie Norris and Professor Quintana.

How to wreck your body

This past Sunday, I took part in the city-wide teachers' soccer tournament. I joined about 9 other teachers for the 2 game extravaganza at a local junior high school. I joined the tournament the past 2 years with mixed results. This year yielded about the same results.

Our first game, we were down 2-1 at the half. Then the second half started. The soccer club coach knocked in 2 more and I hit a laser shot from the right wing to make it 4-3 before the time ran out and we came away victorious. The second game, we faced a pretty tough match up. Although I managed to net a hat trick, including a header from a beautifully centered ball from the right side, we couldn't stop their high-powered offense. We lost the game 5-3. After a nice soak in a hot bath with 50 strangers, I headed downtown for the celebration party. At the toast, the soccer coach handed me a gold medal and informed me I was one of two MVPs in the tournament. I was pretty surprised considering our 1-1 record that day, but I appreciated it. We proceeded to eat like crazy and drink heavily before calling it an evening by 8:30pm due to school the next day. I was presented with the medal (again) formally the next morning at the teacher’s meeting.

I was incredibly sore the day after and I continue to have some pains. I only hope they go away before this Sunday and the 20k race I foolishly signed up for.

Wise words from Japanese 14 year olds

So I recently checked some papers of some soon to be graduating 3rd year students at my junior high school. The students were given a chance to write a message to myself after learning the finer points of english for almost 3 years. You can tell how great of a teacher I was (yellow is all students' original work):

It is sad for me to said good-bye, but I want to enjoy high school life.

Thank you for speaking a lot of interesting story. I learned many things for Mirk.

Mark's speech very interested.

I'm grald to see you.

I understand tought by you English class. (by 2 different students)

No more cry.

English is difficult.

And finally, a special message from a male student: How I long to be Mark!! I long for you! Sanobabith you love!!

Wow, pure genius. Where do they learn these things?