The Secret Life of Salarymen

While working in Japan as an English teacher, my fellow teachers and I were treated to receptions and parties several time of year. The occasions were the arrival of new teachers or the departure of others. The dynamic of a Japanese style enkai is very unique and with a little preparation, can be an amazing experience.

The party goers arrive in the early evening and are coming straight from work, a long day of paper pushing and office calisthenics behind them. No alcohol is immediately served and the office workers wait patiently for the gaijin to arrive, usually tardy.
The party begins formally on time with a word from the Superintendent and a rough translation from Yuji. A formal toast is offered, not before the beer is brought out and everyone takes turns filling someones glass, never your own. After the kanpai, the atmosphere is noticeably different.

We all grab a pair of chopsticks and dig in to the beautifully presented plates of food. There is no sitting, simply nibbling on the appetizers between sips of beer and a chance for the gradually reddening salarymen to practice their limited knowledge of English. (Others choose to converse with some of us other teachers who've been in Japan a few years and are comfortable with limited Japanese).

As everyone moves closer to sauciness, the games begin. On this occasion, I am acting as the MC and purveyor of the games. The game chosen to be played on an occasion like this has to involve everyone, it has to be lively, not necessarily intellectually stimulating, but perhaps a bit more risque than your average junior high English class game. The previous winter break, I had headed to Western Australia and was introduced to a game by our crazy Aussie guide. Have a look:



It is very simple, just what it looks like. A participant ties and tennis ball-laden pantyhose around his waist and proceeds to use repetitive pelvic thrusts and nothing else to push a tennis ball across a given distance. As you can see, this gentleman is enjoying himself, (although the placement of his hands in his nether region technically constitutes a rules infraction). Of course the gaijin participate as well, and this guy has chosen to sport some classic Air Jordan shoes to this semi-formal party:



This game turns out to be pretty successful. I know this by seeing office workers doubled over as they see their drunk superiors gyrating and thrusting their way across the room with an over sized floppy phallus.

Finally it is time for a Kumamoto City Board of Education Original Performance, as the staff performs their patented Feats of Strength. These are various figures, monuments and shapes built only by human ingenuity and Japanese eccentricity. They warm up with a few easy ones. It is time for the London Bridge:



The final shape is the traditional pyramid:



We all appreciate this gesture, it's sort of a gift from our co-workers. The two hours worth of laughter we experienced this night will no doubt bookmark this party into the volumes of our memories.

2007 Cardinals

Roger Dean Staduim, spring training home of the Cardinals and the Florida Marlins is conveniently located just 10 minutes north of where I was working in Palm Beach Gardens. So Friday morning, Kristina and I made the journey from our hotel to the game. We arrived about an hour early and checked out the Bud Light truck where they were excellently showing Game 7 of the NLCS last year. Quite appropriate as we were playing the Mets this day.

We got into the staduim and secured a good place to stand, standing room only on Friday. We were in the aisle about 20 rows up from the Cards dugout. I managed to get Albert Pujols warming up and didn't even realize what was on the scoreboard until I looked at the picture:



In about the third inning, a guy walking up from lower seats stopped and asked us if we wanted his seats up front. Hmmm, uhh yeah. We grabbed his stubs and settled into 3rd row seats within spitting distance of Tony LaRussa. Mr. Taguchi stood still and allowed me to shoot his good side:



We were also close enough to the action to get some pretty good shots of the players at bat:





The game was pretty good until the 9th inning, when Cards' reliever Josh Kinney gave up 3 runs and we ended up losing. One amazing aspect of the game: batting back to back to back in the Mets lineup that day were Julio Franco, Ruben Sierra and Sandy Alomar, Jr., aged 48, 41 and 40, respectively.

The next day we made it back to the park for the 1:05 game vs. the Marlins. Kip Wells was the starter that day, Dave Duncan watches him warm up:



That day, we sat in the bleachers in foul territory for most of the game. I met a guy there with his three kids who were from D.C. He decided he was going to raise his kids as Cardinals fans even though they had no direct ties to the St. Louis area. That's pretty cool.

I had hoped to get So Taguchi's autograph and perhaps chat with him, as accessability to players is much easier that you can ever consider during the regular season. But here, access was unfortunately limited. There was a section near the field that all the players inevitably stop at to sign autographs when they exit the game and make their way back to the clubhouse. To get into this section, however, you need a wristband. Taguchi left the game in about the 5th inning both days, so I was unable to get near him. Saturday, I did manage to get near enough to yell a few Japanese phrases to him, but he didn't respond. I did manage to get one of the Cards' top prospects to sign a baseball--Colby Rasmus. This 20 year old kid will likely spend the year in double A, possibly make it to triple A and is slated to replace Jim Edmonds in center field in 2 years. I think I'll hold on to that ball. I could have probably also gotten Tony's autograph, but settled for a picture instead:



We did end up spanking the Marlins on Saturday. It was a nice relaxing weekend with a little baseball thrown in for good measure. To see a couple more photos, click on any of the above to get to my Flickr photo stream.

Yuengling and Spring Training

Today was the final day of working out of town for four straight weeks. Well, sort of. I was back in the STL for every weekend, but on the road during the week doing various training at sites in Pasadena, Detroit, Charlotte and today, Palm Beach Gardens, FL. I am rewarding myself by taking tomorrow off and taking in a Cards spring training game over at Roger Dean Stadium with Kristina.

Rest assured I will arrive early and try to practice my Nihonkaiwa with Taguchi-san. Hopefully he'll appreciate my well-worn jersey sporting his name and number. I owe an autograph to a co-worker who has gone out of his way to help me out a ton the past few weeks. No problem, all I crave is an encounter with the man complete with Japanese and a chance to drop some Kumamoto-ben on this Kansai hometown hero.

Being on the East Coast, I also get the chance to drink one of my favorite beers, Yuengling. All about the fringe benefits. Sort of a theme for this weekend...

More to come, hopefully some Spring Training pics, beaches, South Beach clubs, me getting arrested by Deputy Shaq...???

Mao History

When I was at the airport yesterday on my way to Charlotte, I picked up a book that I had seen before and was eager to get my hands on. Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday.



I had read Jung Chang's other famous book, Wild Swans, while I was in Japan. That was about the time, or shortly after I made a journey to China with my sibblings. While naturally I would have loved to have spent more time in China, I became intrigued by several aspects of the Chinese culture. I had known little about Mao at the time, the standard facts from high school history books. This figure supposedly responsible for the deaths of millions, and yet the line to view his cryonically frozen body in Tiananmen Square by admirers was too long to consider making the visit even though I wanted to. Perhaps my motivation was different from theirs.

Wild Swans was banned in China as is this new critical book. Does the average Chinese person know their country's history from the Western perspective? I would guess not. Is this book a fair representation of what took place and exactly how accurate does it depict Mao's role in the millions of deaths caused by famine? The debate continues, but with a decade of research of Jung and her husband/co-author, it will make for an interesting read.

New Yorkin

I'm in New York for three days working at Hunter College on 68th in Manhattan. Stayin at a place on 45th, 2 blocks from Times Square. Last night I walked down to the Garden and managed to scrounge up a ticket for the Knicks vs. Suns, one of the most exciting teams to watch in the last 15 years in the NBA. A bit of a slow start by the Suns, but they didn't dispappoint as they scored 62 in the second half. Nash was spectacular as usual and Stoudemire was unstoppable. The won their 15th straight for the 2nd time this season! Best comment of the the night, Eddie Curry left the game after he tweaked his ankle and the comment from a couple of New Yorkers behind me: "At least it's not his heart..."

Taking it a bit easier tonight, I walked down the street in the bitter cold to an izakaya called Riki. I was pretty much the only non-Japanese person there. So needless to say, the food was amazing. Squid, Yaki Tori and some Kimuchi Chahan, all while Japanese tv played in the background. I heard not a word of English spoken for a good hour and a half.

I've felt like a real New Yorker the last few days, commuting on the subway, passing through Grand Central every morning and evening, eating at a cart on the street outside Hunter. Granted, this is a better than average part of the city, not a place where many can afford to live, but I am quickly getting used the the pace here. Would be interesting to be here for more than a few days.

I'm meeting up with Miyazaki/Jersey Derrick tomorrow evening for a drink and perhaps a night on the town. I will be ready for that after dealing with *interesting* clients the last few days.

Holiday Hijinks

The holidays in St. Louis bring a great amount of parties and all kinds of crazy fun.

First, we opened presents. Joey got some ridiculous wedding DJ vest and Michiyo had to pick her nose.


Then Robby Hodai opened his Christmas present and was excited.


Then Lynny and Mom received some traditional Japanese tube tops direct from Kumamoto.


Next, me and Ryan had a Pimps and Ho Ho Ho's party and some girls came too.


Biscan came too and we looked pretty hard.


Then we had to clean up a huge mess.


Finally, it was New Year's and Katie and Mike partied like it was 2005.

Hey Wurld, Happy New Year

Two and a half hours into 2007, happy to be relaxing in St. Louis. What a fantastic year it was. I found decent employment, saw two Fingerhuts become homowners, saw Joe and Michiyo travel the globe and return for the holidays. I contemplated joining the ranks of the aforementioned homowners, but settled on cheap rent and a fat whip instead.

I am not one to spend a lot of time thinking about the past in general, but now that I have a few minutes, I may as well. A brief history of my New Year's:

2003 - Spent the New Year's with my brother as we attempted to enjoy ourselves at a rave on a mountain top somewhere outside Nelson, New Zealand. If I haven't told that forgettable story before, remind me to do it sometime before I do.

2004 - New Year's visiting my girlfriend in Perth, Western Australia. The night itself was not so memorable, but 85 degrees outside at midnight on New Year's is pretty cool.

2005 - Solo snowboarding in Nagano, Japan allowed me to meet many random Gajinas. I arrived the day after the very first snow of the season, so scraping across the rocks on my board the first few hours was not so pleasant. A healthy dumping of fresh powder certainly did help over the next few days. Spent New Year's in an Alpine bar, celebrating the New Year earlier than I ever had before.

2006 - The homecoming celebration. After two triumphant months spent travelling SE Asia, I came home to an amazing group of friends and sibblings and a hell of a night at Cusamano's on Manchester. Mike inquired about dating my sister and with a few in me, I utilized one of the greatest words in Japanese, 'Dozo.'

2007 - A massive scandalous party last night set the foundation for a generally laid back night tonight. The superfriends gathered for a massive pot luck dinner with an amazing amount of delicious food. Stopped by Lynn's house for her party, then adjourned to another South City establishment. No cover, cheap drinks, accomodating environment. We were able to basically take over the bar, avoid excessive tabacco inhalation and enjoy eachother's company as we brought in the new year. The name of the bar? Friendly's.

I've been very lucky to enjoy the occasion of turning over the calendar in some amazing places. What's even better is the company I've kept on those nights. Family, Friends and Strangers. Had some great times and looking forward to o7.

Lyrics Approved by a Registered Dietician

My group of friends in St. Louis are fun no doubt, but none of them share a similar taste in music that I do. Let's just say me and Dave Chapelle have a similar choice of favorite groups and his Block Party movie was fantastic. Spending some time in California gave me the chance to listen to some excellent music rollin around OC in Adam's Prius. I'd just recently gotten a couple of Dead Prez cds. If I would have opted to get a third, it would be Let's Get Free. On this album is a fantastic song recommended to me by Adam.

Having a sister who happens to be a registered dietician makes me appreciate this song even more:

(Genius lyric: Lentil soup is mental fruit/And ginger root is good for the yout)

Its all love . . .
I dont eat no meat, no dairy, no sweets
Only ripe vegetables, fresh fruit and whole wheat
Im from the old school, my household smell like soul food, bro
Curried falafel, barbecued tofu
No fish though, no candy bars, no cigarettes
Only ganja and fresh-squeezed juice from oranges
Exercising daily to stay healthy
And I rarely drink water out the tap, cause its filthy
Lentil soup is mental fruit
And ginger root is good for the yout
Fresh veg-e-table with the mayatl stew
Sweet yam fries with the green calalloo
Careful how you season and prepare your foods
Cause you dont wanna lose vitamins and miner-ules
And thats the jewel
Life brings life, its valuable, so I eat what comes
From the ground, its natural
Let your food be your medicine (uh huh)
No excederin (uh uh)
Strictly herb, generate in the sun, cause I got melanin
And drink water, eight glasses a day
Cause thats what they say
They say you are what you eat, so I strive to be healthy
My goal in life is not to be rich or wealthy
Cause true wealth comes from good health, and wise ways
We got to start taking better care of ourselves
They say you are what you eat, so I strive to be healthy
My goal in life is not to be rich or wealthy
Cause true wealth comes from good health, and wise ways
We got to start taking better care of ourselves,
be Healthy yall . . .

Hashers in the News

A couple of reporters from the St. Louis Post Dispatch recently joined the St. Louis Hash House Harriers for one of our Sunday runs. I was mentioned in the article that appeared in the paper today. There were also a few pictures in the printed copy of the paper, you can see me to the right of the plunger in the picture included with the article here.

Finally, you can get results when googling my name in the news. I am well on my way...

Southern California

I've spent the past week in Southern California on business/pleasure. My friend Adam from Japan was kind enough to host me over the weekend and we got to do some pretty cool stuff, including checking out the Cut Chemist of Jurassic 5, hitting up some nice beaches and big waves, a bit of sailing, hashing with the Orange County Hash House Harriers, eating at a pretty darn good izakaya and posing for some sick jump shots.

I heard a song on the radio out there that I knew instantly was dope. Here is that song: Crazy - Snoop ft. Nate Dogg

I'll be back home for Thanksgiving, I don't know how much more of this 90 degree zero humidity November weather I can take...

Screen Shots of the Champs

My roommate Ryan spent many nights collecting screen shots of various web sites featuring the Cardinals in their terrific run the last few weeks.

Pretty interesting stuff...

World Series, 2006: My Story

My story is one of hundreds of thousands from the night the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series. I was not in the stadium to watch the game but managed to be standing outside the gates when the final out was recorded. Here's what happened:

My roommate Ryan and I got downtown to Mike's loft on Washington just before first pitch of Game 5. We joined a fairly large group of friends in hopes of Jeff Weaver continuing his October mastery of opponent batters. We became nervous when we fell behind early. Sporting an assortment of Cardinals players' masks and a photoshopped Kenny Rogers face, we cheered them on and were rewarded when the horrid Tigers defense allowed us to pull ahead for good.

I motioned that we would all leave the loft and make the twelve block walk down to the stadium after the 7th inning. It was tough to pull away from being able to clearly watch a close game on TV, especially since the game was by no means out of the Tigers' reach. We arrived on Clark St, just outside the stadium and were joined by thousand of other jubilant fans waiting in anticipation for the moment. We were barely able to see a scoreboard inside the stadium to see the game situation. We mostly just reacted to the crowd's reactions.

With Busch Beer in hand at the gates of Busch Stadium, we cheered and waited, waited some more, drank some more, gave grateful fellow fans a drink or seven. Waiting, waiting and then...there it was. Unmistakable pandemonium as the game ended. We had no view of the field and no way to see the score or situation, but close to a hundred thousand screaming fans in the vicinity proved beyond a doubt that we had just won the World Freaking Series. Hugs and high fives, pushing and bumping and jumping, beer showers, confetti clouds in the air and a barrage of fireworks that lasted what seemed like five minutes set off just a few hundred feet behind us...

For some odd reason (perhaps Halloween quickly approaching), I had chosen to wear my Horse face mask the entire evening. I recieved many odd looks from fellow fans outside the stadium, but as one passerby cleverly noted, "Hey, why not?" My vision was obscured quite a bit by the mask, so I was quickly separated from my group of friends as the gates of the staduim opened and the crowd rushed in to view the postgame awards ceremony. So instead of going down as close as I could to the field to check things out, I decided to stand directly in the middle of the concourse behind the bleachers, rock my horse face mask and my So Taguchi jersey and hand out high fives to my fellow Cardinals fans. I believe I ended up standing there for about 45 minutes, giving non-stop high fives to Cards fans who were delighted to slap hands with a Cardinals-loving equine as the filed out of the stadium. I am not sure, but I may have personnally congratulated 500-1000 people.

Finally, my arms aching from the slapping, my friends reappeared. We headed out of the stadium, pouring into the exploding streets, complete with riot cops, horseback cops and plenty of rowdy fans. I was briefly separated from friends once again and happened to meet up with my sister Lynn and her boyfriend Rob, who were lucky enough to attend the game legitimately. We paused for a few photos with a banner I had made for her for the game. It was a personal message for Mr. Taguchi, in Japanese, and I thought for sure it would be shown on the Fox broadcast that night, but unfortunatley was not, to my knowledge.

As another odd twist to the situation, I had previously agreed to go rock climbing this weekend with friends at some cliffs five hours away in Northern Arkansas. We had planned to party after the game, then a sober Jon would point my Honda CR-V south and drive a car full of happily sleeping drunk Cards fans to hopefully arrive sometime around sunrise Saturday morning. After bidding good night to Lynn, Rob and some of their friends, I had to get moving to get back to Washington Ave to reconvene the car-pool. I ran a couple blocks north to Market St, high fiving and screaming at random. When I reached Market St, of course the street was bumper to bumper, no one moving an inch and no one minding that it was after 1am and they were sitting in traffic. Horns were blaring, windows wide open in the cold night and screaming fans provided a sensory overload.

Sensing an amazing opportunity, I got between two lanes of traffic and started my own victory parade. I ran into the stationary oncoming traffic with my hands out. The occupants of the noisy cars were happy to oblige as my high five score for the evening began to approach a couple thousand. I ended up running about seven blocks in total, all in the three foot gap between lines of stopped cars. My lungs and eyes burned from the CO2 intake, my ears were ringing from the yelling and the horns and I was nealry picked off by cross traffic as I crossed a surprisingly moving Tucker Blvd, but it was unreal.

Finally, I heard someone shout "FINGERHUT!" Perfect, it was Jon and Katie, who I would soon be travelling to Arkansas with. We walked the last few blocks back to the car and got set for the trip. I made a few sloppy calls to friends not fortunate enough to be born Cardinals fans for a bit of bragging, then hit the road. After a short gas stop in the suburbs and startling the late night gasoline patrons, we were on the road. Jon took the wheel, downed some Red Bulls for the long night of driving, and I watched the inside of my eyelids replay the night's unbelievable set of events.

St. Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series Champions

+Some photos from the evening (Jenni B+
+Photo slideshow from Caitlin+
(more coming soon, if I recover my camera after that night...)

Cards, On the Brink. World Series 2006

Look at this, St. Louis. Three games won, one game lost.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of spectation. I was lucky enough to attend two turning point games recently. I was in the Bleachers on the last day of the regular season as we woefully lost to Milwaukee, but clicnched the NL Central title when Atlanta finished off the surging Astros.

I was there again in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series. We pulled off the victory then to go up 3-2 and came up big when Yadier Molina hit the go ahead home run in the top of the ninth of Game 7.

I must say my favorite moment of the run came when So Taguchi hit the most unlikeliest of home runs off Billy Wagner in the NLCS game 2 to go up 7-6 in the game and totally deflate the Mets. I celebrated with dozens of friends at Nick's Pub and basked in my Japanese connection. My bro, Taguchi.

This evening, I constructed a shrine to So. I included a personal photo with So, a life-size So head, burning candles and poker chips. I made sure the attendees bowed as they passed by. "So lays down the sac bunt, Rodney picks it up, tosses to firs...it's high! Eckstein scores easily, Cardinals go up 4-3!!!"

Tomorrow, I will not be inside the stadium. I will be watching and waiting for that final pitch when we prove the 'experts' wrong. I will join my sister Lynn when she emerges victoriously from the stadium. I will join my friends for a drink and a dance down on Clark Street. When the Tigers go down and St. Louis is once again the World Champion, I will applaud these guys and embrace St. Louis.

Go Cardinals.

Chuck Berry, Blueberry Hill, St. Louis

On October 19th, 2006, American Legend Chuck Berry turned 80 years old and celebrated by performing for a limited audience at the local bar Blueberry Hill. Thanks to my roommate, I was lucky enough to get a ticket. It was my first time seeing Chuck, even though he performs monthly at this bar just minutes from his home in the St. Louis suburbs.

His son, Chuck Berry, Jr. and his daughter also took the stage to help him perform. Before the show, the owner of Bluberry Hill, Joe Edwards, took the stage to wish Chuck a Happy Birthday and read a heartfelt letter to Chuck from Bill Clinton. The mayor of University City named the day Chuck Berry Day and two congresspeople took the stage to give their support as well.

Finally, the man himself took the stage and performed some of his classics. Here are a few clips I captured:



Clip #2
Clip #3

Lewis & Clark Marathon

Last Sunday took me out to the suburbs of St. Charles to attemt my first full marathon. My sister Katie and I had been on a very loose training program for the last 4 months. I was fairly confident I would finish, but not so sure what the clock would read when I crossed the line. We started nicely packed, almost 4,000 runners split between the half and full course. A large group of St. Louis Hashers made it fun, running with people you know. (A couple hashers also set up a couple beer stops on the course, which was appreciated by this guy.) For most of the first 13 miles, I ran with a fellow hasher Postage Tramp. It was good running and talking, I was able to keep my mind off what was ahead.

Unfortunatley, many of the runners were only doing the half marathon, so after that the course emptied out and I was running by myself. At about the 16th mile, my legs bagan to throb. My muscles tightened up and threatened to cramp. I was forced to walk for a lot of the rest of the course. It was serious pain, relieved little by the torrents of rain that came down over the last 4 miles. Luckily, Biscan was there towards the end and finished the last 2 miles with me.

I finally crossed the line, wading through 3 inches of rainwater and dodging lightning. My final time was about 5:31. I believe that is over a 12 miniute/mile pace. My first half was at 2:05, so I am a little more proud of that than my final time. Overall, I'd say the results were a little disappointing, but I am glad I tried it. It's good that I have at least one under my belt now. I certainly have motivation to do another one to improve on a time I know I can beat.

Another runner in the race was Dean Karnazes, who is attempting to be the second man ever to run 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. The Lewis & Clark Marathon was the very first one in his quest.

The race fee also included photos apparently, I received a this link in my e-mail yesterday. Apparently they snapped thousands of photos of the runners, then mathced their numbers to their e-mail addresses. Pretty cool system, but I don't think I'll be buying any of these photos. Feel free to take a look.