Everything ok out there? I had a rather long sleepless spell just before 4am. These things usually happen to me when other things happen to others….

Another shorty:

It was fookin’ hot today! Two days ago, 10C cooler….

Flashback to April - a photo of me under the flowers. And earlier this month, [at] [the] [luau].

Today was the yearly soccer match. Yearly. That’s insane for how much those kids practice. We played Chuo again - the town rival - and lost. Suikou’s soccer record is even worse than its baseball one with Chuo. Out of the last 38 games (and years), Suikou has won less than 10 games! From the past final scores, it looks like more of a containment game for Suikou - trying to keep the goals against to a minimum.

We we pretty stong until the very end, when Chuo scored 3 goals in the last 8 minutes.

The beginning and end of the game were filled with ceremonies, speeches, and flag bearing, just like the baseball game last month. It’s really true that ’sports’ was a new word for the Japanese (it came over as katakana スポーツ). At the time, they had no concept of something being purely for fun - they took everything like a battle for life and death. This seriousness has carried thru the decades and morphed into ceremony and pomp.

As an aside, at the beginning of the sports day there were speeches as well. The principal got up and repeated a few times that “The most important thing today, the most important thing about sports day is … to follow the rules.” classic

I’ve also congealed a more solid idea of Suikou’s image. It really is the blue-collar school. Chuo is the yuppie preppy place - they’re smarter, they’re better at sports, they have more money, they’ll have better lives. It’s the fodder of many high school films.

I’m glad that I teach real people. People that smile.

The weekend was full of live music. First a JET open mic on Saturday night, followed by hours collected in a park talking till the sun rose. Sunday was a small show at a very small cafe. A Japanese duo sang, and then a trio went up. Both were great, and the first group wrote songs that even I could understand (mostly).

While I was in the big city, I bought some tortillas and made Mexican food! Fajitas, quesadillas, and home-fried tortilla chips. It was very nice, and very unconscious. I didn’t even realize that I made it on the solstice - so I’m sure Mer had a hand in my cooking that night.

Sports day was today. It was supposed to be Wednesday, but it’s the rainy season, so it was raining and sports day was cancelled. The teachers decided to have it today (Friday) no matter what. Well, that meant a severly crippled version inside the gym. They students were still energetic, but running around outside is so much more fun (for me, too).

Dancing was great, there are even photos! Walked around the famous China town before the dance. Very large and lively. The dance was at a famous French restaurant, so the dinner included in the ticket was amazing. All sorts of light and tasty foods.

And for those of you still on the fence about coming this way, you can now take a look at where you’ll stay.

So very busy this week. 5 days in Tokyo! I went to a recontracting training seminar, and it was worthless. I went two days early to go swing dancing and had a few dances in a an all-too-crowded space. Later, I met up with Aroop (who also came early) to go to a small club called the Room (owned by one of the guys in Kyoto Jazz Massive). We stayed out till dawn, and happened upon the company of a helpful guy named Seitaro. He guided us to a park where we could nap a little (Yoyogi park, of the famous costume players - and yes, we did see them).

A Sunday afternoon nap and then some shopping. Monday thru Wenesday was the conference, and workshops ranged from generalizations to tirades. Walked away with nothing. Uf.

Then, my teachers didn’t do any of the work I asked them to do while I was gone, so I came back to a stack of 200 papers to grade. These business trips are terrible, I have another 1-day meeting in Shizuoka Monday, and they’ll be more catch-up work to do.

However, tonight I’m going swing dancing again in Yokohama! So I’ll have a chance to dance in another place - hopefully it won’t be as crowded!