Well, my computer crashed. Seems pretty much dead. This weekend I will call the company and see what can be done. I do have it under warrenty until 2006 so I am safe there, but it seems to me that I have probably lost all my pictures, any writings that I had done in word, and about $400 worth of music that I had downloaded from the internet (legally at $1 a song). So you'll excuse me for saying "SHIT!"
Amy, nice girl that she is, gave me her computer to use at home since she doesn't use it at hers so I am back online for now.
What happened? I am not sure. But as of now it only comes on sometimes, will suddenly shut off within a few minutes of coming on (if it does), and it won't load windows at all anymore. So basically it is now just a hunk of metal and plastic.
I imagine I will probably have to send it back to the states to either have it fixed or replaced. Oh well.

Will write more later. My dinner is ready.

Taken back in October at the Aviation Academy's school festival. These are some girls from Yuda that I had in a class from last year. 

Blogger has updated their site and it seems a bit easier to use now. But the really good part is that now it seems pretty easy to post pictures with captions. So what follows are three pictures of a day at a basho (sumo tournament). I am still figuring out the picture thing so unfortunately the three pics are in the reverse order of what they should be. But I'll figure it all out soon enough, just bear with me.

The high leg lift and then stomp dates way back and is a show of bravado. Asashoryu does two with his right leg and then one with his left. The crowd yells a little when his foot strikes the ground. 

This is Asashoryu doing what I call the "Yokozuna Shuffle." Only a person ranking at yokozuna can do this and he does it everyday of the basho just after the two groups of top rikishi are introduced. 

The top 40 rikishi are introduced one by one in two groups. 

Normally I go to Yuda on Wednesdays but for yesterday I was told that I didn't have to show up due to some sports festival. So I didn't think too much of it and figured I'd just have a day at the Kencho, but Amy's supervisor told her not to come to school and instead to head up here to Kofu and go watch some of the events so I decided to join her.
I didn't tell the Kencho what was going on because one, I figured they'd probably not find out about it, and two, because I didn't want to give them a chance to say "no". So yesterday morning Amy and I mounted our bikes and made off to Kose Sports Center, which is the same place where the Sumo guys came to last month.
This "Sports Day" involves nearly all the high schools in Yamanashi and I believe it cause there were a hell of a lot of students there. Kose is a big place with a big parking lot and nearly all of that parking lot was filled with bikes. I've never seen anything even remotely close to it in America.
When we got there we headed over to the large (by Kofu standards) stadium where we had seen a professional soccer game last year. The stadium is probably about the same size as you might find at a small college in America. Probably seats about eight to ten thousand or so. Anyway, around the soccer field is a nice track and this was where the track and field events were to take place. But when we got there they were doing some kind of an opening ceremony thing. We sat down and watched and found the lineup of Amy's school due to the fact that I recognized the kanji for "river" and thought the symbol next to it might be the one for "one" (Ichikawa means "one river"). I, of course, have multiple schools and still haven't quite learned all the kanji involved there. But I did find the Aviation Academy thanks to their military-like hats.
After the opening ceremony thing we headed over to an indoor gym type building and watched some kendo (Japanese fighting with bamboo swords). Kendo looks pretty fun but honestly I don't know much about it and therefore don't have a good eye for what is really going on. Looks like they are just trying to whack each other to me (and that is probably what really is happening) and I have no idea how you actually win because I don't know how to score it or what kind of tactics there are or anything. But it was nice to see kids in armor whacking each other with sticks.
While we were watching kendo I ran into some students from the Aviation Academy and a couple of the teachers and Amy went over to talk to some of her students who were there as spectators. It's great seeing the kids away from school because they always look at you and react to you as if they can't believe that you really are here in their country. I've had kids react to me and say things in Japanese that must mean something along the lines of "Whoa! It's Marcus-sensei and we're not in school. What are you doing here? I thought you flew back to America after class or at least, like Godzilla, slipped back into the ocean from whence you came!"
After kendo we went back to the track to take in some running events. Saw a few heats of the 400 meter run, both males and females, and then took in a male 5000 meter race. As those guys circled the 13 and a half laps I remembered my own high school track days and thought, "Hmmm, isn't it nice to be sitting in the shade with my yakisoba (grilled noodles) and a sports drink instead of out there running in circles and loosing electrolytes." Ok, really what I thought was, "Damn, you lazy fool, you need to start running again." And I do. It's been about a year since I stopped yet again.
After this Amy and I headed over to watch some kyudo (archery, I think that's how you might spell it). It was pretty cool because it wasn't so simple as just lining up and taking a shot at a target. There was a motion that all the archers went through and each guy had four team members out there with him. In all, three teams of five would shoot at once with each archer having his or her own target to shoot at. And each archer would wait until the teammate before him had shot to take his turn but during the other guy's shot he would be in his pre-shot routine so that when the guy before him shot he would be only a few seconds away from firing himself. Sorry that I can explain this any better than that. It's just one of those things you have to see for yourself.
So those were the sports we saw there. At Kose there was track and field, tennis, judo, kyudo, and kendo going on. And apparently at other places around Kofu there were more sports in action. So this whole thing seems like a big deal and felt a little like a mini-Olympics.
After the kyudo I headed to the Kencho to check in not sure if they'd know that I hadn't been at school. In fact, they didn't know but the new lady, who took Ono's place, asked me why my face was a bit sunburned. "Damn," I thought, "foiled again! Well, I'm not gonna lie." So I told her the truth and then another guy asked me about my day and I told him too. But hey hey, they seemed cool with it and wanted to know a little more about the day. I think they are aware that it really was better for me to go see sports day as opposed to sitting in the Kencho all day. I mean, hell, man, I ran into about five of my teachers and at least 20 of my students and they all seemed happy that I was attending something that is a part of school life over here. It really was great.
So that was that. Today I am in the Kencho and tomorrow I go to Yamanashi Gakuen.

Sumo is still going on and Asashoryu is now sitting on 34 straight wins. 4th place in the modern era of sumo. History in the making.

Again, neglecting this thing. I just haven't had the desire to write and to be honest there hasn't been much to write about. My schools are plugging along and besides the week off we had nothing extraordinary has happened. Sure, I"m still in Japan, but even here life tends to be work-home, work-home.
If it's any consolation, I still very rarely have a day where I know exactly what's going to happen. I guess none of us really do, but I still walk into many of my classes not sure of what's going to happen and just somehow getting through. It can be very fun at times and gets very old at others. On the upside, Minobusan is getting better, but on the downside Yuda is not as fun as it used to be. Guess that's just how it goes.

Besides work, all is still great. My Japanese is still coming slowly along. And by slowly I mean very slowly. If you were to put a message in a bottle off some beach over here in hopes that it would reach the shores of California, when that bottle finally arrived--if it ever did--I might know Japanese. Some weeks I study and some weeks I don't. And when I don't, I forget a few things and have to go back and repeat lessons. I was a much better student at the university, probably because I had grades to contend with. Japanese just isn't like studying literature or human evolution to me. Not nearly as fun and interesting. Ah well, to each their own.

Sumo has started once again. The Basho got underway on Sunday and goes for 15 days. I will be going on day 14. This particular basho is interesting for several reasons but I'll only bore you with two.
One is that Asashoryu, the Yokozuna or highest ranked guy out there, has won the last two bashos with undefeated records, 15-0 at each. Today is day three of the current basho and he won the first two. So his streak as of now stands at 32. This is the first time in many years that someone has accomplished such a feat. In fact, in the modern era of sumo Asashoryu is sitting in a tie for 4th in regards to this particular record--consecutive wins. The record stand at 69 so he has quite a ways to go if he is ever to get there but it is fun to watch nonetheless. The top guy has 69, the second place guy has 53, third is 45 and then Asashoryu and two others have 32. So if he wins here in about an hour he will have sole possession of 4th place.
The second reason this basho is interesting is because another guy, Chiyotaikai, is up for attaining the top rank of Yokozuna. There can be more than one Yokozuna at once but there is normally not more than 2, perhaps 3. But for Chiyotaikai to attain this rank I have read that he will need to win the basho and as you might have guessed the road to that win will more than likely go through Asashoryu. The March basho came down to these two and Asashoryu came out on top as you might have already figured out.
Anyway, like I said, there are many interesting facets to this basho but I won't go into detail. Just happy it is back in action.

Here is the Holy Ground.



The weather is getting quite warm again. The days are quite nice and we are moving into rainy season where, I understand, it rains just about everyday. Haven't stared that quite yet, but according to Amy's supervisor in June it will rain nearly everyday. I don't mind the rain as long as it ain't cold and I don' think it will be. But perhaps by the end of June everything will be drenched and I will be nearly drowned and ready for another change.
With the warmer weather has come green. Everything is green and what was a barren landscape of naked tress now looks like a fresh salad spread thick across the hills. It is quite beautiful with all the different shades of green. Quite nice really.

Ok, anything else? I think not. Time to get back to my intense sumo watching.