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.