We've got a typhoon on the way. It was headed for China but seems to have decided that Japan was more to its liking. It is currently to Kofu's southwest and closing in. Should be here in a few hours. The skies are already quite dark and cloudy and there is a light rain falling. CNN is telling me that around the time it gets to me we'll be seeing about 90mph winds. Guess I should stock up on beer for this one.
I was sent home a little early by school today and I found out that they will be off tomorrow. Unfortunatly, I am not at that school tomorrow. I am at the academy tomorrow. Not sure about the status there. But I do have to take a train there and we'll see if those things are running in the morning.
I like bad weather.

Sumo was fun. Introduced about 20 or so people to the sport. Was happy to be able to do that.
As far the basho itself goes, it was a bit different this time. Asashoryu ended up with a 9-6 record. Amazingly bad for him. He looked off form the entire basho. Not sure if anything more is going on with him but we all have our off days (or bashos) I guess.
Kaio won the thing with a 13-2 record and from what I read will be up for yokozuna promotion in November. I hope he does well, wins the basho, beats Asashoryu and gets the promotion. Not that I want Asashoryu to lose but I just really want to see someone get promoted to yokozuna before I leave Japan. This will probably be my last chance as these opportunities don't come around very often.
Kokkai had his first losing record in the makkuchi division going 7-8. But that ain't terrible so he won't fall too far in the rankings. Roho, the Russian, and Kotooshu, the Bulgarian, ended up with winning records and will slightly climb the rankings.
The ozeki (second ranking) Musoyama pulled out with an injury a couple days after Tochiazuma did so both will have to do well in November to retain their ozeki status. Chiyotaikai ended up at a disappointing 8-7 and like I said, Kaio won the whole thing.
Was a very interesting basho.

Amy and I are thinking about going to New Zealand for xmas. Not sure if we will as we have to think about money (like ya' do) but if we do go we'd tag along with a young lady named Michelle who is from there and now lives near Mt. Fuji. She came to Japan about the same time we did and is a fellow JET.
If we don't do that we are talking about heading off for Osaka, Kyoto and possibly Hiroshima. I actually think that this trip would be more expensive than going to New Zealand as we'd have to stay at hotels the entire time. If we went to New Zealand I am sure that we could stay with Michelle's family at least part of the time.
Anyway, we'll see.

Ok, just a quick update so you don't think the typhoon carried me away. Course, it ain't here yet and still could.