an April/May punch to the face of info!

I'm back! i know i haven't been gone, i mean i put up a bunch of pics of sorts and shouted out about America's racism, but it's time to get down to what's gone down for me since the incident last month.
after getting out of the hospital i had some sweet meatloaf for the 1st time in ages!and then a crazy window washer outside my classroom:a picture from that bad ass curry shop in hatanodai (旗の台) i mentioned in 'the happening...' post:stuff is taaaaaste! mornin's insisted on going there like 3 times since we stumbled upon it the 1st time. it's cool, it's scrumpin good(soon)! i mentioned in that same post that I'd be going to my 1st baseball game of the season. i did. and I've been to 3 others since. I've had a rough year. 4 games, 4 L's... the only saving grace was the Frontale game mornin, meltin and i rocked during golden week, 4-1 beat down! back to the 1st game. mornin, melvis, his lady (we'll call her K2) and i headed to Y-town for a baystars x tigers throw down. didn't turn out for the good guys (sorry deuce!) all because of our starting pitcher, Fukuhara (福原), going too long. F'n new manager, Mayumi (真弓), has made a bunch of bad calls so far this season. It was pretty cool because somebody wrote "しね" on the Giant's mascot! Ha!Ha!
Don't forget to get yourself some Tigers P.C.P.2nd game i went to was for round-face's wedding party. it was good times, first time I've sat home side at jingu (神宮) in about 3 years, and 1st time I've ever rocked my Aoki (青木) jersey. another loss at the hands of B-stars... I'm for sure a much bigger B-stars fan, but since it was round-face's day, it was still a let down (again, sorry deuce!). i did hear some great news that day that I'm not sure if it's cool to post here now, but good news! congrats round-face! get your katsup here!
onto golden week... i had 9 days off, and the 1st was spent watching Frontale whoop Kyoto with a massive 2nd half performance! I expected more from a team that's all about the "Hardcore Naked!"my boys! (they had a big 3-2 comeback 2 days ago over 1st place, and hated rivals, the Urawa Reds, in Urawa! their 1st home loss of the year! Forza Kawasaki!)　before the season opener melvis, mornin and i had our pic taken for a game day program but we couldn't go to the game that it was for because it was a Wednesday. luckily, mornin found a back issue at the 2nd game and POW! there we were:Too bad the reporter messed up and said that we were from Kawasaki city, Ota-ward (川崎市大田区)... It's actually Tokyo (東京). Which we told her.
tight! right? for the next couple days mornin and i just hung out, watched some TV and that was about it, it was good times.
next, i found some Jesus Body, just read it, and be amused:melvis and i tried a mini-T.O.C. with dude? and melvis failed! next time bro! mornin and i next headed out for a game up in Saitama (埼玉), her 1st trip to the stadium since it had a dome put on it. i wanted to get one of the new Lions jersey and it is sweet! but we were there to cheer on our Golden Eagles!Stupid lady in the bottom walked to much, otherwise the pan-o-rama woulda been a bit better... another loss... next couple days dude? and i rocked another mini-T.O.C. and mornin and i just chilled some more. to wind up golden week, mornin and i went over to Jingu for a Tigers x Swallows game in a (at times) driving rain. another loss... so to quantify my record on the year is 1-1-4... my next scheduled game isn't until June 3rd up in Sapporo, our fightin Hiroshima Carp taking on the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. hope i can get another win on the board!
most recent action was Mr. infidel's going away party. he's heading back to the U.S. to hit up law school, go on boy! the party was intense, some dancing, some capoeira, and a ton of drinking! as far as i can remember, my final count was: 3 tall boys of beer, 2 tall boy chu-his, 3 cups of beer, 2 cups of something called 'reggae punch', 3 cups of vodka and some juice and a shot of tequila... it was a wicked night. gonna miss Mr. infidel, but i know in a few years i'll have a lawyer who'll hopefully hook me up pro bono! bu-ya!

b?'s magical mystery stadium tour! #1

This was supposed to be up yesterday, I ended up in the hospital (more on that another time) so it is a little late, sorry!



#1: Koshien Stadium　
阪神甲子園
Location: Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Pref.
場所：西ノ宮市、兵庫県
Team: Hanshin Tigers
チーム：阪神タイガース
Capacity/定員: 46,229
Opened: August 1, 1924





It was destiny. It was manifest destiny. It was preordained before we even started on this journey. Coming in at #1 on the stadium tour is none other than the wonderful, spectacular, stadium-of-stadiums, Koshien! Koshien, which is located in Hyogo Prefecture (not Osaka), is the oldest active NPB stadium in Japan. It is the equivalent of Fenway Park, or Wrigley Field. It is the field of dreams for H.S. baseball players around the country. It is my field of dreams. At the end of last season, Koshien underwent some renovations (extending the roof behind home and removing the obstructive outfield lights) that will probably take it to a new level, unmatched in the whole of Asia. From the first time you set eyes on Koshien, you can feel its magic. It's got freakin ivy covering the outside! How cool is that!? The last time I was there the Ivy was down and a picture of the ivy was up in its place... strange, but that's how iconic it is. While they were renovating the building, they had to put up a picture of the ivy that was missing! Although the stadium itself is a bit on the inaccessible side, especially when compared to Osaka Dome or either of the 2 here in Tokyo. It's worth the trip out to Nishinomiya though. Oh, the trains are stupid crowded before and after the games, think rush hour on the Yamanote-ish. When it comes to concessions, who cares! I don't even remember if I've eaten there, it think there are some decent choices, but that's not why you go to Koshien. You go to see the most loyal, crazy, and dangerous fans in all of Japanese sports. You go to see the dirt infield that H.S. players take home in jars and bags after they've been eliminated from the championship tournament. You go to see the ivy. You go to see a team that has been associated with "the curse of Col. Sanders." You go to hear and sing the most famous baseball song (this side of "take me out to the ball game"), "Rokko-oroshi (六甲おろし≪颪≫)." You go because. Security is off and on, usually not too bad and if you are a Tigers fan, people will give you beer anyway. And sometimes ask you to talk to their wife at home... or give you hamburgers... it is a strange group. Koshien did have some obstructed seats but with the removal of the old outfield lights, that should be taken care of. What still must be changed is the fencing on the outfield walls, tear it down! One thing to note is that it is nigh impossible to get tickets (at least 2 or more together) in right field, but don't worry, everywhere you sit is Tigers territory! Fure, fure, fure, fure!
location: +3
history: +10
fanmasphere: +10
concessions: +2
smoking: -1
bathrooms: -1
sight lines: +4
field surface: +10
outside: +10
surroundings: +2
seats: +2
atmosphere: +10
security: +4

total: +65

They found the cornel!

Cornel Sanders (カーネルサンダース)　has been recovered from the Dotonbori River (道頓堀川)after 24 years! After the Hanshin Tigers (阪神タイガース) won the 1985 Japan series (日本シリーズ)to become the champions of Japan, some overzealous fans decided to dump a statue of Col. Sanders (they stand in front of all the KFCs here in Japan) cursing the much beloved Tigers to a lifetime of sadness. Much like the "curse of the Bambino" for the Bo-Sox, and the goat thing for the Cubs. Today is a day to celebrate! I didn't catch the whole story but a guy (I think a city employee) was trolling the Dotonbori River and came across what he thought was a big drum of some kind but when he pulled it up, he found none other than the famed statue of Mr. Sanders. Tigers fans across the world thank this guy for his diligence.

In other news, some playlists for you! I woke up at the godforsaken hour of 9:30 this morning and thus I listened to all the new podcasts before I was out the door.
the way into work sounded like this:
1. ゆず / 四時五分
2. Black Star / yo yeah
3. James Brown / night train
4. Gang Starr / intro
5. Pearl Jam / why go
6. Metallica / (anesthesia) pulling teeth
7. Melechesh / unnamed
8. Alice in Chains / i stay away
9. Nirvana / smells like teen spirit
10. Modest Mouse / fire it up
11. 8-ball & MJG / nobody but me
12. DJ Diplomat / white day 2007

man, i was having flashbacks with Pearl Jam, A.I.C. and Nirvana all making appearances on the countdown. Sea-town holla back!

and the way home:
1. Audioslave / shadow on the sun
2. butt? / no airplay vol. 20! (skipped this one)
3. コブクロ / どんな空でも
4. Matisyahu / got no water
5. Gnarls Barkley / gone daddy gone
6. Incubus / track 8
7. NoFX / juice head
8. Stone Temple Pilots / pretty penny
9. Incubus / rogues
10. Nate Dogg / your wife
11. INXS / the gift12. 50 cent / high all the time
13. Jimi Hendrix / all along the watchtower
14. Kurupt / loose cannons

L.W.O.D. '08 pt. 1: Days 1-3

So here it is, the post.
L.W.O.D. '08 had all the makings of epicness that you've come to expect from me, however it ended up being much more... some word that doesn't mean 'epicness.' It wasn't bad at all, I had a really good time, just much more laid back than I was expecting. I think butt? and dude? were pretty wiped out generally after day 2. Find out more!

Day 1 (Sat):
I got off work and headed over to Gotanda to meet up with dude? who had been working his ways on express trains throughout the day from Osaka. I can't remember how long it took, maybe he'll comment about that later, but it was a looooong ride that's for sure, お疲れ様！ We headed back on the train to my place, met Meltin faces, and mornin and got ready to go over to Ramen 526. You can see the Scrumped review here. This turned out to be a really bad idea. It was really tasty (as always) but it was just so unbelievably filling that for the first half of the Conbini challenge pretty much all we could muster as far as commentary was 'uhhhhhh.' It was pretty bad. But the conbini challenge ended up being a winner. After a break in the middle at a Lawson that didn't sell beer! We all made a bathroom trip and felt back on the right path and we eventually made it back to my place for a bunch more drinks and some rocktacular Karaoke action! mornin played cameraman and got some really good pics from the challenge, the two best were for sure this little series: you had to be there to get the full effect, but me turning my head ruined dude?'s attempt to pull my 'tongue in the ear' photo trick.
There are a ton of good pictures from this night, and I might put another post about it, or put them up on flickr some time, wait for it...
here's an amazing shot from karaoke:
Day 2 (SUN):
Got up at a pretty decent hour and prepared to head out over to Jingu Stadium for the first of a 3-day baseball extravaganza! I woke up feeling a little hung over and with a completely trashed voice, but I downed a bunch of water hoping to feel a bit better before we headed out... it didn't work. I started to feel really sick while we sat around and played some NCAA so I made a trip to call the dinosaurs and suddenly felt a ton better! So we headed out and hoped for the best but got the worst. We got in and got our seats and went around to some of the shops at the stadium waiting for it to start, praying that the rain would subside. It got worse and worse and right about first pitch time, there was an announcement made that the game was being canceled. What a crushing defeat. We had been looking forward to all the games on the schedule, but none more than the first one, at the best stadium on the tour, and the only game featuring the Hanshin Tigers. It was a sad day, and we just headed back, played NCAA and did an auction draft for a fantasy football league... disappointing...

Day 3 (MON):
Got up, played some more NCAA then headed down to Yokohama stadium for game 2. More rain and dude? hadn't been feeling so good but we were just hoping that game would be played as scheduled. Luckily it was! We got in our seats but found that although they we good (1st row) it was a pain in the ass because vendors constantly walked directly in front of us so we headed further up in the stands and were asked to move a bit closer because the seats we were in hadn't actually been sold. The security guy was nice enough about it and just told us to move down a few rows. There were many, many seats to choose from. When the game started there couldn't have been more than 2000 people there and although more people came later in the game, after the rains had calmed down a bit, it couldn't have been the more than 8000 people that the newspaper said it was the next day. I'd guess 4500 or so. Carp came away with a 3-2 victory, and it was a pretty good game to take in.

Summer `08 vol. 1 (vol. 26!) beer!

feast on my hairy tomatoes! 1st episode of the summer `08 season is in the books! Just news!
by the way, I accidentaly called out Dale Ellis, I`m sorry for that Dale, you`re a good guy! I meant Nate McMillan, eat it Cap`n Mac!

GW #2: Osaka-yanen～!

大阪やねん～！
Day 1: May 1st
March 1st came, and I went... to Osaka! I left Tokyo around 8:30am and arrived in Osaka just before 11. I ended up meeting dude? in Namba at around 11:30 or so and we stopped by to pick up a couple of games (look forward to a review in the next show) and then went over to Kua'aina in Namba Parks for some sweet hamburgers and big ass beers. Afterwards we headed back to dude?'s for some gaming, drinking and then prepared to go over to Koshien stadium for the night's game. We rolled into the stadium around 4 or 5, don't really recall, doesn't really matter. Game was alright, lost. Can't really remember the score, but had a good time.
Here's a couple of pics from the game:
Day 2: May 2nd
The day began surprisingly early and the weather reports were not good. The forecast for rain was about 50% and we were supposed to go on the "Osaka Loop Line" ride... so, after some discussion, dude? and I decided that we would bag it for this trip and just take a short ride down to the Namba area again for lunch, and to look for a stupid shirt for me. No luck with the shirt, but, oh well. The most surprising thing on the short ride that day was going through an area of town called "Nishi-Nari" (I think). This place was shocking. It started with a dead cat and a guy sleeping in a parking lot, and ended with the distinct smell of urine, and scattered with loads of drunk, unemployed old guys along the way... it was like a different country. I've never seen that level of poverty here in Japan. I've certainly seen it back home in the U.S., but never here... shocking...
Here's some pics from that part of the day:
We made it back to dude?'s and rocked some video games and some beers and then later headed out for dinner (yakiniku) with Mrs. dude? and her parents. Good times, they are really good people, and it was some good eats. After dinner we headed back to the dude? pad and prepared to head out for an evening bike ride to cover 3 bridges around town. It was a really cool ride. Pretty short, came in around 2-3 hours, and had some spectacular views of the city along the way, and also some sweet corkscrew offramps that we flew down! Good times in Osaka!

vol. 21! Guest!

*This show is only for the strong of ear!*
Breaking New Ground! Today's show sounds like crap(at least dude?s half)! But I have my first guest ever! Guess who? Should I really use a ? there? Probably not, because it's not a question is it? I guess if I said, "do you know who?" it would be better... Kapow! We talked about Golden Week plans, such as: Tigers' Game, Osaka Loop Line Challenge, Wii games, Hiroshima, some whirlpool museum, and Orix Buffaloes. Also you can get some shocking info about Emperor Showa on his B-day! And probably a song from dude? ripped off himself, and NoFx!

the sweet smell of victory!

On Sunday mornin and I headed over to Jingu Stadium for our 3rd game of the season, 2nd T-gres game of the season, and 1st victory! We arrived at the stadium at about 3:45 and proceeded to head to the end of the line... keep in mind, the game did not start until 6:20... we walked, and walked, and walked... finally, we got in line about a half a mile from the stadium! Ridiculous!In this picture you can't even see the stadium, you can see a large fence in the background which is the back side of a driving range, and the stadium is on the other side of the range... and the line winds... ridiculous! So, no more unreserved seats for Tigers games unless the reserved seats are all sold out...

So, on the way in to the stadium, I saw a bunch of flags that said "New Jingu, New Swallows". "New Swallows" I understood because they lost several players in the off-season, but I didn't know that Jingu was "new'. Jingu is my favorite stadium in the Tokyo area because it's small, it's old, and it's a great place to see a game, very nice sight lines, great atmosphere, so what's new? Well, 1st, and most important, they replaced the astro turf with brand new field turf! That is very good news! About time! Why they didn't go for grass, I'm not sure, it would have been the better choice, since it's an outdoor stadium, but of course, it's more expensive, so the field turf is OK I guess. What else is new? Well, let me tell you! Not much. They also added new video screens in center field (it seems), and behind home. I think the one in center is new, I could be wrong, but it seems a bunch clearer and bigger than it used to be. The screen behind home is for sure new because now it shows what is on the big board in center instead of just displaying the score. Aside from those changes, the only other thing that seems to be different is that there are some new concourse shops. I'll give the renovation an B. I think the field change was great, they kept the basic feel of the stadium the same, with some minor improvements, the only thing that could have been better would be grass!

fure~! fure~! fure~! fure~!

So as I said, I went down to Yokohama on Friday to take in my first Tigers game of the season and luckily we had a break in the weather and it was a really nice day. I went down very early and hopped in line about 4 hours before the game and there were already probably more than 100 people in line ahead of me. Tigers fans are something else. I was able to get some nice pictures of the tulips around the stadium before the game, here!
Here's where I waited in line...it rained the day before and the ground was still pretty muddy, so I stood for about 2 hours...
Here's the line behind me. This was about 1 hour before the gates opened.
We lost, and Kanemoto waited until the next day to get his 2000th hit... A bit disappointing, but, still fun to be out at the game!

6 months lost... post #1: "Play balls!"

Here's a post I wrote way back when (maybe may?) but never put up. I'm putting it up now because if I wait to put pictures with it, it might never show up. So, pictures will come later, enjoy!


Hey hey hey! So it's that time of year again, the smell of the grass, the crack of the bat, and the drinking of the beer. It's a great thing. Over here the baseball season starts slightly before the start of the season back home, and so this year I got out to my first game on April 1st. This season started in Yokohama, at Yokohama stadium with a game between the Yokohama Baystars, and the Yomiuri Giants. The day began with a trip to a penis festival in Kawasaki (that'll be saved for another post) and ended up with a blowout. The Giants put a beating on the Baystars 10-1, with Yokohama's 1 run coming late in the game, while several of our companions were on the way home with someone who had a bit too much to drink in the scorching hot sun. Seems that baseball + beer + heat seems to spell disaster fairly regularly.

Two days later I headed deeper into Tokyo to Jinju Stadium to root on my Hanshin Tigers against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. It was a real exciting game with spats of rain, a grandslam by Kanemoto (on his B-day), Esteban Yan's Japanese debut, and a free hamburger (given to me by a fellow Tigers supporter) all rolled into a 4-3 Tiger's win. This sweet game was the home opener for the Swallows, however it was far from a sell-out and heavily populated by Tigers fans. Roughly 2/3rds of the crowd was Tigers fans. It was great.

April 7th came around and it was off to Urawa up in Saitama to take in my first J-league game. I must say I'm not the biggest soccer fan, however I have been to a World Cup match, for the experience mostly. I am a fan of the Urawa Red Diamonds (known more commonly as the Urawa Reds), mostly because my favorite Japanese player plays for them. The stadium, Saitama Stadium 2002, which is also the Japanese National Team's stadium of choice, is a bit far from me, but it was worth the trip. Reds fans are super! hunbun and I got there close to 2 hours before kickoff, and all of the seats in the super fans section were already taken, so we ended up sitting just to the left (our left) of them. I'd say that they were just about as exciting as the game itself which ended in a 2-1 comeback victory over Jubilo Iwate. Thrilling victory really.

To wrap up the month of April, Deuce and his lady and I headed back to Yokohama Stadium, this time for a game between the Baystars, and the Chunichi Dragons who were in 1st place at the time. The game was really good, the Baystars were able to come away with a 5-4 victory, the key was that the Dragons' big bopper, Tyrone Woods, struck out 4 times, most of them with men on base. Suck it Woods! The day ended with a trip to good ol' An An, scrumptious!

Osaka suckaz!

So last week I went out to Osaka and visited Dude? for a few days. It was good times. The best part was visiting Koshien Stadium and playing a round of "beer an inning." We both made it through the 9 beers that we smuggled into the stadium (in addition to some beer that an old guy in front of us bought for us, and about 5 or so tall boys that we finished off before the game too) I was real drunk, but as for dude? he ended up super dehydrated with some unfortunate results. But all-n-all it was a good trip, drank some beer, played some Xbox 360, traded some music, and went to some place called "bikuri donkey," which means (for some reason) "surprise donkey." Yeah, and the place looked like a pile of garbage that landed on top of a Family Mart, as dude? said. pics'll be up on Flickr tomorrow. Anyway, it's a hamburger steak restaurant, which, for some reason is a popular food here... It was ok, but too expensive. But it was good, first time out of Tokyo since I arrived, and it was really nice to get out of here, and not so good to come back...