The Know Nothing Nerd

Day seven started off with a 6:24 am train departing from Wakkanai Station. This was my longest travel day of the entire trip. I didn’t arrive at Naka-Furano Station until around 2:40 pm. The trip from Wakkanai down to Asahikawa is a longer one than the way up. Our stop overs were a little longer.

Our first stop over was in Otoineppu and lasted for 1 hour and 13 minutes. I got out of the train and walked around the very very small town for about 20 minutes. That’s about all it took to see the whole town. I think I saw more cyclist passing through the town than the number of people that live there.

There was an elementary and junior high school, but I was unsure of where the students come from. Perhaps the schools are not at capacity or they come in from neighboring towns and villages.

The rest of the ride down to Naka-Furano was rather uneventful. On the train from Asahikawa I was sitting next to a man in his late 40s. He wanted to speak English with me. It turns out he was a neurosurgeon and was on vacation too. He took a look at my Star Wars shirt and wanted to talk about Star Wars a little bit. I have no problem talking about Star Wars, so that was great!

I got off at Naka-Furano Station and headed to the main road to go to Tomta Farm. It’s one of the more famous lavender farms around Furano, if not the most famous. It was about a 20-25 minute walk from the station. That isn’t really a long ways, but I was carrying all my luggage.

Along the way there was the Naka-Furano Lavender Park, so I stopped there to take some pictures.

I pulled my first challenge card for the day… “T-Rex!” This is a classic for me, and those that have known me for years have enjoyed my impressions.

I continued down the road for about 15 minutes and finally arrived at Tomita Farm. I took a break a relaxed with Lavender ice cream. It wasn’t bad. The flavor was light and subtle and not the least bit over powering.

Tomita Farm is known for their lavender fields, but the lavender season had just ended. There were other types of flowers to see. There were a variety of colors, and I was tempted to try out some of my camera’s various functions. I show off a few photos.

After that I drew out my final challenge card of the day. It was “Rabbit Ears.”

I made the trek back toward Naka-Furano Station and headed up to the youth hostel. It was a pretty nice youth hostel and meals were included for free. The bathrooms were clean too and they had free wifi. I would recommend the Furano Youth Hostel to anyone passing through the area.

The owners are like old Japanese hippies. The husband was explaining to some kids how we rely on electricity and other conveniences too much. He was making rice the old fashioned way and was using an old stove and burning wood. It was rather delicious though.

I met two gaijin, Mischa and Andrew, at the youth hostel. The first I had run into my whole trip. I had seen a few that were probably locals in the small towns and they gave you that look like they were pissed they weren’t the only gaijin for miles anymore.

We decided to take a walk around town, but before going out three brothers staying at the hostel with their parents wanted us to do fireworks (sparklers) with them. We obliged.

Anyways, Mischa and Andrew were some cool dudes living in Kyoto. We went out to hit the “town” and ended up at Lawson(convenience store) . It was pretty much the only happening spot in the whole town.

After we got back to the hostel we all were working on our computers. Andrew had work, I was making my previous blog entry, and Mischa was on Skype talking to an airline company. Despite that we all looked busy, that didn’t stop one determined old man from showing us pictures on his PC. He was rather persistent to the point of total annoyance. Eventually, he went to bed. We all followed suit soon after….

Day 8

After waking up, I broke fast with a meal prepared by the hostel staff. With a full belly I headed out to Furano proper. None of this “Naka” stuff today. I only had a few hours before my train back to Sapporo, so I rented a bicycle and headed to the Wine Factory.

The actual tour was kind of lackluster and not too interesting. There wasn’t much to see. Just a few of the older wines from past years on display. The upstairs was interesting, as there was wine to taste. I ended up picking up a few bottles for souvenirs for people back home.

Before leaving though, I drew a Photo Challenge card. I got “Ballerina.” Only one more after this!

After the Wine Factory I sped across the town, over a bridge, and out past several fields to the  Cheese Factory! Ever more unimpressive! They sold the same cheese and wine as the wine factory. If you are ever in Furano, you only need to hit one up. I’d go for the Wine factory, since you get to taste wine.

I made it back to the station and headed back to Sapporo. I checked in at the same hotel as before. However, this time they gave me a room with a double bed, instead of a twin! Yay!

I had a game to get to this evening so headed out to Sapporo Dome. When I got there I found out Darvish was pitching tonight!!! OMG!! Everything is coming full circle! Deep breaths. Calm down.

But Yes, things were full circle. It was time for my last challenge card. This one was “Batman Mask.” I decided to try something to commemorate all the poses. I asked a group of people to pose with me and gave them each a past pose. They were enthusiastic to help out, but some of their poses don’t look that way. Anyways, here is the end result.

The game was a pretty interesting one. Darvish ended up letting in 2 runs, but pitched 9 full innings. The game was tied at 2-2, so we headed into the 10th inning.

For those that dont know, Japanese baseball has a time limit. Games can only go to 12 innings, and this year the time limit is down from 4.5 hours to 3.5 hours. The reduction is time is a result of the devasting earthquakes and tsunami last March. Many areas are still affected by power shortage, including half of the professional teams. The reduction in time is to close the venues earlier and thus save power.

With this in mine we were told the game time was at 3 hours 20 minutes. The tenth inning would be the last (they will play the full inning out regardless).

In the bottom of the 10th, the Fighters had two outs and a runner on second. Our cleanup hitter was up to bat, so he was intentionally walked by Orix. The next batter also took a base on balls. We are at bases loaded with 2 outs.

My man Scales is up to bat. He goes to a 3-1 count. The pitch goes out and everyone holds their breath. Ball!! Its another walk, and we win!! 3-2 over the Buffaloes! What a strange way to win.

 

 

My second and third days in Hokkaido went by without much fanfare. As I had forgotten my new memory card for my camera, I headed to Bic Camera in the morning to pick up a new one. I also swung by the Fighters shop in Sapporo Station to pick up a new hat.

While I was passing through the station I came across Pikachu. It turns out there was some pokemon event going on. I figured what the hell, and snapped a quick photo with Pikachu. Kudos to the staff for actually using the zoom function on the camera. I hate when you hand someone your camera, and when you look at the photo later it is zoomed out all the way with you all tiny in the middle. +10 Awesome points to you, good sir.

Once I arrived at Sapporo Dome, I encountered another costumed character. This time it was B.B. the Fighters’ mascot.

The game itself was rather a boring one with the Fighters losing 0-4. I ended up leaving after the 8^th inning to beat the crowds out. The only thing worth noting is I started my “Photo Challenge” shots. I have a bunch of envelopes that contain different poses or actions to be taken at different locations throughout my trip in Hokkaido. The first one I drew today was “Air Punch.”

That evening I met up with fellow 501^st Legion member, Sgt. Vap (His screen name of course. I think if it was his real name it would something more like Bappuin Japanese). He took me to a bar close to Susukino. It was a Star Wars decorated bar appropriately named “Cantina.” The food was quite delicious and made fresh by the master. After getting an “air punch” photo with Mr. Vap, I headed back to the hotel and went to sleep.

I woke up early on Sunday and headed out to Hitsujigaoka Tenbodai.  The park, or rather observation hill, is home to the famous statue of Doctor Clark. He helped to develop the agriculture and farming development in Hokkaido during the Meiji Period. His famous words to the people of Hokkaido were, “Boys, be ambitious.” What about the girls? Girls, be housewives?

It was here that I drew my Photo Challenge card for today. Please don’t be “Take a photo with people wearing hats.” Please, no hats! And the card is… <drum roll for dramatic effect>  “Take a photo with people wearing hats!” Uhg.

For this one I was carrying around three hats that spell out Hokkaido using Japanese kanji (北海道) for just this card. I was looking around wondering who to ask. I saw a family of five and approached them. I explained that I was traveling Hokkaido and about my cards. They were more than willing to help out. I hadn’t gotten worked out and nervous, and I’m not really sure why. It’s not like I was in the 8^th grade and trying to ask out a girl for the first time. It was probably nerves about my Japanese. Something that I should have a little more confidence with.

After leaving the sheep observation hill (where I saw no sheep), I headed back to Sapporo Dome for one more day of baseball. The rookie phenom Yuki Saitoh was the starter. I wasn’t too impressed. He let in 2 runs in 2 innings and left the 5^thinning with the Fighters down 1-2. It was the Fighters’ bullpen that won this game with a final score of 5-2. This game was a lot of fun as I got to really feel the excitement of a Japanese baseball game. Since this was a comeback win, the fans were constantly in the “rally cheer” mode. There are no changes in the cheers for each player and the cheering doesn’t stop for outs. It just changes names to the next player at bat.

There was one rather enthusiastic fan sitting 3 seats over from me. He may have been mentally challenged, but he was always yelling things out at the players (positive and negative and to both teams).  His enthusiasm and comments brought a lot of laughs and energy to the area around me. People were making comments to each other but nothing condemning him for his handicap and eccentricity (which I might expect in Tokyo). The comments were positive and along the lines of “This guy is hilarious!” Here is a video with some of his dancing he did to entertain everyone.

The last thing to note for the day is I met a new traveling companion.  Who are they? Where did we go? Stay tuned for the next entry. Same Bat-channel, same Bat-time. Well, whenever I get around to the next post.

Today I embarked on a ten day trip to the northern most of the main islands of Japan, Hokkaido. I decided that I have been active on this blog at all because I could never find a clear or unique purpose for it. I decided to go with a modern classic, “The Travel Blog.”

So for the next 10 days I will be writing about my trip here in Hokkaido. I can’t guarantee updates everyday as some of the more remote places don’t have wimax coverage in their area, but when I am ear civilization again, I’ll throw up some post

The first three days I’ll be in Sapporo and going to see the Hokkaido Nippon Ham professional baseball team (they are my favorite of the Japanese teams). After that I will be heading to Obihiro, then to Asahikawa, followed by Wakkanai, back south to Furano, and finally back to Sapporo for three more days of baseball.

You’re probably thinking now, that’s a lot of baseball game. You must really like this team. I do really like this team, but to understand why I’d want to see six games, I’ll break it down. A few years back I made of list of things I wanted to do while in Japan. Things like go to Okinawa, see that famous Penis festival, climb Mt. Fuji, and see Darvish pitch a home game in Sapporo. Darvish is one of, if not the best pitcher currently playing in Japan, and he pitches for my team (figuratively as well, as he is quite the lady killer). He may go to the Major Leagues in the States, so I wanted to seem him before his inevitable departure (to the Braves, I hope). To semi-guarantee that I would see him pitch, I chose to watch six games.

So, I flew in to town this afternoon and after arriving in Sapporo I found a coin locker to store my backpack. The kind of backpacks that smelly 19 year old college kids wear when traveling through Europe or Southeast Asia to discover “what it all means.” The kind of back smelly dispossessed 30 somethings wear when they travel to Europe and Southeast Asia to discover… you know that kind of backpack. It’s a nice backpack, but we aren’t here to talk about backpacks now, are we?

So I bustled on over to Sapporo Dome. I picked up a Darvish #11 jersey and headed into the Stadium. Compared to the shit-hole that is Tokyo Dome, Sapporo Dome is awesome. I still prefer open air stadiums to domes, but the inside of this one is nice. The bathrooms are nice, the food is quality (not that bathrooms and the food are connected, just making a list), it’s just a nice new stadium.

I arrived in the bottom of the first, so I hurried to find my seats. When the Fighters play in Tokyo Dome the fan / cheering section is usually free seating, but I like that I had an assigned seat. Since I was arriving late it guaranteed a nice spot.

I quickly pulled out my newly purchased jersey and donned it. I also purchased some new noise sticks. I’m not sure if that is what they are called, but they are hollow plastic sticks you bang together to make noise. Japanese baseball is unique in that it is so loud and their is a lot more cheering compared with American Baseball. I mean each player gets their own song/chant when they are up to bat!

When Darvish took the mound I was excited. I felt like a school kid. I got lucky earlier this year and saw him pitch at a game in Tokyo Dome. Being at a Home game in the home stadium (the Fighters play 8 home games a year in Tokyo to make the fans they left behind happy) I was even more excited. I love watching this guy pitch. He’s only 24 years old (I just had to check that, and OMG! his birthday is totally in 3 days!! Happy Birthday Darvish!! I love yo… your pitching!) *ahem* Only 24 years old and he is one of the best in the league. He has a career ERA of 2.12. The past 4 years he’s been consistent at around 1.8. His career WHIP is 1.02 (league leader the past 4 years). God, he is awesome.

Yeah, I have a man-crush on Darvish. He’s young, cool, talented,successful, and totally dreamy. Watching him pitch a complete game tonight with 14 strikeouts was awesome. Bases loaded in the 2nd inning and he pitched his way out. He may play for my team, and we also play for the same team… Don’t get me wrong, I’m straight and pretty sure of that, I think. At least 98% of the time.

Darvish, you amazing man you. That other 2% is when you’re on the mound.

Oh yeah, we totally beat the Softbank Hawks 4-0 tonight.

Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Welcome to another blog post here at The Know Nothing Nerd. Tonight we’ve got an exciting writeup for you folks. We are going to take a look at an amateur comedy show that happened a little over a week ago. You can watch it here.

This was the second time the Pink Cow in Shibuya hosted their Mad Cow Comedy Night. The first show was back in the first weekend of May. Keeping with tradition the second show was held the first weekend in June.

Organizers Jazz and Trevor worked night and day organizing the show. They lost countless hours of sleep to the hard pressing, grueling physical labor that they had to endure and over come. At least, that is what one presumes happened. Perhaps we will never know what transpires between each show…

Come the night of the event, the performers arrived a little early to fuel up on liquid courage, for no one knew what would await them once they were on stage and left to the mercy of the crowd. Improv took the stage first. I was safe for a little while longer. People laughed. I took that as a good sign. It was time for a break and then stand-up would follow.

Enter dream sequence. We can see a baseball stadium. It is the top of the 9th inning.

I was batting third this evening behind Trevor and the rookie Arniel. Trevor started us off with a lead off hit.

Arniel went to a full count, 3-2. The crowd was silent. All you could hear were crickets roaches. Arniel took some mean swings, smashing the ball towards the outfield, but they were just shy of being fair. There was no doubt though, this kid could hit. On the eighth pitch the rookie watched as the pitch came high and inside and took his base. Good eye kid.

Next up was me. No outs with two men on base. All I had to do was just play it smart. The count was 2-0. The pitch came and I stepped into as I connected with the ball, or I thought I should have connected with the ball. STRIIIIIIIIKE. Shit. I regained my composure and stepped back in the box. I let the next one go past without even swinging. STRIIIIIKE. Damn it! I had forgotten to swing. [For those wondering where I am at, this is just after my T-shirt rant. I forgot my make-em-laugh line.] The next pitch came and it was a little outside, but I didn’t want another to get by me, so I swung.

I connected and the ball landed just past the infielders and rolled to the center-fielder. He held onto the ball keeping Arniel at second.

Next up was Jamie. Jamie went to a 2-1 count before swinging. He connected and drove the ball deep in the outfield between center and right. Arniel was running to home, so that is where the ball went. Safe. Jaimie had his single, but that’s now how he plays. He plays how he likes to, and made the dash to second as the play at home was unfolding. The catcher saw it and threw to second. Jaime dived head first. Safe.

As Jazz stepped up to the plate the crowd was going nuts. 2 runs in, no outs and now the hometown favorite was stepping up to the plate. The count was 2-0. These guys were scared, and you could tell. The next pitch was a wild one, but I ran in from third to score another run. [Loosely, we are up to the point that Jazz has just referenced me.] The count is now 3-0.

It’s quite clear now that they were going to walk him. Jazz had none of this. The pitch was high and outside but he leapt over the plate, yelling like some crazed action star, while swinging and smashed the ball. It cleared the left field wall. Homerun!

Dream sequence fades out.

And that is how the show pretty much went. There was much rejoicing.

If you want to watch the show you can do so here. I go on stage at about 1:11:00.
The Pink Cow is located in Shibuya, Tokyo, and offers up excellent eats. It’s a great place to hang out with your friends and relax. Check it out sometime.

So I was looking for a baseball game on the iPhone. I was hoping to find one with an official license for the NPB (Japan), but there wasn’t one. Since the Power Pro brand is well known and usually good I decided to get it. Considering all Konami games were on sale for 99 cents I figured it would be a steal. It was, but not for me; it was for Konami. It was incredibly boring and lacked any sort of fun feature or game play. I think at one point I had hit over 10 foul balls in a row off the same pitch. *yawn*

I decided to head over to IGN and see if there was something I was missing. There wasn’t. I did pick up the name of a game that was everything Power Pro should have been. Baseball Superstars 2010. For $4.99 it is an awesome game and one of my favorites. Coming from Gamevil, the people that created Zenonia this isn’t really a surprise though. There is plenty to do with mission challenges like hitting a certain number of RBIs in a given time, to Home Run derbies, to creating and leveling your own star. Oh, and there is a season mode too. Everything about this game is incredible when placed next to the feces pile that makes up Power Pro Touch. There is a free version of BS2010 on the app store you can check out if you are a skeptic.
I agree with the 8/10 IGN gave this. After playing Power Pro I give it a 9.9 (there are some typos and small errors that need fixing).

Ah… I finally sit down to write up a new post. After a hectic move and getting unpacked, then waiting to get fiber optic internet installed, I am writing a new posts.

I recently read Lost Japan and it peaked my interest in some of the old culture of Japan that is being lost through all the modernization. I’m thinking to learn about Kabuki or calligraphy. I’ll look into them more once my funds can recover from all the expenses of moving.

On to some status updates of two things I am working on to become a nerd. First up, Gundam. Before I moved I purchased Dynasty Warriors Gundam. Of course shortly after that I get the red ring of death and had to send my 360 in for repairs. I have it back now and hopefully can be extra nerdy playing a Gundam game. I have also started the series, Zeta Gundam. So far I like it. The animation is superior to the original series, and it’s interesting to see Char as more of a protagonist in this story (from what I’ve seen so far). The main character, Kamille, gets on my nerves a little. It seems to be a common theme in a lot of Japanese stories. The young hero who doesn’t quite know who he is or what he is supposed to be. One last thing with Gundam; once I finish up this series and the last three models I bought, I am going to declare my self a Gundam otaku or nerd.

Next up, Japanese Baseball. This is something I have been wanting to get into for a long time. I have followed the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (Nippon Ham is the name of the company that owns the club; Fighters is the mascot) for some time now. This year I made more of an effort to learn about the history of the league more, and a little more about the current players. Yahoo Sports in Japan broadcasted regular season Pacific League games this year over the internet for free, so it was a good way for me to watch a lot of Fighters baseball.

Last week, I went to the Japan Series (championship series) since the Fighters were playing the Yomiuri Giants (Tokyo). It was rather invigorating since I got to sit in the Fighters cheering section in left field. I don’t think American baseball feels as exciting as it does when you are at a game in Japan, let alone sitting in the cheering section. Being in left field (third row) also means we got to see the famed Alex Ramirez (Giants). He has tied the single season home run record in Japan (wiki that… he should be the record holder), and has played long enough in Japan that he is not considered a “foreigner” on the roster. Japanese teams have a limit on the number of foreign players they can have. I believe it is currently 4 per team. This is not to be “racist,” but it’s a way to keep the Japanese leagues from becoming a MLB Jr. Back on topic, the series was great fun despite the Fighters losing that game and eventually the series, but I hope to continue to watch and learn about Japanese baseball.

If you’re interested in learning more about the differences in Japanese baseball (like the sacrifice bunt in the first inning), then you should check out Robert Whiting’s You Gotta Have Wa. If you buy the most recent addition it should have an addendum including interviews with Trey Hillman and Bobby Valentine. Both are now former Managers of Japanese teams in recent years.