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Kamagaya and okonomiyaki
Oh, I remembered what I forgot to add on the 21st. It was that September 21 marks 6 years of Puzzle Pirates. Not that I'm particularly active in the game anymore -- I just log in mostly because I have no game consoles in my house and it is a nice way to play some puzzle games -- but, still a weird milestone.
Anyway, the 22nd...
I went to Kamagaya for the Fighters-Marines ni-gun game. This week, thanks to "Silver Week", is a big festival down there, and plus since the Marines are in Chiba and Kamagaya is the closest minor-league stadium, there were seriously like 6000 people there. They ran out of space in the infield and had to make people sit in the outfield. It was nuts. This is why I never go to these things. I'd rather be there on a quiet weekday when there are like 500 people there tops.
But, Ojisan said he'd save me a seat, so it was ok. I got there at like 11am for a 11:30 stadium opening, and it was already packed. There were singers performing on a stage, and tons of little tents of merchants and other stuff, and just a lot of craziness, basically. I immediately ran into Nakamura, one of the guys I had met in Osaka (who lives in Sapporo). We waited in line together with Chizaki and Hiromi, and then went in and sure enough, got to sit in the front row behind home plate thanks to Ojisan. Yay.
I went around saying hi to people for a while, went to get food, etc. As it is, the guys sitting behind us turned out to be the same Marines fan guys who sat behind us at the Marines-Fighters game in July, so I chatted with them for a while too. ("Everyone loves Heiuchi!")
OH, here is a bizarre moment: Gary Burnham Jr. saw me and waved. I've never talked to him before so I was kind of like WTF, but as he and Chase Lambin finished up BP, I yelled over to them and they yelled hi back. Gary said he'd seen my blog and I had some great pictures and all, and I apologized that I had no pictures of him, and he said don't bother because he hates pictures of himself anyway. Er. And I put my foot in my mouth by saying it was a sucky way to end the year in ni-gun, and Gary said he likes to think positive and that they'll get called back up by the end. Whatever, that was weird.
Okay, the game itself was nuts. Lots of back-and-forth on the scoring and eventually the Fighters did win 9-7. Sho Nakata even actually MADE A PLAY at first base. And Sugiya and Ugumori hit home runs.
I was originally thinking I would not go stalk players after the game due to crowdedness but then rethought it and went ahead anyway. I got Yohei Kaneko, Takahiro Imanami, KAZUHITO TADANO, AND SHO NAKATA to all sign my jersey. Sho's signature came out bad because I was a dumbass and didn't hold the jersey taut enough. Tadano signed in English, and seemed grumpy.
I met a girl named Hemayani who is from Indonesia but has lived in Japan 10 years and likes the Swallows and Fighters. We spoke in English, but her Japanese is pretty much flawless.
I got photos with...
Chon-so Yoh. This one happened thanks to Hemayani, she really likes him so I was like "will you take the photo if I bug him?"
Ryuichi Watanabe. (He was all like "WTF you speak Japanese?")
Takuya Nakashima. This one only happened because my friend Nakamura is a big Nakashima fan and so we'd called him over to talk for a bit anyway, and I said I'd take a photo for him, so then asked if I could get a photo too. Nakashima is like 18 years old. Sheesh :)
But actually, I haven't even mentioned the most important part yet!
In the 8th inning or so, I was looking into the bench area near the Fighters dugout, and I saw Tadano.... and Sunaga... and... and... RYOTA IMANARI. I pointed it out to Hiromi and she confirmed that yes, I wasn't imagining things, Ryota was really really there.
SO, I decided I was going to wait bloody forever until I saw him. I even asked Shimazaki-coach what was up with the player meeting and if Ryota was still out there, and he said yes, just wait for a while. (Seriously, I can't believe I go up to the ni-gun coaches and bug them. How weird.)
Finally, he came out, I waited in line with people who were asking for signatures. When it was my turn I was so nervous I couldn't get a straight sentence out, but I was like "look, I made the jersey with your name and number on it..." and couldn't even hold my pen or shikishi without shaking, and I kept apologizing and he was just like "It's okay, it's okay!" He signed the jersey on the back, which is the "right" place, and then I said, "気をつけて下さいね？手と足とか。。。本当に心配しました！" I'm sure that wasn't quite right, but I wanted to just tell him something like, I hoped he got better and his hand and leg were okay and all.
Hooray.
I hung out a bit more. Was going to split a cab back with Nakamura but it turned out there were still buses! Ended up running into Hemayani again and rode back as far as Akihabara with her.
Then I went to Shinjuku. I had originally planned to go home first and drop off my stuff, but as it turned out, riding straight to Shinjuku from Kamagaya got me there at exactly 7:29pm, and that is when I was supposed to meet up with Tobin and his friends. Well, it was Tobin, and then Yuzo who I know from CMU too, and Yuzo's wife Nina (I'd met her brother TJ back in April or whenever), and then Lance, some other random friend of theirs.
We went to the okonomiyaki place I always take people to in Shinjuku. Tobin and Yuzo and I got normal okonomiyaki but Nina wanted the soba-hairi and Lance got some other weird kind of stuff, so theirs were complicated and involved eggs and batter and layers and stuff.
Yuzo with the soba-platter.
Lance and Tobin work on their respective yaki.
We hung out there for a while. Everyone's okonomiyaki turned out pretty well. I feel lame that I can't make the other kinds properly.
I dragged Tobin and Yuzo up to Ikebukuro after that to show them Block People, since the two of them are in Japan again for the Tokyo Game Show in the first place anyway, I felt obliged to show them what I think is the coolest new game ever.
As it is -- it took us around 1500 yen total -- but the three of us managed to actually beat all of Normal level AND then also beat Difficult Level. The last board of Difficult, by the way, you have to collect, I am not making this up, something like 100 screws. Tobin said "We're screwed!"... a few seconds before the screen filled up. It was nice timing. There are no screw levels before that, so I had no idea it was coming either.
After that we hung around the arcade a bit more. I played Music Gun Gun with Yuzo -- it is lame in that it costs 200 yen per play and you only get 2 songs. I showed them Quiz Magic Academy, and Bishi Bashi, but we didn't play.
Tobin and Yuzo played a game that involved driving around a tank...
And around then I realized part of why I was totally falling over is that it was 11pm and I'd been up since 8am or whatever. So I went home and left them in the arcade.
I was taking the escalator up to the train platform and the girl in front of me was wearing this hoodie. Seriously, this is why my JHS students suck at English:
WTF. "I'm cannot live with the this pear"? Oi.
Okay.
So anyway, today is now Wednesday. I am going to the Tokyo Dome to cheer for the Dragons, and hopefully watch the Giants lose in a bit. I'm not sure I can deal with it if they win, because that gives them the CL championship. It is inevitable but still not fun.
Also, shit. I want to go to Hokkaido on Oct 3-4 but am unclear on the ticket situation. However, all the travel agencies require booking 10 days in advance. BUT I am not sure I can GO to the agency today due to 1) holiday and 2) I expect to get back from the game around 6-7pm... and am supposed to wait for a package between 7-9pm, thanks to Carl. I wonder how hard the 10-day-before limit actually is... or if it's just for prices? But if 8 days in advance means it gets expensive than I totally can't do it either. Ugh. So maybe I should just book today and worry later about the baseball tickets.
I do want to go to Sapporo once more this year. I thought it'd be for the playoffs or Japan Series, but I'm not so sure anymore.
Anyway, the 22nd...
I went to Kamagaya for the Fighters-Marines ni-gun game. This week, thanks to "Silver Week", is a big festival down there, and plus since the Marines are in Chiba and Kamagaya is the closest minor-league stadium, there were seriously like 6000 people there. They ran out of space in the infield and had to make people sit in the outfield. It was nuts. This is why I never go to these things. I'd rather be there on a quiet weekday when there are like 500 people there tops.
But, Ojisan said he'd save me a seat, so it was ok. I got there at like 11am for a 11:30 stadium opening, and it was already packed. There were singers performing on a stage, and tons of little tents of merchants and other stuff, and just a lot of craziness, basically. I immediately ran into Nakamura, one of the guys I had met in Osaka (who lives in Sapporo). We waited in line together with Chizaki and Hiromi, and then went in and sure enough, got to sit in the front row behind home plate thanks to Ojisan. Yay.
I went around saying hi to people for a while, went to get food, etc. As it is, the guys sitting behind us turned out to be the same Marines fan guys who sat behind us at the Marines-Fighters game in July, so I chatted with them for a while too. ("Everyone loves Heiuchi!")
OH, here is a bizarre moment: Gary Burnham Jr. saw me and waved. I've never talked to him before so I was kind of like WTF, but as he and Chase Lambin finished up BP, I yelled over to them and they yelled hi back. Gary said he'd seen my blog and I had some great pictures and all, and I apologized that I had no pictures of him, and he said don't bother because he hates pictures of himself anyway. Er. And I put my foot in my mouth by saying it was a sucky way to end the year in ni-gun, and Gary said he likes to think positive and that they'll get called back up by the end. Whatever, that was weird.
Okay, the game itself was nuts. Lots of back-and-forth on the scoring and eventually the Fighters did win 9-7. Sho Nakata even actually MADE A PLAY at first base. And Sugiya and Ugumori hit home runs.
I was originally thinking I would not go stalk players after the game due to crowdedness but then rethought it and went ahead anyway. I got Yohei Kaneko, Takahiro Imanami, KAZUHITO TADANO, AND SHO NAKATA to all sign my jersey. Sho's signature came out bad because I was a dumbass and didn't hold the jersey taut enough. Tadano signed in English, and seemed grumpy.
I met a girl named Hemayani who is from Indonesia but has lived in Japan 10 years and likes the Swallows and Fighters. We spoke in English, but her Japanese is pretty much flawless.
I got photos with...
Chon-so Yoh. This one happened thanks to Hemayani, she really likes him so I was like "will you take the photo if I bug him?"
Ryuichi Watanabe. (He was all like "WTF you speak Japanese?")
Takuya Nakashima. This one only happened because my friend Nakamura is a big Nakashima fan and so we'd called him over to talk for a bit anyway, and I said I'd take a photo for him, so then asked if I could get a photo too. Nakashima is like 18 years old. Sheesh :)
But actually, I haven't even mentioned the most important part yet!
In the 8th inning or so, I was looking into the bench area near the Fighters dugout, and I saw Tadano.... and Sunaga... and... and... RYOTA IMANARI. I pointed it out to Hiromi and she confirmed that yes, I wasn't imagining things, Ryota was really really there.
SO, I decided I was going to wait bloody forever until I saw him. I even asked Shimazaki-coach what was up with the player meeting and if Ryota was still out there, and he said yes, just wait for a while. (Seriously, I can't believe I go up to the ni-gun coaches and bug them. How weird.)
Finally, he came out, I waited in line with people who were asking for signatures. When it was my turn I was so nervous I couldn't get a straight sentence out, but I was like "look, I made the jersey with your name and number on it..." and couldn't even hold my pen or shikishi without shaking, and I kept apologizing and he was just like "It's okay, it's okay!" He signed the jersey on the back, which is the "right" place, and then I said, "気をつけて下さいね？手と足とか。。。本当に心配しました！" I'm sure that wasn't quite right, but I wanted to just tell him something like, I hoped he got better and his hand and leg were okay and all.
Hooray.
I hung out a bit more. Was going to split a cab back with Nakamura but it turned out there were still buses! Ended up running into Hemayani again and rode back as far as Akihabara with her.
Then I went to Shinjuku. I had originally planned to go home first and drop off my stuff, but as it turned out, riding straight to Shinjuku from Kamagaya got me there at exactly 7:29pm, and that is when I was supposed to meet up with Tobin and his friends. Well, it was Tobin, and then Yuzo who I know from CMU too, and Yuzo's wife Nina (I'd met her brother TJ back in April or whenever), and then Lance, some other random friend of theirs.
We went to the okonomiyaki place I always take people to in Shinjuku. Tobin and Yuzo and I got normal okonomiyaki but Nina wanted the soba-hairi and Lance got some other weird kind of stuff, so theirs were complicated and involved eggs and batter and layers and stuff.
Yuzo with the soba-platter.
Lance and Tobin work on their respective yaki.
We hung out there for a while. Everyone's okonomiyaki turned out pretty well. I feel lame that I can't make the other kinds properly.
I dragged Tobin and Yuzo up to Ikebukuro after that to show them Block People, since the two of them are in Japan again for the Tokyo Game Show in the first place anyway, I felt obliged to show them what I think is the coolest new game ever.
As it is -- it took us around 1500 yen total -- but the three of us managed to actually beat all of Normal level AND then also beat Difficult Level. The last board of Difficult, by the way, you have to collect, I am not making this up, something like 100 screws. Tobin said "We're screwed!"... a few seconds before the screen filled up. It was nice timing. There are no screw levels before that, so I had no idea it was coming either.
After that we hung around the arcade a bit more. I played Music Gun Gun with Yuzo -- it is lame in that it costs 200 yen per play and you only get 2 songs. I showed them Quiz Magic Academy, and Bishi Bashi, but we didn't play.
Tobin and Yuzo played a game that involved driving around a tank...
And around then I realized part of why I was totally falling over is that it was 11pm and I'd been up since 8am or whatever. So I went home and left them in the arcade.
I was taking the escalator up to the train platform and the girl in front of me was wearing this hoodie. Seriously, this is why my JHS students suck at English:
WTF. "I'm cannot live with the this pear"? Oi.
Okay.
So anyway, today is now Wednesday. I am going to the Tokyo Dome to cheer for the Dragons, and hopefully watch the Giants lose in a bit. I'm not sure I can deal with it if they win, because that gives them the CL championship. It is inevitable but still not fun.
Also, shit. I want to go to Hokkaido on Oct 3-4 but am unclear on the ticket situation. However, all the travel agencies require booking 10 days in advance. BUT I am not sure I can GO to the agency today due to 1) holiday and 2) I expect to get back from the game around 6-7pm... and am supposed to wait for a package between 7-9pm, thanks to Carl. I wonder how hard the 10-day-before limit actually is... or if it's just for prices? But if 8 days in advance means it gets expensive than I totally can't do it either. Ugh. So maybe I should just book today and worry later about the baseball tickets.
I do want to go to Sapporo once more this year. I thought it'd be for the playoffs or Japan Series, but I'm not so sure anymore.