End of NOVA?

Is the pink bunny living on borrowed time? The dust is still settling after METI finally decided to put its foot down in response to the continued illegal business practices of NOVA Group.

The folks at Trans-Pacific Radio weigh the short-term likelihood of the collapse of the largest language school chain in Japan.

End of NOVA?

New TV Commercial

This is a still from a TV commercial I shot this past spring.

The man in front is none other than Koji Yakusho. His most recent Hollywood roles were in Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel.

Mr. Yakusho is an incredibly talented actor, and a very warm-hearted man to boot.

New TV Commercial

No, but seriously...

This is channel 10's idea of how to stress a point that they really want the viewer to understand.


"...and just how many people's pension money has been misplaced? [out of the corner of his mouth] Pssst, hold up the sign."
"Oh. Now?"
"Yes, now! It looks more official if we're holding them up at the same time!"


I nearly died laughing, but fortunately I was able to snap this photo before they switched to some gritty, on-the-scene reporting of a parliamentary debate.

No, but seriously...

School's Out

Today it became painfully obvious that the measles vaccination is indeed a good idea.

After my first lesson of the day finished (3rd period Academic Writing) I was informed that the entire next week of classes had been cancelled. The students rejoiced, and I was left to figure out how I can stay on top of all of my grading over the next week or so.

The measles, from what I've heard, are only fun for those who don't come down with them. And it seems that MMR (measles, mumps, and rubeola) shots are not as common in Japan as one would expect. Measles outbreaks tend to occur only in developing countries these days, but there is a large population of individuals in Japan that is not immune to the virus, so Waseda University is officially off-limits (for most people) until next Wednesday at the earliest.

It was reported that Waseda has had 30 reported cases of the measles so far this spring. To put that number in perspective, in 2002 there were 44 cases reported nationwide in the United States.

The whole economy that revolves around the tens of thousands of students from Waseda University has been put on hold for at least seven days, and there's no guarantee that the one week break will stem an epidemic.

Since many students cannot change their work schedules at a part-time job on short notice, they are finding it difficult to fill their windfall of a vacation. Many "circles" (university clubs) are using the extra time off from school to do some extra drinking. The measles virus has an incubation period of between four and twelve days, so the drinking parties are probably not going to help the situation much.

To make matters more exciting, a friend of mine who works at a hospital here in Tokyo said that they are already out of measles shots. Nice nice!

School's Out

Right. Back to Normal.

We were never going to win that game anyway with Tateyama (0-2, 4.15 era) on the mound. In the third and final inning of Tateyama's afternoon he gave up five runs on five hits and three walks (the last of which forced in a run).

And it definitely didn't help that we were facing Hiroshima's ace, Kuroda (4-2, 2.72).

Kuroda got through nine innings on only 89 pitches this afternoon (7 hits, 5 strikeouts, and 1 walk). Both of Tokyo's runs were brought around by Guiel's bat (7th inning solo dinger and 9th inning rbi single to center)

Final score:

Hiroshima 5
Tokyo 2

Silver Lining:

Ishikawa (0-3, 7.08), one of Tokyo's many starters who forgot how to pitch during the off-season, made a two-inning middle relief appearance. He retired all six batters he faced and had two strikeouts.

Right. Back to Normal.

Holy Crap! Tokyo Won a Game!

After seven straight losses, the Swallows got a win! Greisinger pitched six solid innings while giving up two runs on five hits.

Tokyo blew the game wide open in the third when the first five batters had base hits. That six hit inning translated into five runs.

In an interesting development, Guiel and Ramirez have been switched in the batting order. I would imagine that Furuta is trying to figure out where Guiel feels the most comfortable, and Ramirez is probably more than happy to give up the cleanup slot if it means that the team will knock in extra runs and win more ballgames. He's easy like that.

For those who are keeping track, Ramirez went 2 for 5, and Guiel was 2 for 4.

Final score:
Hiroshima 2
Tokyo 6

Update: This win enabled Tokyo to escape their first 8-game losing streak in 15 years.

Holy Crap! Tokyo Won a Game!

Six Straight Losses

Fujii gave up a few big walks early on, and those proved to be the difference. Tokyo has now lost the first two games of the series versus Chunichi.

There have, however, been a couple of bright spots over the past week:

• the chicken baskets (fried chicken plus french fries) made a rebound in the taste and freshness departments this past weekend
• I caught a baseball thrown into the crowd by Tokyo's right fielder, Aaron Guiel

So it hasn't been a total loss.

Six Straight Losses

Four Straight Losses, Actually.

Dropped the entire series versus Hanshin. Tons of fun.

Beautiful thing about baseball--it just takes a couple of iffy pitches for the whole thing to fall apart. Happened twice tonight.

Four Straight Losses, Actually.