Yeah, I don't want to brag, and yes I've touched on it here before, but I interviewed Bobby Valentine a couple weeks ago.
Here's a semi-quick write-up of the whole thing.
This a picture of a Densuke watermelon at the Inageya supermarket near here.
I recently read that the first of these black watermelons was auctioned off for 650,000 yen (roughly $6,000) at the beginning of this season.
In that same article I read that supermarkets were selling them for between twenty and thirty thousand yen (200 to 300 dollars), but the ones in Hanakoganei are going for the bargain price of 5,800 yen (about $54).
About 10,000 of these melons were grown on the northern island of Hokkaido this year, so a very limited number are available at any one store.
It looks like a bowling ball...
Labels:
consumerism,
food,
Hanakoganei,
花小金井
I haven't seen it yet, but my good friend sent me another photo of her television as soon as she saw this TV commercial hit the small screen. Here's one that she sent me last year.
This one is for Myojo's "Ippei-chan" cup ramen and it's apparently on air all the time.
I'm not wearing glasses in this one, so I'm having a harder time flying below the radar. I've resorted to telling my students at the university that I have a twin brother, named Scott, that is the one appearing on TV.
And some of them actually believe me when I tell them that.
Anyway, for a short version of this TV commercial, you can go to this website.
Quick synopsis: I play a non-Japanese, ramen-obsessed nerd that is desperately seeking something that is called "koku-uma". The business man that I try to get to help me doesn't know what I'm talking about, and a little word-play comedy ensues (he shows up with the wrong thing three times).
After some more searching, we happen upon a koku-uma ramen shop and everyone (especially me!) is happy.
Labels:
acting,
크리스토퍼 펠레그리니,
クリストファー・ペレグリニ
This picture is from a press conference that we attended at Chiba Marine Stadium on Thursday. It was the day that the team announced who Hoshino, the national team's head coach, had chosen to represent Japan at the Beijing Olympics next month.
Seated at the table, from left to right are, Nishioka (ss), Satozaki (c) and Naruse (p). They were asked some boring questions by the lady from NHK, and then they did some posing in front of the hinomaru flag. Chiba will sorely miss those three in August, but every team is taking a hit during the olympics.
This photo isn't very clear, but it's a snapshot of a slice of pizza that I didn't eat the other day.
If you look closely, there's marshmallow and chocolate syrup on there.
I didn't go anywhere near it. Dave ate it.
This was one of the offerings on the lunch buffet at Shakey's in Takadanobaba.
Labels:
food,
oddities,
out and about
Stephen took me to the national stadium in Tokyo to see my first J-League game last night. It was actually quite good, to be honest with you.
He said that the crowd was a bit odd because the game wasn't being played at their home stadium (Ajinomoto Stadium), but I was impressed with how rambunctious they were.
Even though the defense was a bit shocking, the footy was mostly alright.
I would definitely be happy to go and see another game.
FC Tokyo and Gamba Osaka drew 1-1. FC Tokyo's goal came by way of Waseda University alum, Tokunaga, and was one of the best goals I've ever seen live.
Labels:
friends,
out and about,
sports
Kelly's band of teachers at Waseda University got absorbed by my band of teachers which means that she was able to cop an invite to the annual summer piss-up that is held at/near the end of the spring Tutorial English/Chinese semester.
This is a photo of her floating towards the after-party at the Cantina near Takadanobaba station.
That's Okuma Hall in the background.
Labels:
out and about,
parties,
work
