Asashoryu wa kokuoo

Today was a beautiful day, in the 60s (F) and somewhat sunny, so I took a long walk through the woods of Machikaneyama. It turned out the path I took was actually closed off for construction, so no one was around to bother me. The leaves are starting to come down, although today I detected the scent of Hawaii in the air, mingled with wood smoke and decaying leaves. Very strange.

I also went to Nisshoo supermarket, the dollar store, and Kojima electronics store. The holiday shopping season seems to have started here as well. I got KFC for dinner, and the Colonel's secret blend of 11 herbs and spices seem to have fended off the illness befalling me. Either that or the gallon of green tea (ocha) I've drunk.

The fall sumo tournament ended today, but the big action happened Saturday. Morning Blue Dragon (aka Asashoryu) won his bout, defeating local favorite ozeki Kaio. In the process he broke three records, with the most wins in a single year (83), winning all six tournaments in a year, and winning seven in a row. Today he added no. 84 to his belt. He also got several trophies (one presented by the Prime Minister himself), a banner, a big pile o' money, and a very large fish.

Yesterday saw Kotooshu easily handle ozeki Chiyotaikai. He lost badly today to Kaio, but an 11-4 tourney with a win over the yokozuna and a current ozeki will assure him of promotion to shinozeki ("new" ozeki). The Head Honchos of Ozumo, who decide such things, will announce their decision Wednesday.

What will I write about now that sumo is done for a couple months? Maybe some more haikus.

Kawayurei to issho ni biyooki wa kuru

Happy Thanksgiving! On Turkey Day (purely by chance) the Tsunemi lab took an excursion en masse to Kyoto. The trip is about an hour by train from Osaka U. to Arashiyama, on the outskirts of the former capital. Arashiyama is home to one of the most famous Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto, Tenryuji, or "Heaven Dragon Temple".

The activities began with a stroll through Tenryuji, which was rather crowded, but the trees were in full color and it was really quite nice. Like many ancient buildings built primarily of wood, the temple has burned down and been rebuilt several times during its 666 (hmm) years, most recently in the late 19th century. The gardens have apparently been untouched by these fires, and are a national treasure.

After the temple we hopped on another train for a short ride into the mountains, and had a tasty lunch of yakiniku (lit. "grilled meat"). Then it was off to the Hozu river and a two-hour boat ride downstream, back to Arashiyama. The boat ride took us through the mountains, which were spectacular in the late afternoon sun.

I have photos with commentary. Alas, my camera did a very poor job capturing the colors in many of the shots, which is dissappointing. But the trip, though not exactly a solitary, spiritual experience, was really a lot of fun.

The spirits of the river ("kawayurei"; yes, I made that up) saw fit to give me a cold, so yesterday and today haven't been much fun. Or perhaps I contracted malaria from the mosquitoes that attacked when we slowed down and tied up to the concession boat.

Friday afternoon saw the sumo bout of the basho, with unbeaten yokozuna Asashoryu squaring off against 9-3 Kotooshu. The rest, as they say, is history. With Kotooshu's win over the Big Man, he is almost assured promotion to ozeki. Because one of his ten wins was a forfeit, however, one more win over a current ozeki will seal the deal. With two days left in the tournament, things are getting interesting.

Asashoryu o sakeru

A happy Labor Thanksgiving Day to you all. Yes, it is a Japanese holiday, and no, it's not some confused combination of two American holidays. No turkeys are eaten, no pies are baked, no football is played, and it's probably not really related to President Lincoln's holiday, despite what General MacArthur might say. I garuntee.

It is, however, a good time for universities to shut down their computer networks, thereby forcing Internet-dependent researchers to work from home, where they can focus on more important matters, such as sumo. Yokozuna Asashoryu came close to losing today on a strong charge by first-ranked maegashira Tamanoshima, but recovered with a fine drop. Last night he manhandled the diminutive but surprisingly good Ama, carrying him like a sack of potatoes out of the ring. Kotooshu is now 8-3 and dangerously close to becoming the first western ozeki in the long history of ozumo. Which, by the way, is not as popular as it once was.

Today's Japanese lesson: when the people on TV say what sounds like "mi-la-san", they are not in fact addressing me personally, but saying "mina-san", or "ladies and gentleman". I spent the better part of a day feeling very paranoid about this.

Asahi to osake

My sincerest apologies for the recent paucity (nay, absence) of blog entries, but I guess time flies when you're having fun (and fruit flies like a banana). Can you tell I've had my coffee this morning?

I did not, alas, make it to the quasi-national park this past weekend, so I have no photos of waterfalls or misbehaving monkeys to share. I do have some early-morning photos of the view from my apartment, and they prove that the trees really do change colors here. In fact, it appears the weather is not going to change for at least two straight weeks, and it is perfectly autumnal (in the early October, crisp and clear sense, not the late November blustery blizzard sense). Therefore I expect the leaves to remain in color and on the trees for a while. In fact, they might just stay put through the winter and turn right back to green in the spring. I'll keep you posted.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a national holiday, the Day of Labor, but nobody seems to know if it is akin to Labor Day in the US or some sort of Thanksgiving type day. There is no traditional Thanksgiving here, as the pilgrims seemed not to have made it this far. But some sort of group excursion is being planned for Thursday, and as I am the "honored" guest (and apparently good at deception) I got to choose the locale. So we're going to Kyoto, which should be very interesting, as it is full of temples and Japanese maples and emperors. One of the grad students wanted to go to Universal Studios Japan, but he was roundly rebuked. I hear they have an enormous Christmas tree there, but not an enormous pink one, so it seems pointless.

The ozumo continues to fascinate, with Asashoryu ("Morning Blue Dragon") remaining undefeated through nine bouts out of a total of fifteen. Kotooshu ("Very Large Bulgarian") dropped one over the weekend, but rebounded nicely and has joined a group of four rikishi at 7-2. He will likely need to win at least ten bouts to win promotion to ozeki. Another notable bout lasted for over four minutes, long enough for the referee to call a mizu-iri or water break, an uncommon occurence that I'm fortunate to have witnessed.

On Friday night I had a very good dinner with Anabuki-san, Ozawa-san, and Matsuura-san at a sakaya or sake bar. I am forever spoiled to American sushi.

Happy Birthday to Rob, who (at this moment) is one year older in this hemisphere than he is in the other.

Aki to sumo no kangae wa kimasu

The weather continues to be beautiful here, with clouds in the morning (to keep the sun from waking me up) giving way to clear skies all day. I'm starting to re-adjust to the time change, as I managed to stay up till 11:30 last night and sleep in till 6 am. I've written a haiku about it:

    leaves blow on the wind
    as the morning sun awakes...
    boy am I sleepy

The Leader of the Free World arrived at Osaka Kansai airport yesterday and choppered up to Kyoto, but the real news here is the marriage of Imperial Princess Sayako to a "commoner". Under (soon-to-be-changed) Japanese law, women in the Imperial family bloodline who marry commoners become commoners themselves. As far as I can tell, since there is no aristocracy anymore, and they can't marry their brother, they therefore have to choose between an Imperial lifestyle and marriage. The males naturally face no such quandary. So the new Mrs. Kuroda has to learn how to drive, go grocery shopping, and do the laundry, but perhaps the 152.5 million yen severance package she received will ease the transition. Or maybe her new husband can do the chores, although until their marriage he was still living with his mother, so she shouldn't get her hopes up.

Speaking of unusual living arrangements, the last sumo basho of the season is underway, the Fall Classic in Kyushu. (It's not really called the Fall Classic, but I think it should be. Also, "basho" is such an accurate term for a sumo tournament that it seems very suspicious.) The lone yokozuna (or uber-sumo), Asashoryu the Monstrous Mongolian, is in top shape, winning his first three bouts. My man Kotooshu the Bulging Bulgarian was upset in his first bout, but rallied to win the next two (so what if one was a forfeit). He's gunning to upgrade his status from sekiwake to ozeki, which will allow him to boss around more of the lower-ranking rikishi in his stable and presumably wear a nicer kesho-mawashi. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should read this sumo primer.)

Following sumo sure beats rooting for the Eagles at this point.

Osaka ni kaerimashita

After a nice two-week stint back home, I returned to Osaka this past Sunday. The weather is definitely cooler than when I left, and many of the leaves have changed. The trees are not yet bare, though, so hopefully this weekend I'll make it finally to the quasi-national park and check out the scenery. I know I keep threatening to do that.

My compadres seemed to enjoy the gifts I brought back, including maple sugar candy and salt water taffy, although there was some concern over the bright blue flavors of the latter. (Mmm, blue.)