Craig Brazell (クレイグ・ブラゼル) of the Hanshin Tigers put on quite a display in batting practice a few weeks back. He ripped every pitch he saw, most for home runs. He hit the scoreboard and also hit one completely out of the stadium which drew applause even from the home fans.

Then, in the real game, he hit another one completely out of the park, pictured above. Not only that but it was to the opposite field. The guy is having an incredible season. As of this writing, he is on pace to hit over .300 with over 50 home runs.

There aren’t very many Americans playing professional baseball in Japan. Most of the foreign players (only a few are allowed per team) are from other parts of the world. Here are two Americans though, Brazell and Terrmel Sledge. Sledge just singled and Brazell plays first for the Tigers. He came over for a chat. He probably said something like, “Only a single? How did you like my home run that flew out of the stadium?” Sledge hit two dingers himself later in the day.

Posted on July 11th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, people, yokohama. Comments: None

I like to take walks on weekdays when the crowds are nonexistent and the weather is good. Before rainy season, I visited Zenpukuji Park on just such a day. The only other people I see on such adventures are retired people. This couple had an exquisite picnic prepared. After this many years of marriage, they enjoyed each other’s company not by conversing but by reading. (If you look closely you can see his earbuds.)

Posted on July 3rd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: kichijoji, people. Comments: 1

As mentioned last time, June is iris (hanashobu) blooming month at Horikiri Shobuen. We arrived early on a Sunday morning but not nearly early enough to avoid the crowd.

The number of people with gigantic, expensive cameras taking pictures was ridiculous. I don’t understand why these cameras are so popular given the price, size, and weight. I’m pretty sure the pictures don’t come out 10 or 20 times better even though the cameras cost that much more than mine.

I can understand wanting a dSLR at a sporting event, but in most settings, they make no sense. One guy I was standing next to was firing off about 30 shots in a row each time he pointed his camera at a flower. He wasn’t changing the settings or his vantage point between photos. Why would someone want 30 digital pics of the exact same scene? There was no wind so it wasn’t like the flower was moving or somehow changing.

The same goes for tripods. There were loads and loads of tripods people were using to take pictures of flowers. Why? Tripods have their purpose. They can be useful for group photos when you don’t have an extra person with you who isn’t part of the group or for night photography, but you don’t need one to take a picture of a flower in the bright sunshine people!

Sorry for the mini rant.

Hiroshige’s take on the same scene a couple hundred years before in one of his “100 Famous Views of Edo” required no DSLR or tripod as far as I know.

Posted on June 17th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hiroshige, people. Comments: 2

My first visit to Katsushika-Ku (葛飾区) was not to 亀有公園前派出所, home of my favorite manga, but to the 葛飾菖蒲まつり on the Arakawa side of the district. In June the locals celebrate the blooming irises in Horikiri Shobuen (堀切菖蒲園) as they have been for hundreds of years, but more on the flowers in tomorrow’s entry.

Today’s photo and video are from the taiko performance that we witnessed.

Posted on June 16th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: matsuri, people, taiko, video. Comments: 1

My co-star had a parade after the show at Edo Wonderland. She (the oiran) had on some serious, platform geta. Rather than just walk down the street, she had a special move which involved sort of kicking out her foot as she went.

Posted on June 13th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: edo wonderland, geisha, nikko, people. Comments: 1