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Lee Yong-Kyu (이용규) of the Kia Tigers with Choi Jae-Hoon (최재훈) of the Doosan Bears catching
Sadaharu Oh may have been the first professional baseball player to implement a leg kick into his swing. It is a rare sight in MLB these days. Maybe Hunter Pence does one? Any others? In any event, the leg kick is fairly common to see in Korean and Japanese professional leagues.
Shopping street in Kyoto, Japan – Demachi Masugata Shotengai (出町桝形商店街)
Soon after I took this previously published photo, rain began to fall quite heavily so I headed for refuge in the nearby covered shopping street. I purchased a chuhai and sat on a bench at the end of the street to wait out the storm. That’s when I took today’s photo.
A French man with a dog in his bike basket came down the street and stopped. He was surprised to see another foreigner in this part of town. We started talking in English, but I had difficulty understanding him and he me. So when I figured out that he had lived in Japan for 15+ years I asked him in Japanese if he would prefer to speak in Japanese. He was thrilled since his Japanese was much better than his English. We had a long chat until the rain slowed down, and then we both got on our bikes and headed in opposite directions. The best part of our conversation was seeing the looks on people’s faces as they passed. They were either stunned or smiling to see two white men speaking to each other in Japanese.
Nijo Castle (二条城) – Kyoto, Japan
Photomerged panorama of the interior Kabuki Theater known as Kurehaza (呉服座) currently on the grounds of Meiji Mura (明治村)
The exterior of this theater can be seen in my earlier post.
I wanted to sit, relax, and soak in the ambiance of this 19th Century theater, but one isn’t allowed in unless doing the tour. Once in, the tour began almost immediately so I fired these photos off in quick succession as my group headed to the stage. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to perfectly center myself or wait for the people to clear out of the way and make this photomerged shot showing more than 180 degrees of view more perfect.
Metal Rock Bar in Nagoya, Japan (Scum)
Since the first time I heard Outrage in 1989 I always wanted to visit Nagoya. Despite living in Japan for three years, the opportunity never presented itself (despite having passed Nagoya on the train several times) until 2013. I asked Shinya Tange, Outrage’s drummer, if there were any metal bars or clubs he could recommend. He recommended Scum. The place was much nicer than the name suggests. The owner is super nice and can speak English having lived in California for a while. We spoke in Japanese though. He hands you his iPad and let’s you pick the music. The cover of the album of the currently playing song is projected on the wall. As you can see, I must have picked something off of Mastodon’s “Crack the Skye.”
The other customers were wonderful too. I chatted with a young local who had never even heard of Outrage. I found it rather ironic that I, a foreigner, was able to introduce a native from Nagoya to Outrage.
Shasta Lake from the air
The last time we drove past Lake Shasta (last month) there wasn’t much water in it. Today’s photo is from late last May when it was near capacity. Hopefully there will be some rain (and snow on Mt. Shasta) soon or California’s largest reservoir will be mostly dry.