I didn’t see any one taking these guys up on their generous offer. Perhaps that’s because if you want a “free hug” in Japan you simply need to get on a crowded train.

Posted on October 1st, 2010 under Japan. Tags: harajuku, people, signs. Comments: 3

Tenso Jinja’s annual matsuri wraps up with a triumphant entry of the omikoshi (お神輿) back into the shrine after a day on the town.

Posted on September 19th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: festivals, people, shinto, 天祖神社. Comments Off on Tenso Jinja’s festival

As a follow up to yesterday’s entry, with the Giants in the lead after one inning, Tony Blanco comes to the plate for the Dragons. He takes three quick balls (ball 3 pictured above) so I set my camera down thinking he would be taking the fourth pitch.

Not so.

He swings at the 3-0 fastball down the middle and hits it out of the park.

Which means….

We won free Big Macs!

Except at that point I read the fine print to find out that the offer is good from August 6 until September 19, and we were leaving Japan on August 3. 🙁

I asked the lady in front of me if she liked Big Macs. She did, so I gave her our winning tickets.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Big Mac, and it has been at least 20 years since I’ve tried a McDonald’s hamburger. Needless to say, I’m not that disappointed in missing out on this offer. 😉

Posted on September 14th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, food, people. Comments Off on Tony Blanco

My fifth Japanese baseball stadium to watch a game in was the Tokyo Dome. Ellie and I went to see the Tokyo Giants vs. the Chunichi Dragons. The Tigers had just taken over first place, and the Dragons were only a half game behind the Giants in third place so this game had some serious implications. Therefore, the Dragons cheering section in the outfield was sold out. We were stuck with some nose bleed seats on the third base side which meant no aerobics* for us, but we could still cheer against the Giants without standing out too much. Probably about 70% of our section were for the Dragons.

Ogasawara is shown above hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. It was bitter sweet as it meant the Giants took the lead, but it also meant that we were one Dragons’ home run away from winning free Big Macs.

My TZ10 in “sports mode” did OK considering the artificial lighting and the fact that we were about 12 miles from home plate.

* Japanese baseball fan aerobics… here is a demonstration provided later on the same evening by the aforementioned Dragons cheering section

Posted on September 13th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball, people, video. Comments: 6

Also near Lake Chuzenji, I sat and chatted with this wood carver while the family purchased one of his hand-made goods inside the shop.

Posted on September 12th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: nikko, people. Comments: 2