Chinuchi Dragons

This past Monday was the third game in a series of three, if the Nagoya Chinuchi Dragons won against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows they would advance to play the Tokyo Giants in what is basically the world series of Japan. If they lost, well, the game was played in Nagoya, so everyone could take the subway home. Either way, I had yet to go to a baseball game in Japan and I was concern if I missed this game I would have to wait till next year.... So I went!!!To summarize, Second-place Chunichi rallied from a one-game deficit to win the final two games of the best-of-three series, they crushed the Swallows 7-4, it was embarrassing.This was an amazing baseball game, from the first pitch to the last out everyone was focus on the game and not distracted by things like yelling at the other teams fans or checking stocks on i-phones. Here are a couple of things that are different from MLB games:Bento Box. In this case, the Bento box is shaped like a baseball jersey, #3 is Tatsunami who is going to retire this year.Plastic bats. Everyone had plastic bats used to make rhythmic noise, they were in use the entire game, from the first Dragons pitch till after the on field news conference ended.Japanese cheerleaders!The 7th inning stretch was replaced with 7th inning karaoke, but the lyrics on the bottom of the screen was way beyond my ability to sing along.

Anyways, the Tokyo Giants are kind of like the Yankees, the Dragons can be compared to the White Sox. Go Go Dragons!!!!!!

April 2025 update....

R.I.P Tony Blanco.

#42, Nagoya, we will miss you. 

YouTube Channel

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVnA3UhwNg31H_W2Xj4gNKQ

I'm trying to post one random video per week.

Automatic Fried Rice Stir Fry Machine

This is something I never notice before but it must have been around for a long time, Auto Fried Rice Machine. 

But there it is!  

It looks like, on the bottom is a burner that 'fires' the rice.  And as that is burning away the drum is spinning like a cement truck and flipping the rice around.  The rice was falling in like waves, similar to someone flipping it in a wok. 

The dish looks and tastes really good!

The fried rice dish was 920 yen or about $6.10  The actual dish look almost exactly like the menu photo.

Study in Economics

 This past week I had the opportunity to visit the Seattle area and made a stop at Whole Foods where I saw this particular beer from Japan.

The beer on the left is Aooni, a craft beer from Yo-Ho brewery in Nagano.  At Whole foods it was on sale for $4.99, which on this day was approximately 815 Yen.  

A few days later in Japan, the same beer was available at a grocery store for 288 Yen or about $1.92.

I was surprised just how expensive everything in the US was, $4.99 was a lot for a can of beer but it was not really priced that much above other local Seattle brands like Rainier or Fremont.  Not sure this post really has a point, but the cost of beer is like the early 2000's in the US.  You can't really compare the cost of Asahi or Sapporo because those beers in the US don't come from Japan.  They are made in Canada or somewhere else.  But this Aooni in the US and Japan comes from the same brewery. 

Anyway, Aooni is a good IPA, if you are in the US and near a Whole Foods, try it out. 

Four Summits

 Summer 2023, I had the opportunity to summit 4 mountains in Japan. 

1st mountain was Yurugi-san, 604m. 

Second mountain was Fujisahgatake, 941.9m

Third mountain was Akausagi, this mountain was the most difficult to reach, you really need a car to get here.  1628m

The last mountain was Hakusan. 2702.2m.  Hakusan is one of three holy mountains which include Take-san and Fuji.   Our plan is to summit the remaining two mountains, next summer will focus on Fuji Gotemba trail. 

Each summit was unique, amazing and beautiful, but Hakusan was very special.  It was a two day hike with camping one night. 

Fuji, the 5th station from Tokyo, the path you will probably take, is always over crowded.  The best trail is Gotemba because it's normally not backed up.  But if you can, hike Hakusan.  Compared to Fuji, it's less crowed and the 'nature' as you assent is more interesting.  Fuji is basically rocks, Haku is a forest most of the route. 

H.L.N.A SkyGarden, Tokyo

 HLNA Tokyo is amazing.

First things first, they have a Wahoo Taco, if you are from California that is nice but I did not bother eating at this one.

This park is amazing.  It's on Odaiba Island in Tokyo, on the roof of a shopping mall.  In the evening, it's nice to just chill on the roof and board.  If it's any rain, this place will close. 

Lesson is, if you are going to visit Tokyo and you skateboard... bring your board. 

SkateParks: Shonai Nagoya

 We moved from Southern California and prior to moving here I visited skateparks all over that area.  Now  I'm visiting parks here in Japan and although many websites exist for parks in Japan, I can add a few photos for each park I visit.  Photos and some thoughts.  

First park is Shonai Nagoya.

This park, if you read online reviews people will warn you that there are a lot of rough kids here.... not really, I talked to lots of kids in the park and everyone is very friendly.   

But if you are in Nagoya and you skateboard, this park is worth a visit.... technically you need to sign a waver and get a blue wrist band before you board.  But as far as I can tell, no one checks till about 10 minutes prior to closing.