Hanshin Win & JHSchool

On Thursday September 29th 2005 the Hanshin Tigers did it again. The clinched a berth in the Japan Series. Naturally Osaka exploded in celebration and I went to Namba from 9pm to 2am to join in the revelry. I didn't have a team of tiger slaves to pull me around in a cart [left], but I enjoyed the neon glow as did thousands of other Hanshin fans.

Some people who might not have enjoyed it were the thousands of cops they had guarding the area. I'd never seen so many cops in one place. The picture on the left was taken at 2am after most of the crowd had left and there were still that many.

[Man I wish my hair was as cool as the guy on the rights.]


Of course the cops main role that night was to keep people from jumping into the Dotonbori river. Now I don't personally know anyone who'd be stupid enough to jump into that filthy excuse for a river, but they must know something I don't. Anyway, it looks like the did a good job. With the aid of newly erected walls for just that purpose the river's poopy flow was undisturbed by Hanshin fans that night.

In addition to having better hair I also wish I'd invested in some full body tiger costumes to wear to the celebration. I never thought I'd feel like a tool for not being dressed like a fool, but there I was feeling like a dull hammer just the same.

Of course the celebration doesn't end after one drunken night of cheering, dancing, and miscreanting about. No, everything in Osaka [like karaoke, food, clothing, drinks, and electronics] is 50-90% for the next week or so. I for one plan on taking advantage of it by buying 2 of everything I come across. And I also plan on only going to places over the next 7 days. Those two places are work and the karaoke box. My bed and other inane places like that have no place on my schedule anymore.


My friends and I stopped off at a Hanshin restaurant to get some energy that night, before heading to karaoke. At first we thought certain things were missing from the celebration though. For example, we didn't see any Hanshin themed cars...

... but then we saw tons of them.


And we didn't see anyone dressed up like Marvel super heroes, until we bumped into Spider Man in an alley. And of course it aint a celebration worth celebrating if these aren't naked men wandering the streets at 2:15am. Thank for this celebration was worth it.

The other big news in my life at the moment is that I've begun working at a Junior High School and Elementary School in addition to my conversational school work. The other day we had a culture festival at school so here's a little bit on that.

I work at the schools 2 days a week, the other three days the guy on the left works there. That's our desk in the teachers room.

On the right is the new gym that was used for the culture festival. There were plays, music, and a brass band that all on exhibition at the cultural festival.


On the left we see the character for "person" made out of plastic bottles. And on the right we see the sign for the culture festival and a student perched on top of it dangerously enough.

In addition to some classical music the brass band performed some Japanese Pop music as well. The did "Hana" by Orange Range and also "Jupiter" by Hirahara Ayaka. Click Here (and wait a while for it to load) to watch a video of their rendition of "Jupiter".



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