"Football" and its repercussions

Well, long time no post, gomen ne.

Truth is there's not a lot to report. Anna's trip was great. Pics to come!

World Cup Soccer has started and is already into the quarterfinals. I've gotten less sleep because of the whole thing. And, I've had to pick my way through figuring out who to support. Who I wanted to win in order of preference:

1. Mexico
2. Japan
3. England
4. Italy
5. Ukraine
6. USA

I know, I know, you can't do that, you say. Your allegiances can't span so many continents. But, only 3 of those teams are still playing, and they are all European, so that narrows it down. And by default, England is my top choice. I know my football obsessed British friends, foaming at the mouth and possessed by some strange demon during world cup season, will be very happy when they eventually win.

Go England!

OH right, and this whole soccer thing landed me on national TV in Japan. Was just talking to my buddy Take way up in Miyagi-ken who says 'Oh, by the way, we saw you on TV the other day'. Random. See, back in 2002, Tokamachi was the host city to the Croatian team when the world cup was held in Japan. So, Japan and Tokamachi happened to be grouped together in the first round this year in Germany. Meaning that there was supposed to a conflict of interest of who to support for Tokamachi people, but if you are Japanese and you support Croatia just cuz they trained in the mountains near here, then you are weird, in my opinion. Nearly everyone cheered on Japan at a big screening event for the Croatia-Japan match, where Martin and I and Amity and Keiko wore blue and sat in front of the NHK camera and drew attention to ourselves. And then we were on national TV.

Otherwise, it's hot, the cops yelled at us in the Jusco parking lot for skateboarding, and I'm still trying to figure if I can get home for a long visit this summer/fall. It's just plain been too long.