Another Summer Koushien in the books

Another Koushien tournameent ended last weekend and all I got to watch was one first round game on a Sunday morning. Ever since my company abandoned the nightshift there is simply no way I am able to get a look at the games from Japan. I might get a chance to watch a NPB game every now and then when I am on the late shift, buut apart from that it is just impossible. Luckily there are some people who always kept me posted on what was going on. So as I congratulate Nichidai-san for their victory here are a few links for your pleasure.

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Koushien kicks off: Narashino vs Shizuoka

So I finally got to watch a game of this year`s Koushien summer tournament and it was a pleasure to discuss the action on the field with the people at the japanesebaseball.com chatroom. because of my work I won`t be able to watch any game at all, I believed, but last night everything fell into place and I was able to enjoy a feirly interesting game, albeit just until the later innings.

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Women’s World Cup 2011: Yet another world cup experience

On Sunday the final of this years edition of the FIFA women’s world cup will come to an end at Frankfurt and what an exciting tournament it had been. There have been surprises, upsets, great plays and a lot of wonderful football. Although you always have to take into account that you should not compare this version of the beautiful game with what we are used to seeing in the big european leagues all year long. The rules are the same, yet it is a different sport. If you manage to let go of certain images and expectations, you will have the time of your life.

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Summer Koshien just around the corner

As Summer gets hotter and August inches closer and closer everybody knows it won’t be long until the high school boys of Japan will play on the sacred dirt of Koshien again. I hope I will be able to catch at least a few games which might be difficult because of my work. But at least there are some articles which are a nice read, especially this series in the New York Times (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). And, by the way, as if you needed to know, but be sure to bookmark the great blog “Koukou Yakyuu” which will provide you with a live blog for almost every game. Edwin’s doing a great job there (and he’s on Twitter, by the way), just as Westbay-san is with japanesebaseball.com, which will hopefully have its chatroom up and running for the tournament again. I’m really looking forward to this tournament, especially because it will be a very emotional event because of what happened on March 11th. Hopefully the kids can bring some joy to the people in the devastated areas. 皆、頑張って下さい！！

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Spring Koushien 2011 Opening Ceremony

I came across a few videos on youtube which show the whole opening ceremony for this year’s high school baseball spring tournament at the Koshien stadium. While there isn’t happening that much, the warm welcome Tohoku’s representative recieved and especially the speech by Soushi Gakuen’s captain Shinsuke Noyama on behalf of all the players were very moving. The overall military touch was a bit strange to me, but then again I’m german and I have a slightly different stance on all things military.

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In The Backyard Of The Record Collection (14): Coconami

Sometimes it’s kind of astonishing how I end up finding out about records. In this case I read about this band in a german newspaper, but what kept me reading wasn’t the review of their records but the fact that they have links to a restaurant in Munich which serves a mixture of japanese and bavarian food.

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ドイツから日本のために祈っています。

日本にいるの皆さんへ。
そして今海外にいるの日本人の皆さんへ。

僕は3月14日に日本旅行を出発するつもりでした。
金曜日仕事中大地震の事を聞きました。
僕は情報を集めるの会社で働いているので、朝の6.45時にすぐに大地震の事を知りました。

最初日本にいるの友達の事すごく心配していました。
ＦａｃｅｂｏｏｋやＴｗｉｔｔｅｒで連絡取れて見ました。
幸福に皆と早く連絡取りました。
皆は無事で本当に良かったです。
皆のご家族もう無事だそうので、良かったです。

土曜日に東京に住んでいるの友達と相談したあとで旅行をキャンセルしました。
友達は「いぇったい来ないで！　危ないですから！」って。

今ドイツにいるの僕は安全ですが、日本にいるの友達すごく不安です。
こっちから何も出来ないは辛いです。

だから皆にお伝え事があります。

世の中には皆は日本の事、そして日本人の皆さんを忘れません！
世の中の皆さんは日本を応援しています！

僕は今遠いのところにいるんですが、僕はいつも日本の皆さんに側にいます！

それはそれだけできますけど・・・
皆さん、申し訳ありません！！

ｍ（＿　＿）ｍ

どうか気をつけて下さい！

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The songs of Koushien

Alright, so I’m a freak for cheering sections and the songs they sing and play. Which is one reason why I really like to watch the Koushien games. The way the brass band is playing there is simply astonishing. Not only do some schools have a song for each and every player on the team (at least it seems that way to me), but they also have a special song they play each time the team gets a hit or scores a run. And they instantly switch from the player’s song to the score or hit song. Pretty disciplined band(s) if you ask me. So while surfing around the youtube-universe I came across some samples from what bands might play ad I thought I’d share them. Some I never heard before, some even I recognized.

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Enoshima for the last and then back to Germany

For my last day in Japan the friend who picked me up at the airport when I arrived met up with me again to go to Enoshima, a small island located slightly down south of Tokyo and Yokohama.　

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Hanging out in Tokyo

I wouldn’t say I have seen everything I wanted to see in Japan, but today I took a little break from sightseeing and met up with a friend I met in Germany who now lives in Yokohama just to hang around for some time.

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