The hills are alive...

Ahhhh Nagano. What would Japan be without you? Well, it would still have Hokkaido, but that's a whole 'nother island, way up in the north. Nagano must be Honshu's Hokkaido... if that makes any sense.

A few weeks ago, I spent a weekend in this wonderful neighbouring prefecture. The occassion? A soccer tournament. The thing is, I am not a soccer player. Until last June, I had never played a game of soccer. And yet I signed up for two days of non-stop soccer action- on two separate occassions. Anyway, it was for the 'All-Japan ALT Soccer Tournament', held in the green, green mountains of Nagano-ken. Back in June, what really drew me to it was the prospect of running and jumping on a lush carpet of fresh green grass. And, since we were in the middle of the spring/summer season, I definitely wasn't disappointed. The fields we played on are quite possibly the most beautiful soccer fields ever. The view is spectacular- and not at all what you would expect in Japan. You can see the Japan Alps, a wide blue sky, and green fields everywhere:



Contrast this with my typical day-to-day view living in the so-called inaka (countryside) in Gifu:



This time, though, it was an autumn tournament, so the view was just a little less than vibrant green. But no problem; the weather was pretty much perfect for running, jumping, falling head-over-heels, getting bruised, and sweating like a pig.

Anyway, back in June we managed to place second out of about 10 teams. This time, with a different line-up, we came fourth. Which is still a good effort... especially given that these tournaments invariably involve playing multiple games back-to-back. (Although they are mini-games with 15-minute halves, and on a small field.)It doesn't help that the fields are at a bit of an altitude. Needless to say, the two tournaments really took it out of all of us, but most of the returning players felt a lot less like a piece of chewed-up meat the second time around. Here's something I meant to post back in June:

By the closing minutes of the final, my legs were shot. My quadriceps felt like over-stretched rubber bands and I could barely jog off the field, let alone run back on to shake hands with the other team. I also had several Mercedes-Benz imprints on my thighs. That is, from the soccer ball slamming into me. Shrugging it off as battle scars, I managed to join the rest of the team in accepting our second place trophy and 6 packs of Asahi beer.



This time, there were no fountains of beer to help us numb the pain away. I returned to Gifu with a nice bruise on my shin, which emerged despte me wearing shin-guards!

Besides the injuries, the other highlight of the weekend was what I'll call the 'Gaijin Party' on Saturday night. Basically, all players (there were over 100 of us) headed down to the hotel's party room to relive the high school days we never had. It's an all-drinking, all-dancing evening filled with cheesy tunes and even cheesier moves. I don't think any song played that night was released this century. The combination of dated music, alcohol and soccer exhaustion created a dance floor like no other. All I can say is I'm glad I didn't bother bringing my camera. Or maybe I regret it. Either way... No one seemed put off by either the music or the dancing. In fact, apparently a few people journeyed in from Tokyo solely to come to the party. It's not every day you find a foreigner-only party in Japan!

Suprisingly, we pulled up ok on the Sunday after the party. The whole soccer experience is pretty intense, but well worth it. If only to return to the 'burbs of Gifu and boast to your friends of your conquests in the Japan Alps.

Bike Dramas

I'd been debating whether or not to write a post about my Lake Biwa cycling experience, but the most recent development in my life has prompted me to go ahead and write one without further delay. Today, riding home from work on my bike, I passed a couple of students from my school. They turned out to be some of the more friendly ones, and their enthusiastic "herro"s prompted me to be friendly also, so I asked them a few simple questions in English. In hindsight, this was a mistake. Noble, but a mistake nonetheless. Riding a bike on a busy road while talking to people behind you is not a smart idea. After being overtaken by an annoyed housewife in an SUV (yes, they exist even in space-starved Japan), and realizing I had better just pay attention to where I was riding, I slammed into a rock by the roadside. Well, "sustained scraping" might be a better description. I could feel excruciating pain in my foot almost immediately, but not wanting to scare the students or make a scene, I simply yelled 'ow!' a few times (instead of the choice words I'm accustomed to using) and carried on. Of course I couldn't think of any more questions to ask the girls after that, and was grimacing all the rest of the way home.

Needless to say, I have been lying with my leg elevated for the last 2 hours, trying to keep the purple golf ball (a.k.a. swelling and bruising)on my foot from getting any bigger. So instead of doing all the productive things I planned to do today after work, I am forced to lie here and reminisce about the Lake Biwa ride...

It sounded wonderful, in theory. And ultimately, I'm glad I did it. The idea was to cycle around Lake Biwa over a weekend (and to fundraise for Cambodian children, at that!). I just wish I had had a more realistic picture of what it would entail. Sure, I knew I was cycling 160km (100 miles) around Japan's Biggest Lake(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Biwa). But JAPAN- how big could it be, in this land of minatures? And actually, it wasn't the length of the journey that was the problem. It was my bike... and a case of 'modern Japan strikes again'. The bike rental place did not make much of an attempt to size our bikes for us. Basically they gave us a bike and we got on it. I put my seat up before I began, but that was it. So one hour into the journey, I was starting to fear the worst- that my bike seat was going to beat my behind into a pulp. By hour 2, I started to realize that in addition, my handlebars were way too low. So low that I couldn't breathe properly because I was practically bent double.


Me looking way happier with my bike than I actually was (note the sweater used as padding).

The other unexpected negative aspects of the trip were the scenery and road quality... or lack of them, in places. Being from Australia, I've come to expect a certain amount of unspoiled scenery when I do things outdoors. But, hiking or biking in modern Japan, the most you can reasonably expect are fairly fleeting, postage-stamp-sized windows of beauty now and then. That in itself definitely has a certain charm...


But somehow on the trip I found myself enduring way too many moments of annoyance and fear when riding along busy highways or through tunnels, with trucks and motorbikes zooming past. It definitely couldn't be helped; I'm sure the route we took was the best possible, but it was just a reflection of how urbanized Japan is.

That said, there were plenty of pretty spots along the way- especially since it was still cherry-blossom season in that area of Japan. Another issue, though, was the time limit we had and the fact that my group of friends and I were so far behind the others that we had little time for photos. I will never be a speed-demon, that's for sure!

**By the way, I don't want this to come across as a whine or rant. And I'm embellishing a little bit... none of this was by any means the hardest thing I've done. (Although at the time I swore it was!) And also, I feel lucky that I even had the chance to do this trip. But if I didn't exaggerate a bit, this blog entry would read, 'Last weekend I rode around Lake Biwa. It was pretty and we had good weather.'**

So, two facts about Japan unite these cycling experiences:
1. Japan is suffering from overdevelopment.
2. Despite my cautious nature, I am becoming overconfident in my cycling abilities here.

If it wasn't for point 1, maybe today I could have actually rode on a footpath rather than the road, or had more room to ride, and therefore saved my foot. If it wasn't for point 2, I never would have attempted to talk and bike at the same time.

Regarding Lake Biwa, if it wasn't for point 1, I may have had the 'communing with nature' experience I anticipated. If not for point 2, I wouldn't have attempted to ride around Japan's biggest lake in 2 days on a bike designed for a Japanese child.

But, thanks to these two facts, I am now blessed with interesting memories, a limp, and an exquisitely-composed, extremely riveting blog entry. Makes it all worthwhile.

Seeds and Sweat

I've just returned home from my first deliberate exercise session since being in Japan. I say deliberate because I'd rather forget the times in August when I naively rode my squeaky bike around Kakamigahara in 35-degree heat and 90% humidity in pursuit of a sightseeing experience. This latest physical exertion has resulted in what I predict will be a very sore hamstring muscle by tomorrow, a few scratches and a bedroom floor littered with prickles and seeds. Sound interesting? You too can have such an experience, merely by venturing out for a jog along any creek or rice-paddy in Japan. I decided it was too complicated to ride my bike half an hour to the nearest gym, sign up, and go through a 2-hour induction session in a foreign language simply to get my heart rate above 100 beats per minute. Why do that when there are several perfectly-good gravel paths (albeit a little overgrown with grasses and weeds) just a couple of blocks from my apartment? Anyway, after observing several old ladies walking their tiny dogs and eliminating the possibility that I might be trespassing onto some Japanese farmer's land, I decided to start my first jog. Half an hour and several laps of the same stretch of gravel later, I finally felt like a human being again instead of a lazy lump of gaijin flesh. Nevermind the hundreds of seeds that had attached themselves to my lower limbs, the red welts on my arms from who-knows-what weird and wonderful plant, or the suspicious glances from little old Japanese farmers' wives taking their daily constitution...