Ippoippo

Seems some Japanese fans took the game a bit too seriously. You also have to laugh at the name they chose for Japan’s mascot!

Post Game Aftermath

Well, not such a good result for Japan in the World Cup, but a good one for my Aussie collegues. To be fair, Australia were the better team, and Japan’s goal was somewhat dubious.

When watching the game, I could see that the Japanese were getting tired with the heat (and/or were also just confident sitting on the one goal lead), so I had that ominous feeling that Australia would sneak in a equalizer to open up the game.
Yuko and I spent watched the game at the Imperial Hotel, joined by Members of the Australia-Japan Society of Victoria. I learnt later that there was also a sizable contingent of Japanese fans (I think, mainly students) down at Federation Square. Our bunch of fans were a more subdued and less hardcore (Yuko and I were the only ones wearing Japanese football tops). The only really vocal suppotters was a 7 year old boy (Australian born, half-Japanese half Hong-Kong Chinese) and his mum (Japanese). Before the game started, the young lad, myself and Yuko posed for photo’s for some local press, and today I’ve noticed that Yuko is in a picture printed in the late-edition of The Age (Printed Paper Edition).

After the game, Melbourne just went nuts, with people cheering and tooting horns. It was all very friendly though, with no real aggrevation between the fans. You can see pictures over here and here too, with video here. Story here.
One thing that made me laugh… Australian commentry. Commentry on UK TV attempts to keep impartial (during the game at least, the pundits are not), but boy are the Aussie (in-game) commentators really biased. I don’t blame them as such, but I’m used to the biased commentry coming during half-time analysis and after the game. I seem to recall it took only 3 minutes for the commentator to start complaining about something (and the Aussie’s call the British/English ‘Whinging Poms’!!!! )

Well, tonight is Japan’s first Game in the football world cup. Must admit, we are feeling a bit tired after our trip along the Great Ocean Road… but we’ll still be heading over for the game.

Road Trip

On Saturday, Yuko and I met up with 3 other of my work collegues, who are also on assignment here in Australia. We then headed off to Geelong, then onto Torquey where we started onto the Great Ocean Road. The weather was somewhat foggy until the point where we reached the coast, and it cleared up into a nice sunny (though windy and chilly) day. The Great Ocean Road has some amazing scenario, though it’s a very twist drive. Yuko did feel a little iffy at times, not helped by my work collegues driving (a little bit agressive on the throttle and brake). Still, it was good to see some good Aussie countryside.

By 13:00, we got to Apollo Bay, where we stopped for lunch. Now, I love Aussie service in restaurants, but compared to Japan (and compared to the US from what I was told by my Israeli-American collegue) it can be a little slow. However, this place in Apollo Bay was REALLY slow, and it meant we were a little late leaving Apollo Bay. We had been hoping to stop off at the Lighthouse at Cape Otway, but we decided to press onto Port Campbell area.

The 12 Apostles, near Port Campbell is a stunning site. It’s a shame we hadn’t been able to find any accomdation for the 5 of us (if it had just been Yuko and myself, it would have been easier to organise), so we then had to head straight back to Lorne. At Lorne, we dropped off our bags, before going out for dinner in a very nice restaurant that evening.

On Sunday, we pretty much explored around the Lorne area itself, including the beautiful Erskine Falls. We, then decided to head back to Melbourne, stopping off in Anglesea for a late lunch.
A tiring, and somewhat rushed journey, but enjoyable.

Rugby

Hmmmm, Wales lost again in the rugby, bugger. Mind you, England didn’t fair much better (was watching that game live on TV last night)

Eco

Hmm, seems Japan is struggling with the concept of saving on Plastic Bag usage.

Put off flying

NatGeo (which is the new name for the National Geographic channel) in Australia has had a bit of an ‘Aircrash Investigation’ marathon TV Programme session today. One of the most interesting ones we saw was about the DHL Flight Incident, in Baghdad. There were also programmes about JAL Flight 123 and Philippine Airlines 434. All very interesting, if somewhat scary.

Unlike his father, I kinda like the things that the current Emperor of Japan is saying. The only problem is that he has no real power (because of the things that his father got his government to do, in my opinion).
No doubt, the nationalists in the Japanese Government will pay no attention to their revered Emperor.

In the world of footy, it’s not long now until the game between Australia and Japan. I not exactly confident of what Japan will be able to do though.

At the moment, I’m reading Geisha, by Liza Dalby. It’s a pretty interesting read, even if the author is a little full of herself (I certainly wouldn’t agree with the publisher’s tag line (or was it the author) that she was the only foreign geisha… she wouldn’t have been trained properly to be a geisha).
She worked with the Geisha in Kyoto during the late 70’s and the book was originally published in 1983.
What I’m finding interesting is how the role of Geisha and Wife/Mother is completely seperate. What I wonder, is how much Japan has changed since 1983, and if that is certainly the case. I’m less convinced, and I’m pretty sure Yuko would be bloody pissed off (in the Western sense) if I had a regular Geisha I would go and see!
As much as I like seeing some parts of Japanese culture modernise, sometimes things are not so good… especially when you read stories like this. These girls obviously want their money to buy their Guchi or Louis Vuitton handbags!

Well, the week is half-way gone. This Friday I’m off work. Then on the weekend, a few of us will be heading off to explore along the Great Ocean Road.