05/30 - Challenges

In rugby, in life

everyone needs a challenge

but also, needs sleep



Friday is a good day to do things after work, as other teachers are often up for meeting. However, usually they are quite pooped from the week, so it often means just getting together for some food and drink. Today though, Tim and I decided to go to watch another rugby game, as Japan were taking on Samoa. We managed to convince a couple of other teachers to come along as well, Lauren for her second rugby game in a week and Sophie. The game looked to be much more of a challenge for Japan than the thrashing of Hong Kong we witnessed a week before, Samoa being a much stronger rugby nation. We got to the stadium as quickly as possible after work, which involved taking a cab instead of walking fifteen minutes from the closest station. I ended up in the front and, unwilling to neglect my usual custom despite a more pronounced language barrier than usual, made small talk with the cabbie. This meant that I said hello, told him I was from Canada and then told him I like rugby, in Japanese! Despite the howls of laughter from the back, I was happy to have made the effort.

This game was at a different stadium than the last one, the dedicated rugby one, called the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground. We were late, but even from outside while we bought our tickets we could tell the atmosphere was better than it had been on Sunday. The fans were definitely more of a rugby bunch and they cheered and reacted to everything going on. There was a lot to cheer about too! Japan played great attacking rugby and won 33-14, never really letting up the whole game. A much more attractive game to watch than the disinterested affair the previous Sunday.

            


After the game our group of four headed to grab some food and a drink. We ended up in a Hub, which is the chain of British-style pubs here. It is never my first choice place to go but after the rugby game it definitely did the trick. It was like being in a rugby clubhouse post-game. There were lots of ex-pats and tons of Japanese rugby supporters. Everyone was quite jovial and it was a fun spot to be. As a huge added bonus for me they were showing sports highlights and the Blue Jays highlights came on. It's been fantastic checking the results and watching bits of games when I can during the hot streak the Jays have been on. As a result I was super excited to see Eddie Encarnacion pop up on the screen in a bar in Tokyo and take his parrot for a walk.

Also seen at the bar, was a gent who looked just like my good friend Nicholas Adams, except about 30 years older. Sadly the only pic I got is of his back. I couldn't make it too obvious I was snapping a shot of a stranger, nevertheless, he even looks like Nick from behind.

When we left, we walked by a small park-ish area next to the street that had a few benches, where for some reason a middle-aged couple were sleeping one on top of the other. It is very common to sleep on trains and in public places here and a lot of people seem exhausted all the time, some people even sleep standing up. But it was only about 11 at night, so it was strange and absolutely hilarious. No idea why they were there or how they decided to make the call that this was the spot for a snooze. It was definitely a deep sleep they were in too. We ended up grabbing a snack and a drink and sitting on a bench near them for quite a while and they only stirred once, even then falling right back to sleep. It was actually kind of beautiful. In a totally demented way of course. Though I can't claim to be much better. I did lie on the street in front of them to pose for a picture.