06/12 - Armour Up

Nations wage battles

naturally, I back my home

it's not just laundry


It was an exciting day today at school, as I had a Japan soccer jersey delivered to me by one of my students. He was nice enough to buy me the jersey at a discount because he works part time at a sports shop here in Japan. I got it for thirty percent off, which was fantastic. It is a great souvenir and will be great to wear out during the World Cup to support the Japanese team. I got it with Shinji Kagawa's name and number ten on the back, since I am a lifelong Manchester United fan. Many of my students have been impressed that I know more players than just Kagawa from the national team. Some are even surprised that I know Kagawa, as though he remains some sort of mystery despite playing for one of the biggest football clubs in the world. I got a Size L, which is never referred to as size large here, and the jersey is made by Adidas. Funnily enough, the shirt is much smaller than the Vancouver Whitecaps Adidas size large jersey I have. It's not a problem because it was hard to pick between a tight medium and a loose large when I bought that one, but it is still amusing. You would think a company like Adidas would have standardized sizing worldwide, and I actually thought they did, as they usually list the size for different countries on their tags and inside their shirt collars. For some reason, this shirt has all the countries listed inside the collar, but only the space for Japan has a size written underneath. Peculiar.

I knew that my student would be bringing the jersey today, as he told me Thursday would be the day, but I was also brought a surprise. An older student, one of only three who doesn't attend the University as a normal undergraduate student, instead working full time as a Tax Accountant, brought me a gift from an interesting area of Tokyo. He had gone there with his two young daughters and told me the area is famous for having embassies and for celebrities going there. It was quite cool that he told me that because his English is very limited and he clearly had to prepare beforehand to say what he did. Apparently the area is also famous for the snack he gave me as a gift. It is peanuts covered in a crispy rice coating and flavoured with things like shrimp and seaweed. It's actually very similar to a Kellogs Corn Pop with a peanut inside. Which may sound like a bad thing, but I love Corn Pops! It was very thoughtful of him to bring me a gift, as I thought it was awesome enough that he likes to bring me brochures for places he thinks I should visit in Tokyo.

I've mentioned before how many things are popping up around the city in support of the Japanese team for the World Cup. One in particular made me laugh, as "Vie De France", the bakery Aykut and I like to go to quite often on the way to work, located in the "French" part of Ikebukuro Station, had some soccer ball bun monstrosities appear this week. There is also a pop-up Adidas Japan Soccer Team store in the middle of the station.

My haiku today references an error many of my students make when they are speaking. We've been talking about our daily routines in class this week and many students at the end explaining their average day say "then I back home." before abruptly concluding. I thought it was kind of funny because it sounds like a cheesy sports advertising phrase that might be used nowadays. "I back home" would fit in with Under Armour's "Protect this house" and the Raptors playoff slogan this year "We the North". For the World Cup, I'm backing my current home and cheering for Japan. The poem and title also reference battle and armour, which is fitting because the national soccer team is referred to as Samurai Blue. The laundry line is a reference to the quip that when you cheer for a team in the age of modern sports the players change all the time and they are not generally from the same city or even country as the team they play for, so you are essentially cheering for the uniform, AKA the laundry. While I am obviously not of the opinion that it isn't worthwhile to cheer for pro sports franchises, there is a special element to international competitions like the World Cup.