Tokyo Notes

In preparation for tonight's match, I provide translations of the Japanese team's names. They're my best effort, given the reference materials available to me and my level of expertise. I'm prepared to be very wrong - corrections welcome.

Goalkeeper
川口 - Kawaguchi - Rivermouth

Defence
中澤 - Nakazawa - ????
宮本 - Miyamoto - Essence of Princeliness
加地 - Kaji - Enter the ground
三都主 - Santos - Master of three cities

Midfield
稲本 - Inamoto - Rice plant source
小野 - Ono - Smallfield
中田 - Nakata - In the rice field
中村 - Nakamura - In the village

Forwards
柳沢 - Yanagisawa - Willowmarsh
高原 - Takahara - Highfield

Kaji got injured in the friendly against Germany, and Inamoto and Ono are out of favour, so it's probable that these three will take the field.
坪井 - Tsuboi - 3.304 square metre well
駒野 - Komano - ????field (something horse related is my guess)
福西 - Fukunishi - Westluck

Alessandro Santos, sometimes referred to as "Alex", the defender, is an interesting case. He is of South American ancestry, and he (or his ancestors) has chosen the kanji which spell his name to have a somewhat flattering interpretation.

Another trip to Aoyama to watch rugby. This time it rained hard and Japan were on the wrong end of a spanking from Italy: 52 - 6 in the end, and deservedly so. Some of the less charitable element in the crowd booed their team. I, Dan and all our posessions and clothing were soaked comprehensively by the full time whistle, but it was a fun afternoon nonetheless. In the interests of saving cash, we tried to walk from the stadium to Shibuya station, rather than take the 5 minute subway ride, and got distracted by the Prada shop in Omotesando, then lost in the back streets, finally finding ourselves wandering the campus of Aoyama Gakuin University. We had to take a bus to refind out way, but still saved our money because the bus was so crowded that the driver decided it was more trouble than it was worth to charge us.

It is 梅雨 tsuyu, the rainy season, at present. The Japanese claim that Japan has four seasons, but always a little too quickly: it's really 5; summer is punctuated by tsuyu. Tsuyu means "plum rain". I discovered this by two different methods today. First, I've resumed the study of kanji, and one of today's was 梅 , plum. Before that, a student had informed me that she had been "damped in plum rain"; I can spot a literal translation at a thousand paces these days.

Between showers, my new next door neighbour knocked on my door and introduced herself. She gave me a present and apologised for the noise she was about to make at her housewarming party, to which she invited me in such a way that I almost felt I should go (but not quite, of course). This sort of introduction is correct etiquette, but this evening was the first time it's happened to me. It's rather exciting.

Kamakura is scattered with temples. Like the staircases and alleyways of Edinburgh's old town, one regularly discovers new and charming ones. On Monday we found Myohonji. Only five minutes off the beaten track, but deserted and very peaceful. On my way to the Honorable Hand Wash, I passed a young couple in black in a side temple being chanted at by a monk.

Yesterday was Tom's last day in Japan; his chum Dino was visiting before they both departed for Thailand and the life of riley.