Soccer-Baseball-Sumo-Cycling-Tennis-Pole-Vaulting-Sprinting-Umpiring-Horsemanship-Whatever for Japanese Gatorade

Yes, this really is 2004 Olympics photo of Mizuki Noguchi sniffing her “rice-tech” shoes after she won the gold medal in the women’s marathon in Athens.

Ready to run in Beijing with rice on her feet - Olympics
ESPN – AP – June 13, 2008, TOKYO . . . Japanese marathoner Mizuki Noguchi won the Olympic gold medal four years ago in Athens… now will head to Beijing with an updated version of the rice-tech shoes that helped her win in Athens. Developed by Japanese sportswear maker Asics, the soles of the shoes are made of polyester and ground-up rice husks that absorb water faster. According to the company, they provide up to 10 percent better traction than the competition...more...

According to the The Daily Yomiuri newspaper, “The top contenders for marathon gold in Beijing, Mizuki Noguchi and Paula Radcliffe, have been playing psychological games with each other, Noguchi telling the world she has a pair of ‘magic’ shoes made of rice husks and Radcliffe trialing a hi-tech antipollution mask.”

In one way, a young attractive woman will have an “easy” time dealing with the corrupt officials along the Silk Road, but damn…
Personal security aside, crossing the Gobi Desert, which is now larger, hotter, and drier thanks to environmental degradation, is going to be literally Hell on a Horse. She needs a least a mule or better yet a camel.

Adventurer to follow silk route by horse
Dorset Echo, Tuesday 22nd April 2008
Becky Sampson, 24, will ride by horse along the ancient silk route from London to Tokyo. The 15,000km journey is called Expedition Equus…Miss Sampson said: “I’m excited, especially about visiting Iran, but …
…It will take some four years and see her travel through 15 countries…When Miss Sampson reaches the eastern seaboard of China, she will catch a ferry to Japan, find her final horse, and ride on to Tokyo...more…

“Four years“? The Mogols rode into Europe in less than six months. Never breaking into a trot, it only takes 2-3 months to ride across the US. However, Ms. Sampson an English teacher and most likely is going to spend some of the four years teaching as well as her planned “SOS Children” charity work.

Here’s her planed route according to her website expeditionequus.com

Here a bit of Japanese charm stemming from their old saying, “Crying babies grow fast.” Last Sunday, Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple held this traditional event with a long history, Konaki Sumo (baby-crying bout)—also called Nakizumo (sumo of tears).

Isn’t child abuse fun?

Babies face off in ‘crying sumo’ contest
Mainichi Daily News – 2008 April 28–….In crying sumo the babies are held up by amateur sumo wrestlers in a ring, and the baby who cries first is the winner. If both babies cry, then the one that cries loudest wins. …more...

The obvious Japanese solution is to BAN ALL SWIMSUITS!

Swimming: Japanese coach urges swimsuit war at Olympics
Macau Daily Times – AFP-Saturday, 26 April 2008—A Japanese Olympic swimming coach on Thursday urged domestic makers to rival Speedo’s record-breaking swimsuit…”It’s swimsuit doping,” Norimasa Hirai, who coaches defending double Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima and others, quoted one of his charges as saying of the LZR Racer [Speedo's swimsuit]….Japanese Olympic swimmers are obliged by the national federation to wear products supplied on contract by one of three Japanese makers — Mizuno, Asics and Descente — at the Beijing Games…more…

At $550.00 for 100 grams of swimsuit, Speedo’s LZR Racer costs more than dope.

I just noticed the Kyodo News on their “live” news ticker is bemoaning that the number of ALIEN sumo wrestlers in the top rank of wresters is now 16—the most in the history of sumo.

You gotta feel sorry for the Japanese. They just simply are too small to succeed in their own national sport, sumo. However, foreign-born sumo wrestlers from the United States are no longer doing very well in Japanese sumo either. Sumo is like boxing, you have to “stay hungry” and be willing to suffer. Basically competitive athletes from a comfortable, middle-class background ( whether they are Japanese or American) don’t succeed in fighting sports.
Nowadays it’s young, hungry guys from Russia and other former communist countries who are providing the majority of the new foreign sumo wrestlers. They’re the only athletes who are motivated and “hungry” enough to succeed in rising from the lower ranks of sumo (where the pay is low and the life is not fun because of the strict–some say torturous–discipline/abuse).

Japan swept first place in yesterday’s Boston Marathon in both the Women’s Wheelchair won by Wakako Tsuchida (1:53:30) and the Men’s Wheelchair won by Masazumi Soejima (1:29:16) [bostonmarathon.com]
To give you an idea of how fast* that is, the handicapped-by-legs record for the Boston Marathon was set by Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya), 2:07:14, 2006.

Boston Marathon – Yahoo! News Photos–Wakako Tsuchida of Japan holds up her trophy after winning the women’s division of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday April 21, 2008.

*Fast is relative. Even with massive technological improvements in equipment, the women’s wheelchair record time was set way back in 1994 byJean Driscoll (United States), 1:34:22.

From more information, see: Cheruiyot wins Boston Marathon; Dire Tune wins women’s race AP – Mon Apr 21, 4:29 PM ET

Here’s an unintentionally fun engrish name for a Japanese cheerleader team, “CREAM.”
They are shown below whipping off their white cream coverings at the All Japan Cheerleading and Dance Championship in Chiba, just east of Tokyo on March 30, 2008. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

Click to enlarge.

And, just in case you think that all Japanese cheerleaders are svelte goddesses—Check out the “VIGORS” squad below who were also performing at the championship.

(Yahoo! News)

The Oakland As are warming up right now to play an exhibition game tonight in Tokyo Dome against the Yomiuri Giants. Later the MLB “players” swinging their big bats in Roppongi—-Check out the Red Sox’s David Ortiz getting it on with this kimono lady. At six foot four inches and 230lbs, “Big Puppy” Ortiz complains about his size problems in Japan. ^(note)

However, I bet this statuesque hostess in kimono would be a great “fit” and she would be more than appreciative of his attention since women over 5′8″ in Japan have huge problems finding the right size. Judging from these kissy-kissy pictures, this hostess slipped him her keitai /cellphone number during the photo session.

Footnote:
Via the BostonHerald.com / March 21, 2008—
…Ortiz, he had memories of Japan [from the 2004 season he played here] other than the food… also remembers having difficulty with cabs in Tokyo.
The reason? They were too small.
“I had to get in sideways,” said Ortiz, simulating the position while listeners busted out with laughter...more…

It’s a 3-day holiday weekend here in Japan and people are looking for any way to fill their time without having to go to work such as these exercises for dog and their owners at a “Dog Party”….

AP news…a ‘Dog Yoga’ session at a New Year’s dog party event in Tokyo, Saturday Jan. 12, 2008.

For more about the reason for today’s yoga dog holiday, read my next post: Tokyo babes and big black busses