Classic All Blacks vs. Japan

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see Jonah Lomu, in person, stomping his way through the Japanese rugby team like Godzilla through downtown Tokyo? No? Neither have I, but last Sunday I got the opportunity to see just that.

The new coach of the Japanese Rugby Team a.k.a. ‘The Brave Blossoms is none other than John Kirwan, ex-All Black and childhood hero of thousands of Kiwi kids (including Kevin and I) and in order to steel his new charges for the rigors of the upcoming world cup he invited a few of his Kiwi mates over for a couple of exhibition games.

Sponsored by Master Card, the team was called ‘the Classic All Blacks’ although not everyone therein had played for the ABs in the past. Still, as well as Jonah, there were some of the biggest names of the last generation of All Blacks, including Justin Marshall, Andrew Mehrtens, Eric Rush, Tony Brown and my fave Carlos Spencer. While a good few years older than the Japanese on average, most of the players are still plying their trade somewhere in the world, so it was definitely no ‘Golden Oldies’team.

The CABs only just managed to beat the Blossoms 35-36 in the first game in Kobe (see story here) so Game 2 in Tokyo was all set to be a thriller (of sorts). Could a team in black, even if they were all a wee bit old, lose to the Asian champs but world minnows? And that is why Joshie and I (plus my mate Steve) donned our AB shirts and took the Shikansen up to the Big Smoke on a brilliant, sunny Saturday afternoon.

We definitely weren’t disappointed either, Jonah played more than 18 minutes this time including one busting run through half of the Japanese team a la the atomic powered monster I mentioned above. If he hadn’t lost a yard or two of pace (I reckon it was the kidney transplant’s fault) it would have been a fantastic try, but alas he was dragged down just before the line by his speedier opposite number. Still, King Carlos had brought his A game and that more than made up for the lack of a Jonah Try. The king banana kicked, side-stepped and goosied his way around the hapless Japanese for the majority of the second half setting up two tries in the process. Brilliant is all I can say! Suffice to say, the 36-6 score line was a bit more reflective of the gap in abilities, strength and power between rugby in Aotearoa and ragubi in Nippon than the game in Kobe.

Read another match report here.

Oigawa Tetsudou

I hate to say it but my son is a bit of a geek. He is just about the cutest little guy on the face of the planet but even at the tender age of three he has developed into a hardcore trainspotter. Our house is littered with Thomas the tank engine paraphernalia, as well as dozens of other train toys, DVDs and books. He didn’t get any of this from me by the way. The finger of blame must be squarely pointed at his Grand Dad in New Zealand, who is something of an anorak himself (please note, the previous comment was a gross understatement, typed in the interests of preventing a flame war) :-)

Which is why, on a wet and horrible day, Joshie, Kanako and I set off to Shizuoka-ken to ride on the Oigawa Tetsudou (railway). Japan being a country of trains, has it’s fair share of ‘Rail Enthusiasts’ including one group that have set up a live steam attraction on a working branch line near Kakegawa in Shizuoka prefecture. Actually, despite the rain, the 80 minute ride up the Oigawa river valley was quite pleasant. On a sunny day with a picnic basket packed full of goodies and Grand parents in tow (hint hint) it would be a fantastic day out as the scenery from the train is rather picturesque.

Anyway, check out the pix here and then tell me what you think.

The House Part.1

As some of you know, Kanako and I are in the process of building our first house in Kana-chan's hometown of Toyohashi. It should all be done and (hopefully) ready for us to move into about the first week of August.

Now, we hadn't exactly planned on home ownership at this stage in our lives but Mama Koishi made us an offer we couldn't refuse. As an incentive to move back to Toyohashi, as well as maternal generosity, Dr. Koishi has given us a piece of land to build our dream house on. While house prices aren't that unreasonable in Japan, the price of land in anywhere remotely desirable is astronomical. So with this hurdle unexpectedly overcome how could we say no?

The next challenge was to find an architect/design firm that could make our dreams come to fruition. After hours and hours pouring over magazines, catalogues and websites and days spend trudging around model homes we finally found a bunch of like minded souls at Top Maison. As you may guess from the name, the guys at Top Maison build French inspired houses, which as a pair of Francophiles, suits us just fine. Then, after further hours of discussions we had a plan and we were one step closer to making our home reality.

Fast forward to January, when we held a Shinto ground breaking ceremony on a freezing cold day just after New Year’s. Despite the icy wind, sake and rice were offered up and things got under way. Jump ahead again to May and things are going really well. The exterior is finished, save the painting and work has now started on the interior. Naturally, we are all very excited and drive by for a look every other day. And naturally, our new temporary apartment is littered with furniture catalogues and interior design magazines as well as the usual debris.

I have posted pix of the house in progress over at flickr if you wanna see how things are going as well as scans of the Architectural elevations.

Check them out here.

Oh yeah, Did I mention that it’s going to be a “Green” House. No, not the kind you grow your tomatoes in, “Green” as in environmentally friendly. We are going to install solar panels on top of the garage to provide most of our energy needs. In the sunniest months we will actually be able to sell our excess electricity to the power company which is rather nice after years of hefty power bills. We have also bought an IH (Induction heater) cooker to save power and be more energy efficient. Then there is the eco-cute system which uses heat pumps and lotsa other cool technology to heat our water more efficiently, safely and cheaply than either gas or a regular hot water tank. Naturally, the house has tons of insulation and double glazing too. Sounds like it’s gonna cost a lot, doesn’t it? Yes and No. While the initial outlay is pretty expensive, it’s actually gonna save us a bunch over the years we live in the house. And then there is that nice ‘moral high ground factor’ too. Now we can make everyone else feel guilty about being such global warming, ozone depleting, harp seal clubbing eco-terroristsJ