Or, they may have been waiting for the rest of the Team to make it up the steps leading to the Temple. What, no escalator? Check out the 1000 year old tree. 

Sherry & Andrea hang around the entrance to a famous temple hoping to score some cheap tickets from a scalper. They are showing the 3 members of the Japan CA Junior team how it is done. 

Typical of the incredibly neat Japanese character, even this gravel walking area is perfectly groomed. Note the pedestal with a mini-me version of Buddah inside. 

Contest time!!! Andrea says this is her and the previous death defying actor was Sheri. You decide! Winner wins a trip to Schomberg. 

Team Simmons sniffs out a cheeseburger fix at the Karuizawa Mickey Dee's!!! 

Andrea defies death in the face of Mr. Asama Man, fierce defender of the volcano gods. 

Our intrepid band of heroes climbs the dangerous slopes of the active volcano, Mt. Asama 

Police Scanners tell a tale

There is little news from our stalwart heroes’ toughing it out in the Far East, BTW, what’s up with this Far East stuff, Hello, you go WEST and it is still a long way. Rising Sun my frozen buns, have you ever looked West and seen the sun Rise? I don’t think so. But I digress.

No official word but there have been some tantalizing hints captured by your intrepid geek, who just happens to be a founding member of PTIPSVA, Part Time Internet Police Scanner Voyeurs Anonymous. Well, I guess we are not anonymous now, but never mind.

Curious police chatter gave rise to several sightings in the Ginza District. (Ginza-Gaza, here they go again!!) This was not on any schedule that I saw. There was also an incident reported from a Karaoke Bar where someone calling herself the “Princess of Granite” was given the hook half way through a bad rendition of “Hey Mickey”.

Any of you that happen to be movie buffs who saw “Black Rain” (Michael Douglas) or “Lost in Translation” (Bill Murray) will realise just how bad you have to be to get booed off of a stage in a Japanese Karaoke bar. She has always said that she is a much better dancer then a singer. Must be true.

Thursday is come home day, can’t wait to hear the stories and see the pictures. I will post any that I think you might find interesting.

Kirsten delivers under the watchful eye of Andrea and Sheri during the Bronze match against the Swiss team. 

Team Canada wins Women's Bronze medal. Canadian Men win Gold. 

Looks like we won second place in this game against Cassie Johnson of MN. Japan beat the Swiss so we play the Swiss for the Bronze at 1:00 PM local time. More in the morning. 

Kamikazi Summer Nights

In my quest to bone up on Japanese culture, language and history prior to this trip the Team was to make, I remembered a conversation I had many years ago with a Chinese friend of mine, a computer programmer named Yu Tu, (Yu actually had a sister name Me but that is a whole other story, can you imagine calling them in for dinner?).

Yu told me that there was a very old Chinese myth that a scheming Buddhist Monk talked the Emperor of the day into giving him 2000 of the finest of Chinese youth to go with him and establish a colony of ethnic purity on the uninhabited islands across the Sea of Japan, which I assume was then called something else, say, the Sea of Fish, or Sea of Soy, you know, not Japan yet because this was before..., well, yu get the idea.

I digress, the clever monk took the best that China had to offer but kept them isolated and soon had his own sweet thing going on in the new digs and was cutting the old Emperor out of the action. To make Yu Tu’s long story short(er) Old Empy sent an invasion fleet across the Sea of Sweet and Sour to take back what was his but the Mystery Monk got all of the Dream Team lined up on the craggy shoreline and they chanted and summoned up the Kamikaze or “Divine Wind” (which looked a lot like a Typhoon) and sunk the fleet. The Emperor was defeated, had lots of clothes but no ships, and the myth of the Kamikaze defending Japan’s borders was born.

Now I really liked Yu and this was a neat story so I was happy to believe him. Until I came across the following little gem from some myth busting poop at a University or something who kind of fractures the time line of Yu’s childhood myth and even goes on to blame the poor bloody carpenters of the day for the disastrous invasion thus poking a stick in the eye of the KAMI and their divine wind story.

Kamikaze (神風 from kami meaning "god" and kaze meaning "wind") is a Japanese word — usually translated as divine wind — which came into being as the name of a typhoon that saved Japan from a 1281 Mongol invasion fleet led by Kublai Khan. (According to recent research, poor materials and shipbuilding may have been the real reason for the Mongol defeat, rather than weather phenomena.

Sometimes, there is such a thing as too much reality. This was one of those times.

Here is hoping for a Divine Wind to blow our girls’ way Sunday morning in this wonderful land of myth and legend. The stupid History professors can go take up Aircraft Maintenance and leave our myths alone.

Bingo

Got it in one! I have actual confirmation from two very helpful members of the Lawes family that we have correctly identified Andrea the Magnificent in the photos.

Which caused me to take a closer look and I found a neat thing I want to share with you. The photo is actually an outake from a small movie file. If you clik on the title of this post or the LINK below you will end up at a page on which they are posting pictures.

Clik on the "COUNTDOWN" heading under PHOTO REPORT and scroll down to the pic of our gals, then clik Play movie, you see a rock moving, Pat Simmons team and then Kirsten throwing, Sherry moving into position and Pat coming into view and heading down the ice. I think there is more but it seems to time out.

The pics with the film strip edges seem to be movie files.

Clever people those Japanese and very, very accommodating, must remember to thank them. You can send emails to the Team through the team website, they have inconsistent access but I am pretty sure they will receive them. Or just send to team@teammiddaugh.com

Konichiwa

Happy viewing.

I am almost certain that this is a picture of our gals at practice. The pics posted on the website are extremely small and defy enlargement. Lets just say that this is them and go AAAHHH! anyway. 

Our gals won their game against the ROK and move on to play the Cassie Johnson Team from Bemidji, MN at 6:30 PM EST. tonite. (Sat.) 8:30 AM Sunday local time in Karuizawa. 

Sudbury Saturday Night Redux

It is 7:50 Sat. AM here in Hogtown by the Lake and 9:50 PM Saturday night in Karuizawa. Our gals game against the ROK was scheduled for 4:30 PM and they seem to be playing slowly because the score is posted a 4-2 for our side after 5 ends.

Had a late arriving missive from The Princess and she tells me that all is in order. They have been doing a little power shopping as prep for their games and ogling a beautiful golf course with Mt. Asama complete with steamy emissions as a backdrop. Sure sounds like they are being treated well and enjoying their time.

Princess says her Circadian rythm is still on EST and causing her problems which is too bad because normally she is a pretty good dancer.


Coney She Wah

Rocking with the ROK

The team from the ROK, Republic of Korea, is a tough squad who handed their Japanese hosts a 13-1 smack down in their first game. Our squad will have to be on their toes playing this hot team.

Game goes off at 2:30 AM EST so I am not waiting up, will provide a report in the morning, Saturday for us that is.

We may also explore the mythical origins of the "Divine Wind".

Game 2 looks like another hot game with one big end the deciding factor, this time for our side. Have to think ice may be a factor in both otherwise close games. Next up, a very tough team from Korea. 

Ouchiwa

Well this polite business has to stop right away. No more sulphur hot baths and for sure no more 4 ends late in the game.

Looks like our gals lost to the Swiss in a close game, (11 ends), by a score of 8-7. The Swiss are always tough however and it looks like it was a barn burner. Must have really made the fans happy and the organisers pleased to have invited both teams.

Two games tomorrow, maybe need to have a steam and then someone walk up and down your back to get the kinks out and get the Grrr! going.

Rah Rah Team Middaugh

Game 1 of the 3 game round robin. Makes you wish you were there. 

Chaim the Plumber and the mystery of raw fish!

When I was a very young man working in WASP Toronto in the early 60’s I met my very first Israeli citizen. He was Chaim the Plumber to me and I was a plumber’s helper. He taught me a lot about plumbing and since he was raised in post war Berlin, something about Yiddish phrases and their usage.

shalom (sholem) Heb. lit. peace; hello/good-bye was one of those phrases.

Shalom was also used to ask, “How are you”. Chaim used to joke that if you met a Jew in a hurry, all you had to say was “Shalom, Shalom, Shalom, “ (Hello, How are you, Goodbye,) and you had all the bases covered.

So, now I am nosing around for Japanese phraseology for this weeks musings and I run across “Konichiwa” as defined below.

Konichiwa - a Japanese word for "Hello." Use it to say "good morning," "good afternoon," "good evening," or just plain "hello”.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

A handy phrase it seems, but could it be more then that? For me, amateur everything that I am, it raise’s a fascinating (at least it is fascinating on a boring Friday morning) question.

Are the Japanese people the lost 13th Tribe of Israel?

If so, they took a terribly wrong turn in the Negev desert.

Could sushi salmon rolls be the cultural descendant of Lox?

Raw ocean Tuna the Nippon equivalent of Gefelte fish?

These are questions worthy of ponder, at least until we get some scores and more dish from Karuizawa.

Tongue firmly planted in cheek, I remain, your devoted Webguy.

Konichiwa, or is it Shalom?


PS: Watch for tomorrow's exciting episode, (if we have no real news) the Chinese Emperor and the mysterious monk lock horns and the Kamakazi legend is born.

Results, I think?

Otay, I think clikking on the title of this post or the LINK at the bottom will take you directly to a results page with line scores. It is a little bit hard to navigate but scroll down to the window in the PINK (That is so cute and 50's) section then clik in the little window and you can scroll the individual games.

Great effort by the host committee to keep us informed.

It appears to me that there are two, four team pools. Round Robin in your pool, top two teams from each pool enter a two game semi-final, winners meet for the championship, losers of semi's meet for third place.

Now it is starting to make sense.

Our gals woke up Friday morning and made a trip up Mt. Asama, the second largest active volcano in the world. Mt. Asama is a major landmark in this region and is a big part of the scenery from every part of Karuizawa.

It is after midnite here in the centre of the universe and there are no results yet from the 2:00 PM Friday game with the Swiss. Check the link Friday morning and see how they made out. Give the nice Karuizawa webmasters a little boost in their stats.

Domo

Safe & Sound

Our gals have arrived safely in Karuizawa and seem to be in high spirits. Despite delays at Pearson caused by broken equipment,... (Doesn't that scare you? I am always terrified when a flight is delayed until someone who likely flunked Geography and ended up in a technical school instead of graduating high school, climbs a ladder and peers inside with a flashlight and then gives an OK. Like that counts! I want Engineers, real ones, with slide rules and pocket protectors and an army of note takers and tool trucks, Big Ones. but I digress, nevermind.) ... they arrived on time, had flawless connections for their two different train rides and are enjoying sunshine and -2 C weather in the Mountains.

An email from the Interweb says that their hotel is gorgeous, rooms are huge and facilities are perfect. A gaggle of hotel staff met them at the train station with flags and waves and a rousing cheer along with a mini bus covered with the Canadian Flag. Very touching, sounds like their hosts are wonderful people.

The Rink is also lovely, all windows down one side, had a practice and the ice is a little bit slower then we usually have here but not too bad. All told all is in order and it is great to hear from them.

I will keep you posted with whatever I hear.

Domo Arigato