The blog hasn’t been updated for a while, so I thought I should write something! I was away in Jonju (?) over the weekend, down in the south of Korea and with better weather than expected. Beer, fried chicken and the sun all contributed to a lovely weekend.
In the time since my last post- when we drew with the Softbank Hawks I believe- Hanshin have stuttered and stumbled along. We lost the second game against the Hawks, and went 1-1 with our neighbours the Orix, losing 8-3 on Saturday and then winning 7-3 on Sunday. If I seem more reluctant to post about Hanshin than usual, it’s because I am- we’ve been all over the place really, and while I obviously maintain my support, checking results and watching games when I can, this doesn’t always mean I want to blog about it, especially if we lose. Still, tonight saw victory! After yesterdays game against Bobby’s Marines was called off, tonight saw us squeeze out a 4-3 victory over Chiba Lotte thanks to a 3-run home run from Arai, great batting from Hirano (and Kanoh), and a tight, tight save from Fujikawa. With a 4-3 lead, the Marines had the bases loaded, and the count was 2-3. Thankfully, the Marine hitter flew out (I wasn’t fancying Fujikawa to get a strike!) to end the game and bring us victory. My Chiba Lotte preview will have to wait to the return leg- or tomorrow actually- when we play the game that was rained off yesterday. They are an interesting team, with lots of political upheavel going on due to (what I see as) crusty Japanese owners getting annoyed by the popularity of team coach Bobby Valentine.
Finally I’ve almost finished Remembering The Kanji, James Heisig’s approach to learning Japanese Kanji by relating them to a specific English keyword. Today I passed the 1900 mark, and there are 2044, so I should be finished by the middle of next week. Then its only a month or so of reviews until I can say that I’ve learnt them to a sufficient level. I’m pleased though- its a big achievement, and an important step on my journey to being proficient in Japanese.
