It`s a strange time to be writing a blog but I have one hour or so to kill before I have to start getting ready for work. I have just watched England go out of a major football competition again by losing on penalty kicks. As I can remember, the first was against Germany in 1990, the second, Germany again in Euro 1996, the third was Argentina in France 1998 and the fourth, and probably not the last, Portugal, just five minutes ago. "Why does this keep happening?" I ask myself.

As both an England fan and a neutral usually, I hate penalty kicks, just as much, and probably more, than I hate the away-goal rule. The latter is slightly better as it allows a result to be made during normal play, although neither are good in my opinion. I don`t just say all this because we keep losing but because I think its a waste and a bad way to decide a major game. I can`t offer a better alternative, just to say that its very frustrating and I actually feel sorry for the guys who have to take them - especially the English players who end up missing, knowing how badly they are usually treated afterwards by the British tabloid press.

On this occassion I have to admit that the better team overall won, but they didn`t win during the game, the game ended in a draw, twice, however which way you want to define the "game". I guess I should say that England drew the game but lost the match. I admit, like the away-goal rule, it`s the same for both teams and they know this at the start of any match, but something doesn`t seem quite right. No doubt the British Press will once again demonise those who missed, and to be honest I am glad I am in Japan and able to escape the brunt of what will no doubt be unpleasant.

Anyway, my rant about that is over, for another two years anyway, and I feel a bit better. I guess I should write a bit about my new life in Tokyo. Well, to start with, it has become very humid recently. It`s a little bit uncomfortable especially if you are standing in a packed train and the air conditioning is not working so well. So far, I am enjoying Tokyo - it`s an amazing place - although sometimes it feels like you are trapped in a web of activity, with no way to escpape. I guess it can lead to loneliness and isolation unless you make a big effort to go out and try to meet people. I have made some good friends since moving here and so far I have enjoyed living life in the world`s most expensive city.

So I was writing last time about about Japanese TV, when I suddenly managed to lose all that I had written. Since last time, I found an article that descibes Japanese TV pretty well, so please click on the link below and read it if you are interested:

http://www.j-views.com/content/pop-culture/JapaneseTV.html

The photo I displayed in the last entry was actually from a type of audience participation game show I was watching a couple of months ago. Basically, the challenge was how long the woman could remain in the sealed plastic bag before she ran out of air. The audienced could phone in and choose from a range of options and if the girl managed to beat the majority she won a prize. Actually I am not sure what happened as I was watching something else at the time.

I have to admit, it was a little bit strange to see this kind of thing, but it was so funny how the cameras were placed inside the plastic bag to get close up shots of the girl`s face and body - she was wearing a white bikini by the way! Also, I am not too sure why there were a group of people standing on the stage - maybe they were there to try and stop her running away in terror. This has to be the wierdest thing I have ever seen on TV anywhere in the world, although in Japan there is some crazy stuff on TV on a regular basis.

Last weekend, my friend Mark came from Gotemba and we hung out for most of Saturday. We went to a micro-brewery beer festival in Hamamatsucho and sampled many good beers for an entry fee of 2,000 yen. After that we went with the group to Roppongi to a Brazlilian restaurant for dinner and then Mark and I decided to stay out in Roppongi all and get the first train home. Roppongi is a haven for bars and restuarants, and foreigners! You almost feel like you are not in Japan when in Roppongi. It`s a place where you can do just about anything drink, dance, eat and obviously .... plus the fact that it`s always so busy. It`s so easy to spend 10,000 yen without really realising it. I more I go to Roppongi the more I am turned off by it.

However, when we were on out way home, we were waiting for a train when I decided to snap Mark`s picture unknowingly - as I turned to take the picture, well, he was yawing, but I have never seen anything like his kind of yawn - look at the picture below - he almost looked like he was screaming! I was thinking to enter it into a caption competition - if you have any ideas what might be happening to him please let me know. And he`s probably going to kill me for putting the picture on the web, but it`s just too good not to display!



Until next time, take care, and enjoy your day! I have to face the prospect of explaining another English failure to some of my students, so I am really looking forward to the weekend.

Kevin