My Blog Has Moved!

Yes, this incarnation is over, and I've moved from Blogger across to Wordpress, which I've decided is a better platform.

There are many improvements! And I'll try to blog more regularly about all manner of things.

Continue to catch-up with all things Steve by visiting http://www.stevesayskanpai.wordpress.com

Sayonara

Disaster In Birmingham...

...a disaster has occurred in my home city, with the shock waves so massive they've reached 5,000 miles across mountains and oceans to here in Japan. Yes, Blues have lost the ding-dong-derby to Aston Villa, going down in an embarrasingly one sided encounter 5-1. I was all ready to declare "there were more fouls than a day out on a chicken farm" (might post that one on the Guardian blog to get yet another mention in their bi-weekly podcast Football Weekly). Yet in truth the game was too one-sided for anyone to get heated up. I'll be honest, I turned the volume down a fair way at 2-0, and stopped listening at 4. It's embarrassing. For all the hoo-haa when Alex McLeish took over from Steve Bruce, he's done little to show he has top class managing qualities. Yes yes he hasn't really had time to "mould" the squad (although having said that Bruce managed to effect change in the January transfer window of our first ever season in the Prem). But he has had time to institute man management and tactical changes. Ridgewell in particular seems looser at the back than a tourist after too much Japanese curry (another one for the Guardian blog).

To ease my heartache, my Dad is visiting in less than a week. Although during the time he's here, we have a potential decider against Fulham- at least we can share in the gloom together if that proves to be our downfall I suppose.

Grrr. I was going to discuss my newly acquired Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens, and my future (in that order of priority). But now I'm gonna go to bed, as I have 60 15-year olds to teach tomorrow, starting at the ungodly hour of 9am.

Oyasuminasai.

Let's Go, Hanshin Taigaasu!!

I'm finally going to a Hanshin Tigers game at the famous Koshien Stadium near Osaka- hurrah! Our opponents will be the Yakult Swallows, a team that- as well as having a very funny name- are doing surprisingly well this season, sitting just behind Hanshin in second place. It promises to be a good game!



















Versus

Kimi No Naka Ni, Boku No Naka Ni...Sakura

Its Sakura season, and I've been busy looking at the blossoms, walking round the blossoms and drinking under the blossoms. Here's a couple of kanpeki photos from this weekend...
















In two weeks two members of the Martin clan will be landing on these shores... Papa Martin aka my Dad, and Uncle Bailey, aka...my uncle, Robin. Until then I'm busy with the usual stuff that accompanies the start of a school year; first-year students shouting "harro!!" (if they're male) and giggling incomprehensibly (if they're female), planning the odd lesson, and meeting new teachers. The new kocho at my second school is female, and speaks English (both rarities for a kocho sensei), while the two new English teachers seem very nice.

In other news, the Blues drew 1-1 with Everton today, while Bolton and Fulham both won. The end of the season remains very giri giri as the Japanese say, so be sure to check in for regular updates! Hanshin continue to fight strongly and stay top of the Central League, but all of my attention has returned to where it should be- on the Blues fight for survival!