November & December

October was a terribly busy month for me, so I was looking forward to a less hectic November. Unfortunately, many things cropped up this month, and December looks like being even more hectic, so I'm feeling snowed under. But there are some things to look forward to. We got a new 42" TV last week, and I just ordered an Apple TV to go with it. That will allow us to rent movies without going to the rental store, and to watch movies already stored on our Mac or iPad.

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J League

I heard yesterday that the J1 championship was decided this weekend. It seems that Nagoya Grampus have secured the championship with a few games to go, because they now have 10 points more than 2nd-placed Kashima Antlers (who won the championship the last 3 years). I think this is their first time to win the J League. Winning the championship is good for teams moving forward, too, because they win 200 million yen, as opposed to the 100 million yen for the 2nd-placed team and the 80 million yen for the 3rd-placed team.

Table tennis tournament

Yesterday, the first table tennis & badminton competition of Kumamoto Prefecture's general sports clubs was held at the prefectural gym. I was asked to put together a men's team of 4 players for Tobu Sports Club, so we went over to the gym very early. Unlike past tournaments, it was easy to get some practice before the tournament began, so I felt pretty good. The competition began with a league competition, and we were successful in getting through to the quarter-finals, but then we met Sakuragi Sports Club, who were very strong, and went out. But we all felt very satisfied with our performance, because we hadn't done any special practice, and we had had many satisfying games.

The Next Three Days

Our lives are defined by moments...especially the ones we never see coming..."You're under arrest for murder."

There's nothing more dangerous than a man with everything to lose.

The Next Three Days looks like a very exciting movie, about a man whose wife is arrested for murder and who decides to break her out of prison. It stars Russell Crowe, whom you probably know for movies like Robin Hood, Master and Commander, and so on. His wife is played by Elizabeth Banks. To tell you the truth, I had never heard of her, but according to the Internet Movie Database, she has appeared in many movies such as the Spiderman movies and Seabiscuit.

I looked for this movie on AllCinema.net but it doesn't have a Japanese title yet, probably because it hasn't yet been decided when it will be released in Japan.

Ladies' Volleyball

The third-place playoff for the world ladies' volleyball championships was played last night. Japan beat the US in five sets. Japan was losing by two sets to one, but took the 4th and 5th sets easily, to win a bronze medal. Apparently, that was the first time in more than 30 years for the Japanese team to win a medal.
I'm not sure whether the final has already been played. I guess that must be/have been between Russia and Brazil.
In the J-League, Kashima Antlers got 3 points to keep their title hopes alive, but Nagoya also got three points, so Kashima weren't able to close the gap. I think Nagoya will probably clinch the title in the next or next but one match, because it doesn't look like they are going to fold under pressure.
Moving to another topic, you may know that the PUK campus festival was held yesterday and Saturday. I went there both days, and I had a good time, but I ate too much! I especially enjoyed the dance yesterday afternoon.

Recent sporting events (continued)

As I mentioned in my last post, there have been many sporting events recently. Continuing on the volleyball theme, Japan played much better when Yuko Sano was playing, and in the end they beat Turkey easily. Apparently, what they are playing now is the 2nd round, and there are 2 matches left. Japan has been defeated only once, but they still have to play Korea and Russia. It seems that there is a pretty good chance of going through to the semi-finals if they lose only one of their remaining matches. Russia is considered a very strong team, so probably they need to beat Korea tomorrow night.

Another major event is the Japan Series baseball. The penultimate match, on Saturday, was the longest in Japan Series history, I heard. Last night's decider was won by the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Recent sporting events

In October, there were some interesting soccer matches involving the Japan national team. When they had finished, I was a little sad, because I thought that there wouldn't be anything interesting in sports until the Asian Cup began next January. However, there have been lots of interesting events since then.

First of all, there's the world ladies' volleyball competition happening right now. I don't know volleyball so well, so I'm not too familiar with the setup, but it appears that the world's teams are divided into 4 groups, and each team has to play every other team in its group. That means there are a lot of matches, and the Japan team seems to be playing nearly every day. I don't have time to watch all the matches, but I've seen a few. I saw Japan lose to China the day before yesterday, and then beat Turkey yesterday. My impression of the Japan team was that their attack is a bit predictable, but Ebata's attacking shots are so good that they were able to beat Turkey. Also, I felt that Japan's defence was rather weak, until they brought on their libero (I don't remember her name).*

*I'm told her name is Sano.