indian leg wrestling

When Indian Leg Wrestling becomes Japan’s second national sport [right now, sumo is it’s first and only national sport] you’ll have me to thank.

That’s right, I was the one who introduced ILW to Japan. . .on January 1, 2005 at 1:00 AM.

I was staying in the city of Sasebo [north of Nagasaki], watching K1 fights with my friend and his family when I suddenly thought, “Why watch these oafs fight when we can be staging our own fights!”

Being a timid and rather non-aggressive person, it was clear to me that K1 was not a good fit. And that’s when the lights dimmed, the music started, and I found myself transported back to the time that my dad first tried to teach me the art of Indian Leg Wrestling. He beat me squarely, but I have never forgot the lessons I learned that day.

I lost no time in training the Haraoka family how to fight, and within 10 minutes Yoshi was soundly beating his sister and mother thanks to deft leg maneuvers.

[Yoshi vs. Sista Shiho]

valentine's day

Ah yes, another loathsome holiday. I was finally recovering from all the lovey-doveyness that is Christmas in Japan, when I found myself being confronted with all sorts of information and sales pitches about chocolate that I, as a woman in Japan, am socially obligated to buy for the special men in my life [for friends and/or significant-other] with the hopes that the favor will be returned exactly 1 month from now on March 14th, “White Day.” On that day, only the men who received Valentine’s Day chocolate are obligated to give chocolate, and only to those women that gave them chocolate on Valentine’s Day.

Why so bitter?

I’ve never had much ‘success’ with Valentine’s Day. As an elementary student, I was always sure that my valentine box had fewer valentines in it than those of my classmates. And I was sure that what valentines were in the box were devoid of any meaning because the sender’s mother had probably forced them to make one out to “the little Phillips girl.”

As I matured and endured junior high and high school, I failed to ever receive any special notice on Valentine’s Day. Although I, on occasion, did let certain young men know that I thought they were dreamy.

Only once did I ever have a boyfriend during Valentine’s Day [sophomore year at university], and on that particular Valentine’s Day I had the distinct displeasure of receiving flowers NOT from my boyfriend, but from someone else [who remains unknown to this day]. My boyfriend, shamed by that fact that he had been outdone—bested by someone who obviously did not think that giving flowers to girls on Valentine’s Day was a sign of weakness—was irritable all day and demanded an explanation of how I could have made myself attractive to someone else.

Do you know what would be nice? If our culture was one that was loving and generous enough that we wouldn’t need these stupid holidays and advertising campaigns in order for us to be motivated enough to express our appreciation for each other. I wish we were able to tell people how we feel without needing a special day or event to give us reason for doing so. Isn’t the presence of the emotion reason enough?

. . .Do you know what else would be nice? If everyone else on earth was just like me…