Today, in Japanese class, my teacher told me that her niece had a mutual friend with Shinji Kagawa.
I stared at her in shock. "You're telling me that your niece is friends with someone who is friends with Shinji Kagawa?"
She nodded.
"So, that means I'm friends with someone who is related to someone who is friends with someone who is friends with Shinji Kagawa."
She nodded again.
I couldn't stop smiling as I did the math. "I'm four degrees away from the famous soccer player, Shinji Kagawa."
She smiled.
"That means I'm five degrees away from Makoto Hasebe."
She nodded.
"This is the best news I've heard all day," I declared, not quite believing my good luck. It almost made up for our disappointing loss to Jordan earlier. My friend's niece is a model and I've seen her picture in magazines so I kind of already felt special. But this was better than I could have hoped for.
(Man hair is hard to stick figure draw. My apologies to Messieurs Kagawa and Hasebe)
I went back to work and declared my wonderful news to my colleague. He smiled at me. "You know, I bet from any Wikipedia article, I can get to Adolph Hitler in as many degrees." H-labs to film to indoctrination to Adolph Hitler. He smiled at me, "Everything is interconnected."
If I am to understand this article correctly, Atsuto Uchida approached sports reporters and asked them what exactly happened that caused Japan to lose a game in the World Baseball Classic. As the headline reports, he frankly and openly admitted, "I do not understand baseball."
I had to laugh at the situation as I imagined it in my head: Half a dozen reporters stand around the sidelines of the soccer field in Doha, chatting casually while waiting for the appearance of the national soccer team for their daily practice. The cameramen stand around with their cameras ready but no one is actively working for an interview with any of the players. Uchida-san emerges from the locker room and sees them. He unabashedly approaches them and they all jump to attention. "I have a few questions for you." That gets all of their attention - what does a soccer player want to ask of them? And then he asks about the baseball game. "Why did the runner try to steal a base? Why didn't that one guy run? Why did the other guy go back? What happened?" They all look at him with a certain amount of surprise, without a word between them and he just looks back at them, waiting for their response. Then someone jumps forward and offers an explanation and gets the reward of writing an article about it.
This isn't the first time Uchida has done something like this. One of my favorite quotes of his was when people were making a big deal about playing a team from the Premier League during a Champions League series and he shrugged and said, "It's not like they have Pikachu on their team." (Never fails to elicit a laugh from me.) Plus, there are gifs online of him at a fan event for his team and him leaning over to their dressed up mascot and stroked its fake probably never been washed ratty hair. You could just see him thinking, "What is this thing?" (Which is exactly my thinking too)
On one hand, all of this just makes me laugh. Who does this?
However, on the other hand, I'm genuinely impressed.
If I were famous - which I'm definitely not - but if I were, I think I would be acutely aware of how often I was being watched and I most definitely think it would affect my actions. I would either act crazier than I usually do or act more conservatively than I usually do. In either case, though, it's acting. Of course, this is all conjecture, since I'm not famous and I don't think I ever will be to test out my theory. However, I do know that I care a lot about the opinion of others and I also have past experiences to go by. Such as the time someone randomly stopped me in my college's cafeteria and asked me if I liked Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip. I looked at this table of strangers that I had never met and said what I thought they wanted me to say: Mayonnaise. Before then, I had never had an opinion either way. I only remember this experience because I was in the middle of a class project to be completely honest for a week. There I was, giving in to what I thought my peers who I would never see again wanted me to say and now I needed to go to my teacher and report that I had done the project. I wasn't sure if Mayo was my favorite but I resolved then and there that it was so I could be sure to be honest. In fact, to this day, if I have to choose between the two, I still choose Mayo as though still trying, 13 years after the fact, not to disappoint.
Yep, I'm a weird duck. I'm a weird, I want people to like me, duck.
Sometimes, I really wish I was more like Uchida. No acting, no pretense. Just Erin Reed as Herself.
After Toyota's One and Only campaign ended in utter confusion, Toyota went back to the drawing board and wrote up a second season (AKA Epilogue).
At one point, Joon/Kwon - I can't keep them straight anymore - was driving a car and talking about one of it's internet search capabilities.
Mystery Man: Wow! That Camry SE really IS amazing.
Joon/Kwon: No, Amazing starts NOW.
Me: Hahahahahahahaha. (I can't stop laughing...ever)
In other news, my boys Samurai Blue are one win closer to the World Cup. I'm so proud of Kiyotake-san and Okazaki-san for their goals and of Nagatomo-san for his two amazing crosses that helped those goals happen.
I think I should buy myself a pack of gold stars and start rewarding myself for little victories in life.
He's young. So young that he had to get special permission to be given a work permit to play in the UK.
He's fast. So fast that you just gape at the videos of him sprinting past defenders on the soccer field.
He's pretty. So pretty that when he and Shinji Kagawa attended a soccer game together, one of the commentators noted, "Ah, there's Shinji Kagawa and his wife."
(I have to admit, I can see why people got confused)
Turns out, he's also a bit of a surprise.
Apparently, a few weeks ago, for initiation into a new team that he was loaned out to, he sang We Will Rock You so well that everyone demanded that he sing it twice and now play it before every single home game despite the fact that Ryo did not even know the correct lyrics.
I hope he continues to surprise as Japan NT takes on France tomorrow and Brazil on Tuesday.
I have learned a new lesson here - if you think something is worth it, do it now. Don't wait. Too often, I have really wanted to buy something or take a picture of something or say something and I think, "I'll do it later." But by the time I get back to it, the situation has changed and the opportunity has passed.
So, these pictures are an example of some things I have learned to just enjoy in the moment.
(1) Macarons. I was passing through Parco, the department store the other day and as I was walking out, I noticed a macaron counter. Well, I love macarons so I stopped. They gave me a free sample and then I bought some.
(2) Totoro. This guy stands outside a shop that looks like a flower/gardening shop. I took this picture and then marched right in despite its outward appearance and it turns out, it's a store that sells a lot of things all Ghibli related.
(3) Christmas. You think American stores start the Christmas stuff too early? I was walking into Daiei on Saturday and heard some Christmas music playing. Shocked, I stopped to listen for a second, laughing. "Don't they know this music is out of season?" I wondered. Then I went around the corner and saw this - an entire display of the types of cakes you can ORDER NOW! Despite the fact that I always feel self-conscious taking pictures of stuff like this, I just did it.
(4) Soccer. Inside Kamo, the soccer shop which I like to frequent so I can pretend that I can afford the stuff in it and watch Samurai Blue soccer on the TV screen had this display. It includes signed spikes from Shinji Kagawa, Atsuto Uchida and Eiji Kawashima which are some of my favorite soccer players (besides mein lieblingsspieler, that is). Although it looked obvious, I decided to play the American fangirl card anyway and snapped a photo.
Despite this new resolve though, I still mess up a lot too. I wanted to take pictures of people in my ward today and didn't get the courage to ask for them.
(Especially sad since my non-boyfriend of my Sunday School class just got an absolutely spiffy haircut that made him so attractive that I would look at him when he made a comment and then forget to turn away when he finished speaking.)
Well, kid, you did it. You got yourself a spot in the English Premier League. I know that you know a tough road still lies in front of you. But I know you have the ability and discipline to make a name for yourself at Manchester. Onward and upward.
WHAT?! You're moving to ...FCB? Really? I know you're sad about not making it past the group stage at the Euro-cup but to run off and sign with Bayern is a little drastic, don't you think? Sure, they're a good team who will actually be playing in the Champions League. Sure they actually have a real fighting chance for Das Deutschermeister Titel...but...but.. it's Bayern! You know, the team that everyone I know loves without any real grounds for doing so. Why then are you giving me a reason to take an interest in their goings on? I might end up liking them against my wishes. Signing you was a significant move in that direction.
When I first saw the rumors on Sponichi that you were in talks about moving back to Urawa, I was furious. Then I settled down and reasoned that there are other priorities that can come before your career - you know, like family. Turns out, there was nothing to the rumors. However, now that I've convinced myself that you being back in Japan was a good thing, I'm not sure what to think. Just as long as you're happy. That's all I ask.
Love, Me
Dear Charlottesville,
These Tuesday morning hikes have reminded me that out of all the ups and downs of my graduate school experience, you have always been an up. Thanks for being you. I'm going to miss you.
Love,
Me
Dear Japan,
I'm coming! At this point, it still feels like one big joke - as though any second I'm going to wake up and realize it was all just an elaborate dream. But each day brings you closer and I'm realizing I have no idea what to expect. Here's hoping for good things.
Love,
Me
Dear Self,
One last week in a young single adult ward. From here on out, it's normal wards. With married people. And kids. And babies. And lots and lots of adjustment. You never thought you'd make it to this point unmarried, did you? Then again, you never thought you'd get a PhD. Or go to Japan. Or buy a really frivolous pair of high heels that make you feel like Valancy. I think life just works like that - it doesn't run according to our expectations. But don't give up - the Gospel is true and God is aware of you and your circumstances.
"For our generation, a Japanese player going overseas and joining a big club was something you'd only see in a comic book. Shinji's giving kids something to dream about. It's incredibly big, what he's doing." ~ Makoto Hasebe
Essentially, "This is something you only read about in stories. But it's really happening!"
Boy who plays soccer from Japan goes to play for one of the best teams in the world. (Source)
Boy born with only one fully formed arm and hand goes on to play professional baseball. (Source)
Girl who dreams for years of going to Japan to do research gets accepted for an internship in Sendai.
I think this is one reason why I have fallen in love with non-fiction in the past few years. Real life can be magical, the stuff of fiction.
Last week, I took care of my friend's cat while she was on her honeymoon.
Meet Levi
Isn't he absolutely adorable?
We passed our evenings in comfortable companionship. He always remained nearby and sometimes had these funny moments when he just had to be petted and coddled that moment.
This resulted in him walking across my friend's laptop while I was looking through pictures of the Japan National Team training camp. I tried to save the computer from him but too late! A little marker came up, alerting me to the fact that he had somehow pressed the button combination necessary to download a picture.
Because it was my friend's computer and a Mac, I wasn't sure how/where to look to find the picture to delete it. I left it. My friend returned yesterday and immediately sent me the picture Levi downloaded after I told her about it.
We had a good chuckle over it.
She told me that loved Levi has recently gotten attached to a little soccer ball I brought her back from Germany. It hangs from her bedroom window and he spends a lot of time batting at it and trying to pull it off the window.
I started laughing. Of course the soccer ball is none other than one from Schalke 04, the very team that Uchida plays for.
That is, Bundesliga Boys and not those kids who break dance. (Although break dancing is pretty amazing too)
Dear Kagawa-san,
Deutscher Meister 2011 and 2012? The new record holder for most goals for a Japanese player in the Bundesliga? When you broke your foot last year, I was hoping you would make a big comeback. But I never expected this. Not only that, but you and your team look like you're all having so much, I'm half tempted to risk to incite Gelsenkirchen's wrath and start liking BVB <gasp> in addition to Schalke 04. Almost.
Love,
Me
Dear Hosogai-san,
Your team is doing so well right now, I couldn't be prouder, even if it did mean putting mein wölfe to shame in their own stadium. But wow, kid, your spikes aren't just brilliant, they sparkle! Blinding your opponents - is this your new tactic?
Love,
Me
Dear Koo-ssi,
I always knew you had it in you! When I read last week that you were one of the players in the Bundesliga who is coming into their own and making a huge difference, I started cheering. It seems you really have found your place in Augsburg and contributing to ensure they stay top flight. I'm looking forward to more great things.
Love,
Me
Dear Uchida-san,
Turns out, you didn't lose your job and you've contributed to your team's success this season. After all is said and done, I guess not much changes. Your fangirls are still fangirling. Your friends all still tease you and post pictures of you on their blogs to increase their own readership. Your team still wonders if you were a male model before you came to Germany. You still crack me up with your sound bytes. And your hair remains, as ever, both perfectly messy and perfectly coiffed. Looking forward to many more seasons with you.
Love,
Me
Dear Okazaki-san,
Has anyone told you how very young you look with your hair cut? I looked at you and thought, "Wow, he looks like he's about 25." Funny, since you really are (or 26 now). Glad to have you back from injury and pleasantly surprised that Stuttgart is in a solid 4th place. Where did that come from?
Love,
Me
Dear Usami-san,
You started midfielder for Bayern! I've been waiting for this all season. I hope to see much more of you in the future.
Love,
Me
Dear Sakai-san,
I've been enjoying watching you make a place in your team at Stuttgart. Can't wait to see what else is in your future and here's hoping we see you on the National Team soon.
Love,
Me
Dear Vfl Wolfsburg,
A year ago, this time, we were both concerned about relegation. Now, we're both solidly somewhere in the middle but still setting our sights for more. Euro League? As we've both learned, in the struggle and even in the failure, we learn something valuable about ourselves. Hope rises up above it all. I'm cheering for you.
More ads. This time, it's the Japanese soccer players edition.
The last time I showed Japanese player ads, it was Hasebe and Uchida advertising Puma and Adidas, respectively. It's pretty hard, in my opinion, to get those kinds of ads wrong. Well-known soccer players + well-known soccer sponsors is a hard combination to botch. As long as you show the soccer player being, well, a soccer player, and wearing the sponsor's soccer gear, you can send a clear message of "If you wear X Brand, then you can play like Soccer Star Y too."
But what happens when those soccer players start endorsing products that have no obvious connection to soccer?
Here are a few such examples with my interpretation below.
Yuto Nagatomo:
"Soccer players and actors drink beer and get drunk together."
Shinji Kagawa:
"Shave your face -- your legs and arms will be so smooth that gold lines will skim off you."
Keisuke Honda:
1st 15 second spot: "I've got it all: the private jet, the line of yes men, the briefcase full of money...oh wait, I don't have the...oh wait, yes I do, the mints, the girl and the fancy car."
2nd 15 second spot: "I've got it all: the private villa, my own personal staff, the girl and the mints. What more could a guy want? Oh yeah, for the mints to double as an MP3 player. Now I've really got it made."
Does it work? Does it sell?
I think most of these ads just raise questions for me ---
"Does Shinji really even need to shave?"
"Why would you want your mints to double as an MP3 player?"
"Hasebe doesn't drink during the soccer season because it affects his playing. Does that make him the rule or the exception?"
They also, interestingly enough, somehow manage to also front as ads for their given soccer gear sponsors. While those gold lines were skimming off of Kagawa, all I kept noticing were his beautiful orange and yellow Adidas cleats. (The logo was covered up but everyone who knows the slightest thing about Kagawa knows his cleats are from Adidas) Same with Nagatomo, who is wearing a Nike shirt and is playing with a soccer ball with a well-placed Nike symbol.
Honda's commercial avoids the soccer subject altogether. If you didn't know he was a famous soccer player, you'd really have no idea. The result is an ad that raises questions but is definitely clever enough to get a smile.
It seems then, that, at least for me, when soccer players decide to endorse other products, it might be best to leave the cleats at home.
I have a lot of serious things on my mind so while I mull over them, let's peruse the superficial.
(1) I want to write a short story that includes my awkward experiences as a human being. However, I have no idea where to begin. Somehow, I feel that I would have to be a literary genius such that the full glory of my awkward life is exhibited while remaining entertaining. Any ideas?
(2) A few weeks ago, the JNT played a friendly against Norway. Despite the fact that most of the first team was not in attendance, I was surprised to find that I recognized and still knew most of the team. Realizing that I knew so much about a team that I have no real connections to, I decided that I should show a little more hometown loyalty and so I dutifully looked up the USMNT to find out if I could attend a game and show my support. Instead, I came to the conclusion that it has been too long since USA has played Japan. Their last showdown was six years in San Francisco and, incidentally, the debut of Makoto Hasebe. I think it's time for a rematch. In DC please - I have never watched my Samurais play live and I would love the opportunity to wear blue and scream their names and wring my hands in desperation as I hope for a win.
(3) Kato works again! Yesterday, when I went to pick up his new battery, I accidentally said "Wolfsburg" the German way before correcting myself and repeating it like an American would. The auto store clerk took it in stride but my friends and I laughed at my mistake the rest of the night. It's good to have my sidekick with me again, even if I live in fear that any minute he's going to break again.
(4) This weekend, I spent a considerable amount of time with my friend and her fiance. On Friday, we picked up a friend from the airport and then returned home to go running and then watch a movie about Steve Prefontaine. On Sunday, we put together 80 invitations and ate dinner. It was during the dinner - nothing more than leftovers from other meals - that I realized how much my friend's life is changing. In a few months, I will eat a meal at that same table and watch those two laugh and chat and enjoy each other but they will be married, not just dating. I couldn't be happier for them.
(5) Makoto Hasebe has been looking so happy and at peace in pictures on his blog and on the soccer websites. Any guesses as to why? I'm pretty curious.
Previously:
Recently:
I've never seem him like this at a
press conference before Source: Tumblr
Photo Credit: Koko NAGAHAMA
(6) I found this on the sidewalk last week:
My thoughts immediately went to the Korean boy band, Trax ,which boasts such hits as "Oh, My Goddess" and "Blind". It next went to the transit system in Utah. It wasn't until I googled Trax that I discovered that it was mostly likely a nod to the club that Dave Matthews Band used to frequent. It closed in 2001, making that sidewalk at least 10 years old.
(7) While out walking the other day, I walked past this fashion statement:
Is this for real? Do people really wear seafoam green pants with plaid shirts? Or is this just a UVa thing?
(1) I was talking with my sister on the phone the other day and she was telling me adorable stories about my niece. One night, my sister put the Baby down to sleep. As my sister walked out of the room, she heard my niece quietly practicing words to herself. "B..b...b..lue. B..lue... Blue."
(2) BIGBANG, a Korean pop band, put out this music video entitled Blue about a week ago. It seems someone besides my niece has been practicing how to say 'blue' as well. I really like this song and find it wonderfully appropriate that kpop is keeping up with the current trends of my niece.
(3) The Samurai Blues played this morning (5:30 EST) and lost to Uzbekistan. Sad day. I was hoping for a good successful game for my boys. Instead, most of the team will have to take their jet lagged little selves back to their various teams with only a second place finish in their group for this round of the World Cup qualifiers.
Source: Tumblr.
Photo credit: Koki NAGAHAMA
Source: Tumblr,
Photo credit: Koki NAGAHAMA
In any case, it was nice to have them back home for a few days. I always forget how much I miss them in their roles as JNT representatives rather than Bundesliga spieler, etc until they're back in Japan. But by the time I've rejoiced in having them back in Japan, they've already played and left again. Such is the life of a fan in a time zone 14 hours behind.
(4) It's the last day in February. I was supposed to hear from the NSF if I was going to get the Japanese internship by the end of February. I was really hoping for that internship. Now I have to learn to deal without it. Singing my blues on repeat above.
(5) The day started out with some fabulous thunderstorms and heavy rain. I normally love rain. However, since Kato-san is currently out of commission, that meant I walked 30 minutes to work in the pouring down rain. On the other hand, this is the gorgeous view that greeted me last night when I left the lab to walk home.
You were always someone I noticed but not really someone I discussed, unless, that is, to tease your coiffure. (A lot of upkeep or absolutely none at all?)
Image from Tumblr
It's been over a year since you first came to Schalke with a quieter debut season than your colleague Kagawa over who made an impressive 8 goals in his first 16 games for BVB. Granted, it's harder for defensive backs to make such a splash (unless you're Nagatomo). But it hasn't ever felt like you've wanted the glory of Kagawa. You seemed content to play a quieter role that simply included playing your best on the field and spending your off days with your friends. That best, although often unnoticed, contributed to a best-ever showing in the European Champions League and a German cup title.
Ok, I'll be honest. It's not like you were completely unnoticed. You do have the number 2 selling calendar in all of Japan and your teammates all think that you were a Japanese male model before your soccer career thanks to your female fans. But soccer-wise...
Despite not knowing too much about you or your game, I have to say even I have noticed your growth during your time in the Bundesliga. When you first came, your coaches mentioned your need to bulk up a little. I laughed that off since you come from a line of competitors in track and field. However, over Christmas, I have realized that you are gaining in size and probably are much more effective in vying for the ball. But not just physical growth, you've shown enough new interest and dedication in the game and in your career that even the fangirls are starting to take note.
It was a pleasant, lazy few weeks off, as I noted your public appearances. It was fun to watch you take over as line judge during the Christmas charity match, to watch you play miniature foosball and then pat a miniature plastic "Yoshida" on the head after you gained a point, to watch you model the new JNT jerseys and play soccer with some local kids.
The New Year has come and it lay out before you as a clean sheet, a new start. Nothing would be better than to jump back into your team with a renewed determination to work even harder and complete the season...except that your team just let you go. It seems they're in the red from a previous spend-happy coach and have to cut back the team.
It seems your new start is as clean and new as it is a big unknown. Looking back on your break, how did you do it? How did you face all those things with a cheerfulness that stuns in retrospect? What is next up in the life of Uchida?
Good things, let's hope for good things.
Reality may not meet our expectations. Sometimes, it can surpass it.
It's no surprise that I like numbers. As an engineer I get my fair share of them and the one time I thought I was in the wrong field and spent an hour (an interminably long hour) trying out a different major, I spent the entire time making up math problems. Note: This is not to say that I am a math whiz.
It's also no surprise that I want to turn everything into a scientific study. For instance, a few years ago, one roommate and I had the brilliant plan of surveying everyone in our ward to determine if the perception that no one was dating was true or not. We came up with a list of about 100 questions that were intended to help us understand the perceptions and perspective of 'dating' among our peers.
The sad thing about all of this though is that I always get stuck on the statistics. How can I make sure my studies are sound? If I survey people, how do I know that the willing respondents are a good representative of the whole? There are always so many factors behind who responds and why. Can I trust the resulting data?
Now we will start in my story:
In January, during the Asian Cup, I carefully kept track of all the games that my Samurai Blues played and dutifully watched the matchcasts. However, matchcasts are nothing like watching actually games. You stare at your computer screen and wait for one line or two every few minutes that says things such as, "Shinji Okazaki attempts a goal but it hits the cross bar." or "Makoto Hasebe suffers a foul." You read it, and then keep waiting. I would examine as many of the statistics as they gave me to sort of determine how possession was playing out, how each player was performing but honestly, those don't give you the best picture. (Especially if you are an amateur at soccer spectating) Most of that waiting then was just nervous anticipation; I had no idea how things were going to go.
As a result, I would do other soccer-related things to occupy myself. One of those was to start taking down personal statistics of the players themselves. I would look up each player on the team and read their Wikipedia article and then search to see if any of them wrote blogs.
I started to notice that a lot of players were married. In fact, I was pretty curious because it seemed every soccer player around my age was married. For some reason, that struck me as odd. So my nerd brain started working and I started a spreadsheet detailing the marital status of the players and the number of kids they had. I ordered them according to birth year and alphabetically within the birth year. And despite the fact that this is perhaps one of the weirdest whims of my love for Japanese soccer, I keep it updated with the current active team.
All of these men are married except one. Can you guess which is not? Image from Fifa.com
So, I have this data about the "representative" team for Japanese soccer which I pretend is a statistically good representation of the soccer community in Japan overall. I started to think I really understood how Japanese players worked and decided that they were not quite like the average Japanese person. For instance, the average marrying age for a man in Japan is 29.6 years old. So, how did we have a Takashi Usami who was married (and playing for Bayern Munich) at the young age of 19? How did we have a team with an average age of 25 that was half married and half single? Especially since only 2 of these people were at the average age of marriage?
Usami and his wife landing in Germany
I thought I had it all figured out. Japanese men wait to get married because they want to be settled in a career before marriage which usually occurs only after college and other such training. However, soccer players are often getting employed almost right out of high school and thus establishing themselves in a career and getting financially stable earlier which gives them leave to marry at a younger age.
I was so excited to prove my theory with statistics and numbers. So I did a few calculations, make a few pie charts to support my theory. It was all going splendidly until I searched for the standard deviation for the marrying age of Japanese men. 5.3 years. Which means that those 24 year old married men on the team aren't oddities but are within the bounds of "average" and normal. Even a 19 year old Usami is within reason. Now a 13.7 year old married Japanese soccer player might turn some heads but frankly, any 13.7 year old married person would.
All week long, I've been slightly jealous of the Japan National Team. From Doha, Qatar to Tajikistan to Beijing, China to Pyongyang, Korea DPR - one fascinating adventure after another to places that most people barely even hear about.
However, I was most intensely curious about Pyongyang and conditions in North Korea. After reading a few books on North Korea last year, I have spent much time since wondering about conditions there. I wished that I could somehow be there with the team to see what they saw and to feel what they felt.
A few bits of news started trickling out about the North Korea/Japan encounter:
The Japan national team was detained at the airport for 4 hours due to problems with security. During that time, power went out at the airport three times.
The men at airport security warned the Japan national team to stop laughing.
The last team that beat North Korea in North Korea was assaulted with rocks and broken glass.
The last time Japan went into North Korea for a soccer game was 22 years ago, in June 1989. The world was very different than it was now - we were still in a Cold War. June 1989, as many of you may recall, was the time of the Tiananmen Square Incident in Beijing, a startling reminder that China would remain red. The Fall of the Berlin Wall, meanwhile, was still half a year away.
This time, however, North Korea is isolated, a hermit nation surrounded by flourishing nations on all sides. The USSR is long gone. China, though still red, is making its way up the ladder as a growing economic leader. The heavily feared and worshipped leaders, the famines, and the stark, grey buildings that commonly marked communist countries of yesteryear almost seem like a distant memory to most of the world. The pictures that appear out of North Korea though all too poignantly remind us that those aspects of communism haven't been eradicated yet. (In fact, many of the articles that expressed the recent burst of soccer support in North Korea also made a point to state that currently 6 million people are going hungry)
Add to that the fact that Japan is one of Korea's most bitter rivals. Ever since the military dominance (read: wartime atrocities) of the1940's, most of east Asia has struggled to overcome the wounds Japan inflicted. For a recluse country like North Korea, with limited interaction with Japan, grudges remain and even fester.
So, there goes my team, into a hostile country, with only 150 supporters and a few dozen reporters to help broadcast the game home to Japan. The supporters were asked not to bring any noisemakers or banners lest they upset the local fans and were surrounded by armed guards the entire game.
Despite the fact that Japan had already secured a berth in the next qualifying round and North Korea had lost that chance completely, this was long past simply being a soccer game.
North Korea had something to prove and they showed that in the 90 minutes when they dominated possession and managed the only goal of the game early in the second half. Of course, it wasn't a clean win; North Korea booked seven yellow cards in the process. But no matter how it ended, they came away the victors. The first loss for Japan since the World Cup. The first loss for Alberto Zaccheroni as head coach over the Samurais.
The whole situation kind of amazes me. It also amazes me that the world didn't sit up and take notice.
My friend recently challenged me to put subtitles on ads. Here goes:
Shinee: Cool, well-dressed kids like us eat chicken!
SNSD & 2PM: Extremely attractive people have loved and fought for the chance to be your lifeguard at the Caribbean Bay amusement park.
B2ST: We sing and dance. (I think they failed to make the connection between that and the BBQ - sorry "baby baby baby cute" doesn't count)
Atsuto Uchida: I am awesome and nonchalant; Go buy Adidas so you can be nonchalantly awesome too.
Makoto Hasebe: The Puma Powercat shoe unifies Japan. (Can I just say that this is the ultimate ad to get people like me? Asia, Hasebe, soccer AND tap dancing? What are you going to show next - the moon landing?)
Volkswagen France: Now or never - buy the car of your dreams.
Your search engine makes me smile: Whenever I type in the acronym for one of your programs (EAPSI) you always ask, "Did you mean 'pepsi'?" How is 'pepsi' somehow more relevant? How much were you paid to endorse this product? I'm very curious.
Love,
Me
Dear Mother Nature,
It was like a 30 second preview - "Winter! It's coming!" Next time, more snow, less slush. Otherwise, loved it!
Love,
Me
Dear Wolves,
You tried so hard. I could feel your strong effort all the way over here in America, despite the two minute lag on the ticker and the live German broadcast. Mandzukic was left utterly confused. Me too. We had better possession and more shots on goal. I still believe in you.
Love,
Me
Dear Yoshida-san,
You're a dear and a doll. Can we be friends? No, seriously. No? Seriously?
Love,
Me
Dear UK,
You get to set your clocks back an hour tonight. The problem with living a global community is that sometimes you think that such things apply to you too. I was excited for a few minutes before I got set straight. Only 1 week to go and counting...
It started when my sister asked if I thought a certain picture of Donghae looked like Zac Efron. Since one of my friends and I have a thing for Zac, I thought I'd ask her.
Lee Donghae of Super Junior
Zac Efron
Her response?
"Um...you know that guy is Asian."
"Um...well, yes, he is."
She insisted, "I think it's too hard for me to get past that to think that he looks like Zac Efron."
I was shocked, floored. She couldn't see the similarity in his expression and stance? I let it go because honestly, I only somewhat saw the resemblance between Zac and Donghae myself. I was intrigued though. I asked her about it later - she admitted that she didn't find Asians attractive at all.
Makoto Hasebe of Japan NT and Vfl Wolfsburg Fussball
Me: Not at all, at all? You don't think Makoto is attractive?
Friend: Nope.
Me: What?! Not at all? But you said he reminds you of one of our other friends who you do find attractive.
Friend: Sorry. He's just not attractive.
Me: How can that be?
Friend: At least I can appreciate that you think he's attractive.
I think I pushed the issue for a long time, absolutely baffled. We both find lots of different types of men attractive but for some reason she is just not attracted to Asians.
Confused, I started asking other friends about their honest opinions about Asian men. In fact, last night, I spent an entire hour searching for famous Asians that my roommate would classify as 'handsome'. She blew through my IGA club in a second: "I don't think men should be pretty." "Definitely NOT handsome." "Ewww."
Lee Minho
Yunho of DBSK
Kim Hyun Joong of SS501
The search felt like an uphill battle. I had no idea what her definition of 'handsome' was. And it seemed the more I looked, I had no better idea than when I began.
Hawick Lau
Song Seung Hun
Jo Hyun Jae
These all just got 'eh'
She insisted there was some handsome man from Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. I went and looked up the cast. There's a character in that movie whose role is "Exceedingly Handsome Man." Did she agree? Not at all. (To be honest, neither did I)
In desperation, I started just looking up random actors in Japan and China even if I didn't think they were handsome just trying to figure out who/what she considered attractive. Those didn't really work either.
I started to wonder if something was wrong with my friends. Or me. Did I just have that bad of taste in men?
Probably a little of both. :)
You see one of my friends has a weakness for tall, thin men. While there are definitely tall, thin Asians (Lee Minho and Maya Yoshida both stand at 6'2") the majority of men that I show this friend for a check on attractiveness average around 5'9".
The other friend likes men are manly and who have square jaw lines. Facial hair of course always helps but no long hair. Again, there are some very hairy Asians but if the three-foot calendar of Makoto's head on my wall is any indication, some Asians can't grow anything more than a mustache. (I finally found someone she found swoon-worthy: Akihiro Ienaga and Cha Seung Won)
This attractive man who plays soccer
for Mallorca, Spain stands at 5'9"
Actor Cha Seung Won stands at 6'2"
So, what's going on?
Last year, in a frustrating conversation with men. Let's be honest: it wasn't a conversation. I was a fly on a wall while I heard men that I'm acquainted with complain about women and their frustrations in dating women. At one point, one of the men made the argument, "If you lined up 100 women and had men choose who was most attractive, they would probably all agree that about five of them were attractive. But if you lined up 100 men and had women choose who was most attractive, it's anyone's guess." (I wasn't sure why this made him so frustrated about dating women. To me, it seems that women's varying tastes in men would mean that he would have more of a chance of a girl finding him attractive.)
In any case, my friends and I just might be proving his theory correct.
Disclaimers:
***Looking back over this group of individuals, I think this might say more about my taste in men than anything about my friend's interests
*****Contrary to some ideas, I actually don't think all Asians are attractive or that all men I find attractive are Asian.
**My definition of attractiveness actually comes down to personality.
