Nic and I went 2 watch the soccer game Gamba Osaka (#1 team) vs Kashiwa Reysol (#2 team) in Osaka! Since Japan League (J-league) was started, Gamba Osaka has been my team because my hometown Shiga is very close 2 Osaka!! When J-league was started, there was only a team (Gamba Osaka) in Kansai area!! That's why Gamba became my team!! Every year, I've watched at least one game of Gamba!! This picture is all players, staff, and coaches!!
This is the character of Gamba!!
Gamba's cheerleaders were so beautiful!! They were teaching kids how to become the cheerleaders!!
I booked the field seats for us!! So, the players were so close to us, and we could watch the game on the field!!
They were warming up before the game!!
There were so many Gamba's fans in the stadium!!
Finally, the game started!! In the first half, Gamba had several opportunities to score, but they couldn't score... So, the score was 0-0...
In the second half, Gamba had an opportunity to score (free kick)!! Nic and I prayed Endo (#7) scored!!
The opponent's goalkeeper d performed a super save... So, Endo couldn't score... However, Hirai (#14) & Otsuka (#16) scored in 81 & 82 min!! That's why Gamba won 2-0!!!
After the game, Gamba's players came to the fan's seat to show their appreciation for fans to cheer them up!!
I had BBQ with my friends from high school today! I haven't seen them since last summer... Shingo, masa, akio, yuichi, Shuhei, ichi, nic, and I went to Eigen temple to do BBQ.
when we were doing it, one of us found a dam, and two more friends decided to dive from the top of the dam... if one of us dived into, all members had to do the same thing no matter what I really didn't want to do... I had no choice... I was really scary of height (acrophobia)...
there was so much peer pressure in my group... so, I divided from 8m dam...
my boys are so crazy, and sometimes, I can't understand why I'm their friends because they enforce to do something to me... but, I realized they pushed me to challenge new things and experienced me the new things!! that's why they are still my boys!!
hello guys! how have you been!? I'm in Japan now, and it's super hot here... I almost melted myself...
Today, core members from Bagg and I had the 1st business meeting!!
It was the great meeting, so time went by so fast!! We only talked one topic because we didn't have enough time today... But, what we learned today was the importance of having the meeting regularly because we had different concepts for Bagg. It's vital to have the regular meetings to function as a team!!
"Festival du Voyageur is Founded in 1969 by a group of Saint-Boniface entrepreneurs, this once three-day event, held in Winnipeg’s French Quarter, has evolved into a 10-day province-wide celebration of sights, sounds, snow and spirit. Dubbed “The World’s Largest Kitchen Party”, Festival du Voyageur celebrates the joie de vivre of the fur traders, who established the Red River Colony and the ever-growing French-Canadian community in Western Canada. The spirit and culture of the Voyageur is present in the vibrant community that comes together to celebrate, every February, their history through this event."
I went to the Festival du Voyageur with Jaya, Glen, and Yayoi. It was the Reading Week, so I got whole week off!! We went there on 25th of Feb (Friday). We met up in front of the security in University of Winnipeg. We took a taxi from there to the Festival du Voyageur. We arrived there @ 8pm. It was the Friday night, so there were so many people in the festival. When we just passed the main entrance, we saw huge sculptures made of snow!!
Those sculptures were huge and amazing!! I understood concepts of some of them but didn't understand some... No only Canadians made them, but also other countries participated such as USA and France. Between the sculptures, we found the tent.
It was so cold on Friday, so we decided to go inside of the tent. When we entered it, we saw....
him!! I had no ideas who he was and what he was doing in the tent... We warmed up a little, and we moved to other places. After we left the tent, we were hungry, so we decided to grab something to eat. We found a restaurant & bar. In the main entrance of the restaurant, I found
the map or the festival!! There was a line-up to enter the restaurant, but we didn't wait for long time, maybe less than 10min.
When I entered the restaurant, there were so many people!! That's why we had to wait to get in there... Before finding our seats, we decided to buy foods and drinks!
Jaya and Glen treated us our drink and food! Thanks, guys!!
French beer I've never seen before
Maple taffy is a confection made by boiling maple sap past the point where it would form maple syrup but not so long that it becomes maple butter or maple sugar. It is part of traditional culture in Quebec and northern New England. Taste was very good!! When we were eating and drinking, a band played some songs.
Their songs were so cool!! I wanted to buy their CDs if I could... But, it was worth to buy!
After we left there, we found a small maze!
And beside the maze, there was komatik a sled for Aboriginal people!! I really wanted to try but my broken leg hasn't healed completely yet... So, I couldn't try...
But Jaya & Yayoi tried! They were so excited, and it was very exciting!! I really wanted to try... After komatik, we decided to go inside because it was freezing outside...
We found a Bison jerky so tried to eat... It was so tasty!! If you have an opportunity to eat it, I recommend try it!! After it, we found...
funny sunglasses and glasses!!
Jaya just punched my face!! So, she broke my NEW glasses!! LOL
After it, we called a taxi and went home.
We had a great time with Jaya and Glen and could learn a new history and culture of Winnipeg! Thanks for taking us to the festival, Jaya & Glen!!
It was a holiday on Feb 21st (Monday) called Louis Riel Day. Two of my great friends, Glen & Jaya, asked us to do something! We decided to go to the billiards. Usually, many stores are closed on holidays in Canada, and we totally forgot it was the holiday yesterday... We went to the billiards place, and the place was dark and looked like no one was there... We tried to check the place out, and miraculously, it was open!!
Jaya shot and sank the ball!
Glen shot with the beautiful form!
The ball was the last ball, and Jaya wanted to sink and win the game! But, the last ball was at a difficult position to sink, so Jaya and Glen were discussed how to shoot and sink the ball.
We played 9 balls for an hour. They told me they were not good!! But, they lied to us... They were so much better than I thought... In other words, they beat us!! After the pool, we went to Jaya's place to play darts. It was the first time to play, so they taught us how to play! The darts were so much fun!! Actually, more fun than I thought!! Definitely, I want to play more!!
After the darts, we went to Sorrento's for dinner. Sorrento's was the Italian restaurant in downtown and close to my place. We ordered a pizza and a salad, and they were very delicious!! We talked a lot and had a great time with them!!
What a lovely couple they are!! Thanks for asking us to go out, Glen & Jaya!!
On Feb 19th, we had Kayoko's birthday party in the Chinese restaurant called East Ocean, downtown. Ellie, Kayoko's best friend, was the host of the party, and I got an invitation from her via Facebook. The party started at 7 pm, so I arrived there on time. No one was there, but everyone arrived there within 20 min. We were 8 people, and I've never met half of us. But they were so friendly and easy to talk to them!
After everyone arrived, we ordered several Chinese foods, and those foods were so delicious!! I believe East Ocean is the best Chinese restaurant in donwntown, Winnipeg!!
After dinner, one of us bought the birthday cake for her. This picture was taken before we ate the cake. What a nice picture it is!! Do you know who took this picture!? ME!!!
After the group photo, we took this picture! We were all Japanese! I don't usually do the peace sign, but the peace sign is a symbol of Japanese people, isn't it!? As I told you, we were all Japanese in this picture. That's why I did!!
We divided the cake into 8 pieces. Fortunately, we were 8 people, so we didn't have to fight for extra pieces! lol The cake was very tasty!!
Thanks for inviting to Kayoko's birthday party, Ellie!
Happy birthday Kayoko!!