The Vanity Post

So this post will be all about me.  As if all the others aren't in some way centred around myself...

So I hate pictures of myself.  I despise them.  I loathe them.

The only way I can bear to look at myself in a photograph is if it's an action shot, kind of like these:

I'm actually bending down quite a lot in this

I can't remember when this one was taken, or why there was a man (or woman?) in a dog suit.  This kind of stuff is incredibly common in Japan, and I've missed many an opportunity to have this picture taken.  Everyone who comes here has to take this picture once.  Then never again.

This was a game against the blue team, playing for the Tokyo Gaijin (foreigners).  I can't remember the score, or what happened, but I'm going to assume it was a good game.  I have no contrary feelings to indicate that it wasn't, so let's stick with that.

Oblivious to the mall in the background, gumshield behind the ear

This is definitely a commercial for water.  Or bottles.

This game was a blowout.  We won by a hundred points or so.  Not a very interesting game, but a good fitness session because everyone was running backwards and forwards across the entire length of the pitch, every few minutes.  It felt that way at least.



Actually paying attention this time

 So I keep my gumshield behind my ear because it's the most convenient place to put it.  Other times I tuck it into my compression shorts, but I wasn't wearing any on account of it being a million degrees in Japan.

It look like I'm about to get smashed.

I recently caught some bizarre diseases, which meant I lost a bit of weight.  I've since put some of it back on, but as you can see from my legs, almost everything I lost was fat.  Not complaining mind.

This was a different set of games - the gaijin went to Yamanashi (a prefecture south of Tokyo) to play a couple of back to back games against a conglomerate team.  It was pretty hard work, as the weather was sweltering.

This picture shouldn't be enjoyable, there's way too much blur.  But for some reason I really like it.  I did score, in case you were wondering.

You always look cool in b/w

 It always looks good when you have an action shot with the other guy sprawled on the floor.

After a hard half of rugby, some kind of commercial shoot involving shampoo (or maybe aftershave) is in order.  Obviously I didn't take any of these pictures, but I think they came out really well.  Good job!

Tokyo 7's

So I went to the Tokyo 7's this year.  The weather was better than last year, but not by much.  I didn't get to see the finals for reasons that I can't remember, but one of the guys had a friend who was taking pictures inside the press area, so I accompanied him while England were playing.  I got to see one of the finals against Argentina, and the team collect their trophy.  It was super nice of him, and it was a pretty unique experience.

Earlier I'd accompanied another TGRFC member to the press conference and got to ask the captains of Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand some questions.  They are all incredibly boring people.  Their answers were so dull that I can't even remember what I asked them.  God they are boring people.  Seriously.

Anyway, onto the pictures!

This is the legend Dan Norton.  I'm pretty sure he scored in that game, as he scores in most.  I believe he's the overall leading try scorer, not just for this year, but ever.

This is one of the Argentinian props.  I met him outside the hotel, and we had a quick chat.  Him and one of his colleagues were impressed by how clean Tokyo is.  They were real characters, and genuinely nice people.  Good luck to them in the future!

I took a few pictures of the crowd in such a way to make it look crowded, but by the other pictures you can tell that very few people turned up.  When the world cup rolls around, Japan is going to have embarassing attendences.

Another of the England flyers breaks out from his own try line.  Luckily a fight broke out right where I was standing, so they didn't advance very far, and I could take a number of pictures.

The man of the year, eating ramen.  Not healthy!  How will he get the award this year if he's fat?

This is the stereotypical shot of the Japanese team being beaten.  I mean playing.  I mean playing a losing.  By a lot.  It would be better if there were more people in the opposite stands, but they'd all be foreigners anyway.  No one in Japan likes rugby.

Tagged just before sneaking into the corner.  This picture is cropped pretty heavily so the quality is quite poor, but I like the three key members being mostly in focus and centre of the frame.

Another black and white of Dan Norton.  He really is the man.

The presentation of the shield or plate, I forget which competition they won, I only know it wasn't the important one.  Gutted.

TGRFC Friendly Versus Someone

This game was pretty strange, you can find the 'official,' write up here.  I wasn't playing, so I had the opportunity to take a few photographs.  Some of them came out well, one in particular is my favourite action shot from the two years I've had my camera.  I'll let you guess which one you think it is, and I'll let you know at the end.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Spaghetti legs.

Gareth is probably an inch or two taller than me, but due to his spaghetti legs he looks to be about seven feet tall.  In a unique way he also has spaghetti arms, which helps him score more tries than a second-row has any right to.  Many teams have fallen victim to the optical illusion of his torso versus limb ratio, which means they stop him nearer the line than they should and he simply reaches over the whitewash and plonks the ball down.

The enforcer.

Jesse is a pretty key player when in the loose, because of tackles like this one.  Keita came in with the follow up as Jesse dislodged the ball handily (heh.).  He used to play ice hockey, so I think that kind of physical mentality has helped him become a solid defender.

They don't use Gilbert for their games here, they use a bran I'd never heard of.  I find the absolute best way to prepare for international tournaments and international test matches is to change every single aspect of the preparation, so that when you arrive on the scene everything is brand new, different and intimidating.  Oh no wait, the opposite of what I just said.

This posed looking shot was actually from the warmup, where I was able to get close to everyone while they were doing drills.  The hardest thing with this camera is getting shots of far objects due to the lens, so to be able to walk right up to the guys was a massive help.  Obviously that wasn't possible during the game, so a lot of shots went begging.

I don't know this guys real name, all I know is he's called viking.  His round face belies a bedrock player in the scrum, who is key for all the set pieces.

A little scrum half with ball in hand.  I quite like the motion of the ball in this picture, it gives it energy.

Another forward, this time one more mobile around the park and willing to support.  Gorka, the Spanish (Basque) forward who has scored only one try for the gaijin.

Keita, normally a scrum-half but who played at ten on this day, is one of the players for Lion.  He also plays for Canon who are in the top division of rugby in Japan.  I don't really know how that works, but he only works half days and spend the rest of the time training.  Lucky bastard.

The new captain for this year is the Welshman, Rich.  In a team of lanky people, he's probably the lankiest of them all.

Shin got player of the year last year, and the year before, so he's the man to beat this year.  With tries like this it won't be easy.

And the culmination of his efforts.  Placed perfectly on the line, just so everyone knows how precise he is.  Of course being Japanese, the hand placement isn't exactly in the middle, and his hands are  pretty dirty so it's not ideal, but it'll do.



So which one is my favourite?  I think there's one clear winner in this group of pictures, and that's the second to last one.  The movement is a big distracting, but the face is clear enough that you can still see the look of joy on his face.  Or is that pain?  I have no idea.

So I DID go Skiing

So I did, in the end, go skiing with dad.  There are a fair number of good photographs, but these ones are the ones which remind me of travelling around and jumping headfirst into the snow.



I have a feeling that those fresh tracks in the background might have been me or dad.


That green jacket is absolutely fantastic.  Before I tried it, I assumed that all jackets had small flaws in their design.  My current jacket is pretty damned waterproof for a ten year old skiing jacket, but the pockets are a pain in the jacksie, and the place where you put the ski passes is inconvenient.  This jacket has it all - it's waterproof to the Nth degree, it breathes really well, and it's damn near luminescent.  What more could you ask for?

I stole dads bright green jacket, so he had this much more modest number.

It's really difficult to appreciate just how mountainous Japan is, until you see it first hand.  Even looking at the interior (which is about 75% of the land in reality) on a map doesn't prepare you for the Alps style perilous drives through the mountains.  There were a few moments where I thought we might void the insurance on our little rental car, but it turned out okay.

Top tip, if you ever need to rent a car in Japan, don't use Nippon Rentacar!  They are terrible.  You aren't allowed to leave the parking area in their cars if you are a foreigner, let alone drive in rain or SHOCKED GASPS, snow.

You're much better off renting from a company vendor like Honda, which is where we got our car from.  The guys were really nice despite my incompetent Japanese, and everything went off without a hitch.  We brought the car back a day early because we forgot which day we were supposed to go back, but that gave us a chance to pick up some souvenirs.  All part of the plan!  Kind of.

The mountains aren't as dramatic as Europe (or I imagine Canada) in terms of their sheer size, but they go on forever in all directions.

Unfortunately I couldn't work out the settings on my camera to capture it, but the snow was melting/freezing constantly which led to a crystalline effect in the snow, reflecting the light in tiny diamond like spots.  It was really fascinating (for me, anyway) because I've been skiing any number of times, but this was the first time I've seen this effect so vividly displayed.  You'll have to take my word for it...