Thursday, February 1, 2007

What do you think about Japanese fashion?

February is usually supposed to be the coldest month in Tokyo, but it's rather pretty warm this winter.
I heard on the news the other day that clothing shops are having a hard time selling winter coats.
But even then, the town of Shibuya and around are crowded with hundreds of fashionistas everyday.

Japanese ladies fashion has always been the center of fashion topic in and outside of Japan,
but it seems like mens fashion is receiving more attention these days.
I wonder what people around the world think about Japanese youth fashion?

Thursday, December 14, 2006


Red Sox Matsuzaka is born - it seems like he has finally reached an agreement at an unimaginable deal in Japan. Whether this contract is high or low, that will soon be clear in the following months, but let me tell you this one thing: Matsuzaka truly is a monster of the decade.

It's not so rare anymore for Japanese baseball players to play in the Major League. Quite a few of them like Ichiro and Matsui have proved themselves incredible players in the homeland of baseball. But if you ask me whether they're really possessors of one-in-a-decade kind of baseball talent, my answer would be no. Indeed, Ichiro is so much more than an average baseball player. A genious. I have no objection in that point. But to me he doesn't seem to be the kind of player who bears everybody's expectation all by himself, wonderfully brushes of the pressure and achieves results. He has an aspect of playing baseball alone (though he did show a different aspect for the first time at WBC...)

So then, who would be the one-in-a-decade players? It will not take me a second to give the following names:

EGAWA SUGURU (Former Tokyo Giants player)

They are different. They belong to a different class. They're not just good baseball players, they're the kind of people who can achieve huge goals in the pressure of the world of baseball where life is all about victory and winning is taken for granted. Moreover, they have shaken the society in many other aspects than just baseball.

EGAWA, KIYOHARA and MATSUZAKA have all responded to their people's anticipation in extraordinary pressure.

There is also another common point about the three of them, and that is the fact that at the draft entry they have all been appointed by the teams that were not their first choices. They were forced to make their professiaonal baseball debut with the team they did not choose to play with. What's most interesting about it, is that this team they were all appointed by was the same team, the Lions.

MATSUZAKA was too good for the Lions. His decision to play in the States is a huge loss for the Japanese baseball, but it is so much better than staying with the Lions.

Those Red Sox fans and Bostonians out there, keep your eye fixed on MATSUZAKA!!
He IS a one-in-a-decade player!