This year's trip to Japan is over. I arrived home late last night - two and a half hours lster than expected due to weather delays in Chicago - and I'm spending a leisurely Memorial Day relaxing and trying to get some things organized.
Above are the cards I brought home. It's not quite the haul I had last time but it's still going to keep me busy for a bit.
The trip itself was fantastic. I saw 15 games in 13 different ballparks - 11 NPB games, 2 Tokyo Big Six games, 1 NPB ni-gun game and one corporate league game. I went to 21 different card shops (or at least shops that had cards) in seven different cities. I got to see Kazuma Okamoto hit a home run and Roki Sasaki pitch.
I had some disappointments too. The Dragons ni-gun game I planned on going to was canceled due to poor field conditions. A card shop that I went out of my way to visit was unexpectedly closed. And my favorite player - Takeya Nakamura of the Lions - had the day off the one time I saw the Lions play.
I got to spend time with friends over there as well. Ryan and I attended a couple games and hit some stores. Deanna and her boyfriend Noel were visiting Japan as well and I got to hang out with them some, including sitting in the Marines ouendan with them and Steve at the aforementioned Sasaki game. Sean and I met up for dinner at a Dragons-themed Chinese restaurant in Nagoya. A late running Baystars game in Yokohama last Saturday disrupted plans for John E. Gibson (of the Japan Weekly Baseball podcast) and I to meet up for dinner that evening but we were able to meet up briefly for coffee the next morning.
I'll try to get started on the posts about the trip later this week but there's a lot to catch up on after being gone for two weeks. The biggest thing is that I became a grandfather while I was away - my oldest daughter gave birth to a little girl! I had hoped to be home before she delivered but babies don't care about your plans. Mother and daughter are doing fine and I'm looking forward to spending time with the latest member of the family.
4 comments:
Congrats on the new addition to your family.
Glad you also had a fun trip (nice to know Ryan is still alive too), and good luck recovering from the jet lag.
Congratulations on the baby girl, grandpa! That is so great.
It was great seeing you here in Nagoya, I'm just sorry I wasn't able to join you at Bits like on your last trip! I'm looking forward to seeing posts about the rest of your trip (you must have a ton of them saved up by now!)
Wow, I couldn't imagine getting that much done on a single trip.
A. Sounds like a busy and very awesome trip!
B. Congratulations on the new addition to your family.
Post a Comment