And . . .Thank you, ASHIKAGA san !! It was a great privilege to have you here, and I most certainly hope you'll come back next year too.
Things kind of got kicked on the day before, with Mike Cash arriving just in time to help me with a few things (one, for example, in helping out with getting the fridge in front of the dozo to stay closed . . . as it turned out, it might have had just a few too many cans of beer in it . . . hee, hee, hee). We had tacos for dinner that night.
The next morning, as has been the case twice in a row now, I woke up early and went out to help with the neighborhood street cleaning. I came back from that a little early than the others, and went to pick up Kirirao at Matsumoto station. We did a little shopping, then went on up to the hillside overlooking the Shiga valley, upon which our spread is located.
Now the weather just couldn't have been better . . . at least to my likings (but, yeah, it was a bit hot), clear and sunny, only a slight wind, and just right for badminton. The four of us laid out the boundries for badminton (and I used the real thing this year [field liner] rather than flour), then went and toasted to the '10 meet. We also thought of those who could not make it this time 'round, and have great hopes of sharing the moments of great drink, food, badminton, darts, and friends with us all next year.
Yep, ASHIKAGA made the sport of badminton look like scenes from Swan Lake, Matrix, and Rambo all put together, as he maneuvered through his plays with perfect calculation, accuracy, and nanosecond speeds. Mike Cash did his share of master plays too, although it seems that an old knee injury may have dampened the Dragon Ball jumps that he would usually do. Kirirao gave it all he had, and really made it a hot game; he later did a perfect job in score keeping. We had some number of visitors come and play with us . . . one of the really nice things about being out there in the contry side...folks are a bit easy going. Why, even one of my own sons joined in....can you believe that?!
It was most unfortunate, yet Kirirao had to leave that evening due to plans early the next day. He missed out on the eats, but really hope there'll be that chance next year. And, speaking of the eats...I've got to run to lunch now, then do another class. Maybe I'll let this much be it for now, and get back tomorrow with one more report.