sayonara

Here's some pics from Maishima island, it's in the middle of Osaka bay, the sun came out for us on our last day in Japan.




Osaka from one of the many bridges


coaches at the farwell party with some of the JLA staff

DAICHI! I got to see my buddy Daichi, who took the shinkansen all the way from Tokyo to come see our last game. He stayed around for a while and visited with me, the team, and other japanese friends. It was great to see him again (Daichi played a year at Oregon when he was studying abroad, he went to Waseda University in Tokyo and is now working for Johnson-Johnson).



party pics



It was really hard saying goodbye to Nana. She was a great friend and a great host. She got me a couple great goodbye presents, and I ended up giving her my Oregon game jersey, practice shorts, and my USA practice shorts (trading gear over here is so popular. I've got BAGS of Japanese gear to bring back, I made out pretty well!). But ya, Nana was great-maybe I'll get a chance to visit my Japanese girlfriend again sometime...

More pics from yesterdays game, there had to be over 1000 people there, it was a sweet venue and the fans really got to see a great game. We played the best we had played all trip, and it's kind of a bummer we didn't get to play more teams. Next year, USA West is heading to Tokyo and Seoul, where they will get a chance to play some of the better teams in Japan and then shoot it out at the International tournament in Korea. I'll be giving great recommendations to all the Oregon boys who are interested in the trip next year, who will for sure make an impact on the team just like I did.

This was an incredible adventure and I'm so fortunate to be givin the opportunity to play overseas, and with a great group of guys. I can't wait to get back home and share all my stories and souveniers with friends and family. To any future USA Wester's who may be reading this: West is a legit organization and the coaches and players alike are all top-notch people. Any opportunity you have to play internationally you must take. This trip has only left me wanting more. I hope now as a college graduate, that lacrosse will continue to open doors for me all over the world.

wow...what a trip

Our planes leaves from the Kansai airport in a couple hours. And it seems like forever since I've been home. I had this horrible craving for American food that was not quite satisfied after a japanese mcdonals's double cheese burger... We played our toughest game of the trip yesterday against a really good Kansai U-23 regional team who had some players from the Japan world team. They had been preparing for us for a good two months, and it was apparent from the opening whistle that they would not go down easily. We went up early 2-1 and never looked backed. Their goalie was a monster in the cage, probably around 6' 4"-reminded me of Oregon goalie Paul Swanson. I was able to sneak a low-to-low shot that has been going in for me all trip (i think most japanese goalies are pretty weak down low, or maybe i just have a good shot ;) ). We played the best we had all trip, and on the both sides of the ball we were out-hustling and out-muscling the Japanese despite their determination and hustle. I got another goal dodging the left alley, faking a throw back and then walking it in for the score. The final score was 11-2, a great end to our incredible trip. Brooks Korvin from army played another great game, and with 2 goals and an assist, was named player of the match.

I've got to run upstairs to meet the rest of the team, I will update more on the other side of the terminal...

finally some internet!!! and good competition...

We arrived in Osaka on Friday morning, it was a great time staying with Nana and her family, and we had some great times hanging out in Kyoto. Nana and her friends brought a group of us lax guys out to downtown Kyoto on thursday night, and we ended up meeting with a whole group of USA-Westers at this bar called "Locked-up". It was crazy; I've never seen a theme bar in the states before. You walk down into "the dungeon" and are met by the "jailer" (a scantly clad Japanese girl in a cop outfit) who then hand-cuffs the first person in the group and leads you to your "cell". A long table is inside, and we had about 10 people in the room. For two hours, you order drink after drink and they bring food out for you. It was great times, and only cost about $30.

LACROSSE.

We arrived at Miashima island on Friday morning. It's a man made island built to house the Olympic atheltes if Japan every held the Olympics. There is a sweet baseball stadium and arena, and a ton of atheltic fields and facilities scattered around the island. It's great, but it has no internet!!! We're really cut off out there; right now I'm in an internet cafe in Osaka station, trying to scrape out my great memories from the last few days. Yesterday, we played a Kansai U-20 regional team who were surprisingly better than we expected. Every team in Fukuoka we played we breezed by. The field is top notch; perfectly maintained low-grass, with a great backdrop of an Osaka bridge and buildings.

The Kansai U-20 team was obviously inexperienced but played very hard and put in a couple impressive shots. We got off to a hot start but struggled a bit in the 3rd quarter, partyl due to the atrocious officiating in Japan, and getting used to some of the international rules (subbing ALWAYS must be done through the box, in every situation except for after a goal or timeouts. we found this out the hard way a few times).

Today we saw the best competition we've seen all trip; we played a men's club team called HELP. They were all obviously older and more experienced, and play got a bit chippy at times. The final score ended up being 10-4, and they played hard to the end. It was tough for our team to get used to playing a good team for once, we are onviously skilled as individuals but playing on an all-star team is tough because...well...we're ALL-stars. Cito had a great game; ended up with 4 goals i think. They do a pretty funny "player of the match" interview at the end with a microphone.

The next game was another surprise, we played a Kyoto all-star team which really gave us a run for our money. I got a quick assist to early in the game off of a loose ball to make it 2-1. Again in the 2nd quarter, I got a pass from Cito off a designed 1-3-2 throw back play, and buried a shot low and away to make it 4-3. That ended up being the score well into the 3rd quarter until Brooks Korvin from Army broke the drought with a great assist, follwed by a sweet face-dodge goal. We kept playing hard until the end and ended up winning 9-4. Dave Rineheard from Michigan our faceoff guy who has absolutley dominated all trip, finally got some accolades for his performance and got the player of the match. Even though we won, we all feel like we could have played way better, but this was really our first test as a team and we ended up pulling out two tough wins.

Tomorrow should be the biggest game of the trip. Not only because it's the last game of our Japanese adventure, but also because we are playing the Kansai regional team made up from some of the best players in the greater Osaka area, and apparently they have been practicing for months preparing for this game. Should be a battle.

I'm gonna wrap this up because we're going to have to catch the last train back to the island pretty soon here. I'll do some wandering by myself to see if i can find anything sweet downtown before I head back to the station. This might end up being the last post until the airport on monday, it's been a great trip but I'm definitely looking forward to coming home!

mama-san

post-game clinic for beginning japanese players

box-lunch sesh

new hosts and new friends

So we're at quite the lull in the trip in terms of lacrosse...it's been a few days now since our last game in level 5 stadium and everyone including me is getting anxious to play again. Tomorrow we play a kansai U-19 team...which should be good, but obviously a bit young to be playing us, a team with way more experience and mostly older players. Shouldn't be a problem, but I'm excited to play.

I moved in with a new host family right after we got off the bullet train in Osaka. My host is a girl named Nana, who plays lacrosse for Kyoto Sangyo (industrial) University. She's way too cute, and it's been way too much fun staying with her so far. Her family is great, and I found myself sitting around the dinner table for a couple of hours speaking only Japanese. It was nice staying with Toshiki in his apartment and although it was small I really enjoyed it. Nana's house is BIG. She lives in a suburb of Kyoto in a town called Otsu. The town reminds me a lot of American suburbs, with neighborhoods filled with familes and children. It's sort of wierd...myself being from Lake Oswego, where the city is centered around a lake. Otsu is a suburb that sits on the edge of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan! It's very scenic, and her lake is much larger. Her house is really big, rightfully so because she lives with her mom, dad, sister, two brothers, and her sister's husband and two children. It's pretty busy around here, but this is the last night with the family which is kind of sad, but they are great hosts and the meals I've had here are some of the best I've had in Japan.

Tomorrow we move in to Maishima Lodge, which is on a man-made island off of Osaka. The lodge sounds pretty incredible, and it was build to house Olympuc atheletes along with great facilities to accomodate the Olympics if they were ever held in Japan (the Olympics require cities to prepare beforehand to show the committee that they can sustain and event like the Olympic games). I can't wait to get back on the field, I feel that we have not played nearly enough lacrosse on this trip, but the life-long memories we've made off the field have been well worth it.

So...here's some more pictures. Enjoy!

yu-kun!



dungeon-style japanese bar

Kiyomizu temple


level-5 game

yu-kun laxin

papa-san!!



bullet train


Nana and Yu-kun






Nana and I

The next three days are going to be filled with lacrosse, we are playing 4 games. I will do my best to try to get some more pictures of us on the field because we have been spending so much time off. The facilities should be really nice, I'm hoping for some nice grass! I will continue to do my best to update...and I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to get just a little homesick, I miss my friends and family and can't wait to get back to the states and share all my stories.

finally some good pics!!!

Here are some pics from various stages of our Fukuoka journey. Tonight is our last night in the city and I can''t wait to go to Osaka tomorrow. We absolutely dominated this "stand up bar" tonight across the street from our hotel. These two bartender girls absolutely loved us, letting us fill up our drinks at ease. The sake-beer combo is mean; gets you absolutely tossed at the same time, not so hungover. This brings me to my next point: as a team, we are so used to speaking with our broken English and simple sentences, when we go to speak English again with one another...very hard..yes?? We've only been in Japan for 5 days, but our days are longer than you can ever imagine...this is coming from a guy who hates mornings and wakes up at 1 pm on days when he doesn't have anything to do...we have very fun...yes?


our coaches just got back to the hotel with some great stories about their night. The JLA (Japanese Lacrosse Association) took them out for their last night in Fukuoka. They went to a restaurant where they literally fish for their own seafood, which is then celebrated and cooked. They hung out all night together, sharing drinks and stories late into the night. It sounds like in Japan, they treat their guests with the utmost respect. Hearing everyone's stories about their host families/students, it is very apparent that we are extremely welcome here. We've had a lot of free time in the last few days; here are some great pictures including my host brother and our adventures around Fukuoka.

I can't wait to go to Osaka tomorrow, the second largest city in Japan should be another incredible experience, and i am even more excited to play better competition. As said before, the second largest city in Japan is also home to the second best lacrosse teams in the nation. We should see some closer games which will only bring out the best in our team. The time spent off the field together has brought us a lot closer, I can't wait to play again.


myself in front of a sweet temple

USA West 2008 coaches

Cito LOVES totoro!












new friends

marcus-san tsuyoi ne!!


japanese beer pong


marcus and i with our host brothers

kyushu university - toshiki's college