{"id":1907,"date":"2008-09-21T09:17:35","date_gmt":"2008-09-21T00:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2008-09-22T15:59:19","modified_gmt":"2008-09-22T06:59:19","slug":"tangent-in-niseko-playing-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=1907","title":{"rendered":"Tangent:  In Niseko, playing Cricket!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/handbook.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1298\" title=\"HANDBOOKsemifinalcover.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/HANDBOOKsemifinalcover.jpg\" alt=\"Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/welcomestickers.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1704\" title=\"welcomesticker\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/welcomesticker-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\\\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.francajapan.org\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1705\" title=\"franca-color\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/franca-color-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association forming NGO\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/tshirts.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1701\" title=\"joshirtblack2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/joshirtblack2-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\\\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/joshirtblack2-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/joshirtblack2.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 75px) 100vw, 75px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html#japanese\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1700\" title=\"jobookcover\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/jobookcover-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\u300c\u30b8\u30e3\u30d1\u30cb\u30fc\u30ba\u30fb\u30aa\u30f3\u30ea\u30fc\u3000\u5c0f\u6a3d\u5165\u6d74\u62d2\u5426\u554f\u984c\u3068\u4eba\u7a2e\u5dee\u5225\u300d\uff08\u660e\u77f3\u66f8\u5e97\uff09\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/japaneseonly.html#english\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1699\" title=\"japaneseonlyecover\" src=\"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/japaneseonlyecover-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"JAPANESE ONLY:  The Otaru Hot Springs Case and Racial Discrimination in Japan\" width=\"75\" height=\"100\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nMorning Blog. \u00a0Writing this as I wait for the copious amounts of water to take effect on my compact little hangover&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Have spent the weekend in Niseko (courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/rad-development.com\/\">RidgeRunner development Inc<\/a>) getting more insight into just how the Australian-led building and skiing boom here is fundamentally changing this small ski town into an international resort area. \u00a0Property values are soaring, very nicely designed buildings are going up, multilingual parties are on tap every night&#8230; even the Hilton recently opened a hotel here. \u00a0More boosterism at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.powderlife.com\/\">http:\/\/www.powderlife.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the reason I dropped by this time (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.takadainiseko.com\/\">last time I emceed a forum in July 6, talking about the launch of organic farm Takadai Meadows run, again, mostly by NJ, and with speakers Alex Kerr, Bruce Gutlove, and Honma Yasunori<\/a>) was to play Cricket!<\/p>\n<p>Yes, Cricket, where you find that Baseball training (I played Little League) gets in the way of knowing how to hold the bat and how to catch that undeservedly hard ball (no gloves allowed; I have very bruised fingernails this morning, and am pleased I can type without broken phalanges). \u00a0I actually had fun (fielded, bowled my first over and managed to do it with only three wides, and even got four runs after about twenty minutes at bat). \u00a0Our pick-up team still managed to beat two teams, one with its own uniforms even (by ONE run at the last bowl&#8211;game couldn&#8217;t have been closer), and they take on the very serious Pakistani team today (which I shall give a miss; I need a Sunday at home for the first time since July).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an event with charity auctions and large parties (of course), sponsored by organizations such as Metropolis\/Jap@n.Inc\/Crisscross, the Hokkaido International School, and various companies and government agencies. \u00a0And attended by cricket heroes whose names I&#8217;ve never heard of, of course. \u00a0More information at<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ezocricketclub.com\/international-cricket-competion\/\">http:\/\/www.ezocricketclub.com\/international-cricket-competion\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Again, one of the fruits of multiculturalization. \u00a0Who would have thunk I&#8217;d have gotten to know why people worldwide enjoy playing Cricket in the backwoods of Hokkaido! \u00a0Long may a healthy development of Niseko continue.<\/p>\n<p>Arudou Debito in Niseko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m here in Niseko for a little while longer after coming here to learn how to play Cricket.  Yes, that sport played by the Commonwealth on a field lacking two bases, using that wickedly hard ball without gloves.  And I can still type this morning without broken fingers.  Attending an international Cricket competition and charity event and discovering the game is actually a lot of fun!  More details on the event (consider attending next year, Cricketeers!) in this blog entry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sport","category-tangents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}