sorry for da lack of updates. was sick and pretty busy.

please note: for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, that whenever you hold your mouse over the highlighted any of the japanese characters in my post, after a second, the romanization of it and maybe the meanin' will show up. give it a try, ya might like it ;b

in da news:

- i don't understand these financial technology analysts who think that the recent talks between apple and intel means that apple is goin' to use intel chips in their computers!? they do not understand how much development it'll take to transfer to x86. another statement they made was that apple is doin' this to put pressure on ibm because of they're laggin' on the 3ghz chips. that can partially be correct but now that ibm is developin' processors for the xbox 360, nintendo revolution as well as the sony ps3 (cell processor) one would have to think how much pressure a statement like that would affect ibm. apple's processors seem to have dropped to 4th on ibm's priority list. also, intel doesn't just make processors for pc's. it'll be interestin' to see what this turns out to be...

- ever wanted to destroy the planet? well here's how

the past 2 weeks

b finally got a new couch now, so now we can relax on play madden.

junji came by b's last, last weekend and we went to grub at this yakitori place around the corner...da bomb!!! after that, watched the punk'd video that junji almost done with.

the next day at school, we had an ex-national team vball player who is actually a mother of one of the boys from the bball team. got some major hip burns from divin'.

met up with suga-san at the usual korean bbq place. it was good to see ralph. haven't seen that cat in long time. it was good to catch up with him. after comin' back from china, now he's a frickin' grad student @ 東大 it was also good to see tak-kun. still not sure how we crammed like 12ppl in there. on da way home, saw 清水さん at the station and he invited me to go drink with him cuz he won @ pachinko. good times.

wasn't really feelin' to hot the next day. think i ate something bad from the night before. came home and slept from 1800 to 0600 the next day. had a tiny fever and also had to go to the alt meetin'. it was interestin' how my new boss ran the meetin'. it was longer than i expected and bein' sick didn't help the situation at all. came home and went to bed.

so there's this one 7th grader that cries at least once/day. the students say he's been doin' this ever since kindergarten. i can understand that, maybe even up til the 3rd grade, but not in 7th grade! maybe i'm missin' something but it sure takes a lot of you when you have a kid cryin' all throughout class.

on friday, headed out to tokyo to have our annual april/may birthday dinner @ さくら. we had about 10 guys (except for sean) there and we tried to order the bucket again but instead they gave us a huge jug instead. we went thru 2 1/2 of those. the owner's daughter was there this time and we all found out that she went to high school in ny and college in nj. it was surprisin' to see junji there, cuz he just came back from la on business (he got to go to e3!!!) and it was koo to see otake cuz it's crazy to hear a japanese speak with an british accent. the topic for the whole night was about the big norcal vs. socal bball game on sunday. rick was tryin' to get jt flustered by sayin' he was goin' to be a non-factor. however it was kinda funny to see rick not bein' able to say anything when i spoke up. he could only come up with, "umm...are you talkin' right now? what are you tryin' to say??" da norcal team concluded that eugene is gonna be da x-factor cuz we haven't seen him play in over 3 years. talkin' all dat shiet got all of us pumped up for sunday's festivities. oh yah, besides the pride involved, there's a little wager on da line too. loser has to wear da winners' gear, take a picture and buy lunch @ kua'aina.


april/may bday party @ さくら

the next day, da cable came and installed digital cable. now b has espn!!! since i was still feelin' ill, i just stayed at home while b went to work out. we headed to 幡ヶ谷 to meet up with da tashiros for dinner. went to this little 居酒屋. it's always fun to see and play with msey "nephew". it's understandable for him to spill a water glass but when b spilled a whole coke, man, that's inexcusable. misuzu took ryan home so sean wanted to check out this soul bar near his place. when we go in, there's nobody there except for the bartender. let me tell you, this guy has skills. not only was he the bartender, but he was the cook, the dj, the dishwasher, answered phones, etc. sean requested some tracks, some i knew, some i didn't. but the guy must've overheard us or something cuz he put on troop "spread my wings" (remix) and followed that up with ralph tresvant "sensitivity". man, it was crazy. we chilled there for bout an hour and called it a night.

next day, woke up early and headed out to 渋谷 to meet up with everyone. we got to the jordan court in 渋谷 about 15 min before it opened. was kinda nice cuz we were da only ones there. after warmin' up, the championship series started.


message from his airness


some funky lookin' hoops

format: best of 7 to 7. decidin' game, win by 2.

game 1: we were both stuck at 1-1 for like 10 min! good thing we didn't extend the game to 11. sf is up 6-5. la drives and kicks, i get screened which leaves ko open at da top. swish! 6-7, la takes game 1.

game 2: we were pretty devastated by da come from behind. so we made some adjustments. eugene (da japanese ben wallace) was gettin' way too many boards, both offensive and defensive. he was also rippin' everybody. sf wins game 2, 7-3.

game 3: sean and i started runnin' more pick & rolls. my shot started to warm up too. la has no chance. sf wins game 3, 7-4.

game 4: b & jt start contributin'. b almost takes out eugene on da drive. sean steps up and starts takin' it to da hole. sf wins game 4, 7-2.

game 5: b comes out of nowhere with 3 quick buckets on drives/spins to da hoop. jt hits a jumper. after jumpin' to a quick lead, we fall behind 5-6. then scotty starts crampin' up bad! we had to stop and i went to work on his cramps. i haven't seen someone cramp up this much for so long before. when i finished his calf, then his other foot started to cramp up. it must've taken like 20 min to work it out. so then we start the game back up. we take it out and sean then sinks a j. game tied 6-6. i get the ball on top, sean comes and sets a high pick on ko, so i go right and rick does this shaq fake pop up, so i step back and launch. nothin' but net!!! 8-6, sf wins da championship! 4-1.


da champs!


group shot with all my big bros


my bball card
kevin k. sakamoto #5 ¦  pos: pg
height: 162.6cm    weight: 58kg
college: csus
draft: 2003 - 1st round

so now it's punishment time, b and jt bust out all their gear. sean comes out with these banners. since ko's son, hayato was there, he wanted to be in the picture, so sean gave him a nice little banner for him to hold. see below for the pic.


the punishment!!!

so we headed to kua'aina for lunch. after that, some peeps went home and some of us went to have some coffee. b and went back to the house and got ready for craig's second annual taco party. b left early to meet up with kyoko while i waited for rick to come over and we chilled before headin' out.

got to the place and waited for ralph and then we headed to the bar. see, this is was craig does. he rents out this bar where he knows the owner. he gets in back and starts whippin' out carnitas and fish tacos. when i told ralph bout havin' some real tacos, he was a little skeptical. but once i told him that craig is from la, that was instant credibility. the whole bball crew was there. al was behind da bar, whippin' up lime margaritas while all the other fellas were just chillin'. there was a lot of peeps there. got to meet some new peeps. man, it was nice to eat real tacos, real guacamole and pico de gallo. @ around 2100, we headed out.

back to work da next day and was pretty tired from da day before. since my stomach was still not totally stable yet, decided to take a break from vball and bball. had dinner with mama and we watched our monday nite tv program, tokyo friend park II.

on wed, had an alt seminar at my boss' old school. it was pretty much a social thing for the alts to get to know each other better. mostly hearin' them complainin' about this and that. but it was koo just to talk to these peeps who are from all around the world and how are views on things are very similar and very different. came home and made some gyoza. grubbin'!!!

i think im finally feelin' better. don't have these constant stomach aches anymore. it's been like a whole week. thank you god!

friday, we had 授業参観, which is when the parents come and observe a demonstration class. luckily i had 7th graders cuz the other grades are pretty uninspirin'. i was surprised to see so many parents. all in all it went really well. went to bball practice in da afternoon and am slowly seein' da kids actually execute what i told them to do. found out from the weekend before, for the spring tournament that our boys soccer team won 2nd and the girls vball team got 3rd.

got a call later that day from mama seein' if i was alrite. headed to いっこ and got to talk with chi mama for a bit. everyone asked me if i was aite which i was surprised to hear.

just chilled the next day, backin' up all my important files on my desktop cuz it's been actin' lately and play my mlb 2k5 career mode. headed over to いっこ and had dinner. 柴田 came thru with his wife. he just got back from korea and told me bout his experiences there. i didn't know he could speak korean. so our conversation consisted of: japanese, english and korean. i had to take 社長 home but only had to go halfway cuz it daughter came to meet him. came back and was given drinks from everybody. i sang this one korean song that surprised 柴田. i found out as i was leavin' that he paid for my whole dinner!? it was nice to go to いっこ on a saturday and see all da weekend folks cuz i rarely go since i'm usually in 東京.

all i did on sunday was sleep in, do more laundry, play some mlb 2k5, back up some more stuff, had dinner @ いっこ then went to 津田沼 for coffee and to study.

back to the grind at school. the same 8th grader that got me upset on my first class was actin' up again so i had to scold him again. i kinda got a little overupset (is that a word??) and my more country/blunt japanese came out which instantly silented the whole class. helped out my girls' vball team. man, bein' a coach is a lot of work man! havin' to hit like 500+ balls everyday takes a toll on your body. but my girls this year have such a different mentality than my girls from last year. they go ALL OUT for balls and they keep on makin' me push them a little more each time. some balls that i hit, i know instantly that it's way too far but somehow they're able to put it up.

the next day, ran both the vball and bball practice. my boys bball team needs a lot of work but they're slowly makin' some progress. my girls bball team is good in practice, but when it comes to games they can't execute. gonna need to spend more time with them.

today i had my medical check-up. this year, like 2 years ago, it was 99% females!!! i found out some interestin' changes in my vitals. my height is the same, 162.6 cm. (5'4") which is the same. however, my weight dropped down to 58 kg. (about 127 lbs.) which is about 18 lbs. lighter than when i first arrived in japan. maybe it's a combination of bein' sick for a week last week and playin' vball & bball almost everyday and eatin' a whole lot healthier.

aite then yallz, i'll try to keep the updates more frequent.

kaz out...

tri recommended a thing for my blog and i'm gonna put it to use. tho, it's a little bit of a hassle right now, i think after some time, it will become second nature.


これはツリの推薦です。

the other night when i was watchin' 学校へ行こう!, they did this interestin' segment with a pair of 2-man teams. they started in early mornin' from 横浜 and had to get to tbs television studios in 赤坂 by 1730. i thought, ok, that's not hard at all but the catch is that they can only go with a total stranger. they need to get their attention, try to find out where that person is goin' without sayin' "どこにいくんですか？" because once they do, they must go with that person to wherever he/she is goin'. so you can imagine how hard it would be to get to a specific station that's not a main station like 渋谷, 新宿, 原宿, etc... it was really funny how they would analyze the ppl walkin' as well as tryin' to get clues to where that person is goin'. one group ended up all in the way in 橋本, which is pretty much near the end of the 京王線. a good 45min by express, west of 新宿!! when they got as close as 表参道, one group came across these 2 models, one of them bein' the japanese representative for ms. universe.

so tiger came out 2 weeks ago and i'm kinda ponderin' whether to drop the money down to get it. most ppl that i've talked to say that it's dope. well...we'll see if there's any left over cash after my next paycheck. hmm.... 13,000円 is a little steep...

as for the weekend, headed over to 江ノ島 w/tamawa. went to the aquarium there and saw a real live ほっけ, which is one of my favorite grilled fish. after that, we headed over to 湘南 (shonan) which is like a beach town area in 神奈川県 (kanagawa-ken). it reminded me of santa cruz/newport beach because of all the surfers and boardwalk like atmosphere. headed to this hawaiian themed curry place. it had an awesome view with cute waitresses in mumus ;b after that, headed over to 鎌倉 (kamakura) and picked up some mother's day gifts.

pretty much chilled the next day and headed over to いっこ to have dinner and give mama her gifts. tons of ppl came thru to bring her flowers, plants, etc. she gave a free beer to everyone who brought something. after that, headed over to my 2nd mama's place and chilled there for a bit.

next mornin', called my real mother and also spoke to my sis. i left a message with my mother #2. headed to school and it was the first day of school lunch for me. we had curry but it wasn't all that. now after 2 days of school lunch, i'm not that impressed ;(

after lunch, i was surprised to see that there are 2 a/c's in the teachers' room. holy crap!!! this is huge!!! when summertime comes around, i'll be able to chill in the comfort of the teachers' room and use my pb. this is great!!!

durin' 5th period yesterday, we had a hiroshima bomb survivor come in and talk to the 9th graders because their school trip is to hiroshima. they're the first 9th graders in funabashi to go somewhere other than kyoto/nara. everyone should go to the hiroshima peace memorial. it's a life changin' experience.

aite, time to for bball practice.

kaz out...

super update
the past 2 weeks

last weekend had the 春季県民バレー大会 (chiba prefecture spring vball tournament) and the 春季市民バスケット大会　(funabashi city spring bball tournament). went all the way out to 葛飾中学校 (katsushika jhs) for my girls bball game which they lost. then went to 芝山中学校 (shibayama jhs, my old school) to watch my girls from last year play. it was nice to see them as well as all the parents. it was kinda weird to see 戸板先生 (toita sensei) coachin' another team but after her game was done, she came to cheer for 芝山. after the game, which they won (whoah, i was kinda surprised bout that one) i went home, cut my hair and chilled out for a little bit before meetin' up with 戸板先生 to head out to 古和釜 (kowagama) for 戸板先生's party given by the 芝山 vball team's parents. when we headed out there by taxi, i was wonderin' which 寿司 (sushi) place we were goin' to cuz いっこの忘年会 (ikko's end of the year party) is always held at this grubbin' place. when we got to the place, sure enough, it was the exact same place. i would say it's one of the best sushi/fish places in 船橋 (funabashi) that i've been to. we headed upstairs and when i entered the room i was totally shocked to hear, "kebin da!!!" it was the whole vball team and their parents and all these other girls that i didn't recognize. it was around 70 ppl in there!!! i thought this was just last year's team but it ended up bein' girls who played for 戸板先生 when she first started coachin' @ 芝山 7 years ago!!! it was kinda interestin' to see all the different "generations" cuz the youngest ones, the 8th graders are what...13/14 yrs. old, while the oldest ones are like 22. i also found out that the older siblings of other students that i taught played for 戸板先生. i ended up sittin' next to 山本先生 (yamamoto sensei), who was the vice principal at my elementary school last year. his daughter was the only 9th grader 2 years ago. got to kick it with all da pops and 宮本さん, (miyamoto-san) was the mc, and it was funny to see how all the shochu affected his personality thru the nite. also had to make my way to the mothers and thanked them for all the flowers, food, snacks, etc... for the past year. got a chance to talk to the recent graduates too. they seemed to be havin' a difficult time adjustin' to high school. then i went to kick it with the first class for a little bit. then karaoke started and a tragic thing happened. one of the wall speakers fell down and cut one of the girl's head. it was super serious but she did have to go the hospital. it was kinda koo to hear all the girls' as well as their parents' words of appreciation for 戸板先生. all the girls seemed to have had a bad first impression of her and wanted to quit but they didn't. and now, lookin' back, they all appreciated her for the way she not only coached them but was always there for them. after that, we all jumped in the chartered bus back to school, and a bunch of us went to karaoke for the 二次会 (1st after party). around that time, it got a little fuzzy, but i do remember orderin' food for 戸板先生. after that, i think i just fell asleep. bein' out the whole day took a toll. after that, took a taxi with 戸板先生 back to 薬園台駅 (yakuendai station) and then biked home.

the next day was bball for my boys team. the first game they won (they better have cuz it was only against 5 guys from the smallest school in the city, 3 classes only). the next game after that was between 高根 (takane) & 二宮 (ninomiya). in the first 3 min, 二宮 was up 30 - 0!?! then the 2nd string came in and increased the lead to 50 - 2. at halftime it was 82 - 5!?! the final score was 141 - 9!!! the game we played was against 行田 (gyouda) and they beat us pretty bad, 108 - 22. we got a lot of stuff to work on in practice.

after that game, i headed to tokyo for dinner w/tama. we went to キムカツ (kimukatsu), that grubbin' tonkatsu place. i kinda forgot what it tasted like. we went early and only had to wait like 30 min. since i wanted to recommend this place to my friends, i had to make sure that it's really worth it for them to wait. man, it was totally worth it. i can't believe that people are still waitin' outside. it's been open almost 9 months now. went to this nice little cafe near the station where they played all the music off records.

on monday, had bball practice and didn't really accomplish much. had vball practice afterwards and this time i got to hittin' drills with the girls' team. it was kinda funny to hear them all clap after i did my first spike (i kinda surprised myself bein' able to hit inside 10 with ease). man, these girls are good tho. there are some 8th graders who have been playin' since elementary and they'll easily beat my old school's team. it should be a fun and interestin' year.

got a call from shizu sayin' that her cousins from california are here. so i met up with them @ face for dinner. they grew up in marysville but the younger brother, jeff, played bball for sac betsuin. it was koo bein' able to talk to new peeps from back home. it's just so weird that shizu & jeff are so close even though they grew up in totally different environments. the 1st baseman from the chiba lotte marines goes to her church, so they always get hook up on tix. i would love to go to a baseball game at a real stadium.

on wed, we had the city wide meeting. i didn't want to go but my boss from the board of education called my school and told me to go. so numakura sensei gives me a ride to funachuu. durin' the english meetin', the head teacher of each school introduced their teachers and that was pretty much it. only 3 other alt's were there. but 仕様がない (can't be helped)

since friday was a holiday (みどりの日), on thurs nite, my old school pta threw a little party for the new teachers as well as for the teachers that left last year. it was good to see 三浦先生(miura snesei) as well as the other faculty/administration. met the new alt @ my old school. he's this swedish/english guy who's got a japanese wife. he's aite, but for some reason, all alt's that i meet, can sure talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. we went to karaoke at the usual place for the after party and chilled there til like 2230ish. biked back and went to cha cha for a bit. surprised to see mi-chan there. her leg is a lot better now after being in the hospital for 2 months. after, just came home and crashed.

next day, headed over to b's to chill. was only supposed to chill for like 3 hours, but luckily, some plans fell through, so we ended up just playin' madden, watchin' underworld and other tv programs that he recorded. went shoppin' the next day and i picked up the all white air force ones and a nike shoe bag. b went nutz. bought hella shiet. after chillin' in shibuya the whole day, went back and junj came out. he just bout a brand spankin' new 15" powerbook w/tiger! man, it was interestin' to show him some of the features that he had no idea about.

the next day, went home and pretty much chilled. did some cleanin' and laundry and then headed out to ikko for dinner. yumi-chan came thru as well as asada san, so i was kinda obligated to drink with them cuz it's the first time that i've seen him there cuz we're always missin' each other.

monday, school as usual. had my first 8th grade english elective class which went rather well. i was surprised to see so many students in it. my past 2 schools' english elective classes were pretty small. in da afternoon had vball practice with the girls then bball practice with the boys. after school, headed out to 中目黒 (nakameguro) to meet up with shuko for her bday. her last year bday party was when the fellas were out here and we went to that scary restaurant in shibuya. this year's was nice and small, just 5 ppl. it was good to see fumie again cuz it was the last time that i saw both her and shuko since july when we went to karaoke til mornin'.

tues, just chilled and then headed out to 代官山 (daikanyama) for itaru & ryoko's weddin' party @ africa. it was kinda weird at first cuz i didn't know anybody there. finally saw nobu and then sachi and then nori. payin' 一万円　(10,000yen = $100) for this party and you know that i'm gonna get my money's worth on food and definitely drink. the interestin' thing bout this weddin' party was that it was the first time seein' everyone write on the bride's weddin' dress. it wasn't her original one but another dress that she changed into. another thing that was a a little strange was that they were bumpin' club music there. the first time i went there, they just played soft music. after the party, didn't go to the 二次会 and instead went to 渋谷 to meet up with b & kyoko for dinner. we went to a place that kyoko recommended kinda near dogenzaka. it was a nice little place and we ate upstairs near which overlooked the 1st floor. the food was good and they had tons and tons of shochu. after that, i headed home.

woke up, packed up and headed out to 小岩 (koiwa) to go this vball practice game. it was nice to see 戸板先生 (toita sensei) with her new school and as always, seein' 橋本先生 (hashimoto sensei) teachin' in his very unique way. it was good to see the whole vball team family and i was greeted with a beer, 豚汁 (tonjiru = a pork miso soup kinda thing), カレー (curry) & various other dishes. after the games were over, 橋本先生、戸板先生、泉ママ、泉パパ and i drove out to 静岡 (shizuoka, where mt. fuji is) for a 飲み会 (nomikai) with 富士宮 (fujinomiya). we went in 橋本先生 car which was dope. it was an awd, honda mini-van with one of the dopest 3d navi's as well as automatic slidin' doors. it made the 3 hr to get there very comfortable. when we finally arrived, there was this huge group here for the annual vball girls vball tournament. there were teams from all over honshu. it was good to see some coaches i've met before as well as parents from the fujinomiya girls' team. they were all dancin' and after that there was this awesome 太鼓 (taiko) performance. afterwards we headed to this ryokan and had some food and drink. some coaches didn't believe that i was american. kinda funny. after that, we headed to this other bar to meet up with some other coaches. then we headed home @ 0130 and got back to 船橋 (funabashi) @ around 0430.

spent the next day just chillin' and played a little bit more of splinter cell: chaos theory. i only passed the second level but i must say that it's one of the dopest games i've played.