Wynter wrote:He woulda gotten alcohol poisoning otherwise.
Yeah, I said that... Yesterday. :P
Yeah, I said that... Yesterday. :P
Japan - News/General Discussion
Started by kanae · 23 Sep 2005 · 3,296 replies
General Discussion
Yeah, I said that... Yesterday. :P
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-crowe21jan21,1,613132.column?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports&ctrack=7&cset=true
From the Los Angeles Times
CROWE'S NEST
Former Bruin is now Japan's J.R. Sakuragi
Henderson, who played on UCLA's 1995 national team as a freshman, is a perennial all-star and a Japanese citizen.
Jerry Crowe
January 21, 2008
Knowing next to nothing about the Japanese and their culture, former UCLA basketball player J.R. Henderson initially balked when offered a chance to play professionally in the land of the rising sun.
Seven years later, he's a naturalized Japanese citizen.
Henderson's transformation to J.R. Sakuragi, the new name taken by the seven-time Japan Basketball League all-star, was fueled by loyalty to his adopted second homeland, he says, but financial considerations played a part too.
It was a grueling, time-consuming process, says the 6-foot-8 forward from Bakersfield who averaged 9.2 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman for coach Jim Harrick's 1995 NCAA championship team at UCLA.
"Eight months of headaches and headaches and headaches," he says from his home in Kariya, southwest of Tokyo, "but I knew it was going to be like that."
Last July, after earning his Japanese citizenship, Sakuragi joined the Japan national team on the eve of the Asia Championship, an Olympic qualifier, but the Japanese still fell short in their bid to qualify for the Beijing Games.
Says Sakuragi, who typically spends about eight months a year in Japan but also owns a home in West Virginia, "I kind of came in too late, and we just couldn't get adjusted fast enough."
But Sakuragi, 31, hopes to keep playing until he's 40, so he'll have other chances to help Japan qualify for its first Olympic berth since 1976.
The former Milton Henderson Jr., Sakuragi averages more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game for the Aisin Sea Horses of the JBL Super League. He averaged 14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in four seasons at UCLA, twice earning All-Pacific 10 Conference first-team recognition, and was a second-round pick of the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998 NBA draft.
He played only 30 games in the NBA, however, averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds for the Grizzlies during the lockout-shortened 1999 season.
Two years later, after playing for teams in Las Vegas and France and summer-league teams in Puerto Rico and the Philippines, he signed on to play in Japan. Though apprehensive at first, the unassuming Sakuragi says, "I can pretty much adapt to any situation, as long as bombs aren't going off and stuff like that."
In Japan, he says, he found people not unlike himself.
"The way they are is kind of the way I am," he says. "I just keep to myself and produce, pretty much. That's what's kept me here for so long. I was never in any trouble. People here care more about off the court than on the court."
It doesn't hurt that Sakuragi annually ranks among the league's leading scorers and rebounders, or that he led the Sea Horses to championships in 2003 and 2004. After the consecutive title runs, Sakuragi says, Sea Horses Coach Kimikazu Suzuki "got kind of famous" and was named coach of the national team.
Suzuki in turn pushed his top player to become a citizen.
"I said, 'I'll do it, I'll try it,' " Sakuragi says. "Just because he's been so loyal to me, I thought it was the right thing to do. He pretty much wanted me to help out with the national team and help them get to the Olympics."
Although he was intrigued by the idea, Sakuragi says, "I didn't think it was possible unless I married a Japanese girl, and that wasn't going to happen."
That's because he already was married to an American. He and wife Jennifer, a West Virginian, have a 4-year-old daughter named Hailee.
So it wasn't until late in 2006 that Sakuragi got serious about naturalization, which involved learning the Japanese language and the 1,750 characters in the alphabet, not to mention countless interviews and mountains of paperwork. "I had to be able to read and write Japanese at a rudimentary level," says Sakuragi, who spent long hours in class, "and carry on a brief conversation."
To bolster his chances, he took a Japanese name.
Though balking at first because he considered the name effeminate, he settled on Sakuragi, which translates to cherry blossom tree. "The cherry blossoms here are a big deal," he says. "Also, Sakuragi is the name of a famous comic character who just happens to play basketball, so the younger people thought that's why I took it -- and I didn't bother to say it wasn't. I just went along with it."
At a news conference to introduce the national team last summer, Sakuragi spoke Japanese. This season, he says, his fan mail has tripled in volume. "I was surprised," he says, "to be embraced like I was."
Sakuragi also had financial motivation for the move.
As a foreigner, Henderson had his tax-free salary capped at $180,000 a year. As Sakuragi, a citizen of Japan, he'll be free this summer to earn whatever the market dictates. He hopes to at least double his salary.
"That wasn't the sole purpose of this," he says of his push for Japanese citizenship, "but you have no choice but to look at that. I'd be dumb not to, but the main reason for this was to play for the national team."
Sushi doesn't suit him, but Sakuragi says he feels at home in Japan and no longer stays awake nights wondering whether he could have made it in the NBA.
Says the former Bruin, "I plan on being here a long time."
From the Los Angeles Times
CROWE'S NEST
Former Bruin is now Japan's J.R. Sakuragi
Henderson, who played on UCLA's 1995 national team as a freshman, is a perennial all-star and a Japanese citizen.
Jerry Crowe
January 21, 2008
Knowing next to nothing about the Japanese and their culture, former UCLA basketball player J.R. Henderson initially balked when offered a chance to play professionally in the land of the rising sun.
Seven years later, he's a naturalized Japanese citizen.
Henderson's transformation to J.R. Sakuragi, the new name taken by the seven-time Japan Basketball League all-star, was fueled by loyalty to his adopted second homeland, he says, but financial considerations played a part too.
It was a grueling, time-consuming process, says the 6-foot-8 forward from Bakersfield who averaged 9.2 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman for coach Jim Harrick's 1995 NCAA championship team at UCLA.
"Eight months of headaches and headaches and headaches," he says from his home in Kariya, southwest of Tokyo, "but I knew it was going to be like that."
Last July, after earning his Japanese citizenship, Sakuragi joined the Japan national team on the eve of the Asia Championship, an Olympic qualifier, but the Japanese still fell short in their bid to qualify for the Beijing Games.
Says Sakuragi, who typically spends about eight months a year in Japan but also owns a home in West Virginia, "I kind of came in too late, and we just couldn't get adjusted fast enough."
But Sakuragi, 31, hopes to keep playing until he's 40, so he'll have other chances to help Japan qualify for its first Olympic berth since 1976.
The former Milton Henderson Jr., Sakuragi averages more than 20 points and 10 rebounds a game for the Aisin Sea Horses of the JBL Super League. He averaged 14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in four seasons at UCLA, twice earning All-Pacific 10 Conference first-team recognition, and was a second-round pick of the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998 NBA draft.
He played only 30 games in the NBA, however, averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 rebounds for the Grizzlies during the lockout-shortened 1999 season.
Two years later, after playing for teams in Las Vegas and France and summer-league teams in Puerto Rico and the Philippines, he signed on to play in Japan. Though apprehensive at first, the unassuming Sakuragi says, "I can pretty much adapt to any situation, as long as bombs aren't going off and stuff like that."
In Japan, he says, he found people not unlike himself.
"The way they are is kind of the way I am," he says. "I just keep to myself and produce, pretty much. That's what's kept me here for so long. I was never in any trouble. People here care more about off the court than on the court."
It doesn't hurt that Sakuragi annually ranks among the league's leading scorers and rebounders, or that he led the Sea Horses to championships in 2003 and 2004. After the consecutive title runs, Sakuragi says, Sea Horses Coach Kimikazu Suzuki "got kind of famous" and was named coach of the national team.
Suzuki in turn pushed his top player to become a citizen.
"I said, 'I'll do it, I'll try it,' " Sakuragi says. "Just because he's been so loyal to me, I thought it was the right thing to do. He pretty much wanted me to help out with the national team and help them get to the Olympics."
Although he was intrigued by the idea, Sakuragi says, "I didn't think it was possible unless I married a Japanese girl, and that wasn't going to happen."
That's because he already was married to an American. He and wife Jennifer, a West Virginian, have a 4-year-old daughter named Hailee.
So it wasn't until late in 2006 that Sakuragi got serious about naturalization, which involved learning the Japanese language and the 1,750 characters in the alphabet, not to mention countless interviews and mountains of paperwork. "I had to be able to read and write Japanese at a rudimentary level," says Sakuragi, who spent long hours in class, "and carry on a brief conversation."
To bolster his chances, he took a Japanese name.
Though balking at first because he considered the name effeminate, he settled on Sakuragi, which translates to cherry blossom tree. "The cherry blossoms here are a big deal," he says. "Also, Sakuragi is the name of a famous comic character who just happens to play basketball, so the younger people thought that's why I took it -- and I didn't bother to say it wasn't. I just went along with it."
At a news conference to introduce the national team last summer, Sakuragi spoke Japanese. This season, he says, his fan mail has tripled in volume. "I was surprised," he says, "to be embraced like I was."
Sakuragi also had financial motivation for the move.
As a foreigner, Henderson had his tax-free salary capped at $180,000 a year. As Sakuragi, a citizen of Japan, he'll be free this summer to earn whatever the market dictates. He hopes to at least double his salary.
"That wasn't the sole purpose of this," he says of his push for Japanese citizenship, "but you have no choice but to look at that. I'd be dumb not to, but the main reason for this was to play for the national team."
Sushi doesn't suit him, but Sakuragi says he feels at home in Japan and no longer stays awake nights wondering whether he could have made it in the NBA.
Says the former Bruin, "I plan on being here a long time."
From FUJITV News:A 26-year-old male bowler was arrested on suspicion of attacking a fellow bowler with a bowling ball after the victim allegedly laughed at him when he fell down while bowling at an alley in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture.[/list:u] I wish they had a video of this. Pro Bowler dekkinai, ne. [/list:u]
From FG
[image]
[image]
The Tokyo Towers development has just been completed near Tokyo Bay, around 2km from Ginza. The nearest public transport is Kachidoki station on the Oedo subway line with Tsukishima on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line not far away. Stretching to 193 metres, it's the second-tallest mansion block in Japan behind Cross Tower in Osaka. With 58 storeys, however, it has a larger capacity of nearly 2,800 separate units and the realtor is expecting around 8,000 residents who will begin moving in from February. Selling prices range from 39 million yen to the most expensive at 216 million yen and just over 800 apartments in the Mid Tower have been offered separately for rental. The sheer number of residents moving into the area has meant that medical facilities, shops, gyms and, bucking the trend in the rest of the capital, schools have been expanded to cope. This is the development that Richard Gere helped promote in the "I Love New Tokyo" campaign which ran from 2005.
[image]
![[image]](http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/979479f7be97a680.jpg){kind=link}
[image]
![[image]](http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forum/album_mod/upload/3e438ab1faf387ab9950ed31e2674d7a.jpg){kind=link}
The Tokyo Towers development has just been completed near Tokyo Bay, around 2km from Ginza. The nearest public transport is Kachidoki station on the Oedo subway line with Tsukishima on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho line not far away. Stretching to 193 metres, it's the second-tallest mansion block in Japan behind Cross Tower in Osaka. With 58 storeys, however, it has a larger capacity of nearly 2,800 separate units and the realtor is expecting around 8,000 residents who will begin moving in from February. Selling prices range from 39 million yen to the most expensive at 216 million yen and just over 800 apartments in the Mid Tower have been offered separately for rental. The sheer number of residents moving into the area has meant that medical facilities, shops, gyms and, bucking the trend in the rest of the capital, schools have been expanded to cope. This is the development that Richard Gere helped promote in the "I Love New Tokyo" campaign which ran from 2005.
Wow.
Just wow.
39M yen? That's around $390K USD... I can afford that. :beaten:
Though the price per square foot is probably outrageous... Hmm, it doesn't say how large each unit is....?
Just wow.
39M yen? That's around $390K USD... I can afford that. :beaten:
Though the price per square foot is probably outrageous... Hmm, it doesn't say how large each unit is....?
bmwracer wrote:Wow.
Just wow.
39M yen? That's around $390K USD... I can afford that. :beaten:
That's for the janitor's closet....
Tu_triky wrote:That's for the janitor's closet....
That'd be a little tight.... Even without my Dorama collection.
bmwracer wrote:put those discs on a couple of external hard drives to make more room.
That'd be a little tight.... Even without my Dorama collection.
:hehe:
Tu_triky wrote: put those discs on a couple of external hard drives to make more room.
:hehe:
They'd have to be external to the closet. :hehe:
bmwracer wrote:
They'd have to be external to the closet. :hehe:
Haha...good point.
The gray on those buildings reminds me of an image of a tornado. :hehe:
Wynter wrote:The gray on those buildings reminds me of an image of a tornado. :hehe:
Haha. I didn't notice that before.
Tu_triky wrote:
Haha. I didn't notice that before.
The greatest way I acquire knowledge is through the visual. :mrgreen:
Wynter wrote:"You can observe a lot just by watching" - Yogi Berra[/list:u]
The greatest way I acquire knowledge is through the visual. :mrgreen:
Wynter wrote:
The greatest way I acquire knowledge is through the visual. :mrgreen:
I, through drinking.
gaijinmark wrote: "You can observe a lot just by watching" - Yogi Berra[/list:u]
"I'm smarter than the average bear" - Yogi Bear
Anime Dad wrote:
"I'm smarter than the average bear" - Yogi Bear
LOL! For a second there I really did think Musa was quoting Yogi Bear. :beaten:
gaijinmark wrote: "You can observe a lot just by watching" - Yogi Berra[/list:u]
Woman: "Yogi, you look pretty cool in those clothes..."
Yogi: "You don't look so hot yourself."
:hehe: :rofl:
![[image]](http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/97947a00a4b8ad81.jpg){kind=link}
![[image]](http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/images/vbimghost/97947a00a4ba6301.jpg){kind=link}
Any explanation for the color scheme?
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