This year's celebrations were much more in the spirit of Christmas!
No noodles, no sleeping at a train station, just Christmas trees, music and celebrating.
I even won a t-shirt at BINGO!
Spending holidays away from family is never easy. Since last year's Christmas proved to be disappointing we were not sure what to expect of our holiday celebration in Japan this year. Last season my cousin and I missed the last train from Tokyo to Sendai and had to sleep at the Tokyo train station on Christmas day. Plus to our surprise the train station closed down in the middle of the night and we spent the majority of our night at a 24 hour noodle shop, where we Skyped with family and ate noodles for 5 hours. So as you could imagine, it was a little disheartening but definitely a Christmas to remember! This year's celebrations were much more in the spirit of Christmas! No noodles, no sleeping at a train station, just Christmas trees, music and celebrating. On Sunday, right after the home victory against the Saitama Broncos, the team hosted a Christmas party for the boosters and fans. The event took place at a fancy hotel in Akita City and was very nicely organized. All the players were introduced, then mingled with fans, took lots of pictures, signed dozens of signatures and even played BINGO. I even won a t-shirt at BINGO! On Christmas Eve, along with the other Americans, we were invited to a Korean BBQ restaurant in the Kawabata district of Akita. Korean BBQ is very popular in Japan! Basically you order raw meat and vegetables and then grill it on a personal table grill. We love it and wish the US had similar restaurants. We ate so much food and by the end of Christmas Eve we had a major food coma. We are very thankful for the wonderful and memorable Christmas celebrations! ありがとうございます。 メーリークリスマス Meerii Kurisumasu from Japan!
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We are very happy to be back in Japan for another season in the BJ League. Dan recently signed a contract with the Akita Northern Happinets in Akita, Japan. Akita City is located on the northwest part of the island, so this season we are preparing for lots of snow and a much colder winter. The town of Akita is smaller than Sendai but still has a fairly large population of around 300,000. For what it lacks in size it definitely makes up with basketball fans, as the support for the team here is unbelievable!! One explanation might be that the Happinets are the only professional team in Akita but the other, more probable one, is that Akita is known as the "Japanese Kingdom of Basketball." How cool is that?! The team, boosters, and fans have been extremely welcoming both to Dan and me. We are very excited to be back in Japan and can't wait to see Akita Northern Happinets raise the BJ League Championship trophy! Check out the cool Akita Happinets uniforms!
This is going to be Dan's first time wearing a pink uniform. We lived in Buenos Aires for six weeks and in those weeks we tried to fully emerged ourselves in the Argentine culture. Our fun facts are based on our experiences plus some cultural insight. They are in no way supposed to offend, only provide a funny take of a couple of gringos living in South America. Enjoy! FOOD & DRINK
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