The opening of design week kicked off tonight with both Tokyo Design Tide and Tokyo Designer’s Week opening parties. A tribute to innovation, design and just general wacky thinking took center stage. From crazy AF1 chandeliers to wooden cars and funny toys, these exhibits range from the most simple of items to cutting edge future thought. Either way, we had fun, drank some wine and took it all in.

I’ve heard about it. I’ve read about it. I’ve seen pictures… but until you hear the crisp snap of a guy hitting another guy in the face – from the front row no less – you really don’t understand K1. To me, the novice, it’s like boxing with a little wrestling on the side. I went to Korea to see our friend Akiyama fight and it was pretty intense. A couple of fluffy battles leading up but one bout pitted a tiny 70kg korean vs. a 79kg japanese guy… and let me tell you, these guys went toe to toe for nearly the full time. Bloodied and all, they staggered through until the tiny korean basically pushed his opponent over.

The main event was the return of Akiyama after being suspended for a year. He took it hard, trained for a year and came back tough. He gave himself a 35% chance of winning but found an opportunity halfway through the first and knock the crap of out him. For the YouTube coverage.

Schilling throws 55 strikes and keeps the Rockies to just 1 run in a narrow 2-1 win… But the more thrilling game was the nail biter that Boston College’s Matt Ryan put me through with a 4th quarter heroic effort. After trailing 10-0 with 3 minutes left to play, our eagles put together a Heisman-like set of drives that shows the world why we deserve to be #1 in the nation.

A after a nice dinner in Shibuya with Michael Kwon and Reming, JY stops by a local grocery shop for some ingredients for this weeks cooking class…

Overtime at Urawa Reds Stadium… Tied 2-2 with Seongnam Ilhwa. 15
minutes left…

Coming back from my second trip to the US in 10 days, this was the site from the NW6 red eye from Portland to Tokyo.

I said it. My friends said it. Tons of College kids around Boston said it. The Boston Globe even said it. But now the Wall Street Journal has made is pseudo official… Bartley’s Burgers in Harvard Square has been Voted the Best Burger in the USA. Crazy!! We headed their on a beautiful saturday afternoon. A huge line couldn’t stop us from sitting outside, catching up, people watching and enjoying a Bill Clinton (Ginny) and a Dice-K (me). We HIGHLY recommend it when you’re in town.

15 hours of flying, 36 hours in Boston and 4 hours of Red Sox playoffs. Ginny, Grace, Ceci and I headed to Fenway for the festivities. Tons of fans created an electric atmosphere that almost made baseball and interesting spectator sport. It was a cool autumn night, a sub-par game that was 3-3 at the bottom of the ninth. Two outs, two on.. and then Manny dropped a huge one over the Big Monster to win the game by 3. CRAZY!!!