156 Hours of Meetings, Olympic Events and Get-Togethers. It was not a bad way to spend a week and what Ricky and I dubbed the “Good Karma Games”. We lucked out big time on so many things…

The first trip in the new Nike Fiscal year.. and we were off to London for a couple of days of great meetings and brilliant sights. From old school taxis to krispy kreme donuts, we had a blast. click the picture for more photos on Flickr!!

The Nike Japan crew came by the house for some excellent home cooked Korean food, good conversation and laughs. The 3rd round… just 5 more to go!!!

The end of the new year brings a slew of Japan sporting events, which means putting on a suit, getting my butt off the sofa and getting out for some great games and shakin’ hands. They range from High School students to Pro Teams and end with stories that are heroic, tragic or just plain expected!

2008 Hakone Ekiden, the university relay race that covers 200km from Tokyo to Hakone and back. This year say Nike’s own Komazawa University come up and win the whole thing!

The first of January saw the Kashima Antlers vs. the Hiroshima Sanfrecce in the 2008 Emporer’s Cup. The Nike team and 2007 J-League Champions Kashima Antlers walked away with a 2-0 victory to cap off a great season!

Saitama Arena was filled to capacity with thousands of screaming fans for the year end fighting finale. It was crazy with smackdown, takedowns, broken noses and bloody faces!

Winter Cup is the perennial High School Basketball tournament in Japan. The countries top team Noshiro lost in the semifinals and ended up third which was a bummer but the final game came down to the wire. The arena was packed with 7k fans with a line of 200 people still waiting outside.

JiYoung and I invited some more of the Nike crew over for our “progressive” home party. People showed up throughout the night for delicious Korean BBQ and Mac-co-lee. It was a great time with some good laughs. Happy Holidays!!

The late crew.

The boys with the Shitake Mushroom Powder.

The Ladies!!

Nike Japan hosted a Birthday party for Model/Athlete/Runner Rie Hasegawa. Close friends gathered celebrate her XX birthday as well as send off some key people (Fighter Caol Uno and guest appearances by Kumiko Ikeda) on their journey to Honolulu for this years marathon.

And of course, me and our lovely Hawaiian help!
:)

It was an Electric Night at the Urawa Reds stadium with 59,000 fans and 2 money goals. For the first time ever, the Reds became the only team from Japan to become the Asia Club Champions. It sounds odd and maybe not a big deal to many – but for football fan, pretty damn cool…

it was a grueling battle of football kick-targets and bazaar relay races in this years Nike Japan Sports Day. Green Team #6 didn’t really win anything but we had a great time and made some excellent friends. And to finish the day off, we enjoyed some fresh BBQ topped with a couple of live lobsters. I’m typically not a big fan of these “forced fun” events but it was a beautiful day and we all had a great time! See the full set of photos.

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.