Samuel Kamau Wanjiru

I could've taught the gold medalist if i was placed in Sendai, Japan 6 years ago.

From The Yomiuri Shimbun:

BEIJING--Samuel Wanjiru, who on Sunday became the first Kenyan to win an Olympic marathon, thanked two Japanese mentors who coached him during his six-year stay in Japan. Wanjiru said he learned how to be patient during a race from his first coach in Japan, Takao Watanabe, the manager of Sendai Ikuei High School's track-and-field club. Wanjiru demonstrated this skill by enduring adverse conditions during Sunday's race, in which temperatures rose as high as 30 C. He repaid his second mentor Koichi Morishita, who won a silver medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, by going one better and claiming the gold. The crowd welcomed Wanjiru with a deafening roar when he arrived at Beijing National Stadium. With his arms raised aloft he crossed the finish line in an Olympic record time of 2 hours 6 minutes and 32 seconds.
"It was patience--the patience I learned in Japan. I was able to control myself in today's race. I want to thank Mr. Morishita," Wanjiru said in Japanese.
Wanjiru, 21, arrived in Japan in 2002 to study at Sendai Ikuei High School in Miyagi Prefecture, and joined its track-and-field club soon after. Watanabe, 61, said he was soon impressed with Wanjiru's physical ability and rhythmic running.
Wanjiru cultivated his extraordinary talent under Watanabe's watchful eye. "I told him to be patient during the race and not to make a dash for it too early. My aim was to teach him how to use his stamina efficiently," Watanabe said.
Watanabe received a phone call from Wanjiru on Friday night. Watanabe said he told Wanjiru: "Be patient [and stay in the lead group] in the middle stage of the race. The chance to spurt ahead will definitely come after this period."
The race went exactly as Watanabe predicted. Wanjiru broke away from two other runners at around the 37-kilometer mark, and no one was able to catch him.
"I was happy to see him fully displaying his abilities during the race," Watanabe said.

After graduating from the high school, Wanjiru joined Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc.'s track-and-field team based in Fukuoka Prefecture, coached by Morishita. Wanjiru said he learned about Morishita through a track-and-field magazine published in his country, and had admired him for a long time. Wanjiru's talent was nurtured further during his time with the team, and he won the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship in December--his first competitive marathon.

Wanjiru decided to leave the team before the Beijing Olympics to prepare for the Games in Kenya. Morishita, 40, reportedly motivated Wanjiru by saying, "I was only able to win silver in the Olympics, so I want to see you take gold in Beijing."
Wanjiru became famous in Japan in 2004 by playing a part in Sendai Ikuei's victory in the national high school ekiden road relay held annually in December.
Four years later, Wanjiru is now a father. He says he looks at a picture of his family on his cell phone when he feels the need to relax.
After the race, Wanjiru promised to break the world marathon record.
"I aim to run under 2 hours 4 minutes next year," he said.

Jasmina
My bro, sis-in-law and niece were in town for two weeks and they left this past Tuesday. I miss them already. My niece, Jasmina is six and soooo much fun to play with! She calls me “Gu-je! Gu-je!” (translation: aunt – but only if it’s your elder bro’s children, we have other terms for aunts in Chinese ;) and she would just wrap her arms around my waist and hugs me. We also invented the Rayman Rabbids hug, where we would hug and go “waaaaaa!!!”, just like the crazy rabbits.

Last Thursday night after dinner I was over at V’s, when I got back to home, my dad said Jasmina was looking all over the house for me.

Sigh...sometimes I wish they aren’t all the way over in New York….

Powell Street Japanese Festival

The weather was excellent! Sunny with a little breeze but a parasol would’ve been nice, especially at the sumo tournament. It was my second time attending the festival. Last time I went was with my brother about 12 years ago (mind you, if my co-worker hadn’t mentioned it last week I wouldn’t have remembered this summer event). Back then, the powell festival was of a much smaller scale and held mainly at the school. Needless to say I was quite impressed with this year’s events and food selection.

Festive Food:
We had Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake), korokke (potato croquette) nori mochi (seaweed rice cake), yakitori (grilled chicken) and ramunes (a special Japanese soft drink http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramune)
Knowing the ingredients and all, I think they’re a bit over priced ($45 total). But I consider having a Japanese picnic under the tree with great friends priceless.

Shows:
Karate Kids – they were soooo cute!
Sumo – Highly entertaining. The crowd cheered very loudly when a presumably underdog managed to push a guy twice his size out of the rim. During the semi-finalist round a participant got his shoulders dislocated and an ambulance was called. We waited about 15 minutes and decided to leave as we needed to head back to Richmond.
Tea Ceremony – the guys blushed a bit when the Japanese girls in yukatas (summer kimono) served them tea and biscuits. That was entertaining as well. :D

Other shows I would like to attend next year:
Kyudo – Japanese archery.
Taiko – Japanese drum

Stalls:
Nothing spectacular really.
I was hoping they’d have the kingyo-sukui (goldfish scooping using paper nets).
There was a balloon game though – where you have to fish water balloons using a small hook hanging from a wooden stick. We watched a little guy try to get a pink one for his sister. It was cute! Reminded me of my brother when we were little. :)

It was overall a good festival – but the shows were too spread out throughout the day. So if your interests are Kyudo and Sumo, you would have to wait for hours before attending the next show.


N.B: My left arm was tanned – the sun has moved to our left when the sumo wrestling started. I was standing and I had my left arm holding a piece of paper trying to block the sun.
When I got home I realized my arms are of different shades. XD