MORE GAMES TO BE WON

02.01.2025

Today we had a relaxing morning, having breakfast with family and watching the University Road Race Relay (called Tokyo Kakone Ekiden) on television. This race, run over two days, has been held almost .every year since 1920.

Yoshi being Yoshi, has made this a family and work colleagues and their families, competition. He gives us the names of the universities competing and and we have to predict where each of the 20 universities will finish. Extra points are gained if you get any of the top three places right. It’s good fun and Yoshi put some serious money down for the winners. I won it last year while I was still in Australia!! That shows there is a fair amount of luck involved.

Five runners run the first day of the Ekiden with distances for each leg varying between 5km-20km with the last leg on Day 1. including a grueling 800m hill climb at the end of their leg, which the last of the five runners has to endure.

Runners pass on a sash, in their university colours, as they approach the changeover point where the next runner is waiting. If a runner does not complete his leg in the maximum time allowed, his next runner has to start, without receiving the sash. All runners in that team still run their various stages but they will not officially get a place. Very harsh if you ask me!

On Day 2, the last five runners will compete to get their team across the line in this demanding, nearly 220 km race. We will watch the race tomorrow, hoping we at least get a couple of places correct. One of my teams came in third on Day 1 which is a good start. Nana had the team that came second, and we were the only ones to do so. Hope my teams keep it up. Fingers crossed!!

Mami and I went for a walk to Daiso before we left for Hiroshima to see if I can find a bag I like but also needs Mami’s seal of approval. Yoshi and Youko came with us. Which they probably wished they hadn’t as the traffic on the Sanyo Tollway was horrendous for about 10 km. Most people are on holiday at the moment, so they probably thought, like us, a trip to Hiroshima would be nice. I’m glad it was Mami driving not me!

I have found my bag and bought it! Yata (hooray)! Yoshi and I are now sitting in Starbucks relaxing. Both of us with a coffee, Yoshi watching YouTube and me writing the blog. Meanwhile Mami and Youko are doing the rounds of the clothing shops, so we may need another coffee shortly.

Mami and Youko eventually got back to us with a few bags (see photos of Mami’s new clothes), and were ready to eat dinner. We ended up selecting a Chinese restaurant, which had some really delicious looking meals in the window. The meals were just as good as the moulded replicas in the window. We all enjoyed the meals very much and I would definitely go there again.

I drove home from the Hiroshima You Me Town, with the most difficult part of the drive was finding my way out of the car park. Not easy when you are driving and also have three different voices giving their opinion simultaneously, on where I should turn. Not all that helpful until Mami took over, thank goodness.

The good news is I bought my man bag and I’m quite happy with it. It easily holds my laptop as well as chargers, pens, notebooks (remember them?) e-book and various other thing

s. I will give the bag a test run tomorrow and let you know how it goes.