It has been a busy week dear reader, if you've been following along at home. Today is another public holiday here, 'Mountain Day' (Yama no hi) supposedly to encourage us to get out into the mountains for a day. (The other explanation is that mountain-types were jealous that beach-types had their own public holiday and wanted to balance things out.)
But I digress. Most of the public institutions I might use on a non-teaching day (research institutions) were closed today too so I took that as a hint to ... well, do nothing really, except watch the baseball.
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| Batter up! |
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| Pine |
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| Myrtle |
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| Curves |
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| Trumpet call |
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| Butterflying |
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| Pausing |
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| Light |
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| Pitcher |
This is not just any baseball. It is the annual national high school championships, held every summer in Osaka and which can stop the nation as the country's leading young players stake everything on winning for their school and their prefecture. There is a kind of naivety and earnestness that one doesn't get in professional sports (where a number of these youngsters will go--so it kind of serves as a marketplace for the next generation of pro athletes.
It is a bit mesmerising and a day can be done and dusted before you know it.
Good thing I have a garden to stroll in, otherwise I might have achieved nothing all day. (Not that there is really anything wrong with that occasionally now, is there?)
[Camera : Lumix TZ-85, 4.23pm-4.38pm; 11 August 2017]
