If you thought the rice farmer in Okayama was a die-hard Hanshin Tigers fan. There is a rice vendor in Ishibashi (where we live) who delivers rice on his Tiger-striped bicycle and in his Tiger-striped truck. If you look at the picture with the bicycle, you'll see his black and yellow shirt which he also wears when he goes on deliveries. (is he dedicated or what?) In Japanese, they call a fan like him Torakichi, which means he's crazy for the Tigers. He's been on the local news several times and featured whenever the Tigers are doing well. I guess you could say he's famous, well, in our neck of the woods, anyway.During the day, I've often passed him along the street and he always smiles and says "hi". When we passed his shop today, he was there and graciously let me photograph his vehicles.
Although the Tigers are losing their steam, they have 8 more games until the end of the regular season. Hopefully, they'll be able to maintain their 3rd place position so that they can go to the play-offs.
I've had this peeve ever since moving to Japan..for all those television stations out there, show the end of the game!! What's the point of even broadcasting a game if you aren't going to show the end of it! (They will cut off a game in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 out, just to show 5 minutes of commercials!)
Go Tigers!
