Dartboard

There are some things about this article that I disagree with, namely the last paragraph, but I feel overall it's an interesting take on language learning. Published in the Nagasaki Beat, April 2005.

How Easy is English?
By Danny Krieger

Is English and easy language to learn? This is a question I have been asked frequently and I’ve heard passionate arguments for both sides. And in Japan people often ask me (expecting the answer to be yes), is Japanese difficult?

In my travels, I have found that lots of the beliefs that people hold about their own language and language in general are suspect. For example, in South America and Japan, many people who I spoke to regarding Spanish and Japanese believe that their language was difficult to learn. When I learned how to speak Spanish, people remarked that I must be a genius because Spanish is “so complex.” And Japanese people are sometimes in awe of the fact that I can speak Japanese because they picked up the idea somewhere that foreigners can’t speak Japanese. Some Japanese people tell me that even they do not speak Japanese well, so how could a foreigner possibly do it?

What is going on here? Is it that people want to believe that their language is difficult because it’s self validating to speak a hard-to-learn language? I have heard many native speakers makes such a claim, but I have seen little evidence to support it. Whenever I hear such a declaration, I don’t bother disagreeing. Especially when their belief portrays me in a flattering light. But when I encounter people who make the claim that English is an easy language to learn, as I often do, then I feel that I ought to put my two cents in. This is not because I am defending English as a native speaker. The reason why I have a problem with this view is because it is inaccurate to say that any language is easy or hard to learn.

Such a claim oversimplifies the matter by ignoring some key points about language learning. The difficulty level of learning a language is relative. No language is easy or hard across the board. Languages can only be easier or harder depending upon who is doing the learning. In my view, there are at least five variables that affect language learning:

a. Age: for anyone under 12 years old, learning a language just happens if they can get lots of exposure to it. Just about anyone under 12 years old will become a native speaker if they are immersed in it.

b. Languages previously learned: for someone who speaks Korean, Japanese is easier to learn than English for the simple reason that Japanese and Korean are related, whereas English and Korean are not. So this learner will encounter some similarities between Korean and Japanese, which will result in Japanese being easier to learn. Sometimes even when languages are not related, they can still bear similar features, which make it easier for the learners, but not easy. It’s never easy to learn a language. Even children who, according to Steven Pinker, are “language geniuses,” don’t find it easy; it takes children many hard wrought years of trial and error before they get it right. It was easier for me to learn Spanish than Japanese because of similarities with English.

c. Language aptitude: let’s face it; some people are just better at learning languages than others. Ability to learn languages is akin to something like musical ability, some people have it and some don’t. It does not correspond to intellectual ability either.

d. Quality and quantity of exposure; the more one is immersed in a language, the more opportunity one has for learning it. Taking a class once a week for three hours just may not cut it. Good instruction helps, but language class is the slow boat to China of language learning. Speaking a language is not an academic subject. It is not information. It consists of procedural knowledge: how to do things with a language.

e. Motivation: the drive to learn a language can make all the difference.

By applying this reasoning to language learning, it logically follows that there is no such thing as an easy language or a hard language. Only relatively easier or harder languages, depending on the variables that I just mentioned. But this fact is not widely known and people continue to insist that their language is highly complex while other languages are easy or difficult to learn. The fact is: it takes a tremendous amount of work to learn any language. Each language has its own peculiarities, which result in certain features being challenging for learners. To believe that English is an easy language to learn, one must [not] ignore the following eight points.

1. Correspondence between spelling and pronunciation is sometimes nonexistent. Silent letters are all over the place. Also, the same letter-clusters are often used for various sounds: “ough” can produce five different sounds: dough, bought, rough, through and hiccough. You can spell “sh” in 14 different ways; shoe, sugar, issue, mansion, mission, nation, suspicion, ocean, nauseous, conscious, chaperon, schist, fuchsia, pshaw.

2. English has about 150 irregular verbs (they don't use the regular –ed suffix) and must be memorized individually. By contrast, Japanese has only two (kuru and suru).

3. Non-count nouns confuse non-native speakers. Why can’t you say corns? Well, the fact is that you can. But if you do, you are no longer talking about a vegetable, but a painful area of harden skin on your foot, as in: “I have two corns on my big toe that are killing me!”

4. English pronunciation is very challenging for most non-native speakers because it consists of about 17 vowels, as compared with Japanese and Spanish which each have the same five vowels. English consonant clusters are also difficult, as well as the stress patterns of English.

5. Prepositions are a mess. This is one feature that most non-native speakers never master. We say: in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. For a learner of English that just doesn’t make sense. Or how about: on a bus, on a plane, on a train, but in a car. Is there logic operating here? You can say, "The book is on my bed." But would a person be on your bed? They could be, but if you said someone was in your bed you’d be talking about a different situation.

6. Colloquial spoken English is highly idiomatic. Phrasal verbs (get on, give up) and idiomatic expressions (under the weather) among other weird ways of putting things are abundant in spoken English and cannot be understood by merely looking at the individual words. I once heard a native speaker ask a Japanese person, “What were you doing in San Francisco? Just kicking it?” Her reasonable response was, “Kicking what?” These clusters of words need to be learned as one unit of meaning, as a multiword word.

7. Article usage, especially “the” (the most frequently used word in English), is probably the least mastered, most elusive feature of English.

8. Modals (could, can, should, would, will, have to, supposed to…) are a very difficult system to get a command of.

Now you may think that I’m going to propose that English is difficult, but not so fast. I will only go so far as to say that it depends upon the five things that I mentioned which make a language easier or harder. As far as English features that are relatively easier to get the hang of, consider the following:

1. Adjectives: English adjectives are comparatively user-friendly. Simply insert the adjective before a noun or after the verb "to be” and you’re pretty much good to go. Compare this with Japanese, where adjectives are of two kinds, get tensed, and require one of two suffixes when listed in a series (-de and –kute). Or Spanish, in which adjectives are marked by number and gender. English adjectives let the learner off the hook by requiring no special treatment.

2. Writing: English has 26 easy-to-learn characters. Seven-year-old Japanese children master them quickly.

3. Verb inflection: the maximum number of forms that a verb can consist of in the worst-case scenario is five. For example: write, writes, wrote, written, writing. In Spanish, a verb can assume more than 50 forms, which not only include information about time, but also person and mood.

4. Formality: the majority of English words are neutral with regard to formality. For example, “you” can be used in any situation. Lots of other languages like German and Japanese require a whole array of "yous". In Japanese, the difference between colloquial and very polite language is so distinct that someone who is fluent in colloquial speaking often finds polite speech incomprehensible.

So the next time someone tells you that English or Japanese is easy or hard to learn, be polite and don’t try to debate it. It will fall on deaf ears and may result in a rapid wave of hostility coming your way (I know this from experience). But you will know the truth about this issue and hopefully that will give you some satisfaction. And if that satisfaction does not suffice, show them a copy of this article.

I still can’t believe he publicly displayed his affection for me!

It’s so friggin’ hot. Actually, it’s not thaaat hot, but it’s pretty humid. This is supposed to be the rainy season, but rain has yet to come. It’s just humid. I’ve been really enjoying the warm weather (went to the beach and sailing on my day off—see pictures below) but I am remembering how much I hate the humidity. Hot weather is great when you can wear whatever you want, but when you have to dress professionally, it’s not so much fun. At school I pit out my shirts! Honestly, it’s embarrassing. No matter how much deodorant and antiperspirant I use, if I wear a button-up shirt, my shirt gets sweaty. I hate it, but don’t know what to do except avoid these shirts in hot weather (and my wardrobe isn’t that extensive). Daniel recommended I tape tampons to my armpits to soak up some of the moisture, but the last thing I want is for a tampon to fall out of my sleeve during class (because the tape is so wet it doesn’t stick anymore). Any OTHER suggestions?

[Note to self: Rent “Hotaru no haka” (Grave of the Fireflies), a Japanese anime film.]

So I went sailing with Peter on Tuesday after we tried body surfing at Takaitabi in the morning. (Getting quite comfortable in the ocean, aren’t I?) The whole day was very relaxing. We took out a very small dingy because it’s easier than the hassle of the yacht. And it’s red! How cute!

Peter setting up the sail.

Peter sails away on a practice run.

It’s a very small boat, but it was great to be on the water. I didn’t take my camera on the boat because Peter gave me the impression that it’s very scary and we would probably tip over at least once. Apparently previous dingy-users have thought this sailing experience is scary, but I can’t understand why. It was perfectly safe!

With two people it does sit pretty low in the water, but the waves in the bay aren't big.

That's all.

Love,
Sierra

P.S. And you thought I had gumby legs! My little yogi!

My seester on a hiking trip with her friend Virginia and puppy Elsie.

My cat, Brain, playing with a fly in the bathtub. (Part of a series in which the fly mysteriously disappears!)

You be the judge.

Yesterday I was in a fitful rage at my supervisor. Solution: Buy a couch! I was so angry on my drive up north after school yesterday that I actually walked into a furniture store, pointed at a couch and said, ‘I’ll take it.” It’s a nice couch. I think. It was all over with so fast that I can’t really remember what it looks like. It’s ivory. A 2-person couch. To be delivered on Sunday afternoon. I’m very excited!

So, the reason I’m so upset at my supervisor… It’s stupid, really. We had a radio show disaster. I have my Wednesday interviews and I’m down to the last 3-4 teachers who haven’t been on the show yet, plus the principal and vice-principal. I asked the vice-principal two weeks ago if he’d be on the show and he was hesitant, but true to Japanese form, didn’t directly say he would not do it. And I used my poor Japanese skills to my advantage, not “understanding” how to except no for an answer. He needs to be a good example for the students. Finally Tuesday he told my supervisor to tell me that he couldn’t do it—using the excuse that he’s too busy during lunchtime. (The show is all of two minutes long and everyone’s busy but they all find two minutes to do it.) So I invited an English teacher on the show and we improvised cause I didn’t have time to make up a script for another teacher.

After my show, I’m notorious for coming out of the broadcasting room and propositioning my victim for the following week’s show. Everyone knows to look out for me as I enter the staffroom at 12:35 p.m. on Wednesdays. “Who will it be this time?” they all wonder. The principal happened to be in the office so I decided to ask him. EVERYONE says they can’t do it at first. Everyone is hesitant and embarrassed but with a little prodding they all agree. So, of course, kocho-sensei said, “Ah… well, muzukashii, ne?” And my supervisor stomped up to me and said, ‘It’s rude to ask kocho-sensei to be on the radio show. He’s too busy like kyoto-sensei! You had better not ask him.”

(She always says, "You'd better~" with me and I really hate it.)

Agh! I was so annoyed. It’s none of her business and was it necessary that she talk to me like that in front of the principal!!! Kocho-sensei has wanted to do the show since last year. He actually had agreed to a date last year, but because of a canceled school day, it had to be postponed until this year. But I still expected him to say no at first. Every week I handle the next guest on my own, except in this rare case with kyoto-sensei, and now all of a sudden she feels the need to get her nose in the middle of it. I was mostly embarrassed that she spoke to me that way in front of the principal. It was so rude and made me feel like a complete fool for even considering him. I think it would be rude NOT to ask him. Why SHOULDN’T he get the chance to do it, at least the offer!! His English is not bad and he loves trying to speak with me.

The thing is, kocho-sensei and I have a great relationship. He always invites me down to his office to have tea and chat about life. Yeah, he’s busy, but he really cares about me and wants to offer as many English opportunities for the students as possible. I’m sure he could have done it (even wanted to do it) but now my supervisor interrupted my invitation and made it very clear that I can’t ask him again.

So you wanna play tough, do you?

My solution? (No, not really buying a couch.) When I was calm enough to approach my supervisor again I said, “I’m quitting the radio show.” I told her every week I had to struggle to get someone on the show and I’m sick of doing it. (It's not quite that dramatic, but it's not my favorite thing to do.) Monday’s show I have a student help me read some Japanese and it’s sometimes IMPOSSIBLE to get someone. All I ask them to do is read 3-4 lines IN JAPANESE for Pete’s sake!! Everyone is too shy, too embarrassed! Enough of the struggle, I’m quitting.

My supervisor’s response was, “I’ll talk to the teacher in charge and see if you can stop.”

I was so tempted to say, “I’m not asking you, I'm telling you,” but I didn’t ‘cause that would be really rude and I don't WANT a war with her. But I was furious and even today I’m having a hard time sitting next to her.

And her English sucks.

I had to get that off my chest.

Enough negativity. I have some really great news too! End with the good news, right? I’ve been asked to start attending elementary schools on a regular basis!! There are three schools in Wakamatsu that have no ALT and I’ll rotate through them every week! I think I’ll start going on Wednesdays because I can switch my two Wednesday classes at the high school to other days pretty easily. I can’t believe how lucky I am. I’m going to be so busy!! Teaching at Wakamatsu Junior High School last year was one of the highlights of my week and the occasional trips to elementary schools was being on Cloud Nine. I’m very excited to start visiting these kids every month.

I mentioned a little in the last post, I went to Aokata’s (Kerry’s old) eikaiwa last night. There were just five adults, three women, two men, but three of them spoke pretty good English. As Kerry warned I received loads of food—chocolate omiyage and a home-made cheesecake!! I’ve got to start being careful about my diet! I told them all I was trying to loose weight and the woman said, “It’s okay, it’s small.” and promised to bring me something healthy next week. An older woman who has very basic English wanted to know all the foods I couldn’t/wouldn’t eat as well as my favorite fruits and vegetables listed in descending order!! What a sweetheart. She asked if I like watermelon and when she saw my watermelon-is-to-die-for-expression she was so happy because her husband grows them on his farm!! Jackpot!! I think I’ll start going to this eikaiwa every week especially during the growing season!

Had my swim lesson with Tanabe yesterday and he was happy to hear about the triathlon. I said, “I did it! Thanks to you!” and he got all embarrassed and said, “No, no, I didn’t help at all,” but he saw how awful I was before lessons with him. I think saying that really made him happy. (*Thanks, Peter! Okagesama de!)

I’ve also invited some school-related wives over my house for a mini, informal eikaiwa tonight. Just three or four women—don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but having people over is always inspiration to clean my apartment so that’s what I’ll be doing this evening before 7 p.m.

I’ve got a karate test coming up. Two weeks, I believe. It’s the second level of the purple belt. san-kyu (third level). I think this may be the first test that I take alone. Koichiro and I have progressed together up until now. He’s studying so hard for his teacher’s exam in the end of July that he rarely goes to practice anymore. I don’t think he’s very ready for the next test, but maybe he can still do it. It’d be funny if I ended up passing him, but I’d hate it if he stopped going completely.

Things are good between us, by the way. He didn’t go to last night’s school enkai anyway, so there was no need for me to not go to avoid him. I had more fun at the eikaiwa than I probably would have had at the enkai anyway. Consumed less empty-calories anyway. I hope he passes his teacher’s test this July. He’s been studying so hard and he is a really good teacher. I still stare at him longingly in the staffroom (carefully not to let him notice) but I think if he ever tries anything again I’ll be straight up with him—I’m not interested. Of course, I say that now, but I’m such the hopeless romantic I’d probably turn optimistic when the opportunity presents itself.

“Tima vil sho,” as a certain Viking always told me.

This weekend I’m going to Ojika to visit Dawn. It’s my first time to her island and I’m very excited to see it. She even has a cat! I’m needing to pet an animal—I miss them so much! I want a cat!!

I’ve written this whole thing at school today and I’m really needing to get off the computer and do some real work!

Love, Sierra

Rainy season? What rainy season?

Here I am with Yasuhiro and his monstrous trophy! That’s the second place winner, right there!!! The same dude I talked with forever at the enkai the previous night …the professional tri-athlete …sponsored by a CAKE SHOP! Is any of this ringing a bell?!?! I can’t believe I was so oblivious to his amazing capabilities!

Yeah, he did that triathlon in 3 hours and 30 minutes or something. That’s … unnatural.

I was so incredibly excited that I “knew” the second place winner that I tried to take this picture of him on stage, but I was so far away it turned out all fuzzy. Memories, though, memories.

Then there was some dancing and music. These are old women from my town, later some elementary school kids dancing to pop music. I saw Blaine and his band there too.

Mike, his wife and Rhianon at the enkai.

And then there was this raffle… AND I WON!!! I couldn't believe my luck! And then I couldn’t believe my unluck. I won 5 kilograms of sazae—this disgusting, LIVE shellfish. Who the hell gives away 5 kilos of shellfish and has the temerity to call you “a winner?”

Sierra with her 5 kilograms of sazae. Nasty!

And Mike won fish. It’s better than sazae anyway, but what a ghetto island!!

I think I stood alone in the disappointment of raffle prizes. Come on! They all came from right out of the ocean!! I’ve obviously got a long way to go before I whoo for the “oishii sakana” prize like every other Japanese person there.

Fortunately there was this really cute guy who noticed my discontent at winning 5 kilos of sazae and offered me his box of Goto udon. I insisted on trading the sazae for the udon (even though he had his own 2 kilos of sazae for taking first place in the relay team category) so that lucky guy went home with SEVEN KILOGRAMS OF SAZAE!!! More than enough for a lifetime.

I still can’t believe it.

Thanks very cute man! Enjoy your sazae!!

Also, this guy was deaf. He had a hearing aid so I thought he might be able to understand some things I said, but when I tried talking to him he really just couldn’t understand me. All this work to learn Japanese and there are STILL Japanese (really cute ones too) that I can’t communicate with!!! I’m grateful that Tajima-sensei has taught me some Japanese sign language and I was able to sign “Otsukaresama” to him before I left. I couldn’t remember my name in sign language however!! I’ll have to keep practicing sign in the rare event I run into him (or another deaf person I’m dying to communicate with) again.

The Fukue kids had to leave early (to catch their private water taxi back to their island), but since Dave didn’t have to work on Monday he stayed another night with me. Here’s Luis and I saying our goodbyes. It was wonderful to speak Spanish with him.

Some brave Japanese who sat at our gaijin table. Really genki folk from Yamaguchi-ken. I think the guy on the right lives in Arikawa and speaks really good English. If I’m not mistaken, he was at my eikaiwa class in Aokata tonight!!

Then everybody (the cooks, dancers, kids and townfolk) formed this tunnel for the athletes. Soooo coooool!

The nijikai (after party) was where I met the best of the best. I came in and sat down between these two. The girl on the left, Naomi, is… get this! Japan’s Number One Female Triathlete! Yasuhiro (2nd place winner this weekend, not sure how he’s ranked nationally) is on the right.

And this is Shige, the 1st place winner from today’s triathlon. He took first place last year too. (Wonder if he won some oishii sakana or something???)

And now I have all their numbers in my keitai!!!

And when Shige put his number into my phone he chose the little heart icon instead of the phone, home, or business icons. What a sweetie! I checked, he doesn't have a wife or a girlfriend either—he just lives in Fukuoka! A lifetime away!!!!

These three were so inspiring to be with. We talked for hours (yeah, in Japanese, people!!) They’ve all made professions out of doing what they love—swimming, biking and running. They said, “You should do it too! You can, you really can!” and being with them almost made me think, “Yeah! I CAN do it!”

Okay, this coming from the girl who stopped after swimming 2K!!! I haven’t ever even DONE a triathlon (on my own) and I’m dreaming about being a professional! It was way out of my league of course, but it was nice to dream with these who have not only done it, but have national recognition for it.

And they are such down-to-earth, awesome people. Naomi’s 22, just like me. Yasuhiro is 32 with a 2 year old son. His hobby is driving. Shige is 30 and wanted only to speak English, but after introductions realized it wasn’t really possible anymore. Naomi was especially wonderful. She invited me to come visit her in Fukuoka anytime. We’ve keitai emailed a bit since Sunday, but I doubt I'll see her before…

...prepare yourself. I’ve signed up for a REAL triathlon. My own. Not a team-relay-thing. I’m doing the whole thing myself. It’s much MUCH smaller (much doable-er) than the Monster Man and it’s not until October, but these three will all be there and I just have to hang out with them again. Asagami-sensei is going to help me and go with me. I’m so pumped!!

Here’s the whole Fukuoka Viking Team. I love you guys!!!

Speaking of vikings, one of these days I’ll tell you all the tragedy that’s occurred between me and my Norwegian. It doesn’t look good, folks.

I'm really exhausted. 1:12 a.m. already!! As much as I enjoy watching the soccer games on TV recently, I’ve got to get to bed earlier!! Japan beat North Korea, by the way. Did you see it? We're going to Germany and not coming back without the CUP! (Yeah right, but it's nice to dream, isn't it?)

All my triathlon love and inspiration, Sierra

Okay, wow. This weekend’s triathlon was the most fun I’ve EVER had in Narao. It’s definitely the largest congregation of people I’ve ever seen in my tiny little town. And the most attractive and fit men I’ve seen here in a while too!! Oh, the joy!!

On Saturday evening there was an opening ceremony in Narao’s town hall and I spotted some foreigners as they walked in and sat down. At the time I was busy hassling another different foreigner, a middle-aged American dude who lives in Sasebo and did this triathlon last year too. He seemed integrated into Japan, disturbingly nonchalant about the coolness of being IN NARAO!!

Um, hello. Foreigner on my island. I feel like a dog marking her territory—where are you from, why are you here, when are you LEAVING? But I’m not asking the “When are you leaving?” question because I want them to leave, it’s because I want them to stay longer!

And the three gaijin I mentioned before I managed to track down after the ceremony like a hound dog who caught a scent. They were Mike, Dave and Luis from Fukue (the largest Goto island down south). They were planning on staying in the town hall in sleeping bags, but I offered up my place immediately and managed to get three guests for the night! The most men I’ve ever had in my apartment in one night! Until their stay I thought I missed having testosterone around. I don’t miss it as much as I thought. I’ve not had that much beer consumed, farts emitted and poops flushed down my toilet in a long ti… ever. It was great.

So they stayed Saturday night and we all left for Takaitabi beach the next morning together. After partaking in my great American cereal breakfast first!!!

Oh, quick pictures from the enkai I went to with Asagami-sensei on Saturday night. I sat next to Asagami and Yasuhiro (IMPORTANT—REMEMBER HIM!!!) and was quite pleased with my Japanese performance for the evening. I carried on a very long conversation with Yasuhiro entirely in Japanese. So let me toot my horn for a bit. He’s a professional tri-athlete and is sponsored by a cake shop!! Yum! I asked if he gets to eat all the cake he wants, but I guess as a real athlete he doesn’t want that much. That’d be a dangerous sponsorship for me!!!

So, you don’t know any of these people (neither do I, but this is the atmosphere…)

This picture of the food is for my sister.

[Fast forward to Sunday morning—Day of the race!]

I feel like my motto for the race should be “スイムだけ!” (Swim only!) because everyone seems so impressed with what I did and I’m thinking, “All I did was swim 2K.” There were tons of people who actually exerted some real energy and did THE WHOLE THING! Perhaps considering in January I couldn’t swim more than 2 laps without keeling over in exhaustion and my form was… well, I didn’t have form I had legs and arm flinging in everywhichway in a desperate attempt to get me forward. Perhaps it IS impressive for me, but in general, 2K isn’t that much for swimmers.

Everyone at Takaitabi Beach. The 10 minute countdown starts!

The “before she realizes what she's gotten herself into” picture with Catherine! I look genki anyway!

Coming out of the water for my first, second lap… I’m not sure. I look tired enough for it to be my second!

"Yeah, I'm gunna lap all these mofos."

The “after she thinks she accomplished something worthy” picture with Catherine and Laura. Dekita!!

And the finish line! It’s a crazy picture—our runner was sprinting down the finish line and Nishijima-san and I couldn’t keep up. I was expecting him to slow down at some point to get a picture at the finish line, but he was gung ho about getting OVER the line before he slowed at all! And then the photographer had to jump out of the way and unfortunately got in my picture too! Craziness I tell you!!!

So we placed 16th overall and 4th among the relay teams. (There were 15-20 relay teams I believe.) 16th out of 100+ sounds good, but then you realize there were 12 INDIVIDUALS who did the whole fucking thing faster than the pitiful three of us! Ouch! And all the credit goes to my biker and runner who had really good times. Oh! Our total time was 4 hours 40 minutes and something-seconds; official times and splits are coming in the mail. I’ve estimated my swim at 47 minutes, but I’ll let you know the exact time when it arrives.

And the distances were:
2K swim (with beach start and each lap you come out of the water as well.)
71K bike by Nishijima-san (Fukuoka)
17K run by Uraguchi-san (Narao)

Here are the Fukue boys who placed, I can’t remember… 9th in relay, 50th overal? Give ‘em some credit though. Luis was misdirected on the bike, went about 10K further than he had to, then was called back and had to backtrack to the right road! He knew he was making the wrong turn (after his second lap) but they blocked off the correct road and told him he had to go thrice! That really sucked!

So their team was: Mike, swim (in 33 minutes, DAMN!) Luis, bike and Dave, run. In the picture from left to right it’s Luis, Dave and Mike on the right.

Three girls came up from Fukue to cheer on their boys. Mike’s wife, Luis’ girlfriend and Rhianon, an ALT on Fukue. Rhianon even made them signs! Fukue’s Finest!!

Mike did the Iron Man Triathlon on Fukue in April so he’s Mike “Ironman” Carter. Luis, is Puerto Rican, but for some reason they call him Mexican so he’s Luis “The Mexican” Negron. Mike is from Canada so he’s Mike “The Park Ranger” Hardy. I'm not sure if there’s more behind the “park ranger” story so it may not even be connected to his nationality.

Here’s Asagami-sensei crossing the finish line with bouquet upon bouquet of flowers! Everyone loves this guy!! He really went over the top to make sure were are all happy, fed, satisfied and didn’t pay a single yen towards beer, food or transportation!

Thank you Asagami-sensei!

Me and Asagami-sensei. He gave me my bike (last year when I still was considering doing the whole thing), my wetsuit, paid for my dinners both nights, paid for my taxi home on Sunday, took me on my practice run in the ocean Saturday. And outside of the triathlon weekend takes me (and my visitors) out to expensive dinners to ryokkans all over the islands—all because he’s a nice guy who likes foreigners. I have so much respect for this man.

Oh! This is the 16th year he’s done this triathlon! Holy shit!

Next posting will include pictures from the enkai that followed Sunday night… where I get to know the top winners and ALL their awesomeness!

Much love,
Sierra

Can I hold your trophy?