2009世界選手権ディビジョンＩ

日本代表がリトアニアで開催されている2009世界選手権ディビジョンＩ グループＡ で好調な滑り出しを見せています。去年札幌で戦いディビジョンＩに残留したクロアチアと、ホーム開催でディビジョンＩＩのグループを制覇して昇格してきたオーストラリアに両試合とも７－１で大勝しました。これから相手がリトアニア、スロベニア、カザフスタンと難しくなりますが、決して日本が勝てないグループではありません。期待して応援しましょう！初戦のクロアチア戦の写真と、二戦目のオーストラリア戦の写真です。今年の代表のゴーリーは春名選手とアジアリーグのプレーオフＭＶＰだった石川選手ですね。

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Blades the newest AL team!

The Tohoku Free Blades have been tentatively accepted into Asia League Ice Hockey starting with the upcoming 2009-10 season!

The Blades currently only have 12 skaters and 2 goalies on contract, but now they can start their work in earnest to strengthen the team by signing more experienced players (probably some former Seibu Prince Rabbits) and imports, now that they’re more or less officially part of the AL. This is great news for hockey in the Tohoku area (north eastern part of the main Honshu island). The timing is great as most seasons in hockey playing countries are starting to wind down, and players and coaches will be looking for employment for next season. The plan is to play 8~10 games in Hachinohe, Aomori, and other games in the Tohoku area such as Koriyama, Fukushima where the team will be based.

Edit: The team is expected to operate on an annual budget of 150 million yen = $1.5m (much closer to the Nikko Ice Bucks budget than the Seibu Prince Rabbits’ 500 million yen = $5m), and is going to work to draw an average attendance of 1,500 per game.

Engrish with a purpose

Japanese beverage manufacturer Suntory has a new pop drink out called Lucky Cider. The commercial for the drink is full on Engrish (or Japlish)… but done on purpose for effect, with the Lucky Cider girl Nozomi Sasaki singing katakana-ized lyrics with a heavy Japanese accent. This is a new self-conscious twist on inadvertent Japanese Engrish commercials and advertisements that are still pretty common.

Here are the lyrics:

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Papa Mama Lucky morning !

My friend is unlucky !

Sun is shining for me !

Handsome guys want me !!

Big money hit me !!!

I am a lucky girl !

Because I drink Lucky Cider !!

Hi !!!

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Awesomez.

This commercial is doubly awesome because it was all done in one take… which means it took 26 takes over 5 hours to get it right. (The 3’3″ video on the right is the making of video.)