The World Table Tennis Championships are important not only in themselves but also because they affect the members to be chosen for the 2012 Olympics. There is speculation that Ma Long, having lost in the semi-finals, will not get a place in the Olympics. The two places that are decided are Wang Hao and Zhang Jike, who are ranked 1 and 3 and were also runner-up and champion, respectively, in the WTTC. The third would usually go to the highest ranked remaining player, who is Ma Lin.
Although I like Ma Lin, he is getting old, and I think Ma Long would be a much stronger competitor next year.
Monday, May 23, 2011
WTTC 2011
The World Table Tennis Championships finished last week. As I mentioned before, they were held in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The men's champion from last time, Wang Hao, got to the final, but he lost in 6 sets to the new champion, Zhang Jike. Zhang Jike moved up into the top ten in the world rankings only comparatively recently, so he is much less well-known than players like Wang Hao, Wang Liqin, and Ma Lin. But I suspect he will fairly soon be number 1 in the rankings and easily findable on YouTube.
Ma Lin lost in the quarterfinals.
Ma Lin lost in the quarterfinals.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Takamori
On Saturday, my wife's parents came to our house to stay, and yesterday we all went out together. We headed for Takamori, to see a "power spot" situated near to Takamori Onsen. The power spot was a mountain. We walked up rather a steep set of stairs to a shrine, and then up an even steeper mountain to the top. The top consists of a kind of arch of rock, with a very nice view on the other side. It is said that going through the arch will take you through to the future or the past, but we didn't experience that yesterday! There is also a kind of shallow cave to the side.
On the way to the "power spot", we stopped at a strawberry picking place. They had 4 kinds of strawberries, and we each ate about 40 to 60 strawberries. On the way back, we played tennis in a park, so it was a very full day!
On the way to the "power spot", we stopped at a strawberry picking place. They had 4 kinds of strawberries, and we each ate about 40 to 60 strawberries. On the way back, we played tennis in a park, so it was a very full day!
Work for week of May 16-May 22
Please write Essay 2, which should be about something related to Kumamoto.
- Please include links
- Please include pictures
- Please write 4 or 5 paragraphs. Remember NOT to put line returns within paragraphs.
WTTC: new world champion
The World Table Tennis Championships in Rotterdam in Holland have finished, I think. The men's singles final took place yesterday, between Wang Hao, the world no. 1 and the champion in the previous world championships in 2009 (held in Yokohama), and Zhang Jike, a 23-year-old player who has been rising quickly up the world rankings over the last year.
The match was a contrast of styles. Wang Hao plays penhand style, and his powerful backhand distinguishes him from most penhold players, while Zhang Jike plays with a shakehand grip. Wang Hao is 27, and, unless Zhang Jike has an injury, it's difficult to imagine Zhang not taking the world number 1 ranking away from him.
The match was a contrast of styles. Wang Hao plays penhand style, and his powerful backhand distinguishes him from most penhold players, while Zhang Jike plays with a shakehand grip. Wang Hao is 27, and, unless Zhang Jike has an injury, it's difficult to imagine Zhang not taking the world number 1 ranking away from him.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Kenta Matsudaira
Kenta Matsudaira is a Japanese male table tennis player. At present, he's ranked 32 in the world. He is 20 years old. He became famous in the world table tennis championships in 2009, when he played the world number 4 Ma Lin in the quarter-finals and nearly won the match, getting to 4-1 ahead in the final set before finally losing.
He hasn't really done anything terribly exciting since then, but that performance was enough to launch him into the twenties and thirties in the world rankings, from the fifties and sixties though most of the previous year.
He hasn't really done anything terribly exciting since then, but that performance was enough to launch him into the twenties and thirties in the world rankings, from the fifties and sixties though most of the previous year.
Mashiki Culture Center
Mashiki Culture Center, although it's outside the main city of Kumamoto, may well be the best place for musical performances, and it often hosts major international artists.
Prefectural Theater
Kumamoto Prefectural Theater is probably the best-known concert venue in Kumamoto.
Ai Fukuhara
Ai Fukuhara has been a darling of the Japanese table tennis scene for a long time now, though recently she has been eclipsed by the younger Kasumi Ishikawa. Fukuhara has a long and varied experience with table tennis, including about a year (?) playing Chinese league table tennis for a provincial team. That is no doubt one of the main reasons for her high world ranking, which is at present 7.
That ranking is a bit of a surprise, because in Japan she generally loses out to Ishikawa (number 10) and Sayaka Hirano (number 11), and as far as I know she has never won the national championships in Japan.
That ranking is a bit of a surprise, because in Japan she generally loses out to Ishikawa (number 10) and Sayaka Hirano (number 11), and as far as I know she has never won the national championships in Japan.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Shrek the Third: A Good King is Hard to Find
"You'll love being king," Shrek tells Artie…"Poison? Bodyguards? Stop the boat!" yells Artie.
This is one of the books written to support the release of the movie Shrek the Third. It's a good way to familiarize yourself with the characters after or before watching the movie.Hapka, C. (2007). Shrek the Third: A good king is hard to find. New York: HarperCollins.
Series: ICR2
Vocabulary: mayor 市長、町長
(61 words)
Champions League
Both Champions League semi-final matches last week ended with the away team winning the first leg convincingly, which means that it will be quite difficult for the losing team to come back to victory. So it looks like Manchester United will play Barcelona in the final, although of course we can never know whether there will be a comeback.
Manchester United's semi-final opponent is Schalke from Germany, while Barcelona's is Real Madrid. The final will be played in Real Madrid's stadium called the Bernabeu, so Real Madrid would badly like to come back in the second leg and appear in the final.
Manchester United's semi-final opponent is Schalke from Germany, while Barcelona's is Real Madrid. The final will be played in Real Madrid's stadium called the Bernabeu, so Real Madrid would badly like to come back in the second leg and appear in the final.
BR1-04: Spider-Man 3: Meet the Heroes & Villains
I sometimes change from Peter Parker into someone else…Spider-Man.
This book is part of the set of books written to support the release of the Spider-Man 3 movie. To tell you the truth, the book itself isn't particularly interesting, but I think it's useful to read before watching the movie, because it introduces the characters in the movie, including Peter Parker, his boss, his girlfriend (played by Kirsten Dunst!), and the villains, including the New Goblin, Sandman, and Venom. You can read about some of those villains individually in other books in the series. If you haven't seen the movies, I recommend them highly, because, in addition to interesting action, the relationships in the movie are very interesting.
Lime, H. (2007). Spider-Man 3: Meet the heroes and villains. New York: HarperCollins.
Series: ICR2
Vocabulary: villain 悪役
(132 words)
Premier League revisited
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Arsenal in the English Premier League (EPL). At that time, they were losing and drawing matches and seemed to have given up any hope of winning the league. Their worst result was a loss to Bolton Wanderers.
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