(NOAH) Donmai, Donmai ~ Mitsuharu Misawa's diary - 24th August 2007

24TH AUGUST 2007

We athletes don't really like the new gyms, but if you go north* during this time of summer, you're lucky that the gyms don't have air conditioning. On the other hand, if you go south during winter, there's no heating, which is also tough. The gym is like our workplace, but most people don't have many opportunities to go to the gym, so I thought you might not know about it, so I wanted to let you know. 

I think the hottest place so far this year was the gym at Tsukidate. I was already sweating for two matches before my match, and I wore one T-shirt for practice, and two more after practice when I went back to the waiting room as I was still sweating. I had to wear three t-shirts in total, as I was still sweating before and after the match. This may be annoying for people who think that the venue will be air conditioned even if it is hot, but unfortunately even if the venue is air conditioned, the locked room often is in the same situation. It would be understandable if it was an outdoor venue and it was hot, but then rain is still a concern...I guess we just have to realize that summer is hot.

    

Speaking of being outdoors, the Minase event was held again this year. It was the day after Tsukidate, but as expected, it felt quite cool being surrounded by the mountains. I hope everyone who came to watch enjoyed themselves. The annual Minase Festival also had a number of stalls, and this year's atmosphere was full of summer vacation vibes. I loved festivals when I was a child, and of course I looked forward to the stalls, but there was actually another fun thing (on the day after the festival, when I went first thing in the morning after the stalls had been taken down, there were lots of coins lying around, and I remember going around picking them up with my friends). 

Now, I'll answer Ippei's question... (hehe).... I mean, I don't think it's that easy. You probably have made mistakes that you don't think of as mistakes. You call yourself "positive" or "a positive person," but to put it another way, your attitude is the same as being insensitive, so I think most people are (of course, really positive) thinkers. This is just Ippei's attitude, after all. That aside, I think it would be good if they were the same, and the best thing would be the language. What else? It figures, its language and currency. If they were the same, it would be so much easier. I'll leave the answer to Ippei here, and here's a question for next week's person in charge, Shuhei. When you were in elementary school, what was the most difficult summer homework assignment for a young person? By the way, I had a picture diary, I found it a pain to write every day...

It's still hot, so I'll try not to sleep with my stomach exposed and get an upset stomach*.

This was Misawa. See you in two weeks!

Notes

North Japan: Heading up to the cold North (the coast borders Siberia), Japan is notably cooler in summer, and with heavy snow in winter. Parts of this region are known as "Snow country". 

Stomach exposed: Means to sleep belly up and topless (or else sleeping with your shirt open), which was believed to cause an upset stomach. Mothers used to use "belly bands" on their children. Thank God this is the end of his story though. In recent years, this has come to mean lazing about at home - which is what Kenoh accused Misawa's beloved Shio of doing when he was injured!