In Hot Hot Water

Last week I found myself offline and miles up a remote
river valley in rural Okayama Prefecture in a hot spring
town called Yubara, enjoying the waters at one of Japan's
few open air mixed bathing spots (the women bathe in pro-
tective towels, in case you were wondering). The lovely
little traditonal inn where we were staying served a sumptuous
repast of crab, tempura, 'onsen' tofu and home cured ham
which we washed down with local sake and microbrew. The only
blot on the whole experience was the primitive broadcast TV
which we had tuned to regional childrens' broadcasts to enter-
tain our 2 year old. Programming switched long enough to reveal the
highlights of Wednesday's J-2 match between Tokyo Verdy and
the hapless Cerezo Osaka, the latter of whom were demolished
0-3,which is now also their record in the league - winless and
in very very hot water. Their previous results- 0-2 at home
to Vegalta Sendai and 1-2 away at Shonan Bellmare - show
that without a doubt the curse of 2005's fall from grace
continues without an end. This Sunday (March 25th) they play
their new derby partners in J-2, Kyoto Sanga, at home and I
predict some mild violence (?) should the home team stumble
again. The team bus is parked out in the open behind some
flimsy barriers and and few eggs will not be undeserved.
Honor demands I attend but I will delay my decision until
the very last minute. The team had better bring their own
towels to cover up!