Going back to Tokyo. Went to the airport to return the rental car at about 9 am. Then check-in and an hour or so resting in the Delta lounge reading my Ayn Rand book, Atlas Shrugged.
A summary of this years trip to watch an Oakland game… Great to see all the friends, great tail gate party, great to dedicate a weekend and some to football. And a back to reality feeling, Raiders is not the greatest team in NFL at present and no chance to win Super Bowl… This year either.
But next year 😆
Early bird today to get to the Coliseum for the Raiders game against Chiefs. We met Eyepatchi-san and Andy at the Raider Image and drove together to the Coliseum.
We were there around 9 am or just past. The game started at 1 pm. So what do you do at a parking lot for 4 hours? TAIL GATE PARTY!
All the food we prepared yesterday we brought today. And Eyepatchi-san and Andy also brought a lot of food. So we spent most of the time eating, eating, and eating. And talking about the upcoming game. All hope.
Finally kick-off. Raiders first drive was 4 plays and a touchdown. Yahooo!
Many wants to bench Russel for his bad performance so far this season. We are hoping he has improved during the Bye Week, i.e. that he used the two weeks off to prepare and improve.
From there it was downhill. Until in the 4th quarter Russel was benched. But WRs dropped passes all day long so the final score was 16-10 for Chiefs. Another loss for our yearly trip. It has kind of become our tradition now.
After the game we went to Ricky’s again to drain our sorrows in Coke and junk food. And first half of the Sunday night football game between New England @ Colts.
In half time we went back “home” to pack for our trip back to Japan tomorrow. It’s going to be a looooong trip.
Second day in the San Francisco area. We slept in a bit this morning. But once we started we went from zero to full speed in no time.
First stop of the day was Ricky’s sports bar for lunch and College Football. When we arrived at Ricky’s we found a new shop that sold Raiders t-shirts among other Raiders things, JV’s Locker Room.
It turned out that JV stands for John Vella and won a Super Bowl ring with the Raiders in Super Bowl XI back in 1977.
Mash-san mentioned that his all time favorite NFL player was Ken Stabler, who happened to be the QB when John Vella won his ring. That seemed to make a bond between them and Mash-san could borrow John’s ring… For a while.
Afterwards we visited Ricky’s to have lunch and watch College Football. We watched Stanford @ USC (Pac-10) while eating typical American sports bar food. The game was a great upset since Stanford won. We gave Ricky a #1 t-shirt and some cookies, and we all got a gift from Ricky (I got a Bobbing Head Touchdown).
Then it was time for our yearly visit to the Raider Image. Usually after we leave the Raider Image they need to refill their storage rooms. This year was no difference. We had our hands full of bags once we exited the shop.
On our way home the sun set while we drove across the San Francisco bay. When we got back home it was dark. And we spent the rest of the evening preparing the tail gate party tomorrow, eating dinner, and talking.
Finally the week is over, at least the work week. Chie and I still got up as early as we usually do. Breakfast and then on our way to Narita for our yearly Raiders’ trip to San Francisco.
But first we stopped at the Swedish Embassy to get my new driving license. Then in Ginza to buy some gifts and then Nippori for a local train to Narita Airport.
At Narita we met Mash-san and had a lunch with him before we passed security. I exchanged some US Dollar and went to the Delta lounge to relax. Chie joined me after a while but Mash-san had to stay outside since he is not a Gold Medallion member.
The flight was loooooooooong and uneventful. Slept some directly before and during takeoff. But once I woke up I could not go back to sleep. So I watched some movies and read my 1000 pages and some Ayn Rand pocket book.
Finally we landed in San Francisco. Got our bags. Sneaked out through immigration. Got our rental car. Drove to Residence Inn in San Mateo. Checked in. Boom. I fell asleep while Chie, Mash-san together with Shimura-san and Kikue-san went grocery shopping.
When they got back I woke up and Shimura-san drove us all to the Stanford shopping mall for some serious shopping. But first a lunch at Max’s. So so, but we had a fun time.
On our way back we stopped to shop some books at Borders as well. To my surprise they had my favorite training wear shop there, Lululemon Athletica. I bought a t-shirt.
Back at “home” we talked, prepared dinner, had dinner and talked again. About what happened since we met the last time, football in general and Raiders in particular. We had a fun time and the food was delicious when Chie is the chef.
The day before going to San Francisco… What better to do than to go to Yasaka for dinner. Delicious as always. And fun as always. Besides the good feed, the people working there, and especially the owner, are crazy funny.