In the midst

The mad crowd went wild when the homerun was struck, and it was only natural to be swept away with euphoria. It has been a tough fight for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks Baseball team, after fighting a long and embittered battle against the Marines. Japan's baseball finals was at its height, and here I was, at Hakata Canal City watching the game on the great big screen, with what seemed like the rest of Fukuoka with me. We were lagging, yet again, into the 7th round, but the cheering never stopped, even when the last batter came onto the pitch and nothing short of a miracle (actually, 2 straight home runs will do the trick), the crowd never did stop cheering "Hokkusu Hokkusu Gambare!", and Gambare indeed. The same spirit that rebuilt Japan after the war was epitomised before my eyes.

Even though I came back to my room only at midnight and spent the next 4 hours killing myself doing Japanese homework, I can only say that there was no regrets. We all have to do what we have to do (by which I mean homework), but then again there are some things we should never pass on.