Quite a few people in Japan have 趣味(shumi: hobbies). Often, these people are fanatically dedicated to their hobbies, and are quite skillful. We've taken up a hobby: golf! We don't have the dedication or the skill, but it sure is satisfying to smash four-hundred-something little white balls into green oblivion.
The most interesting part is where we golf. As Japan has little space to dedicate to such a space-hungry pastime, most people go to driving ranges, which are weird netted-in affairs. Inside, it looks like a normal driving range, except for the fact that the balls come to you.
Allow me to demonstrate (click on the thumbnail for a short video clip).
Coincidentally, this entry also marks the 500-post anniversary of shock-e.com! What that means is that I've been blathering on about things that bear little relevance to the outside world for not a small bit of time. Maybe more than 3 years?!
Sure, there are much more prolific "bloggers" out there, but I prefer to think that people who can write more than that are probably blathering about even less relevant things than myself. Amen.
Comments
"In Communist Russia, balls hit you!!" - Yakov Smirnoff
Posted by: oldefezziwig | September 18, 2006 10:56 PM
hahah good one fezziwig!!
i get this funny feeling some crazy old man is sitting down there setting them up from the way it looks. not sure why.
Posted by: Kungfutrip | September 18, 2006 11:14 PM
That's fancier than the driving range I went to! But mine was in Naha City - too far from Tokyo for the technology to reach it?
Posted by: maktaaq | September 19, 2006 1:39 AM
some crazy old man is sitting down there setting them up
He must be the one making all the cool mechanical whirring clanking sounds too. It's too sci-fi-cool to be real.
too far from Tokyo for the technology to reach it?
I heard from other people their golf ranges don't have that. Maybe Gyoda actually has something cool that other places don't???
Posted by: Justin | September 19, 2006 1:02 PM
There are other cool things about Gyoda: ancient lotuses, burial mounds, haniwa hut, the best udon in the world, a really good ramen restaurant whose address I can't recall, the best uni restaurant ever, one of the best fancy sushi restaurants ever, just up the street from the burial mounds, my prairie dog friend in a poultry store...
I just wish Japan was close enough for weekend trips.
Posted by: maktaaq | September 19, 2006 3:47 PM
So, you picked a little white ball going up and down for number 500, eh? Seems interesting somehow...
Damn though--I remember when you were still running this site off of some little box in your bedroom in Summerville. 'Tis been a long time/way from there.
Posted by: jansen | September 20, 2006 2:11 AM
500 posts? I'm not sure if I should offer my congratulations or my condolences.
Posted by: esc | September 22, 2006 6:23 AM