Spectator sports?

Been busy, as usual. Nothing really special to report lately, beyond some standard interpersonal drama that I was only tangentially related to.

I did go to Gifu prefecture (about 2 1/2 hours west of Tokyo by bullet train) last weekend to visit a friend and see the traditional art/industry of Cormorant fishing. As a UNESCO-recognized "indigenous cultural treasure," it's not a bad way to spend an evening drinking beer with your friends. The whole point is supposed to be using these half tame water birds (called "Cormorants") on leashes and choke-chains to catch little sweetfish (called "ayu") by torchlight. Really, few things are as absurdly relaxing as taking an evening cruise on a warm summer night, drinking and eating with your friends, and watching a man in a grass skirt force a riverbird to cough up a fistfull of live fish by the light of a roaring wood fire suspended in an iron basket from the prow of a 18-foot boat.