MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS

Umpiring a baseball game in Japan is different. Instead of calling "balls" and "strikes" in that order as we do in America, the Japanese reverse it with "strikes" and "balls." At my first game, it took me a couple of innings to figure this out.

The JAPAN TIMES is the daily newspaper I enjoy the most. Although many fewer pages than its American counter-parts, it covers all the news and is easier to read. It is, of course, printed in English.

Behavior at a Japanese theater is also different. During a performance, patrons feel free to get up, walk around and carry on conversations.