According to the Daily Yo' this morning, May 10 was officially the hottest day of 2009 thus far across Japan. Across the Kanto Plains we had zero cloud cover, a fair amount of humidity and roaring Spring temperatures reaching 28.5 °C in the shade. Out on the Musashi University training ground it is fair to say that temperatures must have been well beyond 30 °C (86 °F) with the heat radiating from the dry dirt track (not a speck of grass on the entire field). You wouldn't have known the conditions to be "difficult" though, if you were watching the Musashi University 1st XV, that is. They were young, fit and fired up.
The majority of the guys going to the Philippines to play in the 2009 Manila 10`s boarded their flight to Manila on the evening of Thursday 19th March, and they were a resplendent looking bunch in their tour uniforms of Yukatas (summer kimono), chonmage (samurai hairstyle), and hachimaki (head bands). They were to be joined in Manila by an overseas contingent of TGRFC Old Boys and a couple of guys that had left earlier to enjoy the sights that the Philippines had to offer.
Thanks to Toru Kanemori for organizing the tickets to watch the New Zealand Universities squad face up to Japan's top school (and Toru's Alma Mater), Keio University, at a beautiful facility in Hiyoshi.