u/MDthrowItaway

Im visiting with my kids and parents for the next few days.

Im from the US but spent a year here in 85 going to 1st grade in Kwun Tong, and then coming back every 2 or 3 years until college then became much less frequent. Whenever i come back to HK, it somehow feels like home to me.

What are the oldest parts of HK still remaining? I'm looking for neighborhoods or area that represent old HK. Real dai pai dongs, the old block buildings.. but i think they are mostly torn down. I recall my aunts and uncles had a place in a bunch of yellow concrete buildings in Wong Tai Sin that had shared bathrooms on the ground floors and was merely a room with the kitchen/cooking done in the hallway (i dont think there was even running water) and no windows and my grandma had place in Chai Wan in the old railroad style buildings that had the bathroom and kitchen on the patio. While these places seem foreign now, i was young enough that these places were normal to me.

What areas/streets of HK/NT shows the REAL gritty HK rather than the polished/tourist HK (ie temple st, victoria peak, Stanley, etc)

If I was on my own i would just wander around to see what I find, but i dont think my kids or parents have that level of patience.

Ill be in Hokkaido for about 10 days with the final 4 days being in Sapporo staying near the Nijo Market.

I have an Olympus EM10 mkII with a bad screen (probavly broken screen ribbon cable). Id either look at replacing the ribbon cable or finding a used m4/3 body.

Anyone have recommendations on good places that have a large selection of used m4/3 bodies/lenses or repairshops that might be able to handle the repair with a relatively quick turnaround?

Ill have one extra day with my car rental after arriving in Sapporo, would it be possible to drive from Sapporo (grabbing breakfast at Nijo Market first) to Furano and check out Biei and get back to Sapporo by ~430 (car rental is near Nakajima park which closes by 5pm). This would be on Sat the 16th. Would the flowers still be in peak season by then?

Would it be too rushed or worth heading there?

If not feasible, where else could we go for the day we have access to a car?

We would have done Hakodate, Noboribetsu, Shakotan Peninsula and Lake Toya prior to getting into Sapporo.

I will be taking a road trip through Western Hokkaido next week with my kids. We will be traveling from Sapporo and heading to Shakotan Peninsula and then driving down to Hakodate then heading to Nobirubetsu before spending a few days in Sapporo.

Whenever I travel with my kids I usually try to discuss where we are going in some historical context to make things a little more interesting.

They are 10 and 13 years old, I was planning on watching The Last Samurai with them and then discussing with them how that plays into the greater history of Japan including the Meiji restoration and how a culminated in the Satsuma Rebellion, which i beleive ended at Goryokaku in Hakodate.

I know that's not the most historically accurate movie however there is enough parallels to make it interesting for my kids. Id love to show them Shogun, but that'll probably have to wait a few years.

Are there any other movies (anime is fine too)that you think might fit my profile that my kids will enjoy? Thanks for any recommendations.

Edit: it seems like since Hokkaido has a lot less history and there are fewer movies featuring it in historical context. I do understand that the Ainu people are a large part of Hokkaido history, are there any movies or shows that discuss the interactions between Japan and the Ainu?

Ill be taking a road trip in Hokkaido in a few weeks. I will be trying to hit either Shimamui Coast/Cape Kamui or Lake Toya for a day and night on the way to Hakodate from Kitahiroshima (catching a ham fighters game and staying in Kitahiroshima the first night).

This will be smack in the middle of Obon so I'm guessing Lake Toya will be very crowded.

In Shimanui coast I plan on taking some walks and exploring the beach with my kids, doing the walk on the Cape and hopefully eating some good seafood before spending the night in Iwanai, the next day we will continue our journey to hakodate.

For Lake Toya we would probably check out Usuzan ropeway. Is there anything else to explore at Lake Toya?

Between the two Shimanui coast seems more interesting, although I will also be travelling with my 75 year old father who is in fairly good health.

1. Are rhe walks at Shimanui Coast and Kamui coast difficult?

2)As we will be travelling during Obon will it likely be very crowded in Shakotan? One reason I want to go there is to eat some of the uni meals they are known for, but i hear the small restaurants only serve a small number of meals before the run out, is there a high chance of that?

We will then spend two days hanging out in Hakodate before heading to Noborubetsu. I am considering checking out Horaimon Gate in Muroran on the way to Noborubetsu if I can get there during low tide. If we can't make the timing work (low tide seems early at like 9am) maybe we can come back to it the next morning to hit low tide. Anyone here been there? Is the hike out challenging?

Thanks for any help!

I will be travelling with my family (5, ranging from 75y to 10y) in August and taking a road trip through Hokkaido the first half (staying in kitahiroshima and catching a ham fighters game then driving to Lake Toya for 1 night then to Hakodate for 2 days then Noboribetsu for 2 days then 4 or 5 nights in Sapporo with a day trip via car to Furano and another day trip via train to Otaru). Is it necessary to buy an IC card for everyone? (Im guessing no?, is it helpful to get one or two for convenience shopping wise or is it best to use Yen?. What would be the most economic way to obtain Yen and not get killed on fees and exchange rate?

Thanks!

I have a US mobile phone plan that does not offer international roaming plan.

Which eSIM can I get that can give me access in Japan and Hong Kong that would allow me to make voice calls and SMS using my US line?

I understand I would need a local sim that has both data and call functionality and that will let me use the local phone line for calls/text for my US number.

Thanks for any help

How frowned upon would it be to guest play on another team while being on one team. It would be playing for the B team of a town travel team while also playing for the A team.

On the A team the coach has a set infield and rotates the other kids in the outfield.

The coach of the B team asked my kid to fill in and help pitch since they are short on pitchers for an upcoming game. My kid occasionally relieves for the A team (had a 0 ERA through 5 innings in relief through 3 all star district games). He hasn't used him in 5 games after the districts though (warmed him up twice but never used him) so it probably wouldn't impact the A team.

Do we need "permission" or just go play for the B team?

I am booking a week long car for my trip to Hokkaido - Unfortunately Alphard/Noah class minivans are all booked out for Toyota Car Rental. I see that this class is still availble at Times Car Rental.

I will be travelling with 5 people total (ages 10-80) and it would be nice to have the room/space for lugguage as we will be picking up at New Chitose and driving around to Lake Toya, possible up to Shakotan Peninsula to Hakdoate to Noborubetsu and possible over to Furano before heading to Sapporo and returning the car there to base in Sapporo for a few days.

I see alot of recommendations for Toyota, however will I have any difficulties as an english speaker with Times and picking up/dropping off in different locations.? Is the service and reliability of vehicles be similar between Toyota and Times?

If I go with Toyota, I would need to go with a something like a Rav 4 that is about the same length but seems to have less usable space.

Ive noticed that our fielders have difficulty fielding hard high line drives into the outfield. Fly balls / pop ups are fine because it goes high enough that there is time to read and get under the ball.

However for lower fly balls I've seen kids at multiple levels have trouble fielding the ball and they often move in too close.

Are there any specific drills/skills to practice his beside hitting line drives into the OF to have them read/field them?

He didn't make his modified team in 7th grade so we reworked his swing and practiced all spring. As a result, his hitting has been coming around. He plays in a rec league and a tournament team with his friends that some of the dad's put together.

The team gets together maybe once a month to go to a tournament. The have a couple of decent players but they are pretty much AA to low AAA level. They have played a couple of local open tournaments and have won once and lost by a largish margin the other times. Im guessing most of the teams he plays against are AAA to Majors level. He has fun playing with his friends and I wouldnt really look to join a better team since he probably enjoys playing with his friends more than he likes winning.

I'm just curious from a developmental perspective, is playing with a AA team detrimental although he still gets the reps in facing pretty good pitching and fielding? . His teams defense is hit or miss but he plays first primarily.

His goal is to make his high school team in a couple of years and hopefully along with a couple of his buddies.

My 10u is the smallest kid on his team by a head and use to get on base primarily via walks (something like 2-3 BB : 1 H ratio). This spring I was throwing to him at the cage and we played a game where I had him try to hit everything I threw at him (throwing around the perimeter, even to some frank balls) in an attempt to show him how he can put the bat to the ball even if it isnt dead center.

He became a lot more agressive at the plate and ended up doing very well in rec and had the 2nd best Avg and OPS in the league with only 2 SO the entire season (although IMHO, part of ithe reason why his AVG high was that fielding was pretty poor in general in rec)

We are now in the all star tournament and I just noticed that he literally had 0 walks as the smallest kid on his team through 5 games. These defenders are obviously much better than rec and he is still getting hits, but a higher % of ground/fly outs now. He is still agressive enough that he also has 0 SO (only kid with either 0 BB and 0 Ks on his AS team)

Im sure there is a point to reign him in at some point (ie: now he will swing at a questionable low outside, cap it and hit a weak fly out to short.. though he is also one of the fastest kid on the team so if its not a hard grounder right to the fielder and the fielder isnt agressive, he is likely getting on base).

My question is that at 10u, is there any point to have him be alittle more selective in his swings? Or just have him continue to be very aggressive at swinging at anything he thinks he can get decent contact? When would it be time to reign him in? When his batting avg starts going down?

I have a Chinese headunit (running Android 10) that worked fine for a few years connecting through my s10. I recently upgraded to a S25 but found that I cannot seem too connect my phone to the head unit.

Googling around it seems like this is a common issue.

Is anyone else having this issue? Is there a fix?

13u, kid hits a very hard hit using usssa bat to 3rd, hits the ground first bounces up hits the fielder in the glove(ithink) but bounces up and hits neck or shoulder and runner gets on first. (We paused play bc kid was rubbing his neck but he was fine).

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I was running GC and I learned the nuances of baseball by doing GC the past 5 years as i never played myself. In LL i would mark those a hit (basically if a hit should have been fielded by a player at a certain level). I was thinking this was an error and asked the coaches and they said thats a hit all day long. I marked it a hit and moved on, but later am just wondering if they said that to me just because it was my kid that hit it.

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At higher levels, is it always an error if the fielder touches it with their glove?

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Ill be heading to Hokkado in mid August with my family of 4 (2 kids 13 & 10) and my dad (80M, fairly active, swims a few times a week). This will primarily be for my dad as he is getting older and may be one of our last big trips to Japan. My kids love baseball and both my family (kids included) and dad love to eat.. so my goal is that these will play into our trip some how.

I've fleshed out most of my trip - I would appreciate some possible recs to fill out the rest (primarily the last few days) and possibly whether this plan seems feasible and if there are any off the beaten path sites/eats.

Day one/Sat - Fly into CTS - arrive 9am, Rent a car, Catch a 3pm Nippon Ham Fighters game, explore the stadium and grab a bite before/after the game. Stay in Kitahiroshima for the night (Already booked lodging and ham fighter tickets)

Day Two/Sun - Drive from Kitahiroshima to Shakotan (\~2hrs), explore Shimamui Coast, seafood/sea urchin lunch (4-5 hrs). At this point - I am trying to decide whether we should stay in Shakotan or drive down to Lake Toya (\~2 hrs) to stay the night. Guessing heading to Lake Toya might be too much of a rush and we would get there in the evening and not have much time to explore.

Day Three & Four (Mon-Tues)- Drive down to Hakodate, Lunch at Yakumo and explore the area, to break up the drive. Will spending 2 nights to explore Hakodate (already booked airbnb in Matomachi). Plan on checking out the typical sites - the Morning market, red warehouse, tram, etc - any Let me know if there are any hidden gems to check out in Hakodate!

Day 5-6 (Wed-Thurs) - Head to Noboribetsu - Booked 2 nights at Daiichi Tokomotokan - we got the breakfast/dinner combo both nights. Explore the Jigokudani, relax at the onsen, perhaps check out the Noboribetsu Date Jidai Village - i think my kids would like it - or would it be too tourist trappy?

For days 7-10, I am stuck - I was thinking of checking out Asahikawa/Daisetsuzan national park/Furano/Biei for 2 days and spending 2 days in Sapporo/Otaru vs. staying for 4 days exploring Sapporo/Otaru. Is 4 days too much in Sapporo? Is it too much to head from Noboribetsu to Asahikawa/Furano/Deisetsuzan? Any hidden gems to explore in these locations?

Either while in Sapporo or on the road we may seek out one or more batting cages to hit a couple of balls or even check out some Japanese sporting good stores.

Thanks for any help/suggestions

My 10u made the district all star team (yay) - I just looked at the district tournament bracket and saw that to win the district, there is a one week double elimination tournament. There are 10 teams in our district and we are seeded 7th and that means there will be up to 8 games in 8 days (if we win the first game and lose any other game, if we win all games it would be 5 games, top 2 seeds have 1 bye so they have anywhere from 4 games to 7 games)

1. Is this the typical set up for the district tournament?

2. How is seeding done for districts since there is no real interleague data? Is it done based on previous years team performance at that level?

If this is a typical set up, I imagine there is a huge premium on kids who can pitch. Im curious if its common for there to be potential walk fests by game 3 or 4 as the teams use their most dominiant pitchers the first few days (or just see blowouts as a lower seed team plays a higher seed team that has had more rest/byes).

Assuming there are 4-6 kids who can pitch decently (ie: throw strikes consistently, with 2-3 dominant pitchers, every one else average) - whats the best strategy, assuming it appears it looks like we are competitive/are winning - a) pitch everyone ~20 pitches/day or 1 inning, and varying domninant speed with those who throw alittle slower? b) Start strongest pitchers up to 50 pitches with 2 days rest, and then play the less dominant pitchers (again pairing speed with slower speeds unless the oposing team proves they have adapted). Obviously it will be situational, and if it looks like we need to pull all the stops to win, we play to win. If we win the first game (against 10 seed), the 2nd game will be against the #2 seed, who looks to be the strongest team in the league as they recently won a regional tournament in a very competitive division with multiple private teams.

I know this is all this is just theoretic, optimizing and doesnt matter since its 10u ball. Ive never played baseball and my older kid never made all stars or played tournament ball. Its kind of fun thinking about tournament strategy and pretending to be a manager, help me learn!

My kid will be pitching in his leagues 1st round playoff tonight. He will likely come in as a releiver and have limited pitch counts (<20) since they may try to save him tomorrow for another game if it looks like they will win (we def can win, depends on how many walks he allows his son who is starting today to have before pulling him lol.. and using other pitchers, we have 4 other pitchers with half to a fifth the ERA and WHIP)

Unfortunately I will not be there to warm him up or be at the game in general. I am going to have my older son (13y) warm him up.

I typically have a routine that I use for both of them prior to their pitching if im there..what do you think of this routine that I've written up for my older son? Im going to have him do this routine before showing up at the pregame warmup since the pregame warmup is usually kind of disorganized as coaches are all split up doing batting bp, lining the field, etc.

All of the coaches in the league are dad coaches and I found that they don't warm up their pitchers at all, they just tell him to go pitch with a three or four warm up pitches. I have found that my kid pitches way better and more accurately with some warm up(and is probably way better for their arms).

Anything to add/modify?

1. He has the orange band that he can do some warm up stuff with for 5 min - can do them quickly to engage and warm up muscles

2. 5 min easy warm up throws, throw with intention - good form and aim for glove. Dont need to throw hard, i want to see a nice arc on the throws (he still needs to arc it into the glove)

3. 3 min (maybe 8-10 throws) at about 40ft- 10 toes /hip facing forward, turn shoulder 90 degrees and throw, focusing on turnining the hips to throw. Can throw alittle harder (50-60%)

4. 5 min - long toss starting from about 40 ft, moderate intensity throws, have him hit the glove in various spots, when he hits it once or twice or is close he can move back 8-10 ft, do that until he gets to 90 ft (he can crow hop when he feels like he needs to)

5. 5 min same as step 4, but moving back in to 46ft.. can throw higher intensity (maybe 70% intensity) with less arc. Hit glove then move forward. Get to 46 ft. Do one or two high intensity crow hop throws from there.

6. 5 min. He should be pretty warm at this point you can have him throw a couple of pitches at 75% have him try out his fastball, change up and two seam, so he can see if he has a good form and a good location. At this time you can remind him that he should turn his hip first and then have the arm follow when pitching.

Thanks for any tips.

Help me understand how to best use the rubber when pitching.

Am i on the right track that once the lead leg is up, there is alittle internal rotation of the hip (ie counter rotation) that loads the glutes (maybe alittle forward drift of the butt "sitting down" the mound), then an explosive external rotation of the foot (most felt on the metetarsals against the rubber), driving the body down the mound, then the hip rotates followed by the shoulder?