Arm Wrestling???

So, this is 100% true, and it just happened a couple of minutes ago. J and I are back in Kofu after travelling to Tokyo then Hokkaido and I am just sitting in her office checking email etc while she is off processing some samples or something.

So I am just sitting here minding my own business when 3 Japanese guys come in the door. I didn't think much of it because it's a 2 person office with a lot going on. But they were trying to get my attention. One of them was saying something about arm-wrestling. Johanna is standing in the hallway behind them and she tells me that they were talking about arm-wrestling and they wanted to know if I was strong. I didn't know what to tell them...I am not much of an arm-wrestler but I figured I would play along. What was the worst that would happen...I would lose. In the bustle of Japanese and broken english I think I hear that this kid is some sort of champion. Maybe they were kidding, but it's pretty hard to pick up on sarcastic subtleties when you don't even understand the language. So we clear a desk and I square off with this kid and soemone holds our hands and calls "ready, set, go". He was a tenacious little bugger. You should have seen the way he ducked his head towards the table to try and muster all of his strength. I think that one problem is that I probably outweight most full-grown Japanese men by about 40 pounds. We were at a stalemate for several seconds and then he started to fade. I just leaned my huge American hulk into my arm and put him down. After that his friend wanted to wrestle me. Similar story, strong start but no endurance.

I am not posting this to brag...I just think this is rediculously surreal. C'mon, you can't make this stuff up. I never would have guessed that I would travel half way around the world to be challenged to an amateur arm-wrestling match. Oh well.