Friday, May 6, 2005
If You Like Bowling...
With the local alley just a 10-minute drive from campus, bowling was a frequent pursuit for my friends and me in college. One day, after a few strings, my buddy Sam and I were settling the tab when the fat kid at the register lowered his voice and told us, "If you like bowling, it's half-price Wednesdays after 1:00."
We found this hilarious, not only because of the kid's conspiratorial tone, but also because we were the only customers in the dingy alley on a gorgeous spring afternoon. It should have been pretty obvious that yes, we like bowling. Nobody likes bowling more.
Or so I thought. The Japanese news media have learned that three hours after a JR West train crashed into an apartment building near Osaka—Japan's worst train accident in decades—43 staffers from JR West's Osaka office punched out early to participate in a bowling contest.
Now those people like bowling!
