Most picturesque petanque piste in the world?

OK, so the lads are a little bit biased on this one but spring in the park is hard to beat. Beneath the blanket of cherry blossoms there's barely space for a game. So in my heart I know Steve and I didn't get thrashed yesterday. :)

Another picturesque piste that comes to mind is the cathedral-like setting of the Place de la Bien-Aimée in Madagascar. Love to play there one day.

The Italian Spiderman, a sleeping sloshed Swede and Finnish reindeer salami ...

A few unusual visitors to the park on Sunday.

The Italian Spiderman



The sleeping sloshed Swede





And Yuha returned for a visit from Finland with some fantastic reindeer salami.



A fun day in the park.

We missed you Raj.

Get well mate.

HSPC to play away to Aoyama Petanque in league opener

The Tokyo Petanque League is set to start for 2009 in April and two new teams have been added to the roster to bring to total number of clubs to six.

The teams are:

Aoyama Petanque
Himalaya Sugi Petanque Club
Hiratsuka Beach Petanque (new)
Mon Soleil
Okubo Boules Association
Sagamihara Petanque Club (new)

HSPC travels to Aoyama Petanque for our first game.

Here is the draw.

April / 4月
1st Round
AP - HSPC HBP - SPC MS - OBA
May / 5月
2nd Round
HSPC - HBP SPC - MS OBA - AP
3rd Round
HBP - OBA AP - SPC MS - HSPC
June / 6月
4th Round
HSPC - SPC AP - HBP OBA - MS
July / 7月
5th Round
HBP - MS SPC - OBA HSPC - AP
August / 8月
Summer Break
September / 9月
6th Round
SPC - HBP OBA - HSPC MS - AP
October / 10月
7th Round
HBP - HSPC AP - OBA MS - SPC
8th Round
HBP - AP HSPC - MS OBA - SPC
November / 11月
9th Round
HSPC - OBA MS - HBP SPC - AP
December / 12月
10th Round
OBA - HBP AP - MS SPC - HSPC

Good luck HSPC!
2007 inaugural champions!

Albert celebrates the big Five Ohhh!!!

A belated post on Albert's 50th birthday a few weeks ago. Some fun games of Petanque in the afternoon followed by a wild night of festivities. Congrats Al!

HSPC, Aoyama toast the end of the year at Charlie's spot

A galaxy of stars from the Tokyo petanque scene drowned out the end of the year with a mega party at Charlie's spot.

The events of the night are a major blur but the photos suggest a great night (and morning) was had by all.

Thanks Charlie, good luck with the bar.

Global appeal ...

A big hello to Scott, Don and Tom in the U.S. who have taken a real 'shining' to petanque, so much so that they have invested in their own boules and Don has even gone to the extreme of building his own piste in his backyard!

A dream for us here in tight Tokyo!

I can see a future trans-Pacific challenge brewing!

All the best guys from the 'Peter Pan' proteges!

Await the pics of the piste Don!

Mon Soleil wins Tokyo Petanque League

Mon Soleil defeated Aoyama 6-2 on Saturday Nov. 29 to lift the Tokyo Petanque League. After joining the competition this year, Mon Soleil finished the season with five wins and one loss, the team's only defeat coming against HSPC in the opening match of the year.

HSPC, which struggled with scheduling and had several key players miss matches, finished joint second with Aoyama.

Congratulations Mon Soleil!

The photo shows HSPC player Rajan presenting the trophy to Hosoda san of Mon Soleil.