Story of how I met juggling through a weird math nerd
I was 14 years old, a 3rd grade junior high school student(*1) when I learned how to juggle.
I was put in a class with a guy who was very good at mathematics.
He was a juggler.
And he was a weird one.
He loved juggling so much that he was even juggling during a class with pens smiling (then being scolded later).
He screamed weirdly when I tickled him, so I tickled him often to listen to that sound.
He was talking about "Rieman surface" when I was having trouble with understanding 2-order equation.
He was a weird one.
But I liked him.
One day he brought some balls (that he had stolen from our school gym) and was juggling during break time (this time). He told me that he discovered juggling because he saw a juggling performance by a Hungarian mathematician, Péter Frankl (*2) in one of math competitions that he joined.
I have seen some "juggling"(*3) in my life before already, because of the TV programme called "しあわせ家族計画 (Shiawase Kazoku Keikaku) = Happy Family Plan" (haha).
In that programme a chosen family was given a task, and dad in the family practiced it, (cigarbox tricks, cascade, table cloth trick, or Mario Cart time attack etc... it varied each time) and he then showcased it on stage after a week.
If he succeeds, the family gets 3 million yen.
Also, growing up in Yokohama, I had some occasions to see street performers showing juggling.
Anyways, I went to the friend one day, and asked him if he could teach me "that".
He said yes, so we started to juggle together.
I bought "An Introduction to Ball Juggling" book by Nakashima, and we accessed several websites with demonstration videos and tips, like, 技神(Gi Shin), Ryuhan's ドラゴンの挑戦 (Dragon's Challenge).
Those were the main resources for us back then.
We were juggling almost everyday at school, at home, and at parks around my place.
I couldn't really catch up with what he was talking about math, but we had juggling in common.
Now I don't even know where he lives and what he's doing, I don't think he juggles as often as I do, he probably may never have picked up juggling balls for years, but yeah, he was the one that led me into this world.
I sometimes recall those days, juggling in a class room together, having some gigs in school festivals, and then think about me being an editor of a juggling magazine right now.
Written by : Naoya Aoki
(Japanese Juggling Magazine PONTE / Editor in Chief )
(*1) Japanese school system is 6-3-3. The last 3 years = high school is not obligatory but more than 90% of people proceed to high school.
(*2) Péter Frankl is an important figure when we talk about the dawn of Japanese juggling. He used to appear on TV often in 90's often mainly teaching mathematics for kids. He was known for his abilities of both mathematics and juggling even outside of math community. Speaking of which, he also founded a famous juggling club called Marabaristas in Tokyo which belongs to Tokyo University.
(*3) In Japan some people don't even know what "ジャグリング" (jaguringu = juggling) is, I mean, not even what it is like. I don't mean those misunderstandings like "Do you wear a red nose?", no, really, they go "What is juggling? Some kind of... magic?" I think the situation is getting better nowadays though.
I was put in a class with a guy who was very good at mathematics.
He was a juggler.
And he was a weird one.
He loved juggling so much that he was even juggling during a class with pens smiling (then being scolded later).
He screamed weirdly when I tickled him, so I tickled him often to listen to that sound.
He was talking about "Rieman surface" when I was having trouble with understanding 2-order equation.
He was a weird one.
But I liked him.
One day he brought some balls (that he had stolen from our school gym) and was juggling during break time (this time). He told me that he discovered juggling because he saw a juggling performance by a Hungarian mathematician, Péter Frankl (*2) in one of math competitions that he joined.
I have seen some "juggling"(*3) in my life before already, because of the TV programme called "しあわせ家族計画 (Shiawase Kazoku Keikaku) = Happy Family Plan" (haha).
In that programme a chosen family was given a task, and dad in the family practiced it, (cigarbox tricks, cascade, table cloth trick, or Mario Cart time attack etc... it varied each time) and he then showcased it on stage after a week.
If he succeeds, the family gets 3 million yen.
the program's opening scene.
Anyways, I went to the friend one day, and asked him if he could teach me "that".
He said yes, so we started to juggle together.
I bought "An Introduction to Ball Juggling" book by Nakashima, and we accessed several websites with demonstration videos and tips, like, 技神(Gi Shin), Ryuhan's ドラゴンの挑戦 (Dragon's Challenge).
Those were the main resources for us back then.
We were juggling almost everyday at school, at home, and at parks around my place.
I couldn't really catch up with what he was talking about math, but we had juggling in common.
Now I don't even know where he lives and what he's doing, I don't think he juggles as often as I do, he probably may never have picked up juggling balls for years, but yeah, he was the one that led me into this world.
I sometimes recall those days, juggling in a class room together, having some gigs in school festivals, and then think about me being an editor of a juggling magazine right now.
Written by : Naoya Aoki
(Japanese Juggling Magazine PONTE / Editor in Chief )
(*1) Japanese school system is 6-3-3. The last 3 years = high school is not obligatory but more than 90% of people proceed to high school.
(*2) Péter Frankl is an important figure when we talk about the dawn of Japanese juggling. He used to appear on TV often in 90's often mainly teaching mathematics for kids. He was known for his abilities of both mathematics and juggling even outside of math community. Speaking of which, he also founded a famous juggling club called Marabaristas in Tokyo which belongs to Tokyo University.
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