The Moooo! Bar season has started on Shiraishi Island and I have to admit that I am a little disappointed. Now into our third season, not one cow has come to the Moooo! Bar, even though I advertise that cows drink for free.

But this does not stop people from coming and drinking until the cows come home. The Moooo! Bar has developed a very unusual clientele, and the clientele is often what makes a bar. Many bars, for example, get famous musicians stopping by. But not us. Other bars get actors and actresses or famous CEOs. Not us. Our clientele is a little more -- eclectic. You just never know who is going to wash up on the beach at the Moooo! Bar.

Last week, for example, we had Makoto Murakami, world champion geta kicker. This little known sport consists of "geta tobashi taikai" (literally "geta flying competitions") held all over Japan to see who can launch a geta sandal the farthest by kicking it off the foot. I wasn't so sure about the authenticity of our newfound celebrity, but after a mock contest on the beach to prove his skills, I have no doubt that Makoto is a champion geta kicker. He kindly gave some hints to the other customers who gave it a try: "Don't follow through with the foot. Snap the leg back just after you feel the sandal leave the foot." Flinging geta is a fun beach sport, but geta competitions? Get a life!