Quick hero: Nakaji-kun

(tags Rubik's Cube, Japan)

Still the backslapping and national pride is continuing with "Nakaji-kun", ie Yuu Nakajima (中島悠), the Japanese youth who won the Rubik's Cube normal event at the World Rubik's Cube Championship 2007.

(from Asahi Shimbun, 2007-10-21 Sunday edition)

Recently I read an article about him in the newspaper (above). He practices 4 or 5 hours a day, for at least 2 years and he knows 500 moves. In comparison I practiced probably 40 minutes a day (on a concentration-robbing commute) for the last 3 months and I know only 7 moves. That is the difference between 12 seconds and 90 seconds.

Also, more recently he's been awarded a special commendation by the mayor of Kushiro city (Hokkaido, Japan). (Thanks Rubik's Cube Diary (ルービックキューブ日記), Hokkaido Shimbun, Kushiro Shimbun). It's great to celebrate local heroes.