Japanese celebrity wins 2009 Crystal Dig World Championship
Comedian Daisuke Miyagawa recently traveled to Arkansas to compete in crystal digging contest for an episode of NTV’s “Itte Q.” Mark and Mike, twin brothers who are longtime veterans of the event, are hired to guide and assist Miyagawa in his 3-day search for big crystals.
Part 1
Daisuke learns the basics of crystal digging, and he is quickly able to uncover a pretty big crystal. It’s a pretty good find for a beginner.
About 8 minutes into the clip, he dons a giant rubber gaijin nose and does a little Indiana Jones impression as he introduces some value types of crystals.
Part 2
Miyagawa may have found a big crystal, but somebody else is beating him in the rankings. The second day of digging is rained out, but on the last day they have a final chance to find a big crystal and win. After some manual digging, they call in the assistance of some big machinery. They then dig in the newly opened area, finding the prize-winning crystal.
As reported by Arkansas.com:
A Japanese film crew from Nihon TV covered The World Championship Quartz Crystal Dig in Mount Ida this weekend. The footage is expected to be viewed by 15 million Japanese TV viewers. The event is held annually the second weekend in October. A Gem & Mineral show as well as a Quilt show is also held over the weekend. During the dig, contestants compete for cash and trophies and can keep all the crystals they mine during the contest. Due to rain the crystal fields were quite muddy but that didn’t stop competitors from digging in. Dig sites this year included Sweet Surrender, Arrowhead, and Fiddler’s Ridge (Bear Mountain). The Mount Ida area has been identified as one of the major deposits of quartz crystal in the state and makes up a major “quartz belt” within the Ouachita Mountains.
The official website of the contest has a gallery of photos and a ranking chart that lists Miyagawa as winner of the “Cluster Division.”
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