"Land of Rising Sunburn"

Erik Suffers Massive Japanese Sunburn

Erik getting sunburned at the Ritto High School Sports Festival

-- RITTO, Japan

It was a cloudy, humid, off and on rainy day, and Erik went outside for about 10 minutes to celebrate the Ritto High School annual Sports Festival.  And that was when the Land of the Rising Sun lived up to its name and scorched Erik with 15th degree burns on his scalp, face, arms, legs, and other unmentionable body parts.

In an unprecedented move, the sunburn took place despite Erik moving in and out all day in an attempt to avoid sunburning.

When asked whether he applied sunscreen, Erik responded with characteristic ambiguity: "It was cloudy.  It was raining.  I was only outside for 2 minutes.  Why would I need sunscreen?"

When reporters reminded Erik that he is "the whitest man this side of the Pacific," Erik looked angry, then calmed down quickly and said, "Oh, yeah.  I should have put on some fricking sunblock."

Erik's students reportedly laughed hysterically at his "Toppu" Japanese-language T-shirt, which is actually an advertisement for laundry detergent.  "Like I was supposed to know what it meant," Erik said.

In a separate development, Erik was seen running the anchor position in the annual teacher's relay at the sports festival.  (See related story from last year.)  He reportedly "lost" the event, but enjoyed getting his sunburn for the 2 minutes that he was out in the sun.

Stay with ENN as we watch Erik continue to make a fool of himself during this, his last 3 weeks in Japan.