Thursday May 6, 4:03 p.m.

Just came back from the National Science Museum in Ueno Park where that Star Wars exhibit was located. It's not exactly Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas but it was OK, especially if one appreciates the models that the movies used. After I paid my 1400 yen, I made a rather circuituous route through the original building to the new wing and managed to take one shot just before finding out that I couldn't take any pics inside the hall. Great...I just bought the disposable camera for that purpose.

Anyways, I was greeted by the John Williams fanfare and a 1.5-metre model of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The exhibit was arranged so that the tour goes through the cinematic history of the series from the original 1977 movie to Attack of the Clones. There were exhibits of the various costumes like Obi-Wan's Jedi robes and the different types of Imperial Stormtrooper uniforms. Different excerpts from all of the films played on small flatscreens throughout the exhibit and there were computer screens which allowed people to find out more about the science behind the fantasy of Star Wars. Unfortunately, since I don't read Japanese easily I let that part go. The tour was a pretty quick walkabout...I think I got through it within 15 minutes but I didn't expect all that much.

Back home again and have my first piece of mail in about a week. It's from The Anime King with his two DVDs of his homemade video of Galaxy Angel. It looks like the Cutsoms people were a bit more ham-fisted than usual. Part of the CD case was shattered so there was tape holding it together. I've got some empty cases so I can take care of that problem.

Still overcast. So much for that sunny forecast.

Thursday May 6, 10:39 a.m.

Well, the so-called sun is more of a gauzy brightness. I just hope that the rain hasn't decided to make another appearance. I did my wash; I was rather surprised and relieved that the washing machine didn't do what it somestimes does when it's fully packed. It sometimes conks out or keeps repeating the rinse cycle so taking out the clothes turns out to be a very wet affair.

I've got another free day since my Thursday night juku student has pulled another cancellation. But I won't stay at home; I'll be heading out to the National Science Museum to check out the Star Wars exhibition there. I figure I need to get a bit of exercise. Going to Ueno Park, where the museum is located, may provide a good enough venue for a walk although I'll probably have to skip over some of the homeless folks.

Looks like tomorrow will be back to a full day again. I've got my regular three classes. And then, I think I'll have the afternoon kids. The morning girls are out in at their cottage so I can get some more sleep in. Then, the Curry Master has her BBQ later that night.

Wednesday May 5, 11:58 a.m.

Overcast day and we had some drizzly stuff this morning, although it hasn't come close to the forecast downpours quite yet. I managed to those several hours of sleep I wanted.

Well, it's the final day of Golden Week. I'm sure that the news will be filled with the U-Turn rush and its scenes of jammed highways all throughout Tokyo.

I gave a call to Fujimamas to see if I could make that reservation for Sunday brunch. Sure enough, the guy on the other end told me that they couldn't take any reservations for parties under 5 people, so it looks like the three of us will have to take our chances in the morning. Maybe if we get there by around 10:30, we should get a table. Next, I sent a response to one of my Tsudanuma students concerning her fax about idioms. The way it was structured, I thought she was trying to test MY knowledge about them.

Probably for the next couple of hours, I'll be trying to translate some of this stuff that the Iconoclast threw me for this long-delayed project. I did promise the Prez that I would do something about it as well, although he didn't seem too hopeful. Maybe doing this while listening to some jazz music will get me through it.

Looks like dinner tonight will be relatively inexpensive. All I need to make is some stir-fry; the Engineer was kind enough to give me a present of Nagoya Kishimen. Kishimen is flat noodles, similar to the Pho of Vietnam.

Tuesday May 4, 9:07 p.m.

Well, my last session of "A Dinner with Haruhiko" took place today. I met up with my friend from Shizuoka at the Mullion. She wanted to thank me for helping her with a bit of translation I did for her several weeks ago so we went to COCA just behind the twin department towers at Mullion. Always a good meal. My friend was suitably impressed with the fare as well. Afterwards we walked through the same path that The Engineer and I had gone through yesterday in reverse over to the Tokyo Station underground mall.

The three dinners have been interesting in terms of what each of them and I talked about. The Bohemian went in depth about our uncertain futures, The Engineer and I gabbed about the present and then today, my other friend and I talked about our pasts. She had also been part of our little group back in university in the early 90s, so we spoke of our old friends and what they were up to. I'm sure a few of them were probably sneezing overseas at some of our talk.

Well, the official final day of Golden Week will be a largely empty one. It will be a rainy one, unfortunately. Otherwise, I would have done some laundry and aired out my mattresses. The blusteriness of the winds certainly don't bode well. But at least I'll get to wake up a bit later.

Super Channel has been on a major marathon kick. First, it was the 70 hours of Star Trek, then several hours of Columbo, a number of Frasier episodes, and now we've had 12 hours of the updated Perry Mason movies from the mid-80s. All of the trappings have been held over from the original 50s series: the plot structure of the innocent client framed by the real killer after the murder of a deserving jerk. It was pretty obvious that the new series was filmed in Toronto. I still prefer the original black-and-white show over these new ones but at least with the new ones, we don't get that final scream of admission by the guilty party on the witness stand.

Tuesday May 4, 10:37 a.m.

I met up with The Engineer yesterday at Tokyo Station. I took him over to the trendy spot of the Marunouchi Building. He wanted to have ramen; however, the Tokyo Station area isn't exactly known as a ramen zone like Shinjuku or Ogikubo. So I decided to take a chance and checked to see if there were a chance of such a place in the Maru Biru. Sure enough, there was a place on the 6th floor called Akai Noren (The Red Awning) which served Hakata Ramen, my favourite style of ramen.

Hakata Ramen is notable for the broth which is made from pork bones. The broth is off-white and very rich (no snickering, please). However, both the Engineer, who has traveled through Fukuoka (the modern name for Hakata) and I thought the soup was a bit too watery. However, I couldn't complain about the taste. And the set was pretty generous for a thousand yen: the ramen, kimchi rice, four dumplings and a bit of dessert.

Afterwards, we walked over to another trendy area, Shiodome. Being in Golden Week, there were a lot of people at the NTV Plaza. However, we did manage to get a table at the local Tully's coffee shop for a while before heading over to Shimbashi Station so that E could get his ticket to Kyoto today. Then, we went off to Akihabara to look for some stuff. We did our usual double sessions with the massage chairs in the Yamagiwa store. The sun was starting to set when we walked up to Ueno to look for a place to have dinner. But again, because of the holiday, everything was packed so we just ended up heading home and eating at the neighbourhood kaiten. That sushi chef with the slightly bad ear was there again but this time he was on the ball taking orders.

Finally, we made it back home where we just caught some TV before we retired for the night. Then, earlier this morning, I took him to the station to see him off. My allergies are acting up again so I'm considering downing some medicine before heading out to meet another friend for dinner.

Sunday May 2, 10:50 p.m.

I met up with The Office Lady for her lesson today at Nihombashi Station. We went out of an exit that I usually didn't use from the station, and I was rather surpsised by the new Merrill-Lynch building that towered everything else in the area. We couldn't use the neighbourhood Starbucks since it was packed; however, we only had to walk down a few dozen metres to find a relatively empty Excelsiors.

Afterwards I met The Bohemian at Hachiko. We went up to one of our usual haunts, En, that upscale izakaya on the 11th floor of an electronics store building. It actually opened up at 4 p.m. now so we were happy to find out that we were the first customers in the place. In fact, we got a good window table. We spoke much about our own little foibles in our lives including our love lives. In fact, it kinda felt like my talks with Arwen alone. We managed to go at it for about 5 hours.

I got a call from The Engineer. He gave me the arrival time of his Bullet Train so I can go and pick him up at Tokyo Station tomorrow. But I'm gonna have to wake up a little earlier than I had hoped to get the place spic and span, just in case he decides to stay over. UGH!

Sunday May 2, 9:49 a.m.

Well, it was another bipolar day yesterday in terms of weather. Nice and warm up to mid-afternoon and then the temps fell out the bottom in the evening. If it hadn't been for my Canadian constitution, I would've frozen in my short sleeves. I'm sure that I got a lot of looks myway. Mind you, it also probably helped that I'm not exactly the thinnest guy around.

Caught KILL BILL Vol. 2 with Movie Buddy and his buddy, Sam, in Shinjuku last night after my classes. It's definitely quite different in tone from the first one, and I liked it better. In retrospect, Quentin was right to split his latest into two parts. It war more talky, had more of that famous QT dialogue and certainly demanded more of both Uma and her character. MB wonders if the Oscar guys will do the same thing with it that they did with The Lord of the Rings, just wait until all the parts are out to consider giving it the gold. I just wonder if the movie is just a bit too violent or iconoclastic to get anything.

Afterwards, we went out to SAMRAT, a local Indian restaurant. We were quite surprised and delighted to see that it was actually open until 5 in the morning. The food is great so I could imagine some of the late-nighters headed there. We spent a little over an hour there chatting over tandoori and naan before I had to take off to catch my last train. And I did do that...I was lucky to catch the last train for my area.

I received a couple of messages last night. One was from The Engineer, who had come over on a little vacation with the missus from Canada. He's currently in Nagoya but he'll be coming over to the Big Sushi tomorrow for a visit. He also asked whether it's possible for him to stay over a night at my place. Looks like I'm gonna have to do another whirlwind cleanup.

The other message was from The Bohemian. He's back from studying during Golden Week, so he was asking about getting together for dinner. I initially thought I could meet him tonight after my class with The Office Lady but now I'm gonna check to see if he'll be hanging around unti Wednesday. I would rather have some time to salvage my apartment.

Anyways, I gotta have some breakfast and then do some quick planning for my lesson.

Sunday May 2, 1:19 a.m.

Another long Saturday, another meterologically bipolar day. It was warm up to mid-afternoon and then the bottom fell out of the temps. It was just 11 C when I got home at midnight, and I was just in my short sleeves with a sleeveless undershirt. Thank heavens for my Canadian constitution of surviving winter. I didn't feel too badly considering the chill, but I'm sure I did get my fair share of looks from people.

My class and then my monthly chat fest at the Tea Room went well enough. And then I met up with Movie Buddy and his good friend, Frodo. Frodo had first come over on a visit during the New Years holidays. Apparently, he enjoyed his time here so much that he has returned for a much longer stay. But with his talents in the computer field, he would be way overqualified for a typical teaching position at some English language school.

Anyways, the three of us went to see KILL BILL VOL. 2. Much was made about the splitting of this movie into 2 parts, some saying that it was a moneygrubbing move on the part of Tarentino and the producers. After having seen it, though, I can now understand the move. The second movie has the same characters and story arc but the feel is quite different. There aren't the gobs of over-the-top violence or The Bride's nearly mute rampage of revenge. The second part has much more dialogue and more feeling coming from The Bride, now known as Beatrix, and even Bill. I noted when I reviewed the first part last year that I was quite uncomfortable about Vol. 1 because of the somewhat inaccurate portrayals of Japanese language and the audience's scornful reaction. I like the second part better and I think this audience was a bit more accepting. However, that enka song came back during the end credits, but at least it didn't come on during the film itself.

After the movie, the three of us went to SAMRAT, an Indian restaurant just across from Shinjuku Station. We were surprised that the place was open until 5 a.m. That's a godsend for those late-nighters who need some good hearty fare. I spent about an hour or so with them mostly listening to MB and Frodo talk about their mutual friends from years past over tandoori chicken, freshly-baked naan and curries.

I had to take off a bit early to catch the train for home. It was the usual scrum at Shinjuku Station for the trip home. I was lucky...I caught the last train passing through my station. When I got back home, I received two messages from a couple of old friends. The Engineer has come over from Toronto for a short stint. And The Bohemian called me up for dinner later on Sunday. He's back from studying up north. I may be able to kill two birds with one stone. But before that, I do have the OL's class in Nihombashi.

Time to sleep.

Friday April 30, 7:03 p.m.

Well, looks like my detachment from my hobby was a temporary one. I got the correct user name from my provider. For some reason, they mentioned that the password was wrong but it still worked for me. In any case, I'm back online.

Some interesting news over the past couple of days that I've been offline. One was the fact that several ministers and other top politicians had not been making their regular pension payments. Some very red-faced mandarins considering that a lot of them were pooh-poohing an actress who had also been caught not paying her premiums despite her appearance in a commercial telling people to pay up.

Then, there was a bizarro incident involving some clearly deranged nut who crashed through a flimsy barrier at Haneda Airport with his car, commandeered a few more vehicles and drove around the runways for 40 minutes while the local police and airport security acted like Keystone Kops. As the coup de grace, he then crashed his final car and jumped off into the ocean before dying at hospital.

Two of the three former hostages in Iraq held their first news conference sincecoming back to a hostile reception last week. They looked rather relaxed although the tale that they had to tell was harrowing, to say the least. The one woman who had been part of the group decided to stay away since she's suffering from depression and nightmares. My feeling is that they've been made scapegoats of sensationalistic rags and right-wing cranks.

Japanese Trekkies with satellite TV are probably rejoicing in their armchairs. Super Channel is currently holding its 70-hour Star Trek marathon. I caught The Wrath of Khan this morning as the first entry, and First Contact is currently playing but since it was already more than halfway through, I've decided to skip it and wait for the episodes of Enterprise to come on. As far as I'm concerned, The Wrath of Khan is still the best of the entire movie series. Too bad that it's been 22 years since anything that good has come up in the Trek canon, although First Contact comes close.

The rush out of the city has begun with the onset of Golden Week. It's amazing how people will put up with crowded highways, airports and train stations just for a few days of rest and relaxation. As for me, I'm very happy to stay within the borders of the city.

Friday April 30, 4:53 p.m.

Well, my e-mail system went out of whack a couple of days ago so I'm doing this from a KINKOS in the Microsoft Bldg across from Shinjuku Station. Losing my access at home is a drag but at least I can find out how it feels doing e-mail from an outside source.

Had 2 classes today. One was with The Teacher. No problems there. And the class with Arwen and 77 went swimmingly as usual. I was on a holding pattern concerning Movie Buddy to catch Kill Bill Vol. 2 but it looks like he has to teach tonight so we're holding off it until tomorrow at 6:30.

Just gotta do some prep work before meeting up with the kids on Saturday. Hopefully, my e-mail woes will be sorted out by then.

Wednesday April 28, 11:53 a.m.

Went to sleep last night listening to my new Bill Evans CD. I ended up dozing off at about 2:30 a.m. in the soft glow of my lamp and while doing my crosswords. How's that for domesticated? It's always nice being able to do that knowing that you can wake up much later the next day. I got my first 8-hour hibernation for the first time in a number of days. I hope to do the same tomorrow as well. I may actually feel healthy by Friday.

The image would have been perfect if I'd had the opportunity to continue to do my crosswords while slowly sipping my coffee but unfortunately, myapartment looks as if last night's typhoon did a break and enter. So I'll have to get to work on cleaning the place up. It's one of the small graces that I have that my place is tiny enough so the chore won't take too long. Plus, I got the wash to do as well.

I got the final message from The Iconoclast this morning before his final departure from Japan. He's left another box of stuff for me to claim including yet another pan. He's given my regrets about declining the invitation for that uncomfortable matchmaking session.

I'm still not quite sure about what's gonna happen with Movie Buddy at the end of the week. It may just end up that the only excitement I'll have is just my one or two classes on Friday.

Tuesday April 27, 11:44 p.m.

Between the times of 6:00 and 6:30 p.m. today, there was a mini-typhoon of enormous strength through the Tokyo area. Guess where I was during that time? I was literally mugged by this force of nature on the way to my juku. My first casualty was my trusty umbrella which collapsed from the mighty gusts. I tried to revive it a couple of times before I considered it a write-off. Before the half-hour was up, there would be many more umbrellas on the scrap heap.

However, the main event took place on my 10-minute walk from Urayasu Station. The wind and the rain joined forces to create sheets of precipitation which thoroughly drenched my front side as well as my head. I was breathing through my mouth since it felt like I was swimming in the ocean. By the time I finally got to the juku, I was a gigantic used dishrag. The owner looked at me with some alarm; being the proverbial Japanese woman, she immediately told me to take off my clothes and she then grabbed a small shirt and gray trainer pants for me to wear. I must admit that I felt a bit self-conscious about wearing Sunday lounge wear in class but it was much better than risking pnewmonia. The lady is one class act, though. She hung out my clothes to dry and even ironed them during my final class. I had to leave my jacket at the juku though since it was going to need longer than 3 hours to dry out, so she gave me a loaner in the form of one of those translucent anoraks. As it happened, I didn't need it since the rain had disappeared long ago. However, the winds were still biting. But those I could handle.

I'm back home...still feeling a bit damp especially in the feet, but overall I'm feeling a whole lot better than I did 6 hours ago. Plus, I got paid. Tomorrow, we shouldn't be getting anymore Noah-level floods but the gusts are supposed to be continuing.

My contact at Japan Tour got back to me after an absence of a few days. It looks like the computers at the agency have been under siege by viruses, something that I know all too well since the bugs seem to be trying to invade my computer....luckily, I've got the filter taking them out. I had to resend the pertinent information but at least I know that she hasn't abandoned me.

Sure enough, one of the guys at the Iconoclast's company tried to contact me to confirm me for this little dinner party tomorrow night that the Prez's buddies were persuading me to attend. I sent the Iconoclast my regrets. Just not interested in this matchmaking stuff.

I finally read through the epic HYPERION series. Great sci-fi story although all that time-shifting revealed a very bittersweet ending for the protagonists. The story liberally adapted its structure from The Canterbury Tales, Huck Finn and finally the Passion of Christ apparently. It could be made into a movie someday although there is a subplot woven in there which resembles the plot from T3 a bit too much.

Twice in as many days, I've had students telling me how much I seem to be enjoying my life according to my adventures over the past weekend. To be honest, I think I have been quite lucky over the years with my social interaction. But I know that it can all go sour so I've tried to maintain contact as best as and as long as I can.

Tuesday April 27, 12:07 a.m.

Went into my 80s mode again. I bought a couple of CDs at HMV today: Queen and Supertramp. Shades of AM radio again!

That dreaded mediation between the Prez and the Iconoclast turned out to be just an outing to their favorite yakitori restaurant with a couple of other colleagues in East Shinjuku. We all let our hair down pretty well thanks to the libations that came with the chicken sticks. The Prez's rantings this time were more jovial; he even had the Iconoclast in a full nelson at one point. One of the colleagues gave me a rather hazy invitiation for some sort of party where he was going to introduce me to a young lady. I was pretty noncommittal in my answer. Most likely, I'll just stay firmly at home or give some sort of excuse. I'm not in any particular mood to meet women that way for now.

Looks like the Stylist didn't take the bait for Tuesday afternoon, so I have my usual hole in the schedule. The way it's looking, I've got nothing on Wednesday. Movie Buddy suggested Friday for Kill Bill, but I'm not quite sure what my schedule will be like on that day. The Teacher is still slated for her 11 o'clock, and Arwen is considering a lesson. The Office Lady has asked for Sunday afternoon.

I got messages from a couple of ol' buddies back from Toronto. Looks like the two of them will be here next week on business but not at the same time. Ironic, since the two of them are bosom buddies.

Sunday April 25, 11:34 p.m.

I currently smell like an okonomiyaki house...for obvious reasons, since I did have dinner in one tonight. But I'm getting too far ahead of myself.

I stepped out of my place and had a quick MacBreakfast near my station before heading back to Shinjuku some 10 hours after I had left it to meet up with Arwen and DTE for a much more laid-back experience than the one I had on Saturday night.

The three of us headed out to Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture on a "Romance Car" which took about 45 minutes. I'm not quite sure where the romance was derived since the train itself is really just a level above an express train, plus the windows are larger and seat pairings can be swiveled around to face the one behind for those quartet trips. Since it was just the three of us, though, one woman came to fill up the final seat. She seemed rather discomfited at our group which kinda irked me. I thought she was one of those old-fashioned tupes who freaked out at seeing foreigners and hearing English spoken. And then, she asked Arwen and myself if we could swivel back our chairs so that she could have breakfast on the seating tray...in English. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that but we politely complied, especially since she just asked for only 5-10 minutes of eating time. To be honest, I thought this was just a ruse on her part to make sure we would never be able to swivel our seats back before we arrived at Hon-Atsugi.

Surprisingly enough, though, the lady did invite us to swing our seats back. Even more surprising was that she engaged us in English conversation for the rest of our time to our destination. She's an employee of a pharmaceuticals company who had spent 4 years in Denver studying behavioral psychology before returning to Japan. She was actually on her way to Fuji to have her hair done despite the fact that her home is in Tokyo. She explained that away by stating that she had used to live in the Fuji area and that she just couldn't part with her excellent hairdresser. Now that's loyalty!

At the station, we were picked up by Ms. 77 who then drove us over to the strawberry patch where I once again started to munch on strawberries for the second time in as many years. It was the same old deal as my time in Tateyama last year: pay 800 yen for 30 minutes of all-you-can-eat berries with a plastic dish of condensed milk and the bushes at chest level. All of us were pretty stuffed after just 10 minutes of noshing.

After that, we drove in the car for the better part of an hour heading for a highland to observe the area and the ocean from above. We made a quick pitstop at 77's pink apartment building where we made a drive-thru introduction to her mother on the second floor. Once we reached the highland, 77 took the car up the hillside and parked it. We then walked up a few flights of stairs to reach the top. We climbed a couple of towers. One looked like a miniature version of Tokyo Tower. I was impressed by its claim to fame. Couples often came up to the higher levels of the tower to snap on locks as an illustration of their love. Each lock had either the lovebirds' names or a brief message of their committment to each other. The other tower was a somewhat more eclectically shaped structure in stone. The view from the top was breathtaking: we could see Mt. Fuji off in the distance as well as the towns of Hiratsuka and Atsugi and then the Pacific to the south.

Another several minutes of driving brought us back to the station district of Atsugi where we would stay for the rest of our journey. We looked for a place to have lunch. We found it in a basement Chinese restaurant. We ended up being the final customers there before they shut down for a couple of hours before the dinner service, so we got our food in pretty short order.

DTE had to take off at around 4 so we saw her off at the station. We were musing about what to do before we decided to have coffee at the nearby Tully's. We ended up staying there for about 2.5 hours. In that time, we persuaded 77 to invite her new boyfriend to come over to the cafe so that Arwen and I could check him out as 77's surrogate parents. It took some cajoling but after half an hour, he dropped in on his way to an eye doctor appointment. He's a pretty button-down fellow, the type of person I can get along with very well. I'm always suspicious of those overly cheerful Romper Room types.

After he took off, we hung out there a bit longer before we had to think about dinner. 77 tried to reach him to invite him for dinner as well, but by the time that he finally picked up the phone, he had already arrived home so he was a scratch. So once again, it was the three of us who went down the street to an okonomiyaki house. It was constructed inside to resemble a mockup of old Tokyo circa 1950, just like the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. We were placed right inside the door, right in front of a fake old-fashioned house. Because of our position, there was a draft coming in every few minutes whenever customers arrived or left, but I didn't mind. It was feeling pretty stuffy inside and an okonomiyaki house always had that smell of cooking oil so the drafts helped to clear the air, if temporarily. We went through a number of oily dishes so we were grateful for the dessert of sesame seed ice cream to cleanse our palates if not our clothes.

Finally, 77 escorted us back with a couple of minutes to spare to catch our Romance Car back to Tokyo. Nice day in the great outdoors with some good friends. Hopefully, I can be ready to face the onslaught of the finality of the tragic business relationship between the Iconoclast and the Prez tomorrow night. Not something I'm looking forward to.

Sunday April 25, 12:21 a.m.

The work part of myday seemed to have followed the Murphy's Law corrolary of being killed by a thousand paper cuts. First off, the Tozai Line gets sidelined because of some sort of smoke emanating from one of the stations on the line, so I had to make a quick detour to the adjoining Oedo Line. I was rather lucky with that one since if the subway had gotten delayed at any other station, I would have been very late for my lesson.

Then, after rushing to get copies made for my first kid, I found out from her mother that the older sister who had been originally scheduled to head off for volleyball was now available for her lesson. This, of course, rendered all of my rushing and copying and planning moot. The mother looked a bit nervous when she apologized to me despite my surface replies of "No problem". I did a look bit stern but it was only because I was simultaneously cooking up a plan for the older sister in my head. 17 years of experience came to my rescue. As it were, the lesson went pretty well, especially considering how laconic the older sister usually is.

I ran off to teach my next kid a half-hour away by subway. There, I found out that I was gonna be teaching both sisters there. So I had to leave a message with Movie Buddy that I would be an hour late in meeting him for a pre-party coffee. The younger kid was fine, but I think the older kid is a bit harder to teach.

Next, I call up Movie Buddy again to find out that another old fellow teacher had caught wind of the Ballerina's dinner and wanted in, so I had to call up the restaurant again to make the adjustment. Plus, I ended up going to the wrong subway line to head to Shinjuku. With only a few minutes before my supposed rendezvous with MB and that other teacher, heretofore referred as Scarecrow, I had to grab a taxi and spend another 2100 yen to get there 10 minutes late.

But meet them I did, and we spent about 40 minutes drinking coffee and gabbing about Kiefer's hit show, 24, and other movies at the Excelsior Cafe before heading off to meet the others at the restaurant. Skippy and the Ballerina were there first, followed by another alumnus shortly. Then, we went off to DOMA DOMA, across from the Shinjuku Prince Hotel.

Another alumnus was waiting up at the door, and later on, the Madam, the Rapper and AO arrived to complete the group. The food was fine and the drink was flowing liberally. The Rapper had already had his fill of drink with the school welcome party and subsequent karaoke so hewas already looking pretty ebulliant.

After dinner, the Madam and one other left for home while the rest of us decided to do some karaoke at the nearby SHIDAX box. Surprisingly, The Rapper decided to join his second karaoke party of the day. It didn't take him long to conk out. Meanwhile, AO was also getting rather tipsy, a revelation for me since her reputation had been that she could drink anyone under the table. A half-hour later, a couple of other alumni joined us, Gabby and The Kid. AO and Gabby were very close friends which made for some more interesting moments during the session.

By the time the night was over, The Rapper was nursing a pretty bad hangover, and AO was having trouble standing up. I gave the Rapper a Tylenol while Gabby and The Kid propped AO up. The cost wasn't too painful but it was a typical Saturday night outing in Shinjuku after all. Our two drunk members were getting a bit belligerent with each other so The Kid came in to break it up and gently escort The Rapper back on the right path while the other women escorted AO back to the train station. Aside from that brief moment of tension, the night came off without a hitch. MB and Scarecrow are even thinking of getting something going on the first day of Golden Week this Thursday...perhaps to catch Kill Bill Vol 2.

I've only got a few minutes to take a shower before I have to hit bed for just 6 hours and then head off back to Shinjuku to meet up with Arwen and DTE for that trip to 77's neck of the woods for strawberry picking. I received word from Arwen, profusely apologizing for having forgotten to give me my fee last night. The joke's on her...I didn't even notice.

Saturday April 24, 8:00 a.m.

Back in my high school and university days, I ravenously devoured anything and everything about this country where I now reside. I read authors such as Reischauer and Vogel about the people, the philosophies and attitudes. One thing that has remained with me from all that reading for all these years is that Japanese culture is one based on shame. A crime committed is, of course, a bad thing but what is worse supposedly is when one is caught for that crime and that person is exposed for all the country to see. The country is merciless in its berating, the perpetrator is humiliated like no other while in a DOGESA stance.

That scene is being played out right now writ large. The three Japanese hostages arrived home yesterday at Narita to a chorus of boos and verbal admonishments from protesters who feel that the three shamed themselves, their families and the nation by their brazen defiance of government warnings to not to travel to Iraq. Legitimate magazines and rags alike have put out critical articles of these three for putting the country through an emotional wringer a couple of weeks ago. What has caused even more anger is that even after their ordeal, the three reportedly cited their intentions to return to Iraq. It wasn't as if the three hadn't known about the hostile reaction; they streamed through the arrivals lounge of the airport with heads bowed, and the one kidnapped woman was filmed bent over like a paper clip with two of her family members supporting her.

I must admit that having been raised aware of two cultures, I saw the scenes on CNN with some shock. I haven't caught the footage on NHK. It is possible that the situation may not be nearly as bad as has been revealed on the world news network. However, to get back on topic, I was somewhat surprised to hear of this vitriol against the three, especially remembering the wild relief and celebrations shown on TV a week ago when news of their release had become known. A similar situation played out by Americans would have probably gotten a different response. Kidnapped Americans would have come home to yellow ribbons and a welcoming public, and perhaps there would have even been some calls of admiration and bravery if these people had declared their intention to return to Iraq to help out again despite the dangers.

Apparently not in Japan. The government has issued a strong rebuke, and has even suggested that the three pay their own flight back to Japan. The former hostages have gone into hiding.

Once again, we come to the issue of the shame culture. In Japanese eyes, the abductees' efforts to help out in Iraq and their subsequent capture forced the government to consider two options, both undesirable and embarrassing: to either pay the ransom of pulling out the troops or to let the three possibly die. Both options would have brought shame nationally.

Public opinion seems to be divided, though. So it can't be said that the three have been unanimously castigated into the Hall of Shame. However, the reaction is enough to show me that there can be a very big difference between my two cultures. My take on it is that I feel very sorry for the former hostages. They have been come from one Hell to face another one.

Friday April 23, 11:26 p.m.

Well, we've had hot and humid days followed by cold and windy ones. Now, we're getting both types of weather in the same day. This afternoon was warm and slightly muggy as I headed out to Tokyo without a jacket. Then, coming home, the temps decided to plummet to below 10 degrees. Being the resolute Canadian, I wasn't feeling too bad but the jacket would've helped.

The class with SR was pretty much a gabfest for 3/4 of the lesson. We went over her trip to Hawaii along with the trials and tribulations at her workplace. She's pretty much ready to leave the company come July.

Then, Arwen came by. 77 once again skipped ostensibly due to a possible cracked rib. Considering how often she's skipped, the fact that she lives far off in Kanagawa Prefecture, and she has just inherited a new boyfriend, I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that 77 won't be sticking around all that much with Arwen and myself.

Arwen and I once again fulfilled our Friday ritual of heading out for dinner. We once again headed over to the Saboten (Cactus) tonkatsu restaurant right by JR Shinjuku Station. Another crowded Friday night but we stayed there for a couple of hours gabbing about movies and our respective erstwhile love lives.

I made the confirmation call to the venue for The Ballerina's party tomorrow night. I got a call from Movie Buddy asking what I would be doing between my kid's class and the party, so we've made tentative plans to meet for coffee before the big event. I gather that I'm pretty much out of the loop in terms of the year-course classes. MB told me that there are only 4 classes now due to the reduced group, and I haven't received any word from the scheduler about doing any classes next week. However, I'm not gonna take any breaks. I've asked The Stylist to see if she would like me to teach her in the afternoon on Tuesday. I kept that slot open for any school classes but since none seem to be forthcoming, and since The Stylist had initially hoped that I could teach her on a Tuesday since she's off on that day, I may as well fill that up. I just hope that it's not too late.

Friday April 23, 1:13 p.m.

Just savoring a brief respite before I head out again. I had The Teacher for her regular 11 o'clock. Unfortunately, my allergies started attacking me again just as she walked in. It's an occupational hazard in my line of work. I used up all of my tissue and even a pack of hers that she'd kindly given me. I did take my medicine but it only kicked in just at the very end.

As has been the case since I started teaching her some weeks ago, most of the lesson was spent with her talking about her life. She's certainly had her share of trials and tribulations. Her stories are quite interesting; I taught her the adage "What doesn't kill us makes us grow stronger". It's a pity that she engendered a lot of resentment from a majority of the female students during her time at our school but I think she probably let that slide off her like water off a duck.

I'm not quite sure what her schedule will be like next week...or for that matter, how everyone's schedule will be like for the next couple of weeks due to Golden Week. And I think there's a possibility that some of my venues may be closed up for the holidays. I know that the Starbucks where I teach The Office Lady will be locked down.

My Hokkaido planning is coming along. My new contact at Japan Tours has started asking me about budget and hotel preference. It's rather nice to get personalized treatment.

Referring back to my mild rant about that elder sister dumping me once again for a volleyball match tomorrow, I guess that I can't be too su rprised about the tactic, if that's what it indeed is. I remember some decades back when I had come to Japan as a fledgling high school student over the summer. I spent a few days at my grandfather's place in the Kansai district. There was a young man there whom my grandparents had introduced me to. He took me out fishing in the bay once and had try to engage me in English conversation. One steamy afternoon (this was Japan in late July, y'know), I just didn't feel like going outside in the summer sun to broil, so I feigned a long-term nap when he came over to my grandfather's farm again. He waited a while before he gave up. I feel badly about it now on the point that it was just a rude thing to do although I never found out if the man had seen through the ruse. But I guess when one's a teen with about as much common sense or consideration as a flea, I just can't be that surprised if the sister did indeed try to avoid my lesson. I certainly can't go up on a soapbox and decry the rudeness of teens.

Friday April 23, 9:08 a.m.

Just checking over some e-mail...
Chip Guy sent in his last message before taking off for the GWN. It'll be a "See you later" more than a farewell.

I got a message from the mother of those two kids I teach on Saturday morning. Once again, the elder sister has pulled out suddenly from her lesson to attend volleyball. Once again, I'm not particularly pained by it, since she's never been too enthused by English. However, my natural paranoia and the Japanese custom of indirectly sending cues have started to make me wonder if the elder sister is trying for a permanent pullout. To be honest, I wouldn't mind not teaching her anymore; she's a nice enough young girl but I've largely considered our lessons to be a bit of a chore more than a pleasure. Still, the fact that I have to lose a student this way sticks in my craw like an ulcer. I've still got the other sister who has a better attitude, but gradually, I have to wonder if my skills would be more appreciated by others that I've had to turn away.

On the other side, Arwen just sent in a message telling me about the scheduled strawberry picking on Sunday morning. I'll be meeting them in Shinjuku Station at 10.

It's quite a bit gloomier out there. But I've got work to do.

Thursday April 22, 7:37 p.m.

I found out early today from the Curry Master that neither she nor the SE would be available tonight for lessons so I had a day off. I just sent off a package to Shard and then got a rubdown at the quick massage clinic. It was pretty busy there in the morning but it had the atmosphere of an old tavern. A couple of the masseur/massagee tandems were enjoying a lively conversation. I'm not much of a talker at these things so I was happy that I had the clinic chief for my masseur. He knows who I am.

I didn't quite take a nap but I enjoyed a good 90 minutes of reading on my futon in the afternoon. And then I got to work researching for my trip to Hokkaido. I took a look at a few websites including one for Nihon Ryoko (Japan Tour). They had an English language page and an e-mail address so I sent off a request to them. Sure enough, within a few hours, I got a reply back. It looks promising.

I was thinking of making that final adjustment to the reservations for The Ballerina's party on Saturday since one has dropped out. But being a law-abiding citizen of Murphy, I will hold on one more day and make the call between classes tomorrow. The Ballerina should be coming in tonight.

I referred to an old Chinese cookbook so that I had an excuse to use that Hoisin Sauce that the Iconoclast had given me some weeks ago. He warned me that though the jar had never been opened, the sauce went past the expiry date. I opened up and spooned a dab into the pork and green pepper stir-fry I whipped up according to the recipe. I'm not bending over in pain so I think the sauce passes muster. But the dish was pretty light-tasting for Chinese.

The weather has been another scorcher. We hit a few records in various places in the Kanto. One inland city got hit with 30 C temps. Tokyo didn't reach those heights but we were still quite warm. My fan is back on again. However, the meterological roller-coaster will continue tomorrow as the temps fall down again to more seasonable levels.

Unlike today, it should be a full day tomorrow. I've got The Teacher, SR will be back in the afternoon and I've got Arwen and 77 after her. If past Fridays are any indication, the three of us will be heading out for dinner again.

In the meantime, I've gotta get prepped for those classes and then get Part 2 of ironing done before I hit the hay.

Wednesday April 21, 8:00 p.m.

It was another warm day today. Luckily, my fan is back up and working after it had stubbornly refused to do anything the last time I had tried to use it back last summer. If I hadn't given it a desperation shot, it would've been broken down into component pieces and thrown out piecemeal. Anything to avoid that pick-up fee to throw any appliances out. Highway robbery, I say.

Well, Betty Boop and the Office Lady picked me up at the beauty salon where I had been teaching The Stylist. Boop was her usual giddy self with the breathy voice. She actually took us on a leisurely walk over to her parents' place some 10-minutes' walk from the station. She lives in one of those neighbourhoods which seem to have houses cramped up against each other like commuters in a typical rush hour subway. There, her mother was generous enough to make a lunch of tuna salad and curry rice for us.

I first helped Boop with her upcoming English job interview on Monday. She wasn't too bad but she did have a lot of questions, just like when she was back at the school over 5 years ago. Then, I went upstairs to teach the OL for an hour. She had been taking an impromptu nap on Boop's bed so she looked a bit groggy when I came up. However, she got back into action. I was feeling pretty sweaty in her room although the OL actually remarked that she felt cold. She offered to turn on the air conditioner, but I was too polite to accede to my baser instincts.

Afterwards, we had strawberries downstairs and talked about possibly heading over to FUJIMAMAS, that trendy gaijin place in Omotesando which the Chip Guy had introduced me to several weeks ago. The two seemed rather game. Then, Boop took us back to the station.

Not sure if it was the heat or the fact that I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the last couple of nights, but I was drowsing on the Yamanote and the subway line on the way home. I'm kinda happy that I only have a night class tomorrow....possibly a night class since I've yet to hear from The Curry Master about my offer.

It's been a while since I got home while the sun was still in the sky, albeit a setting one. Still, I'm waiting for my rice to cook before dinner. I'll definitely be getting that rubdown tomorrow. I think my neck and shoulders are crying out for their biweekly treatment. Also, I will probably try to get things going on that Hokkaido trip. The Stylist was kind enough to give me some numbers for a couple of tour operators that have pretty cheap rates. Still, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to plan this by myself.

Tuesday April 20, 11:54 p.m.

I had my Tsudanuma ladies for the first time in a while. The leader was off in America still but the other four were in good spirits although the 2nd in command per se first regaled us with a chilling tale of her friend's husband's untimely death.

That fun class was counterbalanced by an exercise in frusrtration and useless energy in the afternoon. I showed up at the company to once again mediate between The Iconoclast and the President. I spent 2 hours trying to interpret the conversation but it was like watching two walls. The Iconoclast just couldn't seem to get any of his project off the ground which has aggravated the boss no end. I realize that communication gaps are a natural thing within an intercultural situation but even I had to wonder along with the Prez about how a technologically talented person could drag something out so long. But the Prez wasn't too much help either. For him, he only needed me to translate his mostly rhetorical onslaught of anger and disappointment; there were actually only a few questions that the Iconoclast could really answer. And once again, I just felt like I was spinning my wheels in this maelstrom of angst and lost opportunities. A real waste of time. And to add insult to injury, I probably will have to go through the same thing on Monday night after my regular class. If the Iconoclast doesn't show any signs of improvmenet in the project, I'm gonna see about pulling out.

With the tirade going overtime, I just had time to grab a couple of rice balls for dinner at the local convenience store near my juku before the classes began. Luckily, they were much more sedate and cooperative. It looks like my Thursday night juku guy has once again cancelled out, so I've just offered The Curry Master an opening for her and The SE.

And I got word from Betty Boop. It looks like I'll be having my entire slate of students in Oimachi tomorrow.

It certainly was warm today but the night got pretty gusty and cool. I may even have to take down the clothesline, lest it get blown off.

Monday April 19, 11:58 p.m.

It's raining steadily now. I didn't bother putting up my umbrella on the way home from the station but I didn't get too wet. Tomorrow may be a scorcher at 28 C. I'll be using the short sleeves for classes.

My spam filter caught a whole bunch of potential virus traps today. All of them contained 39K each and warned of some sort of systems failure to addresses that I'd never heard of. Although I'm safe, it's a bit aggravating having to filter out that type of junk.

My Monday morning students were informed about my interest in traveling up to Hokkaido and they told me that it would be a waste of time and money to go on the sleeper cars. They suggested that it would be cheaper and better if I planned my own schedule or checked with the Japan Travel Bureau. I did just that just now. However, the JTB requires at least two people to hook up with their tours and they aren't that cheap. But undaunted, I also checked out the sites for ANA and then cheap hotels in Sapporo. It could be doable so I'll hold off on any trips to the JR Hokkaido office for now. If I keep my travel just to Sapporo, I can just hang out there for a couple of days and save some yen that way. Plus, I would be in control of my own destiny up there instead of being at the mercy of some tour guide. Well, I'll ask my Tsudanuma ladies tomorrow for some more opinions since they're all seasoned travelers.

As it turned out, my middle student canned out again, so I had a few hours of time on my hands. I checked out Tokyu Hands for a carp kite that my friend in Toronto had asked for. Strangely enough, I couldn't find one. I'm wondering if I should head over to Asakusa instead. Then, I had some lunch at the Volks Steak Restaurant. I loaded myself up on a large hamburg steak and the soup & salad bar.

My class with the company was another relative slog although it ended up pretty happily unlike last week. The Iconoclast was back. It looks like I'll have another powwow between him and the President tomorrow afternoon between classes. The Iconoclast mentioned that it would be better if he did the long overdue project back in Toronto, but I'm not sure if the Prez would go for that. After class, he and I went out to this restaurant called Eikoku-en, which translates as "English Garden". True to its name, the place was all decked out in wood paneling and incandescent light. The two of us just had some club sandwiches and tea. They fit the bill for me since I did have that rather large lunch. We spent about 2 hours there gabbing about our futures and the situation in Iraq. We even postulated about where a terrorist could possibly attack in Tokyo.

It looks like my Wednesday schedule could be all bunched together since it looks like The Office Lady and the woman who had introduced the two of us to each other, Betty Boop, have the day off. Betty Boop, who has aborted long-term lessons with me twice, wants me to help her with her job interview which is slated for next week. And it seems like The OL has been pretty exhausted as of late which explains her taking the day off. However, if I were her, I would just stay at home and relax. In any case, if I can everyone all cleared up, it'll mean a rare early night for me.

Sunday April 18, 10:57 p.m.

Well, one party down, one party to go. I went off to that farewell BBQ for Chip Guy at Party Hearty's place. Her new pad is located close to Ebisu, a fairly trendy area next to the teen Mecca of Shibuya on the Yamanote Line...that is, until Roppongi Hills superceded it about a year ago.

Her apartment is off on the side streets, and because of its location on a slope, her 3rd floor pad comes off looking like a basement apartment. Basically, the new home looks similar to her old place but she lost a bit of space in the kitchen area only to be generously compensated in the balcony. There is no view for the reason already mentioned...there is a just a large wall with a submarine ladder acting as fire escape up to the outdoor parking lot. However, the balcony is large enough to fit in a table with chairs and a western BBQ setup with lots of walking space to spare.

I was the first one there so I helped out in making some potato salad before the first guests started arriving almost an hour later. One of them, HS, is planning to launch his own English conversation school in the Fall, so he was asking me about texts and stuff related to my field. He even offered me some work provided that I have the time to help him out. Both he and I got the BBQ started and then helped out with the first round of grilling chicken, Korean beef and sausages. There is something about BBQs that bring out the pyromania in men. Today was no different.

Chip Guy and the family finally showed up almost a couple of hours after my arrival. He related that for the past couple of weeks, he had been busy with all sorts of farewell parties so his liver was starting to appraoch a pate-like consistency. There was one other couple who had brought their baby along so the two families tried to get the kids together. For a number of hours, there was a lot of parental cooing which bordered on the nauseating. But it was a revelation to see how much CG has transformed since when I'd first met him as a callow high school senior 13 years ago.

As night fell, a few more stragglers showed up since they were busy at a wedding party for another of the group's friends. They managed to devour the rest of the meat that I ended up charcoaling, and then PH put on this succulent salmon for the piece de resistance. We watched some homemade videos of CG's wedding before we cracked open a bottle of Dom Perignon 1993 that CG himself had so kindly contributed and being the oldest geezer there, I gave the toast. Despite the fact that our long friendship was now transforming into a long-distance one, we all managed to keep it dry-eyed.

Back home again, I've got that yakiniku smell lingering around me so I've got a shower to take before I hit bed. Earlier this morning, I received a blast from the long past in the form of an e-mail from The Persian. The Persian was the resident of my apartment and he was the one who offered it to me just before I started this long odyssey in Japan. Although I've been here for 10 years, The Persian's tenure in my little apartment amounted to little less than a year. In any case, he contacted me to inform that a Taiwanese friend of his was in town up in Saitama. I assume that she'll be in the Kanto for a while since his request was if she could contact me and introduce her to all the gang. Well, my days as the hub of the gang are long gone...I'm pretty much on the outside now but I guess that The Persian only remembers my 90s days. In any case, he must have gotten the word out to her pretty quickly since I had her message on my machine when I got home.

Also in my messages, The Iconoclast let me know that he's back in town which means we'll probably be hitching up for dinner tomorrow night like in the old days. He's also got some BBQ pork for me as well.

At the same time that I was finishing one era of a relationship with Chip Guy, I was finishing up the 3rd book in the Hyperion series. Man, what a good book. I'll be keenly interested if this series ever gets picked up for a movie treatment. However, I shouldn't be getting too eager. Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION has yet to be given a similar treatment and that series was written decades ago.

Saturday April 17, 8:47 p.m.

Warm day today. I've got my windows open trying to catch some breeze. Now I really know that Spring is here. Plus, the grunge factor is back.

Had a couple of last minute line shufflings with my kids' classes today. The father replaced the elder sister today. I was grateful for the change in pace to a talkative fellow although he sometimes leaves me hanging with some awkward pauses. The second change was pretty sudden as my best student called off sick due to a fever, so I had her elder sister. For a girl that was under the weather, she was pretty healthy skipping down to the living room. Her face did look pretty sallow, though. In any case, I just gabbed with the more fluent sister; she didn't seem to be too interested in anything structured the last time I'd taught her.

Then, after a brief stop at the Golden Arches just down the street, I walked over to the Tokyo Dome area again. Tons of people as usual. I even went inside the Tokyo Dome Hotel to use the phone. Nothing too special about it...just your regular glass and wood interior decor. However, I did see what looked like a Yakuza sitting near the revolving door with his sunglasses, punch perm and sullen look. I walked a wide berth around him.

Finally, I met up with Moomin and Chihiro for tea at the Tea Room. We hadn't met in several months so we spent most of the 2 hours there just catching up on people and topics related to the school. They expressed some surprise on hearing the news that both The Rapper and The Cop have left and wondered how The Madame felt since she really had the hots for him. Then, the two of them talked about their trials and tribulations with work. Chihiro is still searching for one while Moomin had been struggling with hers over the past few months although she said that things were finally settling down.

Well, the last message from Party Hearty is that all the food and drink have been bought for the big BBQ party tomorrow, so I just have to show up at 2. My work is basically over even though I think I'll probably be manning the grill or working in the kitchen. Before that, I need to give my own place a bit of a quick clean. I haven't done much since just before the Anime King dropped in.

Saturday April 17, 7:52 a.m.

My morning wake-up call came in the form of The Ballerina from London. My "grace" subroutine didn't kick for the first couple of seconds of consciousness so she almost made a quick ending to the call. However, I'm actually grateful that she did call me since I should have had woken up some 45 minutes previously. My real alarm was shut off; I apparently a tendency to shut them off without even being conscious.

Looks like it'll be another good day today.

Friday April 16, 11:51 p.m.

Another long day and night come to a close. Not feeling as grungy as I did on that warm Monday but not really all that cold either.

I had my regular session with The Teacher. It looks like the pattern has been set for her lessons. Basically, it's a mix of chat and her reading her articles while I scan for any major pronunciation or grammar errors. Not a bad way to earn 5000 yen.

I then went back to my station to get some lunch via the conveyor belt sushi place under my station. Pretty good fish today. Then, I paid off some bills. My wallet is definitely feeling a lot lighter now.

Stopped off at Tokyo Station, the main bullet train hub and went to the Hokkaido Plaza of JR. Apparently, enough people like to head up to Japan's northernmost island that its own travel office was warranted. Good for me. I picked up some info about this 4-day tour up there via the much-vaunted Cassiopeia. In absolute terms, it won't be cheap but compared to what I get, it's a pretty good deal. Now, it's just a matter of seeing if I can get a ticket on board. I will have to aim for either mid-May or June. July is just going to be too expensive.

After the stop at Tokyo Station, I walked over to the Ginza and browsed through Yamano Music for a while. I held my tongue and my money and didn't buy any CDs this time around. There wasn't really anything that grabbed my attention anyways. Next, I went across the street to the Mitsukoshi Department Store and headed all the way up to the roof garden where I hung out with some of the old and middle-aged and read my book. It was sunny but a bit too drafty on the outside so I ended up spending the last hour inside the elevator bay.

I met up with Arwen at the Tea Room. Ms. 77 had a soccer match to play so she was absent. Once again, we went out for dinner afterwards. This time, it was back to Yoyogi, the second time this week I went there after the dinner with the Prez on Monday. However, with Arwen, we didn't end up in a down-home izakaya. Instead, she took me to a raucous Cambodian restaurant. The staff were, I assume, all Cambodian and the attitudes certainly were non-Japanese. The owner was an amiably gruff sort who tried to push the set course on us. However, Arwen stood her ground and ordered a la carte. Lots of noise amongst the staff. The food was good, however, as was the conversation. Once again, we gabbed about marriage and babies. She told me that one of her old classmates has been learning everything a potential good wife needs to land her a husband. I had to shake my head bemusedly. The peer pressure that some women are under...

It looks like that trip for strawberry picking on the 25th is a go. It'll be myself, Arwen, DTE and 77 in Kanagawa.

The ride home was suitably crowded for a Friday night but no particular problems of stepping into street monja or drunken salarymen.

I noticed when I got home that there was no fax from my school about any scheduled classes next week. Well, I guess I may be taking that as a hint of things to come...or not to come, as it were. I think if anyone had asked me earlier, I would've said that I was disappointed, but now as I think about it, I feel a bit more liberated. If they need me, they'll call me.

I sent in the final numbers for Party Hearty's big BBQ bash on Sunday. A couple of late cancellations but otherwise we've got a good number coming. I also got word from the mother of my two Saturday morning students. The older kid is off at school tomorrow so I'll probably have the mother in her stead. Whew! That'll save me some extra weight in books and the usual frustration of getting her to talk in more than a monotone. The mother is a much more outgoing sort.

Once I finish up with my kids, I'll be meeting up with Moomin and Chihiro at 5 for that tea. Looks like my weekend is set.

Thursday April 15, 11:18 p.m.

There is joy in this country tonight after the news that the 3 hostages have been released in Iraq. NHK and one other channel are providing live coverage. And the troops are still in Iraq. Whether this will bode well or ill remains to be seen.

My lessons at the Curry Master's place tonight went pretty well. From what was a pretty simple article for her, we were able to jump into a wide-ranging conversation going over terrible homestay experiences to crime in big cities to her phobia about cockroaches. The lesson with the SE also went ahead without a hitch but we could've used a tape with the book conversation which got me thinking about creating our own tape for him since it seems that the tape for the text doesn't exist anymore. And that led us to her long-defunct AIWA stereo system in which both her CD and tape recorder can't open. So the three of us set about seeing if we could rectify the situation. At first, we had assumed that the tape stuck in there was the cause of the problem but after wrenching open the casing, it turned out that it was a mechanical problem. SE was able to pull the tape out with some difficulty but it hadn't gummed up the capstans after all. SE pointed out in hindsight that the AIWA had a history of breaking down fairly soon.

The plans for the two parties upcoming are coming along. The party for Chip Guy has been slowly gaining attendees, and now I've been recruited for food duty early on Sunday. As for the party for the Ballerina, it looks like one of the ten has pulled out due to work.

I got word from SR that she has reconsidered about joining that class after I made some points to her. I'm certainly grateful but it did get me thinking about how long I should keep a class going. Some of my longer-living classes such as with the Tsudanuma ladies and the Monday morning folks have gone on for years since the ladies consider the classes as social events as well as venues to pick up their English. Therefore for them, I'm not too worried about how much longer I can take them. However, with some of the school alumni and the other privates I've picked up over the past year, those students are just there for the education. Once they get it, what then? I could imagine that the end could be pretty awkward, so I'm now thinking if I ever do pick up any more students I'll consider offering to tell them that I'll either give them 6 months to a year or some other sort of criteria to structure their lessons and then they can consider whether or not they want to continue or just cut things off. No awkwardness or hurt feelings. And I can then pick up those students who couldn't get into my time slots.

Well, just finish this blog and then write up the report for the classes tonight. Off to bed. Meanwhile on TV, most of the stations are now focusing full bore on the release of the hostages. The families of the 3 were shown celebrating. There i s joy in Mudville tonight.

Thursday April 15, 8:26 a.m.

A very ominous sign from Baghdad. One of the Italian hostages has been reported killed. I'm not sure of the circumstances leading up to his death, but this will really terrify the families of the kidnapped 3 here. I haven't seen any news of it on NHK; I'm just kinda wondering if it may be holding back the news in deference to the families. The station has "shaped" its programming in the past; when the abductees from North Korea returned to Japan 18 months ago, the station made sure its Tuesday night enka show featured all of the top stars from the early and mid 70s for the abductees to watch. In a nation in which doctors have often withheld terminal cancer diagnoses from their patients, I wouldn't be surprised if NHK decided to use the same tactic.

Well, it looks like Koizumi is actually putting the nation's money to work...finally. CNN just announced that the Japanese government will be investing the equivalent of 11.3 billion US dollars into foreign stocks starting from next April. That is, if Koizumi still has a job at that time.

I've got another cancellation. SR called in to say that she won't be able to make it for Friday because of work. It looks like her job in Hell got a lot worse during her trip to Hawaii. But, interestingly enough, she also asked this question about this school that she may be interested in signing up for English lessons. They would be daily and would involve some easy conversation stuff and they would be inexpensive. Being my usual paranoid self, I was just wondering if this were a very subtle sign in telling me that I'm no longer needed. I don't think I'm particularly high-priced myself, but if she could get these lessons for far less and far more frequently, I wouldn't be surprised if she did decide to fly the coop, as it were. Just like some of those doctors and NHK, she may state a translucent white lie like she's too busy to get out of my lessons. I hope she doesn't. I don't appreciate that tactic...I prefer her to just tell me openly. I'll certainly be disappointed but at least I would feel a lot better than if I were lied to. It may be the Japanese way, but it sure isn't mine, and the "When in Rome..." proverb can only go so far with me. My first two privates of my bohemian career pulled the same stunt with me, although I let that go since I wasn't too crazy about the circusmtances surrounding that class. However, I'm kinda wondering about the Hawaiian.

Well, now that I've gotten my rant across....another old student of mine, the Princess sent over a message asking if I would like to join her and Chihiro for tea on Saturday. Nothing too expensive since Chihiro is looking for a job. I gather that it'll be the Tea Room then.

Gotta get the wash up...make sure I don't have the lighter stuff on the outer line so as not to bother my downstairs neighbour again with falling shirts, and then I head out for my haircut.

Wednesday April 14, 10:34 p.m.

WOOWEE! Just calculated the budget for the past month. After seeing losses for the first couple of months this year, I actually made a good profit this month. Maybe I'll treat myself to something tomorrow.

The Office Lady called up at about noon to say that she had to cancel out of tonight's lesson due to a cold. So I ended up a with a midweek day off. I may have lost a chance to make 3000 yen but I'm glad that I didn't have to go (although the OL is a good student) since it would've meant a 90-minute round trip down to Toranomon for a 1-hour class in which I'm not even paid for transportation. I actually got a nap before heading out into the cold spritzing air to get some grub at the corner convenience store. With the extra time, I was able to get all that ironing done and even complete a very mundane action of filling out my address book.

With the 3 kidnapped Japanese people as yet to be released, the families of the 3 came out in front of the cameras once again....but this time to apologize. It was a very Japanese thing to do....the families told the press that they were sorry that their loved ones created so much worry among the population and then they bowed very deeply.

So far, the reviews on President Bush's press conference have been largely mixed. A lot of people did agree with me that G. W. hemmed and hawed and did more evading than Leona Helmsley and her tax returns. There were apparently those yahoos who sided wholeheartedly with the President and chastised those who were against him as unpatriotic. I kinda wonder if some of those folks have a large poster of Senator McCarthy in their living rooms.

On TV, the noon hour on TV Tokyo is served by The Adventures of Lois and Clark. I've watched snippets of it here and there as background noise or visual wallpaper; I think you can figure out what I think of it. The acting, the effects and the music just makes it look like a cheapo version of the movie series...or at least the first two movies since the last two movies with Christopher Reeve were pathetic. I actually went searching on the net for the website for the series. There doesn't seem to be any official site (not too surprising since the series ended almost 8 years ago), so I ended up going to Jump The Shark.com. It was an entertaining read, to say the least. Apparently, the majority of the folks have stated that the show jumped the shark after the first season, so perhaps I feel vindicated by watching the 4th season episode that I caught today.

The coordinator of the year-classes at my school sent me a message asking whether she should change the time of this welcome party on the 24th to meet my convenience. I told her that my dance card was full with my kids' classes and then the dinner for the Ballerina that night. In retrospect, I think the 24th would be a good day after all for the party since it will occur after the first week of classes. I'm not sure why the coordinator feels that she needs me that badly that she would break all convention and change the party time to the dinner hour. An old head teacher who never liked her once posited the theory that with an obliging Haruhiko at the party, she can avoid having to show up at the parties. That's not true at all since she had been present at previous welcome parties. Well, in any case, I hope she can scrounge up the teachers to show up for the party. It's not as if I don't want to go, and certainly, I can think of more enjoyable things than teachng one of those kids but I made a business commitment and I intend to stick to it. Perhaps with so many veteran teachers like the Rapper and the Songbird flying the coop recently, she's a bit desperate for some old hands to be present. Well, there's always the Movie Buddy.

As for tomorrow, I've got my bimonthly appointment with the hair salon. Yeah, yeah, I know...I said salon. My ex introduced it to me early in our erstwhile relationship since her scuba diving buddy was running it so I abandoned my old barber shop of 7 years to satsify my girl's wishes. Having said that, the salon has been very good to me for the past 2.5 years. A hair salon, unlike my old barber shop, has a policy of not giving shaves. However, I do enjoy the scalp massages and shampoos.

Then, I'll probably head over to Maruzen to see if I can get some tapes for the SE for tomorrow night's class. I could stay here at home again for most of the day, but I figure I should get out for some exercise.

Just saw Senator "Mauler" Kerrey gouge into CIA Director Tenet about 9/11. At certain times, Tenet looked like he was gonna explode and at others, he looked bewildered at this "Good Cop, Bad Cop" approach writ large the commisssion is susing thanks to the very bipartisan makeup. After Kerrey the Democrat finished up, Lehman the Republican has now just given the most wonderful platitudes to him. Whatever one thinks of American politics, it's never boring.

Wednesday April 14, 10:13 a.m.

Currently watching one of President Bush's rare press conferences. It' s been a pretty mixed bag, so far. He has been doing his usual hemming and hawing along with the occasional slip-up that the "Bushisms" book people thank god for (Rumsfeld is a co-secretary of state? Who knew? ...."I wouldn't be happy if I were occupied?" Huh?).

He also seems to be falling back on adages that have been used in the media in the past few weeks. The press has been striking at him fairly hard for what's been happening in Iraq recently, especially in the last couple of weeks, and for good reason. His 18-minute opening statement has given no particularly specific plan about how the States will bring things under control...in fact, he didn't even concede that things have been spiraling out of control.

Having said that, he has shone in all-too-brief moments when he's gotten angry or passionate about the answer for that question. But those could be explained away since he's briefed about possible or probable questions beforehand anyways. John Dickerson of TIME threw him a curve ball just now for which the Prez looked distinctly peeved. However, that journalistic grenade did reveal a bit about how Bush reacts...not too well; he even just conceded that he's not too quick on his feet in such situations. It wasn't quite cringe-inducing but I'm sure he wasn't too comfortable. And I'm kinda wondering if the Press Secretary will give Dickerson a red card for his transgression.

On a lighter and more wistful note, it was a revelation to see John Roberts of CBS News popping up and soberly throwing Bush a question. I remember him as J.D. Roberts, rock n' roll reporter of The New Music, a then-cutting-edge TV documentary show from then-cutting-edge CITY-TV in Toronto. His fashion back then was suitably a leather jacket, jeans, a near-mullet and a smirk. Now, he stands up at the press conference in a full Congressional suit and anchorman-gray hair. Man, how fast a quarter-century can fly by.

Tuesday April 13, 10:24 p.m.

Amazing....it felt like early summer yesterday but it feels like early winter tonight. I'm sure that there are a lot of immune systems crying "Uncle!" right now. We're supposed to get rained on as well for most of tomorrow.

Well, my message to my downstairs neighbour got a prompt and neat reply...just the one I like. When I got back home tonight from the juku, there was the bag with my UNIQLO shirt right by my door. I just wonder if I should get him a little reward, but then again, it is just a shirt, and it's not as if any of us in the building are particularly neighbourly to each other. I don't think any of us have any contact with the others.

The classes tonight were cut-and-dry as usual. The one student in my second class was griping again about using the textbook that is supposedly too easy for her. And I once again proved her in the lesson that she has yet to master some of the grammar that we did today. I figured that she just gets that way whenever a lesson bored her (like last week).

The coordinator from my school finally sent me a response about this welcome party. She gave a fairly surprising response that the program attracted the lowest number of new recruits ever...just 26 new faces, as compared to 40-45 new students in previous years. I can't say that I'm totally surprised, though. With the number of English conversation schools littering Tokyo and the high prices, it's going to be tough to get students. Also, a part of the success of such a school is word-of-mouth, and frankly speaking, I can't say that my school would have a great reputation. Not to slag on most of the teachers, though; a lot of them are decent folks who really try to put through an education to them. However, I think the aftercare and the peripherals such as textbooks have been pretty substandard for as long as I remember. I mean, the main text for the students have simple drawings of folks in bell-bottoms and afros...that's how old it is. The low turnout will also hurt me. Fewer students will mean fewer classes for teachers to teach. I may actually have to fill up my Tuesdays and Thursdays if I don't get any more classes from them.

As for the welcome party, I found it rather bizarre that the coordinator decided to make it for the next Saturday. She had usually set it far into May just in case new stragglers came into the school. In any case, I told her that I couldn't make it because of my kids and the fact that I have that dinner for the Ballerina that night. Well, no use crying over spilt milk.

That new Pet Shop Boys video looks rather intriguing with its Japanese pop culture theme. In fact, I think the Boys make a pretty humourous stab at the commercial industry here with its silly images and funky kanji. I never expected the song "Flamboyant", though, to actually cover how a lowly salaryman goes from a zero to a hero by entering this contest that actually exists on Japanese TV.

While I was blogging, I ended up chatting for an hour with Movie Buddy. It had been a few weeks since I spoke with him last. Both he and I were commiserating about the state of our school after I had told him about the low recruitment rate. He also believes that I probably won't be seeing too much of the school anymore. If that's indeed the case, I will really then consider opening those last two weekly slots for new students. It's a pity in a way, though. I really did enjoy teaching those classes for the past 5 years. But life is transition. At the same time, MB told me that The Rapper has also pulled out of things. Again, I can't say that I'm surprised. MB himself almost ended up on the streets when contract negotiations broke down at one point a couple of weeks ago.

Tuesday April 13, 10:43 p.m.

Back to cold windy weather again. Those winds are just blowing like gales out there. In fact, my UNIQLO shirt was a casualty. It got blown down to the second floor balcony, so I had to exercise my Kanji writing muscles and pen a memo for the fellow downstairs. I tried to make it easy for him and myself by just asking him to put the shirt ina bag provided for him and just place it in my mailbox. No muss, no fuss and no contact.

Party Hearty finally got back into the e-mail swing of things in a most timely way since she's providing the pad for Chip Guy's farewell this Sunday. Not surprisingly, there'll be tons of food. I'm good with that.

I got word back from the Anime King. It looks like the poor guy suffered the flight from Hell with delays and rebookings. However, he is now back in one piece in Toronto. I hear the gang back home will be taking him out for a nice juicy steak dinner. He deserves it.

Well, gotta get working on those lesson plans, although I only have 2 hours tonight. Then, I gotta get some lunch, and then maybe I can actually get some ironing done. I've got a good pile of wrinkled clothing on one sofa.

Monday April 12, 11:45 p.m.

It felt more like early summer today. The mercury went up to 26 C. But my best personal barometer was the fact that I was feeling pretty grungy by the time I got home tonight. I went straight into the shower. Luckily, things will be a good deal cooler tomorrow.

It was a good day for walking though. Certainly, a lot of the fashion freaks were out in Shibuya today. I saw a few unnaturally tanned young folk in day-glo colours and bleached blonde hair. We had a tragic fashion trend a couple of years ago called GANGURO and YAMAMBA which these folks were emulating today. The latter especially looked like photo negatives. I hope that today's sightings were more of a woeful aberration than a return to turn-of-the-century form.

My classes went pretty smoothly. Afterwards, the Prez once again treated me to yet another one of his local haunts. This time, he took me a bit further out into Yoyogi to an izakaya called Uogashi. Great food....I stuffed myself almost to the point of attaining first victim status in SEVEN. The place also got a write up in the Washington Post for its home cooking. The owner said that since the article's release, there have been a few foreign guests coming into the izakaya. A bit hard to imagine since the place seems so Japanese, but the article did say that the ownership was friendly, and they were indeed that tonight.

No news about the 3 hostages. I just don't know about that.

A Waseda University professor got nailed in Shinagawa Station for trying to peek up a high school student's skirt using a well-placed hand mirror. Gah! A once-popular celeb was caught doing the same thing. He and his career plummeted into oblivion.

I was thinking about doing some ironing before I hit the hay but I've decided to just jump into bed immediately after my blog. I'll probably have more energy next morning. As for right now, it seems to be devoted to digestion.

Monday April 12, 7:13 a.m.

UGH! I went through pollen hell yesterday with my nose and eyes running like a river during Spring Thaw. Neither the air cleaner nor the medicine helped out since I decided to wait too long before relinquishing to the pills. I took another batch this morning and it feels like it's kicking in.

I was able to enjoy...between grabs of Kleenex, that is...the DVD of "Intolerable Cruelty". It was another Arwen loaner thereby bypassing the much more expensive theater route. The Coen Bros. once again pulled off another fine homage to screwball comedies. The banter amongst the cast was quick and witty...a challenge for even advanced English students. And George Clooney couldn't have looked suaver...even in Ocean's Eleven. It's rather interesting that he and Cary Grant have the same initials...reversed...cue the Twilight Zone theme.

The big news has been the fate of those 3 kidnapped Japanese in Iraq. Spirits were considerably buoyed yesterday at the news that the three would be released. However, it's now been more than 24 hours since that announcement and there has been no further news. I cannot imagine what the families must be going through. A couple of representatives from those families looked on the verge of emotional and physical collapse at a news conference.

There was some non-baseball sporting news on the tube with the national judo championships yesterday. Japan's own homely darling, Ryoko Tani (nee Tamura), alias Yawara-chan, clinched her berth at the Olympics. I think everyone still remembers the moment when she won the gold in Sydney 4 years ago. Not a dry house in the country. However, my respect for her fell a few points with that ludricously cheesy televised wedding reception she had with her baseball beau. Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair, though, since major sports celebs HAVE TO have their weddings made public.

Well, I'm still waiting for my birth certificate to come in from Thunder Bay. With 70,000 applications clogging up the works there, it's not surprisng that I've been waiting more than 4 months. Having said that, I'm gonna be sending a letter today to see if my application even got there. As I was telling Mom yesterday, there's nothing to do but wait.

It looks like it'll be another fairly quiet week. I'll be loaded today and Friday but the middle section will be sparse in classes.

Saturday April 10, 11:05 p.m.

Well, the Anime King left this morning. I helped him lug one of his bags up to the subway station and then saw him off. Then I treated myself to a McD's breakfast before heading out for the kids. I had some vain wishes that the older sister at the first house would gain the desire to speak but such was not the case. She was her usual sullen self. My best kid in the afternoon seemed pretty tired after a bout of swimming.

Last night, I took Arwen and Ms. 77 down to the Ginza to meet up with the Anime King and his associate, the Exporter, for dinner. I rather wondered how the combination of my two worlds of English teaching and university buddydom would mesh. But I needn't have worried. Everyone got along swimmingly. AK had mentioned the Exporter for years but last night was the first time for me to meet him. He and I are the same age, and he's quite personable. He's been shipping Japanese pop culture goods to the Americas for a number of years now. Arwen and AK especially hit it off quite well since Arwen is also of AK's world by association.

We ended up going to Ten-Kuni, a reasonable tempura place in the Ginza just across from where the Farm Grill used to be. We were a bit surprised when the maitre 'd pegged me immediately for a foreigner although I was a stealth gaijin. He just merely shrugged his shoulders and said that after 40 years working there, he could pick out foreigners just like that.

Arwen's hubby, Aragorn, actually showed up after dinner since he was working close by. He's also quite a good guy and I was also amazed that both he and the Exporter were just as willing to converse in English with each other. The Exporter made the same remarks as well.
I think the two guys would've made good students at the school.

Well, now that the King has left, I've got my bedroom back so I can save myself the backaches. However, I do think I'll be doing my fair share of cleanup tomorrow. Luckily, I don't have anything slated for Sunday, although I did get a message from Movie Buddy for the first time in a couple of weeks. He may have wanted to come over here to watch a DVD, but I rather preferred to just be by myself tonight so I haven't responded back yet

I caught the new, improved and much darker version of Battlestar Galactica thanks to my buddy's videotape. Let's say that it isn't my youth's Battlestar Galactica with the repeated effects shots, droning Cylon voices and mullets. I could compare the two versions like comparing Frank Miller's Dark Knight to the Adam West Batman. Everyone in the newer version comes off with a deeper, more complex and not as nice personality which makes for a lot of tension amongst the characters. Plus, they have thrown in an X-Files-like twist ending, to boot. I'm not really sure if it will be picked up since I've got the feeling that viewers are now kinda burned out on the sci-fi TV after 15 years of Star Trek and Babylon 5.

Thursday April 8, 12:46 p.m.

Another lazy day today. I just have that one class at the juku. I checked my e-mail. There was no cancellation notice from the juku owner so I assume that I'm on. Not much to plan anyways. The Anime King and I didn't get up all that early this mornng. He took off about an hour ago to meet up with his associate, K-Books, in Akihabara.

It looks like I have two attendance lists to mind over the next couple of weeks. There's that party for the Ballerina. The Rapper is the latest one to join the group. Then there's the going away party for the Chip Guy. I've received 5 positive responses for that get-together. That brings the grand total to 10 already. I'm just wondering how all of us are going to squeeze into the place.

My nose is acting up again so I've activated the air cleaner. The Anime King has declined The Iconoclast's request to take it back to Toronto due to its size...something that I don't mind considering my allergies.

Wednesday April 7, 9:49 p.m.

I had my biweekly Wednesday morning student for the first time in about a month since she was off in Hokkaido for a few days on a scheduled lesson day. The Stylist is not a super gabby person but she does like to talk. The problem is that her structure threatens to fall off the track.

Afterwards, I decided to visit Odaiba for the first time in a few months. I went over to the Sunset Beach restaurant which has a decent lunch buffet. A lot of pasta, meat and salad. I basically engorged myself. Ironic, since the Stylist advised me about eating less and exercising more. My actions at the restaurant illustrated how little I like to listen to authority. However, I did follow up my binge with over 2 hours of solid walking through the area including three malls and Fuji-TV. I noticed that there was still some solid construction going on near the main Tokyo Big Sight convention centre. There's even a gated area near the TBS which consists of a chapel and classic-looking buildings for weddings. After my walkabout, I got on the Yurikamome train at the end stop so I was able to sit in the front seat and snoozed during the 30-minute ride back to Shimbashi at the other end of the line.

I had another 20-minute walk from Shimbashi to Toranomon where I had the Office Lady. She's been rather busy with the accounting so she's been hoping for a holiday soon. Speaking of holidays, I'm now thinking about heading out to Hokkaido a week after the Golden Week holidays. I've been wondering about taking the famed Cassiopeia Express from Tokyo to Sapporo. It's about as close to the Orient Express as it can get here, and apparently the prices approzimate its more famous counterpart as well. But I figure that if I let the prices scare me, I'll never be able to make the trip, and I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Now that I'm back home, I received a message from the Anime King not to wait up for him for dinner. I'm thinking about seeing if we can do some lunch or an early dinner tomorrow since he'll be taking off on Saturday.

Wednesday April 7, 12:42 a.m.

This must be a weird week. First, it was the crazy lady in Shinjuku Station, then the rude geezer at Pepper Lunch, and now coming back from work tonight, it was the fighting couple on the subway platform. A small woman was chewing out her boyfriend about something in what was a textbook spat. The woman was doing most of the yelling while the man was alternately muttering or doing a slow burn. I knew what was going to happen next...the man then slightly exploded at her as a pheonmenon known in Japanese as "gyaku-kire" or counter-blowup. Then he went back to his sullen self while the woman continued to admonish him. I would've loved to have seen what happened next but the train arrived. It's been several months since I'd seen a couple arguing in public outside of the battles that my ex and I had. I can only imagine what's going to happen the next day.

The classes at the juku went pretty normally. The juku owner was back to her ebullient self, especially since she found her second wind and proclaimed that she would be taking the juku into a new direction by next year by moving the place to Shin-Urayasu and expanding it into a full-fledged school. I wish her the best of luck. Certainly, my fortunes would be tied into anything that she would do.

Well, I got back home from the spat to see that Anime King had arrived here over an hour ago. It was good that we could talk so that some of the tension could drain away from me. It was also nice to see the music channel on SkyPerfect play some of those old J-Pop songs from my childhood. Got me into a better frame of mind.

Apparently, Doctor Who is back...or will be back...on BBC. I remember watching the good Doctor and his adventures on TV Ontario and PBS back home as a die-hard fan of the series years ago. The stories were quite good in the prime Jon Pertwee/Tom Baker years. The new Doctor is supposed to be played by some fellow named Eccleston. I just hope that the effects are much more improved. I think I'm a bit too old now to accept the gold spray-painted styrofaom ball as a rotating planet anymore.

Tuesday April 6, 12:21 p.m.

Another lovely day outside. Another old boor to observe. I had just gotten my rubdown at the quick massage clinic when I decided to have lunch at Pepper Lunch, that mix between fast food restaurant and grill. An old fogey sat two seats away from me. He wasn't openly antagonistic but he just alternately muttered or growled his order to the waitress. Plus, he ignored her when she asked if he needed anything else. Man, are a lot of these Japanese men genetically predisposed to become jerks as they age? The current generation of young punks aren't exactly my cup of tea either but at least they are sullenly polite.

I have yet to hear from the Anime King since he left his message on Sunday night. As far as I know, he's coming back here for the rest of his stay. He's got the spare key and a map to the apartment, so I'm not particularly worried about him.

Well, I've got a few hours before heading out to the juku so I might as well enjoy the afternoon and listen to some CDs and do crosswords.

Monday April 5, 10:09 p.m.

I was on my way home through Shinjuku Station when this woman several metres out in front was screaming epithets into her cellphone, and screaming at the cops who looked her way. Obviously, she wasn't exactly playing with a full deck but trailing behind her, but I just felt like smashing her face in with my fist. There have been a number of these very angry half-sociopaths walking through the streets of Tokyo recently, and they've certainly raised my blood pressure lately. On the subway home, a typical middle-aged geezer was sitting next to me just huffing his stink breath. I was getting some rather nasty thoughts about him, but it was also possible that he may have had a pretty bad end to his day. However, I'm starting to wonder if it is time that I took a REAL vacation, and not just spend my days off at home. Otherwise, I may end up becoming one of the walking insane.

My day was otherwise OK. I had a full slate today with three classes. I thought I had a pretty good chance to meet up with the Anime King tonight after class since he was planning to call up the President for dinner. However, I found out that the Prez was off on business in Shikoku, so obviously no dinner.

Well, tomorrow, I'll have nothing until my juku classes so hopefully I'll be able to rest up adequately although I plan to get a rubdown in the morning.

Sunday April 4, 9:48 p.m.

Cold and wet as a dog's nose today. Unbelievable this season! I'm still suspecting that we'll get a few flurries tonight.

I had my dinner today with those juku students at that hidden restaurant in the wilds of Tsudanuma, Takimoto. I got to the platform of my station at 3:55 p.m. and ended up having to wait 20 minutes. Women...well, at least I was graceful about it.

Man, if anyone from home ever comes to my neck of the woods, I really have to take them to Takimoto. The place is truly a culinary gem out here in the burbs. I was a bit concerned about the Zen-like map but it was a lot easier than expected to find the place. And then, I had wondered about the course we had selected. It was the cheapest one at 4,000 yen per person so I thought that we weren't going to get that much. I was absolutely wrong. We got a ton of dishes consisting of sashimi, tempura, shellfish, etc so that we were actually stuffed by the end. The ladies were also impressed by our little room, incidentally, the same room that my Tsudanuma students and I had when I first went there. All in all, we were a very satisfied group. No wonder there was a month-long waiting list.

Shivering on the way back home, I invited the ladies to come up to my apartment for a bit of coffee. We picked up some dessert from the local convenience store. Luckily, I'd had the foresight to clean up a bit before I left the apartment. We looked through the satellite TV, and I made Chai. One lady enjoyed it while the other one wasn't too big on spices so she couldn't really complete the cup. Still, it was nice to entertain company.

Well, back to the mundaneness of prepping for lessons tomorrow. The Anime King may be calling up the Iconoclast's old boss to have dinner then since he knows that I 'll be teaching class at the company on the same day.