Saturday August 21, 8:31 p.m.

Spoke with Mom for the first time in a month. She and Dad plus their friends had a good time on their Alaskan cruise. Another one of those floating all-you-can-eat buffet ships. They got to see the tail ends of whales and one brown bear up in the tundra. They also got to meet the relatives in Vancouver.

Got over to the Grapevine a full half-hour before it started. Being the first one there, the old but kindly proprietor gave me a glass of beer. I had to sip slowly so that I didn't end up entertaining the masses a bit too much. The party was a smaller affair as is usually the case with the September grads but it was good. We had eight out of nine grads show up with six teachers: me, Movie Buddy, The Jester, The Rapper, The Shamrock and a new teacher, the High Roller. In previous years, we've had our grad parties at the Grapevine. My impression was not all that great of the place due to a subpar menu one time and the fact that it's a pretty old and dank place more suited for the streets of old Asakusa. However, the fried chicken, the beef stew (for which I got a doggie bag) and the other dishes worked out very well today. Plus, the owners were very nice people. And we got some special off-menu cakes for dessert. I may just take them up on their offer to dine there for dinner one night..that is, if I ever get a chance to teach at the school again.

I may have committed one faux pas when I mentioned that there would be a singing segment and I made a snarky crack about it. The Coordinator is big on singing at these parties, but I am most definitely not. I realize that she likes it so I should've just held my tongue. It doesn't look like there was any damage, though. One good thing about the smaller September graduation parties is that the speeches by the students are resultingly smaller in number.

Also the following parties for this group were also somewhat more subdued. This group of alumni consisted of a quieter lot so we just had some coffee before the karaoke box opened up next door. We spent the next couple of hours there with The Rapper taking the lead in the singing. We started out filling a couple of rooms but by the second hour, one of the rooms emptied out. I took care of the financial matters which were surprisingly inexpensive. And I also contributed my vocal cords; my impression of Satchmo on "What A Wonderful World" seemed to have wowed the masses. Everything broke up by 6:30 which was fine with me since I really needed to get a shower.

Before he took off, the Jester and I had a short talk on stuff. True to his moniker, he's been the life of every party that we've had over the past year. However, today, despite his usual jokes and antics, he told me that he was exhausted after a pretty sleepless week. It's darn admirable of him to keep the party going but he really doesn't need to stress himself out. He did mention that he'd like to try out the food museums at the Sunshine 60 Building someday in the near future. Unfortunately, his weekeday night schedule is booked up and the museums are crowded to the rafters during the weekend, so we may have to wait a while until he gets a better schedule.

The Ballerina left a message in response to mine. She's doing OK although she did mention that she had a small problem with her eye. She'll be coming back to Tokyo in a couple of weeks so we'll probably get together again in early September.

Well, got the lesson with Jazz Buddy tomorrow in Shinagawa followed by another steak dinner at the Outback.

Looks like the weather is starting to slow down in the heat pumps. Just going to 29 tomorrow. Maybe we'll start facing that inexorable slide into Fall.

Saturday August 21, 9:27 a.m.

Had the AC turned on as soon as I got up as has been the ritual since the summer began, only to be slightly embarrassed when I opened the window to get the laundry going. It actually felt drier and cooler. Looks like the typhoon is making up for yesterday's blast by giving us more reasonable weather.

Well, it's official now. Japan medal count just surpassed its Sydney count. It was a bumper crop yestereday with two more judo golds, a swimming gold and a swimming bronze. Definitely a good way to finish up the judo competition with that double gold. Of course, the media are sinking their teeth into this story.

A little bit more household stuff to do before heading out for the grad party. Gotta pick up a camera as well.

Friday August 20, 8:11 p.m.

The lesson with The Teacher turned out to be a gabfest. Kinda too bad since the material she brought with her was on David Cronenberg. Always good to read up on a fellow Canadian.

Afterwards, I headed out to Ginza in the blazing heat. The area is a solar conductor with all of the pavement and concrete holding and reflecting the heat and the tall buildings barring any winds from the bay. I just basically browsed through the CD stores, just buying a Premiere magazine.

Then, I headed up to the school. Looks like there have been improvements during my absence. There was a rather large library along the wall with basic reader versions of famous movies ranging from "My Fair Lady" to "Mrs. Doubtfire". I got there a couple of hours before the pizza party so I spent that time re-acquainting myself with the students. They were quite happy to see me after so long so we basically had a good chatfest before the pizzas arrived. When they asked me what I was back here for, I told them that I was there for the pizza and them....although I didn't give them the ratio. Saw The Jester and met the new addition to the crew.

The pizza party took care of my dietary needs for the day. With The Teacher paying for my coffee and sandwiches this morning, my food budget was at a rare minimum. Movie Buddy was the only other teacher to show up for the culinary feast. Of course, I'll see him and another such feast tomorrow at the grad party.

I just got home to see Japan crush Canada 9-1 in baseball, and now the track n' field events are starting up with the hammer throw. We got our local favourite, Murofushi, propping up the side here.

MB asked me about catching Fahrenheit 911 on Tuesday which is fine with me since I've got nothing until the juku. I found a theatre in Ginza which is showing the Michael Moore opus. Hopefully, the free tickets will be accepted there.

I got another delivery notice at the door. Looks like Anime King made another purchase from the boys at SEGA.

Not sure what it's gonna be like tomorrow weatherwise. With the typhoon north of us, we may get a drop in temps and some rain.

Friday July 20, 8:13 a.m.

Another Gold and Silver. A once-hard luck judoist on the Olympic mats finally got her medal in a big way, and a guy who last got a bronze way back at the Montreal Olympics got a silver in archery.

Paddy's contacted me. We'll be meeting up on the 4th for some brewskis at the Maple Leaf. I've also invited PH but she's iffy. May need to get the ol' Hotel ready once again.

Watching the Michael Jackson trial, I just reminisce when he was once admired and beloved for his music and the Moonwalk back in my high school days, He's now seen as a has-been freak by most of the States except for a group of extremely loyal fans. I'm frankly not sure if he's indeed a pedophile, but I think he is a sadly disturbed fellow who has Peter Pan Syndrome.

Thursday August 19, 9:49 p.m.

Don't mind me...I'm just broiling again. Another skin-searing day today in the Big Sushi. 35 degrees once more although there were probably areas such as concrete-and-glass bound Shinbashi which registered higher temps. And we're gonna face another hot one tomorrow as well. However, we are getting a bit of variety...we've got Typhoon 15 skirting us to the north which will dump a ton of rain on the northern frontier; ironically for that reason, we'll be getting hit with the heat wave for one more day. Then, about an hour ago, we got slightly rocked by a Shindo 3 tremor. The weatherman said that after Friday, the temperature will drop below 30 as the typhoon has a more sympathetic influence on us.

Had my haircut at the salon this morning. My regular stylist is just the most "up-with-people" type. Anything I say is given the utmost attention and enthusiasm. To be honest, I'm not sure if she's truly interested in what I have to say (preferably, I'd rather have my haircut in total silence but I also like to be considerate) but my ex told me that her personality really is switched to 11 and I can't believe anyone could maintain a veneer of enthusiasm for almost 2 years without going nuts. In any case, I'm less scraggly now.

Just had a bit of lunch and stuff at home for a few hours before heading out once more in the summer sun to see SR at the Tea Room. Recently, I found out that one of the waitresses there actually lived in my neighbourhood so today we had a bit of a chat and compared notes. She goes to all of my shopping places so it'll be inevitable that we'll catch each other now that she's put me on notice. I'll have to be on my best behaviour from now on.

Cooked up a mess of protein, carbohydrates and veg in one dish so that I'll be able to hold up just nicely until breakfast. The Olympic team had a bit of heartbreak today. Kosei Inoue, the heavyweight judoist and captain of the entire Japanese delegation, was upset by a Dutchman in the quarterfinals. And the Japanese didn't fare too well in the individual gymnastics category after getting that gold for the group. Still, we're doing pretty well.

It'll just be The Teacher so no planning needed there. And then, I'll probably head out to the school for the term-end pizza party. This will actually be the first time there in a month. And it'll be the first time that I didn't get a chance to teach the graduating class in their final week. I'm not too bothered by it, though, since my time with this current group wasn't too long. However, I'll be glad to see them tomorrow and then on graduation day on Saturday.

Wednesday August 18, 8:53 p.m.

5 hours of teaching today. It's been a while since I did that; as a result, I'm feeling pretty tapped out. I'm not even that hungry. I just had some chicken nuggets with some milk. Part of the problem was the remainder of the spaghetti I had for breakfast. That was pretty gnarly stuff. Next time, I won't throw in a ton of shredded cheese into my Spaghetti Pepperoncino...not a good mix. Cheese and Spaghetti Bolognese, that's the ticket.

I had my final class with the Biologist. Very pleasant. She pulled off her best presentations to date today. I wish her well.

Looks like we have another two finals to look forward to in judo. But the Men's baseball team just had their asses handed back to them by Australia of all countries.

Checked up on how ol' Canada was doing. Just one bronze medal. A bit early but I wonder if anyone in Sports Canada will be looking for a job afterwards.

Tuesday August 17, 11:50 p.m.

Looks like Japan is going through a gold rush of sorts. Almost 24 hours after the gymnastics team got its gold, another judoka, Tanimoto, got hers in dramatic fashion. I'm starting to remember how much I enjoyed watching judo in the first half of the Sydney Olympics. And Greece got its own gold in judo right now much to the joy of the local crowd. For Japan, though, it's 6 gold medals and counting.

Another blazing hot day. The humidity was really bad thanks to the rain tonight. It just sealed in the sweat that wanted to evaporate, so I felt like I was wearing a thin coat of moisture. Not pleasant. What's worse is that we'll be back up to 35 tomorrow and I've got a full slate on my plate. I've got the kids for a rare weekday class, the Biologist for her last lesson, and then the OL. Speaking of last lessons, I had the final class with my 9-10 student tonight before he takes off for his new life in the States. Best of luck to him.

Those Yokohama pics came in. They look pretty good. I'll be quite happy to post those in my album. Well, it's off to bed.

Tuesday August 17, 9:32 a.m.

It's Asahi Beer Time! Looks like this Japanese team has been providing a lot of thrills and heartbreak...what the Olympic experience is. We picked up another couple of medals. A bronze in swimming, but the big one was a gold in group gymnastics, the first one since Montreal. Of course, the media has been swarming all over the triumphant team like bees on an invading wasp.

It's one of the intriguing things about the Japanese coverage. Back Stateside, one network bids out of the four majors to become the sole broadcaster while the other three feed on relative scraps. Over here, NHK and all of the commercial networks share coverage so that at least two stations during prime broadcasts have their eye on different venues. Great idea. I only feel sorry for the winning athletes,though. If they especially win gold, they're pretty much required to attend every network's HQ in Athens for interviews. After all their work and tension, the media spotlight must be like going from the frying pan into the fire.

Monday August 16, 9:15 p.m.

Well, since my last entry, Japan grabbed another gold from swimming. Kosuke Kitajima is another Olympian hero. However, since then, the men's soccer team played themselves out of medal contention and the women's volleyball team lost another one, this time to Italy. Right now, I just saw a former member of that women's team and a former pro tennis player giving a bit of a scolding on air about how an Olympic team should play. I can only imagine that the coach must be vocally stripping the wallpaper off in the dressing room.

Back in the real world, we got back to the heat and humidity. My back and neck were all sticky and wet as I staggered up the stairs to the apartment and my AC is up and running once more after a day off. However, we may get another round of cooler (under 30) weather and rain tomorrow.

I made it over to City Hall and updated my gaijin card. Only took 5 minutes and then I was off to Shinjuku. I ended up having my coffee again at Andersens before teaching my company class. Man, that low student was really low today....completely on tree trunk mode. I've almost finished the text so I have to think about getting the next text for them. It'll have to be the Side by Side 2; there's no way any of them can handle anything harder. I don't even know if I'm gonna get renewed.

It'll be another day of nothing tomorrow until the juku classes. I'll go grab that rubdown and then make up a mess of pasta to use up all the remaining cheese. I just bought a big hamburger patty on rice and salad for dinner. I'm rather impressed at how much the Japanese love their Salisbury Steak. Back home, when one thinks of hamburgers, one thinks of the patty between two halves of a bun and an assortment of condiments. Over here, we of course have that but hamburger steaks are even more ubiquitious than probably in Salisbury, England. Every supermarket has them in the showcase. My supermarket has them either smothered in some sort of sauce, whether it be soy or Italian tomato, on a bed of rice. It's just too easy to pick one up for a quick dinner or lunch.

Sunday August 15, 11:09 p.m.

After 40 days and 40 nights of record-breaking heat wave, the Mt. Ararat of temperatures delivered us from oblivion, albeit temporarily. Thanks to a barrage of low pressure systems up north, Tokyo finally broke its hex and got a good dousing and a mere 22-degree high. It felt almost like Fall. However, we'll be back to mundane reality again from tomorrow.

After my kids yesterday, I went off to meet Movie Buddy in front of the Picadilly in Shinjuku to catch RIDDICK. It was just two of us as I'd expected. Well, what can I say about RIDDICK? I never caught PITCH BLACK but the sequel was pretty much stand alone despite some of the back references. It struck me as an entertaining B-movie. For that reason, I was surprised that Dame Judi Dench appeared in it. I guess the old age pension just isn't making ends meet for her. As for Vin Diesel, I'm wondering if he's gonna end up being an answer to a trivia question about early 21st-century Hollywood.

We did our usual kaffeeklastch after the flick before we headed back home and did our semi-annual DVD-a-thon. We grabbed some salad and drinks at the supermarket, and then ordered some pizzas from home. It's actually been several months since my last taste of pizza. Basically, the last time I had it was during the last time MB came over for DVDs.

The DVD-a-thon followed the mediocre path started by RIDDICK earlier in the day. The best of the weak lot was BAD BOYS 2. I actually enjoyed it a bit better than MB did; he just found it headthumpingly homophobic. I thought the same, but the action scenes were typically Michael Bay entertainment. Certainly, the extended car chase rivaled that of MATRIX RELOADED. However, I found Will Smith's character throughly unlikeable and even wished that Martin Lawrence actually went through his decision to break up the partnership. Some scenes also seemed to have been tacked on as an afterthought.

It was pretty much downhill from there. I SPY was another Eddie Murphy step into the sunset of his career. Something just didn't gel between him and Owen Wilson although individually both had some good zingers. MB liked it better than I did.

And last AND least, there was BULLETPROOF MONK. The title may have been fine for an obscure comic but all it did was just elicit a smirk as a title for a feature movie. Mind you, it was nice to see that all those English lessons Chow Yun Fat had taken didn't go to waste. And it was nice seeing all those Toronto scenes. Pity about the movie.

It's been a great weekend for the local sports fan here. There are the National High School Baseball Championships and the Olympics. Great start for Japan in Athens. During our DVD-a-thon, Ryoko Tani and one other fellow managed to grab two golds in judo. Mind you, those two may represent half of the medals Japan is gonna get but it's nice to see them explode right from the start. And it's looking pretty up for the gymnastics team. Continuing on the sports beat, the huge news comes from the Giants where the dictator owner of the team suddenly resigned to take responsibility for some sort of illegal scouting scandal. I think there's more to the story than has been shown so far. A guy like Tsuneo Watanabe wouldn't just give up the goat over some low underling's error...an error that probably occurs regularly in just about every other team.

Both MB and I had a good amount of sleep despite the fact that we hit the hay around 3 a.m. this morning. I kept the AC on for MB and then of course, the arriving coolness helped things out immensely. By the time, we got out of the apartment, it was already past noon so we ended up going to the nearby Skylark for a bit of lunch. We had a good ol' time talking up the movies.

We hit the subway and headed out to the city. MB was going back home all the way on the other side while I made a pit stop at Maruzen to pick a book for the kids. Then, it was off to Shinjuku to meet Jazz Buddy. I had an hour before she showed up so I just sat in the old plaza. It was a different feeling not sweating up fountains outside. When I went in, I saw JB sitting all the way in the back of the Starbucks. We could only do the first hour there since the place closed at 7 so we continued things at Bologne, a cafe in the Century Hyatt. We both had a very nice Steak on Rice set there and we chatted up on hitting the Outback after the lesson, so we've set up the lesson in Shinagawa next week.

Since I've got nothing until the company tomorrow night, I can wake up pretty leisurely although that will depend whether it will remain cool during the morning.

With all of the sports going on right now, the news that it's the 59th anniversary of the end of WWII for Japan has been largely smothered despite the NHK-televised ceremony at the Budokan today. Perhaps in a way, it's a good thing.

Hey, another two medals in judo.

Saturday August 14, 7:57 a.m.

Woke up at 6 and turned on the telly to see the highlights from the Opening Ceremonies. Yup, didn't miss all that much...just the usual idealistic images and the lighting of the torch. The Japanese team looked less goofy than they did at Sydney although I think the female athletes resembled a pyjama party contingent. A lot of people crab about how over-the-top the Americans are about their media coverage of their athletes. However, Japan is not really any different. Fuji-TV devoted 2 hours to just one athlete, a 15-year-old ping pong prodigy who used to cry up a storm whenever she lost a game. I hope her maturity has grown along with her talent. Every other station here has also devoted itself to some sort of Olympic cheerleading, complete with its own inspirational pop song.

I heard that these Olympics could be the dirtiest ever due to the drug infractions. Maybe the new motto could be: Higher, Stronger, Faster, Dopier?

Friday August 13, 8:39 p.m.

A supposedly unlucky day but so far, so good. I hope the Olympics fare just as well. Since we're 7 hours ahead of Athens, I'll be fast asleep while the Opening Ceremonies are playing themselves out. I'm not too disappointed since the OC is merely a lot of pomp and circumstance but unlike Sydney, we'll be missing out on a good chunk of the Games daily due to the time difference.

It was another hot one today but relief may finally be around the corner. We may actually dip down past 30 on Sunday with rain. We can only hope.

Work was just in and out. I only needed to meet SR at the Tea Room for her lesson. We spent a good chunk of it chatting on ramen since she's a big fan of the stuff as well. Surprisingly, she's never been to the Ramen Museum. I told her to run, not walk to the place.

Well, the place is ready as it'll ever be for Movie Buddy to come and crash tomorrow night.

Thursday August 12, 11:39 p.m.

Well, I woke up early and headed out to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau. I noticed that my timing was quite good as the subways and trains were a lot emptier than usual due to the O-Bon holidays. I could actually get a seat which is rare on a regular day even at the early time of before 7 a.m.

When I reached JR Shinagawa, I headed out to the East Exit and found a lot of English signs pointing the way to the bus for the TRIB. I'm sure with the numbers of gaijin from all over the Kanto, the signs were necessary. A ten-minute ride later, the bus stopped right in front of the entrance itself at 8 a.m. I never got a whole look at the building but from the literature and the floor guide, the place is supposed to be rather humongous.

There were already about a dozen people scattered about the entrance with a small fraction creating a small line in front of the automatic doors (the doors wouldn't open until 8:30). The first group seemed to be a group of Chinese and their representative lawyerly type.My first impression was that they made up the majority of the initial group. A Falun Gong member was trying to hand out literature which I politely declined. I spent the half-hour going through the Olympic issue of TIME.

Another much smaller line started to form in front of the second set of doors. At first I wondered if I were in the right line, but since the doors opened up into the same lobby, it didn't really matter. That point was further emphasized when the security guards finally opened the doors and there was a mad dash into the elevators and up the escalator; the lines were just a mere formality. As such, I just let the masses fly in while I checked out where I was supposed to go. The floor guide wasn't specific enough, so I went up to the second floor to the information counter where an older version of me gruffly handed me the appropriate form and told me to go to Counter A.

I was lucky in that I only needed to transfer my visa and re-entry permit into my new passport. There was none of that need to buy the purchase stamps so I could just head straight into the line. Things certainly looked pretty grand and modern inside this new Immigration Bureau. It had an airport terminal air about it...all pastel colours and sterility.

It was another 25 minutes of waiting. I started to reminisce about my times waiting in line at the TD Bank. However, at about 8:55, five minutes ahead of schedule, the shutters opened at the counter, and there was a small phalanx of uniformed women ready to take care of our needs. Japanese efficiency at its peak. Since I was 5th in line, I was fortunate that the phalanx consisted of 6 women. I just handed in my passports, the signed form and my gaijin card, and the woman gave me a slip with the number 2. I would wait until that number was called at Section 2 just a few metres away.

Wow, I thought. I would be the second person to get out of there. Not that easy, though. The counter started with 1 logically enough. However, then it spurted to 4 and then 17 and then...well,you get the message. I thought it was giving out a football play. One woman had a slight panic attack and asked what was going on. The woman who handled me told the surprised lady that the numbers didn't indicate order of service but instead the case number. I have to admit that the staff were very good. They were polite but firm and brooked no dissent. I harboured a brief fear that Case No. 2 would be the 50th or 100th person served. However, that fear was nullified when my number was called and I got my passports back. She asked me to confirm that the visa and re-entry stamps had been accurately written up and then she told me to report to my local city hall to register the change on my gaijin card.

So, a half-hour wait outside, another half-hour inside and 25 minutes of processing...I only had to endure Immigration for less than the length of an average movie and half of my TIME. Still, I'm glad that I showed up as early as I did. I don't think I would have been nearly as lucky if I had come later on.

Basically, that was it in terms of my business in Tokyo. I have no lessons to teach, so I just made my way back home. It was a bit funny coming back home to see that most of the shops and restaurants still hadn't opened yet. It almost felt like I were coming back from the graveyard shift. The heat was definitely back although the morning had actually been rather pleasant. We will break the record of consecutive days over 30 degrees today and probably extend it by several weeks. I could have gone over to City Hall today and got that updating of the card but I figure that one visit to bureaucracy was all that I could stand so I'm just gonna enjoy life and just clean up a bit at home. I've got Movie Buddy making a reservation at Hotel Allan this Saturday with DVDs which probably means that his girlfriend is busy with her buddies this weekend. I'm a bit reluctant to let him come over since it is the summer and my place simply isn't too comfy during the dog days but he is a good friend. I know that he'll probably sleep with the air conditioner on overnight since he's not too acclimated to the heat. I just hope that the AC doesn't rumble too loudly. Actually, we're also catching RIDDICK earlier in the day after my lessons with the kids. I've asked Skippy if she'd like to join us but I haven't received any reply. I kinda doubt that she'll tag along this time, though. MB said that he would also ask The Hawaiian.

Looks like the Olympics are on already 2 full days before the Opening Ceremonies. And Japan has gotten off to a good start with its women's soccer team. The ladies took good care of the Swedish team 1-0. However, after hearing that a lot of the infrastructure is still not in full operational mode, I am wondering how well the security and logistics will hold. Memories of Munich and Montreal (which is still paying off its debt from 1976) come to mind. But with no less than the US Sixth Fleet being a part of the security detail, I think it would take a pretty herculean effort by Al Qaeda to make any sort of dent in Athens.

Wednesday August 11, 9:14 p.m.

Got prepped for the long wait at Immigration by getting a couple of magazines. Looks like I'll have to wake up somewhat earlier tomorrow if I'm to get serviced early enough when the place opens.

The Biologist didn't seem too impressed with me today although I could be reading too deeply into things. However, I wouldn't be surprised if it were indeed the case. In any case, I just have one more lesson with her so if she can endure the last two hours, we won't ever have to worry ever again.

Some of my ol' buddies from the oil company contacted me tonight to see if I'm up for another get-together. Looks like the next meeting will be in mid-September.

I was reading through the new and improved METROPOLIS magazine to read an in-depth analysis of the current Bobby Fischer kerfuffle here in Japan. As a kid, I remember him as being the wunderkind of international chess. Too bad he ended up being a Hitler nutjob wannabe. To give some background, Fischer had been on the run from the US, which he has slagged to extremely far ends, at one point, publicly applauding the 9/11 attacks. He apparently had a match with his arch-rival Boris Spassky in war-torn Yugoslavia, contrary to US government orders. Since then, he's never bothered to return to answer charges for his "crime". However, one day, he entered Japan, a country that he had once treasured as a sanctuary, only to be indefinitely detained and have his passport revoked in what is looking to be an American ploy to drag the former chessmaster back home. The story is just begging to be told as a movie or an HBO special.

Monday August 9, 11:15 p.m.

My trip to the Embassy was short and sweet. Picked up my new passport. Now, the second phase is to head over to Immigration on Thursday.

I played it safe at Aoyama Twin for lunch. I just went to the local Subway sandwich branch. Then, I headed up to Shinjuku where i basically spent the next few hours just drinking stuff, reading TIME and prepping for the company class. As I predicted, I was nodding off pretty easily in the heat and humidity.

I actually saw the Prez for the first time in over a month. He was his usual garrulous self as he groused about The Iconoclast again. The class itself wasn't too bad; we had a good talk about the Ramen Museum.

Had a bit of an incident north of Tokyo in the Mihama Nuclear Power Station. 4 workers were killed by the steam leak but no radiation which probably explained the lack of extensive coverage on the media outlets.

Got e-mail from Skippy. Looks like she's back on her feet after her stomach problem from last night.

Well, tomorrow will be virtually a day off except for that one house call with the juku student. I won't need to leave the apartment until 8:30 in the evening. I figure that I'll probably use the time to scrub the tatami mats and air out the mattresses.

Monday August 9, 7:39 a.m.

Had my 6 hours of sleep...none the worse for wear although I'll probably feel it later on in the day. Woke up to 26 degrees and it'll head to 33, the 35th day in a row that we've been over the big 3-0. Serenity now! However, I think I'm getting used to life on the sun. I still need to buy some heavy-duty sunblock.

Just getting some a rather load of laundry done right now. One good thing about this weather is that I won't have to worry about rain. These clothes ought to be bone-dry within an hour.

The big news is seeing the Japanese Olympic team hitting Athens a few days ahead of the Opening Ceremonies. Yes, believe it or not. Athens is getting an Olympics underway this week.

I just have the Iconoclast's old company tonight for a class. Not sure what I'm gonna do after I get my passport. It'd probably be way too late to head for Immigration so I'll have 6 hours to kill all told. I'll definitely head for someplace frostily air-conditioned.

Monday August 9, 1:19 a.m.

Another long day out. I met The Jazz Buddy for her lesson. Before she came, I was sitting in front of an obvious tourist couple from the States. They were considering about where to go in Tokyo. I would have helped them but they were taking some bites out of each other, so I decided that they should suffer by themselves.

JB entered just as the Bickersons left. She was actually rather on top of things yesterday and we had a nice talk on various kinds of music to wrap the lesson up. For lunch, I took her out to Foo Foo. She appreciated the fact that there was a Ladies' Set, the "Ladies'" part being the inclusion of a tiny mango pudding to go with her noodles and gyoza.

The next couple of hours was spent looking around the various stores in Shinjuku for a present for Gabby. I was finally able to get the lass an apron in the basement of Isetan but JB couldn't make up her mind by the time everyone congregated.

Seeing that both The Scarecrow and Movie Buddy declined the invitation I thought I would be the only teacher there. However, I was rather surprised to see The Songbird chatting with Skippy outside of Mizuho. Then, Jazz Veteran, OA and the Golfer showed up. OA said that the guest of honour and her boyfriend would be showing up late so we went ahead across the street to an aptly named place called The Piggy's Kitchen, a restaurant which specialized in pork dishes. I have to admit that the belated lunch didn't really spark my appetite and to be honest, I wasn't all that amazed by the fare. The pork didn't really grab me and the cocktails were rather on the light side. However, I did enjoy chatting it up with The Songbird for the first time in several months since her departure from the school. I was surprised when Gabby and the Kid came since they also dragged in The Rapper, another old former teacher. His appearance was a rather strange cameo though. During the time I was in the Boys' Room, he took a rather abrupt and, judging from the slight tension around the table, not the most quietest leave. He even left his pack of Luckys and lighter on the table.

Gabby, The Kid and OA were having one of their usual mock-bickering sessions. I can only imagine that there will be a lot of tears when Gabby finally takes off in a couple of weeks for Stateside. Another interesting development was that Skippy, our grand Poobah for this party, was apparently heaving chunks in the washroom according to the Songbird. She'd said that she was suffering from a hangover; I guess that the hangover still had a few kicks for her. In any case, she was out for the rest of the evening. However, JV, JB, The Kid, The Songbird, and I followed through on the second party at karaoke. The Maid later joined us there.

Well, this week will surely be quiet. Virtually everyday will only have one class except for Wednesday's lessons with The Biologist and The Office Lady. I gotta go pick up my new passport in the morning and then I have my regular company class in the afternoon.

Sunday August 8, 8:16 a.m.

Well, the Japanese soccer team got that 2nd championship in Beijing. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of hard feelings from a number of the Chinese over the victory. It was very much a case of letting the contingent of Japanese fans who had come over to support the team that they have neither forgotten nor forgiven the last century.

Speaking of partisan nastiness, what's up with this sudden attack on John Kerry's war record? Kinda smacks of disingenuousness. While I was on the Internet over at the Pan Pacific yesterday morning, I checked out JibJab's now-famous take on "This Land Is Our Land" with the paper cutout animation of the players in this election. Hilarious!

The Cartoon Network in their eminent wisdom decided to show all of the mere snippets of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as one little movie last night. Acting was still as hackneyed as in the live-action version but at least the fact that it was animated softened the blow. However, that same fact gave free rein and full creativity to how each of the Jedi Masters fight. All I can say is that Mace Windu is The Man! Also, in a bit of Boba Fett Origin homage, I got a sneak preview of the next big villain for Episode 3 in the very last snippet.

Another big exodus is on as the metropolises empty for O-Bon. I'm hoping that it will translate into a lot more room on the subways for the next week. It will be another sparse week for me. Mind you, I will have time to do things such as pick up my passport tomorrow. Then, I can use all of Thursday to head over to the dreaded Immigration Building in Shinagawa to transfer my visa and re-entry permit. It's a shame, really....there used to be the main office in Otemachi and a number of small branches all over the Kanto to assist foreigners. However with the depressed economy, everything had to be amalgamated into one mother of a complex a bus ride away from JR Shinagawa. Now, every foreigner in the entire Kanto has to converge there. It'll be back to early morning arrivals. I'm planning to bring a lot of magazines and crosswords. Lucky, I don't have any classes that day.

Saturday August 7, 5:56 p.m.

Back from Yokohama. I'm glad that I could get my mind off of work for over 24 hours but I'm still exhausted from the heat and humidity although it looks rather threatening out there. Glad I got home when I did.

After my last entry, I spent a few hours back up in my room watching the Yankees on NHK Satellite 1 (it seems to have become a tradition with me and the Yankees and a hotel room...don't snicker). They managed to shellack the Blue Jays 13-4. However, I've been away long enough from the ol' hometown that I didn't really feel all that much pain seeing ol' Delgado and team get killed.

When I checked out, there was a rather long line of people ahead of me but it managed to move along quickly. Meanwhile, in the hotel's continuing campaign to bring a little Honolulu, there was a ukelele band playing Don Ho stuff.

My first stop was to head up the Landmark Tower up to their 69th-floor observation deck. It boasted the world's fastest elevator and it certainly felt that way as my ears approached explosive pressures. I took some quick snaps of the surrounding Yokohama scenery and then headed back down. Then, I took a bus to the uphill Foreigners' Quarter. The area certainly looked quaint with a lot of old wooden Western-style houses. There was the famous Foreigners' Cemetery whose headstones I could take pictures of without having to enter the place because the stone fence was so low. I walked down the main street for about half a kilometre before figuring that it was just going to be just residential stuff. Then I made the U-turn and took a quick left downhill to the trendy Motomachi district. Unlike the neon and chaos of Chinatown just a block away, Motomachi was all trendy and white. They had some high school girls directing traffic, too.

My final stop was up to the Ramen Museum. It was a bit of a disappointment in that the place was packed with people. I couldn't really appreciate the mock-up of old 50s Tokyo since there were so many people crammed in line for the individual restaurants. However, I did manage to find one place, Kurume Ramen, which only required a 5-minute wait. The way-more popular ones had people waiting for an hour! The ramen I had was of the thick pork bone broth variety. The place had that downtown stink but the soup was good. After that, I made a hasty way out and back to Tokyo which took a good 2 hours with all of the trains and transfers.

Now, it's kinda back to work. I've got to prep for the Jazz Buddy's class tomorrow.

Saturday August 7, 7:55 a.m.

Currently doing this entry from the Pan-Pacific in Yokohama. Pretty nice hotel but I gotta admit, though, that my room doesn't seem all that different from the place I had up in Sapporo a couple of months back and it was quite a bit cheaper. Goes to show how prices are in the Kanto...
Mind you, the amenities are rather nice; my room has a good view of the Minato Mirai area, including the huge Ferris wheel. Plus, the bathroom is quite generous: big bathtub, separate shower booth and toilet area. The staff are also very friendly although with this current Hawaiian campaign that they're on, I almost felt like I checked into Maui. It is definitely a higher-grade hotel in that a young lady took my little bag up to the room and explained everything to me...seemed a bit Stepfordian, though.

Last night, I just traipsed through Chinatown....I'm glad that they made that Minato Mirai Line; it certainly makes the trip down there a whole lot easier and shorter. Chinatown isn't all that different from my last visit there. However, it was rather difficult to find a place to eat since all of their specials start from 2 people, and since I was a solo, I ended up going to a buffet place near the station. Not bad...it kinda reminds me of The Mandarin buffet back in Toronto, although I'm sure some of the purists will probably blanch in horror. For me, though, the words "Chinese" and "buffet" will always go together like "Adam" and "Eve".

After taking that well-needed bath and shower, I retired a bit earlier than usual but got up pretty early. Had my breakfast buffet (yes, another buffet...but then again, I am here to enjoy myself) in the hotel cafe. Good food and service.

I'll be checking out in about 3 hours. I'll see if I can head up the Landmark Tower to the observation deck before checking out the Foreigners' Quarter via the Blue Line Bus. Then, after that, I'll check out Motomachi before making my last stop at the Ramen Museum.

Since we're entering the O-Bon festival from this weekend, the 40-km traffic jams have already started. Luckily, I'm headed in the opposite direction.

Friday August 6, 8:16 a.m.

59 years today, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. NHK is doing its annual ritual of showing the Peace Park festivities. Something to never forget. Ironically, off in China, the natives are also letting the Japanese soccer team know that they will never forget (or forgive) events of that time. I'm not too disturbed by the booing and heckling though...probably just a regular day at Yankee Stadium for most opposing teams.

I met up with the Jazz Buddy yesterday in Shinjuku. She was pretty somnabulent as usual...just not too good in the mornings, I guess. Looks like she'll be coming to Gabby's farewell party after all, though. I got a bit of insight about the dynamics between Skippy and the rest of her fellows at the school. JB remarked that she didn't know really know her all that well but her impression was that Skippy tends to be a bit overbearing in her opinions and that she doesn't realize it. Sounds like a lot of other "leader" students from previous years. In any case, I'll be meeting JB on Sunday for another lesson and then spending much of the day with her before meeting up with the rest for the farewell party.

My first lesson with the QB's friend, The Programmer, turned out as much as I had expected. I met him in Ikebukuro and we went to the cafe in Libro Books...which is even quieter than the Tea Room. My assessment is that he doesn't really need regular lessons and I hinted that to him. He just needs some proofreading for his documents and some vocabulary if he asks for it...nothing really for me to see him that often so I'm quite happy to keep any meetings to a biweekly schedule.

Between my two clients, I had my occasional lunch at Foo Foo; the waitress screwed up my order and just got me that sole bowl of spicy ramen instead of the whole lunch but as it turned out, I was pretty satisfied with that sole bowl. Then, I did a half-hour on broadband at Kinkos since my computer was going through one of its uncooperative moods (my ScanDisk put it in its place last night). Amazing this broadband...kinda like going from a schleppy Edsel to a sleek Lamborghini.

Since I still had several hours before meeting The Programmer, I ended up catching Shrek 2 in Ikebukuro. Yes, lots of in-jokes for the blockbuster movie fan and certainly Puss n' Boots made quite an impression on the audience...though I can't really agree that Antonio was that much of the scene-stealer. All in all, it was an entertaining 90 minutes but I'm a bit leery about the plans to make Shrek 3 and 4 knowing The Law of Diminishing Returns of Sequels. It'd be a shame to see the franchise head the way of Rocky or Superman by overrreaching.

Well, I do my little mini-trip out to Yokohama today. Just have The Teacher a half-hour earlier than usual and then I head on out to the west. I still haven't packed but it's pretty easy. Lookin' forward to spending a luxurious night. Cotton pyjamas, a bathtub AND shower cabin, all rooms with broadband access...yes, I'm there. My big decision is to whether head out to Chinatown tonight for dinner (which may be crowded and expensive) or wait to do dim sum tomorrow afternoon.
Decisions, decisions....

Wednesday August 4, 9:51 p.m.

Had another good lesson (well, at least to me anyways) with the Biologist. And the lesson with the OL was fine as usual. Felt pretty drained, though, due to another scorching day. I'm counting the days before the Fall gets here, or more accurately, when Fall-like temps come to town. It probably won't be for another 6 weeks.

Looks like I've got my two students set for tomorrow: Jazz Buddy at 11 and then the QB's buddy at 7:30 in Ikebukuro which leaves me with 6 hours of nothing in between. Maybe I'll catch Shrek 2 somewhere after having lunch. JB has also consented to come for Gabby's farewell as well. Well, there may be hope.

Tuesday August 3, 10:58 p.m.

Another quiet day today. My two classes went smoothly; it was nice to see that I still have the chops to teach. As expected, the final student didn't come but it looks like I'll be paying a house call next week to his apartment to do his class.

I've got another late day tomorrow starting with the Biologist. Then, the Office Lady said that she'll be showing up at the regular time. I'm not quite sure when the Biologist will be heading back to school. Most likely I have at least one more week with her before she takes off.

As I left to head off to the juku, I could hear that the cicadas were screaming very loudly. It's been quite the hot summer this year. In fact, I saw a couple of them just lying down on the ground soaking up some rays...really.

My "diet" of sorts seems to have worked too well. I was rather famished when I got back, so I dropped off at the supermarket and bought a small pack of fried chicken as a late-night snack. Well, I figure a little treat shouldn't be too bad.

Monday August 2, 10:01 p.m.

It was a quiet weekend...quiet enough so that I didn't really need to add any entry. Typhoon 10 managed to leave quite an imprint on western Japan...one place got 1000 mm in an hour. The other big news items were Crown Princess Masako's diagnosis of her depression as "adjustment stress" (going from a high-flying career as a member of the Foreign Ministry to the highly stultifiying role as future Empress can do that to one), and former PM Hashimoto's resignation as the leader of his LDP faction due to some sort of bribery scandal. However, I've also just heard that some raging sociopath stabbed 7 folks to death in Hyogo Prefecture. Nice to hear that the psychotic fringe is alive and well.

As for me, I was back in action after nearly 3 days of layoff. I wasn't too rusty; I just had my usual Monday regulars. Between lessons, I had some time to use my full HMV card to get a bossa nova CD and magazine for a discount and then visit The Maple Leaf for lunch. Not too bad in price; in fact, I think I may have been undercharged for my burger and Coke. And the place was almost deserted except for a group of nattering women. Then, I headed up to Shinjuku where I made my roost in that concrete plaza for about an hour. The heat wasn't nearly as bad as two weeks ago but I was still nodding off due to my lunch slowly digesting in my stomach. I'm happy to hear,though, that my relative culinary abstinence has had some dividends; my morning student remarked that my face looked a bit less Jabba-like.

Looks like the Quarterback's buddy is still up for Thursday. I'm not too thrilled about the time of 8 p.m. so I'm gonna keep the fib going that I can only meet him on alternate Thursday nights although the Curry Master and the SE are pretty much history. Ugh! I'm not too happy about teaching him all the way out in Ikebukuro, either. Memories of last year's weekly trek to Jiyugaoka still remain in my mind.

Had a slight snag with the travel agent concerning my reservations in Yokohama. She sent me a voucher via e-mail in the mistaken assumption that I could print it out. However, being the semi-Luddite, I don't have a printer. I just hope she can send it in over this week. But I think I should be able to just go up to the front desk and check-in easily without any piece of paper.

Well, tomorrow should be really light now that the Beehive is off for summer. I only have my juku classes and that's been cut down to 2 hours. As I figured, the final student has canned his class. The juku boss asked me if I could teach him on Thursday or Friday but that's pretty much out. All I need to do is send out some packages to the Anime King.

I still have yet to hear from Skippy about that farewell dinner for Gabby. From my end, the Jazz Veteran is the only one who said that she'll come. Movie Buddy has declined and Jazz Buddy & Arwen have yet to reply. I've always wondered if JB had something against Skippy. I've been told that JB has got a pretty dark personality compared to Skippy's "up-with-people" sunniness. As for Arwen, I just have no idea. Has she really gotten so busy that she can't even send one single letter or has she and 77 decided to cut off all ties with me and DTE? In any case, I think it's pretty inconsiderate of both of them.

Saturday July 31, 9:36 a.m.

Well, it's another end of the month. A couple of major fireworks festivals on tap tonight:the Sumida River Festival which is one of the largest in Japan up in Asakusa, and there is a neighbourhood one in Urayasu. The juku boss invited me to the latter; I politely declined as usual for the same reasons that I didn't go to the Yokohama Festival. It's one thing to have to head out to work on a crowded subway but to actually volunteer and scrum with thousands of other people in high heat and humidity is another.

Still not certain about the weather today although the typhoon is heading to the west. So, I'll forego doing the laundry and hanging out the mattresses for yet another day. Still have to scrub down the living room and the bedroom. It feels kind of weird having a full weekend without a single class. I don't have the kids for the next couple of weeks so my Saturday is completely free.

I watched the Animatrix a full year after the hoopla of its release. Chip Guy said the first half was worth the money, but I thought all of the nine featurettes added something to the franchise, fault-ridden as it is. The history of the formation of the Matrix was of course the best part, though it didn't skimp on the gore. Now I know what happened in that Blade Runner scene when replicant Rutger Hauer killed his "father".

That lesson with The Teacher took an interesting turn yesterday when I was slightly surprised to see her son at the table. Well, a boy and he's 8...which adds up to major DISTRACTION. And he fulfilled his end of the bargain very well. His mother didn't end up strangling him but he kept us on our toes. Plus, The Teacher decided to once again bring in literature with a lot of unpronounceable words.

My attempts to watch Shrek 2 were thwarted since the local theatre is showing the subtitled version only in the evenings and I wasn't particularly inclined to head back to the area so I'll have to give it a shot some other time.

Not quite sure how my week will shape up. It will be slow though. I've got my full slate on Monday but the rest of the week looks sparse. I'm especially wondering about Thursday. I've got Jazz Buddy in the morning but after that little snafu back on Monday, I'll have to see what happens there. Plus, there's the Quarterback's buddy for his first lesson in the evening. I'm not too sure about that one...his schedule seems perenially busy and I have yet to hear about time and place of lesson.

Friday July 30, 9:21 a.m.

Had another major squall this morning around sunrise. True to the unpredictable nature of a typhoon, the sun was beaming when the skies opened up. There must have been a great rainbow somewhere in the Kanto.

I saw that friend of SR's who's over here for a few weeks in Shibuya last night. It looks like she's been enjoying her life in LA for the past year. She's even gotten one over me in that not only has she developed a taste for jazz but she's even gone to school and trained to become a jazz vocalist among other musical styles. Good for her. So just like talking with the Biologist about science on Wednesday, it was good talking jazz with her. She also kept me updated on a couple of other alumni who have also set up housekeeping in America. When we left the Cheesecake Cafe, the clouds opened up again.

Speaking of making moves to jazz, a former member of one of the late 90s J-idol bands has decided to challenge the challenging world of jazz vocalizing. She's still only all of 20 but HIRO decided to make the leap from synthesizers to bass/piano/drums. From what little I've heard so far, I don't think Diana Krall needs to worry just yet.

I got home and didn't feel much like eating. Looks like lunch did the trick yesterday. So I fired up the DVD player and put in the first SHREK. Since I bought the DVD just yesterday, I opened the case up to find a 300 yen coupon which I can use to catch Shrek 2. If it's playing in the cineplex near where I teach The Teacher today, I will probably catch it. I'm not sure though if the version there will be subtitled or dubbed. I read a review of the movie in one of the free English-language magazines. The reviewer was proudly curmudgeonly as critics usually are when they seem to be the only ones who actually hate a mostly well-received movie. He didn't like the first one, either, which pretty much made the review moot for since I still chuckled at a number of the scenes despite it being my 4th time to watch it.

I got an article via The Doctor about how America is finally waking up to the wonders of sake (at least the urban centers anyways...I really can't see any rednecks parting with their Budweiser or moonshine). The article mentioned the expression, "sake epiphany" a few times. I could just imagine "Sex in the City" making it the "it" expression of the year, if only it had lingered on a bit longer.

Thursday July 29, 1:43 p.m.

Well, we've gotten some brief but intense reminders that Typhoon 10 is nearby. There was a squall between 5 and 6 this morning, and during my rubdown and trip to the supermarket, the heavens opened up again in a big way but just as suddenly closed up as I walked back to the apartment.

I got a rubdown from a middle-aged gabby lady who I saw for the first time. Pretty good at her craft although there were a few wincing moments. At least I know the pressure points to influence the eyes (two points on the back of the neck). We had a running talk on some of the difficulty in handling foreign customers to the massage clinic in terms of the language barrier so I offered to help her, and by association the clinic, with any questions they may have with vocabulary. Hmmm...could point to some possibilities.

I also got the OK from the travel agent to transfer the cash for the hotel room which I'll do posthaste. Then I'll head out to Shibuya to meet my friend for coffee. Before that, perhaps I'll drop by Towers to see if there's any literature on Yokohama. The Japan guide book that I'd bought for Hokkaido surprisingly has zero info on Yokohama. I wonder if there's some sort of grudge match there.

Feeling pretty stuffed after cooking up some cabbage and ginger pork. Hopefully, that'll tide me over way into the evening since I only plan on ingesting salad for dinner as penance for my three-day binge over the weekend.

Wednesday July 28, 7:39 p.m.

Home earlier than usual? Yup, sure am. The reason being that the OL cancelled her class. I'm getting the feeling that the summer holiday is upon us a lot sooner than expected. Tomorrow, I've got no classes and I only have The Teacher on Friday.

My trip to the Embassy today went well. I had all of the material needed in that large Purolator envelope that brought my birth certificate. I had been wondering if I would have to deal with some sort of government dweeb or icicle. I was lucky last time almost 6 years ago when I had an efficient-looking but amiable enough lady taking care of me. This time, it was a chatty youngish woman with a sympathetic ear for my longer-than-deserved plight to get that birth certificate. She seemed genuinely interested about this kerfuffle concerning birth certificates. In any case, Part 1 of the process took about 10 minutes; just making the official declarations, handing over the forms and fee (not cheap...12000 yen), and showing various examples to prove my identity. I had to pass the documents through a sliding tray which went under the thick glass barrier separating us. I rather felt like Hannibal Lecter. It sure was a far cry from the person-to-person experience of 6 years ago. I remember that that lady took me straight into the offices for the declaration. The only tiny snag was when I put down the same two references for both forms. Uh-uh...I had to put another set of names for the one other form, so I had to quickly jot down the information for The Anime King and my other friend back home. I sent the Anime King a heads-up and a meek apology in advance just in case the government decides to give him a call. I ought to be able to pick my passport in 2 weeks, after which I have to travel to the humongous new Immigration Bureau in Shinagawa to transfer all of the visas and re-entry permits into the new passport. That will not be fun.

After the Embassy, I still had a few hours to kill before seeing The Biologist so I had an early lunch in the Aoyama Twin mall. I came across a Chinese restaurant which served a pretty hardy lunch set for 830 yen. I went in...the somewhat fetid smell inside and the "faded glory" decor reminded me of my days back in Asakusa. But what got me was the boiled dumpling (sui gyoza) soup. Everything else was fine but that soup smelled and tasted like the fetid air inside the place. The gyoza itself was fine but the soup was absolutely vile. For that reason alone, I don't think I'll make a second visit.

I had some more time and since I had bought myself a one-day subway pass, I went up to Ginza to check out Yamano Music. Bad move. I went a bit crazy again on the money to buy CDs especially since my point card was close to the 50-point total to get that 3000 yen discount. However, I finally got to see that Michael Buble cover of "Spiderman" there which pretty much doomed me. The CD looks like it was a hastily made affair since it had Buble looking rather more like a NKOTB reject instead of the jazz cat that he is. Plus, after "Spiderman", there are several covers of "Sway"...talk about trying to fill up a CD. I gather that they couldn't get any more versions of the title song out in time. Well, thanks to a few more CD purchases, I hit the 50 mark and I ended up getting "Shrek" and "The Animatrix" for a mere pittance due to the discount.

I met the Biologist. Her first presentation was all over the place stylistically. I was a bit worried that she may have thought I was getting a bit harsh with her but I really wasn't. I tried to tighten her up a bit in her delivery and she was better for it the second time around. I also observed we seem to have a good rapport (not in that way) when it comes to scientific discussions. She's the only one in my long tenure here that I've been able to go into various scientific talks with.

Well, I didn't get that cancellation call from The OL until I got to the Starbucks, but I didn't care that much. At least, I put the one-day pass to good worth. So instead of munching on a cinnamon roll and chai tea latte as I would have usually done, I just headed home. When I got to the station, I pondered about having my dinner at the nearby Subways but the clouds looked pretty ominous and considering that there is a typhoon on the way, I decided to pick up a little something at the supermarket and hightail it back home. Tonight's dinner was eel on rice in continued homage to Eel Day along with another salad. According to the weather report, it looks like we'll be brushed by the storm starting overnight tonight and just keep on going throughout the day.

I do have the day off tomorrow but I'm also supposed to be meeting an old student of mine who's back from California. Hmmm..a typhoon is on its way and I'm meeting this student for just 50 minutes for coffee in Shibuya since she's headed out to her gig in a hostess club in Ginza. Something doesn't quite ring right here... If the weather is forgiving enough, I will go for that biweekly rubdown.

Well, my travel agent contacted me to say that I've got the room at the Pan-Pacific. More money down the drain but I'm glad that I pulled the trigger to go for that mini-vacation in Yokohama. The money is going to a good cause: me and my sanity.

Tuesday July 27, 11:30 p.m.

Yup, it's official. I'm having one of those weeks. Well, my morning class was OK. The ladies will be going off on their usual summer hiatus starting from next week although this one will be longer than usual. I'll be facing nearly 2 months without their company or income; in fact, I won't be seeing them until the first day of Autumn. Hopefully, the temps actually conform to the seasonal change.

Nah, the off classes started with my juku. I'm forming an impression that one of the Beauty Pair is starting to get a bit jaded with the lessons. She started class looking glum and not too chatty. If it hadn't been for her still-engaged classmate, it could have gotten quite ugly. My second class was OK though the wife responded that the lesson was so-so; I think I know what she meant...she was referring to her own ability instead of mine. Still, I always get a little nervous when I hear comments like those. Then, my final class with my top student didn't seem to impress him all that much, but then again, he looked rather tired. It won't matter all that much anyways since he will be taking off for the States within a month. In fact, he may no longer show up for classes if his schedule gets any busier.I will get to go home an hour earlier but I will be getting 12000 yen less a month. On the other hand, the juku boss had asked me earlier in the day if I would start teaching her from September since it looks like the Curry Master will no longer be available for her lessons. Her English is badly fractured...she does need the work.

Another hint that I'm having a bad week is when I got my reply from my travel agent. I apparently misread the information about the hotels. I checked the last message and sure enough, I screwed up. Well, I made sure this time so hopefully by tomorrow night, that room will be duly booked.

Skippy got that date in lickety-split for Gabby's farewell party. She's slated the 8th. Lucky I've decided to just stay in Yokohama for one night only. Plus, I'm sure I will have some stories for the gang from Yokohama.

Well, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my bad luck will not permeate my trip to the Embassy tomorrow, but who knows? I may just get a hardcase there who will not accept the photos. I'm also hoping that the lesson with the Biologist will go as well as it did last week. No problems from her as of yet but I think she is a quietly demanding student.

I'm feeling pretty hungry right now but I'm gonna let my stomach suffer for another 6 or 7 hours. After the weekend of binge, I have to be a bit hard on myself this week and/or next week. Aside from a generous supermarket bento for lunch, I've been pretty good so far. Only had a salad and zero-calorie oolong tea for dinner. Mind you, the juku boss always gives me two sweet iced coffees during my lessons.

Monday July 26, 10:00 p.m.

SERENITY NOW! Looks like it could be one of those weeks. I went up to the Shinjuku Andersen for Jazz Buddy's lesson. I figured something was up after she didn't show up for half an hour. It shouldn't have bothered me since I did have the company class just around the corner, but I was still doing a slow broil at being stood up. After 90 minutes, I considered her a loss and was thinking of some nasty message to send her by e-mail when I got home. I ended up sitting outside in the main plaza doing some puzzles when she finally showed up. Surprisingly, I held my tongue and luckily I did, since after profusely apologizing, she told me that she'd mistaken the time of our meeting for a few hours earlier and ended up waiting for me for half an hour while going through a summer cold. Well, I'm not about to kick anyone when she's down so we kept it civil. However, I just wish she could be a bit more with it.

Basically that was the only wrinkle for today. I met up with my Monday morning regulars after a 2-week absence. We spent a good portion of the lesson on the fact that I plumped up some after that 3-day food binge. The more prominent of the two went into mother mode and good-naturedly told me to ease off on the food. I will acquiesce to her order since I agree with her. I also got a bit of a treat in the form of a free ticket to watch "Fahrenheit 911" and a souvenir Galilean Thermometer. It's a pretty intriguing gadget. Based on Galileo's principles of rising temperature lowering the density of liquid, the thermometer is a half-meter tall tube filled with water and small carefully weighted glass balls of differently-coloured liquids with tags denoting different temps. When the temps rise, a ball rises to the top as well. The only problem is that the balls only register temps between 18 to 26 degrees which pretty much limits it as a particularly useful device. Ah, well...at least it'll make for a conversation piece if anyone ever decides to visit the homestead again.
Certainly it fulfilled that role at the company class.

Well, that rain that was threatening this morning never started...in Chiba, at least. But according to my morning students, Shibuya got majorly rained upon for a few minutes while in the other student's neighbourhood, it merely sprinkled. There's supposed to be that typhoon coming along but as yet, I don't see anything happening in the weather department.

I got a predictably quick response from my travel agent about that hotel in Yokohama. Her quote for the Intercontinental was quite reasonable considering its five-star status so I just pulled the trigger and asked her to book it. I'm committed now although considering that I probably won't be making all that money next month, I ought to BE committed. Well, I figure if my parents can go off for a nice cruise to Alaska at the end of this month, I ought to indulge myself. I certainly won't be putting out as much money as they have for their little excursion.

Sunday July 25, 11:52 p.m.

I met Skippy and Movie Buddy in front of the Picadilly as scheduled this afternoon. We first had a snack at the Wendy's next door where a rather colourful-looking freak of nature came in. He was a middle-aged man dressed up like a rather smelly clown (sans the makeup) and nonchalantly ordered some sort of burger set. Eck...life in the big city...

We caught "Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban". As the critics have already said several times, the third movie is a much-improved product over its two predecessors. I'd say that it was a Harry Potter done up like a film noir. Almost everyone had a bit more grit in them and the final confrontation amongst Snape, Lupin and Sirius Black could have been an homage to the final showdown amongst Bogey, Lorre and Greenstreet. If the future movies are along these lines, then you may consider me a faithful viewer.

Afterwards, the three of us met MB's girlfriend and the Curry Master nearby and then we all went up to SAMRAT where I had my third feast in as many days. I engorged myself on some tandoori chicken and the Thali Platter. Poor Skippy may have overindulged though; when she went to the washroom, the Curry Master and the Sylph wondered if she needed checking on. However, Skippy returned better but still feeling pretty stuffed.

The Curry Master told me that she won't be able to have our semi-regular lessons due to her new classes. Again, I am left wondering if she was trying to let me down easy or if she's really is that busy. Then again, I was never all that comfortable teaching her in the first place since she's already highly proficient in the language. As for the SE, I'm not sure about his status since we always used the CM's apartment for our teaching venue. His priority seems to lie in his need to get a high TOEIC score but he can get that education from CM. Therefore, I'm assuming that that tandem will be soon going over the wayside. And since I'm still not sure how stable this gig with the Quarterback's friend will be, I may be searching for students for my Thursdays come Fall.

I've started some prelim searching at some of the discount travel sites which shows that I'm pretty serious about enjoying myself in Yokohama. I even contacted that lady who helped me out with my Hokkaido trip. I hope to hear some good things but according to one site, a night at the Pan-Pacific will still put be back 35,000 yen. Getting R and R is pretty pricey.

Sunday July 25, 9:05 a.m.

An interesting thing happened on Japanese TV last night. As I mentioned in my last entry, Fuji-TV was in the midst of its annual 27-hour telethon. The leader of the pop band SMAP, Masahiro Nakai, has become one of the most sought-after emcees for variety programs and not surprisingly was hosting this telethon. At close to midnight, on a rival channel, TV Asahi, the rest of the band was on SmaSmation, a show that showcases a lot of English and has SMAP member Shingo Katori as the host.

In a Letterman-esque move, Nakai caught his fellow bandmates on the other channel and then somehow made direct contact with his buddies. For over five minutes, thanks to technology, TV Asahi and Fuji merged and couldn't be distinguished from each other. The bandmates and their respective shows' other guests started getting into a mock bicker session. One of them pointed out after the jointcast that this probably hasn't ever happened before. I certainly couldn't see any of the major American networks ever pulling something like this...not even Letterman himself. Earlier in the telethon, Fuji had one of its own announcers race with another TV personality to the grounds of yet another rival station, TBS. The guards at that station firmly but politely told the announcer that he could only get as far as the gate while the other fellow, who did have a gig on a TBS show, passed through. I'm not sure if Fuji is trying to push the envelope or willfully break the Commandment of "Thou Shalt Not Merge Rival TV Stations' Telecasts" but it made for an interesting night. I can't believe that this couldn't have been totally impromptu, though.

Waking up this morning, I had the air conditioner set on timer so that it would activate at around 7. I'm gonna have to be careful about that in the future. Since my head is just 10 cm away from the external motor outside on the patio, I was privy to the loudest start-up noise; I could only imagine what my neighbours must think whenever I turn the air con on. For several minutes, I was nervous that one of my irate neighbours would come pounding on my door. However, the motor settled down into a more acceptable hum within a few minutes. But I will have to stick to my electric fan during my wake-up call.

Now that the Democratic National Convention will be revving up in Boston come tomorrow, there will be non-stop coverage on CNN. I see American politics as a hockey game: long, nasty with some pushing and shoving. Over here, Japanese politics is more like a Tarentino movie: lots of talk for the most part but then suddenly punctuated with some harsh violence.

Saturday July 24, 11:35 p.m.

Another hot one. However, I dragged along my blue blazer and a necktie in my travel bag to go with my usual heavy bag of books. By the time I reached my kids' house, I was dripping to the extent that it alarmed their mother.

Afterwards, I went back down to Aoyama 1-Chome and got those passport photos done. My blazer was a tight fit...definitely grounds to hold off on the calories. Too bad that I was to meet Betty Boop and the OL for yakiniku tonight. In the meantime, after getting those photos shot, I maintained my siege against the heat by first eating at Subway and then spending some time at what I later found out was the very first French patisserie to be set up in Japan. It certainly had that classy feel to it which made me feel a bit bad in retrospect for just ordering a cafe au lait like any grimy salaryman. When I entered, the place was completely empty. In fact, I was a bit surprised that anything would be open on a Saturday in the Aoyama Twin Mall considering that it was in a business district. However, within an hour, the place filled up with a lot of well-heeled middle-aged folk. To add to the French atmosphere, the owner, a transplaned Parisian, was there keeping a passionate eye on the action.

With less than an hour left before meeting up with the ladies, I made my way to Shibuya. Uh, the 5-minute walk to Parco was a slog but I managed to crawl myself up to the 7th floor and spent half an hour outside Toraji doing my crosswords next to a couple of laughing hyenas/young women before the OL and BB showed up. At BB's request, I showed her the photos from Hokkaido. BB seemed even more flighty than usual. The food at Toraji was mighty tasty. We tucked ourselves into a variety platter of different cuts of meat with a plate of Korean vegetables and lettuce to eat with the cooked meat. Our second step was ordering a couple of extra plates of beef, and the final stage involved us having kalbi kuppa soup and sharing a stone bibimpap. Everything was spicy and good but we were pushing things a bit with that last stage. However, I'm glad that the theory of a second stomach for desserts seems to work since the waiter got us some free Meiji ice cream bars.

We kept things pretty early tonight since all of us were stuffed to the gills. We just walked back through the throngs of kids back to the subway and said our goodbyes there. I got home and immediately went into the shower to wash off all that grime and sweat. Apparently, the senior citizens' home next to my building had some sort of outing to a festival since there was a reverse exodus back into the home by the old folks.

I did some prelim checking on hotels in Yokohama for that nascent "trip" to the city. I was pretty floored by what the Pan Pacific and the Hotel Intercontinental were asking for one night. The usual part of me immediately nixed the idea of staying there, but the more liberal part posited the question of "Why not?" I may have to pay close to 30,000 yen for one night of luxury but I won't exactly enter the poor house if I do so and it is a night in Yokohama....when am I gonna get this opportunity again, especially since my days here in this country may be numbered? I'll sleep on it and then see if my liberal side is still willing to take the plunge.

Looks like telethon season is back on Japanese TV. Fuji-TV started its annual 27-hour festival. This year's theme seems to be on comedy duos. Pretty silly but it makes for a nice antidote to all of the dour CNN news. I even caught an old 80s idol, Misato Watanabe, actually appearing on a cooking show. She was one of the few singers who actually had a decent voice for rock..kinda bordering on the Janis Joplin side of things. But I know that she was mellowing out by the fact that she actually did show up on the show and she even did a duet of an enka song with the host. In her hey day, I would never have been able to imagine her doing anything like that. It was also quite evident that she's added quite a bit of mass over the past two decades. I wonder if she'll be ending up like Linda Ronstadt.

Well, got that package coming here in the morning so I'll have to get myself up for that. And then I'm off to meet Skippy and Movie Buddy for Harry Potter. I'm not sure if we'll be able to catch since the OL informed me that school is out for the summer holidays so the kids are now out in full force. However, I'm not too worried since we can just go for Indian a few hours ahead of schedule.

Friday July 23, 11:52 p.m.

My two lessons today went off without a hitch although things are slowly entering holiday mode. SR, for instance, won't be seeing me for the next few weeks due to various trips. Actually, The Teacher got me thinking about whether I should take a bit of R&R during the relative quiet period in early August. Yes, I know, I know...I had a holiday back in June. However, I think taking some time off somewhere would be better spent elsewhere rather than just wasting my own money and energy in my air-conditioned home. So I'm thinking about spending a weekend in Yokohama. It's still unexplored enough to merit a weekend of study and yet it's close enough that transportation wouldn't be a major drain on the finances. However, there is still the matter of accomodation. Project in progress.

After my classes, I took off to meet the Beauty Pair for dinner with that friend of theirs. I reached Nishi-Kasai Station a half-hour ahead of schedule so I did a bit of quick exploration. The area is quite a bit bigger and busier than my neighbourhood a few stations away, but like my station, it also had a station mall underneath. It was longer and had a larger concentration of restaurants and other eateries, though. Ten years here, and this was my very first time to get off there.

By the time 6 o'clock came about, I was dripping like a wet rag. The high heat was back. The Beauty Pair picked me up and we hopped on a bus for about 5 minutes before we got off in a somewhat suburban spot. Then, it was just a walk of a couple of minutes before reaching Toriden, a neighbourhood watering hole which specialized in yakitori. The place is an AKACHOCHIN or "red lantern" which denotes it as a small intimate pub. When we entered, it was occupied by a salty bunch of men which got pretty loud in the slang. However, the guest of honour, the Clown, wasn't there as he had been expected. In fact, the three of us wondered if he had actually chickened out since one of the BP mentioned that he had expressed some nervousness over meeting me, a member of the alien set.

However, just as we were downing our beers and tucking into some of the yakitori, he showed up 30 minutes late. True to form, his first act as soon as he came in was to drop his pants revealing a wild pair of jockey underwear. Of course, the Pair squealed in delight and shock. I "marveled" at his wit and sophistication. Actually, despite his rather raunchy sense of humour, the Clown came off as a pretty decent sort...he rambled a lot but in a button-down way. He was definitely not a usual Japanese guy.

Our four hours at the pub were pleasant ones. I don't think I'd ever been in a Akachochin in my decade here for the simple reason that it is a watering hole for the locals. However, the food and drink were good, and the Clown kept the Pair in stitches. The Clown and I even did a couple of karaoke songs each with the in-house set. I was a bit nervous about how my rendition of Billy Joel would be received but the other patrons didn't seem to care so I was OK.

I got home desperately needing a shower so I got that going straight away before I started doing some lesson planning for the older sister. I checked my e-mail. It seems as if Arwen never did show up for DTE's outing after all, and despite DTE's repeated attempts at contact, Arwen hasn't bothered to reply. I was thinking of giving young Arwen a bit of a lecture in courtesy when I received a letter from another old student and former classmate of Arwen's from China. She hasn't been able to check her e-mail for 2 months due to her job. After reading that, I ended up sending a much more compassionate message to Arwen asking how everything was going although I also did mention that DTE had been wondering about she was doing. I hope that Arwen hasn't decided to abandon her friendships.

I even received a message from one of the original Tea Room ladies, the Operator. One of her old compadres is back from Argentina with her new baby. The Operator was wondering about our availability in September since the Argentinian will be in Tokyo around that time.

It'll be another horribly hot day on Saturday. And I have to lug my blazer in my traveling bag to get those stupid passport photos done. Aw, man.

Friday July 23, 7:51 a.m.

A bit of a shock going to bed last night. Didn't need to put on the fan at all in my room, though it was still hot. I even felt chilly with the air con by the end of my day, and there were even some cool breezy wafts from the window. However, it was back to normal this morning. My futon was starting to get a bit damp with my sweat so I got up pretty quickly.

Pretty glad not to have gone to see Chip Guy. According to some of the chatter from the e-mail, he didn't even show up last night. Just got bogged down in business trip. He wanted to make it up today with an offer of lunch but for me, that's not gonna be possible since I basically gotta scoot straight from The Teacher to SR due to an earlier start time for SR.

In a way, that brutal heat snap of earlier this week may have helped us. Now, we'll probably snort in derision at a mere 33 degrees.

Thursday July 22, 7:32 p.m.

It was hot but bearable today. There wasn't that feeling of pain and suffering that I'd felt on Tuesday and Wednesday, and it certainly did help to have those stiff gusts from time to time. However, the pert NHK weatherwoman sweetly announced that we'll be stuck with the dog days well into September.

Started my daily foray into the big city by having lunch at Pepper Lunch at the station. I had the 800-yen hamburger and sauteed pork on the sizzling plate with bean sprouts, green beans and carrot slices. At first, I thought it was a bit risky to try and fry the raw pork within the limited time of sizzle, but it worked out OK. I certainly haven't had any problem with worms so far.

I went down to the nearest subway station to the Embassy to see if I could get those passport photos done. There doesn't seem to be one close to my place and I recalled the studio in the Twin Aoyama Mall was pretty hep to how the Embassy wanted them done. So I went down there and found out that the photographer couldn't take them since I wasn't wearing any jacket. You see, white shirt on white background tends to leave photos with floating heads. I could imagine my photos would have been ones of giant balloons. So I have to do the process again on Saturday between my kid lessons and dinner with The OL and BB, this time with my blue blazer in tow. Since THAT is one from Canada, there's no bloody way I'm going to wear it outside unless I'm aiming to create a portable sauna, so I'll have to stuff into my other bag.

I met up with The Engineer for a bit of coffee in Shinjuku. He kinda annoyed me with a couple of cracks (he doesn't have full control of his tact at times) but I just answered with distnterested shrugs. However, the coffee part was good enough. He spent the next several minutes talking about his latest technological purchase. To be honest, I'm not exactly particularly all that enthralled by Akihabara being the semi-Luddite that I am but I did engage him in some talk about it. 90 minutes later, I walked him back to the West Gate and we parted. I was still feeling a bit grumpy so it was good that I ended up sleeping a good part of my commute home.

Movie Buddy gave the OK to the next outing on Sunday. We'll be catching Harry Potter 3 at Shinjuku Picadilly. Looks like the movie is slowly ending its run at that theater since it'll only have two showings starting in the late afternoon. That's fine with me since I've gotta wait for that package from my student in the morning. I also sent invitations to Skippy and Arwen on the assumption I probably wouldn't get any bites due to the relative short notice. However, I was a bit surprised that Skippy actually did bite and enthusiastically gave her OK for Sunday. Arwen, not surprisingly, has yet to reply and I frankly doubt that she'll do so before it's too late.

For a day off without any classes, I feel pretty tired for some reason. Well, I still have to get ready for my two classes with The Teacher and SR tomorrow. The Teacher will be easy enough since she always provides the material. In fact, I have to lend her my DVD of "Ocean's Eleven" since she hasn't seen it yet and she's a big Brad Pitt fan. I just wonder how she'll take the oh-so-cool dialogue and story, though. As for SR, I sent her a fairly big fill-in-the-blanks assignment so she's probably groaning right now, but I was nice in that I didn't give her any further things to do before class. She'll have plenty of stuff on her plate tonight. Then, I meet up with my first pair of students on juku night...the Beauty Pair...at 6 close to home for dinner with one of their friends. Apparently, he's quite a cut-up; I hope I'm in the appropriate mood as well.

Speaking of BB, I just received mail from her stating that her cat has come back home. It's a bit of a miracle, really. However, it looks like the little one has a bit of an eye injury.

Well, after several day of nothing, that friend of the Quarterback actually got back to me about his lessons. It looks like he's too busy this week and next week, I have my usual class with the Curry Master and the SE so we're trying for the 5th as our inaugural class. With these postponements, I'm kinda wondering if I'm headed for another Salaryman-type situation. SIGH

Well, the airport security video of the 9/11 terrorists came out this morning to media adjectives of "fascinating" and "chilling" CNN's Anderson Cooper was in fact starting to reach my annoyance threshold with his repeated usage of the latter word. However, I thought the really chilling story was not the video but the interview he did with a passenger on a Northwest flight about alleged eyewitness reports of some suspicious activity involving 14 Middle Eastern men and some washrooms. Were they going through a dry run for future terrorist attacks or just testing the defenses or were they just really that weird band due to perform in Las Vegas on a gig? Apparently, the call to the venue that booked them corroborated the band's story but I'm still feeling rather suspicious despite the fact that the interviewee seemed a bit clueless at times. However, I also can't imagine that Al Qaeda would be so brazen to have over a dozen of its members purposely attract attention from just about everyone else on the plane unless their purpose was to, in fact, give everyone the willies. On that point, Bin Laden's organization hit a homer.

On a lighter note, I noticed on the red crawl at the bottom screen, some news about Krispy Kreme releasing a new drink with the glazed flavour of its donuts. Now, wouldn't this be somethng that Homer Simpson would just love? I love glazed donuts but a glaxed-flavoured drink? UGH!

Well, gonna make dinner now. Just so that I don't have to spend a lot of time in the hot kitchen, I'm keeping it to fried cabbage and franks with a salad. That ought to keep me regular.

Wednesday July 21, 9:56 p.m.

Almost forgot to mention that today is Eel Day in Japan. Yep, July 21st is designated as the day that we are encouraged to the long fish in any form to gain stamina. And boy, could we use some of that stamina right now in this heat wave. Actually, though it was still blisteringly hot, I was able to handle things better. I didn't bother eating eel today since I jumped the gun on Monday. Instead, I just downed a bowl of garlicky ramen and gyoza at the station.

I had a pretty good session with the Biologist today up at the Tea Room. I hope our remaining sessions (she takes off for France in about 5 weeks) are as good. The OL was also in good form. She even was kind enough to call up Toraji to make those reservations for us on Saturday.

Well, I've just got to get a bit of dishwashing done before I start on filling out that application form for the new passport. I'll be going out to the Embassy tomorrow to get that piece of bureaucracy done. I just hope I can find a photo studio nearby the place to get those passport photos. If not, well, I'll just put things off until next week. It looks like that prospective first lesson with the Quarterback's buddy will be falling through. I'll just check one more time tomorrow before declaring him MIA. If it's indeed the case, then I have a day off tomorrow. However, I've also yet to find out anything from Chip Guy for tomorrow night.

Back to the weather, we "only" reached 38 degrees today. Looks like the big winner in the heat sweepstakes is Kofu, Gifu Prefecture with the 2nd-highest record high temp with a grand total of 40.1 degrees, next to Ichihara's 40.2 from yesterday. Speaking with the kiosk lady at the station, I found out that there were quite a few folks dropping like flies due to the heat. I didn't get too much sleep last night but I hope with a higher fan setting, I can get some decent shuteye tonight.

Wednesday July 21, 10:33 a.m.

Y'know, in this country, they ought to think about installing a new season starting today. It should be called Hell. Even overnight, the temperature didn't fall below 30 C. Made for some pretty wet sleeping. I didn't get too much of it myself; I partially took my final student's advice and slept in the living room with the fan on. I still woke up 4 hours short of what I should be getting, so I'm feeling pretty punchy. I've had the air con on for almost 5 hours, and I'm just worried that it's gonna conk out or explode because of the heat which certainly lends credence to the theory that lack of sleep could lead to paranoia. However, I've been feeling pretty cool if somewhat groggy.

There's been slightly less sparse traffic than usual this morning because I've been CC'ed by people like Party Hearty and one other about the return of Chip Guy. I've yet to hear any sort of reply from him concerning Thursday. I'm now starting to think I may actually get a blank slate tomorrow since that friend of the Quarterback's has yet to respond back to me. But there's always the last-minute gasp.

I'll probably be taking off pretty soon (as in the next 30 minutes) despite the oppressive conditions out there just so that I can give my air con a rest. Plus, I've gotta do a bit more prep work for the Biologist.

Tuesday July 20, 11:06 p.m.

It's official...we're in a major heat wave. That oppressive feeling of a blow torch on my back was justified. It actually hit 40 sweaty degrees in the Big Sushi, but the hottest spot in the country was in my prefecture in the city of Ichihara: 40.2 big ones. Someone even pointed out that the concrete was registering 50 degrees. I bet some weathermen were probably frying eggs on car hoods tonight. I can't imagine how Chip Guy must be feeling since he always despised Tokyo summers. I guess I can now imagine what Saudi Arabia must be like.

I got a message from Movie Buddy asking me about catching Harry Potter sometime this week. Looks like Sunday afternoon is the only time available for me. I was thinking of getting the ball finally rolling on that passport business but I think I'll hold that off until Thursday. I still have some prep work to do for the Biologist tomorrow, that is, if she's up for it.

Tuesday July 20, 3:04 p.m.

If these are truly the dog days of summer, then today must be a rabid Rottweiler. The heat is just unbelievable. I'm just happy to escape back inside even if only for a few hours. I received e-mail from The Entrepreneur stating that he would gladly trade the current rain and cool in Toronto for some of our weather here. Hey, let's make a deal!

My morning class with the ladies was cut short since the old 50s-issue air conditioner in our room was sputtering, so we ended up having a pseudo-lesson at the Makuhari Springs Hotel in Chiba. I'd been there once before with the ladies for lunch. The lobby looks pretty glitzy almost on a Las Vegas scale...not surprising considering that the owner also has a chain of pachinko parlors. Next week will be the final class with them before we all go on summer break. If the air conditioner goes on the fritz again, we may end up at the Springs again. The hotel itself is located within the sprawling conference technocity of Makuhari Messe; it appears a bit of a pink elephant since I didn't see a whole lot of people walking about. However, with all that white concrete reflecting the blistering heat, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone decided to scurry into the nearest building with air-conditioning.

Looks like I got my summer present from the other Monday student. I got one of those Yamato delivery slips in my door. I kinda feel bad; she doesn't need to do it. I think it was just because she saw the Italian wine that her classmate had given me a week ago that she felt compelled to do it.

Chip Guy wants to get together for Thursday in Shinjuku. I'm not sure if I can make it since I may have that new student, the Quarterback's buddy. But since I haven't heard from him in about a week (I don't think the conditions are too good for us), it seems likely that I may have that day off. I sent off a dispatch to The Engineer to inform him of the change in plans.

Well, I gotta get ready for my night classes. Man, I wish I were not going out in this heat but duty calls. I may consider going out in something more casual, though.

Monday July 19, 7:04 p.m.

It's Marine Day today. It sure didn't feel like there was a lot of water in Tokyo, though. However, on the other side of the Alps, Fukui Prefecture is a disaster area with all of the floods it's been getting. NHK's been saying that it got a month's worth of rainfall in 12 hours today. I'm accustomed to seeing this sort of horror in places like Bangladesh and even rural America but not in this country. Koizumi's been getting a lot of hell from the locals when he visited the area today. Whether or not he deserves the abuse is academic; he's the PM...he's gotta take the flak. Plus, who could blame anyone who just had his house washed away?

Well, I met up with Jazz Buddy in Shinjuku for her lesson. The Andersens was closed due to the holiday so we ended up going to the nearby Starbucks. Fortunately, there were a few tables open. Ol' JB was pretty much like her nickname in performance: pretty to listen to and improvisational (i.e. all over the place).The reason was that she along with a few of the current school students had also gone to the Yokohama Fireworks Festival, albeit separate from the Arwen and DTE crew, after which she dropped by her workplace to chat with some of her buddies before finally munching down a midnight snack of a beef bun and catching TV until 3 a.m. this morning. That doesn't exactly amount to a fully alert student.

Afterwards, we spent 3 hours at the Tokyo Hilton just down the street for that cake buffet that I'd last gone down to with the Iconoclast. She enjoyed the spring rolls and the crab balls but she couldn't get through much of the actual desserts which she thought were somewhat subpar. So I gallantly paid for her share considering that I did suggest the Marble Lounge in the first place. However, she did mention that she and some of the others are looking for a good buffet. I reminded her of one thing concerning buffets: the cheap ones stress quantity over quality, the good ones will stress the almighty yen.

Poor JB had to head over to work tonight despite threatening to nod off near the end of our small feast. However, she was lucid enough to ask for the next lesson to be next Monday.

Getting back home tonight, I noticed that the fairly constricting boards were finally taken off the stairs accessing the station to reveal shiny marble stairs and an escalator getting the finishing touches before final activation.

I got word from Betty Boop for Saturday. I think the choice of restaurant should be OK. She also mentioned that one of her cats has apparently run away. Knowing how Dad is with the family cat, BB must be feeling pretty low right now.

NHK started showing its latest contribution to the anime canon last night by presenting Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. That's right. It would take the Japanese to render classic characters from Agatha Christie into cute 2-D cartoons. Not that I'm lambasting the effort; the anime does look a couple of levels above the usual Pokemon stuff, although, true to form, the producers did add a spunky teenage girl with huge eyes (what else is new?) and her cute duck, Oliver, as companion.

The school scheduler hasn't sent any requests for teaching so I have that sizable hole in my Tuesday schedule. So I'll just get ready for my Tsudanuma class and then the juku classes...after dinner, of course. I know that I shouldn't be indulging, especially after a buffet, but the sad fact of the matter is that I know that my stomach will be crying bloody murder without any influx of food tonight. Having said that, I know that I've gained some more stuff to my girth since it took me an extra minute to pull on the jeans.Ick!

Sunday July 18, 10:20 p.m.

Managed to clean off the bathroom and the kitchen along with some other household chores at the cost of a lot of sweat. After that, it was just off to get the shoes and the fixins for dinner. Got suddenly squalled on; I was barely able to get the clothes off the line in time; still a couple of shirts got slightly damp.

Well, the Sogas are back in Tokyo and not surprisingly a majority of the channels had their cameras on Haneda Airport. Sgt. Jenkins is now resting comfortably in a Tokyo hospital with the family. Hard to say what the future holds for them.

I saw "Ocean's Eleven" on DVD just to show myself that I'm relaxing and not teaching today. It's still a good smart film. I'm hoping that the sequel will follow the example of Spiderman and be even better. It could be hard to top, though.

Mom called up and she caught the good news about my birth certificate from my brother. I'm glad that I won't be getting the nagging about it anymore.

Still gotta check my notes for Jazz Buddy's lesson tomorrow. A bit of a pain considering that it is a national holiday. And I still don't know if we'll be trying out that buffet at the Keio Plaza. Hope to find out tomorrow morning, but since she's a late riser...I'm not holding out any particular hopes that I'll receive any messages from her before I see her at 11. I kinda wonder how DTE and Arwen are doing at the Yokohama Fireworks Festival although I'm sure it's been long over now. Hopefully, they managed to squeeze out from the crowd and get some cold drinks.