Sunday January 16, 1:13 a.m.

Cold, wet and generally miserable out there. But the snow never arrived in central Tokyo although the outlying areas got some of the wet flakes. Still, it wasn't a good day to be outside yesterday.

Did my duty and went out to the kids a good 90 minutes ahead of schedule only to find out that the elder girl pulled off another shirk and had to leave the house with only a half-hour worth of lesson. But the mother was kind enough to pull in her hubby for that half-hour of dead air.

I caught "The Incredibles" again at Roppongi Hills, the only movie in the past year that I've seen twice. This second time I was able to focus more on the animation. It was truly a marvel how Brad Bird was able to mesh the voices with the characters so perfectly. As I said, Craig T. Nelson IS Bob Parr. Bird was even able to get Holly Hunter's way of talking out of the side of her mouth incorporated into Helen's face. I think this movie should get Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, though I also enjoyed "Shrek 2". All those hoping that "The Incredibles" can actually cop a Best Picture nom can forget it. When the Best Animated Feature was made up by the Academy, that put the final nail in the coffin for any chance of a cartoon to get a Best Picture. It was a political decision; the Academy probably didn't want to have to deal with the potential firestorm surrounding live vs. cartoon.

Spent over an hour at the Wendy's (thereby nixing my attempts to stay away from fast food...but I got the simplest burger possible, if that's any consolation) just to while away the time before I headed out to Speedy's launch party. For a thankfully brief while, a bunch of US prepubescent punks sat beside me talking trash. It was either them or that Shibuya girl with that annoying teen patois sitting behind me.

Had a devil of a time finding the venue for the launch party in the storm outside. However, after 15 minutes of searching, I finally found it. Only knew Speedy, his wife and Party Hearty but PH was sitting all the way in the front while I was stuffed in the back. But I was able to make some new friends with my seated neighbours. The first one I spoke with struck me as being a real character while the two women sitting on my left were more of the usual passive Japanese types.

The food, which was Chinese, was marvelous but for some reason we couldn't polish it all off. In fact, there was still a hefty amount left on the plate when the wait staff took it away. When one of the guests asked whether we could get doggy bags, the owner politely replied that it would be impossible since, and I paraphrase, the staff couldn't handle the responsibility. The responsibility for what? Getting poisoned? Everything's cooked! Regardless, all that food may have gone to waste. Doggy bags aren't a very common custom in this country.

The storm was still raging when the party wrapped up a couple of hours later. Still, a number of us ended up going to the new school and spent another chatting before we finally broke up. I was feeling pretty exhausted after 16 hours outside. It'll still be dreary tomorrow but I plan to keep things inside and clean up.

Saturday January 15, 5:47 a.m.

An EARLY Saturday! Ugh...have to remember that the mother has been kind to me. Haven't done one of these since my early days at NOVA. Well, perhaps, this may be a blessing in disguise...we've got a possible batch of heavy snow coming our way today. Don't wanna even think about getting stuck in that during the commute. So far, I don't see anything falling out there so if I can make it across town before the stuff does, I should be OK. But, man, we could be getting as much as 15 cm! That's not too bad for Toronto but here in Tokyo, that's major cause for a panic. People and cars tend to slip and slide balls on a bumper pool table.

However, I have those several hours between the classes and Speedy's launch party so I'll have to stay somewhere in Tokyo. I'm thinking about catching "The Incredibles" at Roppongi Hills. That should kill a few hours. I'll probably keep things on the Oedo Line since both my classes and the movie are on it. It's almost impossible to get into a cafe on Saturdays; that rating will get upgraded today for sure. Well, perhaps I can peruse a bookstore for the rest of my time.

Friday January 14, 8:40 p.m.

Had my Friday lessons. The Teacher and SR were in good shape. The Teacher has become quite the buyer/seller on Internet auctions. She was able to get a barely used Gucci for 1/8 the price. I think she ought to consider writing a book; she politely demurred.

SR lost a bit of weight over the Holidays. She was hitting the gym a lot unlike me who decided to go to the other end of the spectrum.

Watched Shrek 2 on DVD. A good addition to any collection. Some of those gags are just priceless. Some of the behind-the-scenes stuff got on my nerves, though, with all of the gladhanding.

Now that I've gotten through all of the SCTV discs, I think I can give a good analysis. My first memories of Candy and the rest of the crew were from their old show on Global TV back in Toronto 30 years ago (I can barely believe it's been that long). The aptly named John Candy was merely chubby back then when the Second City folks got together to put on their half-hour of satire on a very modest budget. Back then, it was just Candy, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Eugene Levy and Dave Thomas (as the Beaver). The show was taped on some pretty yellowy video but it was there that the immortal characters of Johnny LaRue, Edith Prickly and Earl Camembert were born. I can remember when the show aired on Monday nights at 9, pretty much the hour of death whenever football season was on.

Then, a few years later, the cast and crew all moved out to Edmonton thanks to a wealthy patron. There was a year of transition when John Candy left temporarily to get into movies (The Blues Brothers, for one). Harold Ramis left after the first year but Rick Moranis, Tony Rosato and Robin Duke joined the cast. It was a strange year since it was between the Global days and the NBC heyday when SCTV went Stateside. Candy returned, Rosato & Duke left (only to head out to Saturday Night Live) and the team hit the big time. The budget grew, the sketches got more ambitious, sharper and most importantly, funnier. The Edmonton days were clearly the peak for the gang, especially since it was there that the McKenzie Brothers and the Great White North got onto the pop cultural landscape. A couple of years later, the gang moved back to Toronto to Magder Studios in Scarborough, a stone's throw away from my home. SCTV's parody of "The Towering Inferno" was filmed at the Golden Mile Plaza, a neighbourhood mall.

By that time, Martin Short had joined the cast. His addition was an interesting one since he was the only one of the crew to have had previous primetime exposure through a guest appearance on "Taxi" and a failed sitcom. He also gave the show one of my favourite characters, the overly verbose interviewer, Brock Linehan. But with the start of SCTV's stab at soap opera, "The Days of the Week", things started waning for me. SCTV lasted another couple of seasons with a severely decreased troupe of just Flaherty, Martin, Levy and Short and now just on a pay-TV channel. So, those are the shows that I've yet to catch.

For me, the real star of the show was Eugene Levy, although the cast as a whole was amazing to begin with. However, it was Levy who came up with the most memorably hilarious renditions of existing celebs (Perry Como, Gene Shalit) and original characters. So, I feel happy for Levy's current success as the go-to guy for comic support in movies. On the DVD specials, Levy comes across as fairly introverted, though, a fact which was confirmed by Joe Flaherty in one of the specials. So, he's all the more amazing when you consider some of his outsized characters such as Bobby Bittman. But from time to time, you can still see some of the other guys show up. Catherine O'Hara has been a steady appearance for the past several years, most notably as Macauley Culkin's mom in the "Home Alone" movies. I'm sure if John Candy had survived to this date, he would've had the status accorded Levy.

The one other notable thing after having watched the discs is that the surviving cast doesn't look all that much older. Dave Thomas may look more jowly and Flaherty may resemble more like a larger cuke than his old svelte stringbean but for the most part, the old gang have kept their youth. It's hard to believe that Levy is a bit older than my own father. Just goes to show that good humour can keep a person young without having to pay for all of those Botox treatments.

Friday January 14, 8:07 a.m.

Had my first normal Thursday classes in a while. I recall that my last set before my vacation was horribly hampered with the onset of a cold. Jazz Buddy and I went to the same Tully's in Shinjuku. Good cafe fare but it was painfully obvious that the era of non-smoking had not even approached the room where we were sitting and noshing. By the time we finished the session, the air was hazy with secondhand smoke. Plus, the stereo system kept repeating the same Norah Jones song over and over. If it hadn't been for our talk and the background chatter, I would have been left comatose by the Jones mantra. JB and I decided that an alternate location would be suitable for next week.

Had a long intermission of 6 hours between JB and The Carolinan, so I basically traipsed around Shinjuku for most of that. I bought SCRABBLE as a useful diversion for the kids and probably for me as well. The streets were bustling as usual. I even thought about catching "The Incredibles" for a second time at the nearby theater but the next show wouldn't be starting until it cut a bit too close to meeting time with the Carolinan so I had to nix that.

It was good to return to the Tea Room. It was well over a month since my last lesson there, and the staff welcomed me back with open arms. Nice to have a place where everyone knows my name. So I just enjoyed reading and having some dinner there for the two hours before my next student showed up. The Carolinan was a bit rusty initially because of the long break between sessions but she was back to form by the end.

Found out from the Net that Diana Krall is finally returning to Japan for a few concert dates in Osaka and Tokyo. I've sent the heads-up to JB although I'm not sure if she'd be interested in seeing the concert with me specifically.

Damon, Pitt and Clooney had their requisite press conferences for "Ocean's 12". Of course, the question of Brad's divorce was lingering like a ghost so the former Mr. Aniston ducked the interview session leaving Matt and George to monkey around.

Thursday January 13, 8:05 a.m.

It's been about a week since I got back so things are starting to get back into the ol' rhythm again. Technically, it's still warmer here than in Toronto but without the concept of central heating in Japan, it can be pretty darn frigid in the house.

Brad and George arrived last night to plug Ocean's Twelve. This is just on the heel of the announcement of Brad's divorce from Friend Jennifer Aniston so he may be cringing at the thought of being pelted with some rather uncomfortable questions. Matt Damon was actually here a week earlier to promote The Bourne Supremacy.

Well, had that rather heavy start to my day with a breakfast of pork kimchi...I don't feel any worse for wear but I think I'll be a REGULAR guy in the next half-hour, if you know what I mean.

Wednesday January 12, 9:13 p.m.

Went over to the bank to pay my revised (i.e. increased) premiums for the National Health Insurance. I'd already paid the original premium for December before the trip home so I thought I could just pay the remaining balance. Looks like the government has found another way to annoy me; the teller patiently told me that I still had to pay the whole amount and have the extra amount reimbursed. Once again, I held myself in check but the teller was slightly tentative.

My first workout of the year was a good one but I know my upper body will be sore tomorrow. Sure enough, I did gain a couple of kilos from my trip down Culinary Lane in Toronto. Well, at least I did shed half a kilo from my exertions.

Took my first step towards avoiding fast food joints by eating at a family restaurant a couple of floors below the gym. I know....family restaurant fare isn't exactly much of an improvement over McDs but at least the hamburger and deep-fried oysters I ate today were more lovingly crafted than your normal Big Mac.

I kinda raced it over to the Hawaiian's neck of the woods since I was a bit worried that the Hawaiian's aunt still wanted lessons from me. Odds were that I'd seen the last of her when she took that trip to New Zealand since the lessons just centered around travel vocab, but I wasn't really willing to take the chance that she was waiting at the restaurant. Sure enough, when I got to the Saizeriya there was noone there so I ended up having an extra hour to sip coffee before the Hawaiian herself came. She was her usual effusive self as ideal student. I could give her anything and she'd tackle it with gusto.

After the Hawaiian's class, I took a detour to Ginza to the HMV to do a bit of splurging. I bought the Spidey 2 and Shrek 2 DVDs and a couple of magazines before I made it over to the Starbucks. The manager recognized me with the "The usual, sir?" look. An hour later, the OL showed up. She was also in fine fettle since she passed her bookkeeping exam. OL has passed a lot since our first meeting 18 months ago and we're approaching the end of the textbook. Just like the Hawaiian, I can throw anything at her and she'll gladly respond.

Not really hungry but I did pick up a Ten-Musu for a tiny dinner and had a couple of Mandarin oranges. However, I will be whipping pork kimchi for breakfast tomorrow. Ought to be interesting to see (and feel) how my digestion will fare in the morning.

Got word from the mother of the kids. She wants me to come over to the house on Saturday at the relatively rarefied hour of 9:30 a.m. since the elder girl has volleyball practice from the late morning. This could hurt but the mother has been good to me for the 2 years I've been teaching her daughters so I didn't let her down. The thing is, though, I'll have a good 8 hours before Speedy's launch party for his new school, and that will be held just a few stations away. So, even with the long break, I think it'd be a waste to go back home. Maybe I'll catch a movie in the interim.

Currently, I'm listening to the Best of Eurythmics album that Shard gave me back home. Some great songs although I think "1984" hasn't dated too well. It is interesting to hear how Annie has made a musical voyage from early techno sounds to a more soul-based one.

Wednesday January 12, 7:16 a.m.

Well, the 2nd anniversary of this blog has just passed. I guess I'll be continuing my series of banal, unrevealing commentaries on life here in Japan...or so I'm paraphrasing from one of the reporters for the Toronto Star when he gave his Top 10 list of things to be gotten rid of in 2005. Not sure if he really meant it since he admitted that the list was just something to fill up space in the entertainment section but I have to admit that his comments stung me a bit (why did I have to have a Woody Allen-like constitution?). Mind you, he might be one of those elitist journosnobs who believe in only "trained" writers publishing anything in public over free speech for the masses.

I had my first misunderstanding with the juku boss last night. I kept my cool when she told me that she'd actually found a replacement teacher for me during the Holidays. The problem was that she never told me this and I relayed to the students that there would be no classes. It caused a bit of tumult to the schedule. I let her know my side of the story. A few years back, I would've been a bit ogre-like in my reaction but nowadays, I couldn't care less anymore. Anyways, it helped that the boss still kept a genuine smile (you could run her over with a truck,she'd be grinning like a Cheshire cat), and the students didn't mind. In fact, one of them was a bit worried that the boss had raked me over the coals.

Jazz Buddy just sent me an e-mail. She's not one to respond very quickly if at all but I did wonder if she'd given up the goat on my lessons. However, all's still in place for tomorrow. Good thing, too, since I've got her souvenirs.

Chip Guy and GC have been giving me advice on digital cameras. Chip feels that the 4 Megapixel would be ideal for me because of the resolution, but GC is more conservative for the 3.2 since it would be easier to upload. Nice to have experts in one's circle of friends.

Thus I have reported another banality for the day...

Tuesday January 11, 7:50 a.m.

Well, my first day back at work. I have yet to plan anything but I figure being the first day after the Holidays, I think the students at the Beehive will just be content talking about what they did for the past month. I've got my package of chocolates for them as well.

As for the juku folks, I think a good portion of their lessons will be based on the Holiday chat as well, so I'm not worrying too much at this point. However, being the weathered and weatherbeaten teacher, I'll get something set up.

Yesterday's b-day party for Frodo went swimmingly. MB and I met at Naka-Meguro and then we went to a cafe where the other two guests were smoking, drinking and chatting as all Tokyo girls would. As usual, I couldn't remember their names but they could peg me out immediately. After getting some extra stuff for the party, we made our long walk over to Frodo's place. His wife had sent him out on some errand so we were all able to get some prep work done. I was "assigned" to pick out an appropriate piece of b-day music to play when hubby came back home to his surprise. Unfortunately, amongst all of the CDs there was nothing that was blatantly birthday-oriented so I ended up choosing Chicago's "You're The Inspiration"...more wedding day than birthday, but what else could I pick?

Some really good fixins at the party including some chunky chicken minestrone and Vietnamese spring rolls. We ended up staying there for several hours. As would be expected of someone my age, I got pretty drowsy by the end. However, walking back to the station got me perked up again with the atypically chilly weather in Tokyo (otherwise known as downright balmy back in Toronto).

Monday January 10, 10:47 a.m.

Once again, Adulthood Day is here. As time passes, this holiday has become increasingly cynically ironic. The day's news reports usually tell of some potential Yakuza recruits who stormed the stage and made trouble as the mayor or some other probably corrupt politician hypocritically droned about the responsibilities and ethics of being an adult. A few years ago perhaps, the guilty party would show some remorse; nowadays, they show absolutely none. Mind you, the ladies look nice in their kimonos.

Still very much on the SCTV bandwagon. I've barely seen anything else on the TV...not the satellite or the regular channels. Caught the classic episode lampooning Russian TV with my most favourite sketch out of the entire series: the Perry Como concert ad. It's also been a hoot watching some of the musical acts who appeared on the show. Al Jarreau was on the Russian TV ep, and the following show had Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics...talk about your stretch across the musical spectrum: AOR vs. nihilistic punk. The commentary by Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin was illuminating in the fact that they mentioned that Williams was the sweetest thing off-camera despite the destruction she wreaked on Gill Fisher's set, but they didn't mention that Williams had to colour her bare breasts black to be allowed to sing on-camera. Even in late night, the censors are everywhere. It was also rather poignant watching John Candy as Gill, and Williams cuddling together knowing that neither of them is around.

Well, gotta head on out in an hour. Frodo has a surprise birthday party coming his way and I'm meeting MB at Naka-Meguro with a couple of other guests in the early afternoon. Today is the last real day of my month-long vacation. I'm back at it from tomorrow morning with the Beehive. Still feels a bit surreal to be back in Japan for some reason.

Sunday January 9, 12:57 p.m.

Well, sure enough, Movie Buddy was the sole visitor for hot pot last night. Good stuff we whipped up. Our double feature of "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Manchurian Candidate" took us into the wee small hours so that MB ended up sleeping it off here. We both liked the first movie with Matt Damon, but he was very unimpressed with the second movie. When it was decided that he would be crashing here, we ended up watching the specials on the Star Wars DVD which more than made up for his disappointment with Denzel.

However, my heavy DVD viewing since my return from Canada has been on SCTV. According to the IMDB, the DVD sets have been getting rave reviews. Not being one of those folks to laugh out loud at every comedian or sketch, I've been looking at the ol' episodes with as much nostalgia as humour. There are some great sketches, though. But the biggest hit for me is Eugene Levy's classic impression of Perry Como for his so-called special. In fact, the sketch was doubly hilarious when it was shown as a clip at the 1981 Emmys. Could remember seeing Alan Alda laughing up his intestines in the audience, but the corker was seeing the real Como himself give the award to the SCTV crew. I'm sure Levy stood way back in the crowd.

The specials on the discs have been pretty enlightening as well. It's been an education seeing the roots of SCTV and the tribute to John Candy who seemed to have had a pretty sad life despite all of his success.

Well, I'll be heading out pretty soon to Akihabara to do some recon for Chip Guy and maybe even search out a digital camera for myself.

Saturday January 8, 8:15 a.m.

Looks like it'll be the usual duo for hot pot tonight. Movie Buddy will be the sole guest of honour. The ladies have either not responded or given their regrets (kinda feel like Garfield's master). However, the Chipmunk should be coming by to drop off some receipts and my revised premium schedule for NHI. Sure enough, I have a bit to pay but it doesn't sound as lethal as I had feared. I do wonder if I'm in the tax office's doghouse, though. Well, I'll get that tax return application sent in next week.

With just MB coming in, I'm wondering if he'll just settle for delivery pizza instead of hot pot, but I'm OK either way. Looks like he's set up his own blog as well. Very similar title to my own as well. I wonder if he actually discovered my little world.

Friday January 7, 9:45 a.m.

Well, Happy New Year! It's my first entry of The Year of the Cock. You can take that last statement for whatever it's worth. I'm keeping my options open considering the people of last year.

I got back from Canada last night after a pretty arduous 14-hour flight, thanks to some mighty headwinds and the consequentially emergency stopover in Vancouver for extra fuel. However, once again, the movies helped to keep me surviving. I caught CATWOMAN, ROCKY and I, ROBOT. CATWOMAN was a pretty lame movie but I have to admit that Halle Berry did try her best with her rendition of a conflicted superhero...certainly she succeeded more than Michael Keaton's BATMAN.

Had a guardian angel from Air Canada. Felt pretty woozy after sitting in Economy for several hours, and my eyes were as red as rubies. I was just getting off the plane when I heard someone call my name. This Japanese lady approached me in AC uniform; it turned out to be my former student from the school. She informed that she'd seen my name on the passenger list before I took off and made sure that I had a relatively decent aisle seat in Economy (just the second row away from First Class) so that I could get off fast. She also helped me in that after all the great times with family and friends back in Toronto over the Holidays, those post-Holiday blues were starting to impinge upon me. It was great to have a friendly face greeting me at Narita.

And on getting home, I was happy to find out that GC, who did a bit of housesitting for me, was very generous to have done some house improvements during his brief time here and he even left me a lot of food supplies. Still, I was feeling pretty exhausted. I couldn't even keep my eyes open to watch the first disc of SCTV...one of my favourite shows ever. So I finally hit bed at about 1:30 this morning (yes, I put up a terrific fight with The Sandman) and got about 7.5 hours of shuteye.

Just got my suitcase from ABC Delivery right now so I'm free and clear to get some other stuff done. Looks like my idea for hot pot has gotten one person to come out. Movie Buddy will be heading here tomorrow afternoon. I'll send e-mail over to Arwen and Skippy postwith. I'll see if the Chipmunk can come out as well since she lives nearby.

Saturday December 25, 2:56 p.m.

Well, I've reached the halfway point of my trip back home. It's been good being back in T.O....seeing the old friends and family. I certainly haven't shirked on the food; I'll probably mortify the gym staff when I get back with the amount I'll gain. Weatherwise, it's definitely Xmas-like. Earlier in the week, Toronto got smacked with an Extreme Cold Advisory. We smashed a record in the form of a -37-degree wind chill. It's been a long time since I felt that sort of burning cold. Looks like the old homefront back in Japan has been OK. Chipmunk has kept a good eye on the apartment and GC will be headed there soon enough.

I went out with my brother and his wife to attend the Xmas service at their church. The usual sermon and songs. Then we hit a dim sum place; we tried to hold off on having huge amounts since we've got the turkey dinner in a few hours. In the past couple of hours, I've come to a decision about what to do with my future.

Next week is still open for me so I've gotta get started on buying those souvenirs. Hopefully, Boxing Day won't be too nuts. Well, the stuff I'll be getting can be bought at the mall across the street so it won't be too painful.

Wednesday December 15th, 11:06 a.m.

Well, let's see....my dependable watch, which had been running smoothly for the past 2 years, decided to die today. And the knob on my door almost falls off. Hmmm...I wonder if these are omens...with my luck, I'll be on a plane targeted by terrorists or faulty engines.

Tuesday December 14, 9:32 p.m.

Well, just about all packed up and ready to head home. I've got people looking over the apartment, bills have been paid and all the presents are in. I'll be lugging three bags home. In a way, I'm happy that it'll be rainy tomorrow. It'll give me that extra incentive to take a taxi to the nearest Keisei station.

My final event today was the party with the Beehive. Everyone was in pretty good spirits with all of their food and drink. Unfortunately, my two contributions came to naught. I half-destroyed the cork of that wine before the students persuaded me to give up; we'll try again next year, and the package of Fujiya cakes were basically distributed at the very end of the party.

The rest of the day was spent just cleaning the bedroom up, followed by dinner and then packing. I still have to leave a message with GC who will be coming shortly to take care of the place and then iron some clothing. UGH!

Paddy reassured me that he's OK with the restaurant as is. I still think his tone yesterday was fairly immature but I'll let the matter go.

Monday December 13, 9:42 p.m.

Well, my day got off to a somewhat of a bad start. Sure enough, the daily horoscope on the telly said that Libra would have the worst day today. I don't believe in horoscopes and I try to avoid them as much as I can, but my eyes unfortunately caught the very moment when the report went up. My reaction was the usual...my middle finger rose up faster than the sun.

First off, Paddy threw the e-mail equivalent of a pouting fit when he found out that we wouldn't be going to the Texas Longhorn. He said that he'd been looking forward to trying the 72-oz. steak offer; to be honest, it was possible that he may have mentioned it and my sieve-like memory didn't bother to store the information which is the only thing that prevented me from chewing into him. However, I just couldn't believe how uncharacteristically whiny he was...I mean, this is my advisor who steadily helped me with everything from my physical workout to the interior design of my cubby hole. I owe him so much so it was a bit of a shock to see him act this way. After his last e-mail, I just decided not to respond to it. A year ago, I had the same reaction to The Lawyer's multi-claused reason for refusing to come to the Ballerina's goodbye party and I just vented at the Madame via e-mail. Now, I'll just vent here...I don't want to even bother anyone about it. It's all about nothing. I'll wait til tomorrow to see if Paddy sends any more e-mail.

The Entrepreneur didn't get my bile up but he did mention about some of the crime that's been going on in Toronto. And he even sent me the address for the Metro Police Daily Crime Report. What I read was pretty depressing....muggings, swarmings, home invasions and even a few attempted murders. And I'm going back to that. Sure didn't send me off to work in a happy frame of mind.

Then over the day, I thought about the situation some more. Yes, Toronto isn't really the City of Good (if it ever was), but I remember that even during my days living there permanently that there were very much the same types of crimes going on. And I still think that Toronto is a city with one of the lowest crime rates per capita when compared to New York or Los Angeles. Tokyo and Toronto are just two different cities. Tokyo is probably the world city with the lowest crime rate; due to culture, history and multiethnicity, Toronto and just about every other city will never match Tokyo in that department. However, the reports I read are the concentrated summary of a day's crimes involving (however regrettably) a handful of people in a city of 4 million. I will look over my shoulder sensibly at night in a way that I've never really had to do here in my decade-long residence but I've got friends and family looking out for me. As for Paddy, I'll just sleep on it and then I'll send him a polite and sympathetic response telling him what is going to happen on the 19th. If he wants to come, we'll welcome him with open arms; if not, I'll just let him be.

I had my final lessons with the Class Act, SIL and the Company. I got quite a few goodies from the Lady of the House including a bottle of red wine which should come in quite handy for the Beehive Xmas party tomorrow. And I also got some pretty good-sized pickled plums which should keep Dad happy...one of the few times that I'll actually do that. And that wasn't all...the Lady served me lunch again in the form of a very large rice omelette, salad and fruits.

My lesson with SIL was fairly lively. She's gotten into the Korean boom although she's not into any of the major actors. She's actually into a boy band from South Korea...a bit of a revelation considering that she's well into middle age...but hey, anything to remain young at heart.

The Company class was merely OK. The guys slogged through the lesson but basically half of it was nattering in Japanese. I hope the Holidays spruce them up for next year.

After my day was done, I didn't immediately head home but went to Towers to try and complete a request from Egg for some CDs, I was successful in getting two of the three he wanted. I also made a somewhat quixotic attempt to find some Uncle Louis pipe tobacco for The Wild Guy who's been puffing on pipes for the last several years. I tried looking for a tobaccanist in the Hyatt and the Hilton but to no avail. But I'm not really surprised; pipe smoking isn't exactly a big activity here. Most folks are pretty loyal to the usual cigarette.

Got back home in time to see Bill Hemmer at Roppongi Hills. Whaddaya know...he was outside after all. Well, to be honest, I'm kinda glad that I didn't bother heading down. I would've just seen the back of his head. But there was some film footage of him a decade earlier in a hippie head and beard walking throughout the world...revealing considering his current New York preppy style. He strikes me as being the second evolution of John Roberts, heir to the CBS News throne but formerly rock n' roll J.D. Roberts of the New Music. So far, it's been interesting to see him talk about some of his experiences in the Big Sushi so far. He's been focusing on the more traditional parts but I hope he'll also tackle the contemporary aspects as well.

Well, less than 48 hours to go before I take off for home. I'm just gonna enjoy myself at the party tomorrow and then do some final cleaning up.

Sunday December 12, 8:41 p.m.

Coldest day of the year thus far although I think Tuesday may top..or bottom..that. Only reached a grand total of 12 degrees, and it was overcast and slightly damp.

Well, cleaned up everything as best I could except for the bedroom which looks like a closet right now. However, I kept that closed from The Stick's prying eyes and I'll clean that final part up on Tuesday after the party with the Beehive. I picked up The Stick at about 2 and brought her back to my place where we spent 3 hours alternately working on her interview and just chatting. She's an interesting dichotomy...she sometimes come across as this prim n' proper bastion of social conservatism but she often reveals a more rough n' ready tomboyish side to her through her simultaneous talking n' eating and slouching on the sofa.

I have been having a lot of e-mail over the past several hours thanks to those automated replies from the MSN Greeting Card service stating that my e-cards have been picked up by some of the local buddies here, and The Entrepreneur's multiple counterresponses to my own responses. Also, a couple of buddies have been sending me some last-minute requests for stuff. I'll try but I can't promise since I literally don't have time for any more shopping.

Well, I've got my final set of lesson plans for the year done up. All I gotta do now is just whip up some chai powder and that'll be it for me.

Saturday December 11, 9:06 p.m.

Well, I got my pizza delivered by a guy in a Santa suit. He looked rather nonplussed when I reacted to it by asking about it. The kid was pretty lanky so the suit just hung off of him. Talk about paying one's dues.

I got my Giga Meat pizza, a basket of Tater-Tots and a Caesar salad. Since I didn't really have any lunch, I was able to gobble the whole thing down without too much problem. Glad I don't have a bathroom scale, though.

Quite a bit of e-mail traffic including a letter from Egg. I hadn't heard from him for months. He's made a request for a couple of CDs. I'll try and help him out if I can although I don't think I'll have any time to check out the major CD shops in Tokyo before I take off. Then, GC had the strange request for Krispy Kreme donuts. I think that will be in the "Improbable" department.

Will probably hit the hay a bit earlier than usual for a Saturday night considering that I will have to start cleaning stuff early on Sunday. Not that I have all that much to do since I already got the bathroom cleaned up and that tatami vacuumed. Then, I have to pick up The Stick at the station later on in the afternoon. I may ask her about the tax package I got last week. I'm gonna have to pay the bills as well and pick up my contribution for the potluck Xmas party with the Beehive on Tuesday.

Saturday December 11, 1:49 p.m.

Had my final haircut of the year at the usual place. I now look properly presentable for home...aside from the spare tire. And the Chipmunk dropped by for a few minutes to give me the bankbook. I was also able to unload some stuff that I didn't need on her such as the yuzu, the spray-on cheese and one bottle of BBQ sauce. Now, the next delivery should be the air tickets within the next couple of hours.

Got a message from The Salesman just now. He's wondering when we can get together once I get back home. Looks like the social calendar is filling up nicely.

I wonder if I'll have pizza tonight...just one more pie from Dominos before I hit home.

Friday December 10, 9:12 p.m.

Still slightly stuffy but I am getting better. However,the trip for those final presents still took a lot out of me. Sure enough, the delivery guy brought the ticket over just when I was starting to teach The Teacher. However, I'm having the guy bring it over tomorrow when I'm actually home. I may have guests in the form of The Chipmunk and her hubby at the time.

Also, I finally got a response from The Stick whom I had initially contacted as a possible alternate when the juku boss turned me down. She's asked if I could help her out with her upcoming interview at the Tokyo American Club. She asked for help on Sunday, my day to do the big cleanup. Well, I'm certainly not going to cancel that for someone I haven't seen in well over a year as cold as that may sound. I don't have any other day to do it. But I did offer for her to come over my way so that I can help her out here at home. At least, she'll hopefully learn in a much cleaner environment.

"Spirited Away" is showing for the second time within a year on NTV. NTV has always been the go-to station when it comes to showing Hayao Miyazaki films, and always on Friday nights. I'm still not sure, seeing it for the first time in its entirety, that I would have been able to last through the entire thing in a theatre, but in the comfort of home, it's a lot easier to take. It does bear some similarities to "The Wizard of Oz" in terms of the fantastical nature. Hard for anyone to imagine some of the weirdest imagery to ever show in an animated feature.

Well, still gotta clean the dishes and the bathroom before I hit bed. I'm gonna try the vitamin drink treatment again and see if the cold can be totally knocked out before I head out for my haircut.

Friday December 10, 8:26 a.m.

Still feeling a bit of that cold but I'm much better than I was yesterday. Took all 3 sips of that enhanced vitamin drink (that's 136 yen a sip), medicine and then wrapped myself in a couple of layers of blankets with the electric blanket turned on. Sure enough, I started to come out of REM sleep feeling pretty sweaty and my nose was still a bit stuffy. However, the runny nose was almost gone and the stuffiness has subsided a bit. Have the heater on as well and drank down some OJ so I'm starting to come out of it. Hopefully, by midday, I should be almost back to normal. I sure hope so since I'm gonna have to head out for shopping today after my lone lesson with The Teacher.

Happily, the Chipmunk has agreed to keep an eye on the apartment while I'm gone and I will update her bankbook back in Toronto. She'll be popping by tomorrow after my visit for a haircut....which means that I'll be starting that big cleanup when I get back home today. Nothing like a visit to finally kick me into some domestic engineering. Mind you, nothing will get started until that plane ticket gets delivered. The agent told me that it will be arriving sometime this morning. I really hope he means before 10, but with my luck, I doubt it.

Some good news from Canada. It sounds like the NHL may actually reach some sort of deal with the Players Association to end the hockey strike. It'll be great timing if I can get home and watch some good ol' Maple Leaf action.

Thursday December 9, 3:05 p.m.

Well, back here a lot earlier and more empty-handed than I expected. I ended up just chatting with Jazz Buddy which was just as well, since I now have a full-fledged cold. A dose of medicine, a bottle of vitamin drink and tons of tissue couldn't fight this bug so I've had to cancel my lesson with The Carolinan and cancel the latter half of my Xmas shopping. In fact, just got a call from her right now. She sounded somewhat disappointed which doesn't improve my feelings but from previous experience, I would've been even more miserable if I'd gone ahead and tried to teach the lesson tonight. My nose is still dripping like a leaky faucet. I guess the shopping will have to wait til tomorrow at least.

The Chipmunk contacted me to see if I could update her bankbook in Canada. Then, it dawned on me that she lives even closer than my juku boss. The boss had to reject my request of checking on the apartment since she has to take care of her ailing father. If she can do it, I'd be very grateful.

Well, since I'm homebound for the rest of the day, I'll probably hop into the futon and rest up some before dinner. Just hope that I don't have to cancel on The Teacher either.

Wednesday December 8, 10:25 p.m.

I finally got my gym workout in. I was rather relieved that I actually registered the same weight that I did last time...even with that huge ingestion of the ribs at Tony Romas on Sunday. However, after all the stuff I did today, I didn't even lose half a kilo.

After the gym, I went out to KFC for the first time in a while. And I realized why I don't go there much. I paid quite a bit more for their set than I do at McDs or Wendys. Plus, the lunch there probably didn't help the results of my workout since the chicken had enough oil to make OPEC swoon.

Had my final lessons of the year with The Hawaiian and The OL. The former will send me a letter to check over. It's supposed to head for a prospective homestay organization. I kinda told her about the instability in quality control when it came to homestay families since I don't think a lot of governments regulate them. She knew quite well the trials and tribulations of potluck homestay. One family she stayed several years ago gave her just a piece of toast for dinner. Bloody scumbags. Over the years, I've heard my share of wonderful host families and just the opposite via various students and friends.

The OL was almost a half-hour late but I wasn't too miffed since she has earned my trust. And besides, the lesson was quite fun. Looks like her company will be having its 2nd annual etiquette training thanks to the JAL Training Academy.

I had to send my regrets to one of PH's gang who is planning a year-end party. When I saw the cost of going there and thought about the fact that it was going to be one of those huge affairs, I decided to pull out. However, I did get the official invitation from The Quarterback for his wedding in February and I'll be giving him my confirmation. Also, although I did tell PH that I really couldn't help out with her request to transport some stuff for her back to Canada, she was still kinda trying to subtly push the issue with some more goods of her own. Well, I won't be at the party so she'll have to deal with it somehow. I'm gonna be grumbly enough just lugging my own stuff to the airport.

PH did tell me that CNN's Bill Hemmer won't be doing any remote broadcasting from Roppongi Hills from Monday. He'll just be reporting from within the TV-Asahi HQ, so I just relayed the abort order to Arwen. At least, I can save myself the extra time and head home straight after the final class with The Company. That is, if the Prez doesn't decide to invite me out for another dinner. I do hope I can get paid.

The big news tonight is that those ashes of the supposedly late Megumi Yokota, the largest-profile abductee to North Korea 30 almost 30 years ago, turned out to be bogus. You can imagine the rage that seethed out of her parents who have spearheading the effort to get the abductees out of Kimland. The government is now considering economic sanctions although when it comes to North Korea, any sort of belligerent action has to be applied very, very carefully. In related news, Charles Jenkins and the family are now starting their long-awaited life of relative normalcy on Sado Island. All of the members gave some words and I even heard the two daughters speak for the first time in Japanese. To a lot of the people here, this family could be considered to be this country's version of The Incredibles.

Looks like I'm coming down with a cold according to my stuffy nose and slightly phlegmy throat. I was thinking of buying one of those ubiquitious vitamin drinks and imbibing it before bedtime and see if those rumours pan out but couldn't find one so I'll just use the regular medicine and hope for the best. I've got Jazz Buddy and The Carolinan tomorrow. Not sure if the session with JB will be another chatfest but I'll have something ready.

Tuesday December 7, 10:42 p.m.

Visited the neighbourhood massage clinic for the first time in 3 weeks. As usual, the tech mentioned how petrified my shoulders felt although I'm not sure if that's what the staff is supposed to say to a customer. Still, I enjoyed the rubdown although those who are more accustomed to the Swedish style may find the Japanese version akin to torture.

Ended up rearranging my CDs instead of heading out to the gym so I will definitely have to head out tomorrow morning before I have The Hawaiian and the OL for their final classes of the year. The juku classes were OK although I wonder if I committed a social faux pas in front of the Beauty Pair. They had come back from their trek to Cancun and Vegas with a souvenir in the form of a box of Kahlua chocolates. I actually offered to share the box with the ladies since I'd thought that they would enjoy trying them out. I'm not sure but I may have at least surprised them by my "offer"; I remembered too late that souvenirs here are usually meant for the recipient and the recipient only since it is a gift. Their initial reaction was a bit of hesitance but they accepted the offer. On the other hand, Japanese etiquette has been loosening up over the past few years and gift-giving hasn't had quite the gravitas that it had, so it could be another case of paranoia.

I got the fax from my ticket agent so I quickly sent the money over. So hopefully that ticket will be here within the next few days.

Tuesday December 7, 9:11 a.m.

Well, it's 63 years since Pearl Harbour. Not that the anniversary will get much press here. Maybe the right-wing fanatics will celebrate, though. Speaking of those nuts, I wonder how they're feeling about this current love affair with all things Korean. Some of them have got to be steaming.

My day got off to an annoying start. Was doing my laundry when the entire box of detergent fell over. However, I didn't pull a tantrum; I just pulled out the ol' vacuum and sucked the fine powder up and back into the box. However, let's say that there are a few extra strands of hair. Perhaps, it wouldn't pass muster if it were food but since detergent is clean anyways...

PH contacted me to see if I'd be willing to serve as courier for some toys. I first thought NO WAY, but the pesky spirit of Xmas infected me so I told her that I would with a caveat...if the toys are just a couple of figures.

Monday December 6, 8:49 p.m.

My day turned out to be shorter than expected when one of the students at the Company called up this morning to inform me that class had to be cancelled. Apparently, both guys were out on assignments.

And even The Class Act was halved. The woman of the house was out on some sort of errand so I just taught...or chatted, to be more accurate...her partner. Gabbed a lot on the ups and downs of her family. SIL did show up, though.

I was able to develop those photos from the Xmas party and the outing to Namjatown. Some winners in there. I was tempted to get the Shrek 2 and Spidey 2 DVDs but I figured there was a small chance that I might get either or both of them as Xmas presents so I held off. Besides why increase my expenditures unnecessarily? Even if I don't get them for Xmas, I'll grab them once I get back from Canada.

Speaking of...I got the call from the travel agent and everything is pretty much confirmed. I just have to wire the money this week and then the ticket will be in my hands soon after. Also, I made my bimonthly appointment at the hair salon for Saturday. Want to get that out of the way.

Tomorrow will be only the juku classes so I've basically got the whole day free. I had been thinking about finally catching Sky Captain but the movie won't be playing at the neighbourhood theatre until late Tuesday. Plus, when I checked exit polls for the movie at the TokyoWalker site, it didn't look too good. So I think I'll probably wait for the flick to come out on DVD. Well, in any case, I've gotta send out The Iconoclast's package, then get a long-awaited rubdown and perhaps even get some shopping done before one of my last workouts before I take off.

Sunday December 5, 10:21 p.m.

A little more than 12 hours after the last party fest, I was out to meet another bunch. The morning, though, had quite a bit of Sturm und Drang in the weather department. A lot of wind and rain were blowing through my area...I wondered if my laundry pole was gong to fly off at one point. And the early morning subways were canned for a while. However, by the time I left the apartment, it was downright warm at 24 C...kinda Indian summer for a day.

Met up with Skippy, Movie Buddy, The Hawaiian and Frodo at the east gate of JR Shinjuku and bought our tickets at the discount shop before having a bit of lunch at an Italian place just a few dozen metres away from the theatre. Actually, we needn't have worried about any lineups for The Incredibles. Looks like everyone else and his brother were lining up for Howl's Moving Castle, the latest Miyazaki opus. Good for us...I never really could get myself to actually pay up the money for one of his movies; just a bit too esoteric for me.

The Incredibles was simply incredible. It was an amazing marriage of CG and superhero action, and somehow they were able to incorporate likeable characters and humour. Critics on the other side of the Pacific noted that the first hour was the slightly laggy one, while one wag over here thought that the second hour was the one to let down the side with the so-called mindless action (the guy probably just LOVES Ingmar Bergman). For me, it was all good. I never thought I'd start a sentence with "Craig T. Nelson IS..." but he is indeed Bob Parr. I think it will be inevitable that a sequel will be coming around.

I underestimated the length of the movie by about half an hour which actually turned out to be fortunate since I'd been a bit concerned that I made the reservations for Tony Romas a bit too late after the movie. The subway and the walk to the restaurant got us in there right on time. DTE was already there waiting for us. And Arwen, and later Miss 88 with her new beau, and even another old alumnus joined us. I once again showed off my new nickname of Mr. Incredible by devouring the LARGE rack of baby backs along with a salad, Irish Coffee and some good spoonfuls of the brownie. I should be gaining weight even before heading home. Found out that Skippy is the second alumnus to make into the media although unlike our French nudie model, she kept her clothes on. Apparently, she was able to get her pic into an advert for our school. Also, Arwen has got herself a couple of part-time jobs. I told her about that Bill Hemmer, that CNN guy, is coming here next week for that weeklong stint at Roppongi Hills. I've decided to ask PH to see if she could find out from her TV Asahi friend, whose company is a CNN affiliate, if Bill would be broadcasting outside. Apparently, Arwen has a certain amount of like for the man and I'm just interested in the celeb factor of catching him at work, so perhaps the two of us may traipse down to the Hills after work on the 13th.

Still gotta prep for tomorrow's lessons. Would rather hit the sack right now but considering how much I've eaten, I probably shouldn't do so for a couple of hours.

Saturday December 4, 11:42 p.m.

Well, as expected, it was a long day with the kids at school. I was in full Santa gear and my co-hosts were in their reindeer hats as the annual Xmas party got into full gear. There was a smaller turnout this year than in previous parties since this year's crop is smaller to begin with and also since a number of the students just couldn't make it. However, what was lacking in the turnout department was compensated by the enthusiasm from the kids in terms of the games which were wild and woolly. The reindeer thought up of a game of stacking cans within 45 seconds which brought the animal from everyone especially from the Dollface.

Afterwards, it was about an hour just hanging in the school lounge before we headed out for our second party at the nearby izakaya for a few hours. All went pretty well except for a few minutes at the end when Bruno, one of our teachers, got a bit too antsy from too much drink and scared a few of our students. Luckily, somehow, the kids managed to ditch him and we ended up going to another drinking joing just down the street for another couple of hours. By that time, I was pretty exhausted but I still managed to keep a good face on things. The talk was initially on how surprisingly boorish Bruno acted near the end but things calmed down. In the States, his behaviour probably wouldn't have gotten a second glance and if he were Japanese, the same would have been true here but unfortunately since he is not Japanese and he usually doesn't act that way in class, he stood out like a sore thumb. He's a pretty nice guy so I'm hoping that all will be forgotten by the New Year.

Things finally broke up around 10:30, some 10.5 hours after things got started so I'm rather glad to get home. I just cannot do those long nights out that I used to do back home a decade or so ago anymore. Mind you, I have another long day tomorrow with the previous year's group to catch The Incredibles and then Tony Romas. I hope the weather clears up by the time I get to Shinjuku since it's raining steadily now.

There was talk about having a drinking party at one of the teacher's houses, and my place was brought up. I warned that my little hut was pretty cramped and messy, but in truth, I wouldn't mind having some visitors over again. But it'll probably have to wait until the kids graduate since I really can't invite the whole kit and kaboodle; just the ones who remain in contact.

Friday December 3, 8:54 p.m.

Another exhausting day today. I figure that I'm unconsciously so diligent about keeping a good rapport with the customers that I just expend a ton of energy. Well, at least it's nice to know that I'm losing calories even without going to the gym.

My lesson with The Teacher was another laugh-filled one. I got a bit of a surprise when one of the people at the adjoining table called my name. It just happened to be another one of the former students from the school. She dropped out halfway through. However, she's kept in good contact with The Songbird and even asked for my particulars.

Tried to look for some more Xmas presents but nada. So I ended up dropping in at the school where the kids were having their last official day before breaking up for the Holidays. Actually, several of them will be having semi-private lessons over the next couple of weeks. I sent off a message over to the Scheduler to see if I could get in on some of the action, but sure enough, I haven't heard a thing.

SR and I had another long chat at the Tea Room. Looks like she's having the usual gripes at work about her neer-do-well supervisor. It'll be the last time I see her this year since she'll be too busy with the accounts next week.

Got back home and had my dinner. Checked out the current crisis about that Morning Musume who strayed from the straight and narrow. Seems like things are starting to subside as the reality of her new persona non grata status is developing. On the main music show tonight, the group appeared, happy as usual, without the young lady in question. Nobody batted an eye, nobody whispered a word...WA was maintained and so shall it be.

SPIDERMAN is making its TV premiere right now on NTV, ostensibly to commemorate the release of its sequel on DVD today. I may be picking up the 2-pack back home.

Well, tomorrow will be the big Xmas party. My Santa suit is ready to go, but I do have to wash the beard tonight. Could be another long day.

Thursday December 2, 10:06 p.m.

Had that lesson with Jazz Buddy this morning. Instead of our usual Starbucks, she took me to Haiti, a cafe a few hundred metres down the road which also boasts some spicy curry fare. She was yawning a lot thanks to her typical lack of sleep but she did get rather animated again when talking about her sister from Hell. Looks like next week's chatfest will also be "on the road" as well. A bit more quieter, though. We'll just be moving over to the local Tullys for cocoa.

Then I headed back to the school and waited an hour before we launched the 2nd annual trip to Namjatown for the food tour. There were about 7 of us and we first hit the Gyoza Stadium where we picked different restaurants to amass a bunch of gyoza to compare and eat. Once that was done, we went upstairs to the Roll Cake Exhibition. We found some interesting stands over there including one that was hawking a new confection "invented" by current flavour-of-the-year celeb Aya Ueto, a standing roll cake surrounded by sliced strawberries and topped off by a cream-filled shell. Not bad, if I may say so myself. I also decided to get another piece of roll cake in the form of a fruity one. While we were all noshing away, one of our number, The Dollface, started gabbing about one of her classmates who wasn't with us. Our absent member usually comes off as a rather quiet sort but in reality she seems to have quite an active sex life according to what she's blurted out in class. The Dollface was more than happy to relay some of that news to me.

Finally, our last stop was Ice Cream City. The Blue Seal stand was no longer there so we couldn't try the bucket, but we all sampled a lot of other stands. So after 4 hours, we were pretty much done. Now, it's just the big Xmas party that's next up. It'll be nice to have a day to recuperate.

Got home and made the reservations at Tony Romas. Then I did my usual lurking at the J-Pop forum. One facet certainly exploded into a ton of chatter over the past 24 hours. Apparently, one of the founding members of the girl group, Morning Musume, was discovered to have plagiarized some material for her book of poetry. And as a result, she's been officially suspended and ostracized from all activity for at least the next couple of months. It certainly didn't help that she was one of the most popular of the girls. The folks from all over the planet were just nattering away at this major crisis. My take on it is that, yep, the girl screwed up..but she's only in her early twenties and she'll recover easily enough. She's apologized and now she's taking the rap.

Well, it's been a long day and I've got two lessons tomorrow so it's time to pack it in.

Wednesday December 1, 10:04 p.m.

Started the day off with that long trip to the tax office. Gave my new roachkillers a test run. Sure enough, they initially fit quite well but then the blister spots started happening. I think I should have them broken in by the weekend.

Well, what can I say about the visit to the tax office? I'm glad that I got it out of the way. The Ichikawa City Tax Office is located in a non-descript neighbourhood. The square building kinda sticks out like a shiny block in an area of old stores and bars. As I said, I'm glad I got the visit out of the way; that's really all I could say. I got this half-hour spiel by an obviously dedicated officer of the government who plied me with a lot of paperwork. I could only understand 20% of what he said but that was enough for me to get the gist of it. I will try and get further clarification from my students or friends. The overall message is that I probably will have a lot of paperwork to do that will make the usual tax filings in Canada look like a cakewalk. No wonder entrepreneurship is so low in this country. A person would rather stay a cog in a huge company and have its accounting division take care of the gory details than take care of it himself.

I didn't have a whole heck of a lot of time before my lesson with The Aunt so I just went over to the station closest to the teaching site and ended up having another Mac lunch. One thing about eating at McDs. I can have the Big Mac set and within a few seconds of wolfing it down, I can still walk away and go off without getting any sort of tummyache. Not sure if that's necessarily a good thing but when one's in a hurry...

Not sure either if the lesson with the Aunt will continue on after today. Oh, it went better with the structure but she's off on her New Zealand trip next week and so I won't see her again for the remainder of the year. Basically, she was just looking for travel English. However, I still appreciate the referral by The Hawaiian. She was her usual reliable self.

I headed back down to Toranomon for The OL's regular lesson. I was a bit surprised when she gave me a block of kamaboko, or fish cake. She'd gone to a nice hot spring trip over the weekend with 8 of her buddies and it was a souvenir. Looks like that outing to the Chinese place will be postponed til the New Year since Betty Boop won't be available this month.

Got home and I shouldn't have done it but I still got a bit of dinner despite the fact I'd had a sandwich at Starbucks. Some cravings you just can't escape. When I turned on the telly, I found the first of the video signs that the year is nigh. The annual Fuji TV song festival celebrating this year's hits was on live from the Takanawa Prince Hotel. One surprise was seeing Beyonce of Destiny's Child in the dining hall. I can only wonder what she must think of some of the acts. Activate plastic smile. Also, there was quite the heavy Korean influence reflecting how big the Korean boom has been here over the past several months. It's almost as if the Korean singers are part of the regular Japanese talent crop. And the annual Red N' White show will have a few Korean singers on as well. This couldn't have been imagined a few years ago.

I also got a surprise call from Skippy since it was her first one. She was her usual dandy self. Her trip to Paris was very Amelie-like; she even visited Montmartre where the movie had been filmed. She also experience that bugbear of travel...she got pickpocketed on the subway. She put on her sad voice then but quickly rebounded back to happy-go-lucky once more. You could probably run her down with a car, she'll still have the smile on her face. Well, I still like her regardless.

Only have the Jazz Buddy tomorrow morning. We're supposed to head over to a different venue for a change of pace although I'm not sure if that will improve her English any. Then, I start that field trip with the schoolkids to Namjatown. Should make for an interesting report tomorrow night.

That last mass mailing to the gang finally brought out Chip Guy after several months of non-communication. And then the plans for us to head out to my favourite Tex-Mex place back home got him hooked.

Wednesday December 1, 8:48 a.m.

Looks like my occasional missive to the folks here and abroad. Got a few more replies to it than usual when I told everyone about the fact that one of my old students became a centrefold, so to speak. I rather noticed that the women didn't respond, though, heheheheh.

Had my first workout at the gym in well over a week. Not too bad but I did gain a kilo initially. I'm just wondering what the Holidays will mean for me in terms of dieting. What am I saying? Dieting is a four-letter word during Xmas.

And it seems that I've finally things locked down for the group gathering on the 5th for The Incredibles. Now, it's just waiting for everyone to confirm.

Well, I gotta start my day by heading out to the tax office out in the mos inconvenient of places (have to travel to Moto-Yawata Station and then walk 15 minutes to the office) to pick up my personal income tax form. I had put it off twice but I cannot really do it anymore. Then I've got The Aunt and The Hawaiian and the OL.

I see that George Bush is getting a very frosty welcome in The Great White North. Nice to see and hear.

Monday November 29, 10:27 p.m.

Quite a butt-kicking start to my day this morning. I went to the convenience store near my place to do some copying for my lesson when I picked up one of the usual tabloids to wile away the time as the copier was doing its thing. I came across the usual nudies pages when I saw one young lady who seemed rather familiar as she was posing in various pretzel-like posees with very little or no clothing on. Then I came across the name,and my eyes almost fell out! The very bare lass happened to be one of our old students from the school from a number of years ago.

I always had a feeling that something like this would happen but it was more in the way of some student hitting the big time on stage or on TV or on the CD shelves. And actually, one of our former staff members actually did release an album not too long ago, but I digress. Our former student was one of our more vivacious types during her year with us. Half-French, half-Japanese...she was turned out like an Asian Brigitte Bardot. She certainly had a very strong side to her but she was a good student even though her rather raunchy taste in clothing made her look like a BAD student, if you know what I mean. Well, since her days with us, she's managed to pop on the TV a number of times as a model and even had a stint on an NHK program for a while. Well, from that program to this centerfold stint was a pretty drastic change in direction. This is news that I should let the DJ know since he's the only other teacher left who may have known her.

The rest of my day was rather mundane in comparison. I had my lessons and I continued my Xmas shopping between classes. Even my Company class went pretty well today. I did have that dinner at the sushi place tonight but found out that my coupon was only for a couple and I had to spend at least 3000 yen. Well, at least I didn't have to pay too much.

Got my second bereavement notice in as many weeks. The first one came from my uncle who informed me that his mother-in-law had passed away this year. So according to Japanese tradition, I am not to send any New Year's card to his family. And then, the second one was from the husband of that former student of mine who so suddenly passed on recently. I'm starting to feel that I should send some sort of letter to him to let him know how wonderful his wife was.

In any case, I still have a number of things to do before I hit the hay.

Monday November 29, 8:07 a.m.

Well, my night last night was spent making my 7th Xmas compilation tape in the last 14 years. At least you can't say it's a run-of-the-mill hobby. I always combine some of the usual regulars like Bing, Tony and Frank with a lot of the J-Pop singers. Yes, believe it or not, I think every J-Pop singer no matter their length of time in the limelight has put out at least one Xmas song. They can be covers of the traditionals such as "Chestnuts Roasting Over An Open Fire" or "White Christmas"; but a lot of the stuff are original compositions with that heavy hint of Kringle. Of course, being heavily non-Christian over here, the originals are more on the Santa side of things than on the Jesus side.

It's kinds weird how the J-Pop industry has been embracing Xmas all these years. As I said, it takes on the Santa and fun aspect of things since the Yuletide is taken on more like New Years in America, namely it's one of the biggest party nights of the year. The basic themes of the Xmas songs are almost enka-like. They usually deal with having tons of fun or about a couple which has either gotten together or broken up on the 24th. The most famous J-Pop Xmas song, or the equivalent of "White Christmas", is Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve". It was made all the way back in 1982 but it would be another several years before it became a huge hit when the song was used as the jingle (no pun intended) for Japan Railways. And then for another several years, it would be the de rigeur song every December. I think the song has kinda faded somewhat since the newer generation is embracing more recent Xmas pop fare from the latest musicians. I took a look through a thread on the JPop forum...the one dealing with winter songs...virtually all of the songs the kids mentioned are within the last few years. No mention at all of ol' Tatsuro.

Well, I got word from GC that he got back from his vacation. Looks like he took Northwest according to his connecting hub and the fact that his plane was grounded for repairs. He's ready to housesit for me. And the juku boss was kind enough to volunteer to look in on the place periodically.

Off to work I go in another hour or so. It'll be a slog for the first half of the week but the latter half should be fun with a couple of those get-togethers.

Sunday November 28, 7:27 p.m.

My Xmas shopping officially began today. I was armed with my gift certificates and headed down to the Ginza. After searching around the various department stores, I could find the calendars down in the B2 of Matsuzakaya. Still, I blew some more money on CDs today at the nearby Yamano Music. Ginza certainly looked to be in the Xmas spirit. A lot of decorations have been put up and the stores were doing volume business.

After my brief but intense outing, I came back home and ended up eating at the Chinese family restaurant, Bamiyan. I was going to go to the kaiten armed with my 10% off coupon but seeing that there was absolutely no one inside, I decided to hold off and went across the street instead. I hadn't been to Bamiyan in a very long time although the place has been up for several years. The big reason was that my ex, being a nutritionist, had a major disdain for anything that smelled of family restaurant. Not having had any lunch, I managed to engorge myself on their fare and even top it all off with a Haagen-Daas Apple Pie Ice Cream. I did forget to buy a new pair of shoes, though. My only other window of opportunity will be on Tuesday between my lesson in Tsudanuma and the gym.

Saturday November 27, 9:00 p.m.

Ended up having my final class with the sisters this morning. Next week, I've got the school Xmas party and the mother had to can the 11th as the final day due to the end-of-year PTA meeting. I was lucky to get a goodly number of gift certificates at any of the old department stores so that could bring down my Xmas shopping expenses by quite a bit...as long as calendars are sold there.

Since I had to hang around in the area before my second lesson with the Aunt, I just did lunch at McDonalds. I could've done it at the family restaurant where I would teach her but I think that would've been a bit too much in the guilt category for me. 90 minutes later, she showed up at the cafe. The lesson was OK but seemed a bit haphazard due to her relentless questions and the fact that I didn't really have anything in terms of structured materials aside from a couple of photocopies of menus. We were focusing on ordering in English.

Was feeling understandably tired so I was sleeping a bit on the subway. And by the time I picked up the groceries for dinner, the last of the sun slipped behind the horizon. One thing about this country; we don't need to slip back an hour to lose sunlight early.

Actually was able to clean up the living room lickety-split so it looks almost passable. Should be pretty messy by Monday, though. I saw on the news that Charles Jenkins got out of his little vacation in the stockade. Now, 40 years of desertion have been swept aside so that he can live the rest of his life with his family on Sado Island.He said that he would like to visit America just one more time, but I kinda wonder what his reception would be like over there knowing how much the military is woven into life in the States. I'd think he would be lustily booed at the very least...and I'm sure a lot of the veterans are slapping themselves upside the head at the very light slap on the wrist Jenkins got. However, on this side of the Pacific, he is being welcomed with open arms. A lot of it is due to his wife, Hitomi Soga, one of the former North Korean abductees; another part is the unpopularity of the US military in places like Okinawa.

Well, "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" slipped in here under the radar behind the more heavily hyped "The Polar Express". Gwyneth and Jude did come over this past week to do their duty and promote the flick but I'm not quite sure how their latest movie together will play here. I may have to catch it soon if I don't want to miss it. Tomorrow will be my only opportunity to catch it for the next several days. However, I also have my Xmas shopping to launch. I was thinking of just keeping it close to home but I think I'll probably head out to Ginza and see what I can come up with with those gift certificates. I will definitely take my time getting up tomorrow.

Friday November 26, 10:00 p.m.

Aghhh...after the help that Paddy had given me, my computer has gone on the fritz again. I feel like I'm back to my ol' dial-up days.

It was nice getting back to teaching the kids again. Good to get into the banter. Looks like there will be a good number for both the field trip next Thursday and the Xmas party next Saturday.

I met The Bohemian in Suidobashi today. We ended up going to EN in Shibuya since we couldn't really find a decent place in the neighbourhood. We got there early enough so we could get a couple of hours drinking and eating, but by the end, the waiter was getting a bit antsy for us to go. I was happy to hear that The B may finally be getting a romantic interest.

Well, back to prepping for tomorrow's lessons.

Friday November 26, 8:25 a.m.

The heartthrob of Japanese hausfraus everywhere, Paik Yon Joon, touched down at Narita yesterday to the screams of 3500. The media said that it was a new record for a welcoming committee (if you can call a whole bunch of middle-aged women going crazy in front of you a welcoming committee) at the airport, but I'd heard that Joon's last arrival attracted 5000! Or was that just a bit of advertising hyperbole? I can only guess that this year will be known as the Year of Korea in Japan.

Thursday November 25, 10:52 p.m.

Well, a month to go before Christmas, and the lights and trees are up. The Xmas CDs are selling and next week, the end-of-year party season is upon us.

Jazz Buddy had a lot to say today which was good. I found out that she had already been to the New York Grill with her Mom so that pretty much takes out the surprise element of going there. Ah, well. However, I did promise to lend her my DVDs of Chicago and Airplane; one for the ragtime jazz and the other for the wild and comedic aspects.

After her lesson, I walked over to the neighbourhood branch of Maharajah for lunch. As I was tucking into my Tandoori Grill Special, the manager of the restaurant seemed to have been venting in his own language at some folks...couldn't tell if they were just friends or business associates. In any case, it didn't get so heated to ruin my dining pleasure...and yes it was pleasurable.

Then I crossed the bridge where I plopped down my money at Kinokuniya and bought that second book of Peanuts. Still don't regret it. Next, I took the Oedo all the way to Shiodome and spent about a couple of hours on that scavenger hunt for Shard and my brother. Couldn't see hide nor hair of that peach wine my sister-in-law likes, and that Namiki pen at Ito-Ya costs about the same as your usual fairly nice suit.

I didn't go entirely empty-handed, though. I did buy an enka tape for Dad and even splurged to get the latest new J-Pop Xmas song hit by the comedy duo Downtown called "Chicken Rice". Yah, the title does evoke all that is festive, doesn't it? Well, the song sounds nice and Christmas-y; it was written by popmeister Noriyuki Makihara.

I then hopped the train over one stop to Daimon where I searched for that Chinese dumpling restaurant that the Class Act had recommended. It took a few minutes but I found it. Yes, it is small but we can get in there. However, Betty Boop replied to say that she's on overtime all the way deep into December so she's out of the equation. I just wonder if that means The OL is out as well. Well, I'll still go by myself.

I made my final stop at the Tea Room where I had my usual dinner of tuna fish sandwiches and fruit punch before The Carolinan came in. That Carolinan certainly has an interesting angle to her. She not only remarked that I'd gained weight the last time we met, but she gives me a Xmas ornament and a can of spray-on cheese as souvenirs from Hawaii. Go figure. I've gotta find some cheap crackers to match it. Well, the good intentions were there. Her time there was only half-fun. Apparently, she has a pretty weak stomach when it comes to cars and boats.

Well, tomorrow is that trip to the Tax Office to pick up my income tax form and then it's off to the school for the final class of 2004. Finally, I meet up with The Bohemian for dinner. Still, I've got things to finish off before I hit the hay tonight. I'll probably have to at least look at Saturday's classes since I may be with The Bohemian for a while on Friday.

Thursday November 25, 7:38 a.m.

A bit of activity over the electronic ether since my last entry. First off, The Bohemian gave me a rare contact over the Messenger. Apparently, he's back in town to check a job placement centre in Suidobashi on Friday so he asked if I were free for dinner. Well, I had planned on for my sole outing to the gym for the week. Looks like it'll be a gymless week then. Friends or the gym? The decision was easy.

Plus, this morning, I got word from The Tomboy that she did get my message. Good, now I can find about numbers for this Namjatown trip tomorrow.

I'm currently listening to this Lambert, Hendricks & Ross CD that I got a few days ago at Tower. L, H & R were this jazz group that perfected the art of vocalese almost half a century ago. I've read about them and I have their charmingly warped take on "Deck The Halls". Some wags have taken down groups like The Manhattan Transfer down a few pegs by comparing them to the majesty of this group. L, H & R are certainly virtuosos in their craft, I'll have to admit, but a few of the tracks do sound as if the wordsmiths were pretty desperate in setting the lyrics to music and not that successful. But then again, that's not the real point of vocalese anyways. It's really to marvel how accurately the the trio can match, note by note, the dulcet tones of jazz instruments.

Wednesday November 24, 10:09 p.m.

As I had predicted in my last entry, I'm pretty exhausted. However, the day of four lessons went pretty well. And there were some nice culinary dividends.

Between the Class Act and SIL, the lady of the house was very generous to offer me lunch since I only had an hour between lessons. So she whipped up some yakisoba with a rice ball and some fresh fruits. I got this after the snacks we usually get during the lesson. Plus, the lady gave me a canister of Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Covered Potato Chips. Not as gross as I'd thought. Actually, the chocolate is so overwhelming that I can barely feel the crispiness of the potato chip buried inside. Should make for good show n' tell at the school on Friday.

Mind you, on the way to the Class Act's lesson, I thought I was headed for a rather lousy day. At one of the stations, a young woman collapsed on the platform which delayed things for the subway so I had to transfer to the Oedo Line which meant that I was 5 minutes late for the lesson. Of course, the ladies took it all in stride.

After SIL, I rushed up to see The Hawaiian. I asked her to guess about the canister. She pegged it right away as the chocolate-covered chips since she had been wondering whether to get that exact product or the chocolate-covered macadamia nuts in Hawaii. She chose the latter.

I rushed down to get to the Starbucks for my usual lesson with The OL. Since I was a few minutes late, The OL was actually already there; the first time that she has actually preceded me in our 18 months together. It certainly looks like the staffs at the various cafes where I teach have considered me a regular. They now greet me as an equal and ask me if I'll be having the usual. Ahhh...nice to be appreciated.

During OL's lesson, she told me that she'd spoken with Betty Boop and found out about my offer of taking them for Chinese dumplings at the place that The Class Act had recommended a few weeks ago. At first, I thought it was going to fall through since the weekends from now til my departure are all booked up for the OL. However, I offered to make our last lesson the visit to the Daimon restaurant. She looked much more hopeful then so now I'm hoping that it'll be OK with BB.

So, back home, I found a rare fax sent to me. It was from The Tomboy, the current student at the school who'll be helping me with this trip to Namjatown next Thursday as well as with the Xmas party on the 4th. It looks like there was a glitch in my response to her; it never got to her so she sent her questions again by fax paper this time. I sent another response to her other, hopefully more stable, address with a CC to the Coordinator. Let us hope that she gets it this time.

Also, it looks like I may be on a scavenger hunt for both my brother and Shard. My brother wants me to check out for this special bottle of Peach Wine that his wife had tasted at the Ginza Tobu Hotel some years ago. Plus, Shard was asking about these pens made by a company called Namiki. On a more disturbing note, it's possible that my package to Bro that I'd sent a few weeks earlier may be MIA. SIGH. My only hope is that the post office guy had stated that it would get there somewhat later than usual.3 weeks is starting to press things.

My brother also informed me that a friend of the family had passed away recently. I'd known him since I was a baby and the last time I'd seen him was at my brother's wedding a few years ago. He had kids which we knew back then. It does bring home the fact that our parents are entering that final stage.

Well, being the end of the year, NHK has just announced the lineup for the big Red & White Song Festival. They've got quite a few young acts up although I think the show is really only seen by the older generation or some very lonely, lonely folks. I'll have to check out the J-Pop website to see the reaction. All these guys from all over the world didn't seem too impressed by last year's show.

Tomorrow shouldn't be as hectic as today. I've got Jazz Buddy; I've gotta tell her about my recon to the Park Hyatt on Monday. And then I have the Carolinan. I think we may be gabbing a bit on her trip to Hawaii last week. In between lessons, I may give an advance trip to Namjatown just to make sure everything is OK on that end.

I got word from Skippy after her trip to Paris. She had a great time as expected. And she's also looking forward to the 5th.

Wednesday November 24, 7:45 a.m.

Well, one month to Xmas Eve. Hopefully by this time next month, I'll be back in Canada getting as stuffed as the turkey that will be popping out the next day. Unless there's some sudden notice from them, I don't think there'll be any special guests for Xmas day from among the students this year. Not that my Dad would feel disappointed...the last guy I had over didn't impress him at all. He was a bit of a doofus.

Yesterday being Labour Thanksgiving, I had the entire day off to luxuriate in late sleeping and then going through the whole 6 hours of ENTERPRISE that The Entrepreneur was so kind in taping for me. It's a testament to the improvement of the series that I riffed through the entire tape in a day. Not sure if it's too little, too late although I heard that the Brent Spiner appearances have already spiked the ratings for the show.

Heard from The Iconoclast for the first time in a while. Looks like I may have to send official word pretty soon about my return since he and The Anime King have both asked about it. I just hope that that Osakan travel agent that PH recommended did make the booking.

The police are still on the manhunt for a psycho who murdered a little girl in Nara last week. There didn't even seem to be any attempt at any sexual abuse; he apparently killed her as soon as he kidnapped her from her neighbourhood. What's worse is that he taunted the parents by sending over a picture of her dead body and the message "I've got your daughter!" over her own cellphone. KILL THE BASTARD, I say.

Well, in contrast to yesterday's rest-easy kind of day, I've got a pretty full slate of work today. I've got the Class Act, SIL, The Hawaiian and The OL. I'll be one exhausted teacher again by tonight.

Monday November 22, 10:36 p.m.

Well, I did it. I went off to that Creambath Ebisu place that SR recommended me. It's actually not too far from PH's apartment. I wonder if she knows about it.

I was planning on going there later in the afternoon but my gym trip was suddenly curtailed when I saw a rather large metal curtain where a gym was supposed to be. Then I realized that the gym is usually closed on the 3rd Monday. Bad timing. With tomorrow a national holiday and then Wed. and Thurs. being busy with classes, I now only have Friday as the week's physical workout day. Ah well. In any case, I decided to head down to Ebisu a bit ahead of schedule.

Perhaps a bit too early. Even though the pamphlet said that the Balinese spa was open at 11 and despite the fact that I arrived there at 11:30, I only saw a closed door and some bemused staff people walking in. The manager, with a veneer of politeness, asked me if I had an appointment. When I replied in the negative, she then asked me for my name and then told me to come back at 12. Well, I felt a bit snubbed so I trudged off to the local Wendys for an early lunch before returning.

And as I did so, I was accosted by a world of bamboo, exotic music, heavy incense and pretty Japanese women in Balinese outfits and sandals. And here I was standing in my usual "Will-Teach-For-Food" outfit. I'm pretty sure that a couple of the female staff must've thought that it was INDEED a Monday when they saw me. However, the one who ended up massaging me kindly showed me the course description although I knew what I wanted thanks to SR's description. It cost me 6,825 yen up front for the Quick Course and a 10-minute arm/hand/neck massage option. Boy, I hope this is good, I thought.

The young lady escorted me to a bamboo room and asked me to strip to my voluminous waist (no, the workouts haven't quite licked that yet) and put on a short terrycloth robe. Once I did so, I was once again escorted to the sink area and my treatment began. She started washing my hair like I was at my bimonthly haircut. However, when she engaged in a 10-minute scalp rubdown session, I turned into butter and her hands were the flame. Oooooh, yeah! For a lady who looked like she wasn't even of drinking age, she had hands which could coax blood from a stone.

Step Two was even better. I was taken back to my room where she seated me and then threw on a whole goop of white aloe vera lotion all over my head. I felt like I was a victim of a drive-by yogurting. The stuff was darn cold, too, at first, but once she got kneading, I was hers once again, and it lasted 20 whole minutes.

Step Three was relatively quiet as my wrapped head got a steam treatment for 10 minutes. Then, my masseuse returned to work on my arms, hands, shoulders and neck with some sort of coconut cream. I was feeling no pain, and I was starting to smell pretty good. That was an especially great sensation considering the olfactory pain I went through yesterday.

The penultimate step was the rinsing off of the aloe vera from my hair and then I was blown dry and moussed. Yes, a bit pricey but every yen was worth it. Still, I won't be able to make regular visits but I figure that a New Year's drop-in wouldn't hurt.

My first experience there made me forget the initial awkwardness with the manager whom I didn't see during the treatment. I headed up to Shinjuku to check out Kinokuniya which I haven't been to in a while. As I went along the street, I was fairly astounded to see all that construction for over a year resulted in just a parking lot being built.

Usually I don't buy much at Kinokuniya since their books are pretty expensive when compared to the stuff at Towers or HMV. However, it is the only place that I can buy a Dell's Crossword Puzzle Book, my book of choice. Also, I saw that second annal of Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strips, something that I've been wanting to get for a long time. However, I held off since there is no point card system, and I know that Tower has one and it has also carried the Peanuts series. Unfortunately, my gamble didn't promise the desired results so there was still just the first volume. But I did buy another jazz CD in the form of a Lambert, Hendricks & Ross album. Apparently, critics have said the Manhattan Transfer have never held a candle to these guys in the art of vocalese. Well, since I'm still an MH fan, I can only look forward to even better results from L, H and R.

Instead of my usual break in the Shinjuku Plaza, I decided to walk over to the Park Hyatt. I was just getting a bit too cold just sitting there and I knew that I had to do a bit of recon if that plan for JB and I to have our final lesson of the year there is to come off. On the way, I saw some nitwit foreigner riding her bike yelling "Baka, Baka" at some crows. Maybe she got splatted on by them in her past.
When I did get to the Park Hyatt, I took a look inside on the 1st floor to find The Delicatessan. It appeared quite fancy from the outside, and quite small on the inside. I was informed from the website that it only had 16 seats. Hmmm...will have to do some thinking about that. Perhaps, JB will just nix the whole idea.

Today's sole lesson with the Company folks was a bit of a slog. I mean I was just teaching "will", and they reacted as if I had suddenly thrown them The Future Perfect. I also found out that that lady who has been quietly working at the table in the outside room for the past few weeks is the wife of one of the students.

Well, tomorrow is a national holiday, so I decided to have dinner at the Dennys near the Company. There was a Chinese family sitting next to me, and then towards the end of dinner, a French pair came by. I gather that with the hotels across the street, Dennys must be a safe haven for the tourists.

I got home and polished off the last of the chocolate macadamias that The Hawaiian had gotten me. I also checked my e-mail. Got into another long talk with Shard and replied to The Hawaiian and Arwen. At this time, I would be getting a little worried about hitting the hay and prepping for lessons but since I've got nothing tomorrow, I will just enjoy a late evening and then a late morning.

Sunday November 21, 10:02 p.m.

Well, back from that odyssey to Chichibu, a city of 60,000 people and a lot of trees. First off, although I'm a bit loathe to say it, when I met the juku boss at the station this morning, I noticed that she had on her Sunday best and makeup which is atypical of her; whenever I teach at the juku, she's usually very down-to-earth. However, I was almost knocked out when my olfactory sense registered a reek from her! Couldn't believe it...she smelled of OLD MAN...if that old man had just woken up in his clothes after a night of coffee, cigarettes and whiskey and used frying oil. I had to resort to rotational breathing (inhale through my mouth and then exhale through my nose) at times and turning discreetly away on the train. Quite a feat I engineered considering I was with her for 12 hours.

Yes, it was a 2-hour trip up to the wilds of Saitama. When we finally got to our destination, our host up there told us that he'd be a half-hour late, so we ended up having lunch at a soba shop just across from the station. On the Red Arrow, the juku boss had told me that Chichibu Soba had quite the al dente texture to it. Much to her dismay, she thought the soba there was quite soggy. I found it quite palatable, actually, although I was a bit more concerned about the slow service. Soba and coffee would be the main culinary theme for the rest of the day, as unlikely as that combination would be.

The boss' cousin eventually picked us up and our first stop was a real estate agency run by his good friend, a very amiable sort. We spent a good hour there discussing about the possibilities of setting up a new school there in terms of what the market, the rent and the competition are like. It was a good discussion and even I put in my 2 yen worth. The boss, knowing her personality, naturally got quite animated.

Afterwards, the cousin took us to the school (and potential rival) which was responsible for educating his child in English. The place was closed and it was located on the 2nd floor over a beauty salon. Back at the agency, he showed us a couple of pretty glossy pamphlets of the school; they resembled invitations for a Queen's concert at The Opera House. Certainly the tuition reflected it. I was rather astonished to hear the 300,000-yen price tag to teach his kid...who incidentally tagged along with us for some of the ride and seemed to be all of three years of age. The juku boss quickly dipped into the beauty salon where she found out that the stylists have frequently had to go upstairs to complain about the racket that the kids were making. Well, definitely, this new school won't be on any floor above ground level, then.

Next, we drove over to his place where he showed us a huge carton of educational materials that the school had given him for the kid. Three years old, and he can't even speak Japanese yet, and he has enough vocab cards and CDs to open up his own school. Our juku is very much bare bones and cut n' paste. The materials from this other school looked like they had been designed by Dentsu.

Our next stop was the Nagatoro River. The boss was surprised at how much of a tourist trap it'd become since her days as a child living there. The shopping street certainly looked like anything in Nikko or Kyoto nowadays. I was impressed with the scenic beauty of the river, though, although the cousin remarked that it has seen better days in terms of cleanliness. As I could see, the river was a telltale murky green...not particularly inviting for a swim. And here I was in a suit (which the boss had asked me to wear) negotiating through some often craggy rock formations. We ended up having another coffee and soba (much better for her) at a restaurant/cafeteria setup run by some old friends. The soba definitely had more bite.

Our final stop as the sky darkened was the pub run by the boss' aunt and uncle. It looked very homey inside and in fact, the kid was sleeping on the tatami. There were a couple of oldtimer regulars just whiling away the time while the uncle and aunt were busy behind the counter. I felt somewhat envious of the boss' close relationship with her extended family. something that I have never been able to get with my own family due to distance and some other unfortunate matters.

Finally, we were back on the train to Ikebukuro. It was almost an uneventful ride until the last leg when we were delayed by a good 15 minutes due to some moronic vandal leaving stuff on the track. And then, the subway ride home was puncutated by an unforecast rainstorm. And I just merely left my laundry hanging on the line. So I was rather broody because of that fact and the unfortunate BO that surrounded the boss; she didn't even blink twice about it. I did send a thank-you e-mail to let her know that I was grateful for the opportunity to head up to Chichibu just in case she may have been a bit put off..doubtful due to her usual high spirits.

I got home and pulled off the wet stuff. Luckily, though, they were indeed wet, they weren't dripping. So there's a 50/50 chance that they may be dry by tomorrow morning. My nostrils are still permeated with the smell of coffee and oil and cigarettes though.

Doing my e-mail housekeeping, I found out that my plan for Namjatown is a go. Misty got back and told me that a lot of her classmates are interested in my proposal for the 2nd so it looks like that's rolling. Plus, I've got DTE's thingy on the 5th. Looks like she wants to do Tony Romas again. That's fine with me since it'll be simpler to plan than doing it at En. Movie Buddy was quite high on Tony Romas himself.

Betty Boop sent a message to me for the first time in a while. She told me that she choked when she tried to help an American find the right subway for Asakusa. Well, when one doesn't practice English all that much... In any case, she's hoping that we can do some lunch before I head back to the home country.

The Dancer sent me another tape a couple of days ago so I took a look-see. Most of it consisted of a sci-fi miniseries called The 4400 which seems to be a mix of X-Men, X-Files, Unbreakable and Taken. Interesting idea but it looked so Canadian...as much as I don't want to denigrate my own country's culture in the arts, I've just never been all that impressed with the national stuff aside from SCTV (which is a Classic). Also, the attempt to generate a Mulder/Scully chemistry between the two main characters ended up being as inert as a lump of lead. I checked the comments about the series on the IMDB...pretty mixed and heated debate...more so than usual. However, most everyone was of the opinion that the ending was not much of one.

Well, such a long entry. I'll be starting my week with a workout at the gym since The Class Act has been re-scheduled to Wednesday and it looks like I won't be getting any other opportunities to work out until Friday, and I may brave the trip to SR's Balinese massage place in Ebisu. If I can get in, I'll be shucking out 6000 Natsume Sosekis for the scalp treatment but I do love a good rubdown on the old pate.

But first I hope the laundry dries out...