Wednesday January 31, 5:29 p.m.

Amazing how this month went by. On the first day, I was having New Year's dinner with my family back in T.O., and now on this final day, I've just had my dinner of two rice balls and gobo salad in Tokyo.

My 3-night binge of food and drink went fairly well although I paid dearly for it. I think the bill came out to about 11,000 yen. Now, that might not sound too bad, especially in the world's most expensive city but when my usual budget per day is a tenth of that...

Just to recap, I had that reunion party of sorts with the alumni from the ol' school on Friday night at Tsuki no Yume, another hopped-up Shibuya izakaya. That was a bit of a bust since the organizer, The Barmaiden, didn't exactly coordinate things too well there. She set everything up for 7 p.m. but as of 7:30, I was the only one there sitting in the corner just writing up the lesson reports. The manager was fairly tense as he approached me. But luckily after the second time, MB and some of the alumni showed up finally. The Barmaiden herself came through about an hour into things. It's usually hard to tell with The Barmaiden but apparently she was rather upset with management for the hassle she got; however, I think she should look into the mirror for blame.

Saturday was the shinnenkai (New Year's party) via Speedy's school. We definitely went upscale (and the bulk of my loss of money was because of this event) at Casa De Fado, a Portuguese restaurant in a side stree of Yotsuya, home of The Hotel New Otani and Sophia University. Paid 5,500 yen for a course meal which was quite tasty. I think the dish of the night was this steamed clam dish with a delectable garlic butter sauce. I was using the bulk of the complementary bread sopping up that stuff from the dish. I was seated across from PH, the first time I've seen her in half a year. I tell ya...I should've gone into the psychiatric profession. Along with The UL and The Polynesian, I had another session of listening while PH vented on the frustrations of work. At least, if I had become a counselor I could've had billable hours. Good dining experience, all in all, but I don't think I'll be going there anytime soon...that is, until I get myself into a higher income tax bracket.

Finally, on Sunday night, the movie crowd of MB, The Sylph, The Satyr, Skippy and an old friend of The Sylph's, The Designer, went to JAM'S, the latest in our burger odyssey. Located in Ebisu, JAM'S is another one of those tiny eateries which has gotten onto the media map with its unique-looking burgers. But it's not the bunned burgers...actually, this is the Japanese version with demiglasse sauce and a hot plate. Namely, we're talking Salisbury Steak here. Instead of the flat ovals, the JAM'S burgers come out looking like sausages for some reason. In fact, they're called Boston Burgers...whether or not they actually have anything to do with Beantown remains to be explained. The dishes came out in small, medium and double sizes. Of course, I decided to go whole hog and went for double. As with the others, a waitress brought out my sizzling plate of burgers, a jacket potato with butter and some other veggies, along with cooked rice. She asked me to bring up my napkin so that I wouldn't get splattered with any excess grease (not that it mattered anyways...I was practically infused with burger odor for the rest of the night)...to be frank, I felt kinda gay bringing up my napkin up to my nose like some sort of bouffanted woman of breeding. In any case, she split the burgers into two and then proceeded to have the rest of the cooking process done at the table to my desired doneness (medium). The burgers were actually quite raw when they arrived...only the outside was seared back in the kitchen. During the ordering, we were also to pick from several sauces. I went for ponzu, a stylized version of soy sauce. I couldn't believe it but I actually finished all 360 g worth of burger. I still had it. And the good times kept on rolling...the bunch of us walked over to Ebisu Garden Place and found a dessert eatery. Unlike the first two nights, I'm definitely looking forward to another go at JAM'S.

Earlier that Sunday, the movie group went to see "The Departed" with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. We did get our money's worth on that one (getting nominated for Best Picture certainly increased its cachet). Adapted from the Hong Kong crime flick "Internal Affairs", it was pretty evident where the Asian influence came into the Hollywood version (the last few minutes of guns ablazing). I was wondering where the title of this version came from but after catching it, I went "Ah..." Everyone was acting in good order; it was kind of jarring to see Martin Sheen not portraying the President of the US (just goes to show how much of a stamp he left on "The West Wing"), and of course, Jack Nicholson was Jack Nicholson. I think there was also a bit of Mamet in the dialogue, especially when Alec Baldwin's Captain Ellerby and Mark Wahlberg's incredibly hostile Sgt. Dingham got into a short intense spat. It was a fine if depressing movie to watch although I would've liked to have seen more of the happy times with Damon's character to coincide with the mental deterioration of DiCaprio's. However one of the things I did appreciate was a good "Whoa!" moment. As one gets older at the movie theatre, one gets rather jaded at the same old stuff...very few surprises for the viewer. But we did get one gasp from the audience when DiCaprio gets his six at the end.

Saturday January 27, 5:11 p.m.

J-Pop may have found its newest heroine to join the ranks of pop tart/jailbait X-Tina clone Kumi Koda and more indie-ish Kaela Kimura. To break up all those K's, we have one Anna Tsuchiya. Half-Japanese, half-some nationality in looks, she's also a mix in terms of occupation: she's a model, actress and now riot grrrl. She's got the face of a slightly more devilish Drew Barrymore but the song stylings of Joan Jett. She could probably eat the entire Morning Musume for breakfast and pick her teeth with the members of AKB 48.

I think that YouTube has been a godsend in terms of catching some obscure gems in pop music and Star Trek bloopers. Speaking of which...I saw a fanboy's labour of love in the form of a What If? concoction of showing what would happen if TNG's Enterprise-D met up with the Death Star. Simply named "Star Trek vs. Star Wars", the 7-minute video is a choppily-edited affair (it wasn't difficult to see where the seams were with all those bridge officers changing hairstyles and uniforms) but a rather interesting end result to see how Picard handled The Emperor himself. Personally, I would love to see James Bond vs. Doctor Who.

At the same time, YouTube has also been allowing excerpts called "Soramimi" from the late-night Japanese variety show, "Tamori Club". Translated directly as "sky ear", the "Soramimi" segment in the middle of Tamori's more eclectic TV-Asahi program is really the only thing I want to see (the main segment which brackets the segment has often dealt with topics like train otaku and new buildings). For years, people have been sending in sound clips of famous non-Japanese songs (anything from The Beatles to German death metal bands) in which the lyrics could sound like Japanese expressions. Sometimes, the similarity is a bit reaching but at other times, it's hilariously spot-on. And the videos concocted for the clips could just about elicit laughter from a rock. Not quite sure how non-Japanese speakers could really get the humour but there are several clips posted.

Also, I've been hearing that a lot of those Japanese commercials featuring Hollywood celebs have also been popping up on guess where...YouTube. Boy, I bet folks like Scarlett Johannsen, Leo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt must be cracking their heads against the wall (and their agents' heads) in actorly angst at seeing the relevance of those international non-disclosure clauses rendered useless. There's that current ad for Seattle's Mt. Rainier Iced Coffee in which new spokeswoman Johannsen (who follows Winona Ryder and Queen Amidala) is walking through the London Tube while sipping said product and intoning some catchphrase like a dying robot.

Saturday January 27, 4:55 p.m.

The UL and The Polynesian, though they've never met, shared one thing in common in the last couple of days that I met them. They were both rather exhausted from work (long hours, stress, etc). For the UL, since her base of operations is a university, she was getting konked out from the transition period of prepping for graduation and then getting ready for the new kids. As for the Polynesian, she's been having problems with her micro-managing supervisor.

Last night's party with the alumni started off very slowly. I got to the restaurant at about 7, thinking that everybody would already be there drinking it up. Instead, there was a very empty table. The main waiter was rather tense when he came up to say that he was a bit concerned that despite that our official sitdown time had started, noone showed up. Well, I apologized and just shrugged that I didn't know what had happened to everyone. And in actual fact, MB, Scully and one other fellow straggled in at 7:30 before most of the others came in between 7:30 and 8: not exactly something that impressed me. It was The Barmaiden's call on the party. Why didn't she schedule it for a later time if people were just gonna come in like a bunch of Brazilians? It was the first time to see MB in 6 weeks. Looks like he and The Sylph have been enjoying their love affair with skiing.

For the second party, most of the group stayed intact. In fact, only MB had to shuffle out early since he was going skiing today to Gala Yuzawa as well. The rest of us just went up Dogenzaka to the Maruhan entertainment complex and went up to the 8th floor where another izakaya was. This place was rather nifty since instead of calling out to waiters or waitresses to give our orders, all we did was just make our requests through GUI monitors on our tables. Matching restaurants with Blackberries? Ingenious.

Just finished off the first EIC lesson with a very comely young lady. I'm glad it worked out well with this one. Hope this may translate into a more permanent student. In another hour, Speedy will be heading out for my second party in an as many nights, that Portuguese place in Yotsuya called Palace de Fado.

Friday January 26, 3:46 p.m.

Once again I'm typing in an alien location...back at the Otemachi Kinko's. They have the most expensive rates so I'm rushing through this entry.

After my stint at the Ai Cafe last night, I walked all the way from Akiba to Ichigaya...took me about 40 minutes. It was a good workout. I took up base at the Tully's Cafe where I meet Tully and the Coffeemaker, and an hour later, The Carolinan showed up. We did another trade of souvenirs: the Canadian calendar to her while I got a package of mentaiko (cod roe)-flavoured crackers, only available in Nagasaki, where she had just come from a company trip. Not too bad although they're a bit greasy.

Today, I met up with The Madame for a bit of lunch in the Tobu again before heading out to that cafe that she had been talking about the other day. It was her type of place....old-fashioned wood decor with dim lighting. Tried out the cheesecake...it's supposed to be the most popular item in the place but I didn't particularly find it all that memorable although it did taste like cheesecake should.

I've got The UL in about 90 minutes and then I head on out to Shibuya to meet up with the alumni for that dinner.

Thursday January 25, 2:07 p.m.

Another week, another dismemberment story. Looks like not a day has gone by this year without some crime in which the body was chopped up like lumber. This time, some guy by the name of Matsumura has been arrested with the alleged murders of two distant relatives. The latter of the two had the guy's body chopped into two with the lower half buried in Ibaraki Prefecture while the other was wholly somewhere else. Of course, the morning talk shows have covered this story like a blanket. And so far, every picture of the suspect has been very creepy. His eyes had that unfocused stare of a psychotic. Apparently, he also had a bit of a double life. There are pics of him in typically sober salaryman garb while one pic had him dressed like a biker punk. More (bodies?) to follow, I'm sure...

The latest celeb-turned-governor, Higashi Sonomanma (actually NHK did identify him by his real name of Hideo Higashikokubara), jumped right into his new job with all the gravitas needed. And he needed every bit of it...since Miyazaki Prefecture is in the throes of a bird flu problem. There he was in the seemingly regulation jumper outfit that governors tend to wear out in the field assessing the situation at a chicken farm with a full court press. Strangely enough, on Fuji-TV that same time, there was a quiz show with a whole bunch of tarento including Sonomanma as his goofy persona. The show was careful to tell everyone that it had been filmed back in November.

It really looks like that Fujiya has been taking its contrite rehabilitation very seriously. On the way back home from Speedy's, I noticed that every branch of the confectionary store I'd passed on the bus was shut up tight. But the biggest sign was at my own station. In the mall underneath the tracks, the neighbourhood Fujiya shared its space with a liquor shop. Well, the liquor side of the store was in full operation but the Fujiya side looked forlornly abandoned: the display case that had once proudly shown its wares of strawberry shortcakes and chocolate confections was completely empty, and Peko-chan was nowhere to be found.

Since 001 had cancelled her lesson last night, the only reason to go to the school was just do some prep work for EIC. Because of the computer problems Speedy had been suffering, my old computer has been taken out from the classroom and into the outer office. which means that my boss is now the third person to know about this blog. Luckily, he didn't see anything about the personal stuff involving the code names, but frankly I would have preferred that he hadn't found out. Speedy has been in close touch with the school's benefactor who's been waiting for the past few years for the school to get some sort of healthy sign. Well, he and we are still waiting. Yesterday's call from the benefactor had him finishing with a very loud click that I could hear metres away from the receiver. Yikes! Not a good start to the year for Speedy. A couple of nights before, Speedy once again talked my ear off in that half-giggly, half-frenetic tone he gets whenever he's stressed out. I feel really sorry for him but I'm starting to wonder if he really thought things through when he made his plans for the school. Ach...but I digress...I've always been the glass-is-half-empty type.

The next few days will be hard ones on my wallet. I've got that party with some of the ol' school alumni tomorrow after my lesson with The UL. Then, Saturday will have the Speedy dinner at a Portuguese restaurant, and finally I'm meeting up with Skippy and the bunch for "The Departed" on Sunday.

Wednesday January 24, 2:45 p.m.

An unusual day off although I am at Speedy's right now. Last night, I got the call that 001 had to cancel tonight's lesson. Still, I had to get some prep work done for 002's class tomorrow and that new EIC lesson on Saturday. Plus, it got me out of the house. I actually went to LAST, the buffet restaurant at Shiodome City Centre for lunch today. I really am slowing down. I couldn't really even considered myself engorged...just full. That had never stopped me before.

Yesterday, we had that New Year's party at Mrs. Travel's house in Makuhari Hongo in Chiba Prefecture. Her place has that feel of a Japanese version of a Norman Rockwell house. I also got filled there with qualitatively superior food made by the Beehive ladies...all great Japanese dishes like koyadofu (tofu that has been freeze-dried and cooked...interesting texture), shredded crab salad and some of the juiciest & most succulent yellowtail sashimi I've ever feasted my stomach on. And of course, the alcohol was liberally flowing which may explain why I quickly slowed down my ingestion. Mrs. Alp's hubby even showed up, normally an unusual thing for a Japanese man at that time of the day except that he had recently retired so he's got a lot of time on his hands. For years, Alp had always told me that her hubby has had a special affection for the portly Mrs. Tee and yesterday, we got to see that in action. Mr. Alp and Mrs. Tee were just giggling while the former was being obnoxiously flirtatious with her. Mrs. Alp bemusedly sat nearby; not sure if she had the rolling pin in her bag just in case. The party was also a farewell for Mrs. Plate since she'll be heading with her family to the wilds of Okayama Prefecture from next week for a long while.

Yesterday was quite good in that my usually slower students were unusually on the ball. The New Yorker was gabbing with me in halting English for the first few minutes of our lesson; not exactly purring along like an Oxford professor but I'll take it. Actually, I was about 5 minutes late for her since I missed the Sobu Line but I think the wait must've done good by her. And then the Milds later that night were also running on high octane. Even the hubby had done some unassigned homework on his own which surprised his wife and me. Mr. Mild also showed me his skill with his Cat's Cradle, that old hobby in which one can make various patterns and objects out of string and two hands. On the good news at the juku was that the two kids who were there for the model lesson took the bait. I'll be seeing them from November, and I may even be getting another adult student. Jolly went AWOL again which pissed me off since I had gone to the trouble of prepping some TOEIC stuff for him, not exactly the lightest stuff to tote to a class. Seven was back for another round of hilarity. She told me that her idol, Will Smith, was to show up on a program starring a rather acerbic fortune teller, the Japanese Simon Cowell if you will, who used to be a grande dame hostess with a yakuza ex-hubby. Gotta wonder how that went.

I caught the Oscar nominations last night on CNN live. Nice to see that "Little Miss Sunshine" got nominated for Best Movie although I don't think it has a snowflake's chance in Hell of winning. I can actually say that I will have seen two Best Movie noms by the time the Academy Awards roll around on February 25th since this Sunday, I'll be catching "The Departed" with Skippy and the rest of the gang. It was notable that "Letters from Iwo Jima" got the nod (won't get it...Clint Eastwood has won too much) and a Japanese actress by the name of Rinko Kikuchi got nommed for "Best Supporting Actress" for her deaf-mute performance in "Babel". I would normally say that she also has a snowball's chance but since that child actress from New Zealand, Keisha something-or-other, grabbed it from nowhere a few years ago, I can't slag her chances quite yet. Of course, within a half-hour of the live announcements, NHK and the other commercial stations trumpeted the Japanese noms. Rinko Kikuchi is not a household name here although I'm not sure what the nomination will mean now for her career. Her father in the movie is none other than Mr. "Shall We Dance-The Original", Koji Yakusho. Y'know...I would like to see "The Queen" with Helen Mirren. Of course, Mirren is the one to beat for "Best Actress" but I would just like to see it for that scarifyingly good performance by Michael Sheen as PM Blair.

Well, let's see....there was that stupid natto kerfuffle on Fuji-TV. Now, it's legendary confectionary conglomerate, Fujiya. The mascot for the company is Peko-chan, that cute little fat girl with the tongue sticking out of her mouth in anticipation for the candies to get shoveled into her maw. Well, it looks like the company got its wrists majorly slapped by the government when it was learned that it had been using ingredients well past its expiry dates and then selling the finished goods also past its expiry dates. There was an editorial cartoon in today's "Japan Times" which summed it quite nicely: the picture shows Peko-chan in a hospital bed with her tongue hanging out once again, but this time not so happily. There is a Fujiya store in my station mall. It's probably closed in contrition. Corporate Japan working for the people, folks.

Now, I know why the former entertainer-turned-Miyazaki governor-elect, Higashi Sononmanma, has held onto his stage name. The guy's really called Hideo Higashikokubaru (geseundheit)...doesn't exactly run off the tongue like a river. Well, he's started off his new career as soberly as possible. He has to...his successor had to resign in disgrace due to a bid-rigging scandal.

And I just found out that the Toronto Blue Jays got its own Japanese player...some journeyman pitcher by the name of Oka. Not sure if they were trying to get onto the "Heroes" bandwagon.

Monday January 22, 9:38 p.m.

Well, another night of heartbreak. 009 decided to call it quits after 12 lessons...says she's enjoyed the lessons and would be willing to come back in a few months after she passes the TOEIC hurdle. Yeah, well...I'll believe she'll be back when she is back. Methinks she's long gone. Just goes to show that I'll never be able to accurately predict who'll stay and go. I've had The New Yorker for close to 2 years...has made a snail's progress in all that time and yet she's stuck with me. Not to say that 009 was the most grammatically accurate lady in the world but she was certainly much more fluent. Still, I'm grateful that The Part-Timer is hanging in...for now; she's just about at her 1-year mark with me.

Yesterday, I met The Madame for the first time in several weeks. Strangely enough, unlike my prediction that she would spout off on her spiritualist beliefs like the usual Wiccan, she was pretty much off that topic for most of our 4 hours together. The reason she gave was that she was in the doghouse with her spirit guide. Hopefully, that falling out will be permanent. In any case, we went for lunch at a Vietnamese place in the TOBU Department Store in Ikebukuro before finding a hole-in-the-wall place in south Ikebukuro which specializes in Taiwanese tea. Very peaceful in a redecorated apartment but it cost me 1,500 yen; doesn't exactly merit weekly trips. We've got another meeting of sorts on Friday.

Tomorrow, I've got that party at Mrs. Travel's place for the entire Beehive before I have to rush off to see the aforementioned New Yorker for her first of the year. Then, it's back to the juku for Seven, Jolly and The Milds. The Siberian is off drinking.

Monday January 22, 5:28 p.m.

Well, quite a few things on the news front over the weekend. We've got another celeb-turned-governor in this country. A former tarento by the name of Sonomanma Higashi (a stage name since the first word means "just like it is") pulled off a surprise by winning the gubernatorial election in his native Miyazaki Prefecture. To be honest, celeb governors haven't exactly had the most sterling reputations here compared to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (although he and Bill you-know-who have had their names dragged in the mud as well). Previous Tokyo Governor Yukio Aoshima who used to be and is now back as a comedian was pretty much an ineffectual leader and former comedian-turned-Osaka Governor Knock Yokoyama resigned in Clintonian disgrace when he tried a little slap-and-tickle on a female assistant in his limo years ago. Sononmanma isn't exactly lily-white either; he'd had a reputation playing around in the lower depths of Kabukicho during his entertainment days. Mind you, in today's session with The Class Act, the ladies mentioned that despite his dalliances, the governor-elect had taken the past year off to clean up his act and earn his fellow Miyazakans' good graces. So we shall see if the guy will actually be a good ruler.

Speaking about embarrassments, I was planning to watch Aru Aru Daijiten ("There! There! The Big Dictionary") last night, a program from the latest genre of information-gathering and disseminating for the masses. The program is hosted by comedian Ken Shimura and tarento Masaaki Sakai and focuses on health matters; specifically, the show finds certain foods and illustrates how wonderful and magical they are for our bodies. Well, back on the 7th, the show was focusing on the benefits of natto, that fermented bean stuff which has a love/hate reaction amongst the population (I'm definitely the latter). I would've thought that it would have been a slam dunk topic...even the detractors state that it is a healthy foodstuff (with the emphasis on stuff). They had data on all sorts of experiments and interviewees with the final say that if one ate natto twice a day for two weeks, there would be a noticeable weight loss. Well, if Aru Aru Daijiten said so, then it must be true, the viewers thought. And so, after the program aired, natto just flew off the shelf....

...and the bottom fell out. Instead of getting the usual episode of day-glo graphics and happy panel led by Shimura and Sakai, I got a rather sober announcer bowing deeply in front of the camera and explaining that all that data had been made up, before/after pics falsified and even the dubbed interpreting of American doctors misinterpreted. One thing about Japanese TV, when someone screws up noticeably enough so that it can't be covered up, the so-called deep apologies just pour on out. The top guys at Fuji-TV had done a press conference a few days earlier and did the prerequisite bowing but I think the president should've also done the apology last night instead of having the announcer lackey do it. Of course, the other commerical stations were having a field day crowing about their rival's goof on the morning wide shows today.

Saturday January 20, 1:52 p.m.

Had one of those almost-out-of-the-door cancellations. Just as I was about to take off for the kids, I got a call from The Polynesian stating that she had come down with a cold. So it was just the Younger and the father. I'm starting to get the impression that the Elder has finally had enough of me.

Pretty overcast and there may be a small chance of getting some snow here in the Kanto...just a slight sprinkling, mind you.

There may be some hope on the horizon in terms of job opportunities. The juku boss informed me that I could be seeing 1 or 2 new adult students and those two kids I did a demo lesson with on Tuesday may sign up....or at least, their mothers would. According to the boss, the mothers were impressed that I actually assigned homework.

Tomorrow, I meet The Madame for the first time in 2007. Probably more of her New Age talk.

Friday January 19, 1:40 p.m.

Saw B2 and B2B. Looks like the couple will be undergoing some changes in the next few months. Not only will B2B be dropping out (a pity in a way but makes my life easier in terms of teaching) but it looks like B2 will be moving out of B2B's place and making a place of her own not too far away from him. But the point is that B2 is still my student and I'll have to see how The Baker is gonna be able to have my lessons, if she can at all.

The UL cancelled her lesson today so I've only got Jolly and The Ace for their lessons at the juku tonight. Saves on commuting fare.

I seem to be in an industrious mood today. I aired out the futon, vacuumed the apartment and even decided to de-grout the kitchen fan filters. Guaranteed that mood won't last.

I used the last couple of gift certificates at Takashimaya to buy Jamirioquai's Best of CD. Here's an artist whom I've known about for more than a decade and yet never got around to buying. His stuff's got the type of groove I always liked...disco/R&B but it just slipped beneath my radar. Well, I finally got it and I think I made a good purchase. I was a bit surprised that "Virtual Insanity" was actually a condemnation of the circumstances bringing about Dolly The Sheep. Tells you how much I'm into lyrics.

Just some stuff from here: convenience stores finally got into the habit of selling raw fish. You would think that sashimi would've been de rigueur in places like Lawsons or 7-11 but nope; yesterday was the first day. Considering the taste of konbini sushi, though, I'm not holding much hope for sales.

Also, the Japanese Olympic Committee got Sen'ichi Hoshino to manage the Olympic baseball team going to the Beijing Games in 2008. Who he? Well, he's the archetype of the old-school coach from the Japanese leagues: a tough-as-nails guy who's been awarded one of those "Best Father in Japan" accolades by the folks who seem to love awarding celebs for anything like jeans or jewelry. He's appeared on TV commercials as his gruff self exhorting the meek to show some guts and buy insurance. As the award indicates, his style has got him respect from the locals but in the West, his draconian methods would probably get nearly jailed. I know that one sports columnist for The Japan Times, Marty Kuehnert, has labelled him a thug in a uniform. As for me, though I'm glad he's not directing me in anything, I think he would be the guy to lead a team who will be heading into the lion's den...filled with rabid lions. Considering how much the Japanese soccer team was hassled in a game over in China a couple of years back, the baseball team will need a fearless fellow like Hoshino at the front.

Wednesday January 17, 5:33 p.m.

Well, another one of my quests has come to an end. A few months after finding and listening to Chaz Jankel's "Questionnaire" on the Net, I finally found the video for the legendary song on... YouTube, of course. Just finding lots of gems there recently. I think "Questionnaire" is one of those songs that just merits having a video paired with it. The video itself was made just on the very beginnings of the MTV era so there was definitely an "anything goes" feel to it: oddly quaint computer graphics, strobe light mouth organ and glow-in-the-dark Latin dancing. Match that up with a bouncy Cuban-type song about asking poll questions, and you've got a video classic. Certainly the responses to it on YouTube are agreeable. Now, I just gotta wait for the album itself to be re-released.

Also, I came across the Pet Shop Boys' "Flamboyant", another brilliant synth-pop piece by the fey lads, on YouTube. I would've thought that the accompanying video would've shown gorgeous supermodels traipsing down the catwalk but instead there is an inspired story of a Japanese salaryman dweeb finding his muse to get his colleagues to join him in a bizarro talent competition which really does exist on the wonderful world of Japanese TV. Pair that with intercut scenes of the Boys starring in great parodies of Japanese commercials and, voila, another classic of J-Pop culture.

Wednesday January 17, 4:23 p.m.

First not-so-decent day since I got back but it hasn't been raining during my time outside. Just overcast and the ground is still damp.

Looks like my wayward students have finally come out of the woodwork. Jolly did a sudden show-up last night despite even the juku boss, an up-with-people type, writing him off as an escapee. A combination of having left his cellphone back in his hometown and some e-mail problems was apparently the culprit but that didn't get him off the hook where the boss was concerned. She gave him a mild chewing-out for his absence. I played good cop and just let it slide. As for The Siberian, he did show up for his regular. I think it was the first time that I ever did a rerun...the two of us actually rehashed an older topic of discussion since the expressions "Oh, yes, you did talk about this before.." popped up more than once. In any case, he'll be absent next week.

And then B2 finally decided to respond to my hails. Well, I'll be seeing her and B2B tomorrow night as originally scheduled but in her message she said that B2B will be history. Again not a bad thing since he and she are so disparate in terms of speaking ability. I also hinted at her that it might be time to talk about what else she would like to do in future lessons. I'm glad that I held off and gave her a chance to get back to me since I was just about to send e-mail over to The Baker to offer biweekly Thursday nights.

I've only got 001 for her regular tonight. Planning to get back home as soon as I'm done with her. There's a recipe that I wanted to try with some Chinese BBQ sauce that has actually gone past its due date by 18 months. Always like a challenge...

Monday January 15, 5:10 p.m.

Halfway through the month already and into my first full week back. I had The Class Act for their first lesson of the year. The Lady enjoyed my souvenir in the form of a Lauren Harris calendar. For those not into art history, Lauren Harris was one of the legendary Group of Seven, that collective of Canadian artists from the 20s and 30s which included Tommy Thompson and Emily Carr. She did a bit of an analysis of the paintings in front of The Matron and myself...a bit art deco here, a bit French Impressionism there...I was just happy that she liked it. As for The Matron, I got her a calendar of cats since she's quite the purveyor of the felines. Not surprisingly, much of our 90 minutes consisted of talk on their holidays in Hawaii. I swear that I will never need to spend my cash on going there since I can live vicariously through them. The Matron's daughter seems to have found a new crush...David Bowie of all people. It would seem that the little one has a thing for tall, thin and pasty. I did my part by rattling off the movies that The Thin White Duke has appeared in.

SIL cancelled out of her lesson today so I had some time in Shibuya. I'd thought I would be able to merge my HMV point card with the one that The Egg had so kindly given me to get that 2,500 yen discount. Nope...verboten there. But the cashier took some pity on me and shaved a 1,000 off on my 2 CDs, both of them female, Canadian and jazz. I got Diana Krall's latest with her big band, and a disc of the best of Holly Cole. They'll probably be the last discs I get until my financial picture improves.

I'll be having my first with The Part-Timer within the hour. I may be able to bring her back here to Speedy's since it's gonna be a tad sparse tonight. And then, I get 008 back after almost 2 months away. Her structure wasn't all that stable before the long layoff...not quite sure what I'm gonna get tonight.

Yesterday, I had Tully and The Coffeemaker for their first. Worked out pretty well...had the entire basement of the cafe all to ourselves; nothing like a freelance English class to clear out the patrons. And then I rushed over to teach The Polynesian. Good there as well. And then I went out to Akiba where The Satyr met me. We did a bit of walking around on the main strip which was closed off so that all of the dancing and singing maids could congregate with their adoring geek fans. I actually took the lad up to the 5th floor of the Don Quixote Bldg where the very first Maid Cafe to be established was located. Just when I thought that the Maid Cafe boom was seeing its last lacy days, the floor was packed with yelling and stomping boys-with-no-life in front of a quintet of barely tuneful Maids. As we made our way through the sweaty crowd, The Satyr and I were exchanging some rather bemused looks. I think I saw a tongue poke through his cheek. After another several minutes of walking through the area, we ended up having dinner at a tonkatsu place (after the events of 002's party, I really needed my meat fix) up at the top of the Yodobashi Camera building. Of course, we gabbed on the latest movies and he gave me some advice on digital cameras.

Sunday January 14, 9:24 a.m.

I'm back at the neighbourhood Internet cafe trying to get some quick dispatches to people. I had the sullen woman again as my cashier.

I had the Younger and her mother as my students yesterday...which made my morning go a whole lot quicker. The Elder is off at volleyball...kinda wondering again if I should officially let her go but I really need to hold on to my students.

Then it was off to 002's place for that New Year's party. It was an all-vegetarian affair since the guest of honour was The Baker's former teacher, a fellow Canuck. He was a quiet but amiable sort...quite the counterpoint to all the giggling from her former charge, 001 and 002 in the kitchen. The food was very good...a lot of vegetable tempura, veggie pizza (although 002 was very maganimous in making some of the pizza with salami and ham for me....I didn't tell her that I had actually snuck in a Filet O'Chicken meal at McD before I went over; just didn't want to go into meat withdrawal). As it turned out, we all did get rather filled up before the night was over.

Speaking about McDonalds, it looks like the Japanese branches have started a bit of a SuperSize Me pattern from Friday with their MegaMac campaign. 002 first cottoned me onto the news in her lesson on Friday. And since I would pass by one branch on the way to teach The UL. I had been expecting something more than the usual 2 tasteless patties but actually the MegaMac turned out to be just 4 patties squeezed into the usual mess of sesame seed buns and lettuce and secret sauce. It looks like Purchasing ordered a few too many patties that needed to be rushed through before expiry date (do McD patties really need expiry dates?).

And yet still on food, it would seem that I've been getting the lion's share of free food for the past few days from students. The UL gave me some chinsukou (Okinawan sugar cookies) after her trip there and 002 gave me a whole bunch of leftovers from last night's party. I've been praying for more income but this is just as good. This custom of getting souvenirs from a trip does pay dividends.

Well, on the Krispy Kreme front, one of the guests at the party last night told us that on opening day last month, there was a 3-hour wait for the cholesterol bombs. So ironic considering that KK as a business entity is pretty much gone from The Great White North.

Thursday January 11, 1:49 p.m.

Back at the grungy neighbourhood Internet cafe for a 3-hour pack. Gotta admit though that the music has improved. I actually got AOR filtering the other day (Manhattan Transfer?!) and today is a little more on the current Top 10 in the US (Fergilicious...yum).

Speedy told me last night that due to the lack of classes in December before my trip and because of the trip itself my income there would probably be jingling (somewhat exaggerating although not by much); I really didn't need to be reminded of that. Mind you, he didn't have such a great Holiday. Apparently, he and his wife were supposed to have gone off to Korea for some well needed R&R but he overlooked the fact that his visa had expired. Well, that triggered some major paperwork and apologizing to both the government and his wife. He was in the doghouse for most of that week. It was a pretty dumbass rookie mistake but the man has been busy just trying to keep his company afloat so I think I can understand.

Just as Toronto got its 1st murder by gun lickety-split, Tokyo quickly got on the board with its first dismemberment case of 2007. Some woman decided enough was enough with her abusive husband and konked him dead with a beer bottle (there usually is a beer bottle involved in these cases) before sawing him down into more discrete and more easily disposable pieces.

Got no classes today so I'm just whiling away the time here before getting some grub on coins and then getting some housework done. I've yet to hear anything from B2 so I'm starting to think that her time with me is done...to be honest, I'm not that sad about the situation, and perhaps that might open up things for The Baker who has been trying to get me to teach her. There is that party at 002's place on Saturday so I should know more when I see her then.

Wednesday January 10, 5:36 p.m.

Back in the saddle at Speedy's. I'm just half an hour away from having 001's first lesson of the year. Speedy is back to his usual idea churning. Now, he wants to try some restaurant hopping kinda like on the lines of MB's yearlong Burger Tour. Speedy's first guinea pig could be a Greek restaurant in Roppongi. Unlike in Toronto, a Greek restaurant is about as rare a gem as one can get. I've heard of this place, though...it's got a gimmick in which customers can let out their stress by writing the name of their hated people on some cheap plate and then smash it into some brick well with a whooping "Whoopa!".

Speaking of the Burger Tour, MB did indeed contact me last night to say that he and The Sylph were good to go for the 28th when Skippy wants to catch "The Departed" with DiCaprio and J-a-a-a-ck. Plus, MB wants to slip in another example of the big tour. Not sure if it's doable since the place he was looking at is in Ebisu...rather far from our usual movie haunt of Shinjuku.

Got my hair cut for the first time in 3 months. Man, it was good to get rid of that cowlick which bothered the hell out of my eyes. Still, it cost me 5,000 yen...not a good thing considering my poverty.

Had the juku gang although Jolly and The Siberian were AWOL. The Siberian called in at the last minute to cancel due to the dreaded norovirus...his second attack. Hmm...methinks that the kid may have just ducked out for a drinking party. At least, Seven told me that honestly to explain her absence next week. As for Jolly, not even a call to say that he would cancel. The juku boss was kind enough to take care of my bills and nengajo during my absence. She was her usual giddy self, but for some reason, I was feeling pretty beat...and therefore, not in any mood to be entertained by her literal skips across the room. I did get some remaining New Year's cards from people that I hadn't sent to. I actually wrote them up but decided to ask a local here whether I should actually send them some 10 days after the fact. She told me that it would be a bit odd to do so at such a late date. Well, at least I saved myself the postage. I'll probably send some sort of reply to their e-mail addresses.

As soon as I finish with 001, I'll head on out home. Still not totally decompressed from Canada.

Tuesday January 9, 5:01 p.m.

The past few days have provided me with a bit of decompression after my 3 weeks back in Canada. It has helped that I've been laden with a lot of DVDs and video tapes to gently guide me back into Japanese society. I have been enjoying the 2nd season of "Doctor Who" with David Tennant, for instance. The new series could just about blow away anything that was done in original first 25 years of the programme. I'm sure the actress playing ol' Sarah Jane Smith, Elizabeth Sladen, would rightly agree. And then there are the discs of more SCTV. These ones seem to be the intermediate eps between the originals back at Global Television in Toronto in the mid-70s and the heyday ones in Edmonton. The presence of Tony Rosato and Robin Duke prove that point.

I had my first class of the year with The Beehive, a good choice since the ladies are my longest-serving students. As expected, most of the lesson was devoted on touching base about what we all had done over the Holidays. Looks like we're gonna have a good ol' fashioned nabe party next Tuesday at Mrs Travel's home. Plus, I even got a salary increase of 14% after 7 years of work for them. Not a bad start in a year in which I have been thinking heavily of increasing my money.

And now I've got my guys at the juku. Got a load of the souvenirs to drop off on them. It'll probably be more of the same of talking about the Holidays.

Sunday January 7, 2007

Well, I'm back after 3 weeks of holidaying in Canada. I would've done some blogging in The Great White North but with all of the e-mail I had to respond to and the limited time at my brother's place, I decided to hold off until I got back last night.

Some observations:

I'm starting to despise air travel. The Tokyo-Toronto leg of Air Canada is a Tarentinoesque exercise in excruciating endurance. I mention the gabby director as a reference since the round trip, like his movies, had long stints of sitting (just like that poor cop in "Reservoir Dogs") punctuated by brief intense spots of terrifying turbulence. The flight over to Toronto almost had me reaching for one of my own plastic bags to do something that I hadn't done since I was 8. Of course, airplane food is, at best, mediocre; so I just eat half of it so that I don't end up doing a "show and tell" to everyone else on the plane. As another reference, whatever fixed-wing aircraft the U.S. President is on is called Air Force One...it's a call signal and not the plane itself. Well, I think any plane that I board should automatically be re-named The Vomit Comet.

My usual viewing of TV reruns consisted of mostly "CSI:Miami" and the last few episodes of "The West Wing". I can honestly say that David Caruso has now become the William Shatner of the 21st century. A drinking game can easily be whipped up centering around all of his stylized acting tics. If a person had to take a sip of Jack Daniels every time Horatio Caine said "Ok, this is what we're going to do..." or whipped off his sunglasses or cocked his head in quiet disbelief, the police would immediately demand his car keys before leaving the living room. However, sobriety can be maintained if a game were played in which a sip could be taken whenever Emily Procter's Calleigh Duquesne actually showed any real emotion. As for "The West Wing", the 7th-season eps left me rather intrigued since Japanese TV has only started Season 3. What I saw in the final season of Aaron Sorkin's magnum opus was a much different White House....one which seemed to contain a much darker and tired feel: Jed Bartlett was grayer, hoarser and lonelier with most of his buddies having flown the coop; Leo McGarry ended up dead (along with the actor portraying him); Toby Ziegler was persona non grata due to a supposedly unforgivable offense; Sam Seaborn was nowhere to be found; and Josh Lyman got meaner while finally consummating things with Donna Moss. The West Wing only got its lights back on when the new President, Bail Organa...er, I mean, Matt Santos, took his post.

I actually enjoyed some hilarious new shows (well, new to me). The double bill of "Robot Chicken/Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on Teletoon is classic stuff. The DVDs were indeed selling in HMV but space in my luggage just couldn't make it possible much to my disappointment. However, I did get my new discs of SCTV and "Lost" along with tapes of the 2nd season of the new and vastly improved "Doctor Who". It's a good sign for David Tennant when his take on the Doctor just immediately brightens up the proceedings after spending most of his inaugural ep in a coma.

Toronto is getting nastier. For decades, the powers-that-be were always getting quietly flattered whenever my hometown was referred to as "the cleaner, nicer New York of Canada". Well, you can take out the 2nd and 3rd words of that quote and add the phrase "...of the 70s and 80s". I was dismayed to hear and read about all those shootings that occur regularly overnight virtually anywhere in the city now. The capper was some poor 60-year-old woman who had nothing to do with crime and was about as close to the Apostles as anyone can get becoming the first murder victim of 2007 just hours into January 1. And a further kicker was that the killer was an acquaintance of the family who not only had access to a gun but was a diagnosed schizophrenic. Just what was a psycho doing with a gun? I rather expect this sort of thing in the States. I also had my own personal experience with violence this time around on New Year's Eve. I went out with The Engineer, his girl and one other fellow to a Chinese restaurant in Scarborough (supposedly not a good combination as you will soon read). We had just ordered our dinner when there was an explosion of sorts in the middle of the dining area. Teapots, bottles and cups flung out like gloves in the middle of the ice during a bench-clearing hockey brawl...and then, a mother with her baby ran out. Finally, we saw one of the combatants, a teenage Chinese boy with a hip-hop attitude fire one more bottle at his adversary, another punk who was bleeding from the neck. Well, there was a rather hushed silence for some minutes. The Engineer and his girl flew under the table while their buddy scrunched himself behind me (I really gotta lose a few kg) while I kinda witnessed things as if I had been watching things slo-mo and from in front of a TV screen. The strange thing was that with all of the cellphones that must've shared space with the people, noone called the police (which may point to fears of something gangland), and after a few minutes, the waitresses rushed out to clean up the blood on the floor. The four of us decided to quickly vacate and move things to a safer eatery. I did pay for my soy milk which was the only thing to reach our table before things went pear-shaped.

There's a bigger chance that the employees of The Toronto Transit Commission will demand to secede from Confederation than the province of Quebec. The TTC is a potentially very sad and embittered group of folks: verbally and physically assaulted operators, grubbier stations and overcrowded vehicles. "The Better Way" is sounding more and more ironic everyday. And then in the last few days of my stay, GO Transit (a truncated, more provincial version of Japan Railways) was falling apart due to lack of drivers. All I can say is that I'm glad that most of my family can drive or can be driven.

And despite all of the nonsense from above, it was good to see friends and family. I finally got to see my niece for the first time...she's a winner, that one. She's got the family brow and eyes. That supermodel contract should be coming in any time now. It looks like my friends are individually going through some positive personal flux. The Entrepreneur and his girl are looking pretty serious...dem wedding bells should be pealing soon. The Dancer and her family will be uprooting for England this year for the next few years. Chip Guy will be having another mouth to feed by the summer. Plus, wedding bells may also be in the offing for The Wild Guy. I got to do some 5-pin bowling (a Canadian invention, BTW) with Chip Guy, Egg and their clans; have dinner with The Dancer and The Entrepreneur at The Dancer's house for the last time; and even go to Toronto's first (and probably only) Maid Cafe with The Anime King and his court. I must say that our waitress would've been quite at home at any of the Maid Cafes in Akiba.

As for my family...well, I guess the bittersweetness of this trip culminated with them. On New Year's Day, all of us had just enjoyed the typical New Year's dinner of oshizushi and osechi ryori and were enjoying dessert on the sofas when my parents basically ambushed me with the accusatory question of why I wouldn't come home for good and get a real job. Well, the social temperature in the room plummeted (an amazing feat considering that this winter has been an un-winter in Toronto) and I refused to talk to my parents for the rest of the evening. Luckily, my brother and his newly-minted family left a few minutes after that implosion. My brother and I touched upon the situation a few days later and he sided with me. Y'know...you would think that my yearlong wait for Permanent Residency and 12 years residing in Ichikawa would've given a very big hint about where my home is. Frankly, I was offended that after nearly 2 decades of teaching, my parents would still even think that I was doing this as a lark. Well, the days following were back-to-normal ones but I have returned feeling somewhat troubled. I realize that the years of coming home to my parents are numbered now and that part of their ambush is based on perhaps some sort of longing for the entire family to be together. There's nothing like parents to lay on the guilt trip. And perhaps even my sister-in-law...she gave me a book titled "The Prodigal Son". Y'know...I would like all of us to be together but the practicalities of life make that nearly impossible for me. And so, just like a typical season finale of "24", there is a sense of good and bad for the coming year.

Ah, the P.S. For all of my Canadian trip, I did see the annual Red N' White Song Festival on NHK. Last year, it was the appearance of ero-aidoru Kumi Koda that had the media and J-Pop forum folks lollygagging. This year, the culprit was disco geek DJ Ozma and his harem of seemingly nude dancers. Of course, NHK would never let anyone go au naturel (the dancers were in bodysuits) on any of its variety shows, but even the emulation was enough to have the female host, actress Yukie Nakama, fumbling over her lines, and the male announcer sheepishly apologizing to everyone on air after hundreds of complaints struck the NHK switchboard. I say that the Kohaku Utagassen needs more of this to survive. Otherwise, the show is done like dinner.

Wednesday December 13, 4:27 p.m.

Well, feeling pretty pooped after the usual last-minute shopping on Departure Eve. My target was Ginza. I managed to get a number of Pokemon characters for The Dancer's kids and those CDs for Egg. I had thought about picking up a pair of jeans at Uniqlo for myself but for some reason...even at the hefty size of 38, I couldn't fit into them despite the fact that I was wearing a pair of 38 Uniqlo slacks very nicely. Well, at least I saved myself some 3,000 yen.

I'm just waiting for Speedy to conclude his class so that he can give me my paltry pay so that I can at least pay off some debts before I leave this country. Still gotta pay off my rent and then the NHI premiums. Plus, there is all the packing and cleaning before I take off.

Just to catch up...after that Saturday of lessons and bonenkai, Sunday was an unusually busy day with three classes and then meeting up with MB for a movie. I was able to see the kids (or at least the Junior...the Senior decided that she wanted to go to Yokohama Chinatown; can't say that I blame her but frankly her selfishness is showing) and then sped off to Kinokuniya to pick up a book on self-publishing by Wm. Penn of the Daily Yomiuri's "Televiews". Actually, she is really a lady named Morikawa who decided to go into doing all the printing out and publishing of stuff by herself. She brought me back down to earth pretty quickly by saying that self-publishing a bestseller is like winning a lottery...damn rare.

I then finished up with The Carolinan and The Polynesian before heading to JR Shinjuku to meet MB for dinner. We went back to an old haunt, Foo Foo, for that paiko tantan men...that spicy ramen with a slab of deep fried pork cutlet (yes, we are heading into Homer Simpson territory); it'd been several months since our last visit there...I'd almost forgotten how good that bowl tasted.

Afterwards, we rushed to the Milano theatre in Kabukicho to meet up with three more friends (more associates of MB than of me) to catch 007. Yep, I was able to finally see "Casino Royale" with Daniel Craig. To be honest, I'm wondering how moronic those so-called fans are for castigating the Broccolis' choice of Craig. The movie was by far much better than "Die Another Day", Pierce Brosnan's last entry...and it was just a far more watchable movie, period. Certainly, it'll make us all forget about the very first "Casino Royale", a weirdo movie typical of the 60s (I think the Herb Alpert theme will outlast anything from that flick).

"The name's Bond. James Bond". The five words that are usually uttered in the first third of a typical 007 movie were given as the very last line. That's how different "Casino Royale" was. No Q, no gadgets, no god-awful puns...and Daniel Craig has given us a Bond that could out-Connery even Sean Connery. The plot was less fantastical and much more grounded in the murkiness of the spy world, although there were still the jaw-dropping scenes of hand-to-hand battle. It seemed to be a mix of James Bond, "24" and "The Sandbaggers" (an old British spy series). Here, in this Bond redux, we have a snarly thuggish 007 making mistakes and being screwed around (in all the meanings possible) by a woman. You might say that this was the proto-Bond. I hope the future entries will be more like this. I was rather reminded of the old classics such as "To Russia With Love" and "Goldfinger". Now, if only the theme songs could be improved on. I say...get Anita Baker or Diana Krall for the next one.

Monday was almost the usual day. I had The Class Act, SIL and The Part-Timer for their last lessons of the year but once again, 008 cancelled out. Tuesday was not one to remember too fondly. The lessons were OK enough but I got hammered with a major head cold. I was contributing to world deforestration with all the Kleenex I was going through...never a good thing to show to a bunch of students. Still, the Beehive ladies were kind enough to once again treat me to lunch. By the time I got home, I was ready to hit bed. And I followed a salaryman's recommended course of action; drink two heavy-duty vitamin drinks after a hot shower then wrap myself in blankets and sweat it out. Well, I'm not 100% but I'm certainly doing a whole lot better than I was yesterday. I still have a little honk in the nose, though.

Monday December 11, 5:13 p.m.

Well, Happy 65th to Mom!

It wasn't quite the all-beef weekend of last week but it was more of a business n' pleasure weekend. Saturday was spent teaching The Coffeemaker, Tully and then The New Yorker in Ichigaya before heading to Niwa no Yu, a spa across from Toshima-en, for Speedy's annual year-end bash.

The lesson with The Coffeemaker and Tully went pretty well since it was on business telephone conversations. They really appreciated all of the little nuances such as actually using "Mister" or "Miss" to address oneself. Over here, it is of course the height of rudeness to refer oneself as "-san". As for the New Yorker, it was a bit of a chaotic situation. I scheduled her lesson at 1 so that I could get over to the spa in enough time to indulge in its delights. However, 1 just happened to be the peak busy time for To The Herbs, the Italian restaurant over Ichigaya Station. As a result, I had to teach a lesson to one of my lowest (though faithful) students with two jabbering tables at either side of us and while eating my own lunch. Luckily the years of teaching gave me a certain amount of studied coolness to prevent any onset of panic. Strangely enough, since I was rather limited in my abilities, I was actually able to focus strictly on one pattern which she was able to get drilled into her head.

It was a cold and drizzly afternoon once I got to Niwa-no-Yu (The Garden Waters) spa...rather perfect weather to warm up in a nice hot bath. Actually, I hadn't planned on getting into the huge tub; all I wanted to indulge in was a scalp massage...one of the many treatments they had there. Niwa-no-yu is a relatively new establishment in what has become one of the many spa/relaxation spots that have been popping up all over Tokyo over the past few years. Once Speedy arrived and arranged everything, I was able to sign up at half the usual entry price and got my bag of spa robe and towels. Again, I hadn't expected to take a dip but when I signed up for the scalp massage, the young ladies (girls) sweetly told me that I had to strip down to au naturel mode with just a towel around my rather large midriff. For a scalp massage...hmmm, I did wonder what I was getting myself into.

I didn't realize it til later but the scalp massage was part of the Body Cleaning series of treatments which took place in the Men's Onsen (hot spring) area. There is another series up on the 2nd floor which didn't require disrobing. The Body Cleaning involved what it says...full scrub down. Well, not one to say no to any woman, I dutifully went into the locker room and changed into my towel. I had about 10 minutes before the massage so I actually tried out the saunas to open up those pores. The Finnish sauna was one hot sucker...stayed there for a grand total of 1 minute before deciding to take my chances on a more moderate version outside. Then I stepped into the small room where the scalp massages were performed; I could then understand why I had to strip down to skivvies. The place was rather wet since the room also contained the area for akasuri (exfoliation with a hard sponge...very popular in Korea). I was expecting some muscular guy or a really old woman who'd seen everything and anything to take care of me, but I got a bit of a surprise when my masseuse turned out to be a young, fairly pretty woman...the key point being that she was younger than me. I felt even more naked than I was. The woman had a very friendly nonchalant attitude and just told me to take off the towel (!) and wear these thin mauve pants. Mauve! Never thought I would wear anything that underwearish in mauve. I got on the flat table and for the next 20 minutes, my masseuse started playing my scalp like a very frenetic passage in a Beethoven symphony. It was quite good...she even rubbed down my arms and...gulp...chest! However, the finale was just as surprising as the beginning. She hosed me down with warm water all over me...that pair of mauve pants got very sheer very quickly. I muttered my thanks and did the quickest change from pants to towel. I then decided to take a shower after all since I was completely drenched.

The rest of the evening went very well. Mind you, there was a bit of tension in the main lobby as some yahoo was complaining to the manager about the level of service given to him. The manager didn't seem to be too fazed, though...he's probably gone through this many times before, and perhaps even with the same man. Speedy and a few others were in our spa robes while the rest of our party were in street clothes when we were escorted to the 2nd floor party room for the bonenkai. I must admit that I was quite impressed with the assortment of food. It was a typical year-end party setting with plenty of hot pot and sashimi and other things to nibble on. There was that new staff member who had just been with the school for two days. Very little time but considering that she's a woman who's spent more time abroad in various countries than over here, she was quite reserved. But I know that feeling very well.

Friday December 8, 11:22 a.m.

Back at the grungy I-cafe again. I had to check on some things including the cost of an Internet cable for that offered laptop. Doesn't look too bad.

I got the word from Speedy that I can pick up my pay on Wednesday. Although I don't have any classes on that day, I will probably have some last-minute shopping to catch up on.

As it turned out, I had a day off yesterday. As I was doing some final checking of my e-mail during my 3-hour stint yesterday, I got an emergency note from B2 saying that she had to cancel due to a family emergency. Well, I was out of 5,000 yen but I did get a pleasant evening.

Gonna be getting some lunch and then I'm off to "teach" the juku boss (although I foresee it'll be more of the chitchat...hey, it's her 6,000) and then actually teach The UL before making the return trip for the Ace. Also got word from the kids' mother that the Elder will not be available for Sunday's lesson. Not a particularly bad development...

Thursday December 7, 3:03 p.m.

Back in the grungy Internet cafe in my neighbourhood. At least I got a bit less sullen service. It's another quiet day for me...only have B2 and B2B tonight. So I just had some lunch at Subway and then it's here. I decided to spare 1/8 of my day today in front of the screen so I could think about what to do about my financial future. Couldn't hope to know anything about investing so it was time to think about other ways to increase income. So I decided to just browse and see what was available. Writing was always a potential option for me and since this blog has been good practice for, I went through the search engines. Apparently, there's a book about self-publishing in Japan that's sold at Kinokuniya which costs only 1800 yen; don't think I'll be making those J.K. Rowling millions but heck, the investment of less than 2000 yen can't be that bad.

Radio announcing was also another option. I've...ahem...been told over the years that I'm in possession of a voice that is radio-friendly by students. Hmmm....I'm not so sure about that but I know that how one sounds to oneself and how one sounds to others can be remarkably different at times. In any case, my search on the engines turned up nothing.

As I've mentioned over the years, I'm a devout atheist...and even worse, a cynic. So, commiserating about my financial plight is just what comes naturally to me. And yet, over the past several days, I've been getting stuff from different sources that might signify that perhaps a higher force may be at work trying to cheer me up. First, it was the juku boss telling me about how lousy her 2006 was and in fact, some of the personal hardships that have plagued her. Then, it was The Madame with her fractious relationship with her parents because she won't get married or get a full-time job. If her folks only knew how deep into this spiritualism business she was in. And just a couple of days ago, it was Speedy's turn to let me know how much pressure he's been under trying to keep his school afloat at the risk of his frayed health. He's been burning the midnight oil a bit too much in my opinion. He's been hiring part-time assistants right left and centre when he should be thinking about getting a true right-hand person as a VP. I know...easier said than done. Still, I've got my own problems to think about.

CNN has been doing a low-key focus on Japan over the past week involving a series of "Talk Asia" interviews with various celebs here and perhaps one "Quest" segment with the avuncular Richard Quest. This is rather different from the Bill Hemmer Express that showed up at Roppongi Hills a few years ago. I caught the Kotooshu interview a couple of nights ago. It was a good revelation from one of the foreign sumo wrestlers (he hails from Bulgaria) who's managed to hit the top ranks; he's at the 2nd-highest rank of ozeki. One of the better points was on the motivation of sumotori to get ahead of the pack...if you don't practice and practice hard, you'll end up serving your higher-ups and probably getting bullied by them for the rest of your pathetic career in the stable. When the service involves cooking, cleaning, wiping sweat (and even butts...can you imagine seeing 250 kg Konishiki trying to clean himself in the toilet?...the laws of physics won't permit it), junior sumo would rather fight themselves to the top and actually get a salary.

The other one interview I'd like to see is the one coming up with J-Pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki this Friday. The J-Pop forums have been buzzing about this one. In the ads for this one-on-one, Hamasaki has shown some prowess with the English language. But I'm not sure if the entire chat will be in her adopted tongue...BoA, who had her CNN spotlight earlier this week, can speak some English, too, but most of her talk was in Korean with English dubbing. I'm not so sure if Hamasaki would be doing this interview if she hadn't been overshadowed this past year by the new reigning Queen of J-Pop, Kumi Koda. Koda is the Osakan pop idol who's given rise to one of the big buzzwords of 2006, ero-aidoru (erotic idol), for her distinctive lack of clothing during her performances. At last year's Kohaku Utagassen, the ratings showed a rather big spurt...heh...when she appeared for her number. What was probably not shown was that the cases of wife-on-husband assault probably also shot up during that hour.

Well, in any case, I've got a week left here before I take off...

Wednesday December 6, 9:14 p.m.

I've finished my last class with 001 for the year. As usual, she claimed to be sleepy but "full of energy"...ain't that just like a woman? In any case, we had a good finale. Also heard from Speedy that my tab for the annual Xmas party will be picked up (great!) although the boss did hint that a donation of sorts would always be appreciated. The party will be taking place at a spa near Toshima-en Station; before you get too confused about the venue....this place also has dining facilities fit for a ryokan. They offer various forms of massage; I am thinking of taking them up on their offer although it would mean some discharge of yen. However, I am feeling distinctly knot-like at this time.

Last Saturday, during dinner at the West Park Cafe in Akasaka, MB loaned me his copy of "Watchmen", that famed graphic novel which got all sorts of accolades including inclusion into TIME's "Best 100 Novels of the 20th-Century". I'd come across bit and pieces of it over the 20 years that it had been out but it was actually the first time that I could really read it from front to back. It was indeed a pageturner and a vastly interesting piece of fiction...and that I write considering that I had read "The Dark Knight" and "Kingdom Come"...similarly plotted and created graphic novels published after "Watchmen". I could imagine how these usually jaded critics dropped their jaws and raised their arms in literary orgasm on reading the very first revamping of the comic book superhero back in 1986. And then afterwards, basically any graphic novel featuring superheroes cannot help but pay homage to the book with the iconic Smiley face with the smear of blood running down it. I'm not sure how "Watchmen" compares to "The Little Prince" in terms of sophisticated layering of meaning and message but I was impressed at how this story changed from a superhero version of film noir to an apocalyptic sci-fi epic depicting an extreme example of Star Trek's "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". All that angst and anti-heroism (with all due respect to Stan Lee's Spiderman) that have now become part and parcel of the contemporary superhero's emotional baggage...."Watchmen" was where it all started. All that happy, shiny heroism of Superman and Adam West's Batman goes out the window to be replaced with some of the most pathos-laden drawings and situations one can have. Perhaps my only gripe with "Watchmen" was that the denouement was a little too pat. But I'm just kvetching on one small thing. In any case, I'm not surprised that the Hollywood folks are treating a potential film adaptation like a flask of Polonium 210...I don't think it can be made successfully. Seeing how Alan Moore saw his other properties, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and perhaps "V for Vendetta" got ground up, he will never put his blessing on his magnum opus to even Steven Spielberg. People might counter that "The Lord of the Rings" finally got made and made well but Tolkien's epic was basically a bedroom story for his children. I'm not downplaying Tolkien's...or for that matter, Peter Jackson's...efforts, but Adam Moore put in a whole bunch of uncomfortable, morally debatable layers which are far closer to reality in this universe than the stark Good vs. Evil in Frodo's. Of course, that hasn't stopped the fantasy baseball in terms of casting any incarnation of "Watchmen". Arnold Schwarzenegger was once touted as Doctor Manhattan (he's huge, strong and he was naked in "Terminator" ) before politics came knocking. Maybe Maggie Gyllenhall could be Laurie Juspecyk (Silk Spectre II) and Robert Redford could even be Ozymandias (yeah, I know...I'm reaching). But as for the star of the series, Rorschach, y'got me on that one. Maybe Hugo Weaving could pull off another masked role again. Still, I'd say that leave well enough alone. "Watchmen" has already put itself into legend...no need to tarnish that gold.

And on that note, I bid you a good night...hurm

Wednesday December 6, 5:25 p.m.

It's been a fairly quiet past few days. On Monday night, I had The Part-Timer for her first lesson outside of the comfy confines of Speedy's at the nearby Doutor's by the subway station. It wasn't too bad although obviously the refreshments were no longer free.

I was actually able to get a decent night of sleep for the first time in a while since The Anime King's return to Canada. I finally got my futon back after almost a week on the lumpy sofa, and since The Beehive wasn't seeing me yesterday morning, I also got a full 9 hours. I had to sacrifice "The Untouchables" but seeing that that show was in its final throes, I could accept it. It looks like that pinch-hitting teacher on Saturday at the juku did pretty well. There were almost no surprises. The new guy had a good time with Seven and Jolly, and he had to turn on the TLC with Mrs. Mild, who's eternally underconfident. The surprise was with The Ace...notably my best student of the group, who had apparently been very nervous. The juku boss also presented me with an old Panasonic notebook computer which can be mine for a bargain-basement 20,000 yen. The only problem is that my bank account is probably a full two levels below that. It would seem, though, that the original owner, the boss' friend, doesn't take NO for an answer. The boss said that I could pay him anytime. Well, I tried it out...no Internet cable so I couldn't log on but the internal software was running fine....even had a good couple of games of Hearts. Well, if the cable doesn't cost me an arm and a leg, then I'll take the note off his hands.

As for Seven, once again she gave me some goodies for eating...this time, it was sable cookies from the tony district of Shirogane. What she was doing there was beyond me since she doesn't seem to make the money needed to shop there; Seven is definitely more of the Harajuku Girl set. I also gave her the dreaded test that I had warned her about almost a month in advance. Even so, I had to give her a very generous 89%....she was as slow as molasses for a majority of the oral test. I had to remind myself that the juku classes weren't for any particular goal....just a hobby. Plus, she did bring the cookies. Jolly couldn't make it due to work. The Milds were back....as expected, Mrs. Mild curled up into a little ball when I asked her about the new teacher. I sighed internally. Mr. Mild showed up; he'd just come back from a business trip in Okinawa. So I got a souvenir in the form of kakuni, which is a very fatty slab of pork, the favoured meat of the southern islands. I should be getting a lot of collagen from that. As for The Siberian, he was as spaced out as usual.

I had my final buffet lunch with The Anime Chamberlain. As I said before, it was a nice way to finish things up with the month of otaku since our first meeting was also at a buffet restaurant. We ended up going to the U.N. Cafe in the Shiodome City Centre building....just around the corner from LAST, the first of our buffet restaurants. It certainly had a bit more cachet than LAST: the U.N. (not sure if it has any connections with the world organization) had a more atmospheric decor and softer music than the neighbourhood diner feel and 80's AM radio sounds of LAST. Foodwise, the fare was a bit more upscale and cosmopolitan. There were bowls of wonton soup, minestrone and mild curry to go with a lot of veggies. In fact, I'd initially thought that we arrived in a vegetarian restaurant, but once I saw the pasta, raw bonito and curried chicken, then all fears were allayed.

Afterwards, we took a short subway hop to Kokkai Gijidomae, which translates directly as "in front of the Diet" where The Chamberlain took some shots of the main Parliament building. The security was there which made me wonder if my companion would be approached by them about his intentions with his camera. I was reminded when my old Japanese language teacher had herself been given the 3rd degree by some overambitious guards when she tried to take some shots. Luckily, they left us alone although we were somewhat disappointed that there were no rightwing nutjobs ramming their cars into the main gates. However, we did see a number of protesters on the other side of Parliament yelling about North Korea, unions and the like. We took the train again to Shinjuku where I gave my final farewells to the lad before he himself took off for home tomorrow.

Well, back here at Speedy's to teach my sole lesson to 001. Speedy's breaking in another assistant in what has become the revolving door to help here at the school. It's almost become a running gag on the level of Murphy Brown's everchanging secretaries. Nice young lady...she even offered me some chocolate.

Monday December 4, 4:56 p.m.

Well, the final guest at Hotel Haruhiko for the year checked out this afternoon. The Anime King has finally left the building. In the past few days, he along with The Anime Chamberlain and The Anime Duke have touched their inner and outer otaku full tilt. Almost every night of their stay, they all went to their Mecca in Akihabara and scoured the area for anything new and anime/manga/character. Yesterday, their big conference reached its peak with their visit to a couple of shows in Tokyo. One was a character goods festa near Haneda Airport and then there was the cosplay party at Toshima-en Amusement Park. The boys took some pics and even a video. I was quite impressed by the fellow (who obviously wasn't lacking for money) who donned a Gundam suit of armour. That was just gun-damn impressive....ouch!

However, The King and I did take a little respite from his subcultural world by meeting up with an old friend of ours, The Prez from the Company. It'd been 2 years since I last met up with the old guy...right after finishing up with those somewhat futile English lessons for his staff. The three of us went to the Century Hyatt in Shinjuku and down in the basement was the branch of the famous Imahan, the sukiyaki restaurant. Of course, The Prez footed the bill. Being Imahan, we were served by a kimono-clad waitress with the gift of the gab; she was just going on about her travels throughout North America. Meanwhile, she cooked up the tender slices of meat in the sweet soy sauce mix. Needless to say, the sukiyaki was delicious. It had been a year since my own little sukiyaki home party that I tried Japan's second-most famous dish next to sushi. I could even take the raw egg that I dipped the meat into. But then again in Japan, it would seem that raw eggs don't have that inbuilt fear of salmonella that they have in the West.

The Prez must've mellowed in the past couple of years...he didn't mention The Iconoclast without giving a snide comment about his problems in the office. Afterwards, The Prez took us back to the office...another trip down memory lane. The office looked pretty much the same but without the staff; apparently, it was a pretty quiet weekend. Afterwards, we all parted in our own directions...I had to run off to teach that final EIC lesson at Speedy's. It was pretty harmless for her but just not sure what her retention rate will be.

The sukiyaki was only the beginning of what would be an all-beef weekend for me. After Speedy's, I went down to Akasaka-Mitsuke for the next chapter in the nearly year-long Burger Tour with MB and the guys. Unlike the duo of me and Skippy a couple of weeks ago at Brozzers in Ningyocho, we would be joined by MB, The Satyr and The Sylph. The next place turned out to be The West Side Park Cafe, a chain whose branches I'd come across several times in the past in different areas...most notably, the Maru Building across from Tokyo Station. I'd always wondered what eating there would be like. Well, this Akasaka branch was very quiet on a Saturday night...no problems about where to be seated. I was sorely tempted to get the Roast Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes but since it was indeed a Burger Tour, I toed the line and got a Bacon-Cheese Burger. Yep, it was pretty good but I think Brozzers is still the one to beat. We even made a pit stop at Anna Miller's down the street. Anna Millers is the notorious cafe franchise with the waitresses in the short skirts. But before any of you Hooters perverts start hoofing it there, the cafe is more maid then wet T-shirt. And I'll be polite and say that the wait staff doesn't exactly reach the standard of leggy supermodel. Our waitress had a distinctly anime way of delivering her spiel. However, I did go for the Dutch Wife...er, I mean...Apple Pie with bottomless cups of coffee.

While Skippy and I decided to make an early night of it, the rest of the guys decided to head on down to Shibuya to catch 007's latest. MB, being the resident Bond fan, had been waiting for years to see how Bond redux would do in his estimation. Both he and Skippy had gone to some concerts in the last little while. MB caught his other heroes, U2, up at the huge Saitama soccer arena. Skippy saw The Piano Man at Tokyo Dome back on Tuesday.

Sunday was relatively less hectic. While The Anime King and his group were out in Haneda, I had some time to get some laundry and vacuuming done before heading out to Ikebukuro to meet The Madame. She took me to Din Dai Fon, the famed sho ron po restaurant whose mother ship we'd visited in Taipei last year. Strangely enough, with all of the news about long lineups, we were able to get in pretty quickly. I noticed the difference in cultures between Taiwan and Japan when we sat down. The original Din Dai Fon was notable for its utilitarian and grimy interior decor...just like lots of places in Chinatown back in T.O. This Japanese branch was sparkling clean and its interior had lots of that fake wood. The dumplings were still the same good juicy pouches of meat and liquid, though. The Madame is gradually getting deeper into her thrall of spiritualism. She claims that she'd actually met her future self...who comes from an extrasolar planet, by the way. Not surprisingly, her relationship with her parents has been strained of late. We went to Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and...beignets. I was kinda wondering where these pouches of dough came from. Well, I got my answer from the coffee which was The New Orleans Cafe Du Lait.

My all-beef weekend culminated with the meeting of the otaku and their representative here in Tokyo, the Anime Attache. We somehow managed to find each other in the nutso environment by JR Shinjuku East Exit. As for venue, we ended going to one of the branches of Mo Mo Paradise, a franchise which specializes in sukiyaki (yet again) and shabu-shabu. Our first branch met with failure since there was an hour's wait there but just a few hundred more metres and we came across a more spacious version. It was a bit of the blind leading the blind during the ordering phase since everyone had their own opinions of what to order; however, we all went for the all-you-can-eat sukiyaki/shabu-shabu course for 2,100 yen each. We definitely got our money's worth over the next 90 minutes. We were already heading for balloonhood by the 60-minute mark. We were basically just eating machines by the end. After dinner followed 2 hours of walking (it was needed) around Shinjuku browsing the anime stores before we finally broke up at 9. To neatly complete the epic monthlong circle of social interaction with my otaku friends, I'll be meeting The Anime Chamberlain one last time on Wednesday for yet another buffet. He was the first and he'll be the last.

My dark O. Henryesque year is still throwing curves at me. I had to fork over another ton of cash to the government in the form of advance taxes...and The Class Act along with 008 cancelled their classes today so my money flow has again tightened. Well, I'll be heading out to teach The Part-Timer in a few minutes.

Friday December 1, 4:54 p.m.

Well, here we are...the first day of the final month. It's suitably cold and gloomy out there. Just waiting for that first flake of snow to wreck up the JR.

Yesterday, on the final day of the penultimate month, I was heading toward Kinokuniya Books in Takashimaya Times Square. As I went up the escalator, I saw the horizon of the big building across the tracks looming up in front of me when a building also rose up in front of my eyes. It had been an Italian restaurant until it closed down some months ago. But now, I could've had the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey" as BGM since the restaurant's replacement will be none other than...Japan's first Krispy Kreme franchise! A ripple shook through me as I saw this vision of loveliness surrounded by construction workers. After months of speculation, the rumours are now truth...if they build it, it will come. However, I have my doubts that it'll arrive by the end of the year. The future donut emporium still looks very unfinished. But it'll only be a matter of time before we have yet another excuse to endanger our cholesterol levels.

Of course, I told this info to B2 and B2B later that night. B2 confided to me that as a member of the grand Mixi conference, she's part of the Krispy Kreme community. I couldn't imagine what these guys would talk about, but she said that a lot of the chitchat (or chewchat) was wondering aloud about when oh when the first shop would alight on these shores. The news certainly helped the lesson last night, that's for sure.

Before the lesson at the Mitsukoshimae Starbucks, I was browsing around the area for a dinner place. I'd already had my weekly dose of McD's so I eschewed another visit at the Golden Arches and Freshness Burger for that matter, but I did come across this small sandwich shop called Intermezzo. The sandwiches looked fairly big although they didn't approach the Subway level of things. The place looked rather deserted but during the course of my chicken katsusando dinner, I noticed that a few dour-looking suits came in and out. The lone master of the shop also had that well-weathered look. Although I was able to stay and finish my meal with little problem, I did feel slightly out of place. I realized that the shop was mostly for the middle manager types. There was none of that manufactured politeness that all of the main coffee chains' staff get indoctrinated in.

The Anime King is still enjoying his otaku life in Tokyo. He actually called up the ol' President, my former employer for 2 years. And I even had a few words with him. Looks like I'll be meeting him for lunch along with The King...and perhaps the Chamberlain, tomorrow before I head over to Speedy's to do that last of three with the EIC student.

My "lesson" with the juku boss turned out to be a bit more serious than normal. We both commiserated about how lousy 2006 was for us. However, the boss had the worse of the deal with not only financial problems but also some personal problems as well. I also found out for the first time that she's a batsu-ichi...a divorcee. Looks like her first hubby was a bit of a philandering creep. Amazing how the woman still keeps her cheer. Although I didn't feel any better about my situation, at least I know I'm not alone.

I'm now here at the Otemachi Kinko's writing this after having a good spicy soup at Com Pho and then picking a new text for the UL, whom I'll see in about 2 hours. I'll be heading over to our new base of operations at Cafe Croissant.

Wednesday November 29, 9:31 p.m.

Yup, the classes went pretty well. 001 was her usual giddy self. And 007 was his usual button-down self. But most likely next week will be my final week at Speedy's before heading back home for the Holidays since both students will be away...which may benefit me in that I can get some last-minute holiday shopping done. However, my pocketbook will be hurting me some.

Looks like the staff revolving door is starting to turn once again. We're gonna be losing one staffer who'd been here for several months, and our cute one will be taking off once she graduates from college next March. But I got the glimpse of the incoming help. She's apparently more Western than Japanese despite her roots; Speedy claims that she's just like us folks..native-level fluency. Well, it'll be nice gabbing with someone once again.

Anyways, time to close up shop...

Wednesday November 29, 4:37 p.m.

Well, the Anime King has arrived. The pickup was as smooth as a baby's bottom. Between The Beehive and the juku classes, I got him at Keisei Funabashi and just took him back home. After about 10 minutes of chitchat, we both got on our respective ways....I to my lessons, while The King went off to meet the Anime Chamberlain and the Anime Duke in Akihabara. My lessons came off well as usual but I'm still wondering about this Saturday guy who will be teaching them.

This morning, the Anime King and I went off to Ikebukuro. By sheer coincidence, we saw the Chamberlain walking on the right Otemachi Station platform. The Duke was somewhat late at our rendezvous point in front of the Animate Store across from the Sunshine 60 Building. It didn't matter...we got to Namjatown and the Gyoza Museum without seeing the huge crowds. It's always good to bring a group to this place; it's just like going to dim sum, you need the numbers to sample all of the different kinds of dumplings. The only down side is that everytime you order, you have to wait around for 10 minutes for the stuff to cook up. Well, at least they are dekitate (freshly made). The four of us then took a look through Ice Cream City and the Cheesecake Exhibition. Unfortunately, my compadres don't have huge sweet teeth so we didn't bother with dessert. At least, we saved ourselves some empty calories. We also passed by Riraku no Mori, the massage oasis in the centre of all that food emporia. However, I wasn't going to douse my masseuse with garlic so we left the building.

The Duke was looking for this liquor store nearby which had this rare commemorative bottle of sake; it was a longshot and sure enough, a local when asked replied that the store had been long gone. So, instead we turned our attentions back to Animate where the Duke assuaged his disappointment by buying a whole ton of anime goods. Gotta admit, though, that some of the goods were just bordering on porn...yeesh.

Then, I further entered the world of otaku-dom when we went to this game centre across from Tokyu Hands. At the top of the building was this ode to the legendary anime, "Sakura Taisen", one of the classic examples of steampunk with lovely lady warriors before going down one floor to the game floor where the Anime Duke heartily started this game called Idolmaster in which he becomes the Svengali for a digital aidoru. At that point, I decided to take my leave and head for Speedy's.

I've got 001 and then 007 for their two. Tomorrow should be another busy day especially since I'll be doing another multiple crosstown commute to see The Polynesian, then 002 and finally B2 and B2B.

Well, I finally paid off the balance for my Air Canada ticket. It's just vomiting...you dread doing the deed but when it's done you feel somewhat better for it. Mind you, I've got some more dry heaves coming up since I still have that tax payment and the monthly NHI premium to take care of as well.

Monday November 27, 5:02 p.m.

Another gray wet cold November day. Yep, it's definitely starting to look more like Xmas in Tokyo. Pretty lucky that the major rains have so far been restricted to the overnight hours.

So far, so good on the classes today. The Class Act and SIL were up to speed. In between lessons, I went to Tower Records and finally put my filled point card to use and bought a couple of discs, both of a Yuletide nature. One is J-diva Ayaka Hirahara's cover of "My Christmas List"; if there's anyone who could pull it off, it would be her. The other is just a compilation of J-Xmas songs...yep, Japan has had a long history of its own musical tributes to the Xmas season along with covers of the classics. I'm not surprised...considering how in thrall Japanese audiences are with the AOR genre, Xmas songs are a cinch here.

In about an hour, I've got The Part-Timer. I got lucky again. One of Speedy's students canned so I've got my old room here to teach her in. Then, it's 008. Should be OK.

Tomorrow could be interesting. Between The Beehive and the juku classes, I have to wait for The Anime King's arrival...which means I've gotta get the hotel all gussied up. I'm hoping that the guy does arrive in good time but I've already put in the requisite checks and balances with him so if something bad does happen, I can still make it to the juku, guilt-free.

Glad to see that Nancy Grace(less) is getting a bit of comeuppance from that lawsuit thrown against her. I'm also thankful that since she got her own show months ago, CNNj hasn't had to show her to us here in Japan. Although I don't think the suit will go anywhere (it would set a deadly precedent on all journalists), Grace is now duly warned.

Well, back to dinner...