Wednesday December 5, 9:38 a.m.

I was carousing through the little CD nook in that bookstore near Ichigaya Station before The New Yorker showed up for her lesson last week. I took a listen to yet another Xmas song by one of the current J-R&B crop, Crystal Kay. It's called "Shining", and although the melody sounded rather derivative, it was still catchy...not catchy enough for me to buy it right then and there, though.

Yup, it's that time of year when J-Pop and Xmas music collide...I can imagine all of the music aesthetes running away screaming while holding their ears in an emulation of Munch's masterpiece at the thought of these two genres together. Yes, Virginia, there is indeed J-Pop Xmas music...despite the fact that the holiday really has no relevance here except for Santa Claus and the excuse to enjoy mediocre Beaujolais Nouveau.

I have here some of the many examples of Japanese Yuletide jingles that actually do sound decent and not in any specific order:

1) "Christmas Eve" - Tatsuro Yamashita (1982) The "White Christmas" of J-Pop. Kinda eerie in that while the song celebrates its 25th anniversary of existence, Der Bingle's classic is celebrating its 65th anniversary since its premiere in "Holiday Inn". Anyways, it's ironic that Yamashita, known for his summery West Coast sounds, will probably be pegged for this Xmas tune. It starts with a slow guitar before it gives way to the familiar jingling bells and chimes. It even has a tribute to Pachelbel's "Canon" in the middle. It's basically a romantic ballad which fits the theme of Xmas here in Japan as a couples' celebration.
Strangely enough, "Christmas Eve" didn't really catch fire for about 5 years. Then, its usage in a series of JR commercials in the late 80s featuring a starlet waiting for her boyfriend on the snowy train platform or in the station sealed its immortality as a Holiday favourite. And it now gets used in a myriad of different commercials annually. A couple of years ago, it was even sampled by a rap group. Basically, everyone knows the opening bars and on hearing them in this country, everyone knows that Xmas is a-coming.

More later....but The Nurse should be here any minute.

Wednesday December 5, 9:28 a.m.

Managed to survive the juku night last night. Jolly actually did show up; in fact, he showed up for 2 hours since he had to make up a lesson. But compared to last week's slogfest, I managed to invest a lot of my stand-up routine into a simpler homemade text on Persuasive Presentations, and like the perennial spoonful of sugar, that helped the medicine go down nicely. My anecdote on that Maid Cafe trip with Automan helped a lot (actually, Jolly had been to the Cafes three times previously).
Mild Jr. was as intensely focused as last week on his conversations. I was surprised to see Mr. Mild show up with his wife...as was his son. He looked somewhat like Death warmed over since he was still battling the rages of a cold, and it wasn't exactly warm outside last night. Still, he gave it the ol' college try. As for the kids, although they weren't aiming any of it at me, I could tell from their banter with each other that they're approaching that cruel mouthy stage of teenage. Plus, I got the news that they'll be bringing a couple of friends next week, so my kiddie class could become a quartet.

Today, I've just got The Nurse..and that'll be all she wrote. 001 won't be showing up since she has a day off work today...and by her own admission that she's just too plain lazy to make the effort to come to class. And Mr. TOEIC is too busy at work this week. So, I'll just be doing some Xmas shopping in Shinjuku before heading back for a rare Hump Night off.

Tuesday December 4, 2:14 p.m.

Since I don't have 002 today, I have a rather large hole in my schedule, so I'm doing this. I did have The Beehive this morning at Beckers. It was the usual kaffeeklatsch of Mrs. Travel, Mrs. Alp and Mrs Tee. Considering the age of the students involved, talk revolved around their aging parents and the inevitable departure from the mortal coil. Mrs. Tee had another slight crying jag.

Just have the juku ahead of me. I've got my gauntlet of Chip N' Dale, Mild Jr. and Jolly. Since Jolly (and I, by association) was felled by the rather difficult handouts on Persuasive Presentations, I made up something a bit more digestible for him. But I've got a feeling that he'll dotakyan tonight. The Milds are always easy to teach and The Siberian is always the chat.

Well, they officially released the ryukougo~sho (Buzzwords of the Year Awards) for 2007, and no surprise...sonanno kankei ne (What does that have to do with anything?) was up there. For those who view YouTube religiously, it was uttered by Yoshio Kojima, the somewhat unhinged Okinawan tarento in the tiny bikini pants, who managed to become the No. 5 most watched video worldwide. Also up there was Dondake? (How much?) by 45-year-old mincing transvestite, Ikko. And even the food fighter, Gyaru Sone, was up on the stage for O-Gui (Big Eater). Just wonder if any of them will still be on TV this time next year.

Monday December 3, 5:27 p.m.

Well, the annual Xmas party for the school is now history. Went to Fungo's...that Italian restaurant across from Shinjuku Park. We had about 30 people in all. As I had expected, I sat myself at the table with all of the grandmas...although The Dentist and a few more younger folks were there. To be honest, it kinda felt like working at a retirement home. I enjoyed the dishes but one or two of them felt that their constitutions couldn't really take the spice so I got the benefit of proximity and polished off their portions.
Overall, the party had the feel of the typical office Xmas party...initial chaos at the beginning, party games that were off and on, and the one bad drunk...which happened to be Speedy himself. He was looking pretty tipsy at the end...I come in today, and I found out from both The Admin and the bossman himself that he became the human Technicolour fountain...on tour throughout the Shinjuku area. In fact, he's still plenty hungover now and his wife isn't too happy with him since he managed to "paint" the futon...time to hit Ikea again. I gave him a couple of Bufferin in sympathy.

In any case, we'll be closing up shop a little early tonight since the boss wants to get home to recover. Apparently, his class cancelled, and Mr. TOEIC isn't showing up tonight. And The Full-Timer begged off again with a fever. Still, it's not a wasted trip since I have to prep for tomorrow's clases here.

However, it was a wasted trip yesterday. I was supposed to have had dinner with The Bohemian in Shibuya...unfortunately, The Bohemian didn't realize that. I was in front of Hachiko at 4 in the usual scrum of teens and other scuzz...I waited 20 minutes. To be honest, I had a feeling that he wouldn't show so when I called his home and his mother called for him...I wasn't too put out by the stand-up. He asked what my schedule was like next Sunday....I said I'd call him...but I probably won't. After all, I'm a snake person...I'm pretty vindictive when I want to be.

Saturday December 1, 3:20 p.m.

Currently in a holding pattern at Speedy's. Finished up with The Manhattanite an hour ago, and had lunch consisting of two rice balls and a cake donut via Speedy's wife; looks like Tokyo has gotten itself another donut shop. Plus, the bossman told me that Krispy Kreme #3 is ready to go in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture...basically out in the boonies. Well, once KK3 opens up, it'll be one of the busiest little villages in the country. At least, KK has finally opened up outside of Tokyo. Just fiddling time on the Net before it's time to head out to the annual Xmas party, the first of three that I'll be having for the Yuletide. So, I'm in my dress blues...which usually just means wearing a jacket with my tie and shirt. Not sweating, though, despite the fact that it's actually quite Spring-like outside at 16 C.

I had Tully & The Coffeemaker this morning at the usual location. The Coffeemaker looked quite exhausted but she's been putting in several hours a day, 6 days a week for the last little while. As for The Manhattanite, I can only hope that she does well on the take-home test. Man, she was stumbling during the review. Well, I'll find out on Thursday night when she has her next lesson. I'll be having The Yoga Instructor for her first lesson that afternoon, and then I'll have to wait several hours before The Manhattanite shows up. I'm not complaining too much since it looks like I may have my first Wednesday and Friday nights off in a little while

Last night seemed to be the night of apologetic press conferences. First, disgraced sumo yokozuna Asashoryu came back into Japan yesterday after a few months in his native Mongolia. Just about every station, including NHK, covered the supposed homecoming of the guy who had openly and stupidly kicked around a soccer ball in his home country with Japanese soccer hero, Hidetoshi Nakata...despite having begged off a domestic goodwill tour due to a back problem. After that, came a period of dealing with depression over being suspended by the Japan Sumo Federation for the malfeasance. Well, he came back to a full court press where he duly apologized. The reviews were mixed...some welcomed and encouraged him, while others felt that he didn't seem humble enough. We'll have to see what the next several weeks will bring, especially when the first tournament of the year starts in January.
Then there was Daiki Kameda, the cocky boxer involved in that mauling of his opponent back in October. He did his own press conference to apologize for his bizarre behaviour. He seemed somewhat more sincere although the typical Kameda cockiness was still on full display. Again, wait and see.

Friday November 30, 9:26 a.m.

We're definitely going into the winter months. I actually put on the gloves for the first time. Just rain but the sky has that look of Toronto snow.

Yesterday had that "road trip" type of feel to it. I had the entire day off from classes but I still had a full slate. First off, I headed off to Tsudanuma JUSCO...JUSCO being that huge supermarket chain. That was the closest place to my apartment where I could get some of those special DIY candies that my sister-in-law had requested. No problems in tracking them down.

Then I hopped on the Sobu Line from Tsudanuma and headed over to the traditional Asakusa area. A half-hour later, I got off at Asakusabashi....thinking that Asakusabashi and Asakusa were hand-in-glove in terms of location. Apparently, a lot of commuters have thought that, too, since the station staff put up a sign saying that, in fact, the two places were separated by half an hour's worth of walking and that commuters heading over to Asakusa should hop on the subway 200 m away.
Well, I was in a walking mood so I decided to beat feet on the street and made my way through Asakusabashi and Kuramae to get to Asakusa. It was the first time that I'd actually gotten off in Asakusabashi. The neighbourhood had that typical inner-city, shitamachi feel to it. Along the crowded sidewalks were various small mom & pop shops and chic cafes and old-style restaurants.
The hike did take 30 minutes but I managed to get to the landmark of Kaminarimon intact. For a Thursday afternoon, the place was bustling with tourist groups, domestic and otherwise, as rickshaw drivers were shilling for willing customers. I also got there some 45 minutes before I was to meet The Lens, so I walked through Shin-Nakamise Dori, one of the famous old-fashioned covered shopping streets of Tokyo. Having worked in Asakusa a decade ago, there was that feel of nostalgia...especially with the cloud and chill in the air. Like the open-air Asakusabashi, Shin-Nakamise was lined with old-style shops with faded awnings. There were a lot of yukata and kimono stores nestled next to toy stores and wafu restaurants. I trekked down the street all the way to Asakusa ROX, one of the original shopping complexes before this current boom of megamalls that has taken Tokyo by storm in the last few years. It was nice to see that the same ol' bookstore and CD shop were still there, and there was still that top-floor eatery which had that corporate cafeteria interior design.

I got back to Kaminarimon and The Lens did show up on time. We ended up having lunch in one of the local ramen restaurants. It was definitely a family-run operation. The father/owner/cook was busy admonishing his little daughter for bothering him while he was cooking up the noodles. The Lens remarked at how unlike the interior was for a ramen restaurant...he was still used to the grungy shops. This place was kinda like what some of the 21st-century versions were....smooth wood paneling with other earth tones while Western ballads were playing over the speakers. Would love to take him to Foo Foo in Shinjuku someday. I guess the place was really new...when I paid for the both of us, I noticed that there was no cash register but just a tupperware container for the yen.

For the next hour, The Lens and I walked through the original Nakamise Dori which is perpendicular to Shin-Nakamise and spans from Kaminarimon Gate to Sensoji, the huge local temple. We basically emulated Brad Pitt's character from "Ocean's 11" and just kept buying manju from the vendors to nosh on. One vendor used that tried n' true marketing technique of showing how manju is made to get his customers to buy. It certainly worked on The Lens. One of the bean-filled pastries was age manju (deep-fried manju)...something that would seemingly appeal to Homer Simpson but the batter was pretty crisp and not heavy. We made it to Sensoji where the temple was doing volume business according to the folks coming up to it taking pictures and flipping coins into the wooden collection stations.
The Lens' mission in Asakusa was to get a yukata for a friend of his, so we found quite a few stalls to peruse. Now, this was the purely touristy yukata...not the ones with ridiculous kanji printed on it, mind you...the ones that didn't cost an arm, a leg and several internal organs. The Lens decided on one place. It was obvious that the vendors were accustomed to the foreign crowd...the two young ladies selling the wares under the eyes of their boss were very fluent in English. My old friend ended up getting a blue-and-white yukata with a bamboo pattern.
The noshing continued but in a more liquid sense. I picked up a couple of cups of amazake (sweet sake) for 100 yen each. Amazake isn't anything like the stuff that could knock you over. As the translation says, it's a very sweet drink created as a by-product from the brewing process. It is cloudy with remnants of rice and is served hot. I always had the impression that amazake was a love-hate affair with people. Some people adore it, some people despise it. However, The Lens was fortunately in the former category. And on a cold November day, amazake does hit the spot.

After walking through the old quarter for an hour or so, we hopped on the Ginza Line and went down to the fancier area of Ginza itself. I nodded off....something that I do with alarming regularity now. Apparently, The Lens had to pick up a new suitcase at Ginza Matsuya. One of the higher-ups there is a kendo acquaintance. The man had that air of sophistication which is natural in a Ginza department store but he is also a veteran kendo-ka who just barely missed getting promoted to 7-dan.

Then, it was a quick walk over to Printemps, another department store closer to Yurakucho, where The Lens bought a small necklace as a surprise Xmas gift for his wife. The lady there could also speak in English, although not as well as the Asakusa yukata vendors. She was a nice young woman although her makeup bespoke a bit of Shibuya gyaru influences.

Finally, it was another hop on the subway...this time on the Marunouchi Line...to get over to The Lens' hotel, the Tokyo Dome Hotel. We got off at Korakuen. It was obvious that the entire amusement area, which includes Tokyo Dome and the L'Aqua spa complex, was all geared up for Xmas...a lot of Yuletide illumination and music was filling up the area.
We went straight for The Coffee Machine, a Starbucks-like cafe and cooled our heels for about 90 minutes while we gabbed about old times. The Attorney finally did get back to the suite so we made our way there as well. Looks like she's been enjoying her relatively new position as a chief legal representative for her company, although she wonders how her minders have been reacting to her status as the first non-Japanese person in her position.
As usual, I got my Reese's products (peanut butter cups, pieces) which seem to be the default tribute omiyage whenever my friends come to town. Then, the three of us went down to the lobby to meet Automan's sister, Autolady, a good friend of theirs. I actually had first met Autolady in university some years before meeting her brother for the first time, but hadn't seen her in many years since she's now one of those jetsetting hard-working execs.

After several minutes of discussion about where to eat...and that included some talk with the concierge (man, it did feel like old times), we just ended up hitting the streets again. We thought we would have to brave the cold and walk all the way to Iidabashi, but as soon as we crossed the street, we came across this Korean BBQ place. Well, the cold outside and the welcoming warmth inside helped make up our minds pretty quickly.
It was initially a tight fit but we did OK at our table. As usual for such an eatery, we had our fill of garlicky yakiniku and chijimi. Autolady's husband, The Romantic (another friend from the old days), was also on his way. It was interesting...last week, I met up with folks like Automan and Shrek, people whom I associated with in the early 90s; yesterday it was with folks from even earlier in my U of T days...and in The Lens' case, back to Japanese Language School and childhood. When The Romantic finally arrived, he remarked it was the first time that he, The Attorney and I had been together in the same place in 20 years. The hair on the back of my neck stood up...and probably grayed.

Later into dinner...Autolady, who is a good deal verbally sharper than her little brother, started grilling me a bit about why I never carried such things like a cellphone, a SUICA commuting card or even bothered looking into investing in an apartment. I've been getting hammered with this question for years, so I rolled my eyes in spirit and gave the usual token jesting response that I was a Luddite. The fact is that though I don't consider myself an extremist technophobe like the Unabomber, I just don't consider buying a cellphone worthy of my money and effort. As for actually buying an apartment...well, I am an English teacher...no high salary, no bonuses, no help financially...I almost laughed when I heard that question. Basically, one would have to be part of Japan Inc or married to someone who is to have a chance of buying real estate in this country. Basically, my answers to her were in a joking way since the truth would've cooled the temperature in the room considerably. The Autolady and I live in different worlds.

My long day finally came to an end when we saw off The Lens and his wife, and Autolady & her hubby drove me to Iidabashi Station. The two couples will be off to Thailand for their Xmas vacation. As I said, we live in different worlds now.

My day ended up not being totally work-free. When I hit home past eleven, I found a thick envelope in my mailbox. It turned out to be another shipment from The Chef to have me proofread her newest menus. So, I took an hour to red-ink any grammatical errors before bedtime since she needed them back by December 3rd. She actually sent e-mail to me about seeing me for a real lesson sometime next month.

To further emphasize the fact that I run in far different circles than folks like Autolady, The Lens and even Automan himself, I recently watched that special scene of the new "Doctor Who" on YouTube where David Tennant's Doctor meets Peter Davison's Doctor in the TARDIS. When I'd first heard that the meeting of Time Lords would be restricted to just a one-scene, 7-minute ep called "Time Crash", I kinda groaned at the lost opportunity. But after seeing it, I've come to the conclusion that it was probably the best example out of all of the special Doctor-meeting-Doctor eps. For one thing, it was short and sweet. My remembrances of eps like "The Three Doctors" were that the shows had pretty flimsy stories complicated and overwhelmed by all these different ego-aspects of The Doctor bickering with each other/himself. The 7 minutes of Davison and Tennant kept things quick and pretty happy by the end.

Well, I just have The Ace tonight for a lesson. But tomorrow will be another one of those "road trips", albeit a more familiar one. I've got Tully & The Coffeemaker, then The Manhattanite before Speedy's party at the end. Ah, BTW, Skippy informed me that she got the job at Phillip Morris without making any reference to the possible position at Speedy's. Now, there's one cat who has always landed on her feet.

Wednesday November 28, 5:21 p.m.

Back at the office after heading out to teach The New Yorker in Ichigaya. Had lunch at Sozaiya, the healthy bento place near the station. It is tasty fare...I'll need convincing, though, that the fried chicken I had was actually healthy. I also had the bowl of spicy tan tan noodles and one rice ball with salmon flakes.

The New Yorker still remains as one of my lower students but at least I can take off the adverb "hopelessly". I'm starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. She's conversing a bit more confidently now although the pauses are still there. She had a good time in Okinawa a couple of weeks ago and I got a box of chinsuko biscuits as a souvenir.

Stopped off in Shinjuku to head over to Tokyu Hands. I was able to pick up a box of Arm & Hammer rug deodorizer although it is the tatami that I plan to use it on. Ever since I washed out the filter in my vacuum, it's been giving off a horrible moldy smell. I'm hoping the miraculous powers of baking soda does wonders to the inside of my ancient machine.
I passed by Krispy Kreme #1 on the way to the station. I was almost gobsmacked when I saw that there was no line coming down the bridge overpass between Takashimaya Times Square and the Southern Tower. However, there was still a snake curling in front of the store itself. The sign said just an hour's wait...which is saying something.

Back on Sunday, during the burger stop in Gaienmae, MB lent me another Dan Simmons opus. Simmons is that sci-fi author responsible for the Hyperion-Endymion series that I'd read a couple of years ago. This time, the two tomes (they're way too thick to be called merely novels) are "Ilium" and "Olympios". As with the previous series, these two books also pay tribute to a literary classic, Homer's "Iliad". And like the other books, Simmons also plays around with the concepts of reincarnation, religion, horny humans and profane artificial intelligences. At first, I wasn't too impressed with "Ilium" but it's starting to grow on me now. I figure that I should be finished with the two books perhaps by the end of the year.

I haven't heard anything from Skippy about my suggestion to her to try out for the soon-to-be-vacated day manager's job at Speedy's. And at this point, I don't think she'll respond; it's her usual way...if she doesn't seem interested in something that is not related to any event, she'll just skirt around the issue. Silence speaks volumes. Speedy didn't really have much hope anyways, especially since he can't pay anything near what she was getting at IBM.

Wednesday November 28, 11:55 a.m.

Managed to get through the juku gauntlet none too worse for wear although I did get pinged from a source that I hadn't expected. I had Mild Jr. for this very first lesson with me. He'd been the one I was worried about since he seemed rather noncommital during his model lesson with me last month. But he was pretty intense and willling to work hard on his hotel conversations so the hour managed to fly by pretty quickly for him.
Nope, actually the problem came with Jolly. It'd been a couple of weeks since he came. But it wasn't the rust that stopped him. Unfortunately I used a copy of a text which was obviously too high for him so he was looking rather shellshocked by the end. So, I've gotta improvise for his next class. Didn't feel too good about that but as the saying goes, "No pain, no gain".
Looks like the venue for the juku year-end party has been nailed down. I'm looking at the Urayasu SHIDAX, that monumental karaoke complex near Tokyo Disneyland. And I've been telling the folks that the rule is for the first hour to be completely devoted to English-language songs.

Just had The Nurse for her Wednesday morning regular. We were both in gabby mode which helped make this hour fly as well. Fairly busy slate today with The New Yorker coming up and then 001 and Mr. TOEIC later on tonight. It'll be the first time seeing 001 in a few weeks. It'll be interesting to see how she's been doing. As expected, neither she nor 002 will be coming to the Xmas party on the 1st. They're not really into the large parties.

I've been making plans with the old friend of the family, The Lens, for tomorrow. Will probably be seeing him and The Attorney, his wife, in Asakusa before we head back to the Tokyo Dome Hotel where they're staying for dinner. Automan's sister and brother-in-law, also old friends, will be joining us. Looks like L'Aqua by the Dome will be the dinner spot.

Well, that mystery disappearance of that woman and her two granddaughters has sadly been solved. Last night, the woman's brother-in-law was arrested on suspicion of stabbing his relatives to death. Apparently, the man deeply resented the grandmother for continually borrowing money from his wife, her sister. The two girls just saw too much and so they had to go, too. Money is indeed the root of all evil.

Tuesday November 27, 5:24 p.m.

Just about to go into the meat n' potatoes of my schedule tonight. It'll probably be the hardest chunk of work for this week since I've got the juku slate of Chip N' Dale, the new kid on the block Mild Jr. for his first and only lesson this year, The Milds themselves and I'm assuming The Siberian and Jolly.

Mind you, this morning was pretty good. We had that reunion of the Beehive at Mrs. Travel's house. So, Mrs. Perth came in from Sapporo and Mrs. Potter arrived from Okayama (although in her case, she had a better priority in that her son got married a couple of days ago). It was the usual wonderful spread of potluck dishes which included Mrs. Tee's great sandwiches, Mrs. Jade's intriguing but delish salad of kiwi, persimmon, apple and yurine (a native tiny potato) all covered in a mixture of Philadelphia cream cheese and mango puree, and some other stuff along with Canadian icewine and tomato-infused sake. Always love the reunions...maybe the only ones I've ever liked.
Mrs. Travel's grandson, a little tyke who has stayed rather mum in front of strangers, finally babbled something to me while I was playing with him. That was a feat since his grandmother told me that he usually doesn't like men.
The reason for the reunion though was to go through the huge numbers of photos from their Canada trip. Mrs. Perth alone took 1,000 pics! We managed to get through the first CD of photos before I had to make my way out to 002's place.

As for 002, it was the usual laugh-filled lesson. However, she'll be away for the next 3 weeks since she's heading back to Hawaii to run in the annual Honolulu Marathon. I gave her a piece of homework which will entail her writing up a report on her experiences there.

Weatherwise, it hasn't been too bad over the last couple of days. Pretty cool and comfortable but we've got some rainy weather coming in the next couple of days.

I've finally gotten onto the path of getting those Meiji candies for my sister-in-law. Half of the load could be found in the Seiyu Department Store near Urayasu Station. I figure I'm gonna have to head over to the Tsudanuma JUSCO for the rest. But things seem to be working out for me in terms of getting presents out this week. I hope I can get the greeting cards out before the major Xmas mail jam.

Monday November 26, 8:53 p.m.

Got through the model lesson with that crackerjack of a student. She's already studying with another teacher here on Tuesdays but wanted to play the field, so to speak. Yep, she's not only very avid about speaking English, but she's even got her own TESOL certificate for kids. She's one of us. Well, I pulled out my miracle lesson on Presentations which was another hit. Not sure what will happen, though.

Mr. TOEIC is again gonna be late but he has magnanimously offered to make sure that we end the lesson at 9:30 although the bossman hinted for the purposes of good business to extend it an extra 10 minutes. I've got no problems with that.

It'll be another latecoming tonight but luckily I've got that party with The Beehive tomorrow morning. They said that I didn't have to bring anything to the party since I'm already teaching them but I hate to go to anything emptyhanded. So, I've decided to bring a bit of a novelty item in the form of turtle jelly. Yep, The Lady and her hubby went to Hong Kong again over the weekend and met up with their faithful butler there. They managed to get me some pretty premium XO Sauce and a jar of turtle jelly. Should make for quite the conversation piece at the party tomorrow.

Since SIL was off today, I decided to take the bus going from Shibuya Station to Nakano to get up to Speedy's. Unfortunately, I almost ended up on the wrong bus; there are two buses headed for Nakano but only one goes by the school. So I ended up giving a 200-yen donation to the wronged bus. I would've asked for a refund but the driver didn't look too kindly. It was a nice ride up through Shibuya past NHK HQ and Opera City before I finally reached the school.

Actually before hitting the bus, I did some quick shopping at Tokyu Hands, the hardware store. I got myself an I-go board for something less than 2,000 yen. Not a true board but it's better than the cardboard thing I got from that guide book on how to play I-go. So I hope I can indulge myself over the Holidays.

MOnday November 26, 5:32 p.m.

In a month from now, I'll be eating my KFC leftovers...

Yesterday after my lesson with Tully & The Coffeemaker, I met up with Skippy since it was the annual appearance of me at her student's house. The kid proudly showed his Junior Eiken Bronze Award. Looks like Skippy's been earning her keep....unlike me with The Younger. Skippy just has the knack with kids. Her secret...just ensuring that he wins the games. Like all men, he's a sore loser.

Afterward, we met up with MB whom I hadn't seen in nearly a month in Gaienmae for yet another round of burgers. The target this time was Goro's Burger which is down the street from the Belle Commons fashion building. The place was pretty cramped but the burgers were good although my trousers paid a price in oil stains (unfortunately, the burger bag didn't do a good job at holding the grease in). And we had some floor entertainment in the form of the two kids of Goro and his wife....the 2-year-old boy was just yelling and prancing up and down; either he's gonna be a Johnny's Jimusho recruit in about 8 years or he'll be one of the most obnoxious drunken barfly salarymen in about 20. The burgers were good but the place needs to work a bit more on the fish n' chips. Still looking for some good versions of those in Tokyo.
We took one more stop at the local Starbucks. Interesting configuration. The counter was on the 2nd floor while a lot of the tables were on the 1st. Xmas has descended upon this franchise. The Yuletide music and the supersweet Xmas coffees were on the menu. We gabbed for a little while until Skippy was starting to clue out underneath the weight of all the movie talk that MB and I were generating.

Speaking of Skippy, she's hitting the bricks looking for a new job since her IBM office is moving over to Shanghai. And just found out that The Admin will probably be leaving by the end of the year, so I put 2 and 2 together. Not sure if Skippy will appreciate the decrease in salary but I sent her a heads-up e-mail in any case.

In any case, time to teach The Full-Timer.

Saturday November 24, 4:40 p.m.

Just finished off both The Manhattanite and The Dentist. The former was very grateful for my photo collage of Hong Kong and the various name cards since she and her friend will be heading there in January. Not sure if they'll be able to afford something like Wu Kong but they can try out that reflexology clinic, Happy Foot. The Dentist was her usual happy self. She wanted to prep herself for her first solo trip to Boston to see her daughter there.

I witnessed a virtuoso performance by the staff at my local Subways sandwich shop. I got there around noon and was part of a rather long lineup, but the two staffers there were just flying behind the counter as they whipped together the various sandwiches. They had to juggle around the different breads, vegetable stuffings and other additions but they surprised and impressed their customers with their adept memories. Almost felt like applauding.

Yesterday was that reunion in Kinshicho. Kinshicho is a smaller city hub just a few stations east from Akihabara on the Sobu Line. The station was a classic example of Urban Geography 101; the station was the core of commercial activity. There I met up with Automan, Shrek and his family, another young lady and another of the old group...a man that I hadn't seen in over 15 years, TC, and his own young brood. It was definitely holiday mode yesterday since there tons of families. The local branch of Baqet, that bakery/restaurant, had an impromptu parking lot for baby carriages. We ended up having lunch at a tonkatsu restaurant where I enjoyed wrapping my chops around a thick slab of hire tonkatsu. It was very much talking about old days.
Now that some of the alumni were family men, we spent some time on the kiddy goods' floor. It was there that I reaffirmed my luck at staying childless thus far. There were just so many laughing/running/bawling children. I managed to keep my sanity intact. Then we made our way downstairs for some coffee.
The families took off for home...having families usually means early to home. However, Automan and I returned to Akihabara in the early evening since he still had some more to check out in Yodobashi Camera. He also had some urge to visit a lot of the 100-Yen shops between Akiba and Ueno. We managed to find a kaiten sushi place across from Ueno Station. It'd been nearly a year since my last visit to the conveyor belt restaurant. It was great to sink one's teeth into negi toro and shime saba once more. The final stop was at a coffee shop nearby called Rim. Rim had been around since before the first of the Starbucks invaded Tokyo. The prices were still pretty stiff for a cuppa...500 yen for a Royal Milk Tea which probably explained the relataive sparseness while the Starbucks across the street was packed to the gills. Made my goodbyes to Automan after that.

Will probably be heading home shortly...

Friday November 23, 8:57 a.m.

Windy and cold but sunny....more like January than late November. Still refreshingly bracing out there. Back in the States, people are probably just tucking into their turkeys and stuffing. Over here, it is also Labour Thanksgiving but the only birds being eaten are probably the ones from the Colonel.

Automan and I got together finally yesterday afternoon. I asked him where he wanted to go: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, perhaps? He said Akihabara. OK, I replied. Then I asked where he wanted to go there: Yodobashi Camera, a cafe, a DVD store? He wanted to go for coffee. I then suggested Excelsior, Starbucks, Caffe Veloce. He hesitated a bit...ahhhh. I just went Ah! Maid Cafe! He could've just told me straight.
I met him at the Electric Town gates for JR Akihabara. He showed his Canadian-ness by showing up in his T-shirt, despite the very cold winds coming in. I was probably showing how acclimated I've become to this country by wearing a heavy coat and sweater. But he quickly donned the jacket and we were off. Actually, we first tried out the beginners-level Maid Cafe that Skippy had taken me to almost 2 years ago. When we got there, though, there was a foreign film crew inside doing its job. Hmmm...new movie? Well, I decided that it was time to go for the gusto. It was finally time to go to the place that started it all....the At Home Cafe on the 5th floor of the Don Quixote store.
In previous entries, I'd mentioned that various folks and I went up to the fateful 5th floor but since those were Sundays, there was no way to get into At Home due to the huge lineups and the mass of otaku dancing and singing...no, wailing...while all these pretty maids in a row were prancing about on the stage.
But it was a Thursday mid-afternoon so there was none of that hilarity. Still, there were a couple of folks sitting and waiting patiently before us. Automan and I, both of us careening into middle age, were greeted nonchalantly by one of these Maids with high-pitched voices. After finding out it was our first time, she then politely explained the procedure. We could choose from a counter seat to a table in the "living room". I asked for the counter seats. We were then escorted in to a chorus of "Okaerinasai, Goshujin-sama!"
The counter area was a narrow sliver of real estate. Basically it was two rows of smooth white tables. Our Maid gave us a menu from the other side of the counter which consisted of cakes, hot & cold drinks, and some hot dishes. We went for just some hot drinks...a cafe au lait and cocoa. In front of us on the wall was the list of rules to follow...stuff like no asking the Maids for e-mail addresses or phone numbers, no touching them, and no stalker-like behaviour. I thought we could follow those rules pretty easily.
So far, just a regular cafe, eh? Well, the Maid part came when our Maid came with our drinks. In her Minnie Mouse voice, she asked the two of us...and remember, we are two grown men...to make a valentine with our hands. So, we cooperated. Then she did the At Home prayer of sorts to bless our drinks which involved her chanting some sort of nonsensical rhyme while moving her hands from side to side. We obliged and we moved our heartmarks from side to side while both of our tongues from side to side between our cheeks. She thanked us and asked us to enjoy our time there.
We weren't bothered again by them but there were notices on the table in which we could request to play games with them...one of which was "Paper, Scissors and Rock". However, over the next hour that we stayed there, we did notice a few local otaku coming in...and boy, did they ever look otaku....somewhat disheveled types with goofy grins and horn-rimmed glasses. One fellow went for the whole course and ordered a lusty plate of some pasta Carbonara-style and a huge parfait. The other guy on the other side had a goofy conversation with his Maid and did the game. It was the usual bartender-barfly conversation filtered through The Smurfs.
However, we realized that the At Home cafe had gone legit when we saw two women come in...by themselves. And these weren't teens with manga dreams...these looked like typical careerists. Then, we saw a group of salarymen pour into the living room where they were serenaded by a gaggle of Maids for which the guys lustily cheered. Man, I guess the wives and girlfriends were out of town yesterday. The clincher was when an entire family showed up including a middle-aged mommy. I can imagine the hardcore geeks are now crying in their Sailor Moon mugs.
I was kinda crying in my wallet. The drinks cost 500 yen each but there was a service charge of 500 yen per person. Plus, Automan wanted to try the purikura machine with one of the Maids to get a memento of the occasion. That little investment set me back 1,000 yen. 3,000 yen for the privilege of indulging in one of the decade's biggest pop culture trends. Still, I'm sure Skippy and The Anime Court may be looking at me with some more respect. As we left, we were sent off with the girls yelling "Itterasshai, Goshujin-sama!"

Wednesday November 21, 5:30 p.m.

Forgot to mention that those guys from Michelin...not the tire guys with Bib...but the folks who put the stars on various gourmet restaurants finally put out their 3-star places in Japan for the first time. In a foodie-and-gourmet crazy country like this one, the much-awaited announcement was suitably breathless. The critics had been here since around the summer sampling various places in Tokyo.
I haven't read the whole list as of yet but apparently the first restaurant with those coveted 3 stars is a place called Kanda, a wa-fu joint...I guess maybe it's located in the Kanda district of Tokyo. You can bet your bottom yen that that place is now having its phone being run off the hook for reservations. Another one is a ritzy sushi bar.
The Beehive ladies and I were discussing the Michelin ratings over lunch yesterday in a cheap pasta restaurant (pretty much no chance that a Michelin critic would ever be in Tsudanuma). None of us were all that impressed. I just feel that having some food critic ubergod bequeath the full mitsu-boshi on a restaurant could be the kiss of death. Imagine having to live up to the pressure of being a 3-star restaurant...the first thing to suffer will be the quality. Also, there is simply the fact that everyone's tastes are different. The ladies sniffed with disdain over the fact that Joel Robuchon's Taillevent also got the three-star treatment. They had gone there before for lunch and were far from impressed with the fare there. The drubbing almost sounded like something The Lady of The Class Act would say.
I can just see it now. There will be a new food variety show in which the tarento will only go to 3-star restaurants. They're gonna have to come up with some new adjectives to match the fare.

Wednesday November 21, 4:12 p.m.

Just had to help Speedy bring in the air conditioner from the ledge and back into the closet. Getting ready for winter, I suppose.

Anyways, getting back to the first of the Xmas shopping. I picked up 5 calendars for my family, The Dancer's family and The Entrepreneur. The rest I'm just getting cards for. Still have a few gift certificates left so I'll see if I can get some greeting cards. Considering the mess that Canada Post is in, I may need to get things out by next week if the cards and calendars are to get back home by Xmas.

Yesterday, I had my lesson with The Beehive. The ladies are still swooning over their Canada trip although that ended nearly a month ago for them. Next week, there will be a full-blown reunion with the gang with Mrs Perth coming in from Sapporo and Mrs Potter coming in from Okayama, both places being hit with heavy snow this past weekend. There will be a lot of photos exchanging hands at Mrs. Travel's house on the 27th.

Looks like I may have the entirety of Christmas Day off this year. As you may know, Xmas is just like Halloween in that it's not a statutory holiday in Japan (some nonsense about less than 1% of the population being Christian and all that). 002 stated that she would probably need to work at her company that day. With the Beehive off for the Holidays and getting that night off from the juku boss, I've got the 25th for myself. Now, what do I do?

As for the juku, I only had the kids and one Mild last night. Mr. Mild is recovering from the cold, and both Jolly and The Siberian didn't bother coming in. Jolly did ask about this Friday but it's a national holiday and I didn't want to set any precedents for working on holidays.

Yesterday, Narita Airport started its own program of screening newcomers via fingerprinting and retina scans. The policy had been widely advertised for several weeks and there were a couple of articles in the papers last night. Of course, a lot of foreign residents here are howling about it. Yep, the lineups may be hellish but again it's all much ado about nothing...much. I'd always thought that Narita at least seemed to be a bit lax about Immigration. Usually when I get home from Canada or elsewhere, I get swept through the gate in almost nothing flat. Unless there's a hidden camera looking at me on the inspector's desk, I swear that the officer never looks at me. I realize that the chances of an Al Qaeda operative sneaking into this country are fairly remote...not that I think the security is that excellent here...but to be frankly honest, people from the Middle East do stick out more here; plus, I just don't think Bin Laden is all that interested in us from a strategic angle (knock on wood).
Also, I don't think Japan has been selected solely for this heavier-handed treatment. Just look at our neighbours across the Pacific, then do a leapfrog across the Atlantic in England. Not exactly free sailing through the Immigration gates there, eh? I'm just surprised that it took more than 6 years to get this program started. After all, Japan is still very much the "How high?" lapdog to America's "Jump" master. And Yasuo Fukuda is not Junichiro Koizumi. Even Koizumi lost it whenever he went to America...i.e. his air guitar performance at Graceland. So folks, we're (and I also refer to the Immigration officers as well as the tourists) just gonna have to get used to seeing security gates and clean digital ink pads for the foreseeable future. Don't blame (for once) the Japanese government. Blame the lunatics of 9-11.

However, there may be a lunatic out there somewhere. The big news in crime this week is about the mysterious disappearance of two little sisters and their grandmother from their home. The only clues are a rather ominous blood stain in the house and a dead cellphone. Not a good omen.

Got a message from Paddy. He and his missus will be headed back here in about a month. My old friend was actually here last month since his father finally succumbed to his illness. Of course, he was too busy to see anybody else aside from family. Meanwhile, Automan is seeing if the two of us can get together tomorrow afternoon for lunch. The Wild Guy is still off in Hong Kong for the next couple of weeks.

Wednesday November 21, 3:59 p.m.

It's starting to feel a little more like Christmas. The winds are getting colder, the lights are up in Ginza and I've started my shopping for the folks at home. After my lesson with The Nurse this morning, I had my lunch at China Quick before heading out to Nihombashi with my final wad of gift certificates from the family of the Younger. Went to Takashimaya there and bought various calendars for family and friends. Ahhh..Speedy is summoning me...later

Monday November 19, 9:23 p.m.

Automan is back in town.

It's been a while since I've seen the man. I didn't get to see him last Xmas and it has been a while since he made his way back to these parts. The Wild One gave me the heads-up on his return here a while back so it wasn't with any surprise that I got a phone call this morning from Automan. He'll be here for just a week so I will be able to see him just once or twice. He's already got something lined up for the holiday Friday...Labour Thanksgiving. Shrek and his family will be joining us.

The last couple of days have been pretty cold for Tokyo. Just hovering around 12 C. Pretty balmy for Toronto but over here, that's the signal to bring out the heavy coats and mufflers. Some of the outlying areas in Tohoku and the Japan Sea side have already gotten dumped on with the white stuff...a bit ahead of schedule. At today's session with The Class Act, The Lady told me that she'd heard there is a possibility that this could actually be a snow year for the Kanto. I'll believe it when I see it.

Yesterday, I had my final class with The Junior. It was all very civil and pleasant. No major crying jags but I did manage to shake hands with everyone. The mother generously gave me my o-seibo gift in the form of the usual gift certificates (will definitely help in getting gifts for the family). She also said that perhaps in a few years, she may ask for my help in prepping her daughters for studying overseas. Well, we'll see but I'm not holding out much hope there. In any case, it was the last time for me to set foot in that neighbourhood for the foreseeable future after 3 years of their family, plus The Hawaiian and The Polynesian who live nearby. So I'm happy that I got that out of the way.

Today was just about a normal day except that Mr. TOEIC cancelled his lesson. But I had The Class Act, SIL and even The Full-Timer for the first time in a couple of weeks. Her grandmother had passed away several days ago from breast cancer. Looks like she was doing pretty well considering.
I may actually be gaining yet another student albeit on just a monthly basis. One of the Tuesday night students wanted to get some more talking time so she upped for a Monday class. I met her briefly one day...quite a cracker in personality so getting her to speak up won't be the problem...getting her to shut up will, though.

Smurfette and I have started a running conversation over our new medium of Facebook. Apparently, she had been a NOVA receptionist for a little over a year until near the end of that erstwhile school. Unsurprisingly, she didn't like the working conditions but she said that she appreciated the chance to use English regularly.

The Lady set an invitation cap for the annual Xmas party on the 14th. I could bring two people. Well, unfortunately, she'll see twice that since Speedy will be bringing his missus and Skippy will be bringing OA. I had been thinking of even inviting The Sisters of State and BC but that's out the window. Apparently, The Lady is expecting about 200 for her shindig.

Now, CD-wise. Yep, it looks like I may be picking up at least two discs before the end is out. One is the Tony Bennett Xmas disc...it has the definitive big band version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". Diana Krall comes close, though. The other is by that former vocalist for 80s proto-Shibuya-kei band, PSY-S, Mami "Chaka" Yasunori. She's been back to her jazz roots for the past decade and I checked out her homepage on MYSPACE. She had a copy of one of her tunes, "I'll Be Walking Alone" and it was quite a revelation. There was just an echo of her old high-pitched but powerhouse voice but it has been overlaid with that whiskey-&-cigarettes mellowness that a lot of torch singers possess in their larynxes. I was quite impressed so I'm now on the search.

Anyways, almost time to take it home.

Friday November 16, 8:17 p.m.

Now into my 2,001st entry, and I'm writing in a classroom that is currently empty. Jolly has failed to show up, but he did say last week that he may be able to come. Since he's usually on time when he does show up, I can assume that he will not do so tonight. So, it's just The Ace tonight.

Had my mess of hire (lean) tonkatsu and deep-fried oysters at the tonkatsu place tonight. That will tide me over til breakfast tomorrow quite nicely...of course, the mound of shredded cabbage ought to clean me out in the washroom before bedtime, if you know what I mean.

As I was eating away in the restaurant, the television was showing a live press conference of veteran actress, Yoshiko Mita, tearfully relating the announcement of her 2nd son's arrest due to drug possession...the third time that the 27-year-old has been caught for the same offense. It was interesting watching this since earlier today I'd been watching CNN's Larry King interview the Osmonds. There, Marie Osmond admitted that her 16-year-old son had just been taken into drug rehabilitation. Although Marie kinda misted up on telling this, her reaction was far more matter-of-fact than Mita's. Not to say that Mita was overly emotional at all...the comparison between the two was an interesting one of culture. Since Japanese society is one based on shame, it must've truly been wrenching for her to not only admit her son's crime a first time, but also a second time. And this was a full court press, not the interview type of setting that the Osmonds were in.
And yet, it was weird to see that even the angelic Osmonds weren't without sin.

Well, since Jolly is evidently not gonna show, I'll start thinking of my Santa list for the folks back home. I'll have to keep things pretty light due to my financial circumstances. Luckily, tomorrow will be a full day off...the first time in a couple of weeks that will happen...knock on wood. Maybe I'll be able to catch "The Bourne Supremacy" on DVD before I finally catch the newest flick.

Friday November 16, 4:04 p.m.

Well, 2000th entry...whoop-de-doo! But as always, any auspicious occasion in this blog carries a bit of bittersweetness.

One of the things that I've come to realize being in this profession of English teaching is that unlike a lot of other folks, I have to say goodbye a lot. It's kinda like being Doctor Who. Companions join him and have some frights and adventures for a little while and then they have to leave ultimately. In my case, I have students who do the same thing. In fact, in the last month or so, I've lost a few of them. There was Seven...although she may be coming back. Then, The Judge finished his time with me a few weeks ago. And of course, I've lost The Younger for which I have to face the final class this coming Sunday. And last night, I had to give my sudden farewells to B2, The Ballerina's former colleague and friend at her airline company.

B2 has been having a good run for the past few weeks. She found a new job with an airline company, one of the domestic carriers, for which she'll start 6 weeks of training in December. And she also found a new boyfriend, some fellow from her soon-to-be former company who's more in line with her age (mid-20s), unlike her old flame who was closer to me in age. And then her sister tied the knot just last week. It's been quite a change in outlook since I first met her back in February 2006. She apologized and said that she would try to consult me once training is over but I can't really see how she could do that regularly being a flight attendant again. Basically, I'll take her plea as a polite way of stopping her classes.

But before I drown myself in sorrow, it's important to note that despite the recent departures, I have gained some extra lessons. Mr. TOEIC has started a 2nd class with me, I have another student at Speedy's starting from December, The Yogist, and even The Admin has asked for my semi-regular help...away from the bossman's prying eyes. So as much as I have said goodbye in these past few weeks, I've also said my hellos as well.

However, I found out that my nearest convenience store, just 2 minutes around the corner, will be closing down for good on the 28th. UGH! It did fulfill its role as a convenient store for picking up bento and making photocopies but now I'll have to walk another 5 minutes to the second-nearest place. So, another goodbye there.

And yet another hello. As a new resident in the Facebook universe, I suddenly got a message from a grad from the ol' school. She's an old classmate of The Ballerina and Skippy. But I use "old" to mean former...the lass herself, Smurfette, is still in her early 20s...and a mother for the past four years. Apparently, there was an...ahem...accident between her and her boyfriend one day.

Speaking of Skippy, it looks like my 2nd visit to that celeb's house...the one whose son Skip is teaching...will be on the 25th. I'll be putting on my cap as human tape recorder again...it's something that I have a lot of experience as due to my days as a JET teacher.

In other news, I caught what I think is the last U.S. Democratic Candidates debate in Las Vegas this morning on CNN. Yep, Hillary is back and Barack is back down. And John got slapped down. Should be an interesting Primary season in January.
And there's no joy in Mudville...if Mudville were the entirety of Major League Baseball. Barry Bonds got indicted for perjury for that steroid thing. Amazing...he's the alleged home run king of baseball, and now he's one of the few players to get federal charges against him. Kinda makes the news on our rogue yokozuna here pale in comparison.

Just have the juku guys tonight, Jolly and The Ace. But the boss herself is having a vacation of sorts in Osaka tonight. So her mumbly husband will be downstairs while I teach upstairs. I'll be having tonkatsu before I head off to the juku, though. Last night it was ramen at that local place which is trying to get into the Guinness of World Records for the largest amount of garlic in one bowl of noodles. There was one angry drunk salaryman a few stools away from me who'd obviously had a bad day. He even cursed his cellphone e-mail but otherwise, he kept his dark thoughts to himself. The staff wasn't too concerned so I wasn't.

Also found out that the preparations for the arrival of "The Simpsons - The Movie" are in full throttle. All of the Japanese voice actors are famous local celebs. Bon vivant George Tokoro will be playing Homer while Marge is being played by loudmouthed, Sawajiri-hating, blues-singing legend, Akiko Wada. One half of the comedy duo London Boots will be voicing Bart and tarento darling Becky will be taking care of the Lisa duties.

And I guess, finally, it wouldn't be a 2000th blog entry without talking about the city that spawned the corruption scandal surrounding the rogue architect Aneha. My city...Ichikawa. Actually, it isn't really directly connected with the fallen designer. However, it has to do with a half-built condo complex which was supposed to be the shining light in Ichikawa...only to find out that most of the necessary supporting metal bars to hold the thing together during earthquakes haven't been put in due to some unbelievable oversight. As Homer would say, "D'oh!" Or as Wile E. Coyote would say, "Back to the drawing board."

Wednesday November 14, 5:47 p.m.

An uncharacteristically quiet hump day. I only have Mr. TOEIC at 8:30 tonight. 001 is off for the next 2 weeks and The Nurse had her lesson yesterday morning. It was fairly hopping yesterday since there was that grand commute from west of Shinjuku to Funabashi for 002's lesson. Had lunch at KFC near Moto-Yawata Station. I figure that since I'll probably be having the Colonel for Xmas dinner, I might as well get re-acclimated to greasy chicken again. I know I'll never go to a restaurant solo for Xmas since that rather uncomfortable experience at Fujimamas 2 years ago.
I got the OK from the juku boss for those two days off next month...Xmas Day and the 14th for the Lady's annual party. However, she still wants me to make up for Xmas Day since for all the Yuletide hoopla that's invaded these shores for decades, the 25th is still a regular day. I said that the 27th would be OK...as long as it was a bonenkai of sorts. I just don't think the span between Xmas and New Year's should be used for work. So, the Milds and The Siberian have been tipped off about it. Now, it's just what to do for such a party. I can hardly be magnanimous and put up the tab for a catered affair...

Despite the late class tonight, I did leave earlier today so that I could visit Maruzen and pick up something for B2. I only see her monthly so I'm not sure what good it'll do, but I bought an advanced reading text for which I'll be copying exercises for her. Plus, I copied down some TOEIC exercises as well. That should keep us hopping for tomorrow.

Speaking of bonenkai, Speedy's already got the place and date set. We're headed for someplace called Fungo in Nishi-Shinjuku. The grandmas have already made their reservations. I asked 001 and 002, but not surprisingly, they declined. 001 has to work overnight that day but I also think neither of them are really into the big parties...just like me. They prefer the more intimate ones like the ones that 002 has bimonthly.

I guess one more entry will put me into the 2,000s...

Tuesday November 13, 9:48 a.m.

A rare Tuesday appearance at Speedy's as The Nurse had decided to take her regular Wednesday morning lesson today due to the rigours of her schedule....which means that I'll be doing another crosstown commute to teach 002. However, I'll keep it within Chiba this time around since I'm just heading to the juku afterwards. I've just asked the boss if I could get the 14th and 25th of December off; the 14th is for the annual Xmas party at The Lady's, and of course, the 25th is for tradition only. I'm fairly confident that I can get both off although Xmas Day may be a bit problematic since the boss doesn't like to let go of a Tuesday easily for accounting purposes. Plus, there is the fact that by coincidence, Xmas Eve will actually be a national holiday since it will be compensating as The Emperor's Birthday on the 23rd. It should be a pretty busy weekend for parties.

Mr. TOEIC definitely showed how weak he is in grammar. I proofread his letter to his homestay family in Toronto. I don't think I used quite that much red ink on a single piece of writing in many a year. Glad that he's opted for a second class a week to devote solely on grammar. Still, it will be a long haul since he seems to have the retentive ability of an old sieve.

Monday November 12, 5:52 p.m.

Looks like the party season is starting up again. Speedy's setting up the school's year-ender pretty quick off the mark by dating it on December 1st at some Shinjuku eatery called Fungo; it's some French/Italian fusion thing. And today, The Lady gave the first sign for her annual Xmas shindig. It'll be about 2 weeks later. I've already sent word to Speedy (who was just frothing at the mouth the last time he was at the house) and Skippy (who was merely starstruck). I may even ask The Sisters of State and BC as well.

Yesterday, I ended up having just Tully for his regular lesson without his mate, The Coffeemaker, which was a bit of a switch. Usually, the latter had been the faithful one but this time around, the lass just tuckered herself out from work. It was a good session, though. He really enjoyed studying about the different ways to create interest in the beginning of a presentation. Hopefully, I'll have the duo again in a couple of weeks.

After Tully, I headed over to Shinjuku for lunch. The Maynds Building is a culinary godsend for those who would like to avoid the horrors of having to find any sort of table at a restaurant on a Sunday in the area. As long as one isn't too fussy about the quality, you could get Subway or a quick Chinese dish. I opted for the latter at my favourite eatery in the neighbourhood. For just 900 yen, I got myself an admittedly greasy dish of pork and veggies with unlimited amounts of rice, condiments and dumplings in uncrowded surroundings.
Of course, Krispy Kreme 1 had its perpetual line of 1h40min waiting. I just headed into Takashimaya Times Square. I saw that the latest volume in the epic "Complete Peanuts" series was there but I'm gonna hold off until closer to Xmas. I was actually there to see if I could find something useful for B2's lessons. She needs some work on TOEIC Reading and higher grammar. I did find a book for the latter but won't buy it until Wednesdays. As for the former, I'll probably grab something from one of the texts here at Speedy's. Since Xmas is relatively around the corner, Times Square was already filled with the decorations and the 2008 calendars were filling up the 3rd floor.

I took the Sobu Line to Akihabara where I was to meet The Anime Chamberlain at 3. I got there about a half-hour early so I did an early recce. As usual, the maids were at the Electric Town gates handing out flyers for their respective cafes. Despite the gloomy weather, the main street was closed off so the otaku masses were out there. I went to Akky, a so-called duty-free place, to pick up a bottle of cologne for 1,500 yen. All of the fare there smelled the same to me.
The Chamberlain showed up as expected and we took a look through the main streets for the usual performers and their otaku fans. Sure enough, there were the usual throngs of camera-holding, grubby jacket-wearing males surrounding diminuitive girls in sailor uniforms with high-pitched voices and tunelss singing. The Chamberlain pulled out his camera and vidcam and started rolling.
However, the really interesting performer was located at the northern end of the hokoten, usually dead space in terms of prancing and dancing. The two of us came across this really kooky girl (woman?) dressed up like a 1960s scooter babe...replete in sky blue one-piece dress, white go-go boots and helmet. She was just cooing and slinking about in a Betsy Boop voice some sort of gibberish and managing to stun/charm the gradually increasing audience around her. She was demanding people to dance with her...and actually managed to get a few saps to twirl. She even got a foreigner to banter with her and then when she found out that the lad could speak Japanese pretty fluently, she mockingly admonished him for not telling her sooner. Of course, The Anime Chamberlain got all this on tape and will get me a copy. I think TV is beckoning her.
The two of us then went through the side streets where The Chamberlain was looking through some equipment such as LED flashlights. There were some scruffy folks on the side selling some rather risque photos...such as young girls dressed up in gym outfits...don't the cops patrol these areas? We got back onto the main drag where we saw some nutbar dressed up in not all that much just nattering to himself. I also decided to show my companion up to the 5th floor of the Don Quixote building where the world's most famous Maid Cafe was...The At Home Cafe. There wasn't any performance that time but there was a pretty long lineup for the cafe itself. The distinguishing thing though, compared to the time that I'd taken The Satyr up there, was that the cafe was now populated by women along with the usual otaku guys. Looks like At Home has gone legit and touristy. We didn't bother going in.
It was back to the station via the bridge connecting the UDX Building with the large plaza at the back end of JR Akihabara. We were thinking about food but decided that we weren't quite that hungry yet so we took a look inside the building across from the station. We went to the 2nd floor where Sale, the foreign import DVD shop, was. We also went upstairs to K-Books; this was definitely a deep otaku's paradise. Tons of anime characters. There were collector cards with some of the female characters in.....well, I don't think I really should say here. Let's say, some of the stuff should be rated R-18. Frankly, I felt pretty dirty when I left.
We took a quick dip into Gamers, another popular otaku hangout, before we finally took the plunge and went to Yodobashi Akiba, that mammoth electronics store which has taken over the eastern end of Akihabara and went straight up to the 8th floor where the restaurants were. It took us a while but we finally opted for The Kanda Grill, a restaurant which featured teppan hamburg steaks and other grilled goods. The Anime King gallantly told me that I could use the money that he'd sent me for shipping (it was no longer really needed since his Court was taking home this year's goodies) as dinner fare. The Chamberlain ordered a mess of hamburg and deep-fried shrimp while I opted for kari kari toriniku...crispy chicken...it really wasn't crispy since it was slathered in gravy but I wasn't complaining. We even had some dessert on The King's coin.
By the time we got out, Akihabara was starting to close down for the night. Stores had shuttered up, and of course, the main street had been opened up for main traffic a few hours earlier. Had to admit that yesterday's foray into Akiba was one of the more interesting dips there.

It would've been another regular Monday except that I got a breathless call from The Full-Timer this morning asking to cancel another lesson. Last week, it was to visit her ailing grandmother. Today, it was to say that her grandma had passed away. So I had The Class Act and then SIL. SIL's always fun to gab with since she's more hep into the local entertainment scene than The Class Act. We were gabbing about the good and bad of the notorious actress, Erika Sawajiri.
Now, I'm just whiling away the time until Mr. TOEIC gets here in about 2 hours. I've already got everything planned. Mr. TOEIC has actually decided to expand his time to two nights a week. So, he'll be following 001. Only thing is that 001 will be gone for the next 2 weeks so Mr. TOEIC will be the only class on Wednesday. Nice guy, but to come all the way here for one lesson late at night...
Yup, actually, The Nurse will be having her early class tomorrow instead of her usual Wednesday. She was very lucky since The Beehive usually has the slot but is off tomorrow. Then, it'll be off to 002 at the other end of town before the juku. Lucky thing is that Jolly said that he couldn't make it out tomorrow night so I can head home at a somewhat more decent time.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" finally reared its head on this side of the Pacific on Saturday. The reviewer for METROPOLIS magazine, who is one of the more snarkier folks I've read, was just about fawning over Matt Damon's magnum opus as perhaps the best action movie ever. Considering the existence of "Die Hard", that's pretty high praise indeed. I've started reviewing the series by watching "The Bourne Identity" on DVD this past weekend. I'll see if I can catch "The Bourne Supremacy" sometime this week. I'm pretty sure that MB will be asking me about it sometime soon.

Saturday November 10, 1:42 p.m.

A miserable day out there...and it will probably extend itself to a miserable weekend. November is the autumn's February. Past Halloween but nowhere near the jollity of Xmas. A seasonal no-man's land.

BC is here for her first official day of training as a new temporary staffer at Speedy's. Strangely enough, that lousy model lesson actually did turn into a sign-up. No accounting for taste, is there?

After The Manhattanite and The Dentist, I've got a special with The Admin about some sort of English interview she has to undertake with an American official...kinda hush-hush, at least from the bossman.

Y'know you're becoming an old Canuck when you find out Eric Lindros is retiring. I remember when he was the junior wunderkind that all NHL teams were dying to get. And then, the erstwhile Quebec Nordiques claimed him in the draft only to have Lindros spit in their faces. I'm pretty sure that the NHL's newest retiree will still hesitate to go into La Belle Province after all these years.

And y'know you're becoming an old Trekkie when you find out that Winona Ryder has been cast as the new Spock's mother in the upcoming redux of "Star Trek". I just had to laugh at the writeup at StarTrek.com where it said that Ryder stole hearts during the 80s; she did some stealing of something else in the 00s. Then, I hear that Bruce Greenwood is gonna be the new Christopher Pike. Ever since "Thirteen Days" when he played JFK, Pike has been getting the soberly stolid leader roles. Pike would be a perfect fit for him.
One of those weird connections is starting to be formed between "Thirteen Days" and "Star Trek". There's the Greenwood casting. Then the actor who'd played RFK in the former movie was given a cutting-room-floor role as the new XO on the Enterprise-E, Commander Martin Maddox, in the alternate ending of the last TNG movie. Didn't see it? That's OK...very few did. It would be a troika if Kevin Costner got cast as Sarek. With all of these Hollywood stars dogpiling on the new Trek movie, I wouldn't be surprised.

Friday November 9, 1:22 p.m.

Yup, can actually say that the last 24 hours haven't been great ones for me. That model lesson didn't work out too well. Before it occurred, Speedy was bouncing off possible times and days that I could teach her since the impression he'd gotten was that she was ready to plonk down her yen. The student was nice...as I'd mentioned before, she's a yoga instructor. But as the lesson was going through, I got the impression that things weren't going to what she'd been expecting. And by the time I finished up an hour later, she told me that she would let us know in December since she was "really busy with appointments this month". "Really busy" here means "Don't call us, we'll call you".
Well, I quickly made a beeline straight for the door since I had to go off to teach The Carolinan and BC. Of course, the bossman made a beeline for me and asked about how I did. He could tell pretty quickly from my face that things hadn't gone according to plan. And since I didn't receive any messages on my machine last night informing me of her first class, I gather that the yoga teacher won't be plonking down her yen.
To be honest, I could see where I could've done better on some things but I also thought that there wasn't really big chemistry between us...not to say that I was trying to get a date with her or anything. But I meshed with 001 and 002 just fine during their model lessons, but the yoga instructor just wasn't it.

My lesson with The Carolinan was fine but my session with BC just quickly devolved into another joint commiseration about her life and just some of my little outbursts at Speedy's. Didn't feel good taking her money but at this point, I don't think I can afford to be too ethical considering my financial situation.

Met up with The Anime Duke today since he had to pick up the last of the King's boxes. He was quite taken with the fare at my neighbourhood tonkatsu place. He even remarked that the fare there was probably the best of the deep-fried pork cutlet he's had during his tour of foodie. He's off now to Akiba to meet up with the rest of the Court. As for me, I've just got Jolly tonight (provided that he doesn't dotakyan...it is Friday, y'know). Considering yesterday's failed attempt to get a new student, I went over my lesson plan with him with a fine-toothed comb.

Thursday November 8, 2:28 p.m.

Another rousing one with 001. However, she'll be away for the next 2 weeks due to other concerns. After that, I raced over to Shinjuku Station by the West gates where The Court of the Anime King was waiting amongst the flowing masses of commuters. The five of us ended up at Tsunahachi, one of a chain of fairly high-end tempura restaurants, several floors above the tracks. And accordingly, it wasn't too cheap though we were able to avoid having to wash dishes and the menu was written in very cursive Japanese. So, the Court left it to me to decipher the kanji and order stuff. Not one of my favourite tasks.
However, I was able to order up some deep-fried goodies such as tendon, the bunch of shrimp and other veggies on rice along with some one-offs such as various kinds of fish, eel and veggies. We knew we were in a pretty high-class establishment when we saw the platter containing four different kinds of salt for the tempura itself. And as expected, the tempura that came out was nice and light and crunchy on the outside, but tender and hot on the inside.
Meanwhile, The Anime Duke regaled us about the Court's travels through Japan all the way from Hokkaido to Okinawa over the last couple of weeks. These guys are definitely foodies. Their main aim was to try the various delicacies. They even went to Kobe to try the famous Kobe beef. They weren't disappointed although their wallets were definitely lighter. I think I heard the price 30,000 yen being quoted. Amongst some of the other goodies they tried were the freshest sea urchin (they were sold on it; I remain unconvinced), Genghis Khan and okonomiyaki (the stuff in Toronto is horrible, they say).
By the end of our 2 hours at Tsunahachi, we'd pretty much come to the level of talking about those vending machines in Kabukicho selling soiled girls' underpants, so it was time to to end our session. However, I gave one of them some suggestions about what kind of R&B J-Pop singers to give a listen to. The Anime Duke still has to make one more round over to my place to pick up the last of the packages for The King tomorrow, and The Chamberlain is asking for one more meeting with him before he takes off next week.

I just have a model lesson in a little over an hour. Could be interesting...she's apparently a yoga instructor. I met her briefly the other day...sounds a bit like The Chipmunk. Then, I gotta rush out to teach The Carolinan and BC. Incidentally, BC will be popping by on Saturday for a prelim training at Speedy's.

The saga playing out for erstwhile NOVA continues to take another turn...this time, maybe for the better. An education company from Nagoya is in talks to take over a fraction of the more successful branches although they won't pay for any lost wages or fees to teachers or students. Which means that the news means bupkiss for most of the lost teachers and students.

Wednesday November 7, 4:59 p.m.

Well, the parents of the Younger got back to me and agreed on my offer to resign my position. Didn't take them too long, did it? They asked me to come once more on the 18th...I frankly would rather have them fire me right out...hate goodbyes.

On happier notes, The Beehive was having another grand ol' time reminiscing about their Canada trip yesterday. Looks like the winner was the Madison Manor Hotel in downtown Toronto...so, if any of you young Japanese folk are looking for a place to stay near the University of Toronto and don't mind paying between $120-$150 CDN, look up the old Mad on the Net.
Looks like the 27th will be set aside for a reunion of the Beehive. Mrs. Perth will be coming down from Sapporo while Mrs. Potter will be coming up from Okayama. Most likely, the party will be held at Mrs. Travel's house.
The ladies came to a tentative decision to keep the smaller configuration, considering that they believe that trying to bring anyone into the tightly-knit group could be difficult. It would mean that I would be restricted to just 3 weeks out of the 4 for lessons but I was pretty much that way for several years anyways.
Afterwards, we made our way to the local Parco Department Store by JR Tsudanuma. We ended up having lunch at a bakery/restaurant called Baget on the 6th floor. The chefs whipped up 10 different kinds of breads, rolls and croissants for our all-you-can-eat pleasure when we order the lunch of the day. Pretty good stuff, although the ladies would have preferred the stuff more freshly baked. I didn't mind. The rolls were tasty enough to sop up the gravy from my burger plate. Definitely worth another visit.

My session with 002 was fun as usual. I actually received a gift of some Mandarin Oranges from her via her mother's orange tree. Yep, we are south enough to have those. The juku was shortened by a couple of hours since both The Siberian and Jolly cancelled out. So I just had the kids and Mrs. Mild. Kept the kids happy with a series of games. Although I missed out on the extra 6,400 yen, I was able to hit the hay much earlier. Actually got 7.5 hours of sleep...an amazing feat on a Wednesday morning when I have to head over to Speedy's to teach The Nurse. Speaking of whom, she was in a much better mood today...this despite giving her next take-home test.

Just before I went back into REM sleep last night, I got a call from The Anime Duke. Looks like he and his clan made it back to Tokyo, and we set up things for dinner tonight after my lesson with 001. The three of them are off to the Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari Messe so they should be enjoying the new concept cars and campaign girls that go with them. The Duke and I separately contacted The Anime Chamberlain so that he could come by my place and check out that huge box of dollies that The Anime King had ordered so long ago.
And sure enough, at 1 p.m., he showed up at the station and we made a beeline for my place. I was amazed when he took a look at the huge crate and said that he could transport it as part of his check-in luggage. He even lugged most of The King's stuff with him back to the station! Mind you, he gave up a lot in sweat but he said that he had handled far worse. We did have some lunch at the neighbourhood Japanese-style family restaurant. I found out that he's quite the persnickety gourmand. He was trying out the specialties throughout the various areas in Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu. The Chamberlain has always been rather sardonic and straight-to-the-point, and he didn't hold back on some of his comments about the more mediocre fare he had to engulf. But he did love the sea urchin sushi up in Hokkaido.
I wonder where I'll take the guys tonight in Shinjuku. I know a tonkatsu joint and Foo Foo in the station, but The Chamberlain tells me that the Anime Court is all ramen'ed out, so the latter choice is a no-go, and I'm not sure if the middle of the week is still pretty crowded in the restaurants.

For a while, I was all by my lonesone on my apartment floor. The clan of Filipinos in the one unit and my immediate misanthropic neighbour cleared out within a few days of each other. One has apparently moved into the apartment formerly occupied by the Filipino family but the other unit is still empty according to the green tape on the mailbox and the sheaf of papers hanging off of the door knob. I wouldn't mind if the place stayed empty for the rest of the year.

Well, NOVA President Sahashi has finally wormed out of the woodwork, although it's been via his lawyer. He has come clean on some of the illegalities that he'd perpetrated for years but has remained defiant on other aspects. I did have to laugh when I heard him maintain that his office...which looks like something out of Rich Dictators' Weekly...was merely apportioned to entertain foreign dignataries and show off one of NOVA's projects, Chanoma Ryugaku, the PC-based English lessons. I don't know of too many students' houses which have rooms filled with golden swords and furniture upholstered in rich Corinthian leather. Ricardo Montalban would swoon.

Monday November 5, 6:00 p.m.

It's been a weekend of some transitions. Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, the official Opposition party, pulled a Shinzo Abe and suddenly decided to resign his position since he couldn't get the DPJ execs' approval to get the party into a grand coalition with the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Ozawa considered that snub a lack of confidence and so he held a late-afternoon press conference yesterday. A bit of a lame reason to resign...kinda like the previous Prime Minister's alibi for his resignation...ironically, Ozawa was the alleged reason for Abe to cry boo hoo.

The other transition is one of my own making. I've decided to give my own resignation to the parents of the Younger, after some thought. Yesterday, the parents and I had a brief chat. They didn't really come and say it and I'm not sure if they intentionally hinted at it, but I could get the feeling that there was writing coming onto that wall. The father, nice guy he is, also expressed some shock and dismay at his daughter's recent English test results. I made the argument that perhaps the Younger just had a bad day...not to save my own skin but just to reassure the folks that their girl wasn't ending up as a delinquent...but the father said that probably wasn't the case. The key point was when they mentioned the idea of having The Younger go to the juku specializing in English. She would get the push she needed. I'm not much of a pusher; again, I've always been reluctant to teach kids for the simple fact that they have to learn, not want to learn. I do well with those adults who are pretty keen and avid about language study.
Well, when the idea of a juku came up, I just thought that having that instruction plus her regular English classes at school and my thing on top of that would frankly be too redundant for her. Plus, she's busy with other stuff as well such as her volleyball, piano and singing practices. That was good enough for me. I sent in the e-mail an hour ago. Frankly after 3 years with the girls, and having the Younger screw up on some basic stuff while the Elder flees, I think it's time to save on that money and time I have to spend on getting all the way to their neck of the woods from Ichikawa.

While losing one long-term client, I may be regaining another one. On Friday night at my own juku, the boss informed me that Seven is indeed coming back...allegedly. In fact, the boss had been planning to visit her at the hospital on Sunday and therefore invited me. However, on Saturday, Seven was released so that rendered the matter moot.

On Saturday, I saw Tully and the Coffeemaker for their semi-regular. The Coffeemaker told me that she'd seen "2001: A Space Odyssey" for the first time. I then asked her if she'd seen it sober, especially for the last 20 minutes. She shook her head for NO and shook her head again since she couldn't really wrap her head around that psychedelic trip. I reassured her that most teetotaling folks couldn't and recommended that she watch the much more mundane sequel "2010: The Year We Made Contact".

After the somewhat awkward conversation between myself and the Younger's parents, I took the subway down to Shiodome on the Oedo Line. I had to grab yet another plaything for my niece since apparently Canada Post has been bogged down with a deluge of packages and therefore, my b-day present for her may now be inhabiting the 9th level of Postage Hell. Whoa betide the sorters and carriers when Xmas Card season starts in earnest in a few weeks. Since it was on the way, I had lunch at my favorite hot dog place, Hansens, in the NTV Plaza. Y'know, sitting outside on a cool but sunny November day while noshing on two franks with fries brought a small respite of contentedness that I hadn't felt in a long time.

I then made my way over to Hakuhinkan, the Tokyo equivalent of FAO Schwarz, and quickly bought a cute little Miffy bag with candy for the niece. Not surprisingly, the Xmas decorations were already up in the store and there were enough headache-inducing kids running around. Ginza was closed off to regular traffic as would be the case on sunny Sundays so I took a little stroll down the main street before heading off home.

Today, The Class Act was off so I started with SIL. However, before my first lesson, I went to Com Pho, the Vietnamese lunchery underneath Maruzen for an early lunch. I guess the Krispy Kreme Multiplier Effect has really expanded. Even though Com Pho was several hundred metres away from Itocia where KK No. 2 is located, the place was already getting crowded even though I got there just shortly after 11. I had the usual Bun Bi, that cold mix of pho, pork strips and veggies in that sour soup.
Went up to Maruzen's 4th floor to pick up the latest METROPOLIS issue and see if there were anything else worth picking up. I did notice that there were some "Doctor Who" novels in the shelves; I guess the good Gallifreyan is making inroads even into this country.
I walked down to Yurakucho from Otemachi. Walked past the ticket booth for that Marunouchi double-decker bus tour. Would be interested in trying that out someday. The fare is just 1,200 yen for adults...pretty good bargain for a pleasant hour's ride around downtown Tokyo. I would've asked The Madame but with the drama from last Thursday, I don't think that's an option anymore. I also went through the main plaza of the Tokyo International Forum where all the food trucks. Another thing I'd like to try, especially since one of the trucks is selling souvlaki. I dropped by BIC Camera to see how much a copy of MS Word would cost....uh, well, I guess I'll see if I can grab a copy of it somewhere. And then I went into Sukibayashi HMV. The latest Yuming album was playing on speakers...a bit strange hearing the old "Blizzard" since I've always considered HMV to be a bit too hip to play some of the cornball stuff.
Got to SIL's neck of the woods 45 minutes early so I ended up cooling my heels in the rooftop game centre of Matsuzakaya in Ueno-Hirokoji. There was mix of mothers, children, retired folk and lunching salaried types in the centre. As for SIL, NOVA didn't pop up in the talk but Ichiro Ozawa's stunt did. We also talked about Frank Nagai, an enka singer who had unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide some years ago, only to end up with the mind of a 6-year-old.

So, I'm here at Speedy's. Those of you who actually have been brave enough to stick through my blog all these years may be sharp enough to realize that I shouldn't be typing this right now. I should be teaching The Full-Timer. Well, The Full-Timer cancelled her lesson today on account that her grandmother is ailing. So, I've only got Mr. TOEIC to wait for. The bossman informed me I've got another model lesson coming up this Thursday with a woman to whom I was briefly introduced a few hours ago. Sounds pretty high....kinda reminds me of The Chipmunk. If everything works out, she'll be my Thursday afternoon regular. Might make up for the loss of income from losing The Younger.

The Anime Chamberlain is back in town apparently. Got a message from him...says that he can come up to the apartment this Wednesday to check on the packages. Well, the only inconvenience for me is that I'm stuck here at Speedy's between The Nurse and 001. Plus, he and The Anime Duke's clan will be headed for The Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari Messe. So that may leave just Thursday morning. The Duke also hinted at dinner on Wednesday. Well, if it's in Shinjuku, it's doable although it'll have to be after 8:30.

I've also sent word to the folks at home that I probably won't be heading home this Xmas due to the actions of the Canadian dollar and my own dwindling money supply. Too bad but I had a feeling about this for some weeks now.