Tuesday September 15, 1:23 p.m.
Last night didn't go too badly....The Music Man was fine and I didn't end up strangling The Medicine Man like I'd wanted to last week for his non-performance. I think with the latter guy we got into a warm-up discussion about the H1N1 virus which would definitely be in his ballpark. He said that Swine Flu would probably affect almost half the population and it would peak in early October. He also suggested I get a mask, although not of the cotton variety since they would be a bit too loose to be useful. Point taken.
Speedy reacted with some surprise when he found out that I wouldn't have any classes tomorrow. As usual, he just noted "That ain't too good". Well, with two students now having vacated the premises and 001 off on her Australian sojourn along with the fact that I have no privates, it looks like I'll have the anti-Hump Day.
The Bohemian contacted me to change the date of our meeting. Apparently, an old friend of his from university will suddenly be moving to Southeast Asia very soon, so he wanted to combine his farewell meeting with my dinner with him to the 26th instead of the 20th. I'm good with that. Also, Cozy got in touch with me; apparently, he had spoken with the juku boss about getting together for dinner, and somehow he had convinced her to come out on the 27th although she may not be ready for a full dinner. Well, I'll just see when I talk to her later today.
Another celebrity death....Patrick Swayze has really become a ghost. The writing was on the wall for the past couple of years, but he finally passed away today. I bet there will be a lot of folks putting on that "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack tonight.
Apparently, Noriko Sakai didn't get out on bail yesterday which probably disappointed the vultures...er, I mean....journalists outside Bayside Police Station. The main reason was that the 5 million yen had yet to be paid. Most likely, if and when she comes out, she'll be looking quite a bit lighter physically. Prison has a way of making that happen...and it's not just because of the food. That former president of Livedoor, Horiemon, was looking positively svelte compared to his hedonistically plump days once he got out, and Sakai's fellow "comrade-in-arms" Manabu Oshio got out a couple of weeks ago looking somewhat thinner as well. The only problem is that Nori-P had already looked quite slim and trim when she had been arrested.
Well, I may not be making any money tomorrow but at least I'll probably get to see the inauguration of the new DPJ Cabinet along with the new Prime Minister live on TV.
As for my two cents on that so-called Serena Williams Tirade incident over the weekend and the fact that she hasn't apologized for it....well, what did you expect? It's not as if this was the first time a tennis player has gone bonkers....I'm sure Martina and Chris have had their run-ins with officials. And everyone knows about McEnroe. I'm just surprised that neither of the Williams Sisters hadn't gone berserk before on the court at this stage in their careers...pretty good control up to last weekend, I would say. Of course, the fact that Serena hadn't gone super-primeval on an official made it all the more shocking...still, athletes like her are different human beings. They're near-paragons of human physique, trained to be killingly competitive and have the pressure of making tons of endorsements...again, I say it's more of a surprise that she hadn't gone Wolverine before now. No, obviously it wasn't right what she did and she could've shown a bit of class by giving some sort of apology, but again under the circumstances, I really can't be that surprised.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Monday September 14, 6:38 p.m.
I ended up making that last entry exclusively on my latest walkabout so I'll wrap up the past few days here.
Ah, yes..."X-Men Origins: Wolverine", otherwise known here locally as "X-Men Zero"...they like to add Zero to any sort of prequel, and very appropriate here as well since there was a character by the code name of Zero. And unfortunately, the movie itself kinda scored itself with the same integer...at least in MB's eyes. For such a mild-mannered Aussie, MB is a pretty harsh critic. But then again, I can say honestly that "Wolverine" won't ever be scaring Chris Nolan and "The Dark Knight" franchise. For one thing, the movie was less smoothly flowing origin story of one of Marvel Comics' flagship characters, and more the usual backbreaker plotting that plagues these superhero movies: putting in so many superpowered heroes and villains in one movie that the flick just comes off as a fashion runway showcase for mutants. Hey, look, it's The Merc With A Mouth...Deadpool; hey, it's John Wraith disguised as the frontman for a hip-hop band; hey it's Merry from "Lord of the Rings" with an electricity fetish. And hey, it's good ol' Sabertooth....who just pops up every 10 minutes to have another go-around with his little brother. MB was correct in stating that he needed to punch out the editor; frankly, I would've preferred that "Wolverine" was guaranteed a quadrilogy...with that one plot strung out throughout 4 movies. It would have helped a whole lot in establishing and perhaps even relating to the various characters a whole lot better. Imagine having the first movie based on just the establishment of Major Stryker's elite unit of mutants and their adventures, then the sophomore entry could've dealt with Logan's angry defection and his meeting up with the love of his life. The third could've seen him "lose" his love (you're gonna have to read the Wiki summary to understand why I put the word in quotes) and gain his adamantium. And finally, the fourth movie would have seen him in the final showdown with Stryker. Of course, the beancounters at Fox would never have agreed to this. Their star isn't exactly in his twenties and he probably would want to get out for something more Oscar-baiting. Still, the movie made enough so that the sequel is pending. Now I wonder if Magneto is next.
Well, as for today, besides the recce, it was a banner day for news. So much so that the soon-to-be Prime Minister Hatoyama ended up 3rd in terms of news stories. Noriko Sakai and Ichiro Suzuki took the flag at different ends of the pole today. The folks at the various news desks opened up with the requisite plastic smiles since Ichiro got his 9th consecutive 200-hit season in Texas early this morning. Reporters were out on the streets all over the country getting those personal opinions while his hometown displayed a huge banner congratulating the baseball legend....now, if Seattle could actually get close to winning even a pennant. As for the other end of the spectrum, singer-turned-tarento-turned-surprisingly-good-dancer-at-a-disco-turned-druggie jailbird Noriko Sakai was supposed to be out on bail today. Not surprisingly, there was a mammoth presence of media types in front of Bayside Police Station where she'd been held for several weeks. It's an irony of pop culture in that the Yuji Oda drama "Bayside Shakedown" takes place in the fictionalized version of the station. Not sure where she would be heading after finally getting out....I would think the nearest place for her would be her old condo in Minami-Aoyama....or as far away from Tokyo as possible.
I ended up making that last entry exclusively on my latest walkabout so I'll wrap up the past few days here.
Ah, yes..."X-Men Origins: Wolverine", otherwise known here locally as "X-Men Zero"...they like to add Zero to any sort of prequel, and very appropriate here as well since there was a character by the code name of Zero. And unfortunately, the movie itself kinda scored itself with the same integer...at least in MB's eyes. For such a mild-mannered Aussie, MB is a pretty harsh critic. But then again, I can say honestly that "Wolverine" won't ever be scaring Chris Nolan and "The Dark Knight" franchise. For one thing, the movie was less smoothly flowing origin story of one of Marvel Comics' flagship characters, and more the usual backbreaker plotting that plagues these superhero movies: putting in so many superpowered heroes and villains in one movie that the flick just comes off as a fashion runway showcase for mutants. Hey, look, it's The Merc With A Mouth...Deadpool; hey, it's John Wraith disguised as the frontman for a hip-hop band; hey it's Merry from "Lord of the Rings" with an electricity fetish. And hey, it's good ol' Sabertooth....who just pops up every 10 minutes to have another go-around with his little brother. MB was correct in stating that he needed to punch out the editor; frankly, I would've preferred that "Wolverine" was guaranteed a quadrilogy...with that one plot strung out throughout 4 movies. It would have helped a whole lot in establishing and perhaps even relating to the various characters a whole lot better. Imagine having the first movie based on just the establishment of Major Stryker's elite unit of mutants and their adventures, then the sophomore entry could've dealt with Logan's angry defection and his meeting up with the love of his life. The third could've seen him "lose" his love (you're gonna have to read the Wiki summary to understand why I put the word in quotes) and gain his adamantium. And finally, the fourth movie would have seen him in the final showdown with Stryker. Of course, the beancounters at Fox would never have agreed to this. Their star isn't exactly in his twenties and he probably would want to get out for something more Oscar-baiting. Still, the movie made enough so that the sequel is pending. Now I wonder if Magneto is next.
Well, as for today, besides the recce, it was a banner day for news. So much so that the soon-to-be Prime Minister Hatoyama ended up 3rd in terms of news stories. Noriko Sakai and Ichiro Suzuki took the flag at different ends of the pole today. The folks at the various news desks opened up with the requisite plastic smiles since Ichiro got his 9th consecutive 200-hit season in Texas early this morning. Reporters were out on the streets all over the country getting those personal opinions while his hometown displayed a huge banner congratulating the baseball legend....now, if Seattle could actually get close to winning even a pennant. As for the other end of the spectrum, singer-turned-tarento-turned-surprisingly-good-dancer-at-a-disco-turned-druggie jailbird Noriko Sakai was supposed to be out on bail today. Not surprisingly, there was a mammoth presence of media types in front of Bayside Police Station where she'd been held for several weeks. It's an irony of pop culture in that the Yuji Oda drama "Bayside Shakedown" takes place in the fictionalized version of the station. Not sure where she would be heading after finally getting out....I would think the nearest place for her would be her old condo in Minami-Aoyama....or as far away from Tokyo as possible.
Monday September 14, 6:09 p.m.
Technically speaking, we're still one week away from the official beginning of Autumn, but I can say with some authority as a long-standing resident in this country that Summer was a mere ghost of its usual skin-melting self this year. In what might become a habitual thing with me, I did another recce like the one I did on the 4th...but this time, I beat feet from Shibuya to Roppongi in about 3.5 hours; to be honest, it wouldn't usually take quite that long since the various centres of Tokyo are actually quite compressed within the 23 wards. However, I did have my camera with me just clicking away and I had yet another visit to the largest CD store in the world. During that time, although I did work up a fair sweat, it's saying something that I would even dare such a walkabout in a regular mid-September since those days are far from the September crisp and cool days of my childhood in Canada. I did have to concede to one vending machine, though, between Shibuya and Omotesando.
Looking like the middle-aged oyaji I am, it was with some bravery that I traipsed into the Mecca of all that is Teen in Japan....aka Takeshita-dori in Harajuku. Just before I made that turn, though, I noticed a ton of younglings entering the rival stores of H&M and Forever 21. Speaking of H&M, that huge branch just across from Bunkamura is about to open this Saturday. During the Mondays that I used to head over for The Class Act, there was always that huge boarding and the construction going on. Well, according to this past week's edition of METROPOLIS, it's ready to go and therefore I, and anyone over the age of 30, will probably do well to avoid that area this long holiday weekend. The lines will probably go well into the thousands.
I survived walking through the gauntlet of Takeshita-dori. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of kids there which made me wonder if there were actually anything called school on today. They were all dressed like anything except for proper students. Made my way through the stores of strange English names, creperies and boutiques with terrifying mannequins of human bodies and rabbit heads. Pictures to come later...
Then I got out the other side and made a U-turn to get onto the main drag of Harajuku and into the slightly more mature side of Omotesando. It was a Monday but it still looked like half of Toronto had decided to walk the streets there. Walked all the way up to the Aoyama side of things and took a look at the underground Echika restaurant complex in the subway station. The aroma of freshly-baked croissants was ever-present, so it was with some surprise at the end of this marketplace done up like something in Paris that there was a Vietnamese restaurant. I was tempted to go for the pho and bubble tea, but for some reason I decided to let it go for this time....maybe it was the fact that the two together would have cost me over a thousand yen.
Got up from underground and walked deep into Aoyama. Yup, typically tony neighbourhood. Tasteful apartments and houses that wouldn't look out of place in the Upper West Side, interspersed with various post-modern architecture denoting boutiques and stores. Made it all the way to the Nezu Museum. I was wondering about heading towards ol' Noriko Sakai's apartment (more on her later) but decided that she's been put through enough hell, so I turned left instead. In the distance, I saw the commanding presence of the main Mori Building that represented Roppongi Hills' contribution to the skyline, so I decided to see how I would be able to make that connection.
I ended up walking through the Aoyama Cemetery, one of the great landmarks in the area and then to some sort of orange tube tunnel. I didn't have to traverse through that so I just walked down the stairs to another street heading straight towards Roppongi Hills. It was definitely one of the highlights of my walk...there was the strange curving architecture of The Tokyo Arts Centre to the left, a major traffic artery to the right of me and a large cavernous underpass ahead of me. As I got through the tunnel, there was a strange dichotomy of some old, obviously 60s-built apartment blocks right in front of me while that Mori Building was not that far away. Made it to Roppongi Hills and walked inside. I looked in the local branch of the Aoyama Book Centre but found nothing so just walked and ended up having a Wendy's set in the basement next door to Roppongi Station. No, not particularly nutritious but certainly cheaper than Omotesando pho. But I certainly felt my bones when I finally got to sit down. That was pretty much it for my recce. Very good walk...may do it on Wednesday as well since I've got absolutely nothing scheduled on what was once my usual Hump Day.
Technically speaking, we're still one week away from the official beginning of Autumn, but I can say with some authority as a long-standing resident in this country that Summer was a mere ghost of its usual skin-melting self this year. In what might become a habitual thing with me, I did another recce like the one I did on the 4th...but this time, I beat feet from Shibuya to Roppongi in about 3.5 hours; to be honest, it wouldn't usually take quite that long since the various centres of Tokyo are actually quite compressed within the 23 wards. However, I did have my camera with me just clicking away and I had yet another visit to the largest CD store in the world. During that time, although I did work up a fair sweat, it's saying something that I would even dare such a walkabout in a regular mid-September since those days are far from the September crisp and cool days of my childhood in Canada. I did have to concede to one vending machine, though, between Shibuya and Omotesando.
Looking like the middle-aged oyaji I am, it was with some bravery that I traipsed into the Mecca of all that is Teen in Japan....aka Takeshita-dori in Harajuku. Just before I made that turn, though, I noticed a ton of younglings entering the rival stores of H&M and Forever 21. Speaking of H&M, that huge branch just across from Bunkamura is about to open this Saturday. During the Mondays that I used to head over for The Class Act, there was always that huge boarding and the construction going on. Well, according to this past week's edition of METROPOLIS, it's ready to go and therefore I, and anyone over the age of 30, will probably do well to avoid that area this long holiday weekend. The lines will probably go well into the thousands.
I survived walking through the gauntlet of Takeshita-dori. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of kids there which made me wonder if there were actually anything called school on today. They were all dressed like anything except for proper students. Made my way through the stores of strange English names, creperies and boutiques with terrifying mannequins of human bodies and rabbit heads. Pictures to come later...
Then I got out the other side and made a U-turn to get onto the main drag of Harajuku and into the slightly more mature side of Omotesando. It was a Monday but it still looked like half of Toronto had decided to walk the streets there. Walked all the way up to the Aoyama side of things and took a look at the underground Echika restaurant complex in the subway station. The aroma of freshly-baked croissants was ever-present, so it was with some surprise at the end of this marketplace done up like something in Paris that there was a Vietnamese restaurant. I was tempted to go for the pho and bubble tea, but for some reason I decided to let it go for this time....maybe it was the fact that the two together would have cost me over a thousand yen.
Got up from underground and walked deep into Aoyama. Yup, typically tony neighbourhood. Tasteful apartments and houses that wouldn't look out of place in the Upper West Side, interspersed with various post-modern architecture denoting boutiques and stores. Made it all the way to the Nezu Museum. I was wondering about heading towards ol' Noriko Sakai's apartment (more on her later) but decided that she's been put through enough hell, so I turned left instead. In the distance, I saw the commanding presence of the main Mori Building that represented Roppongi Hills' contribution to the skyline, so I decided to see how I would be able to make that connection.
I ended up walking through the Aoyama Cemetery, one of the great landmarks in the area and then to some sort of orange tube tunnel. I didn't have to traverse through that so I just walked down the stairs to another street heading straight towards Roppongi Hills. It was definitely one of the highlights of my walk...there was the strange curving architecture of The Tokyo Arts Centre to the left, a major traffic artery to the right of me and a large cavernous underpass ahead of me. As I got through the tunnel, there was a strange dichotomy of some old, obviously 60s-built apartment blocks right in front of me while that Mori Building was not that far away. Made it to Roppongi Hills and walked inside. I looked in the local branch of the Aoyama Book Centre but found nothing so just walked and ended up having a Wendy's set in the basement next door to Roppongi Station. No, not particularly nutritious but certainly cheaper than Omotesando pho. But I certainly felt my bones when I finally got to sit down. That was pretty much it for my recce. Very good walk...may do it on Wednesday as well since I've got absolutely nothing scheduled on what was once my usual Hump Day.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Saturday September 12, 2:22 p.m.
One down, one to go. Finished up with The Publicity Assistant about 20 minutes ago. One of her colleagues had taken care of Hugh Jackman during his time promoting "Wolverine", the movie that MB and I along with some others will be catching tonight. Apparently, he comes off as a real regular nice guy. Nice to hear, especially with the rumours swirling about that the sequel may be filming in Japan since Logan has quite a past with this land. I very much doubt that Tokyo will be involved since the authorities here are very tough in terms of restrictions when dealing with filmmakers. But then a lot of the Wolverine comics have taken place in the forests anyways, so probably no trouble there.
Anyways, I'm feeling famished so time for lunch.
One down, one to go. Finished up with The Publicity Assistant about 20 minutes ago. One of her colleagues had taken care of Hugh Jackman during his time promoting "Wolverine", the movie that MB and I along with some others will be catching tonight. Apparently, he comes off as a real regular nice guy. Nice to hear, especially with the rumours swirling about that the sequel may be filming in Japan since Logan has quite a past with this land. I very much doubt that Tokyo will be involved since the authorities here are very tough in terms of restrictions when dealing with filmmakers. But then a lot of the Wolverine comics have taken place in the forests anyways, so probably no trouble there.
Anyways, I'm feeling famished so time for lunch.
Saturday September 12, 12:11 p.m.
I've started on the grand project of saving the school via this so-called Eiken 1 course that I have been asked to develop. I checked over the sample of the Eiken 1 test that I have in the hard drive and jotted down some notes and possible resources to help. The whole test seems to resemble the fictional Top Gun school in the movie of the same name....test the best of the best in English fluency. The written, listening and reading sections would be enough to evacuate an applicant's bowels...or vowels, but if and when that applicant passes through those hurdles, then he/she has to face the Big Boss in this one-player video game of a test: the Interview stage. (Feel free to imagine either the theme from "Dragnet" or "Duel of the Fates" from the "Star Wars" prequels.) Here, the interviewee, after going through the usual minute of introduction and chitchat, has to choose a topic (it could be on anything from the necessity of the United Nations in this century to discussion on whether honesty is always the best policy) and prep it in 1 minute and then give a speech on it for 2 minutes! And to add insult to injury, the interviewee has to run the gauntlet of Q&A for 4. Native speakers of English would probably be tongue-tied, and actually some native teachers of English have gone through it and went through shock when they failed. Yikes! However, for that very same reason, a successful applicant goes through Nirvana when they pass.
I've started on the grand project of saving the school via this so-called Eiken 1 course that I have been asked to develop. I checked over the sample of the Eiken 1 test that I have in the hard drive and jotted down some notes and possible resources to help. The whole test seems to resemble the fictional Top Gun school in the movie of the same name....test the best of the best in English fluency. The written, listening and reading sections would be enough to evacuate an applicant's bowels...or vowels, but if and when that applicant passes through those hurdles, then he/she has to face the Big Boss in this one-player video game of a test: the Interview stage. (Feel free to imagine either the theme from "Dragnet" or "Duel of the Fates" from the "Star Wars" prequels.) Here, the interviewee, after going through the usual minute of introduction and chitchat, has to choose a topic (it could be on anything from the necessity of the United Nations in this century to discussion on whether honesty is always the best policy) and prep it in 1 minute and then give a speech on it for 2 minutes! And to add insult to injury, the interviewee has to run the gauntlet of Q&A for 4. Native speakers of English would probably be tongue-tied, and actually some native teachers of English have gone through it and went through shock when they failed. Yikes! However, for that very same reason, a successful applicant goes through Nirvana when they pass.
Saturday September 12, 11:27 a.m.
Did forget to mention the fact that September 9, 2009 was designated as Beatles Day. There was some sort of festival over at Abbey Road a few weeks back. On Thursday night, after The Carolinan's lesson and a long-overdue dinner at Foo Foo (I needed it), I walked over to Tower Records next to JR Shinjuku. On the 7th floor, there was a rather large display of stuff and videos playing overhead on the monitors commemmorating the remastered re-releases of the various Beatles albums such as "Sgt. Pepper's". There were quite a few people milling about and taking pictures. At 8 o'clock, there was some sort of tribute performance and talk...although passing the 7th floor again on my way back down to the station, I think the performers were definitely more for playing some of the quieter tunes. Over here, The Beatles are held in the highest esteem along with jazz and Bobby Caldwell. I'll leave you to mull over the choices.
Last night, just before I hit bed, I came across an hour's worth of tribute to The Beatles on MTV. The station patched together footage of some of their performances from the roof of Abbey Road Studios, excerpts from "The Yellow Submarine", and "Free As A Bird", that elegiac video released about a decade ago. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of The Fab Four, although it would seem that almost anyone born in the 20th century is a fan by default. I think just seeing the psychedelic stuff from "The Yellow Submarine" was enough for me to lose some sleep. Still, maybe I will pick up a couple of albums for posterity someday.
Did forget to mention the fact that September 9, 2009 was designated as Beatles Day. There was some sort of festival over at Abbey Road a few weeks back. On Thursday night, after The Carolinan's lesson and a long-overdue dinner at Foo Foo (I needed it), I walked over to Tower Records next to JR Shinjuku. On the 7th floor, there was a rather large display of stuff and videos playing overhead on the monitors commemmorating the remastered re-releases of the various Beatles albums such as "Sgt. Pepper's". There were quite a few people milling about and taking pictures. At 8 o'clock, there was some sort of tribute performance and talk...although passing the 7th floor again on my way back down to the station, I think the performers were definitely more for playing some of the quieter tunes. Over here, The Beatles are held in the highest esteem along with jazz and Bobby Caldwell. I'll leave you to mull over the choices.
Last night, just before I hit bed, I came across an hour's worth of tribute to The Beatles on MTV. The station patched together footage of some of their performances from the roof of Abbey Road Studios, excerpts from "The Yellow Submarine", and "Free As A Bird", that elegiac video released about a decade ago. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of The Fab Four, although it would seem that almost anyone born in the 20th century is a fan by default. I think just seeing the psychedelic stuff from "The Yellow Submarine" was enough for me to lose some sleep. Still, maybe I will pick up a couple of albums for posterity someday.
Saturday September 12, 11:05 a.m.
Lousy weather out there. Seems like there is a typhoon in Tokyo Bay.
Yesterday was basically an off day for me except for the juku lessons, and I almost ended up having just the half-hour with The Restauranteur but more on that later. The gas man did come and just gave my taps a few seconds of lookover before considering them safe. I probably won't see him again for another 3 years. During his visit, Speedy called up rather jauntily to say that Swank, the translator for the Japanese court system who was aiming to achieve Eiken 1 status, was apparently coming back into the fold. I can imagine that the bossman was pretty darn happy since she's bought new lessons although I don't think even a full ton of lessons will make too much of a dent in our debt. Anyways, it looks like I'll be making house calls to her new home in Hiroo from Monday mornings...since it's pretty much certain that The Class Act will now be a footnote in my career history. Actually, the juku boss and The Beehive seem to know more than I do about the whereabouts of The Madame and her fallen husband. There was some sort of update report on the duo after the collapse of his empire...they've been living a nomadic life of sorts...jumping from hotel to hotel. I'm pretty sure, though, that it's still first-class living all the way.
Also, the bossman slipped in that I needn't bother about that project for study-abroad students. I wasn't making too much headway on that anyways. Instead, I'm to start working on coming up with some sort of course material for folks who want to go for Eiken 1; an idea brought about by Swank's return and seconded by Ray. Yeah, whatever...
MB has deigned to give me some more time to get to JR Shinjuku for the movie tonight. 6:15. Yeah, whatever...
Just have The Publicity Assistant and The Intellectual...my usual Saturday students from this afternoon.
Yesterday was indeed the 8th anniversary since the 9/11 attacks, and Obama's first as President. Apparently, there was some sort of kerfuffle involving a horribly mistimed Coast Guard drill in the Potomac as the President was attending a ceremony at the Pentagon. The CNN and BBC anchors acted as de facto parents of the nation with their tsk, tsking. Kinda reminds me of that asinine photo op with Air Force One flying low over Manhattan which brought out the panic attacks in the populace. Heads rolled then, heads will probably roll later.
Lousy weather out there. Seems like there is a typhoon in Tokyo Bay.
Yesterday was basically an off day for me except for the juku lessons, and I almost ended up having just the half-hour with The Restauranteur but more on that later. The gas man did come and just gave my taps a few seconds of lookover before considering them safe. I probably won't see him again for another 3 years. During his visit, Speedy called up rather jauntily to say that Swank, the translator for the Japanese court system who was aiming to achieve Eiken 1 status, was apparently coming back into the fold. I can imagine that the bossman was pretty darn happy since she's bought new lessons although I don't think even a full ton of lessons will make too much of a dent in our debt. Anyways, it looks like I'll be making house calls to her new home in Hiroo from Monday mornings...since it's pretty much certain that The Class Act will now be a footnote in my career history. Actually, the juku boss and The Beehive seem to know more than I do about the whereabouts of The Madame and her fallen husband. There was some sort of update report on the duo after the collapse of his empire...they've been living a nomadic life of sorts...jumping from hotel to hotel. I'm pretty sure, though, that it's still first-class living all the way.
Also, the bossman slipped in that I needn't bother about that project for study-abroad students. I wasn't making too much headway on that anyways. Instead, I'm to start working on coming up with some sort of course material for folks who want to go for Eiken 1; an idea brought about by Swank's return and seconded by Ray. Yeah, whatever...
MB has deigned to give me some more time to get to JR Shinjuku for the movie tonight. 6:15. Yeah, whatever...
Just have The Publicity Assistant and The Intellectual...my usual Saturday students from this afternoon.
Yesterday was indeed the 8th anniversary since the 9/11 attacks, and Obama's first as President. Apparently, there was some sort of kerfuffle involving a horribly mistimed Coast Guard drill in the Potomac as the President was attending a ceremony at the Pentagon. The CNN and BBC anchors acted as de facto parents of the nation with their tsk, tsking. Kinda reminds me of that asinine photo op with Air Force One flying low over Manhattan which brought out the panic attacks in the populace. Heads rolled then, heads will probably roll later.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Thursday September 10, 1:05 p.m.
Will be off in about 10 minutes for Shinjuku. It was another happy, happy lesson with Miss Sedona. It'll be sad to lose her for good but it'll be good for her to gain a new perspective in Toronto. It's been understandably stressful for her these last several days as she prepares for the big voyage. She has to take care of the packing, the moving and all of the other rigamarole involved in big life changes. Plus, she and her boss have been at loggerheads again about who will be replacing her in the pharmacy. Yep, I hear her pain. I've had my share of battles with the staff at the ol' school.
I caught the pilot episode of "Criminal Minds" on Super Drama TV! last night. The cable channel has been pushing this show for the past several weeks, and now it's arrived. So, it's Gideon and his gang of profilers including a couple of fashion models and a geek. The pilot was an enjoyable timewaster although the last scene seemed a bit too Hollywood-y twist-y.
Anyways, heading out. I think I'm still feeling pretty annoyed about MB's attitude and that invite from 002.
Will be off in about 10 minutes for Shinjuku. It was another happy, happy lesson with Miss Sedona. It'll be sad to lose her for good but it'll be good for her to gain a new perspective in Toronto. It's been understandably stressful for her these last several days as she prepares for the big voyage. She has to take care of the packing, the moving and all of the other rigamarole involved in big life changes. Plus, she and her boss have been at loggerheads again about who will be replacing her in the pharmacy. Yep, I hear her pain. I've had my share of battles with the staff at the ol' school.
I caught the pilot episode of "Criminal Minds" on Super Drama TV! last night. The cable channel has been pushing this show for the past several weeks, and now it's arrived. So, it's Gideon and his gang of profilers including a couple of fashion models and a geek. The pilot was an enjoyable timewaster although the last scene seemed a bit too Hollywood-y twist-y.
Anyways, heading out. I think I'm still feeling pretty annoyed about MB's attitude and that invite from 002.
Thursday September 10, 11:26 a.m.
A little more than 15 minutes away from Miss Sedona's penultimate lesson...I made a slight error earlier about it being her last class. In any case, Speedy may be biting his nails about her future with us although since she'll be leaving next month, I don't think there would be much point in doing so.
Miss Sedona will be my only lesson here at Speedy's today. Afterwards, it'll just be the privates in the form of The Bow and The Carolinan at different cafes. And if I'm lucky, I'll be able to hit home early enough to make some supper instead of doing the usual bento. In between, I hope to hit Recomints at Nakano Broadway once more since I got a flyer with the latest releases yesterday...and one of them happens to be a re-master of Ruiko Kurahashi's very first album back in 1980 or 1981. Yep, on the way to the school, I stopped off at the discount disc place yesterday and managed to scrounge around the bins and picked up 5 discs for 500 yen.
MB seemed a bit snippy in his latest e-mail...told me he needed to get an exact time instead of "early evening" from me about when I could meet up with him in Shinjuku for "Wolverine" on Saturday. I did say that I would be finishing at 5 at Speedy's and he knows how long it would take for me to get to Shinjuku from here. I tried to be nice in my response but I just couldn't help but show a bit of sting back at his little bile.
Speaking of sting and bile, 002 asked me, via 001, if I would be interested in coming out to her place on October 11th for dinner. She could've just contacted me directly by e-mail. But in any case, since I've got Mr. Mild's concert on the 4th and The Jyuppies would like at least one of the first two Sundays for their class, I think the chances of me heading out to her place for dinner are pretty slim.
OK...got the annoyances out of the way. A lot of us...especially at Speedy's....may be singing the blues about the current economic crisis, but even the rich seem to have it bad. The most famous photographer in the world, Annie Leibowitz, seems to have found herself $24 million in debt for some reason. Maybe I shouldn't feel too sorry for myself.
Anyways, Miss Sedona is here...
A little more than 15 minutes away from Miss Sedona's penultimate lesson...I made a slight error earlier about it being her last class. In any case, Speedy may be biting his nails about her future with us although since she'll be leaving next month, I don't think there would be much point in doing so.
Miss Sedona will be my only lesson here at Speedy's today. Afterwards, it'll just be the privates in the form of The Bow and The Carolinan at different cafes. And if I'm lucky, I'll be able to hit home early enough to make some supper instead of doing the usual bento. In between, I hope to hit Recomints at Nakano Broadway once more since I got a flyer with the latest releases yesterday...and one of them happens to be a re-master of Ruiko Kurahashi's very first album back in 1980 or 1981. Yep, on the way to the school, I stopped off at the discount disc place yesterday and managed to scrounge around the bins and picked up 5 discs for 500 yen.
MB seemed a bit snippy in his latest e-mail...told me he needed to get an exact time instead of "early evening" from me about when I could meet up with him in Shinjuku for "Wolverine" on Saturday. I did say that I would be finishing at 5 at Speedy's and he knows how long it would take for me to get to Shinjuku from here. I tried to be nice in my response but I just couldn't help but show a bit of sting back at his little bile.
Speaking of sting and bile, 002 asked me, via 001, if I would be interested in coming out to her place on October 11th for dinner. She could've just contacted me directly by e-mail. But in any case, since I've got Mr. Mild's concert on the 4th and The Jyuppies would like at least one of the first two Sundays for their class, I think the chances of me heading out to her place for dinner are pretty slim.
OK...got the annoyances out of the way. A lot of us...especially at Speedy's....may be singing the blues about the current economic crisis, but even the rich seem to have it bad. The most famous photographer in the world, Annie Leibowitz, seems to have found herself $24 million in debt for some reason. Maybe I shouldn't feel too sorry for myself.
Anyways, Miss Sedona is here...
Wednesday September 9, 8:29 p.m.
Interesting how about several months ago, Wednesdays were regularly called the Hump Day of the week...I had a mix of privates and regulars at Speedy's during the day and then the regular night lineup of 001, The Diver and The Fashion Designer. Back then, I think I openly wondered when all that would disappear considering the sinking economy.
Well, I'm now on the other side of that thought equation. No privates today since The Admin had to cancel today's lesson. The Diver quit several weeks ago and The Fashion Designer finished off her remaining lesson last week. It was just 001 tonight, and she's headed off for Australia on her annual overseas trip next Monday so there won't even be her next Wednesday. I may actually have a non-holiday totally free Wednesday next week. Does make me get a little wistful and philosophical.
In a way, though, I'm happy that The Admin did cancel this morning's meeting. The Tozai Line got hit by some sort of collision accident around 4 a.m. (didn't even realize that the trains ran that early), and the resulting chaos affected over a quarter of a million commuters; there was a helicopter shot of the crowds just milling around Nishi-Funabashi Station, a station that I have to go through whenever I see The Beehive or The Bass. It looked like an Obama campaign rally. I could imagine what it must've looked like at my station. Since The Admin cancelled, I didn't have to go in til mid-afternoon. By then, things were all cleared up.
Speaking of the Beehive, I saw them for the first time in about a couple of months. Mrs. Perth visited us from Sapporo; in fact, she headed off for Haneda Airport back home to Hokkaido right after the lesson and lunch. Because of the long summer vacation, the ladies were in an especially chatty mood. Just about everyone of the regular crowd was there: Mrs. Alp, Mrs. Tee, Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Jade along with the aforementioned Mrs. Perth. Mrs. Travel talked on her latest trip to Italy. She was crowing that she and her daughter had been able to grab a suite at a 5-star hotel by Lake Como (George Clooney's home away from home) after being double-booked at their scheduled 4-star hotel. I don't think even Japanese hotels are that generous. On the other side of the coin, Mrs. Tee related that she and her family had been involved in an auto accident; no injuries but the impression was that her husband may need to be retired from driving. Mrs. Alp got on her high horse and scolded Mr. Tee in absentia. Nag, nag, nag....
At my station, there is a branch of Pepper Lunch, a chain of restaurants specializing in hotplate-grilled beef. It had replaced the long-running Dosanko Ramen some years back, and in the last few months, received a makeover of sorts. Earlier this week, I noticed that the place was closed. Even when I got home at my latest...past midnight...Pepper Lunch was still running since it knocked off at 1 a.m. However, last night I read a sign reading that there had been an incident involving an ill customer who'd gotten O-157 virus from the restaurant food...probably the salad. Yikes! In any case, the restaurant did what any restaurant in Japan would do in such embarrassing circumstances: it has shut down for the next little while in penance.
My stint at the juku last night had me asking the boss how the big powwow went between the new teacher and the mothers of those kids on Saturday. The story went that the teacher was going to refuse to teach a trio of kids since one of them was just acting up all over the place which necessitated the intervention since the kids and the mothers wanted the group to stay intact. The boss was fretting a lot about it. Well, it looks like some sort of temporary truce was achieved, if not a detente. So things seem to be more The Two Koreas more than a reunified Germany. Still, the boss is thinking how much easier it would be if there were no Saturday classes.
I finally got to listen to Michael Jackson's pre-"Thriller" album, "Off The Wall" last night. It made for an interesting listening experience. It was kinda proto-"Thriller", actually. There were signs of the singing genius that Jackson would finally show on "Thriller" but "Off The Wall" was reminiscent of the last embers of the disco period. His voice back then was still trying to find its....voice, in a way. "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" was notable for the fact that he had sung the track totally in falsetto. However, "Rock With You" is the one tune that will be my favourite; just a great Rod Temperton composition. Aside from "She's Out of My Life", the others will probably have to grow on me over time. It was also interesting that I'd bought "Off The Wall" along with Mariya Takeuchi's "Miss M", since both were made at around the same time and both had used a lot of the same musicians. Still, this album can be considered to be a sister to Quincy Jones' classic "The Dude".
I also finally got to watch Disc 9 of Ken Burns' "Jazz" epic documentary. I haven't been buying the discs in order so there has been a lot of jumping amongst the decades and genres. Disc 9 dealt with basically the advent of West Coast Jazz, Hard Bop and Experimental Jazz in the 50s and 60s. The previous disc was Disc 5 which was about the apex of the Swing Era, so it was quite a jump to go from Benny, Duke and Louis in their prime to their slow fadeout, at least initially, and see names like Miles, Coltrane and Rollins popping up. Hearing and seeing the difficult and iconoclastic Miles Davis perform on the DVD has gotten me itching to pick up some of his CDs sometime in the near future.
Interesting how about several months ago, Wednesdays were regularly called the Hump Day of the week...I had a mix of privates and regulars at Speedy's during the day and then the regular night lineup of 001, The Diver and The Fashion Designer. Back then, I think I openly wondered when all that would disappear considering the sinking economy.
Well, I'm now on the other side of that thought equation. No privates today since The Admin had to cancel today's lesson. The Diver quit several weeks ago and The Fashion Designer finished off her remaining lesson last week. It was just 001 tonight, and she's headed off for Australia on her annual overseas trip next Monday so there won't even be her next Wednesday. I may actually have a non-holiday totally free Wednesday next week. Does make me get a little wistful and philosophical.
In a way, though, I'm happy that The Admin did cancel this morning's meeting. The Tozai Line got hit by some sort of collision accident around 4 a.m. (didn't even realize that the trains ran that early), and the resulting chaos affected over a quarter of a million commuters; there was a helicopter shot of the crowds just milling around Nishi-Funabashi Station, a station that I have to go through whenever I see The Beehive or The Bass. It looked like an Obama campaign rally. I could imagine what it must've looked like at my station. Since The Admin cancelled, I didn't have to go in til mid-afternoon. By then, things were all cleared up.
Speaking of the Beehive, I saw them for the first time in about a couple of months. Mrs. Perth visited us from Sapporo; in fact, she headed off for Haneda Airport back home to Hokkaido right after the lesson and lunch. Because of the long summer vacation, the ladies were in an especially chatty mood. Just about everyone of the regular crowd was there: Mrs. Alp, Mrs. Tee, Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Jade along with the aforementioned Mrs. Perth. Mrs. Travel talked on her latest trip to Italy. She was crowing that she and her daughter had been able to grab a suite at a 5-star hotel by Lake Como (George Clooney's home away from home) after being double-booked at their scheduled 4-star hotel. I don't think even Japanese hotels are that generous. On the other side of the coin, Mrs. Tee related that she and her family had been involved in an auto accident; no injuries but the impression was that her husband may need to be retired from driving. Mrs. Alp got on her high horse and scolded Mr. Tee in absentia. Nag, nag, nag....
At my station, there is a branch of Pepper Lunch, a chain of restaurants specializing in hotplate-grilled beef. It had replaced the long-running Dosanko Ramen some years back, and in the last few months, received a makeover of sorts. Earlier this week, I noticed that the place was closed. Even when I got home at my latest...past midnight...Pepper Lunch was still running since it knocked off at 1 a.m. However, last night I read a sign reading that there had been an incident involving an ill customer who'd gotten O-157 virus from the restaurant food...probably the salad. Yikes! In any case, the restaurant did what any restaurant in Japan would do in such embarrassing circumstances: it has shut down for the next little while in penance.
My stint at the juku last night had me asking the boss how the big powwow went between the new teacher and the mothers of those kids on Saturday. The story went that the teacher was going to refuse to teach a trio of kids since one of them was just acting up all over the place which necessitated the intervention since the kids and the mothers wanted the group to stay intact. The boss was fretting a lot about it. Well, it looks like some sort of temporary truce was achieved, if not a detente. So things seem to be more The Two Koreas more than a reunified Germany. Still, the boss is thinking how much easier it would be if there were no Saturday classes.
I finally got to listen to Michael Jackson's pre-"Thriller" album, "Off The Wall" last night. It made for an interesting listening experience. It was kinda proto-"Thriller", actually. There were signs of the singing genius that Jackson would finally show on "Thriller" but "Off The Wall" was reminiscent of the last embers of the disco period. His voice back then was still trying to find its....voice, in a way. "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" was notable for the fact that he had sung the track totally in falsetto. However, "Rock With You" is the one tune that will be my favourite; just a great Rod Temperton composition. Aside from "She's Out of My Life", the others will probably have to grow on me over time. It was also interesting that I'd bought "Off The Wall" along with Mariya Takeuchi's "Miss M", since both were made at around the same time and both had used a lot of the same musicians. Still, this album can be considered to be a sister to Quincy Jones' classic "The Dude".
I also finally got to watch Disc 9 of Ken Burns' "Jazz" epic documentary. I haven't been buying the discs in order so there has been a lot of jumping amongst the decades and genres. Disc 9 dealt with basically the advent of West Coast Jazz, Hard Bop and Experimental Jazz in the 50s and 60s. The previous disc was Disc 5 which was about the apex of the Swing Era, so it was quite a jump to go from Benny, Duke and Louis in their prime to their slow fadeout, at least initially, and see names like Miles, Coltrane and Rollins popping up. Hearing and seeing the difficult and iconoclastic Miles Davis perform on the DVD has gotten me itching to pick up some of his CDs sometime in the near future.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Monday September 7, 10:43 p.m.
I promise...this is the last entry for today. Man, I am so beat. Only had two lessons with 8.5 hours between them, and yet I'm just so ready for bed after a round with The Medicine Man. He just especially sloggy tonight...he's never been the most ebullient responder, but tonight it seemed like every question asked him seemed to him to be the most in need of thought, no matter the topic. Ugh!
Just wanna go home now...
I promise...this is the last entry for today. Man, I am so beat. Only had two lessons with 8.5 hours between them, and yet I'm just so ready for bed after a round with The Medicine Man. He just especially sloggy tonight...he's never been the most ebullient responder, but tonight it seemed like every question asked him seemed to him to be the most in need of thought, no matter the topic. Ugh!
Just wanna go home now...
Monday September 7, 6:40 p.m.
I've got a lot of donut days coming up. In fact, I'd say that everyday except this Friday will be hole-y. I had The Nurse this morning and since then it's been nothing but blogging and working on that project from Speedy. We lost another staff member who'd been with us for about a year; she's gonna be heading over to meet her husband in jolly ol' London to start a new life there.
As usual, I've got The Medicine Man in the last slot tonight. Tomorrow, I see The Beehive for the first time in almost 2 months. It'll basically be catch-up day so I don't expect to use any new material. Mrs. Perth will be making her periodic visit from Sapporo so I'll be joining them for lunch.
There was a CNN online article which featured Patrick Stewart who had been at one of those sci-fi conventions. Of course, the lineup to see him was extremely long. Heck, if he'd been here in Tokyo, I would've been more than willing to line up. He said that "Star Trek" is now a fond memory, but a memory nevertheless. But he said that the Xavier-Magneto storyline can still be squeezed for some more mileage. I can certainly agree....that one scene at the beginning of the first "X-Men" nearly a decade ago was easily the highlight for me. They can take turns reading The Yellow Pages on stage, and the combo of Stewart & MacKellen could still ensure a full house. I had to chuckle when someone asked him about what it was like to work with the Shat. He just remarked that "...he is a piece of work, isn't he?" I don't quite think that it was a full endorsement.
I've got a lot of donut days coming up. In fact, I'd say that everyday except this Friday will be hole-y. I had The Nurse this morning and since then it's been nothing but blogging and working on that project from Speedy. We lost another staff member who'd been with us for about a year; she's gonna be heading over to meet her husband in jolly ol' London to start a new life there.
As usual, I've got The Medicine Man in the last slot tonight. Tomorrow, I see The Beehive for the first time in almost 2 months. It'll basically be catch-up day so I don't expect to use any new material. Mrs. Perth will be making her periodic visit from Sapporo so I'll be joining them for lunch.
There was a CNN online article which featured Patrick Stewart who had been at one of those sci-fi conventions. Of course, the lineup to see him was extremely long. Heck, if he'd been here in Tokyo, I would've been more than willing to line up. He said that "Star Trek" is now a fond memory, but a memory nevertheless. But he said that the Xavier-Magneto storyline can still be squeezed for some more mileage. I can certainly agree....that one scene at the beginning of the first "X-Men" nearly a decade ago was easily the highlight for me. They can take turns reading The Yellow Pages on stage, and the combo of Stewart & MacKellen could still ensure a full house. I had to chuckle when someone asked him about what it was like to work with the Shat. He just remarked that "...he is a piece of work, isn't he?" I don't quite think that it was a full endorsement.
Monday September 7, 5:30 p.m.
And even before all the MB weekend, I had found myself with a rather empty Friday since The Bass decided to cancel his class on the 4th. So I decided to take a recce and did a couple of walks in The Big Sushi hours before my stint at the juku. I started out in Shibuya since I hadn't been there in quite a while (my stints with The Class Act all seem like a faded memory now). Just started clicking away at the camera like a regular tourist before I walked up Route 246 Aoyama Dori towards Aoyama and Omotesando. Came across some funky architecture such as the Ami Hall in the left picture. Continued walking up 246 until I made it to Gaienmae. Then I hit the subway and took it up to Ginza.
After checking out Yamano Music as usual, I just walked it up all the way to the Imperial Palace. That's Nijubashi you see up on the right...Nijubashi is translated as "double bridge" since the real thing clearly reflects its image in the moat water. Of course, the usual tourist groups were there walking around the area since they couldn't go inside the compound itself.
Despite my large amount of faux-sightseeing, I did purchase some stuff. At Tower Records, I picked another couple of discs from Ken Burns' "Jazz" epic documentary, along with Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" album. Have yet to hear the whole disc though I did listen to "Rock With You". I also picked up a J-Pop album from Mariya Takeuchi from her early years: "Miss M". I can safely say that noone could ever mistake that album with any by The Divine Miss M, Bette Midler. I'd been getting the latter releases by Takeuchi from the 90s onwards which has shown her to be a serene middle-aged beauty just lounging about. "Miss M" was released in 1980, when she was all of 25 years of age and perhaps just before marrying her equally famous husband, Tatsuro Yamashita. Young Mariya looked like a prettier and classier type of pop aidoru back then...all twinkling eyes, teeth and bangs with that look of "Aw gosh...I really am in Hollywood!" expression, all wrapped up in a suit that a member of a barbershop quartet would just adore.
The early 80s, as far as Japanese New Music was concerned, was practically synonymous with American AOR. It seemed as if a lot of the Japanese singers at that time like Takeuchi, Hiromi Iwasaki, Anri and Naoko Kawai were just begging to be produced by the likes of David Foster who had been behind a lot of the hits for AOR/R&B legends like James Ingram and Bobby Caldwell. "Miss M" was Mariya's contribution to binational AOR diplomacy. Half of the songs were done in LA with the aforementioned Foster and a lot of the familiar names one would see in American AOR album liner notes. What got me to buy the album was the first track, "The Sweetest Music", which I'd seen via YouTube last week with Mariya and backup girls sashaying due to a disco beat....yup, she's been around that long. At that point, Mariya had already been giving her tribute to the Great American Songbook via the Connie Franklin chapter, but with "Miss M", she didn't just throw herself into AOR but also into a bit of disco, balladry and even cool jazz. Quite a revelation for an old kayo kyoku fan like me who's been accustomed to seeing 54-year-old Takeuchi being most notable recently for her annual Xmas jingle for KFC.
Monday September 7, 5:06 p.m.
Now that I've gotten the food reviews out of the way...
the non-culinary portion of my weekend at MB's consisted of movies and video games, the usual itinerary at my friend's home. Saturday evening was a double-bill of "The French Connection"...1 and 2. As a movie buff, I have to admit to some embarrassment at the fact that I'd never seen Gene Hackman's magnum opus of the early 70s. Of course, I'd heard of what had been cinema's greatest rendition of a car chase in the first "French Connection"...that is, until the car chase in "Ronin" eclipsed it.
The first "French Connection" gave a gloriously gritty depiction of New York jungle life. And Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle was one of its most dangerous beasts. I hadn't realized what an anti-hero Doyle was until finally watching it. This guy could give Vic Mackey of "The Shield" a case of cold sweats. Doyle is NOT a nice man. Even after getting kidnapped, forcibly hooked on drugs and going through withdrawal in the sequel, Popeye remains a jerk throughout. I could've imagined any other writer or producer showing that arc of redemption, but it would seem that the producers were hell-bent on ensuring that he never becomes a new good man....even to the point that the movie finishes off extremely abruptly half a second after he finally gets his man in Marseilles...no chance to see any tender moments (not that the character would probably ever show them) at the airport between him and his French hosts. It's kinda no wonder that Hackman seemed to get more villianous or morally conflicted roles ("Superman", "The Firm", "Unforgiven") later in his career.
However, it's with the first movie that Popeye is obviously in his element and that the story shines with Manhattan acting as a supporting character...it's fascinating to look at but I wouldn't ever want to step into it for real. I could see where the contemporary police procedural shows like "Law & Order", "Hill Street Blues" and "Third Watch" found their muse. Ironically, a TV version of the movie quickly went down in flames in the 80s.
Now that I've gotten the food reviews out of the way...
the non-culinary portion of my weekend at MB's consisted of movies and video games, the usual itinerary at my friend's home. Saturday evening was a double-bill of "The French Connection"...1 and 2. As a movie buff, I have to admit to some embarrassment at the fact that I'd never seen Gene Hackman's magnum opus of the early 70s. Of course, I'd heard of what had been cinema's greatest rendition of a car chase in the first "French Connection"...that is, until the car chase in "Ronin" eclipsed it.
The first "French Connection" gave a gloriously gritty depiction of New York jungle life. And Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle was one of its most dangerous beasts. I hadn't realized what an anti-hero Doyle was until finally watching it. This guy could give Vic Mackey of "The Shield" a case of cold sweats. Doyle is NOT a nice man. Even after getting kidnapped, forcibly hooked on drugs and going through withdrawal in the sequel, Popeye remains a jerk throughout. I could've imagined any other writer or producer showing that arc of redemption, but it would seem that the producers were hell-bent on ensuring that he never becomes a new good man....even to the point that the movie finishes off extremely abruptly half a second after he finally gets his man in Marseilles...no chance to see any tender moments (not that the character would probably ever show them) at the airport between him and his French hosts. It's kinda no wonder that Hackman seemed to get more villianous or morally conflicted roles ("Superman", "The Firm", "Unforgiven") later in his career.
However, it's with the first movie that Popeye is obviously in his element and that the story shines with Manhattan acting as a supporting character...it's fascinating to look at but I wouldn't ever want to step into it for real. I could see where the contemporary police procedural shows like "Law & Order", "Hill Street Blues" and "Third Watch" found their muse. Ironically, a TV version of the movie quickly went down in flames in the 80s.
Monday September 7, 4:58 p.m.
My weekend at MB's was definitely a gastronomically satisfying one. I had El Pescador on Sunday night, but the night before, MB, The Sylph and I had another fine dinner...this time, at a yakiniku shop.
It'd been a few months since our last trip to Korean BBQ...I think the restaurant was in Yoyogi and one of The Sylph's friends had introduced us to it. Grilled and marinated beef is one of those food items that, along with peanuts and chips, can never be stopped at just one slice. It turns us fans into devouring machines. For some reason, there seems to be a direct relationship between the number of slices of yakiniku eaten with the increase in capacity of the human gastrointestinal tract. Luckily though, MB and The Sylph are more gourmet than gourmand, so they helped me keep in culinary control. We had the de rigueur plates of salted beef tongue, kalbi, bulgogi and chicken with generous helpings of salad and kimchi, and MB & I drank it all down with Guinness (!) Of course, my way to end the feast is to always order kalbi kuppa, the hearty stew of marinated kalbi beef, rice and veggies. Despite the amount of cow that we all had, we were still able to take down the kuppa just fine.
Monday September 7, 4:43 p.m.
The restaurant so nice, its photos I put up twice. Yup, the Burger Tour Gang followed the clarion call of Movie Buddy about this place, El Pescador, in Jiyugaoka and amassed last night for what would become a symphony in culinary expertise. For days, MB and The Sylph raved about the fare there. Since they went there as a couple, their choice in dishes to enjoy was limited....unlike me, they don't have black holes where a G-I tract should be. So, they decided to call in the whole gang of me, Skippy, The Satyr and Miss Ivory and Frodo along with his wife.
We weren't disappointed at all. In fact, even the guys were raving throughout the dinner at the various dishes that came out one after the other. Usually, the squeals of "Oishii! Oishii!" are from the domain of the women, but this time the men were also more than happy to echo the sentiments. And for good reason....there wasn't a false note struck during the entire meal. From the above shown Lamb Chops to the two brands of paella to the salad to the bountiful dessert plate and others....this would go down as one of the best repasts I've had in the many years I've been here. Usually I'm not a lamb person since the rather pungent aroma and taste have turned me off in the past. But this tender and juicy dish pretty much destroyed that myth as completely as having that uni at that sushi restaurant that The Jyuppies had taken me to a couple of weeks before. There was the usual amount of chatter amongst us, and Skippy was getting giddy as she usually does, but there was also a lot of appreciative talk about the food. Heck, even Frodo was getting high on his espresso...even had a second cup, which would mean that sleep was probably non-existent for him that night.
During the evening, the chef and other staff had to turn away a number of folks who had erroneously thought they could get in sans reservations. No can do at this place....it's just too small and too good to pull that sort of thing off. Reservations are mandatory. Jiyugaoka has had a number of gastronomic pleasures for me each time I've visited the area with MB, but El Pescador comes down as one of those places I would go for a second trip the next time I head out that way.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Thursday September 3, 7:14 p.m.
Another one of those long, lazy days in the office chair since I've had the Mother of All Donut Days. To remind you folks, a Donut Day is one in which I've got a student at the beginning of the day and then have to wait several hours before the next one. Between Miss Sedona and The Music Man, I've got 8.5 hours. That's a lot of computer time.
Meterologically, the alternating hot and cold cycle that Tokyo's been getting finally got broken today...on the side of Fall. It went up to just 25 C yesterday and that's what it was today as well. I went out a half-hour ago to grab a bento from the local Lawson's and it just felt pleasantly cool. That might be de rigueur in Toronto, but over here that's about akin to an early frost.
During the long break, I took care of some odds and ends such as taking care of the Advance Information Form at Air Canada and finishing up on that project for Speedy. I've got all the bare bones for this potential course for study-abroad students who may be a bit nervous about their English ability, but I just gotta come up with some skin and tissue to put it all together. Sometimes, though, I wonder if the bossman just gave me the assignment so that he could have a reason to pay me since I've been scarce on students recently. He even said that most likely there would only be a few students who would want the service. Usually the students who sign up for studying abroad are already pretty lucid.
While both Ray and La Fille were here, the three of us got into the topic of natto, that love-hate Japanese food of rotten beans that seems to be the Manna of Heaven in the Kanto while it was until recently the universal culinary equivalent of wolfsbane in the Kansai. I'm definitely of the latter persuasion...as is Ray, which is a bit unique since she hails from the Tohoku area. La Fille is just in love with the stuff...a lot of the natives here eat it on rice with a bit of karashi mustard...but she goes for it au naturel; just the stuff itself. When I told the both of them, however, that I'd seen a variety show in which some enterprising fellow came up with the idea of natto chocolate cake, they both gagged. The conversation then sidled into my recent trip to Nakamizo, the sushi restaurant in Chuo-Rinkan that The Jyuppies had taken me to the other Sunday. They marveled at the photos of sushi I'd taken. They were also talking about the near-legendary Carrot...a restaurant near Nishi-Ogikubo (not too far away from here) that is famed for its large Japanese-style hanbaagu (hamburg steaks). I'd first heard about it from The Matron some years ago since her hefty son had been a regular customer (figures). The place also got onto some of the variety shows as well. Lineups at Carrot are an inevitability. Someday all of us here at Speedy's may get out there for lunch...provided we survive our current financial crisis.
Just a point about Speedy's financial crisis...it goes quite a ways to say that I'd earned more in the last month than the entire school did in the same amount of time...that's how bad it is now.
Also came across the Wiki entry for "Burn Notice", that whimsical spy series from FOX. The show's starting to be advertised here; there's the picture of the main character played by Jeffrey Donovan up next to his popularity predecessors, Jack Bauer and the guy from "Prison Break". I first caught it on the plane headed home last year and found the first two eps a hoot-and-a-half. Any show on a personal screen which can make me forget about the arduousness of air travel for 13 hours has my respect and enjoyment. And it looks like the show has been doing well...it's entered its 3rd season. If it gets popular here like "24", I figure Donovan will be next in line to do a silly Calorie Mate commercial here in Tokyo just like Kiefer Sutherland.
Speaking of foreign celebs who've come in recently, I caught Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman on the NTV morning wide show yesterday. Of course, he was in to promote his latest "X-Men" movie which is coming out in general release next Friday....yep, late as usual. I think he, along with Will Smith, is one of the few Hollywood types who actually relishes kidding around with the local tarento. Of course, the folks went wild at the rumour that the next "Wolverine" flick may be filmed partly in Japan....usually those rumors fly out like so much dust at any movie series such as Bond. But this time, there may be more than a kernel of truth since James "Logan" Howlett has had his connections with Japan over the years in the comics. I rather doubt that there will be anything here in The Big Sushi. Getting permission to film here in the largest city on Earth is harder to get than getting permission to get into Fort Knox.
Well, since tomorrow I've got nothing until the juku classes, I may just enjoy myself in the sunshine and go around Tokyo for at least part of the morning and early afternoon and give my digital camera a workout. I figure why not? Every time I start wondering whether I'll be financially solvent by the end of the year, I get rather whimsical and decide to do something for the heck of it.
Movie Buddy's big weekend is officially on. He sent me the e-mail asking what time I would be coming in on Saturday and then telling me how much he's looking forward to the big dinner at that much vaunted Spanish restaurant with me, The Satyr, Miss Ivory and The Sylph.
Got a lot down in 30 minutes...
Another one of those long, lazy days in the office chair since I've had the Mother of All Donut Days. To remind you folks, a Donut Day is one in which I've got a student at the beginning of the day and then have to wait several hours before the next one. Between Miss Sedona and The Music Man, I've got 8.5 hours. That's a lot of computer time.
Meterologically, the alternating hot and cold cycle that Tokyo's been getting finally got broken today...on the side of Fall. It went up to just 25 C yesterday and that's what it was today as well. I went out a half-hour ago to grab a bento from the local Lawson's and it just felt pleasantly cool. That might be de rigueur in Toronto, but over here that's about akin to an early frost.
During the long break, I took care of some odds and ends such as taking care of the Advance Information Form at Air Canada and finishing up on that project for Speedy. I've got all the bare bones for this potential course for study-abroad students who may be a bit nervous about their English ability, but I just gotta come up with some skin and tissue to put it all together. Sometimes, though, I wonder if the bossman just gave me the assignment so that he could have a reason to pay me since I've been scarce on students recently. He even said that most likely there would only be a few students who would want the service. Usually the students who sign up for studying abroad are already pretty lucid.
While both Ray and La Fille were here, the three of us got into the topic of natto, that love-hate Japanese food of rotten beans that seems to be the Manna of Heaven in the Kanto while it was until recently the universal culinary equivalent of wolfsbane in the Kansai. I'm definitely of the latter persuasion...as is Ray, which is a bit unique since she hails from the Tohoku area. La Fille is just in love with the stuff...a lot of the natives here eat it on rice with a bit of karashi mustard...but she goes for it au naturel; just the stuff itself. When I told the both of them, however, that I'd seen a variety show in which some enterprising fellow came up with the idea of natto chocolate cake, they both gagged. The conversation then sidled into my recent trip to Nakamizo, the sushi restaurant in Chuo-Rinkan that The Jyuppies had taken me to the other Sunday. They marveled at the photos of sushi I'd taken. They were also talking about the near-legendary Carrot...a restaurant near Nishi-Ogikubo (not too far away from here) that is famed for its large Japanese-style hanbaagu (hamburg steaks). I'd first heard about it from The Matron some years ago since her hefty son had been a regular customer (figures). The place also got onto some of the variety shows as well. Lineups at Carrot are an inevitability. Someday all of us here at Speedy's may get out there for lunch...provided we survive our current financial crisis.
Just a point about Speedy's financial crisis...it goes quite a ways to say that I'd earned more in the last month than the entire school did in the same amount of time...that's how bad it is now.
Also came across the Wiki entry for "Burn Notice", that whimsical spy series from FOX. The show's starting to be advertised here; there's the picture of the main character played by Jeffrey Donovan up next to his popularity predecessors, Jack Bauer and the guy from "Prison Break". I first caught it on the plane headed home last year and found the first two eps a hoot-and-a-half. Any show on a personal screen which can make me forget about the arduousness of air travel for 13 hours has my respect and enjoyment. And it looks like the show has been doing well...it's entered its 3rd season. If it gets popular here like "24", I figure Donovan will be next in line to do a silly Calorie Mate commercial here in Tokyo just like Kiefer Sutherland.
Speaking of foreign celebs who've come in recently, I caught Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman on the NTV morning wide show yesterday. Of course, he was in to promote his latest "X-Men" movie which is coming out in general release next Friday....yep, late as usual. I think he, along with Will Smith, is one of the few Hollywood types who actually relishes kidding around with the local tarento. Of course, the folks went wild at the rumour that the next "Wolverine" flick may be filmed partly in Japan....usually those rumors fly out like so much dust at any movie series such as Bond. But this time, there may be more than a kernel of truth since James "Logan" Howlett has had his connections with Japan over the years in the comics. I rather doubt that there will be anything here in The Big Sushi. Getting permission to film here in the largest city on Earth is harder to get than getting permission to get into Fort Knox.
Well, since tomorrow I've got nothing until the juku classes, I may just enjoy myself in the sunshine and go around Tokyo for at least part of the morning and early afternoon and give my digital camera a workout. I figure why not? Every time I start wondering whether I'll be financially solvent by the end of the year, I get rather whimsical and decide to do something for the heck of it.
Movie Buddy's big weekend is officially on. He sent me the e-mail asking what time I would be coming in on Saturday and then telling me how much he's looking forward to the big dinner at that much vaunted Spanish restaurant with me, The Satyr, Miss Ivory and The Sylph.
Got a lot down in 30 minutes...
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Thursday August 3, 11:24 a.m.
Well, after the equivalent of a seasonal quarter, my odyssey with Japanese ceramics translation finally came to an end when the payment finally got transferred to my account this morning. I'm sure Ichikawa City was equally as happy to get my money.
However, Speedy is singing the blues. Apparently, the news didn't filter to him that The Fashion Designer had decided not to renew, although Ray was right there with the after-action survey. He had a rather blank look on his face for a couple of seconds before he sank into his recently customary moroseness about the situation. As for the a-a survey, I got top marks as her teacher but under the category of personal progress....she only rated herself at 3 out of 5. A bit of a kick in the pants...I really have to stop sidetracking. 001 even lamented the fact that she hasn't been progressing too far into the book.
I've only got two students today: Miss Sedona and The Music Man. Miss Sedona only has two more lessons to go, but we all know that she'll be heading for Canada to start a new life in less than 2 months so it would be no surprise if she decided not to re-up. As for The Music Man, he had just bought some more lessons so it will be several more weeks before the topic of renewal comes up again.
Well, after the equivalent of a seasonal quarter, my odyssey with Japanese ceramics translation finally came to an end when the payment finally got transferred to my account this morning. I'm sure Ichikawa City was equally as happy to get my money.
However, Speedy is singing the blues. Apparently, the news didn't filter to him that The Fashion Designer had decided not to renew, although Ray was right there with the after-action survey. He had a rather blank look on his face for a couple of seconds before he sank into his recently customary moroseness about the situation. As for the a-a survey, I got top marks as her teacher but under the category of personal progress....she only rated herself at 3 out of 5. A bit of a kick in the pants...I really have to stop sidetracking. 001 even lamented the fact that she hasn't been progressing too far into the book.
I've only got two students today: Miss Sedona and The Music Man. Miss Sedona only has two more lessons to go, but we all know that she'll be heading for Canada to start a new life in less than 2 months so it would be no surprise if she decided not to re-up. As for The Music Man, he had just bought some more lessons so it will be several more weeks before the topic of renewal comes up again.
Wednesday September 2, 8:35 p.m.
Finished up with 001 a half-hour ago. Mostly another free-for-all gab session running the gamut from the names of the world's intelligence agencies to the karaoke stand at Mandarake in Shibuya. Yup, we really go far afield conversationally. The lass will be headed for a solo trip to Australia in a couple of weeks, so there's a very real possibility that the 16th may have me heading home very early, since I believe that The Fashion Designer will be no more as of tonight.
Just had a couple of rice balls for dinner. Not that I'm trying to prep especially for that checkup next month, but perhaps getting prepared for what I may be forced to eat if sales don't improve at either Speedy's or at the juku.
Finished up with 001 a half-hour ago. Mostly another free-for-all gab session running the gamut from the names of the world's intelligence agencies to the karaoke stand at Mandarake in Shibuya. Yup, we really go far afield conversationally. The lass will be headed for a solo trip to Australia in a couple of weeks, so there's a very real possibility that the 16th may have me heading home very early, since I believe that The Fashion Designer will be no more as of tonight.
Just had a couple of rice balls for dinner. Not that I'm trying to prep especially for that checkup next month, but perhaps getting prepared for what I may be forced to eat if sales don't improve at either Speedy's or at the juku.
Wednesday September 2, 5:08 p.m.
To the left of me is the entrance to Nakano Plaza, home of everything that is otaku that isn't in Akihabara. I go there occasionally to see all the old-fashioned Japanese popular culture stores. One of them is...or was...Otokichi. It's actually located just some metres back from Broadway, the home of Mandarake and all other subculture shops.
Otokichi was the shop where all the old J-Pop CDs were sold...even before it was called J-Pop. Back then, it was just known as kayo kyoku, and featured singers from the immediate postwar era up to the 90s. I often went there to see if I could scavenge some gem from the 70s/80s or even the early 90s. I came across some of those unsung heroines that never really became superstars but I tend to love anyways such as Ruiko Kurahashi, Reimy or Kanako Wada. When I actually ordered a disc via Net, I even got a message from the owner asking how a Canuck like me could even hear of Ruiko Kurahashi.
Well, all good things must come to an end. And I got a blanket e-mail from the owner stating that the Tokyo branch has closed down for good, the reason being that he and his family are heading back to Hiroshima to be closer to the larger family since his father had died a few months ago. But I also noticed that Otokichi was never that full of customers although I realized that the shop was pretty small to begin with. However, the mail order service will still be online. Still, a Nakano Plaza institution has come to an end, and I'll have to try my luck with that shop I discovered in Jimbocho.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Wednesday September 2, 2:27 p.m.
Well, I did the deed. Purchased the air ticket from Air Canada...heading back home again for another 3 weeks of binging and guilt trips....oh, yes, and also the Holidays. Cost me an extra 23,000 yen now compared with the price, pre-potential strike call. So, on Mrs. Lens' call, I held back until we were sure that AC would survive. I guess the 23,000 yen can be considered my ghost legal fee.
So, I guess out of the payment from The Corner, the air ticket and the two premiums for City Tax and National Health will pretty much take a majority of that with about 50,000 yen left for savings.
Well, I did the deed. Purchased the air ticket from Air Canada...heading back home again for another 3 weeks of binging and guilt trips....oh, yes, and also the Holidays. Cost me an extra 23,000 yen now compared with the price, pre-potential strike call. So, on Mrs. Lens' call, I held back until we were sure that AC would survive. I guess the 23,000 yen can be considered my ghost legal fee.
So, I guess out of the payment from The Corner, the air ticket and the two premiums for City Tax and National Health will pretty much take a majority of that with about 50,000 yen left for savings.
Wednesday September 2, 1:17 p.m.
"Taught" Grandma Enka for her monthly...really, it was a gab session, and it is basically meant as one since Speedy has to do the dirty work with her in the other weeks. Enka keeps on complaining about how boring the text is, so to keep her happy, I'm the exhaust valve. Mind you, she seems to just want someone to talk to in Japanese although I respond in English.
Speaking about the grandmother students. we got a surprise package from Grandma FON who's been away all these weeks in the wilds of Nagano Prefecture in the form of various crackers and snacks. She'll be away for the rest of this month but may be coming back in October. As for Grandma Dynamite, Enka informed me that her sister is still ailing. She said that just when Dynamite feels up to coming back to the school, she suddenly gets those pains again. Uh-huh....
Got the response from The Corner lickety-split about the payment. It had been forgotten about but it should be in the account in the next 2 days. Well, the fact that he responded quickly enough is good, but the Dark Side in me is grumbling a bit.
I remember that poster for "Spiderman 2" in which we get a close-up of Spidey's face and reflected in his two eyespots is Doctor Octopus. Well, I'm sure some enterprising political cartoonist has already replaced Doc Ock with Mickey Mouse. Yep, I'm talking about The House That Mickey Built annexing The House That Stan Built. I can just see it now...the next time kids go to Tokyo Disneyland, they can shake hands with Goofy or get them torn off by Wolverine. Marvel Team-Ups may now actually include The X-Men and The Seven Dwarves joining forces: "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to world domination we go..." Pluto, meet Hellcat. Doctor Doom, meet Doc. Donald, meet Howard. I hear that the synergistic forces have prompted a reboot of "Fantastic Four"; Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie....your comeback vehicle is here. I guess you can insert your own drum rimshots after each of the last several sentences. I can only imagine how the comic book guys are responding to this news. I can imagine how Comic Book Guy is responding to this news: "Worst...Team...Up...Ever". We shall see.
Well, tonight I've just got 001 and The Fashion Designer....that is, if she doesn't dotakyan and thereby avoid saying goodbye.
"Taught" Grandma Enka for her monthly...really, it was a gab session, and it is basically meant as one since Speedy has to do the dirty work with her in the other weeks. Enka keeps on complaining about how boring the text is, so to keep her happy, I'm the exhaust valve. Mind you, she seems to just want someone to talk to in Japanese although I respond in English.
Speaking about the grandmother students. we got a surprise package from Grandma FON who's been away all these weeks in the wilds of Nagano Prefecture in the form of various crackers and snacks. She'll be away for the rest of this month but may be coming back in October. As for Grandma Dynamite, Enka informed me that her sister is still ailing. She said that just when Dynamite feels up to coming back to the school, she suddenly gets those pains again. Uh-huh....
Got the response from The Corner lickety-split about the payment. It had been forgotten about but it should be in the account in the next 2 days. Well, the fact that he responded quickly enough is good, but the Dark Side in me is grumbling a bit.
I remember that poster for "Spiderman 2" in which we get a close-up of Spidey's face and reflected in his two eyespots is Doctor Octopus. Well, I'm sure some enterprising political cartoonist has already replaced Doc Ock with Mickey Mouse. Yep, I'm talking about The House That Mickey Built annexing The House That Stan Built. I can just see it now...the next time kids go to Tokyo Disneyland, they can shake hands with Goofy or get them torn off by Wolverine. Marvel Team-Ups may now actually include The X-Men and The Seven Dwarves joining forces: "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to world domination we go..." Pluto, meet Hellcat. Doctor Doom, meet Doc. Donald, meet Howard. I hear that the synergistic forces have prompted a reboot of "Fantastic Four"; Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie....your comeback vehicle is here. I guess you can insert your own drum rimshots after each of the last several sentences. I can only imagine how the comic book guys are responding to this news. I can imagine how Comic Book Guy is responding to this news: "Worst...Team...Up...Ever". We shall see.
Well, tonight I've just got 001 and The Fashion Designer....that is, if she doesn't dotakyan and thereby avoid saying goodbye.
Wednesday September 2, 11:23 a.m.
Well, I checked my account this morning again to see if The Corner had transferred payment. Nada. So, I finally decided to send him an e-mail about it. Strangely enough, he sent me an e-mail about a wholly different matter...which made me wonder if he actually did send it or completely forgot about it. In any case, I politely reminded him of it and hopefully he'll let me know in the next few hours.
In any case, Grandma Enka is here...
Well, I checked my account this morning again to see if The Corner had transferred payment. Nada. So, I finally decided to send him an e-mail about it. Strangely enough, he sent me an e-mail about a wholly different matter...which made me wonder if he actually did send it or completely forgot about it. In any case, I politely reminded him of it and hopefully he'll let me know in the next few hours.
In any case, Grandma Enka is here...
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday September 1, 12:51 p.m.
That dreaded Typhoon 11 fortunately left us a lot sooner than expected last night. By around 9 p.m., things looked wet but significantly windless and no one was opening umbrellas. Best scenario possible. However, the war between man and nature left the corpses of umbrellas all along the way to the subway.
Not surprisingly, today is back to sunny and hot, as it usually is after a summer typhoon. Got some laundry done and did the lesson planning for the juku students. The cancellations keep on coming, though. The Admin is gone for this week along with The Bass, and even SIL has canned for this month since her mother had injured herself. And I'm still waiting for that payment from The Corner...I'm really hoping that that money is in the account right now; I tried to check but there was a long line at the ATM.
The LDP is still licking its wounds after the beating it'd gotten on Sunday night. A former Defense Minister, Ishiba, sounded a bit petty but basically repeated what everyone else has been thinking in saying that the DPJ won only because the people wanted to punish the LDP more than it thought that the DPJ was any good.
Quiet on the SNS front. Had a number of Mixi friends looking in but not commenting. Well, I guess I can do a lot of YouTube today then.
That dreaded Typhoon 11 fortunately left us a lot sooner than expected last night. By around 9 p.m., things looked wet but significantly windless and no one was opening umbrellas. Best scenario possible. However, the war between man and nature left the corpses of umbrellas all along the way to the subway.
Not surprisingly, today is back to sunny and hot, as it usually is after a summer typhoon. Got some laundry done and did the lesson planning for the juku students. The cancellations keep on coming, though. The Admin is gone for this week along with The Bass, and even SIL has canned for this month since her mother had injured herself. And I'm still waiting for that payment from The Corner...I'm really hoping that that money is in the account right now; I tried to check but there was a long line at the ATM.
The LDP is still licking its wounds after the beating it'd gotten on Sunday night. A former Defense Minister, Ishiba, sounded a bit petty but basically repeated what everyone else has been thinking in saying that the DPJ won only because the people wanted to punish the LDP more than it thought that the DPJ was any good.
Quiet on the SNS front. Had a number of Mixi friends looking in but not commenting. Well, I guess I can do a lot of YouTube today then.
Monday August 31, 8:44 p.m.
Well, tomorrow is September 1st. For a lot of folks here, it's Earthquake Drill Day (just feel the excitement....or the artificially induced shakes in the quake simulator). However for me, it's time to play two songs with the same title, "September". One, of course, is the one made classic by the guys to the right of me here, Earth Wind & Fire. Just hearing the few beats of quiet intro followed by the racing horns brings out a few quakes in me. "Do you remember...?" I surely do.
The other is by one of the few J-Pop songstresses to last through 3 decades and still keep putting out the hits. This "September" was by Mariya Takeuchi, and it's a vastly different number. Kinda evoking the novelty teen idol sound of the American 50s, young Mariya released this nearly 30 years ago when she was harking back to the sounds of Annette Funicello and Connie Francis. Still, the two songs reflect the various aspects of Americana pop music. She's still releasing pop tunes even now in her mid-50s alongside her contemporary, Yumi Matsutoya. But she's probably famous recently for her KFC yearly Christmas jingle. If a J-Pop tune could sound like a Norman Rockwell painting, it would be this one.
Typhoon 11 has suddenly veered off a little ahead of schedule. As I look out the window, there isn't only not any rain (ouch the syntax) but I don't even see any umbrellas, living or dead. There may be hope yet for the commute home. But I'm still lucky that I don't have anything until the juku.
Monday August 31, 6:41 p.m.
Looks like that direct contact with Typhoon 11 has been delayed by 6 hours! AAUGH! I might have to run smack dab into it on the way home. That is, if the Tozai Line allows me...when I was heading to the office, I saw the announcment that Tokyo Metro will be cancelling all of the express trains (as is usually the case in emergencies) because of the typhoon. It might be rather dicey getting home...I may actually even have to grab a cab. La Fille had come back from lunch looking rather drenched. She reported that it took an Olympian effort to return to the school, and noticed that there were the carcasses of several umbrellas littering the sidewalk. So far, mine has held out for now. Speedy's regular student at this hour has dotakyan'ed, but then again, she tends to do that at the drop of a hat.
On Saturday night, I came across the rerun of "Star Wars: Episode 2" on Fuji-TV....I assume, as counter-programming against that 24-hour telethon on NTV. Fuji needn't have worried...as bad as the prequel trilogy is, I still won't get anywhere near something as maudlin as the NTV telethon. Having said that, hearing some of the horrible lines that Hayden Christensen had to vomit out in his scenes with Natalie Portman just had me rushing for the MUTE button. Still, I have hope that some enterprising young director/producer will decide to re-imagine the entire prequel in the near future....probably when George Lucas has gone to that Death Star in the sky. I figure if it could work for "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica" (the latter having been inspired by the original "Star Wars"), it's gotta work for "Star Wars". Just a tragedy how the talent was wasted.
Looks like that direct contact with Typhoon 11 has been delayed by 6 hours! AAUGH! I might have to run smack dab into it on the way home. That is, if the Tozai Line allows me...when I was heading to the office, I saw the announcment that Tokyo Metro will be cancelling all of the express trains (as is usually the case in emergencies) because of the typhoon. It might be rather dicey getting home...I may actually even have to grab a cab. La Fille had come back from lunch looking rather drenched. She reported that it took an Olympian effort to return to the school, and noticed that there were the carcasses of several umbrellas littering the sidewalk. So far, mine has held out for now. Speedy's regular student at this hour has dotakyan'ed, but then again, she tends to do that at the drop of a hat.
On Saturday night, I came across the rerun of "Star Wars: Episode 2" on Fuji-TV....I assume, as counter-programming against that 24-hour telethon on NTV. Fuji needn't have worried...as bad as the prequel trilogy is, I still won't get anywhere near something as maudlin as the NTV telethon. Having said that, hearing some of the horrible lines that Hayden Christensen had to vomit out in his scenes with Natalie Portman just had me rushing for the MUTE button. Still, I have hope that some enterprising young director/producer will decide to re-imagine the entire prequel in the near future....probably when George Lucas has gone to that Death Star in the sky. I figure if it could work for "Star Trek" and "Battlestar Galactica" (the latter having been inspired by the original "Star Wars"), it's gotta work for "Star Wars". Just a tragedy how the talent was wasted.
Monday August 31, 4:19 p.m.
It's gonna be another one-class night. Just The Medicine Man. I shouldn't expect any cancellations from him since Typhoon 11 will have gone north into Tohoku by that time. However, I did get one from The Admin due to a business trip this Wednesday. So, it'll just be Grandma Enka for her monthly with me followed by 001 and what I assume to be the very last lesson with The Fashion Designer.
Got word from Cozy thanking me for that quickie translation request on Saturday. It's nice to hear, especially after that arduous assignment from The Cornerette. I have yet to see the money although The Corner said that I would be paid at the end of the month. Well, I'll check the account later tonight or tomorrow. If I don't see anything there, I will probably need to think about our professional relationship.
It's gonna be another one-class night. Just The Medicine Man. I shouldn't expect any cancellations from him since Typhoon 11 will have gone north into Tohoku by that time. However, I did get one from The Admin due to a business trip this Wednesday. So, it'll just be Grandma Enka for her monthly with me followed by 001 and what I assume to be the very last lesson with The Fashion Designer.
Got word from Cozy thanking me for that quickie translation request on Saturday. It's nice to hear, especially after that arduous assignment from The Cornerette. I have yet to see the money although The Corner said that I would be paid at the end of the month. Well, I'll check the account later tonight or tomorrow. If I don't see anything there, I will probably need to think about our professional relationship.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday August 31, 3:41 p.m.
Back on the 11th during my mini-trip in Yokohama, I faced Typhoon 9 and a real earthquake. Today, I'm facing Typhoon 11 and a political earthquake. As for the former, the hurricane is making a beeline straight towards the Kanto and should be on our doorstep in the next few hours...the signs were right there from yesterday as I was heading off to my haircut...slight rain with a translucently white overcast sky and an eerie calm. Now, I had to do some fighting with the wind and rain between the subway station and Speedy's. As for the latter, Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ is making a beeline straight towards the Prime Ministership and should be making his Cabinet choices in the next couple of weeks.
But enough of the comparisons...last night, all of Japanese TV went on red alert and their seemingly designed-by-Starfleet studios to provide coverage of what was basically a landslide for several hours. Even the English interpreters of NHK were making overtime up to 4 a.m. this morning. I can imagine that the 7 p.m. broadcast tonight will start off with one of those interpreters going "Good evening, and welcome to the.....YAWN....7 p.m. NHK news".
The landslide was not surprising (the media had been predicting for several days that the Democratic Party of Japan could get 300 seats in the Lower House...so much so that the blitz probably outdid the global one for "300" the movie), but not insignificant. Folks here generally despise change...it is (or was) very much "the Devil you know" type of society. So, it was not an inconsiderable feat that the DPJ managed to get the largest turnout of voters in 13 years to oust definitively the Liberal Democratic Party which had been in power for almost all of the last 54 years. There was a brief hiccup in 1993-1994 when Morohiro Hosokawa, not of the LDP, became PM but with a coalition government and a far less definitive margin. This time around, the DPJ did it all by themselves, getting 308 seats out of a possible 480, and in a truly O. Henryesque ending, with a leader whose grandfather was the first PM under the LDP banner in 1955. The feat was such that even Typhoon 11 has had to take a back seat behind the supposed winds of change.
Last week, I was hearing the tones of The Jazz Singer in Roppongi; well, last night I was hearing the opinions of far less pretty pundits throughout the media spectrum. NHK was putting up election results almost every second. And I just kept seeing the kanji for the DPJ, or "min"; it was just, "min, min, min" all night long....I figured I was seeing the graphic version of cicadas crying. Even though the final result was never in doubt, all of us were watching the benchmarks slowly being broken like multiple racetrack tape: the DPJ hitting the 200-seat mark, then the 241-seat mark signifying an absolute majority and finally the 300-seat mark, proving the media-inspired prediction of a landslide. Even the BBC and CNN got into the act and even had Yukio Hatoyama's victory (yawn) speech. Hatoyama may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but charisma is sorely lacking. He's about as glum as former PM Shinzo Abe, the human Cigarstore Indian. But then again, Japanese political victories aren't about balloons and cheering crowds and 70s/80s songs used as campaign themes as it is in the States. Over here, it's three yelps of "Banzai!" and perhaps the coloring in of the second eye of the giant daruma doll if we're lucky to see it.
Now, that the DPJ has won, what next? Well, perhaps, it may resemble President Obama and the Democratic Party of the United States. Tons of promises by the inarguably more charismatic and articulate Barack Obama but everyone has been asking about where the money is gonna come from to pay for all this. Everyone will be asking Hatoyama the same thing probably within the next several hours. DPJ folks have been saying that they think they know where they can get the money; they say that since the LDP has been so corrupt and loose with their projects, Hatoyama and the gang can just tap that supposedly existent giant slush fund like an overripe maple tree. As for me, I'll believe it when I see some actual reform and help for the average guy. Being the cynical type, I predict that the DPJ, having had no leadership experience will probably stumble around like the Keystone Kops, will end up losing 4 years later in the next election, and that the LDP, which will have been ruminating in the political wilderness for that time, may get their act together and win and perhaps even improve this country's fortunes. Nope, I don't have a whole lot of faith in this new regime.
Back on the 11th during my mini-trip in Yokohama, I faced Typhoon 9 and a real earthquake. Today, I'm facing Typhoon 11 and a political earthquake. As for the former, the hurricane is making a beeline straight towards the Kanto and should be on our doorstep in the next few hours...the signs were right there from yesterday as I was heading off to my haircut...slight rain with a translucently white overcast sky and an eerie calm. Now, I had to do some fighting with the wind and rain between the subway station and Speedy's. As for the latter, Yukio Hatoyama of the DPJ is making a beeline straight towards the Prime Ministership and should be making his Cabinet choices in the next couple of weeks.
But enough of the comparisons...last night, all of Japanese TV went on red alert and their seemingly designed-by-Starfleet studios to provide coverage of what was basically a landslide for several hours. Even the English interpreters of NHK were making overtime up to 4 a.m. this morning. I can imagine that the 7 p.m. broadcast tonight will start off with one of those interpreters going "Good evening, and welcome to the.....YAWN....7 p.m. NHK news".
The landslide was not surprising (the media had been predicting for several days that the Democratic Party of Japan could get 300 seats in the Lower House...so much so that the blitz probably outdid the global one for "300" the movie), but not insignificant. Folks here generally despise change...it is (or was) very much "the Devil you know" type of society. So, it was not an inconsiderable feat that the DPJ managed to get the largest turnout of voters in 13 years to oust definitively the Liberal Democratic Party which had been in power for almost all of the last 54 years. There was a brief hiccup in 1993-1994 when Morohiro Hosokawa, not of the LDP, became PM but with a coalition government and a far less definitive margin. This time around, the DPJ did it all by themselves, getting 308 seats out of a possible 480, and in a truly O. Henryesque ending, with a leader whose grandfather was the first PM under the LDP banner in 1955. The feat was such that even Typhoon 11 has had to take a back seat behind the supposed winds of change.
Last week, I was hearing the tones of The Jazz Singer in Roppongi; well, last night I was hearing the opinions of far less pretty pundits throughout the media spectrum. NHK was putting up election results almost every second. And I just kept seeing the kanji for the DPJ, or "min"; it was just, "min, min, min" all night long....I figured I was seeing the graphic version of cicadas crying. Even though the final result was never in doubt, all of us were watching the benchmarks slowly being broken like multiple racetrack tape: the DPJ hitting the 200-seat mark, then the 241-seat mark signifying an absolute majority and finally the 300-seat mark, proving the media-inspired prediction of a landslide. Even the BBC and CNN got into the act and even had Yukio Hatoyama's victory (yawn) speech. Hatoyama may have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but charisma is sorely lacking. He's about as glum as former PM Shinzo Abe, the human Cigarstore Indian. But then again, Japanese political victories aren't about balloons and cheering crowds and 70s/80s songs used as campaign themes as it is in the States. Over here, it's three yelps of "Banzai!" and perhaps the coloring in of the second eye of the giant daruma doll if we're lucky to see it.
Now, that the DPJ has won, what next? Well, perhaps, it may resemble President Obama and the Democratic Party of the United States. Tons of promises by the inarguably more charismatic and articulate Barack Obama but everyone has been asking about where the money is gonna come from to pay for all this. Everyone will be asking Hatoyama the same thing probably within the next several hours. DPJ folks have been saying that they think they know where they can get the money; they say that since the LDP has been so corrupt and loose with their projects, Hatoyama and the gang can just tap that supposedly existent giant slush fund like an overripe maple tree. As for me, I'll believe it when I see some actual reform and help for the average guy. Being the cynical type, I predict that the DPJ, having had no leadership experience will probably stumble around like the Keystone Kops, will end up losing 4 years later in the next election, and that the LDP, which will have been ruminating in the political wilderness for that time, may get their act together and win and perhaps even improve this country's fortunes. Nope, I don't have a whole lot of faith in this new regime.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Saturday August 29, 4:05 p.m.
During my lesson with The Publicity Agent, I found out that the lass has become a fan of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica". Well, I managed to spend the next several minutes regaling her about the original and simpler version with Lorne Greene (although I didn't mention his name). However, I did mention that Dirk Benedict of "The A-Team" was the original Starbuck which elicited some surprise since she has only known Kara Thrace. I asked her if she knew anything about "Doctor Who", but I regrettably got a nada there. I wonder, though, if my former Anglophile student of a decade ago, The Stick, would be a Whovian.
Well, I got that translation request from Cozy done and sent back out. And I managed to get a couple of more sections done for Speedy. I'm just about ready to head on home.
Ahhh...did forget to mention that Noriko Sakai finally got that indictment for drug possession. However, the amount that she had on her person was far, far lower than what a regular addict would have. But it would seem that an atom of the stuff is enough for Japanese police (perhaps Sir Paul McCartney may have some input on that) to convict. I kinda wonder if there is a bit of that desire to make an example of a celeb. In any case, her talent agency didn't waste time; after all that time of publicly worrying about her, the president made what was probably his last press conference and announced that she was fired.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Saturday August 29, 11:56 a.m.
Another hot one out there...The Japan Times laughingly forecast a high of 26 C today...I guess it's not only Kyung Lah who's screwing up figures in this country. It feels more like a 32 C, which is what the local channels are saying. So much for a cool transition into September. However, there is a typhoon on the way, straight towards the Kanto. Could be fun on Election Night.
Speaking of which, the men of SMAP put out a huge ad in the papers exhorting their young fans to go and vote...nominally for the LDP. They didn't mention Aso by name, but just to give the guys in power a chance and support them. Not sure what their popularity is like right now, but I think it could actually get voters choosing the DPJ instead. In any case, the papers and pundits are still predicting a landslide victory for DPJ's Yukio Hatoyama. I saw an article in the paper about his wife who's seems to come off as a bit of a new-age flake. Since I made a Canadian referral to Hatoyama as being similar to the ineffectual Joe Clark; maybe his wife could be Japan's version of Maggie Trudeau.
The Carolinan mentioned on Thursday night that although she did receive a ballot, she wouldn't be voting. Normally, I would internally tsk-tsk her decision, but when the top two choices are Hatoyama and Aso, I guess I couldn't really blame her.
At the juku last night, the juku boss told me that she'd never given up on searching for a new place for the juku, which was news to me. When I started up there 5 years ago, she'd exhorted that she was searching for such a place but that talk seemingly petered out. However, she has said that she just didn't mention anything more to me. She's looking for a house in the Urayasu area. So I guess both of my main sources of income may be on the look for new homes.
I only got The Publicity Agent today, but I have some more of that extra work in making up the prototype handouts for study-abroad students who may need some remedial English help. And I just got a translation request suddenly from Cozy.
Another hot one out there...The Japan Times laughingly forecast a high of 26 C today...I guess it's not only Kyung Lah who's screwing up figures in this country. It feels more like a 32 C, which is what the local channels are saying. So much for a cool transition into September. However, there is a typhoon on the way, straight towards the Kanto. Could be fun on Election Night.
Speaking of which, the men of SMAP put out a huge ad in the papers exhorting their young fans to go and vote...nominally for the LDP. They didn't mention Aso by name, but just to give the guys in power a chance and support them. Not sure what their popularity is like right now, but I think it could actually get voters choosing the DPJ instead. In any case, the papers and pundits are still predicting a landslide victory for DPJ's Yukio Hatoyama. I saw an article in the paper about his wife who's seems to come off as a bit of a new-age flake. Since I made a Canadian referral to Hatoyama as being similar to the ineffectual Joe Clark; maybe his wife could be Japan's version of Maggie Trudeau.
The Carolinan mentioned on Thursday night that although she did receive a ballot, she wouldn't be voting. Normally, I would internally tsk-tsk her decision, but when the top two choices are Hatoyama and Aso, I guess I couldn't really blame her.
At the juku last night, the juku boss told me that she'd never given up on searching for a new place for the juku, which was news to me. When I started up there 5 years ago, she'd exhorted that she was searching for such a place but that talk seemingly petered out. However, she has said that she just didn't mention anything more to me. She's looking for a house in the Urayasu area. So I guess both of my main sources of income may be on the look for new homes.
I only got The Publicity Agent today, but I have some more of that extra work in making up the prototype handouts for study-abroad students who may need some remedial English help. And I just got a translation request suddenly from Cozy.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday August 28, 12:13 p.m.
Death by alternating weather....that would seem to be the message for us for the remaining weeks of Summer. Yesterday was warm but dry and comfortable. Today is back to the normally torrid weather of Tokyo summers past. At this rate, I can expect a major snowstorm for Election Day.
It'll be my busiest day, relatively speaking. I've got The Nurse in less than 15 minutes, and then I gotta rush out to see The New Yorker in Ichigaya as usual, followed by the mini-lessons with the juku boss, The Ace and The Restauranteur.
Speaking about Election Day, the coverage is starting to pick up steam internationally. CNN has started talking about it, although the current reporter for the Tokyo office made a big bungle by stating that the only time the LDP hadn't had power in its half-century of dominance was in 2003-2004. She was a decade off...it was 1993-1994. C'mon, Kyung Lah...you could do better than that.
I was just getting out of the shower at the stroke of midnight when I got the call from The Romantic. Don't get any ideas...I've known the guy since university when he was wooing one of our club members. He was definitely one of those "a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou" types. I was...and still am..."a bottle of Coke, a chocolate bar and youse" type. Anyways, I digress...he's married to Automan's sister now. He had been trying to contact me without success for the past few weeks only by phone for some reason...I don't think he's a Luddite like me...but finally got me at home. Apparently, he's asked for some help in some various research projects for his company. He didn't go into much detail about these projects...as far as I'm concerned, they could be on anything from current macroeconomic models to assassinating dictators. Still, the money sounds good...on a par with that last translation project....just don't know if I'm the one to do this.
Death by alternating weather....that would seem to be the message for us for the remaining weeks of Summer. Yesterday was warm but dry and comfortable. Today is back to the normally torrid weather of Tokyo summers past. At this rate, I can expect a major snowstorm for Election Day.
It'll be my busiest day, relatively speaking. I've got The Nurse in less than 15 minutes, and then I gotta rush out to see The New Yorker in Ichigaya as usual, followed by the mini-lessons with the juku boss, The Ace and The Restauranteur.
Speaking about Election Day, the coverage is starting to pick up steam internationally. CNN has started talking about it, although the current reporter for the Tokyo office made a big bungle by stating that the only time the LDP hadn't had power in its half-century of dominance was in 2003-2004. She was a decade off...it was 1993-1994. C'mon, Kyung Lah...you could do better than that.
I was just getting out of the shower at the stroke of midnight when I got the call from The Romantic. Don't get any ideas...I've known the guy since university when he was wooing one of our club members. He was definitely one of those "a jug of wine, a loaf of bread and thou" types. I was...and still am..."a bottle of Coke, a chocolate bar and youse" type. Anyways, I digress...he's married to Automan's sister now. He had been trying to contact me without success for the past few weeks only by phone for some reason...I don't think he's a Luddite like me...but finally got me at home. Apparently, he's asked for some help in some various research projects for his company. He didn't go into much detail about these projects...as far as I'm concerned, they could be on anything from current macroeconomic models to assassinating dictators. Still, the money sounds good...on a par with that last translation project....just don't know if I'm the one to do this.
Thursday August 27, 7:56 p.m.
Not only did I finish my dinner of Bacon Epi (it's from the neighbourhood bakery, La Vie Du France...bacon-wrapped bread...genius idea) and salad, but also finally got rid of that last peach we'd gotten from Grandma Fado a couple of weeks ago by splitting it up and feeding it to La Fille and Speedy. After more than a fortnight, I think that pome was ready to evolve. Luckily, our resident cryogenics chamber managed to stave off any cellular disruptions.
Just read on the Fuji-TV site that singer/actress/commercial queen Aya Ueto had received a major death threat via Internet. I would think that death threats were a normal thing for any celeb in this country. As for that latest banner of Noriko Sakai's getting into S&M, my only question would be whether she was Master or Servant...cue Depeche Mode.
Not only did I finish my dinner of Bacon Epi (it's from the neighbourhood bakery, La Vie Du France...bacon-wrapped bread...genius idea) and salad, but also finally got rid of that last peach we'd gotten from Grandma Fado a couple of weeks ago by splitting it up and feeding it to La Fille and Speedy. After more than a fortnight, I think that pome was ready to evolve. Luckily, our resident cryogenics chamber managed to stave off any cellular disruptions.
Just read on the Fuji-TV site that singer/actress/commercial queen Aya Ueto had received a major death threat via Internet. I would think that death threats were a normal thing for any celeb in this country. As for that latest banner of Noriko Sakai's getting into S&M, my only question would be whether she was Master or Servant...cue Depeche Mode.
Thursday August 27, 7:19 p.m.
Yes, we do have those elections coming up this Sunday, don't we? A choice between the Devil we know or the Devil we don't. In a way, it's almost like having the US elections but with McCain vs. McCain. I can even inject a bit of Canadian political history into this as well: Taro (Jean Chretien) Aso vs. Yukio (Joe Clark) Hatoyama. The LDP's Taro Aso has that swagger, arrogance and that sideways talking of Chretien while the DPJ's Hatoyama seems to have that somewhat clueless fragile look of Joe Clark. I'd been thinking of putting my digital camera to use on Saturday since I only have The Publicity Assistant at Speedy's so I can track down where the candidates may be doing their final round of stumping in Tokyo; however, when I looked up the schedule for the probably-soon-to-be-former PM Aso on the Liberal Democratic Party website, his only appearance in Tokyo is at the east exit of JR Ikebukuro at 7 p.m. I don't think I'll wait quite that long for him, thanks. No appearance in the capital at all for the challenger from The Democratic Party of Japan.
Had my lesson with The Carolinan. Seems like she's come out of the blues since she found out that her company was bought out by its rival. Since she finished and with both lessons by me and the bossman cancelled, that means we're technically done for the day, but I've got some more paperwork to do and with the evening rush hour at full bore right now, I'm not that eager to commute just yet.
Yes, we do have those elections coming up this Sunday, don't we? A choice between the Devil we know or the Devil we don't. In a way, it's almost like having the US elections but with McCain vs. McCain. I can even inject a bit of Canadian political history into this as well: Taro (Jean Chretien) Aso vs. Yukio (Joe Clark) Hatoyama. The LDP's Taro Aso has that swagger, arrogance and that sideways talking of Chretien while the DPJ's Hatoyama seems to have that somewhat clueless fragile look of Joe Clark. I'd been thinking of putting my digital camera to use on Saturday since I only have The Publicity Assistant at Speedy's so I can track down where the candidates may be doing their final round of stumping in Tokyo; however, when I looked up the schedule for the probably-soon-to-be-former PM Aso on the Liberal Democratic Party website, his only appearance in Tokyo is at the east exit of JR Ikebukuro at 7 p.m. I don't think I'll wait quite that long for him, thanks. No appearance in the capital at all for the challenger from The Democratic Party of Japan.
Had my lesson with The Carolinan. Seems like she's come out of the blues since she found out that her company was bought out by its rival. Since she finished and with both lessons by me and the bossman cancelled, that means we're technically done for the day, but I've got some more paperwork to do and with the evening rush hour at full bore right now, I'm not that eager to commute just yet.
Thursday August 27, 4:59 p.m.
Yes, please look at that rather glum fellow on the right. He's glum for a reason. His name is Nozomu Sahashi, and he used to be the President of what was the largest English conversation school chains in Japan, NOVA...which, ironically, imploded into a black hole of bankruptcy almost a couple of years back. A lot of foreign residents ended up finding out how tough it was to be poor in the world's most expensive city while Mr. Sahashi lived high off the hog in his gold office...that is, before the end came. Well, the courts slammed him with a 3.5-year prison sentence today (most likely to be appealed...cell walls aren't gold unfortunately). Luckily, I was far gone from my former employer by the time the axe came, but even during my time there in the mid-90s, I'd thought that things were somewhat spread too thinly. I'm always reminded by that joking response by the orientation manager on my first day in the former Harajuku offices, when some greenhorn dared ask whether NOVA would ever collapse: "Pshaw! NOVA is too big to go down!" Kinda reminds me of the Titanic.
Well, met up with Miss Sedona this morning. Her time with us is fast approaching its end. Looks like Toronto will be her destination; she'll be heading for Seneca College. When she mentioned Finch Station, I reflexively mentioned the Mr. Greek's there. I may have one more person to meet during my vacation back home. Maybe by that time, she'll be ready for brunch at The Sunset Grill.
Since The Music Man has canned for tonight, I've got just The Carolinan in less than an hour. I came back from teaching The Bow in Shinjuku.
The last of the original generation of the Kennedys has passed on. Edward Moore "Teddy" Kennedy passed on yesterday. The writing had been on the wall for the past several months concerning the senator's brain cancer. The death immediately signfied a media response usually reserved for those of presidents: long-term coverage of his life and half-mast flags. The funeral, slated for this Saturday, will probably be as lavish.
As I was coming back from Shinjuku, the kiosks had the banner showing the latest headline concering NorikoGate: "S&M with drugs!" Talking about way too much information....if it's even true.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday August 26, 9:02 p.m.
Just waiting for the last student to show up, The Fashion Designer. She just has two lessons left, including tonight. And provided that she shows up next week, that'll probably be it for her according to what she'd told me a couple of weeks ago.
My session with 001 was the usual loosey-goosey one with lots of back-and-forth, and a bit of work on the actual text. Looks like one of her co-workers got Swine Flu...not good, especially she works in a hospital.
I actually caught one of the third-season episodes of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" on Super Drama TV yesterday. It was "Collaborators", and though I read that it was one of the lowest-rated episodes in the entire series, I was definitely quite impressed by it. But trying to keep up with the series is liking trying to keep up with series like "24" and "Lost"; almost impossible with my schedule. Someday, when the prices of those DVD sets plummet, I'll probably invest in them.
Just waiting for the last student to show up, The Fashion Designer. She just has two lessons left, including tonight. And provided that she shows up next week, that'll probably be it for her according to what she'd told me a couple of weeks ago.
My session with 001 was the usual loosey-goosey one with lots of back-and-forth, and a bit of work on the actual text. Looks like one of her co-workers got Swine Flu...not good, especially she works in a hospital.
I actually caught one of the third-season episodes of the re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" on Super Drama TV yesterday. It was "Collaborators", and though I read that it was one of the lowest-rated episodes in the entire series, I was definitely quite impressed by it. But trying to keep up with the series is liking trying to keep up with series like "24" and "Lost"; almost impossible with my schedule. Someday, when the prices of those DVD sets plummet, I'll probably invest in them.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday August 26, 1:52 p.m.
A bit of whimsy to start off this entry. On the right is good ol' Colonel Harland Sanders in a happi coat (and yes, he certainly looks happi). I took this shot at Chuo-Rinkan Station on Sunday when I met up with The Jyuppies for sushi. My childhood love for the chicken covered in 14 (15? 25? 399?) herbs and spices has shrunk to the occasional craving...ever since I picked up a breast (chicken, hee hee) and it just oozed grease. Still on that occasion, I get my money's worth. However, my days of grabbing a bucket are now over, along with ingesting supermarket day-glo birthday cake and butterhorn danish.
Apparently, there was some hooha over the national Earthquake Early Warning System here yesterday, when it had mistakenly predicted an imminent Shindo 5+ in the early morning for the Chiba area. Since I slept very soundly until 10 a.m. yesterday morning, it was obviously a glitch in the system. A couple of sheepish officials from the Meterological Agency did their deep bows in apology; one guy looked like he was on the verge of tears over the mistake...he did say that he'd gotten a lot of "concerned" calls. More likely, they were screamouts by frightened citizens. Still, the big one will be hitting our neck of the woods sooner, rather than later.
I posted up a lot of the photos from The Jazz Singer's gig onto various arenas. Found out that the lass is also up on Mixi...she was able to track me down and thanked me for the free publicity. According to her Facebook page, she's also quite a cook.
It was just Mr. White and Mr. Mild for their respective lessons last night. Mrs. Mild was out sick with a cold. Her husband figured it was from fatigue from their hike up a mountain in Toyama Prefecture last Wednesday. With the fears of Swine Flu edging closer as we approach the Fall, I couldn't quite keep that thought out of my mind. Also, the juku boss had a bottle of ethanol for sterilization purposes on a chair in the genkan for anyone going up to the 2nd floor. I got a box of dried apple senbe from Mr. Mild via their stay in Nagano Prefecture. Pretty tasty.
And I also got an omiyage from The Admin whom I met for the first time in about 3 weeks. It was an idea from her stupid son (her words, not mine...it is almost a duty to put down one's children...something that I don't agree 100% with; there's being humble, and there's being downright nasty) in the form of ramen with the taste of the famed Ise Prawn. The Admin's family had been in Kyoto, partially on business. Would like to go to Kyoto one more time someday.
Just the usual reduced schedule today...001 and then The Fashion Designer. I've already gotten one cancellation for tomorrow. The Music Man has decided to not come so The Carolinan will be the last student. And I got my pay for this month from Speedy; as expected, not nearly the winfall of last month, but I've got that translation pay still pending along with the juku pay packet on the way on Friday.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday August 24, 10:48 p.m.
Finished off with Medicine Man just now. He was a bit more forthcoming today. Meanwhile, Tokyo got hit with some a major squall which has thankfully abated, so I won't have to fight the elements on the way home. We had a similar situation earlier this afternoon in Chiba, but I also managed to elude the worst part of that.
It'll be another quiet Tuesday tomorrow, but I got word from The Admin that she'll back ready to talk on Wednesday morning. Still, this week is looking pretty sparse, except for Thursday.
Finished off with Medicine Man just now. He was a bit more forthcoming today. Meanwhile, Tokyo got hit with some a major squall which has thankfully abated, so I won't have to fight the elements on the way home. We had a similar situation earlier this afternoon in Chiba, but I also managed to elude the worst part of that.
It'll be another quiet Tuesday tomorrow, but I got word from The Admin that she'll back ready to talk on Wednesday morning. Still, this week is looking pretty sparse, except for Thursday.
Monday August 24, 6:37 p.m.
Before heading out to see The Jazz Singer, I had met up with The Jyuppies for dinner in Chuo-Rinkan. I'd gotten there about an hour early since I didn't want to cramp The Sylph's style. MB certainly didn't mine me staying over at his place since I make for a good video games partner, but I think the missus wanted a bit more personal time.
For years, I only knew Chuo-Rinkan as the distant endpoint of the Den'en-Toshi Line, the extension westward of Tokyo Metro's Hanzomon Line past Shibuya. With the express train, it takes 30 minutes from Shibuya to Chuo-Rinkan. Basically, the place is just another suburban commuter hub with the requisite shopping mall surrounded by all sorts of apartment complexes. I found out from Mr. Jyuppie that Chuo-Rinkan is in the city of Yamato, a smaller urban area just north of Yokohama.
It was just The Jyuppies themselves, sans baby daughter and dog. They took me up to their favourite sushi restaurant called Nakamizo. Mr. Jyuppie swears by the fare in this place...all other sushi places can take a very far backseat in his estimation. He'd been going there since he was a teen. The place is pretty small...just a counter for five or six and then tatami seating for just two groups.
I have to say that it was a treat eating at Nakamizo. For one thing, I was able to eat two dishes that I wouldn't normally go anywhere near anywhere else: kanimiso (crab brains) and uni (sea urchin). In my (former) estimation, they were about as close to Klingon ga'gh in desirability. However, the versions at this place were on a different playing field. The crab brains I had for an appetizer were creamy and delicious with some very rich crab flavor that would make a Boston crab cake lover swoon. And I was definitely impressed by the uni. As Mr. Jyuppie had insisted at his last class, I would be made into a convert by this sea urchin. And he wasn't wrong. There was no strange smell with this stuff and the taste was far better than sea urchin from other shops...it was almost a different animal. However, the effect was that I now know that I will never try any uni at any other sushi shop.
Of course, since Nakamizo is a sushi restaurant, we of course had the sushi platter with toro, ika, kinmedai and aoyagi...all very good. But I was especially taken with the osumashi, the clear soup that's de rigueur at any sushi shop. Usually the soup is basically just gulped more as the ritual culinary entrance to the bigger dishes in store, but I had to remark to my hosts about how rich this soup was. There were several big hunks of bony fish inside which helped to bring out the flavour of the soup.
As a finish, the waitress then brought out a big bowl of anago-don...grilled sea eel on rice. Another hit out of the park. Mr. Jyuppie had been worried whether I would like the taste and the portions. He needn't have worried....it was about as 5-star a place in terms of ambience and taste as Quintessence, the Michelin-anointed French restaurant that The Class Act had taken me to back in April. Mr. Jyuppie told me that restaurants in the Chuo-Rinkan area come and go, but Nakamizo has been around for well over a decade and it often gets lineups. In fact, the owner-chef had to turn down a few folks who had come in during our 90 minutes there. Always a good sign.
The Jyuppies, as all Japanese hosts would, apologized that I had to come out all the way from Chiba for dinner. But I reassured them that good food was good food. I don't think I would make weekly trips across two prefectures for sushi, but I wouldn't mind seasonal trips to this place.
Monday August 24, 6:26 p.m.
Well, it was a busy weekend socially. After my two classes here at Speedy's on Saturday (BTW, The Intellectual did sign up...a drop in the bucket in terms of our finances, but like a thirsty man in the desert, we'll take it), I had that DVD Night with MB in Jiyugaoka. Ended up staying perhaps a bit too long at his place than I should've. I think I got too much in thrall with MB's games. "Watchmen" was quite a bit of fun; I had a good rapport with my character of Nite Owl, although I have a bit in common with Rorschach as well. Also, the new "Wolverine" game was addictive...kept me there until past 3.
In any case, the little lady, covered in sparkles...is The Jazz Singer, my former student. After my dinner with The Jyuppies last night, I rushed over to The Satin Doll in Roppongi for her debut performance, although she said that it would probably be her last performance there as well. She was just in the Sunday amateur night. Still, she did a fine job in her gig, and it looks like "Summertime" may be her theme song...at least with me. The Satin Doll is a pretty nice place to listen to some good jazz. The performances there were along the lines of Cool Jazz of the 50s. I went to DUG, the jazz bar up in Shinjuku several years ago, but I like The Doll better for its space and ambience. They also serve up some French fare which her contemporaries had already ordered; they offered me to dig in but I politely declined since I'd already eaten.
The Jazz Singer sent me a thank-you e-mail for coming out last night. Hopefully, she'll get that CD out so I can have some bragging rights.