Thursday April 22, 10:46 a.m.

Back to the cold and wet again...Dog's Nose weather. Incredible.

Had my first official lesson with The Patent Attorney this morning. He's just like Swank....a good conversationalist. The hour went down as smoothly as a good sake...just the topic we based most of our hour on. It's a bit of a pity that I have to do an early shift to see him but as long as it's him, I guess things will be palatable.

Got word from the juku boss that yet another of The Restauranteur's relatives has passed away, so there will be no juku session tomorrow since basically The Restauranteur is the only student I have on that day. Kinda nice to have a rare Friday night off...but then again, I did meet up with The Anime Court last Friday. I guess I mean a Friday night off at home.

Also got word from The King himself that I am to meet him and The Anime Chamberlain tonight at 7:45 for dinner. I wonder what we'll be going for.

I guess that shoe finally hit the floor. Former Health and Welfare Minister Masuzoe, probably the only government official during the Taro Aso era to have any sort of respect from the people, has decided to part relations with his party, The Liberal Democratic Party, and perhaps start his own party within the next 24 hours. Of course, the current weak leader, Tanigaki, has been resolutely mum about the so-called surprise announcement. I just hope that Masuzoe comes up with a far better name than The Sunrise Party or Your Party. In a way, the LDP seems to be dying from a thousand paper cuts rather than a single sword thrust.

Well, I'll be taking off in the next few minutes to get some texts.

Wednesday April 21, 8:37 p.m.

Just had 001 today...which meant that I'd had a nice time walking around Ginza today. The walk included another stint at that Chinese dim sum/buffet restaurant in Yurakucho. For a little under 1500 yen...I am able to get the dim sum offerings from the carts, stuff from the buffet table and even a bit of hot pot. Not too bad. I was pretty good with the pacing; didn't stuff myself into a coma, just feeling pleasantly full. I was hoping to find that textbook for my newest student but it didn't seem to exist at Yaesu Book Centre or even Book 1st, so it looks like I'll be hitting Kinokuniya in Times Square before I meet up with The Sisters of State.

I took a dip into Yamano Music...saw some discs that I'd like to get but I'm holding off until Golden Week arrives. The Manhattan Transfer tribute to Chick Corea is there; I've definitely fallen back on any CD purchases over the past several months...either I've finally outgrown my music habit or the economy austerity program has finally internalized itself.

It was the first really decent day that I've seen in several of them. It almost seems as if the freak snow on Saturday was just an illusion, considering today's warmth and sun. I was sweating in my jacket, but then I was wearing my Autumn number.

001 and I had a pretty disgusting but hilarious talk about her job. Since she's a medtech, she often handles urine samples, that I often refer to as "apple juice" (to those who may be imbibing the stuff as they read this, I profusely apologize). But in the past few weeks, she's also had to handle...No. 2...shall we say? The really funny stuff came when she said that some of the nimrods who had to give a fecal sample got a bit carried away...and kinda packed that plastic container. I guess that food equivalent would be "brownies"....you may vomit quietly now.

Tomorrow will be another unusually quiet day for me. In fact, it starts unusually with me "teaching" The Patent Attorney...the bossman's student whom I always let in early in the morning. The bossman will be out at some fair with Ray. I've always been the warm-up act for The PA before Speedy gets in...just chatting with him like a good secretary before the boss gets in. Now, I put the word "teaching" in quotes, since Speedy informed me that a usual session with him consists of that very thing...chatting...and perhaps looking at some English correspondence. It should be a nice outing...but he often cancels at the last minute. So I won't be surprised if I get a call from the bossman just when I hit home near midnight tonight.

And that morning class will be all she wrote for anything at Speedy's. I'm then on my own teaching The Sisters of State...The New Yorker in the afternoon while I've got big sis The Carolinan a few hours later. Looks like I will be obligated to pay for that extra Caffe Latte to keep management happy, although since it is Starbucks, that won't be too hard to do. Then, I'm meeeting up with the remainder of that massive influx of Canadian otaku from last week. The Anime King and The Anime Chamberlain will meet up with me right after the lesson tomorrow night; not sure where we'll go. I know that The Chamberlain isn't too hot on Foo Foo, but then again he's rarely without some sort of disparaging comment on any place. Kinda incredible that he's just so big.

Monday April 19, 10:31 p.m.

Another fine time was had by all yesterday as the Burger Gang did another Burger Tour. Yes, it was Skippy, me, The Satyr, Miss Ivory, MB and The Sylph who got together in the craziness that is Harajuku Station so that we could walk down and try out yet another hamburger emporium in The Big Sushi.

At least, we weren't suffering in the winter of Saturday. Things were meterologically back to normal on Sunday. The walk over to The Great Burger was a bit circumlocutious from the main street....I can only guess that the owners wanted us to really earn our appetites. Still, we made it there by sunset. And the results are up above.

As usual, the decor inside The Great Burger was akin to some old American honky tonk dive, replete with condiment containers and boxes of Bisquick adorning the shelves. I had my usual go-to burger in the form of a Bacon Cheeseburger and the drink du jour was a Strawberry Milkshake. In other words, I made my own Cholesterol Set. Unfortunately, an Automatic External Defibrillator was nowhere to be found, so if my heart decided to silently explode, I was plain out of luck. I was in luck and managed to survive my "ordeal". In fact, I pushed fate even harder by ordering desserts.

The Bacon Cheeseburger was juicy and messy....everything that an American burger should be. The only concession was the Japanese envelope to put the burger in. Considering that young people often dress up for just taking the dog for a walk, I can't say that I was surprised. Still, my shirt was saved from any assault by spewing relish.

All in all, The Great Burger lives up to its high-flying name.

Saturday April 17, 3:03 p.m.

The model lesson with Swank's Husband went well. He's pretty good, though far from perfect. He and Swank make for an interesting pair. In any case, the classes are now set although now I may be heading for a scheduling quandary between my private lessons and any new ones from Speedy. I'm not sure if I can take many more new ones, and so I've sent the bossman a heads-up. I'm expecting a fully-winded reply.

I met up with The Anime King and his Court in JR Akiba along with Automan last night. The weather was pretty lousy...and a third of the Court was either recovering or suffering from the cold. We ended up going to the basement izakaya in the Mansei Building. The food was OK although I was slightly disappointed by the portions. The advertising should truly read "Images may appear bigger than they are." Still, I learned about what the Court has done over the past two weeks. The Anime King and The Anime Chamberlain will actually be sticking around Tokyo for another week, so I'm making it a plan to see them at least once more since I have to get a couple of things from The King.

Looks like everything's OK with The Jazz Singer. We just exchanged phone numbers and said politely that we really should do coffee in the near future.

Saturday April 17, 12:51 p.m.

Well, I guess Hell did indeed freeze over, since Tokyo did. I turned on the TV this morning to see that the outlying Kanto such as Utsunomiya and Saitama got smacked with snow and sleet. I was laughing at the maroons when I noticed that the patter of rain sounded a lot more solid than usual. I opened the drapes and saw that my neighbourhood was being sherbeted. I was able to grab a good handful of slush from my balcony. Being the herald of meterological efficiency that Tokyo is, pretty much all of it is gone now and the sun is even out, but seeing sleet and snow at this time of year is nothing short of breathtaking.

Friday April 16, 2:42 p.m.

Well, I sent in an e-mail to The Jazz Singer just to let her know that my invitation was just an invitation for dinner. Good heavens....it wouldn't be a romantic tete-a-tete at all...not with a whole bunch of otaku around her.

I also committed a mechanical faux pas of sorts as well just over an hour ago when I accidentally let the copier cover drop a little too hard and the hinges fractured. Luckily, Speedy is a pretty mild one when accidents happen but getting those fixed could take a bit of yen...yen that we really can't afford to be paying much of right now.

Should be heading off to see Swank's husband in about 15 minutes.

Friday April 16, 12:49 p.m.

Only up to 7 degrees C. Even in Toronto, that would be cause for some alarm at this time of year; I can only imagine what the locals must be thinking.

Got a wake-up call from Automan to confirm meeting time and place. He's not all that familiar with Akiba, especially when he's coming up by Hibiya Line which is slightly farther from the main drag. So I told him that I would meet him at the usual JR exit for Akihabara Station. The Anime King and the guys said the front of Gamers, a famous anime shop very close to that exit; Automan, being far more into F-1 than sentient robots and cute saucer-eyed girls, has no idea where that is.

Before that, though, Speedy and I have to head over for a model lesson with Swank's husband in his company. He apparently owns a place that is connected with environmental stuff which may explain his wife's interest in the topic. My word...another captain of industry to teach. Even if I am successful with the model lesson, I'm not quite how we're going to finagle a regular series of lessons with him since my schedule is riddled with my private lessons, Speedy lessons and the juku.

A side topic to tonight's meeting with Automan and The Anime King. I had a bit of banter between me and The Jazz Singer on Mixi throughout the evening last night...which kinda culminated in me kinda/sorta inviting her to join us tonight, since I had some vibes (imagined or otherwise) from her that she may have wanted to come out for some yakiniku. This is definitely not a date since she would be surrounded by otaku. Still, there was a bit of trepidation on my part since my history of dating can fit into a memo-size sheet of paper. After sending out the message, I rather expected a polite "No" due to a busy schedule or a half-embarrassed written guffaw at my little "joke". Instead when I checked a few minutes ago, she gave me a "Well..." and asked to continue this via e-mail. So...no NO. Although I'm pretty sure she won't show up tonight, I'm not sure what this non-answer may lead to. And that e-mail may never come.

Thursday April 15, 8:45 p.m.

Well, the Carolinan has come and gone. She was a little less dour than usual. She'd had her angler hot pot dinner but The Bow pretty much gave all of the report on that one. And tomorrow, she and her sister, The New Yorker, will be having dinner of their own somewhere in this big city. As for me, I'll be meeting with The Anime King and his Court in Akihabara (where else?) for probably my one and only dinner with them. However, since it will be TGIF, I think looking for a restaurant that could hold all 8 of us (Automan and his wife may be coming) will probably be daunting at the very least. I'm thinking the only possibility for us is the Mansei Restaurant Building just on the border between Akiba and Kanda.

MB has finally gotten to us about where Sunday's birthday dinner with Miss Ivory and Skippy will be. Not surprisingly, to kill two birds with one stone, we'll be celebrating birthdays and continuing the years-long Burger Tour. The venue is some place called The Great Burger in Harajuku. I'll get my stomach prepared.

Just The Music Man and then it'll be back home.

Thursday April 15, 5:28 p.m.

2 more weeks until Golden Week is upon us, and it still feels like the middle of January out there. More like Golden Week with Silver Bells. Ryokan will probably be keeping the nabe option handy for guests.

Ms. HGL finished off her last classes before her takeoff for The Great White North on Saturday. We took care of the rest of the text and I helped her with her self-intro when she meets her new classmates on Monday in Vancouver.

Just waiting for The Carolinan in another hour. May end up using one of those quizzes that I used on The CEO to pretty good success on her...just for a change. Of course, the quiz vocabulary will have to be toned down for her level.

In the world at large, it looks like Prime Minister Hatoyama is looking more and more like the world's lamest duck...or at least the G8's. President Obama held his Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, and Hatoyama just had 10 minutes with Barack and that was just because the two men were sitting side by side at dinner. There was no breakthrough over the watercress salad concerning Futenma Base, and the media is playing it up as the PM coming home from a fishing expedition with nothing in his creel.

There have been quite the rash of celeb deaths over the past month or so. TV lost Charles Townsend himself, aka Charlie from "Charlie's Angels" aka John Forsythe. Then, over here, we lost a famed writer and a baseball coach with virtually the same name as SMAP's Takuya Kimura. And then there was the plane death which claimed a good chunk of Poland's elite, including the President and his First Lady.

Thursday April 15, 2:00 p.m.

We're all a little tired here today at Speedy's. I ended up having to teach Ms. HGL an hour ahead of schedule when the bossman gestured at me to take over since he had to take care of a client longer than scheduled. Speedy is feeling a bit piqued since he had to take care of that client and then rush in to take care of Ms. HGL's second hour. Then Ray had to handle that same client for a total of 2 hours and take care of one of the bossman's associates coming in while getting chewed out by the superintendant for not informing the associate of the entry code to get into the building. The super has a bit of a short fuse when it comes to procedure.

I am grateful though that I have a few hours before The Carolinan comes in, and then a couple of hours after that before The Music Man wraps things up.

Speaking of Ms. HGL, it's her final class with us before she takes off for her 3-month homestay in Vancouver. It ought to be interesting what life will be like in post-Olympics Vancouver.

I got word from The Anime King that we'll all be meeting tomorrow in Akiba for dinner at 7. Ironic that I can only meet the Court at the end of their trip despite being here for almost 2 weeks.

Wednesday April 14, 9:00 p.m.

Just about ready to go, but I just had to upload this picture of what the tourists can get when they go to Kyoto. Two of the Anime King's court managed to indulge in some mile-high parfaits during their time in the ancient city. I rather think that the Heian Court could never have anticipated food on this level back a thousand years or so ago.

The thing is, though, these parfaits are quite the common gimmick dish in a number of restaurants throughout the country. One either has to have the stomach of a Gal Sone or dethroned hot dog king Takeru Kobayashi, or have a few friends to tackle this monster. And wouldn't that be one heck of an ice cream headache!

Well, as for the day, I'm happy to say that The CEO's class went well since I was able to find and download a survey on one's political performance indicator which then segued into a talk on the rise and fall of former Livedoor honcho Horie. The class with The German was the usual chitchat for an hour, and then it was the typical barrel of laughs with 001.

Found out that Grandma FON has cancelled her lessons for the rest of the month since that cold of hers is just not going away. At her age, I can't be that surprised. However, I've got the rest of the folks: Miss HGL for her last one before she takes off for Canada for 3 months, The Carolinan and then The Music Man. Should be a fairly straightforward day.

Wednesday April 14, 12:32 p.m.

It was a regular Tuesday. Had The Beehive...Mrs. Tee wasn't there but Mrs. Travel was back from her trip to Monument Valley and The Grand Canyon. She had a great time and discovered that she could enjoy solo journeys without daughters or husband. Could open new vistas for her. I found out that Mrs. Ballet, the lady who had introduced me to the Hive all those years ago will be making monthly appearances at our fair little kaffeeklatsch.

The juku was back to normal after the kerfuffle between Sugar N' Spice and the juku boss last week. But found out that Spice also has a Mixi account which got her and her sister all excited, which suits me just fine since things were a bit dull up to that point in the lesson. In no time flat, I've become her Mixi friend and she's even joined my foodie community. My own little project just has me, her and one other Mixi friend. For some reason, The Bohemian has completely vacated Mixi for some reason.

In a bit of a switch, it was Mrs. Mild who was with me for most of the lesson. A lot of mistakes but a lot of heart as well. Apparently, she and her husband had been doing some cherry blossom viewing in Yasukuni Shrine when they just happened to see a ceremonial sumo match taking place with all of the bigwigs of the industry: the Estonian ozeki Baruto and Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho included. Mr. Mild did come in eventually...he'd come straight from his home prefecture of Fukushima after a visit with the relatives there. He was appropriately exhausted after 5 hours of driving. He wasn't exactly non compo mentis but he was definitely not in the learning mood. And Mr. Nice Guy did a dotakyan; found out from the boss that his wife had come in over the weekend for her kids' lessons and admitted that plans for the family to make the big move to Hawaii this summer have fallen through. So, in a way, Mr. Nice Guy's raison d'etre for his English lessons have at the very least lessened. The boss says that his lessons will still continue but we shall see.

I've got three lessons today: The CEO, The German and 001. Gonna have to ramp up the lesson for The CEO since last time was a bit laggy. Mr. TOEFL was supposed to come in as the cleanup batter tonight but had to cancel since he has to take care of a dog patient in intensive care; should clarify by saying that he is a vet by trade. Meanwhile, the bossman, Ray and The Cockney are all dudded up for some sort of trade fair this afternoon...which means that AK will be making a rare appearance as substitute staffer for a few hours. AK has basically left the school since her translation business is booming apparently.

I saw the first three parts of "The Beast Below", the second of Matt Smith's episodes as the new Doctor Who via YouTube. For some reason, the last two parts have either yet to be uploaded or some wanker has taken them down. It's another Steven Moffat production but it seems as if the Mixi Doctor fans haven't been as enthused about this ep. I'm still OK with it and so is GC, my old estranged friend in the wilds of Mie Prefecture. According to GC, the new companion, brash Amy Pond may have a rather interesting storyline along the lines of Donna Noble.

Anyways, should get onto planning The CEO's lesson.

Monday April 12, 9:08 p.m.

It's always interesting to watch the original pilot episode of a long-running series. And so I did with "NCIS" last night. Over the past few months, Fox Japan has been showing eps from the 2nd and 4th seasons, plus now the 5th season. Well, they went all the way back to Season 1.

There was no Angry Gibbs, no overCaf-Pow'ed Abby, no overly horny DiNozzo and just no McGee. Instead, I was treated to a Jethro Leroy Gibbs who was pretty much the same Mark Harmon that we'd come to expect from his roles on "St. Elsewhere", "240-Robert" and even his short time on "The West Wing", and both Tony and Sciuto were nice and calm. Heck, even the theme song started off mild. Original pilot Gibbs even seemed to have a bit of the lothario that DiNozzo would later inherit. I guess it would be no wonder that there would be a slight adjustment in his personality.

It was back to the usual Monday. I had Cozy, Swank and SIL earlier today and then I will have The Medicine Man in about 15 minutes.

Monday April 12, 8:30 p.m.

Quite the antithesis of last Monday's wedding party in downtown Tokyo. Went up to the wilds of Minami-Kashiwa in Chiba Prefecture (not as far away as it reads...just 40 minutes from my area by JR) on Saturday with Automan to see Shrek's place for a nice BBQ. The original plan had been to take Automan out for lunch in Ginza at Genkatsu, the tonkatsu place famous for its mille-feuille cutlets. Instead, I got a call from the lad on Friday night stating that he'd gotten a call from our mutual friend Shrek inviting us for some good ol' fashioned barbeque up in his neck of the woods. So of course, we went.

Met Automan who had also invited another friend from Jiyugaoka who will be called Skippy 2 since she reminds me of the original in her vivaciousness. Shrek picked us up at the station and it was just a 5-minute ride to his relatively new house shown above. Quite a nice home and the backyard has a view of a peaceful looking marsh with cherry trees all around it. Not bad as far as Tokyo neighbourhoods go.

Shrek recently welcomed another addition to the family last month so we got to see the new kid. And the other two were appropriately rambunctious. The elder kid has even started to mouth off at the parents a bit...which I'm sure will get him learning some hard lessons soon enough from Daddy if I know Shrek's temper.

BBQ was great....we made our own chicken fajitas and sausages...plenty of fixins. Ended up staying there for close to 7 hours. The ending consisted of Automan, Skippy 2 and Shrek's son showing us their abilities via the Wii.

Thursday April 8, 7:43 p.m.

Looks like Matt Smith has become the talk of the town after his smashing debut as The Eleventh Doctor in "Doctor Who". I've been looking at both sides of the Pacific in terms of reviews. On Mixi, I told the local fans in Japan about the show on YouTube and asked for their feedback. Everyone who responded liked "The Eleventh Hour", although a couple of them were put off by the food rejection scene. Enh...I say. I'm a nihilist. On the Facebook side of things, people were also quite happy with the results, although they unanimously hated the new rendition of the theme song. I would have to agree with that. Just doesn't sound right.

With all of this love for the new Doctor, I hope fans still hold a special place in their hearts for Chris Eccleston and David Tennant.

Thursday April 8, 7:16 p.m.

Well, the model lesson wasn't exactly a home run. He was a young fellow, just starting his first year as a member of the working class so he just reminded me of a high school kid in a suit. A bit laconic but overall a good fellow. Not sure if he really enjoyed the lesson that much but he did linger on with Ray after the lesson so that can't be too bad a sign. However, he said that he would get back to us after checking with his upper echelons.

It's just Mr. TOEFL and The Music Man. I haven't seen Mr. TOEFL in just about a month so I'm not sure what he still wants to do...another dry run or actually go with his request back in early March and work on hammer statements.

Thursday April 8, 4:07 p.m.

That model student has just come in and is now doing the preliminary written test. He kinda looks a bit like The Ace (who has just left the juku for bigger and better things)...a bit nebbishy and quiet. Hopefully, he'll be just as inquisitive and cordial as my former student was.

During those few hours before the wedding on Monday, I was taking some shots of the main drag of Roppongi. Don Quixote is a commercial institution in Tokyo, kinda like Honest Ed's in Toronto in that it sells just about everything at low, low prices. As for Gas Panic, it's also an institution in Roppongi for far more different reasons. It's a very large dive for the desperate women and just-as-eager Marines and English teachers to amass during the weekends. I'm not sure if the name derives from what happens after ingesting mass quantities.

Thursday April 8, 3:36 p.m.

Into the middle of Donut Day. Miss Prissy swept through another test successfully. She's at the end of her current contract but we're fairly confident that she'll renew. My model lesson student should be here in about another 20 minutes.

And here I thought that Minna-no-to (Your Party) was a ridiculous name for a Japanese political party. Since all that sturm-und-drang concerning the departure of a number of disgruntled LDP types from the mother party, those folks must have hit the sauce a bit too hard to come up with this name for the newest party in the Diet: Tachiagare, Nippon-to (Stand Up, Japan Party). This has got to be a protest party...just like America's Tea Party. There is no way that this club could ever get power...it's more catchphrase than political association.

Usually the new shows come out on TV in the Fall back home in Toronto. It seems like even the American imports are now showing up in the Spring here in Japan. Just in the past few weeks, season premieres of "NCIS" and "Burn Notice" have popped up, and now we've got the new programs of "Leverage" and "Lie To Me". Like the former two, the latter two are basically procedural types with "Leverage" being the caperesque clone of "Ocean's 11", and "Lie To Me" sounding like the behavioral analyst's version of "House". Both shows have leads who used to ride high in the saddle on the big screen but have continued the reverse trend of movie stars coming to TV: Timothy Hutton and Tim Roth. And yes, both shows have leads whose names are Tim.

Thursday April 8, 9:32 a.m.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. Ah, but there was a bit of a kerfuffle at the juku on Tuesday night when the older sister of Sugar N' Spice and the boss had a misunderstanding in words. I won't get into details but basically it was a case of Sugar's inability to explain clearly and the boss' easy-to-panic nature that escalated things up to the point that their Mom had to come in. It all ended up in a slightly weepy Sugar with a stoic Spice using up only the latter half of their lesson. I was not pleased and the boss apologized profusely.

Earlier in the day, I was surprised to see that Mrs. Tee of the Beehive was just rattling off in English. Mind you, it did help that Mrs. Travel was off in the States so I gather that Mrs. Tee was somewhat less intimidated. But boy, does Tee have a life like "The Perils of Pauline". She has a brother who's now in terminal care and a mother who has to stay with her family; she's merely 104 years old and filled with piss n' vinegar. Heard from Mrs. Alp that Mrs. Tulip back over in Toronto has had one of those knockout-dragouts with her husband...yep, those are inevitable.

Yesterday was basically a Donut Day since I only had Grandma Enka in the morning and then 001 in the evening. But a little busier today. I've got Miss Prissy in about 20 with a model lesson, Mr. TOEFL and then The Music Man later tonight. Actually, both Grandma FON and The Carolinan both cancelled their lessons.

However, I've been pretty busy with proofreading. The Cornerette, Mr. Jyuppie and The Croatian all gave me assignments which I did get done during the big donut hole yesterday.

The Anime King and his court finally arrived on Tuesday. Got a courtesy call from The King on Tuesday morning. He and his gang will be touring Tokyo until tomorrow; then they're off to the Kansai area for most of next week...which basically means that I'll probably only see them next Friday and perhaps the following day before they head on home.

Thursday April 8, 9:21 a.m.

Well, it's been a while. As you can see on the right, I did make it to Paddy's wedding party. Of course, in the picture, that is indeed Paddy giving his wife her due.

As soon as I entered the International House in Roppongi, Paddy was the first one to meet me in the lobby. That kerfuffle about any wedding money was discreetly forgotten.

Matching the name of the venue, the wedding party was indeed international. At the very least, four countries were represented there: Japan, Canada, America and the UK. I've never been a mingler; always disliked having to go up and introduce myself, so Paddy went out of his way to ease me into the various conversational circles. Got to meet Paddy's old law professor, a New York tech geek, a mother-daughter pairing from San Diego, and a young couple who are currently living in Vientiane, Laos. And of course, The Cat and her family came all the way down from Nagano Prefecture.

First there was a tea service (courtesy of UK culture) and then the dinner buffet (courtesy of US culture). Have to say that the scones were excellent...gained 2 kg just looking at them. In between was the renewing of vows (actually, Paddy and the love of his life registered their marriage back in 2005). And The Cat's hubby and another old school friend provided some musical entertainment with a couple of Beatles numbers.

We even had some visitors of an animal nature. A crane or heron dropped into the courtyard for several minutes which got several shutterbugs, including me, snapping away on our digitals. And there was even a stray cat which peeked out from some bushes.

As it turned out, it looks like I was the only one who did the Japanese thing and brought an envelope of 30,000 yen. I discreetly slipped it under a basket at the reception table. Well, I figure it was penance for my e-mail faux pas.

I thought I had gone through the whole gamut of wedding parties in my life after my brother's nuptials in 2001, but it looks like I had one more in me. Now I'm pretty sure that I will have to wait until the next generation grows up.

Sunday April 4, 11:10 a.m.

Love ya, YouTube. Or I should say the person who uploaded the very first Matt Smith episode of "Doctor Who"...the entire episode of "The Eleventh Hour". And I had been thinking over an hour ago that I would be waiting over a year to see the ep.

I think in terms of premiere episodes, "The Eleventh Hour" beats the Eccleston and the Tennant eps, "Rose" and "The Christmas Invasion" hands down. There's still a bit of the Tennant Doctor in the new and improved version, but Matt Smith seems to have fit into the Doctor mold quite nicely; and I'm sure the fans will concoct the theory that since it was immediately post-regeneration, an echo of Doctor Ten was still knocking about in Eleven.

As for Matt's rendition, the Eleventh Doctor seems to be babbly and witty and gangly...all legs and arms and floppy hair. I guess the nickname of the Raggedy Doctor may stick, although I think that was more for the ripped-up clothing from Doctor Ten. And I had read somewhere that Matt had gained some inspiration from the cartoon Pink Panther for his version of the Doctor...and y'know, I could see some of that debonair savoir faire in him. And I'm hoping that will also mean less manic screaming that we had gotten from David Tennant and Chris Eccleston.

As for the episode itself, it was a great start with the new companion, Amy Pond, literally growing up in the span of 10 minutes...growing up with the dream-turned-reality visions of the Doctor in her head. And she truly is a feisty one...reminds me a bit of young Sarah Jane and a slightly calmer Donna Noble. The Doctor may not suffer fools but neither does she.

All in all, it was a different and grand start to the new season. And the best thing it did was get me out of that funk from being chewed out by Paddy. I guess I'm stuck with this personality but I'll survive.

Sunday April 4, 9:34 a.m.

Got a bit of a tongue-lashing from Paddy after I had asked him whether I should be bringing money to the wedding as per Japanese custom. For future reference, never ask the host about this stuff. I should've asked The Cat, who'll be going with her family tomorrow...but I just thought that going straight to the source would be the best course. In any case, I now feel compelled to give something...to be frankly honest, I don't want to considering my current financial situation, but...well, that's the way it goes.

In any case, there was a bit of bitching about on the Mixi forum amongst my Anglophile Mixi-tomo about John Barrowman, the lead in "Torchwood". Apparently, they said that he was being a bit of a "bitch" himself for ragging on Chris Eccleston's somewhat serious attitude in Season One of "Doctor Who". There is no doubt where their allegiances lie. Not that I'm a huge Barrowman fan by any means, and for that matter, I do like Eccleston...I kinda still see him as the poor man's Tom Cruise...but if Eccleston can opine that his time on DW was "mixed" at best, I think Barrowman can also give his opinion; perhaps I can only criticize that it's never all that great to air dirty laundry.

Today, I've just got The Jyuppies. The main reason that I'm at the I-Cafe is that I wanted to get going on the Croatian's essay, but he has yet to send it over. He did write the caveat "...hopefully done by Saturday...", so I'd been warned. Well, it looks like it'll be a rush job for Wednesday.

Saturday April 3, 5:30 p.m.

Waiting for Ray to be finished in the kitchen before I rinse out my glass and can.

Just read about Erykah Badu's brush with the law since she decided to peel off her clothes in an unaware neighbourhood in Dallas for a video. Well, I'll get the groaner out of the way first: Bad(u), Erykah! Bad(u)! And as for the stripping itself...I mean, that's not particularly original anymore. We've had everyone from Madonna to Alanis Morrisette to Bjork go au naturel for their art. Good heavens! Even Beth Ditto has gone starkers for a magazine. I don't think a lot of readers have had their sight fully restored after that one.

Was waiting for The Croatian to send over his latest proofreading assignment but it looks like he's gonna be later than earlier. So I'll have to make a visit to the neighbourhood I-Cafe tomorrow and print it out.

Saturday April 3, 4:40 p.m.

Yep, that's a small group of cherry blossoms whose picture I took back on Tuesday when I was walking through Kinshicho. O-Hanami is now in session throughout the weekend. The combination of the new fiscal year and the yearly tradition of meeting under the cherry trees to drink, eat and be merry has brought out the festive side of the Japanese...as well as the darker side on the subways.

I don't do much of that myself, since I don't drink very much and I'm not a big fan of sharing park space with thousands of other folks. I really haven't done O-Hanami in a number of years; I think the last time was with Tully, The Coffeemaker and a few other students from the ol' school in Ichigaya Park. You can be sure, though, that the masses have descended upon that park, Ueno Park and Chidorigafuchi, right by The Imperial Palace to eat, drink and be merry...and oh yeah, perhaps look at a few pink flowers right into the night. As for me, I'll be content by walking past them or just seeing them on TV.

The Intellectual, in his truncated time here today, talked about the effect of certain videos on young people. His timing was quite good, since there was a CNN feature on the notorious Japanese hentai computer games. "Hentai" stands for pervert, and the games feature some very nasty stuff such as the user being able to grope, and even rape/torture anime-style girls or women. My student felt that, though the games aren't suitable at all, clamping down on them is tantamount to censorship and therefore hinders free speech. He also stated that there has been no physical proof that such materials or the adult videos have had an effect on folks. I could've pointed out the case of the recently-executed child murderer Tsutomu Miyazaki, but then again, he was already batty probably before he started buying his first snuff videos. Still, I'm not sure if the case can be made that such porn has absolutely no effect on the weak-minded.

The Intellectual and I also spoke about the arrival of the iPad on American shores. The arrival had all the pomp and circumstance of a royal coronation. One female reporter for a computer magazine was just gushing as if she had met Johnny Depp. Even "The Japan Times" hasn't escaped the hype machine. An entire page was devoted to the iPad. Hmm...I've hinted to folks that I might be willing to break my self-imposed exile from personal computers in my home for this latest Apple contraption, but then again I am saving money for more important things.

The PA came by as well. No particular problems. And since then, I've just been doodling about on the Net. The bossman has even come in and gave both Ray and me a couple of sweet, juicy Fuji apples. However, I should be getting ready to take off for home pretty soon. I've also got to prep for The Jyuppies' lesson tomorrow afternoon.

Mr. TOEFL has reserved a lesson next week for the first time in almost a month. And MB has given me the word about getting some get-together going for Skippy's birthday later this month.

And speaking about royal coronations...at about 2 a.m. JST Sunday morning, the 11th Doctor Who makes his official first appearance on BBC screens. I'm sure everyone in Great Britain will be slavering away to see him....and his most comely companion, Amy Pond.

Saturday April 3, 11:45 a.m.

The Intellectual is gonna be rushing in about a half-hour late, according to a phone call I got from him. I very rarely ever answer the phones since I've got no talent for answering them in a Japanese-language business context, but since the phone was ringing off the hook incessantly, I had to take it. Luckily, it was him and not some inquiry.

Looks like another old TV face has gone off this mortal coil. This time, it's John Forsythe of "Dynasty" fame. And he's also the voice of Charlie from "Charlie's Angels". Looks like Farrah won't be alone anymore.

Saturday April 3, 10:55 a.m.

First potentially decent day of the month. It may be fine for Ohanami for the masses (and I do mean, masses). Since the financial year started on the first, I've been seeing a number of young (and not so young) drunken types on the train; so far, no puddles of vomit on the subway platforms, but I'm sure that'll be rectified soon enough.

It's hard for me to say this in many ways, but I think I've actually across someone who's at least just as scatterbrained as the juku boss. Mr. Nice Guy came in last night a full half-hour ahead of schedule despite being repeatedly told by the boss herself that his appointment was supposed to be at 8:30. Not only that, but his wife has apparently lost the envelope that the boss gives to every student for them to pay their monthly tuition. And not only that, despite both being told by the boss that they are to inform her if they have to cancel classes ahead of schedule, both Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy simply forgot. Even the boss was left at a loss for words when my newest student gave some rather blank-faced apologies. Not the brightest light bulb in the chandelier.

I have The Intellectual and The PA today. The Businesswoman was supposed to come as well, but she's cancelled.

Friday April 2, 1:15 p.m.

On the left is the ever-growing Tokyo Sky Tree, fated to become one of the tallest towers on Earth..perhaps only to be superceded by that Dubai tower. It's situated smack-dab in the middle of stodgy old Oshiage, although with this huge thing coming up in the world, it's hard to imagine that Oshiage will remain that way for much longer.

On the right is the ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower, planned to be built in London just in time for the 2012 Olympics. It kinda looks like a cross between a psychotic's version of a roller coaster and a scrunched-up rubber band. It may not look all that graceful but it'll certainly be the talk of the town.

Thursday April 1, 8:32 p.m.

Well, I was an April Fool for about 30 seconds. I came across the headline on the Net: "Canada Buys Half of Hawaii", and was so gobsmacked that I even put it on my status bar in Facebook. Then, with the realization, came the superimposing of a "SUCKER" sign over my face just like in those old "Looney Tunes" cartoons. Still, I was able to spin the headline acknowledging my momentary lapse in sanity.

Aloha, eh?

Thursday April 1, 5:49 p.m.

I guess it isn't just the juku boss who got kinda scatterbrained about mixing up the schedule this week. After forcing Mr. Nice Guy to run to the juku for no reason at all on Tuesday night, it was Speedy's turn to screw up...but it was a joint effort. I found out when I came in...unusually...late afternoon today that Grandma FON did show up for her lesson, only to find out herself that I wasn't there. She had just naturally assumed that the staff would just log her in for the next lesson unless she said otherwise. I did mention to the bossman and Ray a couple of times earlier this week that it was strange that FON hasn't said anything about her next lesson, but they didn't act upon it. Not that I was all that put out, although I feel badly that FON showed up all this way for nothing. I was able to get some decent sleep in this morning as well as get some ironing done. Not that I mentioned this to the bossman who wouldn't have taken that news too well.

And I was fortunate that I also had the rest of the day off yesterday after Miss HGL's lesson since 001 wasn't available last night. I just sped back home and bought some new clothes at the neighbourhood stores, including the shoe shop. I've been very lucky in terms of location since my neighbourhood shoe store has a Big Shoe section. Since I'm a Size 9.5 (a Japanese 27.5 cm), I would be out of luck in a lot of other stores, but for this place, I was able to get something to my liking. The formal shoes weren't exactly anywhere too expensive but they should pass muster when it comes to Paddy's party next Monday. I also used up the rest of the coupons that Mom had sent me and bought up some briefs, a shirt that actually could fit my neck and a new belt to replace the one that's about to go under mitosis. Nice to have an evening and a morning to myself.

From next week, it should be an interesting one. On Monday, the Anime King and his Court will arrive on these shores for 2 weeks of fun and anime. I also got word from Automan that he and his new wife will be in the area, and there is Paddy's party.

I've been reading "Watching Anime, Reading Manga" by Fred Patten, that tome I had bought over at the Aoyama Book Center for a mere 500 yen, on the subway. It's been a good read for knowing about the history of Japanese pop culture slowly creeping into American society. They've covered the landings of classic anime such as "Uchusenkan Yamato", "Gatchaman" and "Macross", the appearance of legends such as Osamu Tezuka and the crusty Hayao Miyazaki at the conventions, and of course, the Simba-Kimba controversy involving "The Lion King" and Tezuka's "Jungle Taitei". The issue has long become moot in the past several years, especially when the stage version is doing so well on these shores. Not surprisingly, Patten and just about everyone else has concluded that Disney did borrow aspects of "Jungle Taitei" for "The Lion King", and that Disney has acted like a schmuck by not acknowledging this fact. From my point of view, it's unfortunate but not surprising. Back in the early 90s, Disney was riding on a tidal wave of renewed popularity due to its triple smash of "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty & The Beast" and "Aladdin" and prior boasts of making the most successful original animated feature ever with "The Lion King" just about had the beancounters and shysters of The Mouse House telling the other employees to keep mum. Also, with Michael Eisner at the helm...and I have heard about some of this apparently dilettantish ways...I wouldn't have been surprised if he had sent a memo to everyone not to so much as utter a syllable of Osamu Tezuka's name during press conferences. For me, it is enough to know that the truth is so very obvious.

I've just got The Music Man on tap tonight.

Wednesday March 31, 12:50 p.m.

Spring may have finally come into the Kanto, some 10 days late. It feels balmier than it has been over the last several days so the Ohanami festivities can possibly begin from this weekend. Whatever the case, I'm sure the millions of people of this megalopolis will be very happy to start doffing off the heavy Winter wear.

Yesterday was basically a day off except for the three hours of juku classes. I scooted over to Oshiage on the Hanzomon Line; basically, it's an unremarkable shitamachi neighbourhood, except for the fact that there is a 350 m-and-climbing structure growing by leaps and bounds right in the middle. Yep, the Tokyo Sky Tree is making its way up in the world. Took some shots along with several other avid photogs. Then I walked down the main road as far as Kinshicho. There was a small mall there which looked appropriately modern, but there was also a promenade with plenty of cherry trees. It was a bit early for the salaried folks to start doing their Ohanami quite since it was still pretty chilly.

At the juku, Mr. White had the day off, but Sugar & Spice kept me on my heels. I think they are the only kids that I've ever had that I've actually been enjoying as students. But the only cost is my energy levels. Kinda glad that The Milds are truly very mild. The boss showed her scatterbrained side once more by insisting that Mr. Nice Guy had a make-up lesson tonight, even as going as far as calling his wife to get him down to the juku only to find out as he rushed breathlessly in that he hadn't needed to in the first place. She gleefully apologized and he gleefully accepted that apology, so I didn't vent too much steam.

I got word from both The Cornerette and Cozy that my work has passed muster with them, so I will expect some money from them in the couple of days. I've only got an hour with Miss HGL today; then I head off back home to get some clothes shopping done for next week's wedding party for Paddy. Luckily, I've got some remaining coupons at Daiei.

A number of new shows have been popping up on cable recently. I caught "Leverage", another show starring a former top movie actor, Timothy Hutton. I'll always remember him as the idealistic, doomed hero from the 80s movie "Taps", but here he's playing a grizzled, haunted former insurance investigator leading a group of con artists. It's in the same vein as "Mission: Impossible" and "The A-Team". Not a bad pilot. And I've been enjoying "Burn Notice" more and more. Tim Roth's "Lie To Me" will be starting up next week; would like to take a look at that, although The Satyr has said that it's really nothing special.

On the Japanese side of TV, they're into the Spring specials now. I caught "Pussuma", the late-night variety show starring loudmouth Yusuke Santamaria and formerly humiliated SMAP'per Tsuyoshi Kusanagi. But that little bit of idiocy that Kusanagi got into last year with him drunkenly ranting in the nude in a posh Roppongi neighbourhood has basically been forgotten. Last night's episode consisted of dusting off a classic variety show scam called the ne-dokkiri. Basically, it involves certain tarento ambushing other tarento in their hotel rooms and rousing them from sleep, just to show them what they look like without all of the cosmetics on. One of the victims was former Morning Musume leader, Hitomi Yoshizawa, for which the fans will pounce on and scour through YouTube, I'm sure. However, the best was saved for last with "victim" Egashira 2:50, a tarento who's basically an insane asylum resident allowed out on a permanent day pass apparently. In the last few minutes after getting roused from sleep, he crazily took off all his clothes, terrifying the female victims who had come along for the ride, including the aforementioned Yoshizawa, and then he even used a shaver to start maniacally clip his armpit and pubic hair. Only on Japanese late-night....will love to see the comments on this one over on the J-Pop forums.

Monday March 29, 7:55 p.m.

The cold weather continues. I'm still actually wearing my sweater, Winter jacket and longjohns today...and I don't think even back in Toronto that all three are usually necessary. So, I think it's safe to say that this Winter...and it isn't Winter anymore, surprisingly enough...was one of the coldest the Kanto has ever seen. At this rate, the cherry blossoms will end up freeze-dried.

Happy to say that I saved myself a trip to the I-Cafe yesterday and got that proofreading over to The Cornerette on Saturday after working on it for about 3 hours. Fortunately, the bossman hasn't said anything about the extra usage of electricity. Still have yet to hear from the lass. Basically, yesterday was a rare relaxer...actually slept for over 8 hours and took my time through the lesson-less day. Ended up watching episodes from Season One of the original "Mission: Impossible".

Today is probably going to be the busiest day of the week for me. I had Cozy for his early-morning session. Looks like the two translation jobs are good to go with him, so I can just send him the bill on Wednesday. Then, I saw Swank for the first time in about 3 weeks, and it'll be another month before I see her again due to work. The lucky thing, though, is that I got a referral from her to none other than her husband, so of course, the bossman is quite happy. I'll be seeing him in about 2 weeks.

The session with Swank lasted just an hour so I had time to browse through Aoyama Book Centre nearby in Roppongi. Didn't find anything there except for the weekly METROPOLIS magazine, but I did drop by their annex at the back of the building where they have discounted books. Ended up buying a book on anime/manga for just 500 yen...a sixth of the original cost. Really can't consider myself an otaku on either field...and don't think I've ever been one. I've only really liked certain anime such as "Space Cruiser Yamato" and "Macross"; I think I'm far more of a kayo kyoku fan, and now that's pretty much limited to the old days of the 80s and 90s. Still for that price, I can read up on what has grabbed the world's attention from Japan for the past few decades.

SIL was fine as usual. Just talked a lot about the past, as we usually do. Got back to Speedy's where I planned for a lot of the other lessons in the next couple of days such as the juku classes and for The Medicine Man. I hope my last lesson of the day will go rather smoothly. I'll actually be starting at the juku a couple of hours later than usual, since Mr. White is off tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'll be checking out the slowly rising Tokyo Sky Tree near Oshiage Station since I've got no session with The Beehive. The rest of the week is looking a bit slow since I only have Miss HGL on Wednesday for just an hour. Just as well, since I'm planning to get a few clothes in preparation for next Monday's wedding party for Paddy.

Saturday March 27, 7:08 p.m.

Well, I have been here overtime. Ray left over an hour ago. I've just been able to complete 19 pages' worth of proofreading for The Corner's associate. Dunno what to name her...will wait until Monday or until I regain full use of my brain cells...whichever comes first. I need my sustenance right now. It may have to be Mickey D's once more, but there has to be more out there than Big Macs.

The proofreading wasn't too difficult but it was just long. At least, I won't have to go to the I-Cafe tomorrow. I've sent the whole kit and kaboodle back to her. She needs to know how to use quotes more judiciously. I had to muddle through whole series of conversations written like full paragraphs.

Looks like I've got Ms. HGL for my lone 2 hours on Wednesday. I was thinking of seeing the half-completed Tokyo Sky Tree up close and personal on that day; I can still do it though. But at least I've got most of the day off on Tuesday to get some nice duds for Paddy's big party the following Monday.

Saturday March 27, 12:05 p.m.

It was one of those busy commuting days yesterday. In Funabashi for The Bass, then over to Shinjuku to see The New Yorker and The Bow, and finally over to Urayasu for the juku students. The New Yorker managed to survive and even enjoy her time in San Francisco, although she did undergo the infamous 3rd-degree grilling of Customs and Immigration post 9-11. I took a look at her photos...yep, there is a reason that The City By The Bay is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I even got a souvenir in the form of a package of Ghiradelli's Chocolate...shared those with the juku folks.

The Bow should've had her dinner with The Carolinan and four others in Tsukishima last night. The diner de jour was ankou nabe or angler hot pot. I've heard about this delicacy for years but one would have to pay me good money to get near that...I'm not into eating anything that looks like a cross between a fish and the Alien. And just the way the thing gets cut up into bits has never endeared me to it.

It was The Ace's last night at the juku...and at his company, for that matter. From April 1st, he'll be starting his new career via school and a part-time job as a care counselor. I guess, then, it was appropriate that we did spend an hour instead of his usual 30 minutes before he left us for good. It was quite a time for collecting goodies...the New Yorker with her Ghiradelli souvenir, and then The Ace with his goodbye gift of Japanese confections, and even the juku boss got me some snakcks made from soba flour. The Ace's departure was atypically good; usually, folks leave me awkwardly by just saying that they are "busy" (The Full-Timer) or by disappearing (The Coffemaker) and even on bad terms (The Jazz Buddy).

Today, I've just got The Publicity Agent and The Businesswoman for the first time in a month. There will probably be a lot of catching up. Plus, I'm on standby for a massive proofreading job from The Corner's former associate. I have to wait until 6 p.m....hopefully, the bossman doesn't show up today. In any case, I'll probably be in the Internet cafe for a few hours getting that job done.

Ray is back here in front of me. She isn't 100% yet but markedly better than on Thursday.

Rumor does have a certain destructive power. There was an incident yesterday on Takeshita-dori, the Harajuku street for teens that often has a population density of 1 million per square metre on the weekends. Well, a record may have been set unfortunately. There were false rumors on Friday that some famous tarento was in one of the myriad shops there which sent hundreds of kiddies on their Spring Vacation running. And then basically there was the Mother of All Scrums in which kids started falling dominoes. Miraculously, only 4 teens had to be taken to hospital.

Speaking of incidents, I was on the JR Sobu Line, heading from Funabashi to Shinjuku when the train got terminated at Suidobashi Station. Apparently, there was one of those jinshin jikou at Yotsuya Station. The line was forced to stop for a few hours, which usually means a jumper's guts had to be wiped off the tracks there. Just ended up having lunch at Mickey D's right across from Tokyo Dome and then walked the 10 minutes to the Toei Shinjuku Line.

Thursday March 25, 7:40 p.m.

Another one of those somewhat lackadaisical sessions with The Carolinan. She kinda had that mopey demeanor throughout. But when she greeted La Fille, she was all smiles and slightly chirpier. I guess The Carolinan and I have just known each other for so long that we've become the equivalent of an old couple...no need to put on airs. However, it's only half-working; I'm still the teacher...I think I still have to put on my game face for a student.

Well, just one more lesson with The Music Man. I'm thinking of grabbing something across the street but the weather is so miserable outside. However, hunger calls...

Thursday March 25, 4:05 p.m.

Well, this actor beside me must be wondering what he's in store for (although I think he must be admiring himself in the mirror here). Now, when one Googles "Matt Smith", there will always be the words "Doctor Who" beside his name. He's been basically typecast as the latest reincarnation of the Time Lord for about a year now, but I'm sure he's still wondering how everything is gonna go in a couple of weeks, when the entire sci-fi world will be tuning into his premiere. David Tennant must be googling his eyeballs, while he's twiddling his thumbs waiting whether or not his American sitcom, "Rex Is Not My Lawyer" will ever get the green light, as he watches all of the media hoopla surrounding his replacement's arrival. I don't ever recall the media blitz for him or Chris Eccleston ever being quite so intense. You'd think BBC has gone completely HOLLYWOOD. The trailers have become increasingly exciting with one scene of battling Spitfires in outer space harking back to the final battle scene in "Return of the Jedi".

And his new companion, Amy Pond, is getting a lot of attention and leg shown. In fact, some shrew is publicly complaining that "Doctor Who" should remain absolutely family-oriented. Uh-uh, lady....this is not your generation's "Doctor Who" and it hasn't been for years. Captain Jack's kissing both The Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler made sure of that.

In any case, I'm awaiting the first reviews, if not the first scenes. Unfortunately being here in Japan means several months of waiting.

Thursday March 25, 3:52 p.m.

Just when we old TV viewers were getting used to a world without Peter Graves, who had passed away last week, now I've just heard that Robert Culp of "I, Spy" fame has left this mortal coil. Over here, "I, Spy" never became the cult US hit that "Mission: Impossible" has been, but people could possibly remember him from his role on "The Greatest American Hero" or in his occasional villain roles on "Columbo". His partner on the show, Bill Cosby, has become the more high-profile celebrity over the decades, but there was still Culp's handsome good humour in what was a lighter spy series.

At this rate, Robert Vaughan might be getting a tad nervous. He's pretty much the only one left of all of the TV spy series stars of the 60s. Then, The Grim Reaper might start to go after the second bananas like Cosby, Landau and McCallum...and that last one has been enjoying a renaissance on "NCIS".

Thursday March 25, 3:16 p.m.

In a very long holding pattern right now. Ray left Speedy's a few hours ago since her cold was getting the worst of her. La Fille is filling in the time. Not that there is much to do...no students and the bossman is out on business and will be for the rest of the evening. In fact, The Carolinan is still 3 hours away and The Music Man is 6 hours from now. That's quite a hole in this Donut Day.

Did get confirmation that The New Yorker is back safe and sound from her trip to San Francisco last week. If only that translated into improved English ability.

Thursday March 25, 9:00 a.m.

Back in the saddle again. I'll be here for the next 13 hours, and yet I only have 2 official Speedy classes and one private. There'll be a lot of work on Farmville, Cafe World and Social City today, of course without having the boss notice too much.

It is downright wintry today. Getting home last night, the hand holding the umbrella almost fell off due to the icy winds. I actually had to dust off the longjohns and heavy winter coat to get to work today.

I received an interesting memo via Shard on some advice that profane writer David Mamet may or may not have written to the writers on the long-defunct show, "The Unit". It was a good read. Basically, any scene that has two characters talking about a third is "....a crock of s**t". Gee, I kinda wonder what he must have thought of "The West Wing".

A strange thing....I received e-mail from one of The Corner's associates, a woman who I had a small tangle with over procedure during the translation project for Japanese ceramics last summer. Basically, my relationship with The Corner ended after that. But she apparently has her own gig now, according to her e-mail address, and has asked me to proofread a ton of material over the weekend. She initially asked me to tear through 40,000 words, but I said that would be difficult and counterproposed half of that (which would still be quite an undertaking for the weekend). So, probably no weekend for me.

Wednesday March 24, 8:48 p.m.

I opened up the school this morning, and I'm gonna close it in a few minutes. Ray has gone home feeling rather miserable due to a headache and a potential cold. But the trouper that she is, she's coming in for the early shift tomorrow. I don't think I can really pull that off anymore.

001 came in for her usual 90. Barrel of laughs. She still has that major crush on Aiba-kun of Arashi. She was disappointed that one of the Arashi shows finished its run, much to her surprise and dismay, on Monday. I told her that it may be because NTV is prepping them for a prime-time series, especially since one of Fuji-TV's flagship programs "Smap x Smap" will be wrapping up 14 years next week.

Anyways, I gotta head on home so that I can come back here bright and early again.

Wednesday March 24, 5:54 p.m.

Back to the present. It's been a lousy cold day today although we have officially passed the First Day of Spring...which is why we had the national holiday on Monday. I think I even saw a flake or two fly by the window during Miss HGL's lesson.

It seems as if a few people around me have been suffering from the cold or something. HGL was feeling somewhat chilly today, and currently Ray is under the weather. Even The Milds were not feeling anywhere near 100% last night, although they were game enough to come to the class.

Well, President Obama managed to pull off that miracle. He got his Health Plan Bill passed which he signed into law yesterday. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's saved his presidency; half of the population will probably make sure of that. However, it does mean that he doesn't necessarily have a failed one.

It's been a fairly quiet day with just Grandma Fado (the bossman is off at a fair today), HGL and now 001. It should be about the same tomorrow...Grandma FON and Mr. TOEFL have canned their lessons which just leaves Miss Prissy in the morning, and then The Carolinan and The Music Man in the evening. That'll be one big Donut Day!

Wednesday March 24, 4:50 p.m.

Some hours before my date with destiny at Blue Note Tokyo, I had met up with The Lens and his wife once more in Myogadani. The neighbourhood is one of those well-to-do areas near Ikebukuro. The couple is staying with The Romantic and his wife who live there for the week. We ended up having lunch at an Italian place called La Croce just across from the station.

La Croce didn't have much in the way of pretension. It was just one of those neighbourhood restaurants that catered to the local folk. The five of us had the lunch specials with mine being on the upper right. My special came to about 1250 yen...a good bargain considering where we were. I'm basically of the opinion that outside of the source country itself, Japan has the best Italian.

Then, we took a bit of a walk deeper into Myogadani before we reached a recommended gelato place called Super Frutto. The Romantic's wife (when she wasn't sending some of her snarky comments at me....the two of us don't get along too well [I'm a retired otaku, she's an ambitious shrew]) is a big fan, and as it turned out, the gelato was a refreshing contrepoint for the heavier lunch.

Wednesday March 24, 4:35 p.m.

While Saturday night was made for listening and seeing The Manhattan Transfer, Sunday night was the time for "Sherlock Holmes". In between was the mother of all windstorms. Overnight, there were some fierce gale-force winds which beat down on the Kanto.

As for the World's Greatest Detective, the movie had come out originally in North America right on Christmas Day but only came out last Friday here in Japan. MB, The Sylph and Skippy came out to see Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. It ended up being a split decision. MB liked it but I wasn't all that impressed.

Whereas Basil Rathbone was the embodiment of deductive logic in his deerstalker cap, and Jeremy Brett was the effete Doctor Who version back on 80s BBC, Robert Downey Jr. went for a mix of Tony Stark and perhaps his dissipated character from one of his earliest films, "Less Than Zero". I don't know...the film just seemed as foggy as the stuff that rolled across that film's London. And I just got somewhat bored of it all. It just seemed narcolepsy-inducing. Strangely enough, MB and I didn't really discuss it at dinner...not much to discuss really.

Afterwards, the four of us went to another Skippy recommendation nearby in Shinjuku. Lately, the new flavor of the month has been this Korean dish called Sundubu, a piping hot bowl of kimchi, tofu and other stuff. Restaurants selling the stuff have been hitting the various city centres. We tried out this one place in the basement...pretty small place, too. My version was the spicy one...and it sure had its fair share of capsicum. But it was awfully tasty.

Skippy was able to land on her feet once more in terms of job search...well, this time, it took a little while longer at 3 months, but she's working for some medical supplies company; something that she's never tried so it was a pretty fast and hard week for her.

Wednesday March 24, 9:39 a.m.

A lot of stuff happened between Saturday and today, so I'll just segregate my entries. This one is on The Manhattan Transfer.

Yep, I finally entered the premier jazz joint in Tokyo to see one of the premier veteran jazz groups of the past century. Blue Note Tokyo is located in the appropriately swanky neighbourhood of Minami-Aoyama, the same area where I'd caught Ruiko Kurahashi back in December.

On entering Blue Note, it was kinda like entering an old-style theatre with a lot of the plush golds and browns. I went down to the basement where I gave my ticket and then got a paper disc with the number 38 denoting my place in the order of getting seated. I waited just half an hour before the count began.

When I heard my number called, the staffer led me further downstairs to the main hall where another staffer took me to my seat. He asked me nonchalantly whether I wanted to get a close-up view of the stage. I certainly did. And he escorted me to one of the tables. And that's one of the drawbacks of Blue Note that I'd heard about. The place is big but the non-reserved tables rather remind me of being in Economy Class on a plane. My image of a swanky jazz club has always been that of round tables with a certain discreet distance amongst them. However, the tables were all jammed up against each other as if we were in a cafeteria. So, I was all by myself between a couple and a group of middle-aged folk. And I had to make some yoga-like turns to face the stage, but then again, I was just 3 m away from it.

Also, came the fact that the food and beverages are pretty pricey. I would say that the food is overpriced. However, for the sake of being there, I ordered the Mas Que Nada cocktail for 1,000 yen....basically a tropical Shirley Temple. I definitely savored that drink at that price.

Then, came the Transfer. The radio-like announcer proudly introduced the group, and after being a fan for 35 years, I finally saw Tim Hauser, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel and Cheryl Bentyne in the flesh....3 metres away. At first, when they trundled up on stage, I became rather aware that they were no longer spring chickens. Alan looked like a retired hippie professor with a bit of a paunch showing on his otherwise still-lean frame, Janis had that motherly look with the glasses, Cheryl was showing a bit of wag in her arms, and Tim looked like my Dad in the Polo shirt and blazer...but then again, Tim has looked like my Dad for decades now. But when they opened their mouths, the glory days were back. It was just like listening to the CDs. They were not just old, but they were old pros.

Their raison d'etre for their current tour was to promote their latest album, "The Chick Corea Songbook", and the tunes were fine enough so that I'm thinking of buying my first original Transfer album in several years. But it was of course when they sang their hits such as "Route 66" and "Birdland" that the audience was just jumping. One fellow behind me believed that he was the secret 5th member and was just bopping and singing in the audience. Still, it was nice that the guys can still elicit this much love. It was almost eerie to see these four right in front of my eyes. They really brought the house down with "Trickle, Trickle".

The set itself was less than 90 minutes. But not too surprising considering their age and the fact that they have been pumping out 2 shows a night all over Japan at full blast.

Friday March 19, 4:44 p.m.

In this year of self-whimsiness, I decided this morning to head back to Shibamata. I say head back, since back in 1994 when I had first gotten here for my current tour of duty in Japan, I had stayed in this sleepy neighbourhood of Tokyo for about a month before moving into my apartment in Ichikawa. Since the move, I hadn't been back.

Shibamata is known for two things...one is the Taishakuten, the local temple. The other one has far more far-reaching appeal. It's also home for the legendary Japanese movie character, Tora-san from the "Otoko ga tsurai yo" series (It's Tough To Be A Man)...perhaps the longest running movie series in the world in terms of movies made if not in actual time elapsed (and yes, that includes the Bond series). The actor, Kiyoshi Atsumi, passed on nearly 15 years ago, but he's been immortalized in bronze in front of the station in his characteristic uniform of an itinerant peddler. But while he was still on this mortal coil, he managed to get out 47 films...all having the exact same plotline of him coming back home to Shibamata to his long-suffering family, then storming out after a huge fight, finding the girl of his dreams (or Madonna) somewhere in Japan, and then losing her once again. It probably had no chance to win any Japanese equivalent of an Academy Award, but for millions of Japanese of my generation and those of the previous, it was the cinematic version of comfort food.

Pretty much all of Shibamata can't help but be tied up with Tora-san. There's even a museum made in his honor, and unlike the John Lennon Museum, I was able to take shots inside. It was rather reminiscent of going to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama since there were mockups of old Shibamata of the 60s and 70s.

Thursday March 18, 7:09 p.m.

Haven't had a Donut Day in a long time...certainly since last year. Mr. TOEFL did an uncharacteristic cancellation of his lesson today, and so I only had Grandma FON this morning and only have The Music Man later tonight. Hopefully, his hay fever is much more under control than last week. Basically the big hole in between lessons has been spent alternately working on the latest translation from Cozy and having fun with the latest applications on Facebook. So, now with Farmville, I've also got to contend with Cafe Ville and Social City. Plus on Mixi, I've got the Aquarium.

I actually got word from The Lens suddenly last night that he and the missus are coming back to this side of the Pacific for about a week, so it's entirely possible that we'll be meeting up for lunch in Tokyo on Saturday several hours before I meet The Manhattan Transfer at The Blue Note.

Wednesday March 17, 11:35 a.m.

The hay fever is doing its thing. As soon as I woke up, my nose started twitching and my eyes soon followed suit. Down went the three tablets. I've got to get my next batch of masks.

Last night, it was just the juku crowd since The Beehive had the week off. The juku boss and I were talking a bit on my newest student, Mr. Nice Guy. Apparently, he'd had another English-language interview for a company, and the boss told me that he didn't even know the term, "earthquake" when the interviewer brought up the subject of the recent tremors hitting Japan. She kinda threw her head back in mock frustration, but she does have a certain point. Mr. Nice Guy is taking English so that he can get ready to take himself and his family over to Hawaii in what is amounting to be a start to a new life. However, he's going there with no guarantee whatsoever of a job...a bit of a quixotic journey that has the boss scratching her head. The guy isn't a blank slate by any means but his ability is nowhere near getting him that ace position at a company...I think he can just get away with being a better-than-average tourist. And although I think I'm a pretty decent teacher, I don't think even I can turbocharge this guy's linguistic levels within 3 months. Still, I just gotta do my best.

As for the Milds, both Milds showed up. This time, Mr. Mild was suffering from the ravages of a cold while Mrs. Mild was still in the recovery stages.

I've got Miss HGL in 15 minutes, followed by The CEO and then 001. I've got 001's belated White Day present. Should be good sessions with all of them. They're all talkers, although the challenge will be with The CEO since it's kinda hard to know what kind of material she'd like to do.

Monday March 15, 8:19 p.m.

The Ides of March indeed. And sorry to say that Peter Graves, the one and only Jim Phelps from the one and only "Mission: Impossible" has passed on. He and his brother, James Arness, aka Sheriff Matt Dillon from "Gunsmoke", provided literally decades of calm, gallant reassurance to television viewers. Jim was the ultimate spymaster while Matt was the finest lawman of the West.

I would light a torch for Mr. Phelps but I'd be afraid that a fuse may be set off.

Monday March 15, 4:53 p.m.

The cable guy never showed up yesterday. This kinda indicated to me that that notice I got in the mail last week was perhaps just a little bait for anyone who hadn't signed up to the service. Well, at least, the notice gave me incentive to clean up the place.

Had an unexpected late start to the week this morning. First off, Cozy had re-scheduled his lesson for tomorrow morning instead of today, and then Swank called me suddenly this morning, just 30 minutes before I was to leave, to say that she would have to cancel the lesson due to illness. So I had the morning to myself and to watch "Star Trek" for the fourth time on DVD. Still holds up in my estimation....but that's natural for a Trekkie like myself.

Got a call from The Cat out of the blue last night. My old friend way back from university is originally from Nagoya, got married to Paddy's buddy in Ibaraki, and now lives in Nagano. She asked me for some English phrases but her main topic was about whether I was going to Paddy's wedding party (actually a celebration of the happy couple's 10th anniversary of being together) on the 5th. Still don't know exactly where and when the party is gonna be. I did ask Skippy whether she would be my accompaniment but apparently she's secured a job starting from tomorrow so she's probably out of the loop.

Anyways, Speedy should be coming out any second so that I can take over as HGL's teacher.