Monday May 17, 6:50 p.m.

With a rare Saturday completely off and just Yashima on Sunday for lessons, I was able to get an even rarer weekend of cooking in. I decided to go with the Changuumu cookbook for my choices. "Changuumu" was a popular Korean drama imported during the still-popular Hanryu Boom (all things Korean) into Japanese pop culture; it dealt with the kitchen staff of the ancient Royal House of Korea...perhaps when it was still known as Kogyuryo. The show often presented some of these royal dishes being deliciously made. A cookbook was published under the auspices of NHK, which was responsible for its being shown here, and my old student, The OL, got me a copy a number of years ago.

There are several recipes in the book but I've only always gone for two of them: meccho and miso chige. Meccho is basically pork slices mixed into a miso mixture of sake, sugar, sesame oil, green onions, etc. while miso chige is a hot pot-like dish with beef, clams and spicy Korean miso.

As you can see, the reality was quite different from the fantasy. For the meccho, I got the pork from the juku boss who somehow procured a good amount of pork shoulder from her niece (I always get the most interesting of side benefits at the juku). The recipe called for the pork to be fried in a pan but the show had the slices grilled so I decided to go with my fish grill in the oven. Hmmm....I'm now a bit wiser about that. The pork was still very much pink in the middle, and since I really wanted to spend a weekend sans worms, I ended up using the pan anyways. Thus, I got a somewhat more charred dish...still pretty good to eat with the rice.

The miso chige underwent some rather major changes. Instead of beef, I used chicken. Instead of Korean miso, I used regular Japanese miso. And the veggies that were to go into the pot also got changed. Basically, it was more of my own hot pot than that depicted in the book. Still, I was quite happy with the results there as well.

Monday May 17, 6:34 p.m.

Ironic I'm starting this entry about one of my favourite restaurants while I'm starting to get hunger pangs.

On Friday, I met up with the Anime Chamberlain at Ginza Station's Exit A3 on a warm, sunny Spring day so that I could show him the culinary pleasures of Genkatsu just across from the Wako Clock Tower.

Genkatsu is a tonkatsu restaurant with a difference. It specializes in making its pork cutlets by slicing the pork into 25 thin slices and then putting all those slices together into one cutlet and letting the oil do the rest of its magic. The result is tonkatsu with an airier but still flavorful taste with plenty of juice to gush out in the mouth. Taking full advantage of that fact, the restaurant also stuffs the space between the layers with options of garlic, cheese, shiso leaf or sesame. It's all good to me.

The Anime Chamberlain and I both went for the most expensive item on the menu since it was a special occasion...the 2,250-yen kurobuta course. As you can see from the upper left picture, we got our usual share of shredded cabbage, miso soup and rice. The actual tonkatsu itself looked smaller but plumped up. And it still provided plenty of mouthwatering satisfaction as we downed it. The Chamberlain is usually a pretty finicky eater. During the various times that I've eaten with him in Tokyo, he has been somewhat less than whelmed with my picks of restaurants...and that even includes my fave ramen joint, Foo Foo. However, even he admitted that Genkatsu provided the best tonkatsu he's ever had. Success on two fronts. I ended up getting a point card from the restaurant...I don't know if I'll be going that much, but I figure that a lot of the other items on the menu are half the price of the kurobuta course so it shouldn't hurt me too badly if I go there once a month.

Thursday May 13, 10:45 p.m.

And another teaching day comes to an end. I finished up with The Carolinan and The Music Man tonight. The Carolinan had a couple of revelations for me: 1) she confessed that she has been doing omiai duty...omiai meaning "arranged wedding" meetings with prospective suitors, and 2) she's just dying to see the cast from "Sex and The City" when they come over either in late May or early June when the movie gets out here. It might be time to call in a favor from the Publicity Agent.

Then with the Music Man, we entered the topic of exotic food such as bee larvae. Japan has its own batch of intriguing cuisine, starting with tsukudani, grasshoppers covered in soy sauce and sugar and boiled. The Music Man told me about a small town in Sardinia in which the folks there eat maggot-ridden cheese...what a conversation piece.

Anyways, time to go home.

Wednesday May 13, 4:24 p.m.

Feeling a bit run down...going at it for 2 days straight can do that to a man in his forties.

Just came back from Shinjuku after teaching The New Yorker. Looks like she had a bit of musical excitement after she and her fellow salon mates were given free tickets by the leader of The Tower of Power at her salon to see his band's performance at Billboard Live last night at Tokyo Midtown. She'd never heard of The Tower of Power let alone seen them live but said that she enjoyed them. My attempts to educate her via the band's association with folks such as Huey Lewis & The News and David Sanborn only revealed that she was never really into the 80s. The free tickets were a good thing, too. She would've had to pay 9,000 yen a person otherwise.

Just two more lessons to go.

Thursday May 13, 11:12 a.m.

Well, got through the first two with little problem. Found out from The Patent Attorney that he'd had a number of odd jobs when he was a young man, including that of set designer for concerts. He got to see folks like Tom Jones and The Eagles for free. Plus, I also found out that he had been a Boy Scout...not that Boy Scouts and Tom Jones would have anything in common.

Then there was Grandma Dynamite. Somehow, through our free-association type of class, I was able to come up with a plan for next class in terms of the English being used at her stationery shop.

I should be heading out in the next 15 minutes since I've got The New Yorker at the Starbucks in Shinjuku.

Thursday May 13, 8:17 a.m.

Still rather chilly out there in the mornings. One would think that Tokyo was in the Southern Hemisphere rather than the Northern Hemisphere.

I'd heard that the new UK PM, David Cameron was the youngest leader of Great Britain in almost 200 years but I was still rather surprised that he and his deputy, Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, were both all of 43 years of age. A year younger than me and ruling one of the big nations.

It's one of those "hit bed for a few hours then get back to work" days. I left here last night at about 9:30 and then was out of the apartment by 6:30 since I have the Patent Attorney and Grandma Dynamite back onto the morning schedule. Just glad that both students are talkers. Then I've got The Sisters of State in the afternoon before I finish up with The Music Man.

CNN's naivete was showing in full form yesterday with its entertainment article title "Most Disturbing Movie Ever?" It was focusing on a horror flick called "The Human Centipede". Apparently, cinema is still not done with torture porn quite yet since this deals with a mad doctor who sews together three folks surgically...a reverse-engineered Siamese Triplet operation, so to speak. From what I've read on sites such as Wikipedia and even from Roger Ebert, it's relatively mild compared to stuff like "Hostel" and "Saw", although there is one rather disgusting scene that I'll leave out of this commentary. Still, I think there are far more horrible and horrifying films out there....the notorious "Guinea Pig" series of Japan comes to mind and perhaps even the French "Martyrs" and the recent "Grotesque" by a taciturn Japanese director.

Wednesday May 12, 9:39 p.m.

Well, managed to get through the day intact. Basically, it was just chat with the teacher. Grandma Enka was the first, and then The CEO, who is a natural conversationalist, just helped breeze away the 90 minutes. Then, 001 was her usual lively self. And finally, Mr. TOEFL may be a bit more button-down than the ladies but we had some thoughtful discussion on belief systems (as you do). So I'm done for the day but I'll be back in less than 12 to have another long day.

The Anime Chamberlain, who's the very last of the otaku gang to still be in Tokyo, called me up to arrange lunch on Friday. I'll be taking him out to Genkatsu, the tonkatsu place in Ginza known for its famed mille-feuille katsu.

Wednesday May 12, 2:32 p.m.

I was now in the second half of my odyssey from Asakusa to Shibuya using the Ginza Line as a guide. After getting out of Shimbashi quickly due to the loudmouthed ultra-right wingers, I ended up on the other side of the aural spectrum. Do you remember that scene in "Vanilla Sky" where Tom Cruise's character is running through a deserted Times Square? Well, I entered my own little version of that whilst walking through the next leg of Toranomon and Tameike-Sanno. Since both areas are heavily populated with office buildings, the holiday meant that the area was largely devoid of cars and people. It was like going through the concrete jungle after a neutron bomb had gone off.

However, I did come across one place of buzzing activity and that was the Free Cafe, Harimaya Station. Grandma Enka had first put me onto this cafe in the downtown area which boasts free tea and rice crackers. The only catch is that there is a showcase selling rice crackers right where the doors are so that the guilt factor can quickly impose upon one to buy something. I didn't even have the chance to feel guilty since the place was packed to the gills. Still, I will try it out sometime in the near future.

Then, I hit the ritzy entertainment district of Akasaka-Mitsuke where I came across the legendary Akasaka Prince Hotel with its jagged triangular design. All good things must come to an end, and so it will also be the same with this place since it has now been slated for demolition in about 10 months. During its peak, the Aka-Puri was Ground Zero for celebs and pols; the LDP even had unofficial headquarters on one of the floors for some time. But I gather that the shelf life has pretty much gone by. When I met Paddy there for dinner some years ago, even then when I traipsed through the lobby, I already had the impression that the place was now a faded glory...it had that archaic 80s look to it. Still, it'll be sad to see the ol' girl go.

Wednesday May 12, 1:32 p.m.

Had my monthly session with Grandma Enka. Always appreciate that she loves to talk.

Now, I'm just waiting for the remaining three students. I've got The CEO, 001 and Mr. TOEFL. Should actually get onto planning the lessons.

Pretty darn windy out there, even for Nakano-Sakaue. My work neighbourhood has always been affected by wind tunnel effect but at times, I wonder if even I could be literally swept off my feet.

Wednesday May 12, 11:15 a.m.

A bit drippy out there but it should start to dry up later this afternoon.

Met The Beehive for the first time since Golden Week. Mrs. Jade had gone on a bit of a recce through Shanghai, the site of the current expo. She brought back some interesting dried cherry tomatoes that taste like giant red raisins. Good with beer, she says. I tried them...yup, they're fine with me but the reaction was split with the students at the juku. Of course, Sugar N' Spice being teens had a completely wacky reaction with them.

In any case, it was a very long day on Tuesday since Cozy requested his lesson yesterday morning before I went and saw The Beehive. Then, of course, there were 4 hours of juku folks. Sugar N' Spice are nice kids and they like English, but I've come to the conclusion that they're not initiators by any means...they would be very content to be just spoon-fed their stuff, which means more work for me.

Some guy named Brown got his butt kicked once more and is now leaving with his head firmly between his legs. But this guy isn't Charlie but Gordon. After five days of one of the most exciting general elections in recent memory in jolly ol' England.

More later...

Monday May 10, 8:45 p.m.

Continuing on from last week's odyssey from Asakusa to Shibuya...after the relative excitement of Akihabara, the next half-hour of walking was fairly...well, pedestrian (ha-ha). Quickly scooted through Kanda and Mitsukoshi-mae before hitting the grand bridge of Nihombashi...that is, before it was overshadowed by a huge ugly expressway. Then, it was under that and straight through Kyobashi before hitting the Ginza. Since it was a national holiday last week, Ginza had its pedestrians' paradise (hokoten) so everyone was out in force on Chuo Avenue. I did see the latest addition to the grand avenue....another branch of Forever 21. There wasn't the kilo-long lineup but it certainly looked plenty crowded.

Then it was on to Shimbashi, at least the modern side of things, otherwise known as Shiodome. I went into the Shiodome City Center and up to the 42nd floor. Unfortunately, all of the restaurants had taken all the great viewing windows so I had to sneak in a couple of tight shots through the skylight. Then it was back down and I started walking over to Toranomon. Unfortunately, those pesky right-wingers and their black trucks started harassing some of the companies over toward Hibiya although the riot police kept them busy.

Saturday May 8, 12:09 p.m.

Taking a quick break from the odyssey to talk about the day at hand. Yup, Spring has finally come to stay. It's sunny and warm, though, I hope the humidity isn't anything like it was yesterday.

I have 2 lessons at Speedy's today...one of which I've already completed. The Intellectual seemed rather jittery...wasn't quite sure if he were in need of a bathroom break badly, but he managed to hold it all together until the end. And I've got The Businesswoman in less than an hour.

Yesterday was pretty wet out there...which didn't help things in terms of humidity. I had The Bass, Swank's husband and the juku. It looks like The Bow is out of the loop for the foreseeable future...at least until July, she says, since she has a temporary job for the next several weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if she were actually kissing me off, though.

Saturday May 8, 11:58 a.m.

Continuing with Part 3 of my great odyssey from Asakusa to Shibuya in 6 hours...

After I'd escaped from the right wingers and their megaphones in Ueno, I walked briskly into the Akihabara area. Naturally, Akiba can take up its own section of the trip...as the pictures will allude to.

The first picture up on the upper left (at least, the way I'm looking at it right now) is a shot I took of one of those trucks with anime designs emblazoned on the sides like a huge mural tattoo. If there's anything that could cause the ranks of waiting otaku to cry out "MOE!", it's this thing. The second picture in the centre is of a pillar by one of the big stores showing a mere fraction of the AKB 48 lineup. Unless one is a huge fan of this group of girls/women, one would need a fairly thick pamphlet to keep up with the names.

And then there is the picture right beside all this text....this is The Gundam Cafe, so named since the theme is the beloved robot anime franchise. It opened just a couple of weeks ago, but it has garnered huge lineups to get into the place. I'm sure the menu isn't the priority....watered-down coffee and mediocre sandwiches are probably the norm...the main thing is the fact that you've got tons of Gundam figures inside and perhaps even staffers who are quite moe about folks like Amuro Ray and Char.

I didn't bother waiting the 2 hours to get inside The Gundam Cafe. Instead, I did the oyaji thing and went to Sushi Zanmai up on the 8th floor of the Yodobashi Akiba electronics shop. Next to my Doner Kebab stand, Sushi Zanmai is probably the 2nd-most popular foodie emporium for me in Akiba. I filled up on my toro, anago and the like to ring up a 2,740-yen bill. Yep, over my daily budget but once in a while, it's nice to splurge.

Thursday May 6, 7:42 p.m.

The first leg of the odyssey was pretty uneventful. But when I reached Ueno, that's when things got lively. There's a bit of a subtext in my marathon walk from Asakusa to Shibuya, and that was represented by black trucks and belligerent voices. As you can see from the right picture, you can see one of those trucks with the Hinomaru flag emblazoned on the sides. I was wondering what the ultra-right wing nuts were doing out at this time of year since I usually imagined them as more of a summer phenomenon nearer to the anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII.

Then, I remembered the holiday. May 3 just happened to be National Citizen's Day, the one day of Golden Week that the ultranationalists would trumpet their cause. And trumpet they did...at megabels of volume. Screaming epithets at the bulwark-like riot police at Ueno Station, and exhorting the masses to rise up in revolution, it was pretty much a case of their bark being worse their bite. The wingnuts may have sounded like very irate yakuza...in itself a cause of some alarm...but as far as I could tell, they stayed very securely within the confines of their metal tanks. I would've stayed in Ueno a bit longer but with those guys adding to the usually ambient noise pollution, I got out of Dodge rather quickly. A pity, too, since I'd wanted to take a further look into the famed Ueno Park. However, that can wait for another day.

Thursday May 6, 7:36 p.m.

And thus, my telling of the Monday odyssey from Asakusa to Shibuya begins with the half-hour leg between Asakusa to Ueno.

The weather was good and the tourists were indeed out en masse invading the shopping streets, rickshaws and photo ops. I made my out from Asakusa at about 10 a.m. and started walking. I did good time along the way through Tawaramachi and Inaricho on the Ginza Line, the subway on which I based my walk. At Tawaramachi, I was also in the famous neighbourhood of Kappbashi, known for its sales of plastic food and kitchen goods. Unfortunately, being a national holiday, all of the stores were closed but at least the famous symbol of the area, the Niimi Chef's Head, was there to greet all who crossed his path.

Thursday May 6, 9:35 a.m.

Well, Golden Week has gone for another year. I'm paying the price for my ultra-walk between Asakusa and Shibuya on Monday....ended up with a strained back on Tuesday....which meant that I ended up not going to The Bass' gig in Otsuka. Sent him an apology letter. So, basically I was out on said back for most of Tuesday and started moving like The Hunchback on Wednesday. I'm wearing that brace The Matron gave me years ago for a similar problem.

Not too bad schedule-wise for the first day back from the first major holiday season. I just finished with The Patent Attorney...always great with him...the hour just flies by. Grandma Dynamite makes her first appearance of the year after several months away again. And then there is a huge donut of several hours before Mr. TOEFL and The Music Man come by in the evening.

Managed to catch a couple of solid flicks on cable over the past couple of days. I first saw John Sayles' "Eight Men Out" with John Cusack and John Mahoney. It was about "The Black Sox" scandal of 1919 with the A-lineup of The Chicago White Sox being accused of throwing certain games in The World Series. Nice solid movie...especially liked pre-"Frasier" Mahoney as the sympathetic coach Kid. It was also interesting seeing a freshly minted Cusack a couple of decades before he became the poster child for disaster movies as an unfairly doomed infielder.

The other flick was 1995's "Casino", another in Scorcese's crime drama masterpieces. Of course, the actors and director will dissent terribly but I think it's almost an alternate-universe version of "Goodfellas", with Joe Pesci's psychopathic role being the lynchpin. A lot of meat for the actors to chew on, especially one visceral fight scene between Sharon Stone and Robert DeNiro. Frankly, all of the main characters were psychos in one way or another.

Monday May 3, 6:27 p.m.

Well, halfway through Golden Week, and I carried out what I'd said I would do today, and that is to walk from Asakusa to Shibuya. For those not familiar with Tokyo, we're talking about 10 to 12 km. And with all of the stops for lunch and drinks and just some time to rest my weary dogs, I was able to pull it off in about 6 hours....as much as I'd expected. Luckily, the weather was fine. Unluckily, because today is known as Citizens' Day, the ultra-right wing was out in force and in their super-loud bullhorns and black trucks to basically scream abuse at the riot police in Ueno and Shimbashi and exhort the rest of the normal citizenry to rise up against the West.

I'll provide detail and photos on Thursday when I'm back at Speedy's but I'm just too doggone tired right now.

One thing I will tell you is that when I stopped off at Omotesando Hills, I did go to that exhibition by photographer Leslie Kee. His latest project, SUPER TOKYO, had him photographing 1,000 of Japan's elite in the entertainment industry...on condition that his subjects would go au naturel. The latest issue of METROPOLIS provided an article breathlessly pointing out this fact. Some of those 1,000 included singers such as the Queen of J-Pop Yuming, model/TV personality (and a target of hate by Nicole Kidman) Ririco, and even blobby comedian Shofukutei Tsurube. There was also the limited edition photo book going for 15,000 yen (!). Well, I gotta say....naked entertainment elite...Wow! However, the wow factor was a bit underwhelming, say to say. As a guy, I wasn't too thrilled to see more naked men prancing about than women (but then again, Kee is gay so I'm sure he was happier than sin). Plus there was also the fact that the 1,000 may have been elite but a lot of them were not household names at all, so frankly I did a quick pass on those. And finally, considering the hype that these folks were all taken naked, contributions by the household female names such as former aidoru Miho Nakayama, actress Narumi Yasuda and hip-hop singer AI were all just head shots. Do you really expect me to believe that these folks stripped to their birthday suits to only have their faces photographed? I'd think that the ladies would've felt a bit cheated. I certainly felt so. But then again, I think their agents probably put up crossed arms right in front of Kee's face at the thought of shooting them au naturel. And as for seeing Tsurube-san smiling and laying out like a Playgirl model....uh, too much information, guy. Basically, it was a case of sizzle over substance.

Anyways, yesterday, I went to a party held by 002 for the first time in 2 years...since our little falling-out due to Speedy's anal-ness. I'd even forgotten 002's apartment number so I couldn't buzz in...luckily, a delivery guy had the door opened so I quickly scooted in right after him. Well, it kinda felt like old times when me and 001 used to go there fairly regularly to partake in food and humourous banter. I was a bit cautious, though, but the party went off well. No awkwardness...no mention of the sour notes from before and 002 at the end told me that she and her hubby hoped that I could come back for further parties in the future. I told them that I would adjust my schedule to fit them in...which was pretty much a statement that everything was hunky-dory between us again.

Now that Golden Week will be starting to close up shop for another year...I've been thinking about my future with Speedy. For the past several months, I've been pondering about leaving the place since I'm getting just a little tired of getting home at midnight 2-3 times a week, and sometimes even having to come in some 8 hours later with less than 6 hours of sleep. I realize that the bossman really pulls his weight for us and the school, but I don't know if I can really enjoy my job this way. Plus there's the fact that Speedy and my private students are starting to compete for my shrinking availability. When that sort of thing starts, I know that I'm gonna have to think of some sort of ultimate resolution. I've been at the school now for over 6 years; I could use a change, although the loss of salary wouldn't be small. I figure that I'll come to some sort of decision by June.

Saturday May 1, 1:15 p.m.

MayDay! The day itself and not the SOS. I'm sure a lot of the Communist regimes (what few of them there are left) are having their little proletarian celebrations. I just had my final lesson before I really get into Golden Week. Miss Prissy hadn't been here in almost a month, and unfortunately, it showed in her fluency...or lack thereof. Even in her prime, she was fairly molasses-like in her delivery. Well, today, these were molasses in the dead of Winter. I almost felt like whacking her with a newspaper to speed things up. Instead, I just calmly mentioned that we would be reviewing part of the lesson next time...for speed purposes...a bit of a shot across the bow.

Now, as for the picture above. That is the Akasaka Prince Hotel. The ruffled triangular shape has made the hotel one of the most distinguishing pieces of architecture in Tokyo for decades. I first came upon it via one of my brother's photos when he had come back from his month-long trip in Japan in the early 80s. Seeing that building pretty much cemented the image of The Big Sushi as a technopolis of considerable merit. Well, that building is gonna be coming down next year. I just read yesterday in "The Japan Times" that as of April 2011, the Aka-Puri, as it is known amongst the hoi polloi, will cease operations and most likely be torn down. It's a bit of a pity because of its architectural prominence, but then this is Tokyo. Sentimentality and history haven't had much of a place here as it has in many other major cities such as London or Berlin. Economy of land is one such reason, but the other I guess is the fact that buildings have been razed either from war or natural disaster over the past century.

To be honest, I had actually met Paddy at the Akasaka Prince some years ago. And the lobby struck me as being somewhat faded in glory. Kinda like an architectural version of Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard"; she used to be something but had long been superceded by other more modern constructs. And yet, until recently, the hotel was still the power spot for the political elite...i.e. the LDP wonks...and probably the yakuza as well...which frankly turned me off the place even more.

Still, it'll be kinda weird not seeing that shape in Akasaka anymore. But then again, we all have the Tokyo Sky Tree and other new shapes to look forward in the decade to come. Tokyo is an organic city...even if stuff comes down, there will always be stuff coming up.

Friday April 30, 3:39 p.m.

Golden Week has arrived...and we've got the weather to match! Finally, weather that doesn't require an umbrella or a sweater to sport. It looks pretty promising for the rest of the holiday, too.

The traffic is certainly reflecting the holiday as well. According to NHK, about 46,000 people were on the move at airports and train stations. Compared to the 120 million who live on this archipelago, less than 50,000 folks may sound like a drop in the bucket but try saying that while looking at the footage of Narita and Haneda. And perhaps the numbers don't include the cars that were stuck on the nation's freeways. The holiday backups of 50 km were back to make the expressways the largest parking lots on the planet.

I'm doing my usual bit for GW and staying put in my little city. Showa Day yesterday had me luxuriating in a long bit of sleep...didn't get up til 11 a.m. And I just went to the supermarket to get some fixins for dinner last night. I actually have an hour worth's of classes tonight with just the juku boss and The Restauranteur. And then it's only Miss Prissy for a rare Saturday morning lesson at Speedy's. Ordinarily, I would've been rather unhappy about having to come to school for just one hour but then again, I did say that I would do some shopping over GW so I'm gonna indulge at Nakano Broadway and perhaps even head over to Shinjuku to pick up some DVDs.

I had to send out my Mother's Day card and present over this afternoon since by the time the post offices are back in operation in the latter half of next week, it'll be too late to send them in time back to The Great White North.

Skippy has sent me that word about getting together next week for Eggs N' Things, that new Hawaiian restaurant that has opened up in Harajuku.

Wednesday April 28, 10:46 p.m.

Well, it's been a day. I've taught an art student, a jazz-vocalizing CEO, a nurse with a Germanic accent, a university counselor and a mysterious music man today. Quite the potpourri of students. And now I'm off to enjoy a day off tomorrow due to Showa Day, aka Emperor Hirohito's birthday.

I will really want to luxuriate in sleeping in late and perhaps even partaking in a sinful afternoon nap.

But I have to admit that I got a real kick from my Mixi Doctor Who fan who showed me some YouTube parodies of "Doctor Who" credits done via "The Love Boat", "Dallas" and "Charlie's Angels".

Wednesday April 28, 1:24 p.m.

This is basically gonna be a truncated work week since Golden Week is now almost upon us. Tomorrow's Showa Day will start things off. Happily, the temps are now more reflective of the current season and not of the extended Winter. So I can hold off on my pun of Cold-en Week for this year.

Yesterday at the Beehive session, Mrs. London came in. As I've mentioned before, she's the one who got me introduced to The Queen Bees all those years ago. She's been in-and-out of the group over the past decade, but it seems like that she'll be having a bit more regularity in her visits since it's been decided that she'll be appearing at the end of every month, and then she even stated that she would be coming weekly from the beginning of next April. Now, that's an advance reservation.

The juku sessions were OK. Mr. White is most definitely a Koreaphile...he's been working hard on his Korean and has started watching TBS' very first addition of a Korean drama to its prime time lineup last Thursday. The show is titled "Iris" and is a spy drama which was filmed in far-flung places like Hungary, Korea and even this country's Akita Prefecture. As a result, the Korean tourists have been flocking to the northern territory. I only had the one sister...Spice, for her hour. Still did well and gabbed non-stop. As for The Milds, I found out that Mrs. Mild will once again be touring Europe without the hubby...this time, the stop will be The Czech Republic. And Mr. Nice Guy has been stumbling through his grammar gamely.

Today, I find myself with a pretty busy Wednesday. 001 won't be here but I just had a model lesson...quiet but game young university student. And I'll be having The CEO in about 90 minutes, followed by The German, and then later in the evening, The Businesswoman and The Music Man.

The local controversial starlet of these shores, Erika Sawajiri...or Lady Erika...as the media wonks have dubbed her since she started giving off major 'tude a few years ago at a press conference has been hitting the front pages of the papers way too much since she announced her intention to divorce her hubby. It just so happens that Lady Erika married a guy almost 2 decades older than her...which at her age (early twenties), pretty much made it inevitable that she would be a future ex-wife. In a country where public divorces are a dime a dozen, Lady Erika's breakup should only merit a day's worth of press, but then we are talking about Lady Erika. She (may have) mentioned that she found her husband, kimoi (gross); I think any guy in his 40s who marries someone barely out of her teens deserves the label and should've been obvious to the starlet.

Wednesday April 28, 1:11 p.m.

Next on the list of disaster-movie-in-more-ways-than-one from Saturday, MB and I had our usual DVD Night at his place. We caught "2012" which was basically a mix of "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow". It starred John Cusack who seems to have an affinity for this kind of movie. It was a purely popcorn movie without the salt and butter...no depth to it at all except for the special effects. And of course, there was the perquisite rousing scene of survivors whooping it up at the end.

The next day, I had to leave MB's a bit earlier than usual since I had that 2-hour lesson with my newest student, Yajima, over in Den'en-Chofu. He picked me up at the station and we passed once more by PM Hatoyama's house. Still only 2 cops in front of the place which means that the Prime Minister is still hard at work in Nagatacho. Although for how much longer I'm not sure with his plummeting ratings...perhaps he and the missus will be spending more time there after July. There were about 90,000 angry constituents in Okinawa amassing for a protest against the Futenma Base.

After the lesson, I went over to Harajuku and Meiji-Jingumae just to see the characters there. As it turned out, there weren't all that many. There was that flaming transvestite from last week, the neon pink-haired girl taking pictures with the foreign tourists and folks willing to give Free Hugs. The Free Huggers were making some business but the customers were basically foreign. This is pretty much the wrong country to have that sort of thing since public affection is still sorta frowned upon, but within a couple of generations, who knows?

Wednesday April 28, 10:29 a.m.

Yup, it's been one of those weekends...and weeks. Not enough time to blog until now, and I think I'm taking a bit of a risk by doing so now since I've got a model lesson from 11 a.m.

As for the above, it was indeed a hodgepodge of everything. After having my lone lesson on Saturday, I met up with the usual movie crowd...all masculine this time. MB, Frodo, The Satyr and I gritted our teeth and caught "Clash of the Titans" at Wald 9 in Shinjuku. We'd come in with the assumption that the movie was probably not gonna be anywhere near Oscar-bait. Seeing the title misspelled on our tickets as "Crash of the Titans" was a definite example of foreshadowing...and the literary technique was better used on our stubs than anywhere in the movie.

Never saw the original with Ray Harryhausen and Harry Hamlin...something about seeing a future "L.A. Law" actor in a mini-skirt that didn't attract me. The new movie was basically an excuse for otherwise excellent actors to wallow around in scriptwriting mud for....money! Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes got together for the first time since "Schindler's List" to play Zeus and Hades respectively....only to be saddled with some of the worst dialogue that a B-movie could permit. The other weird thing was that there were a few other distinguished actors in blink-and-miss-them roles that lasted all of one line and three seconds...et tu, Pete Postlewaithe and Danny Huston? I think the only good thing about "Crash of the Titans" is that it gave the four of us hours of bantering pleasure at J.S. Burger Cafe across from JR Shinjuku. Yup, that was my second weekend in a row on the Burger Tour...my doctor would have conniptions right now. No real comparison between my Bacon Cheese there and the one at The Great Burger in Omotesando...just the impression that the one at J.S. seemed to be a bit bigger.

Time is growing short before the model lesson. But I will mention about the top left picture. That was at Meiji-Jingu just across from Harajuku where the weekends mean a lot of foreigners taking shots of photogenic goth-loli and other intriguing folks of nature. In fact, the young woman above seems to be a melding of the two...more later.

Thursday April 22, 10:56 a.m.

I guess in all of the other news, I did forget to mention that I had met that newest student...who happens to be the son-in-law of MB's colleague. He picked me up at Den'en-Chofu Station on Sunday morning. He has nothing to do with the educational community; he's a salaryman who works for the Japan Travel Bureau all the way near Tokyo Station. As he was driving me over to his place, we passed by one of the many big houses in the neighbourhood (Den'en-Chofu is a ritzy suburb) and there were a couple of cops standing near the entrance. It turned out that it was the private house of none other than Prime Minister Hatoyama himself. During Diet sessions, he stays at the Official Residence in downtown Tokyo so I could imagine what it must be like when the PM goes back home. My newest student just says that there are about 5 times the number that we saw and some of that group includes the Japanese version of the Secret Service.

Not sure what I'll call the student...he looks like a tarento though, so I may call him Yajima.

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.