Tuesday June 1, 1:37 p.m.

I kinda figured that it would happen sooner or later. This morning, at the Tsudanuma Becker's inside the station, an older woman who looked like someone who would make a typical member of The Beehive took Mrs. Alp to task for speaking too loudly in the cafeteria. The lady didn't make a scene about it but she quietly but sternly made it clear to Mrs. Alp that my student should lower the volume. My chastened Queen Bees apologized quickly and the volume was lowered. The remarkable thing was that even when the lady left the cafe some minutes later, the Beehive continued to act properly. Anyone younger would've probably raised the volume and slagged the woman behind her back.

To be honest, I'm surprised that it took 3 years for someone to finally tongue-lash us since I'd always thought that The Beehive made their presence rather known in Beckers. I'd been worried that we would get warned by either staff or irritated customers...or even worse, been banished from the premises. I think that is still in the cards. I still miss not having our own private space in our old bowling alley. Well, now that that has happened, perhaps the ladies will now keep their voices down, although I am worried that the irritated woman may just be someone who just doesn't appreciate English circles.

Still, that little incident must be seen in perspective. Yukio Hatoyama must feel far worse since one of his lieutenants in his fragile coalition government has not only left but also took her party with her. And to add insult to injury, Mizuho Fukushima of the Social Democratic Party may now side with the opposition to post an non-confidence motion against the ruling Democratic Party of Japan. Not that such a motion would get anywhere near passage since the DPJ has an absolute majority in the Diet. But the message is clear, the leadership is shaky. PM Hatoyama looked absolutely stonefaced in his last press conference.

It's now June but the morning was stilly pretty chilly. Shows how odd our weather has been this first half-year. Not sure what the rest of the week will show in terms of temps. It'll be the usual guys at the juku tonight. Although Speedy is away on his annual business trip, my week isn't that much busier (knock on wood), but next Monday looks like an artery-buster schedule.

As I may have pointed out last night, the "Sex And The City" gang are here in Tokyo, and the big national premiere of the second movie is up tonight in Roppongi Hills. The Carolinan looked really excited...she's usually pretty sanguine by nature but last lesson, she looked positively ebullient. Being a superfan of the series, she said that she would pop down to the Hills after work and see if can actually catch a glimpse of the ladies. I kinda figure though that they'll be busy touring Ginza, Omotesando and Harajuku for fashion stuff.

Monday May 31, 9:09 p.m.

I've been finished for over an hour but gosh darn it, just can't seem to get away from the Internet.

I was checking my Mixi when I remembered that Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and the rest of the "Sex And The City" gang are in Tokyo tonight to get ready for the Japan premiere of the latest movie in Roppongi Hills tomorrow night. Then, I decided to let everyone know about the Sarah Jessica Parker I had first known some 30 years ago...as the gawky teen outcast, Patty Greene, in "Square Pegs", that televised paean to the 80s. Certainly puts "Glee" into perspective.

Anyways, I should get going home pretty soon. I gotta pay my bills and rent.

Monday May 31, 6:32 p.m.

A couple of celeb deaths over the weekend. One wasn't surprising...Dennis Hopper finally lost his battle with prostate cancer. Perhaps he was at the tail end of the Golden Age of Hollywood but his career spanned from "Giant" with James Dean all the way to "Speed" with Keanu Reaves. He even had time to film a Japanese commercial involving bath salts. I also remember him from a "Twilight Zone" episode in which a babyfaced Hopper portrayed a failing leader of a nascent political movement who basically sells his soul to the ghost of Adolf Hitler to become a ruthless uber-Fuhrer.

I guess the second wasn't too surprising, either. Gary Coleman of "Different Strokes" fame also passed due to some brain hemorrhage at the tender age of 42. He never really got going after his magnum opus finished up in the 80s. Just ended up getting into all sorts of trouble. He has completed the sad curse that seemed to have affected all of the show's kid characters. The guy who played Willis ended up being incarcerated for several years for some major stuff, and Dana Plato went through her own drug-inflicted hell before dying from some sort of heart attack. I think the thing that kinda puts Coleman's plight into clear perspective was a subplot from an episode of "The Simpsons" in which his animated form is seen just standing outside the house as a lonely figure.

Monday May 31, 5:39 p.m.

On Saturday night, after work at Speedy's, I had my usual ramen dinner at Foo Foo near Shinjuku Station. Instead of the usual pai ko tan tan men, I went for the chashiu men; not bad, but I think I'll stick with my spicy dependable next time.

Then, I walked deep into the wilds of Kabukicho, the racy quarter in Shinjuku to catch The Bass' band perform at a place called Crawdaddy Club. It was about the furthest into the sleaze den that I've ever gone into. The immediate surroundings around the club were occupied by all sorts of host clubs with spiky haired and inexplicably popular (at least by me) young guns waiting for their rich (and much older) patronesses. Crawdaddy Club was a basement operation; pretty small but definitely one catering to those fans of 70s prog rock...there were lots of posters of Janis Ian and Eric Clapton on the walls. I was sitting next to one amiable fellow with more hair on his scalp than on an entire subway car of middle-aged men's heads.

I ordered a Corona with the requisite lime wedge. It cost me 23oo yen(!)...most of which was for cover. And no wonder...hardly anyone drank more than the one glass of libation. It was crowded inside. I opted for a stool at the back bar. Pretty much as soon as I came in, The Bass started up the drums and the band was off for some several minutes of screechy and sonic wailing. MB and The Sylph came by a few minutes later. MB didn't mind the music but he kinda wished the volume hadn't been set at 11; he defintively eschewed the empty front seats since he actually cared to live life with working eardrums. After the set, The Bass came by to chat with us for a few minutes before we took off. In fact most of the folks took off as soon as the set was over; over here, folks don't stay to watch everyone...they just come for the guys they want to see and then they go...no wonder, the cover charge was so steep. Afterwards, the three of us just had some donuts and coffee over at the iconic Mister Donuts outlet just on the rim of Kabukicho.

The next day, I had my double with Yajima and then The Jyuppies in the west end of Tokyo. As Yajima was driving me over to his place, we did pass by PM Hatoyama's private residence. There was more security, including a small hoosegow planted firmly in front of the small gate. The Prime Minister hasn't had a good 2 weeks. He's basically lost the Futenma debate, much to Okinawa's anger and disappointment, and now he's lost his Consumer Affairs minister, Mizuho Fukushima, who has her second job as the leader of the Social Democratic Party, the junior coalition partner. Mizuho was fired by Hatoyama since she refused to go along with the much-hated US-Japan agreement concerning the moving of Futenma Base. I wonder how long it will be before Hatoyama loses his own job. I'm betting it'll be after the July Upper House elections.

After the lessons, I met up with The Bohemian in Shibuya for dinner. He's still been looking for a job all these months and he even managed to get himself kicked out of Mixi and even that group of Korean and Chinese students in Takadanobaba. According to him, it was a misunderstanding and overreaction from one of the organizers of the friendship association that got him his latest persona non grata status. But I also remember that he got kicked out of a gym, so I just wonder if he's been trying to rove around again picking up women. The izakaya we went to had a 1,000-yen all-you-can-drink option which was more than enough for The Bohemian. But I kinda found it a bit lacking in the food department, and I'm not a huge drinker. He also got into his usual obnoxious drunken repetitiveness after downing a majority of the beers so I made sure we wrapped things up by around 8.

I went over to Tower Records and ended up buying that first disc with the "Glee" kids and even the soundtrack from "De-Lovely", the Kevin Kline biopic of Cole Porter. The movie itself was only so-so but I did enjoy the contributions by folks such as Natalie Cole and Diana Krall.

My Monday started out as usual with Cozy, Swank and SIL. There were a couple of the ultra-rightwing black trucks blathering out their usual military music and propaganda coming up into Roppongi...it wasn't a national holiday so I could assume they were protesting the Prime Minister.

Since Medicine Man will be away for the next couple of weeks, my day would've ended right then and there, but since the bossman is off on his annual business trip through North America, I have to teach one of his students in about an hour.

Saturday May 29, 4:10 p.m.

After the PA's class, one of our old staffers came back to the roost with Romanian husband and baby in tow. Ray, the bossman and I were there, and even La Fille made her way here to see her old comrade. The kid was adorable but it was obvious that he was getting a bit cranky over his need to get his beauty rest.

Just did some work on Sunday's lessons...I've got Yajima and The Jyuppies tomorrow before I go and see The Bohemian for dinner in Shibuya. Tonight I'm heading out to meet up with MB and The Sylph at a Kabukicho rock club to see The Bass in performance.

Saturday May 29, 3:52 p.m.

Finished up with The PA earlier this afternoon. It had almost been a month since her last lesson with me. None worse the wear. I was able to glean some info from her concerning the arrival of the cast from "Sex and The City" next week to promote the Japan premiere of "Sex and the City 2" for The Carolinan, who's a huge fan. The ladies will have the red carpet treatment at Roppongi Hills just where TV Asahi is located. Basically if The Carolinan were hoping to see the girls by the carpet, she would be out of luck since it's restricted space. So her only hope would be to watch from one of the balconies above. Not the ideal place but my student didn't have any high hopes in the first place.

Watched some more of "Glee" so that I'm now ahead of Fox Japan in its broadcasting of the hit du jour in America. I think I'm entering that stage of culture shock in which I'm starting to discover some of the more unenjoyable parts of the show. The first part of the week was the relatively euphoric stage of discovering how fun and funny "Glee" is. And I even picked up an issue of "Entertainment Weekly" at Kinokuniya yesterday when I saw the front cover adorned by none other than wicked Sue Sylvester providing a Slushee Facial (yes, I've even started internalizing the local jargon). However, from talking with GC and reading the article from EW and Wikipedia, the downside of the program may already have started to dawn on me.

I'm starting to see more of the bitchiness amongst the female characters such as Quinn, Rachel and Santana and the doofy insensitivity with Finn, Puck and even Mr. Schue...stuff that turned me off from teen dramas in the first place. And that really horrid subplot concerning Terri's hysterical pregancy should have been....well, aborted. Knowing about what is to happen at the end of the 1st season just makes watching some of the Will/Terri scenes in mid-season all the more cringeworthy. Also, the EW article points out correctly that any runaway success will inevitably invite the tomato-throwers...and apparently, that has already started with some media-based misunderstandings and perhaps viewers criticizing the musical choices (I have to say that seeing Puck singing Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was the height of incongruity).

All this "Glee" hype is happening whilst "Heroes" quietly faded away into TV obscurity a few years after it had been the Golden Boy of must-see TV. It also had a petite cheerleader as a main plot point and a fresh take on an old genre which lasted its first season. However, afterwards, the next few seasons saw it slowly nosedive in terms of quality and interest. I wonder if "Glee" may face the same fate. Seeing happy-go-lucky teens sing and dance weekly may not have the holding power to last several seasons...even with "American Idol".

Saturday May 29, 12:46 p.m.

It's been a pretty cool and cloudy day today. Not that I'm complaining. We've got the Rainy Season and then the Hell that is Summer in this part of the country coming up. So I'm savoring all of the days that I can walk without feeling like I'm swimming through an atmosphere.

Well, made another stab at seeing what Aiba-kun's family's restaurant in Makuhari-Hongo was all about. When I went there on Wednesday, the area was deserted. However, there was a different story yesterday morning. I arrived there even earlier, only to see a fairly dense pack of women in their 30s lined up, nattering away quietly. All I could do was take a picture and head on my way to Shinjuku via the Sobu Line. I didn't make any further report on Mixi but I did notice that my initial report on the first visit has suddenly gotten got some notice from the Arashi fans. No replies...bad or good...which is how I like it.

Thursday May 27, 8:04 p.m.

Well, the Carolinan had a bit of a surprise for me today. She's had a boyfriend for the past 8 months in Guam. Apparently, he's a DEA agent there rustling up all the drug dealers.

In any case, it's almost time for me to pack up shop since I'm ready for some grub. The Godiva Chocolates that I got from The Carolinan notwithstanding.

Anyways, I'm gonna try to make another play for Keikarou tomorrow.

Thursday May 27, 6:15 p.m.

Finished with The CEO about an hour ago. Yep, she kept me on my feet. So I'm a bit piqued but I've got The New Yorker in about 15 minutes so that should help me a bit.

As for the above picture...for those who can read Japanese, the sign should obviously intimate a run-of-the-mill Chinese restaurant. However, for those who are also big fans of the Johnny's Jimusho pop band, Arashi, this place, Keikarou, should also ring 5-alarm bells. The reason being that it's also a restaurant whose owner is also the father of one of the Arashi boys himself, Masaki Aiba.

I decided to check this place out after hearing about it from various sources such as Mrs Tee of the Beehive who actually lives not too far away from the place. For one thing, Keikarou may not exactly be in my neck of the woods but I can get there via Tozai and Sobu Lines within about 40 minutes. Getting to JR Makuhari-Hongo Station at about 11:30, it was just a short walk to the restaurant according to the map that Mrs. Tee was kind enough to draw for me.

I was actually quite struck about the location of the restaurant itself. Now I'm fully aware that Keikarou existed long before Aiba-kun struck it big with Arashi, but still considering that this is a fairly pricey place, it was situated smackdab in the middle of a perfectly residential area.
As I approached the restaurant, it was beside a narrow street which would give nervous drivers pause and was completely surrounded by low-rise apartments.

The other thing I was struck by was the silence. I didn't hear any wailing Arashi fans or see any major lineups of women of all ages. The darkened windows were the big clue for me. And then I came across the calendar right by the locked door. Wednesdays were the days off for the restaurant. I wasn't too disappointed, though, since I'd had doubts that I could've gotten inside anyways due to the throngs of rabid Aiba fans.

The third thing I was struck by was several signs stuck up on the walls asking (pleading) any fans to keep the noise down in respect to the neighbours. I gather that the Arashi boom has led to several chattering women distracting the close-quarter neighbours. And yet, the area around Keikarou was as quiet as church mice when I got there.

I later looked at the website of the place...yep the prices aren't exactly bargain basement. I certainly wouldn't go there for dinner but lunch looks pretty reasonable. So I may try my luck again tomorrow before I head on out to teach Swank's husband in Shinjuku. It is open on Fridays so I may yet still see those nutty fans lining up in the vain attempt to see Masaki Aiba.

Thursday May 27, 3:04 p.m.

Back on Monday, after Swank's class, I decided to go on one of my own foodie recces and ended up in another tony neighbourhood...that of Azabu-Juban, home to chic restaurants, fancy boutiques and...Sailor Moon, apparently. I came across Frijoles in last Friday's "Japan Times" as this seemingly incongruous Mexican eatery in trendy Azabu-Juban.

Up to now, my knowledge of Tex-Mex restaurants was restricted to the local El Torito which is adorned in Mexican serapes, posters and sombreros. No such cultural stereotyping here. The design of the place is simply austere...almost as if Frijoles belonged more in Omotesando. And there was no mariachi bands playing on the speakers...strictly 70s/80s Western pop. I can say that Frijoles was trying to its best to be as far away from the typical trappings as possible.

Ordering the food was step-by-step. The counterperson walked me through it: first was to go for either the burrito or the taco, then it was to decide what kind of meat to stuff into the shell (chicken for my first time) and finally, the sauce. I will have to remember that there is a conversion needed when it comes to spiciness levels between here and America. I chose the medium sauce...it would be considered mild in the States. I'll go for hot next time.

The tacos were soft ones, so there was no chance of "tortilla dandruff" on the stainless-steel tables. They were quite good but, as "The Japan Times" reporter pointed out, the salsa was rather underpowered, but I'm sure that things will improve over time. Pricewise, Frijoles is definitely not down on the fast food side but more along the lines of family restaurant fare.

Thursday May 27, 12:58 p.m.

Well, got through 60% of the lessons today. Had The Patent Attorney, Grandma Dynamite and Miss Prissy pretty much consecutively this morning. It had been close to a month since Miss Prissy's last time here since she got that full time job at a welfare centre. Still has that molasses-like delivery but there hasn't been a whole lot of deterioration despite the long layoff from English. In a way, Prissy reminds me of the Emma Pillsbury character on "Glee"...though without the mysophobia.

I've got The CEO in a couple of hours and then The Carolinan for my last lesson. With luck, I'll be out of here by 8 tonight.

Thursday May 27, 8:04 a.m.

Yep, looks like I'm a GleeK! The hit show from the States hit these shores several weeks ago but I didn't really get into it despite the cheerful promos and "Can't Stop Believin" on Fox Japan. I had been mistrustful of modern-day musicals since the debacle that was "Cop Rock" several years ago. Musicals are an ancient genre from the early half of the 20th century said I...."Grease" and "Chicago" aside. And the fact that the characters were all in high school didn't help things any further.

So, though "Glee" was starting to pick up its fans here in Japan, I avoided it. However, due to a strange twist of fate in which The Anime Jester had given me the Season 1 DVD to pass on to GC only to have it declined by the latter since he had already gotten it, I had had the above for several days before I finally decided to put it into the player.

And before I knew it, I was hooked right from the pilot. Bright colors, archetypal though appealing characters and a mix of show tunes and 80s songs. But the humour has also been top-notch. I don't exactly feel like hitting a karaoke box to belt out my stuff but I am willing to buy the CD that's now selling at Tower Records.

However, I think "Glee" should be paying "American Idol" a commission. As I said, the show is charming and attractive like a young Judy Garland but really its ultimate success can be laid down to timing. With all that is going for it with the critics and the audience, the show probably would've been booted off into oblivion if it had been put on as recently as a decade back. "American Idol" softened the viewing public (or toughened it) to accept musical schtick, and thus came this show.

In terms of the characters, I think my favourites would come down to Finn Hudson and Sue Sylvester. Finn is just the prototypical all-American hero (although the actor is Canadian). As for Sue, every successful show and movie has a great villain. Sue is this show's Darth Vader. Playing her with a mix of a cranky Hillary Clinton and Nurse Diesel from "High Anxiety", Jane Lynch has sparked up many a scene whenever she enters it.

Saturday May 22, 1:06 p.m.

Finished with The Intellectual. Always a fine conversationalist...and he makes some of the finest speeches on the simplest topics. He doesn't have perfect structure but his speeches have a lot of heart and honesty in them. The Intellectual is one of those students that I don't really have to prep too much for (although, as a (ahem) professional, I still do) to get a good performance from him. The Businesswoman is also one of those on that list, along with The Beehive. But on the other side of things, there are certain students that I have to carefully construct a lesson plan since their level of proficiency or confidence or both are low. And also there are those whose demands and expectations are seemingly quite high. Such students include The Medicine Man and The CEO here at Speedy's, and at the juku, there is Mr. Nice Guy and Sugar N' Spice. And amongst my private students, there is The New Yorker. These students are sprinkled liberally throughout my week, so in a way, it's good to keep me from going complacent.

I asked Ray and she hasn't heard anything from The Medicine Man since his sudden cancellation on Monday. He probably now has the record for the student to cut his lesson so soon before start time. At this rate, it's possible (knock on wood) that I may end up just having Cozy and Swank this Monday with the rest of the day free. SIL is off next week and after her, it's just several hours of waiting before Medicine Man shows up in the last slot of the day.

Saturday May 22, 11:18 a.m.

Back at Speedy's for what is just one lesson. A bit of a waste, but The Intellectual is always a good student.

Yesterday was basically an unofficial start to Summer. The mercury went all the way up to 29 C; that's good sweating weather, and by the time I finally got home last night, I was funkier than James Brown. Not quite as hot and humid today but still nice out there. However, the next couple of days will see a prelude to the Rainy Season.

Had my usual round of Friday students. The Bass had a good session with me in the morning. Enjoyed the listening exercise on earthquakes. He also has a gig in Shinjuku next Saturday which I plan to attend...partially in penance for missing out on his other concert back during Golden Week. The venue is in Kabukicho...hopefully, nothing too untoward will happen to me out there.

Made a brief pit stop home and had o-bento before I hit the road again and went to teach Mr. Swank. Good guy but not exactly as high as his wife in terms of ability. Speaking of Swank herself, I'll be catching her next Monday. Hopefully, she'll be over her cold by then.

Then I got back over to Urayasu. Had my biweekly dinner over at The Restauranteur's. This time, I went for a Hamburg Steak with Mushroom Sauce. Pretty good and packed with meat; The Restauranteur was glad that I'd enjoyed the dinner since children have come to remark that the hamburgs were a bit too "tough"...apparently, the stewed burgers are in right now and they basically break apart at a single touch.

Actually bought a couple of discs at Tower Records in Shinjuku on Thursday. Quite disparate, too. One is Donald Fagen's "Kamakiriad"...his second solo album coming about 11 years after the legendary "Nightfly"; Donald seems to enjoy releasing discs about once a decade. I think his third, "Morph The Cat" just came out 4 years ago. Not a bad disc...somewhat funkier than "Nightfly".

Then, the other one is New Order's "Technique"...basically an 80s dance disc. Haven't had a chance to listen to all of the tracks yet but I definitely had a go with "Fine Time" and "Round & Round".

Thursday May 20, 8:03 a.m.

One of those late night-early morning transitions that I'm getting really tired of. And it's raining, to boot. I felt exhausted last night for some reason...it wasn't as if I'd had The Medicine Man; actually it was a good lineup of Mr. TOEFL, The Businesswoman and The Music Man. Mind you, The Businesswoman looked and spoke like she'd run a couple of marathons and lost. With the Music Man, we spoke about that maggot-ridden Sardinian cheese, Casu Marzu...yes, lovely stuff to read about during breakfast.

At least...for now, anyways...I should be finishing things astonishingly early today. I've got The Patent Attorney and Grandma Dynamite here and then The New Yorker over in Shinjuku. And that will be all she wrote. No night classes at all. And it looks like I may have a completely free Sunday since Mr. Jyuppie sent word that he has to make a sudden trip over to Manila on business.

Wednesday May 19, 8:00 p.m.

Got through Mr. TOEFL's 3rd-last lesson with us before he makes that great big leap to North Carolina next month. Quite a contrast with that other student.

I was looking forward to that grand re-appearance of Grandma FON after a couple of months away, but La Fille informed me that the lass has had to cancel her lesson tomorrow since she's still having heart problems. Not a good thing to hear especially at her advanced age, and especially she lives alone in a house.

Well, I've just got The Businesswoman and The Music Man and I'll be done for the day.

Wednesday May 19, 6:02 p.m.

Just finished with Speedy's student, The Young Turk. Nice enough fellow but pretty loosey-goosey attitude. As it was, we just barely got through 2 pages of the text. The bossman gave me his usual bemused attitude when I told him.

Mr. TOEFL will be about 10 minutes late which gives me a bit of a breather. Lackadaiscal attitudes can drain one.

Wednesday May 19, 3:28 p.m.

It was another long but interesting gig at the juku last night. First off, Mr. White and I had another one of our sidetracking talks away from the text about Korean alcohol and the like. In a way, he reminds me of The German here at Speedy's since that is what we usually do here as well.

Then it was Sugar N' Spice. Man, these kids are probably the giddiest teens I've ever taught. Always drain myself teaching those two, but in a good way. Way more fun than Chip N' Dale or The Elder/The Younger.

As for The Milds, Mrs. Mild came straight from Narita from her trip to The Czech Republic last week, and we spent the hour on her pics of the country. A lot of Middle Age architecture and palaces. Ended up getting an envelope, postcards, a pen and a coaster as souvenirs.

And finally, I had Mr. Nice Guy. He peppered me a ton of questions, as he usually does. I really appreciate that...I'd rather have a guy like that instead of someone who just seems to want to absorb stuff by osmosis insteasd.

I've yet to teach my first lesson today but that should be remedied in little over an hour from now. So I enjoyed a somewhat leisurely morning and early afternoon. Watched "Leverage" and "Lie To Me" on Fox Cable over the past 24 hours. I've become a dedicated fan of both shows. Always enjoy the two Tims (Hutton and Roth).

Ended up going to Shinjuku again and bought some patching stuff for the holes in my trousers. Being the size of guy I am, tears are just gonna be a part of my life.

Tuesday May 18, 2:34 p.m.

Definitely feeling a lot like summertime out there. It's even feeling rather stuffy in the I-Cafe. Had The Beehive this morning. Mrs. Alp will be going with her husband over to Portugal for a week starting from tomorrow, and Mrs. Mild will be returning to Japan from The Czech Republic after about a week there today...that is, if the planes haven't been grounded due to that volcano in Iceland.

I have the usual lineup at the juku tonight. It'll be another 3h45 min of classes. Fortunately, I don't have to start until the late afternoon tomorrow.

Monday May 17, 10:13 p.m.

Well, I guess it's better late than never. Medicine Man called in with just 15 minutes before his class was to begin to cancel. I think that's a record dotakyan. I don't really mind, though, since he can be rather tiring to teach and at least I could do a lot of stuff on Facebook and Mixi before going home. Friends on both sites must be wondering how much time I have on my hands, though.

Also, I still get paid since Medicine Man canned his lesson on the day of. Not a bad policy at all.

Anyways, I'm pretty much tuckered out so I'm headed home now.

Monday May 17, 8:18 p.m.

Swank called me last night to cancel today's lesson due to an illness so I found myself with several hours to kill between Cozy and SIL, so I just headed over to Akihabara once more. The main reason is that I just had to get my share of doner kebab...the seemingly de rigueur dish of Akiba. The slowly rotating vertical cylinders of reconstituted meat seem to be downright ubiquitious in the area. There's now even a corner area right in the heart of things which has three trucks, two of which serve the kebab.

I went for the chicken doner kebab this time around since I usually have either pork or beef. It was still the same price for the Big Boy...600 yen and I bought myself a Coke Zero, but with all those calories packed into the pita, I don't think even a zero-calorie soft drink would've meant much.

As it was, I think I would prefer my usual beef or pork kebab. For some reason the halal chicken just didn't do it for me. Oh, it was good but not quite as good as the other two meats. I was lucky in that the trucks provided benches for me to enjoy the lunch. The other locations for doner kebab are purely standing room. As I ate, I could see the maids still plying their trade on the street. And strangely enough, one of them managed to snag one customer. The lass led him to the cafe of choice.

I have The Medicine Man in another hour. Hopefully, he'll be just a bit more talkative tonight.

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.