Thursday March 24, 2:48 p.m.

Far better day today. Sunny and clear and not that cold. The TTC was in far better shape than it was yesterday.

I got to Sheppard Station, a good 40 minutes early so I decided to have a Cinnabon and coffee while reading The Sun. I would understand why Cinnabons never took in Tokyo...the incredible sweetness put even Krispy Kreme to shame.

The Wild Guy showed up 10 minutes late but we still had plenty of time to go to The Memphis Smokehouse. the waitress was suitably sassy and friendly. When I asked for a table for two, she just thumbed us over to the back. Being lunch, we went for the specials. We opted for the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Of course, as has been the case with everyone I've spoken to since I got back to T.O., the conversation started with the current situation in Japan. Still, the Wild Guy being The Wild Guy, his irrepressible humour kept things light. He and his family are still aiming to leave Toronto for more fruitful pastures such as Vancouver.

When I got back home, The Entrepreneur called me so we had a nice chat while he was on his way down to see a client. We will be getting together at The Dancer's place in early April for lunch, but perhaps there's a small chance that we may meet beforehand.

The latest report from Japan hasn't changed much from yesterday: slight water contamination and a stabilizing situation in Fukushima. I'll take that as hopeful news. Meanwhile over here, we're getting close to a successful passage of a non-confidence motion against the Harper government due to the DOA budget. The campaign buses are already gussied up.

The last few days back in Toronto settled me down a lot. I've only just realized the amount of stress I'd been under since the quake happened. My sister-in-law has even offered one of her notebooks as a loaner computer so that I can keep in daily contact with Japan.

10:03 p.m.

A flurry of phone activity over the last several hours. I got in touch with The Egg. His Sendai in-laws and their house are fine although food is slightly difficult to get. Then I had a fairly long chat with The Tea Lady, an old friend of mine from Japan who's emigrated here. Finally, The Anime Chamberlain, The Anime King and I had another conference call to finalize plans for a lunch trip to their vaunted rib place all the way out in Whitby. Basically, tomorrow is the only opportunity for The King since he's back at work next week and the place is inexplicably closed on weekends.

Dinner tonight at home was steak. This would make it the first time in my recorded history that I've had steak 2 nights in a row. Unless one is filthy rich in Japan, this would nearly be financially impossible there.

Friday April 29, 11:10 a.m.

Yep, today is the big day between Will and Kate (I dunno, for some reason, I always envision a sitcom whenever I write their names down). There has been some coverage on the local channels here about the biggest nuptials this year, but understandably, news on the Fukushima disaster and the continuing problems in the Tohoku area have been taking precedence. And yet, amongst all the problems that have been hitting the news wires in the first half of this year, it is nice to see for once, some good news make the rounds in the 24-hour news cycle.

However, I am reminded of 30 years ago when, as a callow and far skinnier youth, I had seen the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Strangely enough, I seem to see my British Royal Weddings in Japan. Back in 1981, I was in the middle of my graduation trip from Japanese Language School in this country when that royal wedding took place in late July. I was watching it on TV with my Osakan relatives in their tiny apartment above my uncle's stationery shop in the Namba district. Man, that was an epic pageant of color. My main memory of that was just seeing Diana's wedding dress trail; I could imagine the cleaning bill on that alone.

Of course, that Cinderella-like fantasy ceremony crashed and burned like the Hindenburg several years later. Today's wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton will probably not reach the epic heights of that wedding, but I'm pretty confident that Will and Kate will have a better chance of seeing their new relationship through.

I raise my glass of bottled water in their honor....don't quite trust the tap water just yet.

Wednesday April 27, 3:17 p.m.

In a current world of Middle East turmoil, Japanese nuclear crisis and Canadian political inanities, I guess this Friday may turn out to be a bit of a tonic for all concerned. Of course, I'm talking about the Royal Wedding between Will and Kate. Yup, the media is in overdrive about the biggest world nuptials since Charles and Diana, but when I speak on behalf of a lot of Japanese who have been traumatized by the strongest quake in 300 years, seeing this fantasy wedding thousands of kilometres away may not be too bad a thing. And it's occurring on the official first day of the Golden Week holidays here. This Friday just happens to be Green Day (no relation to the 90s band), otherwise known as Emperor Hirohito's birthday. Ironically, I don't think anyone royal from the Imperial Palace will be attending the wedding in London due to recent events. Wouldn't be prudent.

Wednesday April 27, 2:57 p.m.

Just another excerpt of my time in Toronto.

Wednesday March 23, 9:04 a.m.

We're in our 3rd full day of Spring, and yet Southern Ontario is in the midst of a bout of steady snow. I won't be going out today unless The Anime Chamberlain's plan comes through. I've yet to hear anything from either him or The King but I should be giving one of them a call.

Well, it looks like BBC had the upper hand with its report that radiation had indeed seeped into the Tokyo water supply. NHK is finally reporting the sad but unsurprising fact which I'm sure had the masses rushing to the stores to stock up on bottled water. The powers-that-be are stating that using tap water should be OK but just in case limit its use. I'm sure folks like Anderson Cooper would probably shake their heads in indignant disbelief at the seeming mealy-mouthiness of the government announcements. However, in a society which traditionally treasures harmony over stark truth, the statement comes off as perfectly fine. It just means "Try not to use it" But the warning is aimed at young families with babies. There wouldn't be any lingering effects on full-fledged adults.

As for the root of the trouble, there was black smoke emanating again from one of the reactors which precipitated another temporary evacuation of personnel. But it looks like things are stabilizing and the fact that even on NHK, this news was relegated as the third story can't be all bad.

I called up Automan. He was in Hillcrest Mall with his wife, so was a little distracted. The missus will still head to Hokkaido this weekend, but Automan has re-scheduled his trip to the Fall.

I've been watching The Food Network to keep my mind at ease.

10:09 a.m.

Just heard that Elizabeth Taylor had died this morning. I've never seen a full movie of her, so I was never a fan but her departure means that our attachment to the Golden Age of Hollywood has pretty much been lopped off.

10:19 a.m.

Just left a message with The Anime Chamberlain. I'm now hearing some embassies in Tokyo are packing up and heading West. Hmmmm.....I wonder what that might signify. I'm sure the Canadian Embassy is not among the fleeing group, otherwise CBC would've said so. And PM Harper has yet to announce any emergency evacuation for Canadian nationals in Japan.

1:57 p.m.

Looks like dinner with The King and The Chamberlain is on. Through the wonders of technology, we had a 3-way confab on the line and figured The Keg would be our venue for tonight. Haven't had real Canadian steak in several years. The Chamberlain said he'd see if Automan were available although I have my doubts.

I just got off the phone with The Dancer. We once again compared notes on the quake. And we've made tentative plans for the 9th.

11:32 p.m.

Learned...or was reminded...how the TTC could be on a regular snow day. I waited 20 minutes in the snow before three buses crawled over like a mechanical centipede. And it was a long 40-minute ride to Eglinton Station. But I was able to meet The King and The Chamberlain at Leslie Station. It was a short hop over to The Keg.

The Keg is kinda like an upscale izakaya in Tokyo. It's a slightly more expensive dinner option that can still bring in the masses, but with one exception. The Keg also comes with gregarious sitcom-friendly waiters looking for a tip. Our trio was joined by a friend whom I hadn't seen in about 25 years. Our respective parents still keep in contact with each other so I'm not sure how Mom will react.

A Keg steak is something I haven't eaten in several years so it was nice to have a steak that was thicker than a centimetre and didn't come with a pat of butter on it. When it comes to fried beef, I know where I stand....and eat. I didn't bring that much money so I had to settle for an 8 oz. sirloin but I found out that even that small but dense piece of meat suited me just fine. Age, jet lag or long years eating buttered microsteak....there must be a reason.

In any case, tomorrow I meet The Wild Guy for brunch. I'm hoping the TTC is in better shape.

Wednesday April 27, 2:37 p.m.

Looks like my holidays will be extended by another week due to Golden Week, although I don't think it'll be much in the way of golden. Travel may go down as much as 30% compared to the rates last year. And as for me, I always appreciate down time but when one hasn't made very much income in over a month, it's always a squeeze on the accounting.

I actually did see The Beehive for the first time in 6 weeks yesterday. It was never my intention but I ended up telling them that I will be pulling up stakes in Japan by the end of the year. Of course, there was sadness. And certainly, I feel bad about it since Mrs. Tulip and Mrs. London were planning to return to the fold early next year, but frankly, the past month's circumstances have changed...or corrected...my thoughts on my future.

As expected, Kirk had cancelled his lesson for tonight at Speedy's, so I probably won't see my school for at least another 10 days. La Fille called me up to say that The Shareholder has reserved a lesson for next Friday.

Newswise, the wide shows have been paying tributes to a former 70s aidoru-turned-actress, Yoshiko Tanaka. She started out as one-third of The Candies, a legendary trio of teen idols pre-dating even Pink Lady by a couple of years which had come up with pop tunes that are even remembered now such as "Haru Ichiban" and "Toshi Shita no Otoko no Ko". At that time, her cute name was "Su" but all that changed in the 80s when she decided to come back to show biz after a few years of retirement to become an actress. And basically, most people under the age of 30 only know her as a veteran thespian. However, that all ended a few days ago when Tanaka passed away at the age of 55 due to breast cancer.

Still on the topic of the late Ms. Tanaka, any preconception of the Japanese as being inscrutable goes out the window when it comes to celebrity funerals. In the West, celeb funerals are often very private affairs in which the paparazzi risk getting their heads and cameras handed back to them by angry mourners. Here, it's almost an obligation for the bereaved of a late celeb to show up in front of the cameras, microphones and breathless geino reporters to talk about their loved one's last few days and weeks on Earth. As with Japanese celeb funerals, the one for Yoshiko Tanaka had the cameras inside the funeral hall taking pictures as family members and fellow celebs tearfully gave eulogies. Another interesting observation of these funerals is that eulogists face a huge smiling picture of the dearly departed and speak to them directly. There is more drama wrenched out of these scenes than in a typical episode of a soap opera. There was even more drama than usual for Ms. Tanaka's service. A 3-minute, 18-second tape of her final words was played for all in the hall as the clearly dying actress rasped out her message of hope for all those affected in the recent earthquake.

Monday April 25, 1:26 p.m.

The flight home from Toronto to Tokyo was the usual arduous affair. And once again, Delta had us watching movies via the old-style single screen on a bulkhead. So it was the latest in the "Narnia" series, the "Harry Potter" series and a romantic flick called "How Do You Know?" with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd. This last movie was singled out as one of last year's biggest duds. Yep, it seemed like two stories with nowhere much to go with the usual romantic-comedic angst about the horror of relationships. Still, I'm not sure if it had been a Stockholm Syndrome of being captive aboard a flying tin can, but the movie wasn't too bad overall with me.

Tuesday March 22, 6:36 p.m.

Had my first official outing since coming back. The Anime King and I had lunch at one of his favorite eateries in Scarberia: China Cottage where I had a Szechuan Chicken lunch for the ridiculously low price (especially for someone who lives in Japan) of $6.25. As a Szechuan dish, it had plenty of heat but seemed a bit off-balance in the seasoning department.

On the drive up to China Cottage, the King and I talked on the current situation plaguing the Kanto and we both agreed that although events are serious, there has been too much doomsday news that hasn't been warranted. Apparently, the people fighting the fires in Fukushima have attached....finally...the power lines to the reactor cooling systems, although I'd heard the seawater had damaged at least a few of them beyond repair.

After lunch, there was a pit stop at his favorite Second Cup for some coffee and biscotti before dropping by his place for a couple of hours of listening to his anime and game soundtracks. It's become an annual tradition.

Tomorrow might be a larger outing with The Anime Court. At least the Anime Chamberlain is supposed to be planning something for dinner. And I've got lunch with The Wild Guy on Thursday. Looks like my comfort level is increasing.

The big news today? PM Harper's new budget was DOA. Therefore, there is the probability that another federal election is in the offing.

Tuesday March 22, 9:26 a.m.

I'm back. And I've been back for a little less than 48 hours now. So far, I've been decompressing in the comfort of my own home. The flight back from Tokyo would've been one of the easiest..getting processed through Narita and Pearson was an absolute breeze but Detroit was a pain. It was a combination of bad luck and incompetence with Delta Airlines (overbooking, preflight stupidity) which reminded me of the good sense not to make connections Stateside if at all possible. However, the 198,000-yen price tag on a direct Air Canada flight rendered the point financially moot. The lone flight attendant on the Detroit-Toronto run barely concealed her discouragement at having to handle a simmering group of passengers who, like the Fukushima reactors, occasionally exploded. And I distinctly saw her mouth "OMG" and turning away from our collectively dour demeanor. Obviously, she wasn't a particularly polished veteran. Still, it says something about getting away from a potential nuclear fallout disaster that I could gripe about something as mundane as the near-inevitability of a bad connection.

In previous years, my returns to Toronto were based on fun and relaxation. This time, the feeling is more of relief, escape and comfort. For me, comfort food, comfort images and comfort sounds have been paramount. I still have access to the sorrowful and frightening scenes of Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures respectively via NHK World, but aside from the one daily report that I watch more for possible strategies rather than enjoyment, I've been trying to shun anything concerning those failing reactors. Again, CNN and BBC have been displaying doomsday scenarios about the Kanto...my home for over 16 years while NHK has been trying to keep a better face on things. All media have reported on the contaminated milk and spinach but only the Western sources have mentioned about radiation seeping into Tokyo tap water. It's hard who to believe. Is CNN or BBC still overblowing the situation or is NHK or TEPCO hiding information to stress comforting harmony over harsh truth? That's part of the reason for my return. The month is long enough for me to come to a conclusion about where Japan is going. Will it be able to contain and stabilize those 6 reactors so that life, if not return to the normalcy before 2:48 p.m. on March 11, will at least be livable for that 10% of the national population? Or will the Kanto end up as Target No. 1 for dangerous nuclear fallout? The juku boss won't like it but I've created a contingency plan if the worst-case scenario does indeed come to pass.

As I said, it's all been about comfort. I've had a greater appreciation for food, friends, music and TV since I got back on Sunday night. Mom made hamburgers and miso soup for all of us, and it was mizutaki last night. I've been watching "Family Guy" and the various shows on The Food Network. I've been listening to some of my favorite CDs that I'd brought back. It's been my existential morphine.

I've started calling folks since I got back. I called up Shard, The Wild Guy and The Anime King yesterday. I'm actually meeting The King in an hour for lunch. He was actually supposed to be in Tokyo but with the new reality, he's had to cancel and so now has a week of nothing to do. However, unlike the Holidays, I've been reminded indirectly by Shard and The Wild Guy that these are un-Holiday times and that these are regular work days which mean that they couldn't offer up immediately days and times to meet. That's OK...I'm not in a joyous mood.

It says something about the comfort of Canada when the biggest news is whether the Harper government will actually survive this week.

Monday April 25, 12:01 p.m.

Well, definitely a long time since my last entry. Yup, back in Japan again...much to my parents' slight nervousness. I got back last Thursday. So far, so good, I guess. Although the situation in Fukushima is far from settled, it seems like things have gained a lot of normalcy here in Ichikawa and in Tokyo. However, power conservation has rendered things like lights and escalators in subway stations mostly dark, and the ATMs are now operational for just 11 hours a day. Also, although it looks like radiation levels in the water have apparently gone back to the negligible zone, I'm still buying bottled water for drinking, cooking and teeth-brushing purposes just to be safe.

I've had my first three students since my return from Canada. I had Yajima, The Jyuppies and Cozy, and my month-long break has helped me to get my lessons from getting lazy. It will be a slow couple of weeks, though, since we're entering Golden Week, although I can't see a lot of people in the traveling mood. Cozy informed me that this year's ohanami proceedings have been mostly a bust due to the subdued mood. Major tragedies such as earthquakes and deaths of emperors have a way of cancelling happy events such as weddings and travel plans.

I did a lot of jotting down of my time in Toronto for the past month so I'll be providing excerpts of those in blue, intermixed with the current stuff.

Sunday March 20, 12:20 p.m.

Well, here I am at Narita Airport, already just some metres away from my boarding gate, some 10 minutes before I was supposed to be showing up at the counter to check-in. There's something to be said about getting there early. Got up at the eye-blearingly time of 5 a.m. and out the door by 6:30 to get to the airport as soon as possible to avoid the much-dreaded chaos that The Dancer's family had apparently experienced when they left Japan on Friday afternoon.

However, what transpired was that I was able to get my travel insurance, my Canadian bucks and get checked-in a few hours before that 12:30 time. Not only that but I got through Immigration pretty quick as well, so I've ended up cooling my heels while I waited for the big board to finally give the gate number. Also had a McBreakfast as well. I can't complain about that situation and can only hope that the transit through Detroit will be as easy. Methinks it won't be as simple. Mom warned me that all of the kids on Spring Break are coming back home. Still, first hurdle overcome.

I've still been volleying messages with various folks such as the bossman, my brother and the like. The strange thing, though, is that I haven't heard from students such as Cozy or The Sisters of State in terms of my sudden departure for the next month. I don't think they're ticked off at me for supposedly abandoning them.

It looks like the Fukushima Incident may be starting to calm down, thankfully. If it is indeed doing so, then it would be the happiest example of bad timing to ever happen to me as I take off on my month-long exodus in Canada. Apparently, the pools of cooling water surrounding the rods have gone down in temperatures to those ranging from from a pleasant hot bath to less than body temperature. Good for all of us in Japan. And it would signal a much-hoped-for end to the worst nuclear incident since Chernobyl.

In a way, going back home can make me think for a while about my future. As once again, my bank account has been emaciated by the unfortunate culmination of tax season, self-imposed exile and a gouging price for a plane ticket, I'm coming to the conclusion that after teaching English for close to a quarter-century, I'm nowhere making any money that would even get me into the middle class. I'm gonna have to think hard about where and how I want to go. Still, it'll be nice to see the gang again back in Toronto. And I get to see the first day of Spring.

Saturday March 19, 11:09 a.m.

If this were a normal time, I would be taking The Dancer and her family to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. However, this is obviously not a normal time and I assume that my friends have returned to Toronto safely. Things are still stable in this neck of the woods; though there is a small amount of tension, people in my neighbourhood are taking things in stride. And Chiba has only recorded a mere fraction of a microsievert...probably as much as or even less than someone gets from a long call on a cellphone.

I've done my checking about on the Net in preparation for the trip home. For example, seeing if my bank's Shibuya branch has its money exchange counter open. I didn't see any indication of it so I'll keep myself at home and take my chances at Narita. If worse comes to worse, I can always convert my yen back in Toronto.

I finally experienced my first rolling blackout since the regimen was first started at the beginning of the week. I was just watching TV when suddenly the dark just plummeted in. Even my LED indicator lights on my appliances were gone. It wasn't exactly pitch black but it was about as dark as I'd ever seen my living room. So, I ended up just listening to a couple of CDs on my Discman...it was actually quite a relaxing experience listening to The Manhattan Transfer and Misia. And strangely enough, the lights came back on after only an hour and 45 minutes of darkness (supposedly we were off for 3 hours each time). But I just turned everything off again and enjoyed the rest of one of Japan's finest songstresses. Light can indeed be forged from the dark.

Friday March 18, 12:31 p.m.

With the plane ticket purchase, the preparations for the exodus home have begun in earnest. I had my mail stopped for 30 days and have informed everybody (students, family, friends) about my plans. My mother was quite surprised at how quickly I was able to procure my ticket but my sister-in-law asked me whether there was any way I could get home earlier since she had some things in the news....and that's when I stopped her right there and told her that the US media has been going a little over the top with Fukushima. At this point, things seem to be stable...a situation that I hope will continue for at least another couple of days.

I also received a phone from The Dancer. It's ironic that this lone call would be our only contact between us this trip. But we were both remarking about the fact that folks back on the other side of the Pacific have been going into panic mode due to the somewhat overzealous media coverage. Over here, we've been keeping our eyes and ears on the screens but noone has made a run for the border although students like Mr. Swank and Mr. Jyuppie have sent their families into the Kansai region for safety.

Which is why I found my phone call with the juku boss a bit sad although not all that surprising. She asked me in her plaintive voice to not even consider but to just call up my real estate agency to cancel her guarantorship of my apartment. Of course, I can see from her point of view that if I could not return to my apartment after a month due to a massive nuclear disaster in the Kanto, then she would have to pick up the tab for my supposed desertion. But I don't think things have become nowhere near that bad. Basically, my response to her was that I heard what she said but I have no intention of canceling my guarantorship since frankly that would void my lease. I'll see how things look from Toronto before I make any moves. And if things really get that bad, I figure that the agency personnel will not be worrying about the guarantor and resident of one dilapidated apartment in Ichikawa at that stage....they will be fleeing to Osaka by that point.

For a little bit, though, I was also slightly spooked when I heard the news of transit visas through the States. To have paid so much money only to be turned back. But although my travel agent asked me about my re-entry permit (no problems there), she didn't ask me about transit visas. I asked both Speedy and The Dancer about them, but they told me that most Canadians fall under the special waiver programme between Canada and the US. And then I finally checked the official US governement site. Yep, unless I'm a Canadian going on a government assignment Stateside I don't have to worry about it. But of course the States aren't taking any chances...they're not only fingerprinting and eyeprinting now (no problems with me since we get that at Narita) but they're now pulling out the Geiger counters. Still, it's understandable.

I'm keeping my two fingers crossed for the next couple of days. I plan to head on down to Shibuya tomorrow to get my money converted into Canadian since I figure that it'll be totally nuts at Narita....or perhaps everyone will have left the country by that time.

Thursday March 17, 6:02 p.m.

Well, I pulled the trigger. I shucked out the yen and I will be going home via Delta Airlines on Sunday for the Great White North and T.O. The staff here at Speedy's could overhear me talking with the travel agent, but they took the news very calmly. I will be getting the bossman up to speed on the students within the school, and I've informed my private students about my decision. I tried to call up the juku boss but couldn't get through so I sent some e-mail to her. I am considering dropping in on her tomorrow after I finish my lone class at Speedy's and perhaps even having one last dinner at The Restauranteur's but I'll see once I've gouged out my bank account. In any case, I'm not going home too happily. I kinda feel like Captain Sisko abandoning Deep Space Nine in one of the later episodes. But I guess I can also quote General Douglas MacArthur and say "I will return".

I just looked at the TV coverage after my lesson with The Shareholder and didn't see anything that encouraged me. It didn't look like things were deteriorating but neither were they improving. And I'm not about to take any risks and find out which way the wind will blow, figuratively or literally. I'm not alone either. A lot of the foreign nationals have decided to skip town, especially the French. France even sent an entire fleet of Air France planes to pick everyone up. Locally, La Fille is even considering going back to Kagoshima to wait out the crisis.

In a way, when I return it'll feel like I'm starting things over. Small bank account, different country and maybe different students. I just hope that my 1-month moratorium will be enough to see some good come back to my adopted land.

Thursday March 17, 1:02 p.m.

Well, so far I've been hearing that there may have been some progress with the water-bearing choppers. But Canada has apparently urged for an 80-km exclusion zone around the reactors, instead of the 20-km zone currently in force by the Japanese government. To give you a point of reference, Tokyo is 270 km away from Fukushima. And there is still a chance of meltdown. So my decision has still not been made.

I had contacted Yajima about the situation and he has responded and given me his good wishes. It'll be another couple of hours but I will come to sort of decision shortly after I see some TV.

The worldwide media has been glorifying the Japanese on the stoicism and grace with which they have handled the triple whammy of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. No riots, no looting. The Americans have been known as the can-do society but the Japanese can be called the make-do society. I've known about this facility of the Japanese to adapt to trying conditions but I have to admit that I'm even amazed at how well everyone in the country has been adapting to the new reality. Still, I think there are going to be several thousand people in the north who will need some counselling over the months and years.

Thursday March 17, 10:23 a.m.

One can be forgiven in this country for the fact that today is St. Patrick's Day, even though the holiday has become a favorite amongst the foreign population and even some of the Japanese here. A week ago, a lot of folks would have wondering which pub to hit in Tokyo, Dubliners or Paddy Foley's. Well, now, a lot of people are just hoping that St. Patrick and a whole lot of other saints (George, James, etc.) will smile on all of us in this country considering the current circumstances.

After the record-setting M9.0 earthquake and a massive tsunami, now we're all facing a possible nuclear disaster. Some of the reactors at Fukushima Dai-Ichi are still literally too hot to handle, although I have seen, with some relief, that the choppers have resumed water bombing.

The next few hours will be critical ones for me since not only is it St. Patrick's Day for a lot of those who are into the Green, but it is D-Day for me personally. D as in Decision...do I stay put or do I pack up and go (temporarily) back to the Great White North? The past 24 hours have seen me furiously typing away on Facebook and e-mail to friends and family, talking with Mom and my sister-in-law on the phone, keeping a cold rational eye on the proceedings in Fukushima and Nagatacho, and preparing myself for flight. I'm basically looking at 2:30 today as the time of decision. The Dancer's husband has made his decision...he and the family will be staying at the Keio Plaza Hotel tonight and then head on off for home tomorrow. The Anime Court will most likely either be staying put in Toronto or fleeing to places other than Japan. The Dancer told me that the next available Air Canada flight back to the ol' hometown is Sunday the 20th apparently. Not gonna panic since, at this point, we're still far from any major dramatic movements.

Basically, I have three options about my immediate future....one is the most ideal and one is the likeliest path. The most ideal is that the chopper water bombing actually bears fruit and that I can stay home but the most likeliest is that I will have to somehow scrounge up a ticket (probably at inflated prices...capitalism is far from dead in the airline industry) and head on out within the next few days. Option 3 is the worst-case scenario...I grab the nearest Bullet Train and flee to Osaka.

So far, the Canadian Embassy hasn't called the Red Alert...which is actually good news for me, since if Harper's Bazaar actually calls for a Canuck evac, I can guarantee there will be mayhem, even more so than now. I hear Narita has become an Ellis Island of sorts at this time.

Via Facebook, I have had my heart warmed by the fact that some of my old friends from Toronto who now live in various parts of Asia have offered me some hospitality via Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. I'm keeping all of my options open, although Mom really wants me back home...as most Moms would.

As for Speedy, he took my news pretty well. Basically, he has a mix of the "Aw, shucks" and sho ga nai (can't be helped) attitude. It's actually the juku boss I'm a bit worried about at the moment. She sent a terse reply to my mass e-mail of yesterday stating that she would prefer me to be here and that I should call her. Well, I will...when I've made my decision.

I also got word from fellow Canadian, The Satyr. He's been lucky in that his parents have arranged flights for him for either home or England. I'm not sure what my parents can do for me, not that I'm ungrateful, but they're not exactly the most connected of people, if you know what I mean. The Dancer's father is a very go-go type and I'm sure The Satyr's parents will get on the blower to do everything they can. My parentals are very middle-class Japanese in that they will exhort their son to get back home but beyond that there's very little they can do. It's really up to me.

Wednesday March 16, 2:24 p.m.

I've managed to calm down to a certain extent after that flurry of e-mails back home about my possible departure. I'll have to keep my eye on the TV, though. I have yet to receive any response from my private students, though. I did get a response from the Dancer's husband and they are also weighing options.

As for my day today, I wasted a trip down to Tameike-Sanno early this morning for that student whom I'd thought wouldn't be interested in my lessons. He'd decided to try me out and had scheduled a lesson for this morning at 11. I then found out after waiting a few hours at Starbucks by the Akasaka Twin Towers that he had left a message on my machine after leaving an e-mail message yesterday that he couldn't get into town today. I had told him that I couldn't access my e-mail yesterday...sigh.

So for the first time in my time here, I had 4 entire lessons wiped out in one day.

In what has become the sign of the times, I actually bought a bento at the local Lawsons inside Tameike-Sanno Station before getting on the train back home. I have never brought home an instant lunch from a conbini for more than 5 minutes, but I got this sucker home in about 40. I knew that getting a bento in my neck of the woods would be close to impossible these days; but I may be lucky in getting a salad and some milk today.

Wednesday March 16, 1:12 p.m.

Well, just had another rather large aftershock roll through Chiba via the I-Cafe. But the big Red Alert strobing in my head is the Fukushima Nuclear Plant situation. Actually, it's starting to look more and more like the re-enactment of "The China Syndrome" with Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda. Possible meltdowns from at least 2 of the 6 reactors and one from a CNN commentator are not impressing me. And believe me, I've been less than impressed with the government or TEPCO in their somewhat mealy-mouthed press conferences.

Then when I checked the e-mail, I got a small flood of messages from my brother all the way to The Anime Chamberlain openly wondering whether I should come home to Toronto. I'm now considering my options seriously; so much so that I have even sent my private students, Speedy and the juku boss a mass mailing about possibly running for the border. I can imagine the response I will get from Speedy about this.

Of course, leaving the city I've called home for over 16 years...even under these trying times...isn't easy for me. But I'm a pragmatist and I really don't want to be dosed with the equivalent of 100 X-ray treatments. At this time, the Canadian government hasn't sent the word for we Canucks to get out of Dodge...yet, so perhaps getting that Air Canada ticket won't be too much of a problem. But I've got my passport on me as well as a change of clothes in the bag that I usually reserve for textbooks. And I'm just about ready to withdraw a good chunk of my dwindling bank account just in case things go pear-shaped. As an alternative, I may bite the bullet and grab a Bullet to Osaka and get the plane from there.

Strangely enough, I've got friends who are visiting Japan: The Dancer and her family are in Okinawa, scheduled to return to Tokyo on Friday. The Anime Chamberlain and The Anime King are somewhere in Asia, and The Iconoclast and Automan are planning to come over in April. All these people are now weighing their options deeply.

In any case, this may go down as one of the biggest moments in my life.

Strangely enough, this is the 3rd day in a row that my neighbourhood has managed to escape a rolling blackout.

Monday March 14, 1:25 p.m.

I guess there's another "reassuring" thing that denotes some form of normality in the first post-quake weekday: Speedy and Ms. Efficiency bickering about some sort of formality. I almost regret that she'll be leaving in a couple of weeks.

Today is White Day, although I can't see how I would feel like sending chocolates right now. I'm not planning to leave my home tomorrow. The juku boss actually cancelled all classes probably for all this week. She called me up last night to say that she's got family coming in since apparently their facilities are all shut down.

Various folks back home including my sister-in-law have been keeping up a dialogue over the Net thankfully. Automan has said that he and his wife are planning to come over next month, although for obvious reasons, things may change...like a glowing fireball from Fukushima. The Anime Chamberlain and Anime King are still coming this way along with their old compatriot, The Iconoclast. And The Dancer and her family are apparently doing OK despite having felt their very first real tremor.

The Artist should be arriving in another half hour. At this point, it seems like things on the outskirts in terms of commuting are fairly orderly if crowded.

Monday March 14, 11:37 a.m.

As for my new Monday...Tozai Line commuters were repeatedly breaking laws of spatial physics, so much so that I decided to get off one station before my usual get-off point. This was Minami-Sunamachi Station before Toyocho Station where Cozy works. One of the things about life on Tokyo subways during rush hour is that one has to go with the flow (literally) if one is to survive. Normally, I avoid rush hour like the plague but in the new reality after the most horrendous earthquake in Japanese history, I will get used to it. And in a somewhat bizarre way, I welcomed the sardine-like conditions since it was a bit of normalcy to what is, at least for the time being, a very abnormal time. Now, the subway opens to the left from my station up until Minami-Sunamachi where doors open on the right. Considering the crushed conditions, there was no way I was physically going to be able to get out in time even if I called "Orimasu!" (Getting off here!)which is what subway etiquette dictates. So I decided to get off at that station and get a bit of exercise since I got into town a full hour before Cozy's lesson.

And actually, it was the first time that I had ever gotten off at Minami-Sunamachi. As the picture shows, it's just a community of danchi apartment blocks all over. I started my first bout of conbini scavenging and searched for batteries since I figured I would need some for my portable radio and the Discman. I was able to find Type 4s for the radio at the first 7-11 I came across and then bought some Type 3s at the next one. In between, I was actually stopped by a cop from the neighbourhood koban. In a O. Henryesque twist, he actually asked me questions. They were about the commuting situation on the subway. I told him that things were basically filled to the brim underground.

The exercise did me good and I actually even had time to have some coffee at the shop near Cozy's office. Of course, Cozy and I started our talk on the events of Friday. Cozy and his wife are actually gonna be moving apartments tomorrow. He's dreading the situation of another major aftershock hitting Tokyo during the move.

Things were still pretty crazy on the Tozai although the drain unplugged by the time we reached Otemachi Station. It was looking downright normal by the time I reached my transfer station of Iidabashi. I was waiting a bit longer than usual for the Oedo train since the sign said that there would be a 6-7 minute wait between trains...a bit longer than the usual morning rush. But I got into Speedys with plenty of time since The Artist won't be coming in until 2 p.m. today. And I got word from Mr. Swank via the bossman that he has cancelled his lesson today. I had been fully expecting that since he's the big guy for one of the nation's companies producing sea barrier tetrapods. He will be busy for the next several days, I imagine.

So it'll be a light day for me. Cozy, The Artist and then Kirk to wrap up tonight. I heard beforehand from the bossman that Miss Genki will be busy with the year-end financial stuff at her company...and probably other matters as well.

As for me, I'm still concerned about those faulty nuclear plants and that supposed major aftershock.

Ah, the McDonalds picture? That is the branch that I usually go to by Toyocho Station. Luckily, I woke up early enough to have a proper breakfast at home. As you can see, there's quite a line for those Sausage McMuffins. And even passing by the supermarket on the walk over to Speedy's, there was a mass of shoppers waiting to get in and hoard up on stuff. Get used to the new consumer reality!

Monday March 14, 11:25 a.m.

The sun rises again on Ichikawa in my neighbourhood at the ripe time of 6 a.m. in the morning. Considering the past 72 hours, I think all of us in the Kanto can be grateful that at least we've got a decent Monday going up to 18 C.

However, the trains are operating at much lower frequency due to the government order for all of us to conserve energy. And this showed in today's rush hour...which was truly a crowded one. The shot to the right was at Minami Sunamachi Station on the platform on the Tozai Line. This was at 7 a.m. and it



was packed to the gills. Normally, this would be the case at the peak of rush hour at 8 a.m. but we commute to the beat of a different drum for the time being.

Not only are we conserving energy but the government pulled the unprecedented feat of formulating and executing new policy in less than 12 hours. Rolling blackouts have been instituted all over the Kanto and Tohoku areas starting this morning. In the Kanto, we've been divided into 5 areas of which Ichikawa belongs to Group 2. We were supposed to be undergoing our blackout...twice...from 9:20 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then again from 6:20 p.m. to 10 p.m. But I heard from Cozy (yes, duty still calls) that the blackouts have been cancelled for the time being. Still keeping my eyes and ears open, though.

Sunday March 13, 2:35 p.m.

This was the sight that greeted me when I finally got home after my 5-hour odyssey commuting post-quake. I had been expecting that there would be a mess, and sure enough, there were CDs, a useless computer monitor on the tatami. Also, my DVD player and my microwave were also down. But surprisingly not out. Despite the fact that my oven fell all the way from the top of the fridge, it was still working as usual.

It took an hour to clean the whole mess up but I wasn't exactly sleepy since I was rather rapt at the around-the-clock coverage. As Piers Morgan said, it was indeed the Worst Quake. For past major quakes, the Japanese would label them as Dai-shinsai or Great Quakes. This was the first time that I'd ever seen "Kyodai-shinsai" or Super-Great Quake.

The past couple of days have been interesting to say the least. Even though the Tohoku area up north has basically been destroyed, even Tokyo and Chiba have been affected. Yesterday, I found out that my gas was offline (and probably will be for a couple of weeks according to the gas company), and now my water is now gone, too. Luckily, I filled up my tub with water...of the brown variety. Not sure when that will be back. There has been a run on food and daily supplies at the supermarkets and convenience stores. I bought some mineral water and may even try some oolong tea sponge baths when I get home.

My relatives in Osaka have contacted me to make sure I was OK. And I was able to reach my worried mother and sister-in-law. Of course, they nagged me about making sure I had enough money and my passport ready to take off.

It's been taihen definitely. We've had the Mother of All Quakes, then a gigantic tsunami and now we may even be facing a nuclear meltdown at the two Fukushima power plants. It's playing out like an Irwin Allen triple feature. Even the Tokyo Canadian Embassy has sent out a warning about avoiding non-essential travel to the surrounding prefectures including my Chiba. Ouch.

Sunday March 13, 2:18 p.m.

Yup, these scenes just brush the surface of what Friday March 11 was like. This was the day of The Big One (probably)...the day of the Gigantic Tohoku-Kanto Earthquake, the largest temblor to have ever hit Japan in its history.

The picture to your right is a smashed glass pane at the front of the Maynds Building in Shinjuku near the station. I often teach The New Yorker at the Starbucks there. Luckily for us, that pane seems to have been the only casualty in that part of the neighborhood.

To the left were the escapees from the skyscrapers just behind The Maynds Building. Of course, they all had their cellphones out taking pictures and gawking understandably at seeing the huge structures swaying like palm trees.

The very top picture was at Shinjuku Station at about 8 p.m. Unsurprisingly, hundreds of people were all lined up like centipedes waiting for buses and the streets themselves were filled to brimming with commuters who had decided to trek it home on foot.

It was a 5-hour odyssey to get back to Ichikawa from Shinjuku, in itself a minor miracle considering that the trains and subways were offline. I walked from Speedy's in Nakano-Sakaue all the way to Shinjuku Nishi-Guchi Station on the Toei Oedo Line under JR Shinjuku and had to walk against the massive flow of commuters heading away from downtown. I ended up waiting at Nishi-Guchi for about an hour before hearing that the Oedo Line was back in operation. But then I hit a brick wall in the form of the Tozai Line, my home line, which was still down. I waited at Iidabashi Station for over an hour to no avail...watching commuters asking and even chatting with the station officials. although there was one irate moron berating one of the younger station staffers.

I ended up taking Oedo Line again over to Monzen-Nakacho Station since at least that would take me a bit more east and therefore closer to home. Plus, Monzen-Nakacho is also on the Tozai, but didn't really have any hope that the train would be back online and sure enough, it wasn't. The Oedo Line was packed to the gills...probably 200% capacity but managed to survive while some junior high school girls nonchalantly exchanged that they go through sardine-like conditions on a daily basis during their commutes.

Once I got out on street level at Monzen-Nakacho, I had been hoping that I could somehow catch a taxi back home, but the streets were jam-packed with cars. So, I had resigned myself to a long walk home but then when I reached the next station, Kiba, I overheard one of the police officers standing by the entrance that the Tozai line had finally come back online. I cheated commuter hell.

Friday March 11, 4:50 p.m.

Well, this will be one Friday I'll remember. I was sipping my latte in the Shinjuku Starbucks when I started getting that now-familiar feeling of a temblor underneath my feet. Ach, I said. Probably a Shindo 2 or 3. Then, things started going cinematic. The decorative lights started swinging like pendula and the glasses started tinkling and with growing intensity. And I was moving...without intending to. And then I did something I thought I had never done in one of these quakes....me and the rest of the Starbucks clan got out of Dodge (or the Maynds Building) as soon as possible. And then I saw something I thought I would never see...whole buildings were swinging to and fro....and I'm just standing in an area that probably has the highest density of skyscrapers in the entire city. Nice knowing me.

Still, I'm here, I got my latte and I was able to teach The New Yorker although the two of us did have to vacate the premises for 15 minutes when a Shindo 4 aftershock rumbled through. Transportation lines are down all over the city so I'm not even sure I'll be able to make it to Urayasu for the juku lessons tonight. In any case, I think my reunion with The Journo is now gone since he had once told me that if there were a huge quake, standard operating procedure at all media outlets is to report for assignment at headquarters. Since he is working for NTV, that would be Shiodome. There are dozens of people camped outside of the Shinjuku Kinko's where I'm typing this right now, and I've got a feeling that I'll be here for quite a while longer.

Apparently, the cellphone networks are down which means I've been seeing another first in a long time...lineups for public phones. Not sure how I'm gonna contact the juku boss.

Mixi and Facebook have been busy with Twitter-like postings from various folks such as Miss Viva and Shrek.

Anyways, more on this later. I'm gonna reconnoiter.

Thursday March 10, 9:35 p.m.

Finished for the day. Just waiting for La Fille to finish her stuff up since I'm supposed to be locking up tonight. I guess the bossman's missus would prefer to stay inside her room. Like the ideal boss' wife, she was kind enough to bring us some Japanese confections known as dorayaki for us to nosh on before we take off for home.

Heard from The Carolinan tonight that her sister, The New Yorker, doesn't seem to be enjoying Hong Kong too much. I'm supposed to be seeing her tomorrow for her lesson so I guess I'll get the full story then.

Mrs. Thursday was jovial as ever. However, her Hina Matsuri dinner didn't suit her too well. Apparently, the majority of the 10 dishes at the Chinese restaurant were far too spicy for her liking.

Well, I was able to get my taxes filled out for delivery tomorrow and even get stuff done for The Journo and The Restauranteur at the juku. Not too shabby.

Thursday March 10, 6:15 p.m.

Had my regular dinner of karaage bento (fried chicken box lunch) and something called Honey Milk Tea courtesy of Lipton. There was also a Union Jack on the carton....I guess there's something about Honey Milk which brings about memories of Great Britain.

Thursday March 10, 5:21 p.m.

I haven't gotten one of these in a while....pretty much an empty afternoon between lessons. I had been thinking about going over to Shinjuku to pick up another Krispy Kreme dozen for the staff here, but decided to forego it, especially since I don't have that much money on hand and I don't really want to hit the bank again for another re-supply. I'd been thinking that it might be nice to get a box as an expression of White Day but came to the conclusion that it would all be an exercise in gladhanding...at least for now since I'll probably pick a box up next week just after the artificial holiday.

I basically spent most of the afternoon on Internet surfing. Took a look at the Futurama Wiki for a short bit. I've finished off Season 3 although I still have a few more commentaries to go. I've always enjoyed the chat amongst the crew there.

Apparently, I've gotten the word from Amazon that my Volume 4 of "SCTV" is ready to go. But I'm still waiting for the pay ID. However, they had told me earlier that the SCTV biography book is now of print. Looks like I'll have to wait for my next trip to Toronto to search for that. But that coffeetable book of Second City seems to be just hanging around at the Shibuya branch of Tower Records. I may just grab that.

Anyways, time to get some dinner before The Carolinan comes over in an hour.

Thursday March 10, 2:41 p.m.



Finished up with The Shareholder. Nice enough guy but he's just not the most talkative fellow by his own admission. Taciturn would be the perfect adjective for him. Well, at least I got him into the chapter where I excel...The Future. I introduced the concepts of utopia and dystopia, and tried to use various sci-fi movies as examples. He may not seem all that eager about it, but I will enjoy myself...at the very least, to keep myself from nodding off.

As you can see from the picture on your right, those are chocolates. And March 14th is White Day...the second commercial excuse in a month for folks to give the sweet stuff. Over here, Valentine's Day is for the women to give stuff to men while next Monday is the other way around. And both came most likely from the enterprising minds at Fujiya, the country's most famous confectioners with the ever-smiling Peko-chan. In any case, men everywhere are now hitting various chocolatiers like ants on sugar this week so that they can give their loves or fellow sapphic workmates another step toward diabetes. That would include me. I've already given the first package to Mrs. Prissy...basically, I'm returning favors to those ladies who have already given me chocolates. Today is my package to The Carolinan...a box of 9 pieces of chocolate from Morozoff. Then her sister gets her package tomorrow in Shinjuku. After that, I've got 8 more women to satisfy....in terms of chocolate.

Thursday March 10, 1:05 p.m.

An early Thursday as usual, since The Patent Attorney had his lesson today. But although it's a long day, it's not too intense. I just have four lessons with The Shareholder, The Carolinan and Mrs. Thursday yet to come. Some nice gaps in between. I managed to fill out the official tax return to hand in...along with my cash tomorrow morning at Ichikawa Tax Office out in the boonies.

Mind you, for about an hour, Ms. Efficiency and I found ourselves without any power due to a blown fuse. The bossman was busy for about two teaching a student. We searched for the breaker switches to no avail; we were later to find out that they were located in the private residential area so there was no way to access them. No big problems, though. The two of us had some quiet time reading books.

Yesterday's quake which gently jostled The Artist and me during our lesson was actually quite powerful up in the Tohoku region. It reached a 5 minus on the Shindo scale or about M7.2. In any case, anything that gets into 5 automatically has NHK and every reporter in the country on standby alert, according to The Journo. Things went to Shindo 3 here in the Kanto although I thought things were somewhat gentler. I guess I've really gotten used to tremors.

The Dancer and her family are en route to this country since The Dancer and her troupe are performing once more somewhere here. However, I won't see them probably until the 19th when they actually arrive in Tokyo. I have to figure out the easiest route to The Ramen Museum from the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku where they will be staying.

MB tried to invite me over to this place for a Friday session of DVDs since The Satyr is apparently going over then, but of course, I've got my three students at the juku. But The Bohemian was more successful since he asked about my situation on Saturday. I'll be meeting him at the usual spot in Shibuya.

I checked Mixi again to see if The Loon had given her latest rants on anything. It was all pretty quiet on that front.

Wednesday March 9, 1:04 p.m.

Well, I've made it past entry 3,800. Another 200 to go and maybe I can get upgraded to Business Class.

I have confirmed that my latest Mixi friend is a bit of a loon. This was the woman who asked to be my friend and then started haranguing me about providing a PROPER profile page and correcting my Japanese writing...not that I resent the last part...I can always use critiquing when it comes to my written languague skills. However, her method strikes me as being very Lucy Van Pelt on acid. On Monday, I put up an update on Mixi for which she corrected me my use of kanji. I acknowledged it and half-expected that she would correct me on my acknowledgement. It's been 2 days since I had last logged on, and in the interim she put up five separate rambling updates (this is open to everyone) in very fractured English complaining about a Mixi friend's apparent refusal to open up to her. He is still on my list of Mixi friends but when I checked his list out, The Loon was no longer up there...which pretty much confirmed my suspicions that she needs some professional help. She's still up on my list...for now, but if she starts going off the deep end with me, I'll dump her as quickly as possible. I had expected that I would get that one nutcake in either Facebook or Mixi...pretty much inevitable in a democratic SNS. I got a second opinion via Ms. Efficiency (who also has her own issues) and even she blurted out diplomatically that this loon sounded rather f***ed up.

Just had the one lesson with The Artist today. As is often the case, she was about 15 minutes late but this time it was due to her taxi having to negotiate all sorts of construction sites. During the lesson, we had a small quake which may result in some tsunami hitting the northern Pacific shore so NHK is on the case right now.

I'll be heading out within the next 10 minutes to Shinjuku since I have to pick up some more White Day gifts....these will be for The Sisters of State (The Carolinan and The New Yorker) in return for their chocolates last month on Valentine's Day. It will be kinda hard to top the veggie chocolate that I got from one of them, though. However, I will scour the basement floor underneath Takashimaya Times Square.

Yesterday when I met The Beehive, there was a mistake in the scheduling at the community square which has been our home for the past few months. That will teach them for reserving too far ahead. Basically, there was no room for us there so the four of us just jammed in one of the waiting areas. Luckily, none of the staff passed by to catch us. There was no such mistake between Swank and myself this time despite the accident of last week.

At the juku, The Juggler, the newest student in my flock there, has been coming along nicely. Beforehand, the boss was back on form and badgering one of her students to do better with some math problems. The Milds had a rare 90-minute session with me since they had to make up a lost lesson. I tried one of my PASSPORT lessons as a supplement which they appreciated far better than the usual Side by Side exercises since the Travel English was more relevant to them.

Monday March 7, 7:28 p.m.

Well, it looks like I got a bit of a lucky break in the form of Miss Genki. She dotakyaned...slang for suddenly cancelled. She couldn't make it but I still get paid. She phoned us up about 20 minutes before her class was to begin to say that she's mired down in work. I answered the phone...not too often I do that since I'm not very good at telephone Japanese...and she let me know. The funny thing is that it took her 2 minutes to realize that she was talking to me since I was using my politest Japanese as would be the case when dealing on the phone. We made each other's day.

In any case then I get some relief from my Hump Day.

However, Prime Minister Kan can't buy a break to save him. Another Cabinet minister has had to leave the nest....and this time, it's a high-profile one. Foreign Minister Maehara proverbially fell on his sword today since he had taken a political donation from a non-citizen, which is illegal under Japanese law. Actually, the citizen in question is a permanent Korean resident...which doesn't particularly seem too offensive since he was not only a permanent resident, but a zainichi...which means he was born here. But a non-Japanese is non-Japanese to the government no matter if he/she had been born and raised up in this country. To be frankly honest, I didn't think much of Maehara...and for that matter, any of the elite in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Their tenure for the past couple of years has been disappointing to say the least. But I'd thought that either Maehara or the former Foreign Minister Okada would inevitably be following Kan once he resigns....which will most likely be sooner rather than later this year. But now, I can't even be sure that the party itself will survive beyond this year.

Monday March 7, 6:28 p.m.

Four down, three to go in my Mega-Hump Day. I've got a back-to-back-to-back starting in about half an hour with Miss Genki, Kirk and then The Businesswoman. Luckily, the major snow we got in the morning dramatically disappeared by the time I made my walk over to teach Mr. Swank. It was a switch in terms of health conditions from last week. He was jolly while I was somewhat ailing from my hay fever. He and his family are heading over to Okinawa starting tomorrow with Swank and the kids following him on Wednesday since I will be seeing her tomorrow afternoon in Roppongi provided that I can get there in time from The Beehive session.

Unfortunately, it looks like that nose spray seems to have provided only the briefest of relief so I ended up getting the Benza Block once more at the drug store on the way over to teach Mr. Swank. Even with the precipitation, it looks like that pollen was still making a beeline for my sinuses. It's gonna be a long hay fever season.

I continued with my weekly Saturday morning viewing of old movies. This past Saturday, it was "Kiss Me Stupid", a sex farce of sorts made in the mid-60s. But this didn't have Rock Hudson or Doris Day. Instead it had Dean Martin, Ray Walston of "My Favorite Martian" fame (or if you're a Trekkie, he played Boothby the Starfleet Academy gardener), and a post-"Vertigo" Kim Novak. A rather odd trio, to say the least. And frankly speaking, for a Billy Wilder movie, a bit of a misfire. In fact, it never really did catch fire for me, and after about 40 minutes, I came across that Piers Morgan interview with Charlie Sheen, and that event pretty much destroyed any residual interest in the old movie.

Besides that, my surprisingly open weekend involved catching episodes from "Futurama" and "Robot Chicken". Rather appreciated the opportunity to get away from teaching for a couple of days.

Monday March 7, 12:44 p.m.

If it's Monday, it must be snow. Or it is the eternally metamorphosizing precipitation.. For the second Monday in a row, Tokyo has gotten an onslaught of rain, sleet and wet snow within the course of a few hours. When I left Cozy's office this morning in Toyocho, the 5-minute walk to the station saw a steady rain turn into frozen rain, and by the time I got to Nakano-Sakaue some 40 minutes later, I was witness to a huge wave of flurries. There has been some accumulation so far but the blizzard has tapered to just a few small flurries...for now.

Unfortunately, despite the precipitation, my hay fever has been giving me no end of woe. Although The Artist said that she was also under the curse of attacking pollen, I was by far the worse affected even though I took a few whiffs of my nose spray. I've got the mask on now as Mrs. Prissy should be here in about 10 minutes.

It's a huge Hump Day today as well since along with the 3 students I've already mentioned, there are 4 more to go on the conveyor belt including The Businesswoman who'll be filling in the very last slot after Kirk tonight.

The Overachiever canceled his lesson on Wednesday which would've met a midweek holiday for me but The Artist decided to come in for the same slot. I can't really complain though since that is the only lesson I have on Wednesday, and I actually got a full 2 days off this past weekend (very rare indeed) due to Mr. Jyuppie doing a dotakyan yesterday morning. So, although I lost 7,500 yen in income I was able to save myself a long train ride and could enjoy a second consecutive day of slumming it at home. However, I did use one of those Sunday hours doing my tax return...actually, the dry run of it. I will be filling out the real thing in a couple of days so that I can pay my share on Friday morning.

Friday March 4, 2:06 p.m.

I made a new Mixi buddy over the past few days. Over the past couple of years since I've become an active member of the Japanese SNS, I've made quite a few Mixi friends such as Miss Viva and I've even had a few students become Mixi buddies such as Cozy, The Bass and The Intellectual. And I haven't had to question any of my choices to allow them into my little circle until now.

This one I made through a mutual Mixi buddy in one of my communities. Facebook also has clubs but the ones on Mixi seem to be more active. Anyways, this lady (I've got no idea about her age so I'm not sure how young or old she is) asked if she could be my Mixi buddy since we share the same community in music, so I let her in. Then over the past few days she kinda lectures me like a schoolmaster about how my profile page should look while she publicly plays nice with me in the communities. In a way, her personality sounds like our bipolar Ms. Efficiency at Speedy's. Nothing too serious now but I'm keeping my guard up about this one.

Friday March 4, 12:09 p.m.

Back at the I-Cafe since I've got a huge wedge of time between The Bass and the juku hour tonight. Looks like the new regimen of Toastmasters speechwork and pronounciation practice is working out pretty well with my drumming student.

We're into March and I've gone into my final 2 DVD sets, the 3rd seasons of "Robot Chicken" and "Futurama". Although the two styles of comedy are different, there is much hilarity to be had from both of them. From the former, it's been The Thundercats parody while from the latter, it's been "Amazon Women in the Mood". I've been happy to hear that "Futurama" had come back from the dead a la "Family Guy" although my impression is that the tone may have changed to a certain extent. I guess my only regret is that once I finally get through the two sets along with their commentaries, I may be forced to return to Japanese TV. Well, there's always going through "SCTV" again.

Thursday March 3, 8:14 p.m.

Things have been pretty quiet here at Speedy's for the past couple of hours since it's just Speedy and his wife here. Ms. Efficiency has gone home and La Fille has gone home to Kagoshima for the weekend. I've just got The Music Man left before I finish my weekly Hump Day, but I've spent this long break working on Cozy's latest translation request. Pretty straightforward stuff; I've already translated half of it although it isn't due for another week. I should be able to get the rest of it done by early next week.

The big news this week hasn't been the Christchurch Quake (although we're still waiting for the inevitable official notification of death of those missing Japanese there) or the Libyan Crisis. Instead, it's been the discovery that there has been some major Net-influenced cheating in university entrance exams. With some unintended help from Yahoo Q&A, a probable group of enablers assisted a few overambitious test takers in getting through their tests. As far as I know, the police haven't found out who pulled it off, but it seems as if it's going to be very hard to find even the ones who did the actual cheating.

Thursday March 3, 10:01 a.m.

It's another Hina Matsuri Day...the Girls' Festival. There'll be multi-level displays of dolls in a lot of homes today.

Yesterday, I met up with La Fille and Bay by the Shinjuku Station West Police Box. Bay came back to Tokyo for 3 weeks of vacation from her new life in Seattle. The three of us went to a tonkatsu place up in one of the Shinjuku department stores over the station followed by coffee in the Euro Cafe in the basement Odakyu shopping mall. We did the usual catching up and some venting about the bossman and Ms. Efficiency.

Speaking of whom...I guess it shouldn't have come as any surprise but it did come with some relief when I heard late on Monday night that Efficiency has decided to part company with Speedy at the end of this month. Speedy himself was quietly quite happy about the change in personnel. So, basically by the Summer, Speedy will only have Ms. Schmooze as the only old-guard staffer since I will be leaving as well. In any case, Ms. Efficiency's 7 months here had plenty of sturm und drang that this school really could have done without.

001 showed up for her first lesson in 3 weeks. As usual, we started with any reports on her idol, Masaki Aiba of Arashi. She's been faithfully watching his latest series "Bartender" on TV Asahi on Friday nights. And she and her fellow Arashi buddy have applied for studio audience tickets for one of the group's shows on NTV.

Bay arrived during 001's lesson...and after Ms. Efficiency's departure since Bay got rather spooked out by our description of our soon-to-be-erstwhile colleague. Speedy was of course delighted to see her, and the whole bunch of us ended up having dinner across the street at a Korean place. The bossman has been there about 5 times in the past 2 months so he's been designated as a regular. The salt-of-the-earth female owner basically ordered the dishes for us. Considering we were all rather tired, we didn't mind the bit of pushiness at all. I had a draft and a makgeolli...the milky Korean liquor....I didn't get a hangover but it did aggravate my hay fever somewhat.

Got home at midnight and then ended up coming back here by 7:30 this morning, thus reminding me why I've decided to leave Speedy's. I have a fairly busy day today. I just had The Patent Attorney for the first time in 3 weeks. Grandma FON will be here in about 45 minutes, followed by The Shareholder and The Artist. The Artist, by the way, has renewed for another 24 sessions which probably means that she'll be ending her new contract around the time I leave. Then it'll be The German and The Music Man to wrap up.

Wednesday March 2, 4:41 p.m.

It would seem that March may be the month for meglomaniacs. We've got two so far: one is teetering on the edge of death or downfall, the other is simply teetering on the edge of insanity or good taste. There is Colonel Muammar Gadhafi (Khadafy, Kadaffi, etc.) who seems to insist that he is beloved by his entire population and that there is no revolt taking place....I guess he really likes sitting in front of his mirror. I'm sure the psychiatrists and psychologists would love to bring him in as a test case in delusional narcissism.

Then there is the American homegrown version, currently known as Charlie Sheen (although names like Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan have been bandied about). It's been a publicist's nightmare (and his has abandoned him) and a journalist's (and a late-night show host's) dream for the son of the former Ramon Estevez to go off on full auto in front of the cameras. He's basically and gleefully admitted that he is a raging drug addict and a troublemaker, and that all of his troubled brethren in Hollywood are a bunch of losers for seeking professional help. All I can say is that "Piers Morgan Tonight" will be the place to be for millions since Sheen will be showing up there tonight. Early in the year, Piers Morgan stated in his promos that he wants every night to be an event. This walking reality show will be THAT event. And from what I've seen in the clips, he won't let anyone down. Dr. Phil, Oprah, Donahue and perhaps even Dr. Joyce Brothers will be dogpiling.

Monday February 28, 5:46 p.m.

The precipitation has largely gone away so there is a chance that we may avoid the whiteout from 2 weeks ago.

I've been loving my Saturdays off. Mind you, I miss The Intellectual and The Publicity Agent but being able to sleep in late and watch classic movies on Saturday mornings make up for it big time. A couple of Saturdays ago, it was "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon and Shirley McLaine. Last Saturday, it was "Judgement at Nuremburg" with Spencer Tracy. To me, the movie struck me as being a cinematic crossroads between Golden Age Hollywood and the contemporary era. There were the veterans such as Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland and Montgomery Clift; with the exception of Lancaster who would keep on making movies for at least another couple of decades, the others were getting close to their swan songs. Then there were the new folks such as William Shatner some 5 years before he set foot on the USS Enterprise, Richard Widmark and a very youthful Maximillian Schell.

Plotwise, it was also a crossroads as the epic trial bridged Nazi Germany and the new postwar reality of a Germany as a bulwark against the Soviets. The movie went on for about 3 hours, but the pacing was such that it did fly by fairly quickly. It was all centered on the trial but there were dramatic tangents such as Judge Haywood's friendly dalliance with Mrs. Bertholt, played by Marlene Dietrich, and the brief scenes of an anguished defense attorney, Hans Rolfe, pleading with defendant Ernst Janning for a bit of cooperation. Still, in the courtroom, the shark-like Rolfe came off as every inch of the foil against bulldog prosecutor Colonel Lawson. Their verbal swordplay was a definite highlight as was the actual footage of the horrifying concentration camps. The shots of virtually mummified prisoners would make people cringe now; I can only imagine what reactions they must have evoked in 1961.

What was also interesting for a movie made in 1961 was that there was a relatively un-neat, somewhat bittersweet ending. Haywood's final verdict on the four Nazi judges was unpopular and cost him a friendship with Mrs. Bertholt although it was seen as the right decision by even Ernst Janning. Still, at the end of the movie, there was the final script that none of the people jailed in the Nuremburg Trials were still in jail. Politics trumped justice...was the final postscript.

The movie was actually a dramatization and not a recreation of The Judges' Trial in Nuremburg. Perhaps there weren't any major fireworks in the true trial but for me, one of the measures of a good movie is not just the entertainment value but also whether it gets me to do something. After seeing "Judgement at Nuremburg", I now have an interest in not only reading about the postwar aftermath but also on the entirety of World War II.

Monday February 28, 2:51 p.m.

Just when the Haru Ichiban winds brought virtually summer-like conditions to the Kanto on Friday, The New Yorker and I encounter wet snow outside in Shinjuku today. The Little Dancer, my old university clubmate, was remarking on the weird weather in Tokyo. I had thought she was a bit off the mark, but when I saw the fluffy stuff descending on me an hour ago, I thought a bit of Toronto meterology had arrived in The Big Sushi. I just wonder if there will be a repeat of the snowstorm of 2 weeks ago.

In any case, I'm typing this over at the Shinjuku Kinko's and am probably gonna end up paying 1,000 yen for just the hour. But I do this since when I finish with Mr. Swank, I have to rush back to Speedy's and do a tripleheader with Ms. Prissy, Ms. Genki and Kirk. No time for any recreational blogging. Plus, I gotta do a quick prep for The Overachiever's lesson on Wednesday.

Bay is back in town after several months in Seattle. She actually lives there now with her hubby, so she's just visiting. After The Overachiever's lesson on Wednesday, I'm planning to meet up with her and La Fille for a late lunch....presumably in Shinjuku. I'm only half-joking when I say that it'll be a gripe session. I'm sure Bay will hear about Ms. Efficiency's reign of terror.

Just read the results of The Oscars which have just finished. I'm assuming the stars are now drinking and dancing it up at Swifty Lazar's or at some LA hotspot. No big surprises...."The King's Speech" scored the important awards and Natalie Portman got Best Actress. It was nice to hear Christian Bale got Best Supporting Actor in "The Fighter". And "Inception", my favorite movie of 2010, got 4 awards although they were of the technical variety.

Not sure what this week will bring.