Saturday August 6, 11:22 a.m. The Speedy gang had its farewell dinner for one of their own last night. At his request, we went to Karachi on a side street in West Shinjuku.

The Tandoori platter was unexpectedly spicy. Usually, when it comes to Indian food, things are rather toned down in Tokyo but these guys put the flame on these babies. Darn fine with me but I had to go through a couple of Strawberry Lassis to cool my mouth.

We also got a very generous heap of freshly-made naan. At first, the bunch of us wondered if we would be able to finish it all, but not to worry. There was still some curry in each of our pots.

And these were the curries, all bubbling away in their individual pots over sterno. There was the spicy keema, mild and creamy spinach, and chicken curry.

Indian food is quite the staple in The Big Sushi, so it was a bit surprising that we quickly ended up being the only party in the restaurant for most of the evening. Not a particularly good sign for surviving in one of the most demanding cities for cuisine. But we had a fine time.

Friday August 5, 6:51 p.m.

Well, talk about timing. No sooner than I had written my last entry concerning "NCIS" when I came across a CNN website article stating that none other than Pauley "Abby" Perette is the top actor in the Q Ratings. In fact, there is a bit of a log jam in the top 10 consisting of NCIS agents: Cote DePablo is No. 2, Mark Harmon is No. 4 and Michael Weatherly is No. 7. Kinda feel sorry for Sean Murray and the "NCIS: LA" gang, though. Apparently, the Q Ratings are quite useful information for the studios when it comes to the worth, monetary and otherwise, of their performers. At this rate, "NCIS" may last until the time I reach my first century.

Friday August 5, 6:40 p.m.

I think we're just about ready to head out to Karachi. Just another 5~10 minutes. Basically, spent my few hours here surfing the Net, including reading up on all that can be read about "NCIS". Gibbs and the team have a huge following here in Japan, and "NCIS: LA" is also making its presence felt and liked. I'm sure there are quite a few fans in Tokyo who would be thrilled if the show ever decided to have a special ep visiting NCIS Yokohama.

I saw the latest episode last night on FOX Japan; we're currently in Season 7 and it was the Thanksgiving episode where Gibbs has to save a genius girl from a think tank. Kinda struck me as being one of the weakest episodes of the entire series...the girl gets kidnapped from Ducky's mansion while Ziva and Ducky are handling the turkey; a little too similar to a Season 2 ep in which Ducky himself gets kidnapped from his place. The writers may want to consider getting back to a seasonal arc story.

Friday August 5, 4:37 p.m.

The sports headlines locally have been filled with the news of the untimely death of Japanese soccer defenseman, Naoki Matsuda. He was just 34 when he suddenly collapsed during practice a couple of days ago from sort of heart attack. Never regained consciousness. A lot of the late night sports shows were providing full-blown tributes to him. To be honest, I'd never even heard of the guy until Wednesday which shows how much I follow the game.

The weather is back to full-blown heat wave again. I've been sweating bullet trains all day starting from this morning, so I figure that it'll be time to switch the beach towel lining my futon before it gains sentience. I had The Bass and The OL in quick succession at their respective cafes in Funabashi and Nihonbashi. The OL's lesson went surprisingly fast...the hands of my watch just seemed to fly by.

Went down to Shibuya to get my brother's birthday present. Got a card from Itoya, bought a DVD at Tower Records and then picked up the envelope at Tokyu Hands. I got him the disc of that live-action version of "Space Battleship Yamato" that had been released in December last year and died a quick death at the box office. Well, I figure that my brother just has to see it at least once. I was able to send it out in the mail about a half-hour ago. Provided that the backlog has been straightened out at Canada Post after its brief mail strike, the DVD ought to get there by my bro's birthday in a couple of weeks.

Tonight is that goodbye party for the kids' school teacher. We're going Indian at a place called Karachi in West Shinjuku. Ironic name for the place considering that the city is in Pakistan but the cuisine is Indian...sending a hopeful message, perhaps. Anyways I hope the only explosive thing there is the flavor.

Thursday August 4, 5:34 p.m.

Feeling pretty exhausted after my two back-to-back lessons with The Bossa Novan and The German. Not sure what it was. Coincidentally, they are both nurses. The Bossa Novan was in the middle of a cold so she wasn't at 100% but we were able to make some progress in the text. As for The German, it was the usual barrel of laughs I often have with 001 but we actually did a couple of pages in her text which is quite an achievement since it isn't even a matter of sidetracking with her....we don't even get onto the road in the first place. The German will be heading up to Hokkaido for her summer vacation later this month via The Hokuto-sei, a famed train departing from Ueno Station and traveling some 18 hours until it reaches JR Sapporo. Not cheap and definitely not easy to secure a reservation, she has my envy. Apparently, she'll be having a ￥7,500 French dinner in the club car during her ride up. She said it was pretty expensive although I know that French dinners in the capital can be easily twice or three times as pricey. I guess she was taking into consideration the fact that this was on top of the transportation fare.

A new staffer came up from the kids' school. I'm not sure how old she is but she has this rather breathy way of speaking both Japanese and English. In fact, she reminds me of how actress Jennifer Tilly sounds (the one voice-acting Bonnie Swanson in "Family Guy"), so I guess she'll be JT. In any case, she's pretty friendly although she does need some help getting around the computer system. She'll be joining us for that goodbye dinner for that teacher at the kids' school tomorrow.

Thursday August 4, 1:14 p.m.

I've got The Bossa Novan for her very first lesson today. She's a 90 like 001 and The Beehive. She's pretty shy but can open up once she gets into a roll. But she'll need a good foundation of vocabulary if we're to progress. Then I've got The German right after her followed by Mrs. Thursday a few hours later.
A new staffer from the kids' school will be coming in to help out this month so I'll be doing my intros with her. Actually, tomorrow, Speedy is having a goodbye party for one of the teachers at the kids' school so I've been invited to partake in some good ol' Indian food. Haven't had that in a while. Apparently, the teacher in question will be setting up his shingle in China somewhere. Just hope he doesn't have any need for high-speed rail right now.
MB has sent feelers about catching the very last "Harry Potter" movie. Since he works for a high school, he's now off for the next several weeks, and he's hinting at a weekday so I suggested next Monday.

Thursday August 4, 1:07 p.m.

Baum Kuchen....something that I'd never heard of in my native Canada until I came to this country where it's virtually a national institution when it comes to desserts. But it's actually from Europe, and in German, it is translated as "log cake". When I first heard it from one of my students long ago, I automatically gave one of my own German phrases: "Geseundheit".

And yet it is over here. As the translation will hint, it's a cake that looks like a cross section of a tree trunk since it's made by slathering a layer of batter on a rotating spit and once it's baked, another layer is slathered on and so on. Then a fine coat of icing over the whole log is spread on. The department store, Matsuzakaya, in Ginza has a storefront bakery specializing in baum kuchen so customers get to see the baking in action.

Of course, this being Japan, variations are bound to be produced. Mrs. Speedy kindly gave me a box of Maple Baum Kuchen...a bit of Canada in the Germany. I managed to finish the roll cake in about 4 days by taking a sector a day for breakfast. Considering its origins, it's not all that heavy.

Wednesday August 3, 9:34 p.m.

It was a pretty good night but I hadn't expected any less from 001 and Kirk. 001 did get her tickets for the very last Arashi concert for their 2011 tour...January 15 in Fukuoka. And Kirk and I had a good talk on the current political situation and the concept of retirement.

And in a not-unexpected about-face by the juku boss, I received an e-mail saying that she would continue as my guarantor until the end of my time here and admitting that her "mood" has been somewhat "dented" by the events of the last several months. OooooK....I'll just reply to her tomorrow.

Wednesday August 3, 5:43 p.m.

We've been getting the gerira gou...sudden downpours...over the past few days. It's still not in heat wave mode yet but the humidity is certainly back to sweat me out. I did watch the weather report last night and the meterologist mentioned that after a record-breaking first half of July in which temps soared even higher than tempers in Congress, the last half saw temps plummet to below average...it was certainly comfy for me. I'm just wondering if August will see record-breaking levels of precipitation like South Korea has been getting.
Today, I saw The Godfather for his weekly lesson in which he landed a bit of a bombshell on me. Apparently, he and his fledgling company fell prey to a con artist. For the past number of lessons, he had been telling me about one of his partners who was allegedly able to speak 4 or 5 languages, and had a PhD in Marketing from UCLA Berkeley. And the swindler had shown some good work and had a pretty winning personality....made some oyaji jokes, too. Too good to be true? Yep, it sure was. For some reason, the con guy was able to access a lot of the company's funds and then absconded with them over the weekend.
Considering the situation, The Godfather seemed to take it pretty well. He was chuckling ruefully throughout the hour at his horrible luck although I think he looked like he was about to shed a tear or two early in the lesson. And in this country, smiling can be done through all sorts of emotions. The "Sukiyaki" song kinda came to me during this time since the original lyrics talk of smiling through one's tears. I was wondering throughout how my newest student and even his senpai, a Professor Emeritus from one of the most prestigious universities in the country, could fall for this scum. Well, it sounded like the con artist was quite a pro in his strategy and The Godfather didn't go far enough into the background check. He did say that he had found some odd things about him such as no photo in the UCLA grad rolls for this fellow and the fact that that he had always written his name in katakana, not kanji. But apparently the con artist skillfully evaded the questions. And I think there was that "can't happen to me" mind set of denial. But the fact is that fraud happens all the time in Japan. At this point, The Godfather will be meeting up with his professor and his other partner to try to recover from this embarrassment.
In any case, as it happens from time to time, I switched my cap from one of teacher to that of counselor. I really should be setting up a chaise lounge somewhere.
Well, in any case, I've got 001 for the first time in 3 weeks in just a few minutes.

Wednesday August 3, 5:35 p.m.

I have to take this time to kinda give my condolences to my family back home. The family cat passed away over the weekend.

My mother called me up as she usually does at the beginning of the month, and after telling me about her successful cruise in the Meditteranean she informed me of the cat heading up to Cat Heaven. She got somewhat emotional about it on the phone but I am really more worried about my father who seemed to be closer to the puss than anyone else in the family. Since I only got home once a year, the cat labeled me a rival and had always looked at me with a mix of suspicion and wonder (at how big a human can get without achieving critical mass). So I didn't really react too emotionally at the news. Plus, I knew that his time was nigh at the age of 16 years. My brother sent me e-mail about it to confirm. I did tell The Beehive about the cat since I've mentioned him over the years to my veteran class; Mrs. Travel informed me about Pet Loss Syndrome. I think my parents are probably going through that right now. I'm wondering about whether another cat should be introduced into the home but I'm of two minds on that one right now.

Anyways, I salute the cat!

Wednesday August 3, 5:24 p.m.

Back on Monday, CNN and the rest of the world media managed to make this entire American debt ceiling crisis look like a season finale of "24". Perhaps I can understand why Wolf and the gang, though, would label a lot of the shenanigans in Congress as kabuki theatre: slowness, long faces and meaningful gestures.

However, the final passage of the bill and all of the emotional sturm und drang that surrounded it reminds me of a Japanese commercial that had been playing for years here. See that picture to the left? That's a bag of kale powder...stuff that's used to make ao jiru...literally "green liquid". It's one of the most noxious things I've ever come across but it is good for you. I sometimes mix it with milk but I make sure I add some heaping teaspoons of honey before I imbibe the stuff. Anyways, there was a commercial for it in which a crusty old actor (I guess the Japanese equivalent of Wilfrid Brimley) drinks a glass of kale and water, puckers his face as if he'd ingested whole slices of lemon and sputters at the camera "MAZUI....MOU IPPAI!" Translation? "Ach, that's crap!....gimme another!" The House of Representatives from both ends of the spectrum treated the finished bill as if it were the plague and yet they passed it through like a really bloody stool (erk...sorry for the analogy).

In any case, the Senate passed it, President Obama signed it, and now this true-life summer blockbuster has finished...until the sequel in several months' time.

Monday August 1, 8:22 p.m.
It was nice, especially after having to deal with that e-mail response from the juku boss, to have another pleasant hour with Miss Genki. We managed to get through a few centimetres of text before we both lapsed into the topic of 80s music videos. As soon as we entered that rich world of our generation, I knew that it was game over for the rest of the hour. So, names like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Starship were sprinkled liberally throughout our conversation. But I can say proudly that my student fulfilled her duties and spoke virtually all in English. Now, when I hit home, I'll probably throw in one of my 80s compilation discs.
In terms of weather, it's been unusually nice in that the past couple of weeks haven't really been all that hot. Certainly the past couple of days have skirted on the upper edge of coolness. At this rate, TEPCO won't have to worry about the overusage of air conditioners. And I'm not complaining, either. There is another typhoon but it looks like it's heading northwestward although Okinawa is still in the target zone.
Got word from The Godfather. It looks like he may become a floater in terms of scheduling. He's asked for Wednesday morning this week for his regular session.

Monday August 1, 6:24 p.m.

To the left is the representative dish of the summer...broiled eel (unagi) on rice. Now, depending on the size and the container that it's in, it can be called either una-don (which is the one pictured in the supermarket plastic box) or unaju which is usually served in a fancy lacquer box and costs quite a bit more.

Forgive me for being the hypocrite here, but I'm not a big fan on how the dish gets made (live eel gets impaled through the head and slit open with a super sharp knife) but I can't deny the results...eel slices slathered in that sweet-savory sauce and grilled until the outside gets that smoky, crispy taste and then deposited on a bed of warm white rice.

Unagi can be served any time during the year but there is that day, doyo-no-ushi-no-hi, in which it's open season in all of the eel restaurants. Supposedly on that day, folks all over Japan got their fill of eel to restore their stamina, although that can easily be done by downing a can of cola. However, as anyone can tell you, nothing beats that combination of protein and carbohydrates when the aroma is wafted outside of the restaurant. This year, though, it seems that there are two such days...tomorrow being the second one. However, I decided to avoid the lineups and got this store-bought one for 580 yen. Perhaps it doesn't quite match up to the unaju made fresh in the eel eateries but heck it was satisfying enough for me. If there is one thing I'll definitely miss when I leave Japan, it'll be this dish.

Monday August 1, 5:59 p.m.

Feeling a bit melancholy right now since I got a reply from the juku boss concerning her wish to terminate her guarantorship of my apartment. I tried to be as even in tone as possible when telling her that I couldn't get anywhere with my application form since I had felt a little hurt that she wanted me to cut ties. The reply was civil but I did pick up that feeling of a debate rebuttal. And she suddenly decided to point out that if she had to end up picking up the pieces financially of any remaining rent (not that I would ever let it get that bad), she would be blacklisted by the banks since she could not pay for me due to her limited income once her divorce is finalized. I don't deny that fact but I think her timing in saying that is suspect...I think it's just a bit of a dig at me for inconveniencing her. Still, I wasn't interested in further straining our friendship by pointing this out so I stayed mum. In any case, it looks like my former juku boss may be letting her request drop which will be of some relief to me.

Also, the bit of the blue is due to the fact that I told The Jyuppies about my permanent departure from these shores in December. They took it with some shock and sadness which I felt badly about, but better to do it now rather than in the Fall. Mr. Jyuppie asked me about the possibility of setting up a Skype link between us once I got settled back home. I think that might be a pretty good idea, actually.

There are still some other key folks that I have yet to inform, namely Speedy, The Sisters of State and The Movie Gang.

Saturday July 30, 3:50 p.m.

It's approaching 5 months since the big quake and 4 since I came back from my escape to Toronto. Students have come and gone, and I've been keeping an eye on my finances. Not exactly sailing on Easy Street. Sometimes, I just shake my head at what I've come to since arriving in Japan nearly 17 years ago. Sometimes, I get shaken by that feeling of despair and depression that for all of my admittedly not supremely hard efforts over the past decade-and-a-half, I will most likely be heading home with less than what I started with financially. I see a lot of my friends and students over the years getting married and settling down with the kids and mortgages while I've basically stayed constant and I wonder was it all worth it. Certainly, I had never expected a quake as big as this one to hit us this way, and The Big One has been partially responsible for my change in thought about my future in this country. At this point, I still feel that my days are now numbered here in Japan, and I will be heading home with my tail between my legs. I'm not sure if I'll survive the next few months financially especially with the shortfall in income and all the expenses that I'm responsible for. It'll be fairly humiliating to have to be forced to ask my parents for money, especially since they're now both retired.
I'll be telling The Jyuppies tomorrow that I will be going home and most likely in the next few days I'll be telling Speedy himself as well. In a few minutes, I'll have to inform the juku boss that I couldn't find anyone even to be my emergency contact in my (half-hearted) efforts since the application form demands that I have to put down their annual income, and for just such a request, I think demanding to put down an annual income is heavy-handed. If you recall, she's been exhorting me to cut her guarantorship for the past few months since she's planning to get divorced. Again, I'm not keen on this especially since the very basis of being an apartment guarantor in this country is just in case the tenant decides to flee. I've told her that I don't plan on fleeing unless things get VERY bad here and I don't see that happening, but her latent paranoia won't let her agree with me. Well, it's been almost 3 weeks since our last meeting for that monjayaki dinner, and I don't think it's fair on her for me to hold back any longer. She won't like what I will say but I'm not going to ask anyone else for help. It looks like it's everyone for himself/herself now.

Saturday July 30, 11:45 a.m.

It was a bit of a surprise when the news came in yesterday about the untimely death of former Yankees pitcher, Hideki Irabu, despite some of the turmoil that had surrounded him.

His name was plastered in big letters on the tabloid papers such as "Tokyo Sports" all yesterday, and the television also covered his suicide to a certain extent. However, he didn't get the huge attention that perhaps some of his fellow Japanese players would've gotten if they had gone off the mortal coil. Ichiro Suzuki is the genius eccentric, Tsuyoshi Shinjo of The Mets was the cartoonish fop and Hideki Matsui was the jovial lovable slugger.

But unlike his far more popular namesake former teammate on the Yankees, Irabu really didn't amount to much in the biggies although he had made a good name for himself in Japan before making the crossover. Unfortunately, the nickname that I'll always associate with him is "the big fat pussy toad", given by the late and irate George Steinnbrenner when Irabu missed a tag out. My former student, The Lady, whose family had for some reason often consorted with baseball players (including Hideki Matsui), had also met Irabu and found him and his personal reputation riddled with arrogance. And there were some of those stories of him getting into fights and stuff. I also had to laugh somewhat at CNN's description of him "...helping the Yankees to 2 World Series championships". According to Wikipedia, he only pitched in one post-season game with little effect on the outcome. I never got the impression that he did much in his time overseas.

Saturday July 30, 11:36 a.m.

Allow me to show you my dinner from last night. The one on the left here is my famed Open Kim Chi Chicken Sandwich. It's an original...being a bachelor does bring out the culinary creativity in me. I've been concocting this one for years. And as bachelor food, it's a breeze to make. Get some chicken fillets, season them up, dredge them in some cornstarch and fry them in oil for a few minutes on one side. Once you flip them over, dunk the store-bought container of kim chi on them and cover the pan for a few more minutes. Just dump the stuff on two slices of bread. Can't be beat.

The other dish above is some takoyaki from the supermarket. Basically they're squid balls (OK, I sense you out there....stop snickering). Originating from Osaka, they're just orbs of fried dough containing a piece of squid at the centre. They're topped off with some savory-and-sweet sauce, mayo, dried seaweed, pickled ginger and bonito flakes. The fun thing about the flakes is that they take on a seeming sentience when they wave due to the heat emanating from the takoyaki. Nope, not exactly the healthiest dinner in the world (with the possible exception of the kim chi) but hey, it was a Friday night.

Saturday July 30, 11:23 a.m.

I guess this would count as just part of life in this country. This long winding crack is now part of the apartment building across from my place. When I get back home, perhaps I should check out my apartment's exterior, lest one day my building decides to hatch open like a maturing cicada.

In any case, speaking of cracked things, it seems that for the past week, the top 3 economic powers on the planet have been toiling very publicly on their own problems. The US is currently fighting within itself over this supposed debt crisis...D-day is apparently on August 2nd. And The People's Republic of China is battling an increasingly angry population (one doesn't piss off 1 billion people lightly...even in a Communist country) over its handling of the Bullet Train accident. If it weren't so tragic, it would be so laughable...the government was actually trying to literally bury the evidence in front of the mass media's eyes. Then, it went "Oops!" and dug the train back up. I'm just amazed that both the media and the public have been allowed to vent their anger so openly....but I am worried that there may be a Tiannemmen (can't be sure of the spelling) moment and the government will crack down on the dissent like it did in June 1989. Of course, here in Japan, we're still battling a lack of electricity, irradiated beef and petty political battles. Heck, I even saw a government minister cry last night on TV...either he will become a hero in front of the public's eyes or he will end up cast off like a piece of snakeskin.

Yesterday was a day of private students and cafes once again. Mind you, it was just The Godfather and The OL. I had my second lesson this week with The Godfather; it's ironic that he's been enjoying his lessons (he did indeed tell me) considering that after our first meet-and-greet all the way back in January, I'd been under the impression that he was a write-off. As for The OL, we were in a better vantage point for our lesson since we had our own booth, and luckily there was a pair of foreigners nattering away so I was not worried about our voices annoying anyone.

Thursday July 28, 7:41 p.m.

Still not in the heat wave range of things temperature-wise but still warm enough to make me reminisce about the gloriously cool days of last week during the reign of Typhoon Ma-On.
Pretty busy for a post-quake day. I've had three lessons nearly back-to-back and just have one more in about 15 minutes...that being the one for Mrs. Thursday. I had The Sisters of State and then a model lesson with a student who will become one of my flock starting officially from next Thursday. She'll be the Bossa Novan. She reminds me of my old student, The Businesswoman, in that she has an interest in bossa nova and plays the guitar. She definitely loves her music since she has frequented a couple of Brazilian places in Nishi-Ogikubo.
Lunch today was up at my favorite Chinese eatery in the basement of the Maynds Tower in Shinjuku.
I saw the Journo doing a spot on his wide show this morning on a murder case involving a young woman with anger issues who had killed another woman whom she had mistakenly assumed dissed her. Definitely haven't gotten any word from him about whether he'll ever come back for my lessons. But then again, the juku is dead and buried.

Wednesday July 27, 6:58 p.m.

Don't panic! That's not an infestatation of flatworms in my apartment. It's just a plate of store-bought yakiudon. A very simple concoction of udon noodles pan-fried with veggies and pork...I've been trying to save up on the cash by buying plastic boxes of stuff like this. I guess I could've arranged the dish a bit better, though.

It's another 001-less Wednesday night here at Speedy's although she'll be back next week. I've only got Kirk coming up in a little over an hour from now. The weather is back to warm again with some stickiness in the air but it still hasn't gotten back to the heat wave conditions of a couple of weeks ago. I can stand this stuff and if another typhoon comes up the Pacific coast, that's just plain gravy for me.

Yesterday was all private for me. I had Cozy for a rare Tuesday morning before I headed over to Tsudanuma for The Beehive session. For the first time in about a month, we were back at the community centre instead of Cafe Nard in Funabashi. And for the first time in a while, we had a pretty full turnout. Not only did Travel, Jade and Alp show up but Mrs. Perth dropped in from Hokkaido and Mrs. Tee finally came back after weeks away due to some personal difficulties, namely a battle between a stubborn husband and daughter. Tee indeed lost a good amount of weight from the stress. It was good to see Mrs. Perth as well since it was basically the final time I would see her here in Japan before my final flight home to Canada. So I went with the ladies for lunch and had a good chance to catch up with Perth.

Finally, I met up with The Godfather at our usual cafe in Tameike-Sanno. He's usually late on Fridays but since I had to teach The German at Speedy's last Friday, he got bumped to yesterday afternoon. His new company has gotten off to a promising start. Nothing too big to report but his company seems to one of consulting, and it's gotten itself into the recovery plan of the Tohoku after the March 11 earthquake.

Monday July 25, 8:21 p.m.

Well, I would like to take this time to thank all of the 34 Malaysians who have been reading this blog. I'm not sure if I can come out to your country to personally shake your hands but duly note that the feeling is there.

In any case, I wrapped up my day with Miss Genki. It was another one of those gab sessions in which we don't touch the text. Luckily, she also has quite a few conversational touchstones. We spoke on those old music shows, "The Best 10" and "The Top 10", a comparison between Japanese manzai comedy and North American sketch comedy, the revelation that famed movie composer Hans Zimmer was the keyboardist for The Buggles' lone hit "Video Killed The Radio Star" and finally her favorite show, "Glee". She, along with thousands of Japanese fans, are hoping that "Glee: The Concert" will make its way across the Pacific. Like me, she has also heard that the characters of Rachel, Finn and Kurt will be phased out after Season 3. I think the powers at Fox may be biting their nails especially at the fact that TV's most popular gay character will be leaving the roost.

Monday July 25, 6:33 p.m.

Well, the heat is starting to return to the Kanto. For about 5 days, thanks to the wonders of Typhoon Ma-On, we had swooningly cool temps but now that the typhoon has spun away, the temps have returned to the more seasonable boiler room levels of a Japanese summer. But although it was warm today and I was sweating a bit as I was making my way back to Speedy's from Mr. Swank's company in Shinjuku, it was a drier heat with not much of the usual humidity to negate our sweat glands' capabilities. We may have a bit of an extension of the good ol' days of last week tomorrow since the forecast calls for rain, but otherwise I believe I'll have to get a re-supply of the Gatsby wipes.

After months of television PSAs warning us about the change from analog to digital, D-Day finally came yesterday at noon. After over half a century of analog broadcasting, the service finally shut down, going totally to digital. Everything and everyone from anime characters to a member of SMAP exhorted all of us about the coming electronic Day of Reckoning and to prepare by having a digital system set up. Supposedly, once noon came, all of those old chassis-tube tellys would be showing just a screen message stating that analog broadcasts have ceased forever. Well, then, can someone tell me why my own 40-year-old TV which is thicker than a young sapling is still broadcasting in analog? I got back from teaching Yajima expecting to play Taps for my little set...but when I pulled the knob (yup, this set is REALLY old...no remote control), NHK was still coming bright and clear while the commercial channels were somewhat fuzzy and flippy. But that's the point, I'm still getting something. The only exceptions to the new regime are the 3 prefectures most affected by the March 11 earthquake: Iwate, Fukushima and Miyagi. Apparently, my little apartment must have gotten upgraded to become the 53rd Japanese province.

Monday July 25, 6:07 p.m.

The last 72 hours since my last entry have had news to keep the pundits talking for several weeks. And here I thought last week with the Murdochs and Nadeshiko Japan was a banner time. We've had the massacre in Norway, the sad but not surprising Amy Winehouse death and that horrible crash in China between the two bullet trains.
On Friday night, I was just doing my couch potato thing in front of the television set when at about 10:30 p.m. JST, the CNN anchor started reporting on explosions in Oslo. At first, I was wondering if she meant Oslo, Iraq or Oslo, Afghanistan. But, nope, it was indeed Oslo, Norway. As the minutes passed, the information started getting more and more dire as the images of a blown-out government centre started getting fed into the network and eyewitness accounts started filtering in. Then, a couple of hours into the bulletin, the news of automatic weapons fire on Utoya Island, some 30 km away from the Norwegian capital, broke in and I started thinking whether Norway was undergoing its own 9-11.
But some 24 hours later, it had become clearer that the horrors in Oslo were less Twin Towers and more Oklahoma City. Obviously, this doesn't make the situation any less terrible, but the comparisons are inevitable between Anders Breivik and Timothy McVeigh. Both seem to be quiet polite men and both have this delusionary belief that society had to be taught a grave lesson. Breivik is supposed to be pleading in court sometime in the next several hours, and I can pretty much guarantee the viewership for this coverage will far outstrip the ratings for the Murdochs in Parliament last Tuesday.
But if I can add my own Japanese angle on this story, watching the hours of coverage of this tragedy in Norway, I was reminded of that March day in 1995 when the apocalyptic cult, Aum Shinrikyo, bombed the Tokyo subways with sarin gas, killing 12, injuring thousands and scaring millions. Again, it was a case of a group of like-minded psychopaths who had felt that society was too sick to survive and so decided to accelerate the process of its downfall.

But within this Venn Diagram of Norwegian horror, a very big circle started forming within. And that was the Amy Winehouse death. As I've said, her passing was sad but not surprising. It just seemed like her demons couldn't and wouldn't let her go and finally dragged her down. All that talent in her voice couldn't override that addiction in her brain. I was never a fan of hers since I'm just not into soul music but I could acknowledge that her singing was one of those one-in-a-million phenomena. Just seems like an utter waste. Apparently, there is a Club 27 out in Wikipedia whose members consist of celebs who left this world at the tender age of 27. I'm just wondering if Lindsay Lohan is gonna be petitioning for her own jacket in this club in the not too distant future.

As for that bullet train crash in China, the Japanese media were covering this accident in bigger detail than they did Oslo or Winehouse. I guess that the bullet train is considered to be a national treasure in this country and the Japanese get rather concerned when one of their own gets involved in something bad.

Friday July 22, 7:27 p.m.

Finished with The German about half an hour ago. It was the usual potpourri of talking about anything under the sun, including drinking, Japanese actors in Hollywood and all of the acts in Johnny's Jimusho. And strangely enough, we were actually able to get through one exercise in the text.
I'm done here for today so just heading home. I think the eel celebration will have to wait until tomorrow night since I'm getting out here rather late. By the time, I hit home all of the eel will be sold out.

I also have to mention the death of one famous, beloved local Canadian. Elwy Yost is probably not known to any of the Malaysians or Americans reading this blog, but he was the friendly, intelligent, and avuncular host of a Toronto show called "Saturday Night at the Movies" for about a quarter of a century. All of the big movies were screened and then analyzed afterwards by Yost and his interview subjects; it was basically the televised version of a very good university-level movie course. I learned more about Peter Sellers through him, and certainly I learned to appreciate the old movies such as "The Philadelphia Story" and "Casablanca". He will be missed. One of his kids ended up writing the screenplay for "Speed" with Keanu Reaves.

Anyways, I have to head off to the Golden Arches for dinner. Good weekend!

Friday July 22, 5:12 p.m.

The second food-based entry for today concerns the right picture. Yep, the end of July means Doyo-no-Ushi-no-Hi. Basically, it's time for eel! Known as unagi here, the day actually welcomes the ingesting of any food which begins with the Japanese hiragana letter of "u"(e.g. udon, uni, etc.), but eel has always been the go-to item. In these sultry days of summer (well, except for yesterday and today), eating eel-based dishes has been traditionally one way of getting that stamina to beat the heat, so to speak. And the wonderful dish of unaju (grilled and sauced eel on rice in a lacquered box) is one of the favorites.

Apparently, we have two of those days this year. One was yesterday and the other is August 2nd. I have no idea what determines the dating; all I know is that eel restaurants all over Japan must've been packed to the gills (no pun intended) with customers wanting to get their piece of eel in. I haven't had my unagi quite yet; I'm hoping to rectify that situation either tonight or tomorrow for dinner.

Friday July 22, 5:05 p.m.

Had one of these a few nights ago. It's called Dodekamin Cola (not too sure if this has any relationship with the polygonal dodecahedron but it must've sounded cool during marketing). Basically, it's the Japanese attempt of Red Bull or Jolt Cola. There is a Dodekamin Vitamin Drink that I've never tried but coming across the cola version in the neighbourhood vending machine, I decided to give it a shot.

Well, it was kinda like a combination of Virgin Cola with a shot of Geritol thrown in for good measure. I guess the old folks might like it if they wanted to stay up to the wee hour of....8 p.m., let's say. Still, it got me through the 2 hours of the Rupert Murdoch hearings which is saying something, especially with the attack of Wendi "The Tiger Wife" Deng.

Friday July 22, 2:43 p.m.

Well, The Shareholder is history. I'd gotten hints from the last lesson that he was not going to renew, and sure enough he informed me at the end of this lesson. To be honest, I'm not that unhappy about his departure since like Mrs Prissy he had a hard time getting his words out but unlike her he didn't show any particularly overt effort in getting them out. Nice guy to be sure but.... Still, we had an amiable final lesson before he gave the usual bow-out reason of getting busy and all. However, all is not lost in my income. Almost immediately after The Shareholder's lesson, the bossman asked me if I could teach some extra students over the next month at least. I didn't jump out of my seat with glee but I was quietly grateful that I can make up some of the shortfall.
Speaking of glee, I read the other day that 3 of the main cast from "Glee" were "graduating" from the show. However, I haven't read anything about it in the Mixi community, otherwise I would be seeing a sea of sad emoticons right now.

Friday July 22, 12:19 p.m.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

That was the sound of the day all yesterday....emanating from my mouth, of course. Typhoon Ma-On gave us in the Kanto a unique gift in the form of....temperature. The bottom dropped out of our usual boiler room temps, giving us a royal high of 22 degrees C. That sort of temp is about as rare at this time of year as someone eating a slice of Christmas cake. Usually, when referring to typhoons, we often say in Japanese "taifuu no sei de" (because of that [insert your swear word] typhoon)...however, I would like to say "taifuu no kage de" (thanks to that [insert your most praiseworthy adjective] typhoon).
However, all good things have to come to an end. And the heat wave will come back from vacation as of tomorrow. However, I was fortunate to have that good night's sleep and a respite for my electric fan. Strangely enough, my hometown of Toronto is going through literal Hell as it records 39 degrees C.

The OL contacted me today saying that she has to beg off today's lesson since she's got a cold. I think that sudden shift in temps may have been a factor. That suddenness started manifesting itself from late Wednesday night, probably, since I was getting a bit sniffly within Speedy's. At least, I won't have to make that mini-boomerang to Nihombashi since I've got The Shareholder's (possibly final) lesson in about an hour and then The German's lesson later tonight; I can just while away the time here at the school. And I'm pretty sure The OL may be paying me because of the perceived dotakyan. She's one of the few students who actually has paid me for sudden cancellations.

Yesterday was a day off for me since none of the Thursday regulars came privately or through Speedy's. I was lucky to have seen live the final touchdown for the Space Shuttle Atlantis and for the shuttle program in general. I remember seeing the very first successful shuttle launch of The Columbia over 30 years ago. It's hard to believe NASA not launching anything for the next several years (a number of the media commentators were being very polite by saying "it'll be a short while") but inevitably there will be some sort of probe going back to The Moon or to Mars. I only wonder if this will happen when I'm into early retirement. The only regret I have about the program is that The Enterprise never made it up into space....it was just used as the test case; I'm sure the Trekkies would've loved to have seen it hit the final frontier even once.

Wednesday July 20, 7:08 p.m.

It's been squally here over the past couple of days. Typhoon Ma-On, or as it's more dramatically known here in Japan, Typhoon No. 6 (a bit of "The Prisoner" vibe), has been making its way through the southern and Pacific coasts of the country. Yesterday, as I was making my way home after lunch with Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Jade of The Beehive, the clouds literally just opened up and the rains came down with the force of a monsoon. It looks like my area of Chiba, though, will miss the worst of it...although the squalls have been coming, we haven't had any gales or floods. I just kinda wonder if meterologists around the world have their facts straight. The weather folks over here had been warning that this would be a super-typhoon that would just meander its way across Japan thereby dumping tons of rain and woe; but the CNN's Italian weather guy verbally shrugged off Ma-On as something that would whip by the Pacific quickly. In any case, it will be finally out of our hair probably later tomorrow.

The other headline has been the continuing saga of the Japanese Women's Soccer Team as they go through the second phase of Being a Hero In Japan...interviews, news shows and variety programs, oh my. The team has now divided into smaller units to head over to various TV studios to give the same answers and watch the same highlights. Captain Sawa and a couple of her teammates even appeared on Tamori's noontime programme today, "Waratte Ii Tomo", to show off their medals. This will last for the next several days; I wouldn't be surprised if the ladies ended up doing a medley with SMAP or Arashi...will avoid.

And then the other big headline is beef, fortified with cesium. I'm just wondering when the government allows the news that other livestock have come up beeping on the Geiger Counters. And I'm sure it will happen. I kinda wonder if the soccer ladies had wondered themselves of declaring asylum in Germany.

For those regular readers of this blog, you must be wondering why I'm typing this when I should be chatting with 001 for her regular midweek lesson. Well, the lass is off today for some reason....probably the reason comes in a highball glass. I've only got Kirk today. And it looks like I've got a Thursday off as well since Mrs. Thursday has cancelled tomorrow's lesson.

Wednesday July 20, 6:33 p.m.

The much-advertised hearings with Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks by the UK government finally got on the air in the wee hours of this morning here in Tokyo. Not having any lessons until later tonight, I was able to stay up and watch the proceedings of how the pols took care of this modern-day Citizen Kane. It was all very very British...a lot of plummy accents and very tea-timey back-and-forth. And there was a bit of Japanese in it as well....and no, I'm not referring to Rupert's wife behind him since she is Chinese...I'm referring to Murdoch's repeated blunt responses of not knowing or not remembering. Whenever there is a Diet-level scandal involving one of the parliamentarians in Nagatacho, evasion is taken to a high art. And then there was son James' combination goofy Clark Kent and Hugh Grant act...a lot of hemming-and-hawing politeness from Murdoch Jr.

But there were a couple of things that got my eyes opened between 1 and 1:30 a.m. The more publicized event was, of course, Rupert Murdoch getting a face full of foam pie just when MP Mensch was starting to grill him. I think wife Wendy Murdoch showed that she was probably the most honourable of the family in that room when she went Jedi on the pieman, Johnny Marbles (sounds like a gangster on a Saturday morning kids' show).

I'm gonna sound a bit conspiratorial here but it just seemed a bit strange that even a comedian like Marbles was able to get into the room to launch his pie at point-blank range and then only have one London bobby saunter across the room to get him out. CNN's Richard Quest, no stranger to controversy himself (leave your S&M gear in Central Park, Richie?), seemed so nonchalant about the whole affair a few seconds after the camera had automatically whip-panned to the painted wall. And I'm kinda wondering if a couple of the MP's later got together at a pub near Westminster and laughed about it over a pint (MP 1: OK, you win, here's your 20 quid. BTW, how did you sneak him in?)

The second thing, though, was MP Louise Mensch herself. During her turn at questioning Rupert Murdoch, she namedropped CNN's own Piers Morgan and his alleged willingness to phone hack when he was an editor at The Daily Mirror according to a book he had written. Morgan, who's always had that rather cool-as-a-cucumber exterior on "Piers Morgan Tonight", went into a major froth on his sister show "The Situation Room", and proceeded to dress down the pol while struggling to not use any expletives (well, maybe with the exception of "balls" but that's been used so much anyways); meanwhile, Mensch took on Morgan's la-di-dah expression and perhaps a subliminal Cheshire Cat's smile and cited parliamentary privilege when refusing to repeat her allegations against Morgan. I have a feeling that there is more to this battle between Mensch and Morgan; most likely Mensch had it in for Morgan over some perceived insult that she had registered from him during his time as editor, and decided to throw a few shots across his bow.

In any case, although it looks like Rupert will still get to keep his job, the elder Murdoch probably wasn't kidding when he said that it was one of the most humbling days of his life. To have to put on a doddering old fogie show in front of the very people who used to court him and then to have a pie thrown into his mug....he was probably using more expletives than Morgan wished he could have used when he got home last night. And frankly after using all those "I don't remember" and "I don't know" responses and then brazenly shirking off any personal responsibility....I think a harmless foam pie is the least he deserved.

Monday July 18, 10:47 a.m.

This past weekend has seen me concoct another Smoothie. When you live in an air-conditionerless apartment, Smoothies are liquid lifelines. This one had me blending an apple, two bananas, maple syrup, some kale powder and a cup of yogurt. Had the big glass along with dinner last night, and one more cup for breakfast. It's very tasty when chilled overnight.

Also made some Taco Rice with some veggies and a box of Taco Rice Mix that The New Yorker had given me from her visit to Okinawa. This is where Japan excels...taking a famed foreign dish and giving its own Japanese twist. J-Tex-Mex. Kinda overdid it on the lettuce part so I had to dig deeper with the spoon to get at the rice and spicy meat sauce but I've learned. I've got one more set of the stuff to cook up tonight.

Now, to inform you, I'm back at the I-Cafe. If this had been to schedule, I would've been ready to head on out to Futako-Tamagawa to see The Jyuppies for their lessons. Instead, I got a call from Mr. Jyuppie stating that he had to cancel today. Apparently, one of his kids is sick, necessitating a visit to the hospital. Strangely enough, I'd had a premonition that he was gonna send the cancellation call...a bit of an Anakin Skywalker thing I have. And as soon as I heard the phone ring, I knew.

Referring back to the fact that I hadn't turned on my air conditioner at all during the weekend, I stayed home all day yesterday and still managed to survive. I had both my windows open (didn't help too much) and had the small electric fan going for much of the day. Plus, I used a couple of ice packs on my back and chest to get through the day. And I actually made it. Also, the fact that the plug to the air conditioner tends to heat up to the temperature of plasma when it's in the wall made my decision even easier. Still, I'm out here at the I-Cafe today to alleviate any more pressure to the electrical grid.

Just watched a lot of American TV and "Inception" on DVD. The latter movie is a classic in my books. A classic is something that one can watch over and over again without it getting old. My oldest classic is "Casablanca" of course, but my most recent one is this one. Everything and everyone just seemed to click in this DiCaprio flick. And the fight scene in the rotating hotel corridor will always go down as one of my most thrilling sights in cinema. As for the American stuff, "Hawaii Five-O" is, unsurprisingly, becoming quite the hit in Japan since it debuted on these shores several weeks ago. There are so many Japanese going to Hawaii on a regular basis that I've always made the joke that the islands should be called Hawaii Prefecture of Japan, and not the Aloha State of America. The new Japanese fans should go even more wild when they find out that Masi Oka is gonna become the 5th member of the team.

Monday July 18, 10:29 a.m.

In the wee hours of this sultry morning, I was awakened by some screaming outside my window. In my grogginess, I'd initially thought it was just another couple of cats fornicating down on the ground (I tend to hear that quite a bit...considering that I haven't had any in almost a decade, I've actually felt envious for a lower species). However, it turned out to be celebrating neighbours.

The reason was blue, white and female. Nadeshiko Japan pulled off a David-and-Goliath against the United States, and won the Women's World Cup Championship in a penalty shootout. Not surprisingly, the media was all over this one like gravy on roast beef. Every channel was covering the homely if cute mugs of Captain Homare Sawa and her team of giantbeaters, playing and replaying the winning goals on their morning wide shows. Sawa and company can now look forward to at least a few weeks of heroine worship and endless interviews on NHK, Fuji-TV, TBS, etc. Plus, all of us here in Japan can now look forward to future commercials of them hawking everything from vitamin drinks to security systems.

The unexpected victory couldn't have come at a better time for this battered country. March 11 2011 will probably overshadow July 18 2011 in Japanese history, and the victory by this team will not directly resolve the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis or the earthquake recovery difficulties. However, this championship has brought a good deal of happiness and inspiration and hope to the people here, and perhaps sending a message that the very difficult can be achieved. And certainly, it doesn't hurt Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics; now Governor Ishihara has a weapon in Captain Sawa to wield.

I don't know what's gonna happen in the remaining months of this year. But for today, this Marine Day, we can walk around a bit more cheerfully than usual.

Saturday July 16, 10:33 a.m.

Now, as for today, in my desire to avoid oven-like temps in my own apartment and yet conserve energy, I have sought refuge in my local I-Cafe. So, I am currently in Hour 2 of 8 in relatively air-conditioned comfort, having my I-Cafe lunch of all-you-can-drink Pepsi and Chip Star. I think my aspirations to look like Comic Book Man from "The Simpsons" may be coming to fruition.

The big news here has been that cesium-tainted beef which actually made the rounds through the rest of the country. So, folks in Japan, if any of you really has that glow about you...well, my condolences.

Had a good jolt from a Shindo 4 tremor in Chiba last night. The epicentre was in Tochigi Prefecture where it registered a 5 Minus. Made the news for several minutes on NHK.

The final entry in the decade-long "Harry Potter" series hit our shores this morning. So I'm sure a lot of cape-and-glasses wearing faux-Hogwartians are currently descending on theatres in Roppongi and Shinjuku to wave a tearful goodbye to their hero. Skippy and The Wedding Planner had asked me if I wanted to see it with them either tomorrow or on the holiday Monday (Marine Day) but I declined since I will be catching it with Movie Buddy. The ladies want to catch it in 3D but MB has been far from impressed with the new technology stating that only "Avatar" had lived up to the hype. I'm wondering if Daniel Radcliffe or other cast members have made the trip out here or will be in the near future....I would advise them to try to get out of their contracts about that. Britishers would just melt into puddles in this weather. I'm also wondering how Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will fare now that their bread-and-butter is officially part of cinematic history. I have no doubts about the supporting players of thespians such as Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith but the three leads? I can compare them with the trio of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher from that other legendary but far smaller trilogy of the original "Star Wars". Only Ford made it onto the A-List for decades; Hamill later got a measure of fame as a voice actor, notably for The Joker on one of the many "Batman" animated series, and after a few roles in some middling flicks in the early 80s, Fisher is now probably more famous as a recurring voice actor in "Family Guy" and as an author. Going back to that other famed escapist flick trio, Daniel Radcliffe has already made some inroads with stage roles in "Equus" and a musical but I'm not sure about what will happen with the other two. I'm just kinda wondering if Grint will end up years later hawking some cutting device on an infomercial. As for Radcliffe, I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up as a future Doctor Who.

Saturday July 16, 10:13 a.m.

Well, I had my Cafe Day yesterday. It used to be that I had Hump Days during the week...those days in which my schedule was packed with lessons. Well, those days are gone now. Instead, I've got Fridays as Cafe Days. I had 4 students, all of whom I met at various cafes in Chiba and Tokyo.
First off was The Bass in our charmingly decrepit cafe in old suburban Funabashi. He gave his speech on his regular business trips to the Kansai...like the rest of us entrepreneurs, it hasn't been too easy over the past few months.
And then I hightailed it to tony Hiroo to the Starbucks to see Swank. The Arisugawa Chuo Library was closed again for its monthly dedication to energy conservation policy, thereby the need for an alternate site. It would end up being our last lesson for the next 6 weeks since she and her family will soon be heading over to Hawaii for their summer holidays. Geez, I sometimes feel like the Downstairs in "Upstairs, Downstairs" (yeah, you go look that one up...hint, it's from the UK).
Next, I went over to business centre Nihombashi to see The OL in the Ueshima Cafe in the Coredo complex. Not exactly cheap there but it does have some really good coffee and iced drinks. Had the Ginger Milk Latte....iced, of course. Still, the place isn't the best for teaching students. That was made abundantly clear while I was teaching The OL, admittedly the lowest of my four students that day. We were sitting in the back of the cafe where the coziest of the tables were. I'm always a bit nervous about teaching in close surroundings....there was one young lady beside who soon got out of Dodge after hearing our exchange, and then an incongruous teen couple schlumped in beside us and soon went into dormant mode. My cafe lessons seem to have that impact on neighbouring folks unless they're deep into their own chatter or they're holding English lessons themselves.
My final lesson was with The Godfather at a Tully's in Tameike-Sanno. By that point, I couldn't really take any more caffeine into my system so I bought a Mango Swirkle to flush out the jitters. The Godfather had officially launched his company earlier in the day, so he was on a bit of a Runner's High; the financing for his first big project came in which relieved him to no end. At the end of a Cafe Day, it was good to have someone who could talk fluently and at length about his aspirations. We had an absorbing conversation on comparative religions and the concept of epiphany.

Saturday July 16, 10:03 a.m.

After my lesson with The Carolinan on Thursday night, I walked her over to her subway station and ended up in East Shinjuku. So, being the amateur shutterbug, I decided to take some night shots of the area. This is Yasukuni Dori looking east...if the area looks familiar to some of you film nuts, it just happens to be what Bill Murray's character saw from his taxi in "Lost In Translation".


I think I may have been using the Sundown setting when I took this shot. It was taken from a pedestrian overpass weaving between the Cocoon Building on the left and another office building. In any case, this is the skyscraper-filled area of West Shinjuku.

This is the massive LABI Shinjuku store of electronics in the eastern part. With all of the energy conservation policies in effect, LABI has also shut down a lot of its neon.

Yup, this is my unintentionally artsy picture. Tried to take it with the Cross function of my digital camera. It was supposed to be a heads-up shot of two of the taller skyscrapers in West Shinjuku but somehow the computer in my camera must've gotten drunk on power. With my luck, I could just enter it in some European photo contest and make myself a million....dollars, not euros.

Saturday July 16, 9:54 a.m.

When Japanese tourists come back from Hawaii, inevitably the omiyage of choice is Chocolate Macadamia Nuts. Now, when those folks come back from a domestic trip to Okinawa, a lot of them bring back chinsuko.

Chinsuko is a dense cookie for which the main ingredient is...pig lard. Yep, you must be thinking that some guy from "Saturday Night Live" must've thought up this thing. But no, it is truly a confection from Japan's southernmost prefecture. And it tastes just like a Peek Frean's (is that how you spell it....I've been away from Canada too long) shortbread cookie. In any case, The Carolinan got it to me for her omiyage, and there is enough of it to last me for a few breakfasts. Believe me, with the amount of fat in it, it should be designated as an emergency supply in any earthquake kit.

Saturday July 16, 9:39 a.m.

News of the World? I can honestly say that this is literally nothing and virtually everything right now. About 2 weeks ago, any mention of this phrase on a Google search would've brought about the biggest and most controversial tabloid paper in the UK. As of this moment, this phrase has become its own meaning. The paper may be gone but its legacy and notoriety are now fully into legendary status.
Rupert Murdoch....this is a name and face that I've seen over the years as someone who I liken to William Randolph Hearst or his filmic namesake, Citizen Kane. And it seems as if Murdoch the Mogul may be entering that point in the movie where he finally says "Rosebud". Or perhaps in this case, "Rebekkah". I think choosing this slightly constipated photo of him may be reflective of his current mood. In any case, this man, to whom even the highest of the highest politicians had often kowtowed, has been laid low...at least for now...getting the jeers and screams of an outraged British public as he went into some building to meet with the family of a murdered girl whose cellphone messages had been hacked by some of his staffers.
Although probably meek by Fleet Street standards, Japan also has a tabloid culture through magazines such as "Friday". Within the insular nature of Japanese celeb culture, there is plenty of fatty meat for the journos to uncover. The local paparazzi just love to take pictures of actors and starlets hitting the supermarkets or supposedly kissing secretly, and the rumour mill is rife with various supposedly sordid tales of infidelity or running around with the yakuza.
There hasn't been all that much coverage of the "News of the World" collapse in the local papers and other media outlets since the consequences of the March 11 earthquake have been hanging over the country like the ghost of Hamlet's father. But I'm sure that certain folks in the press are keeping close tabs on the story, if only to see a cautionary tale in the making.

Thursday July 14, 4:06 p.m.

Not sure if I'm entering some sort of funk but it was a bit difficult getting up this morning. Not because of the heat but because of the other stresses I've been feeling over the past few months. It hasn't been good wondering how long my bank account can hold out. I mean my account hasn't quite been emptied out but I just wonder if it's gonna start depleting any further. The bills I'm gonna have to start paying....I got my National Health Insurance premiums...I haven't opened the envelope up yet since I don't have to start paying my first one until the end of this month. Plus, I still have that guarantor thing to get resolved. I sent word over to Mrs. Travel of The Beehive since Speedy looked pretty iffy about signing my form.
I've been trying to keep my food purchases down to a bare minimum. Basically, my chicken bento that I had a few hours ago will be my only major meal today. I no longer have any yen bills in my wallet...just a little over 500 yen to pay for the coffee at the Starbucks when I teach The Carolinan. A year ago, I wouldn't have even imagined this situation.
I hope that I don't end up like Mr. White....get all jittery and majorly depressed. Basically, the English lessons are done at the juku.

Thursday July 14, 2:42 p.m.

I could not finish off my marathon posting session without paying homage to the lovely lady on my right, one Akina Nakamori. For those who are in the know in the world of J-Pop, Ms. Nakamori was one of the biggies when it came to aidoru-dom in the 1980s. At one point, she even eclipsed the Queen of the Aidorus, Seiko Matsuda. Well, it was her 46th birthday yesterday (yes, that is indeed a picture of her in her far younger days). I did make that point known to folks like 001, Mrs. Thursday and Kirk for which I got hearty laughs and a headshaking acknowledgement of my knowing far too much about the local pop culture.

Still, it's a bittersweet thing with her. After her attempted suicide back in 1989, she disappeared for a couple of years and then made some sort of a comeback but she never regained the superstardom of her early years. Too bad, too, since she's got that husky voice which could have gotten her into better music. And except for an appearance in a pachinko machine commercial (pretty much a death knell for a career, aside from performing in hotel Xmas concerts) last year, that's been it for her. I heard that she'd fallen ill with something recently. At this point, I would just like her to get better. Any comeback to the top of the charts would be one for the ages.

Thursday July 14, 2:35 p.m.

It's been an interesting 24 hours. When we get our good news/bad news, the Japanese media like to go all out. On the bad side is that some cesium-spiked beef got out of Fukushima and into the stomachs of some unwitting folks via restaurants in the Kanto. Talking about tenderizing. And on the other side, the Japanese representative in the Women's World Cup in Germany, Nadeshiko Japan, got into the finals last night by surprising Sweden 3-1. So, it's the Japanese vs. the Americans. Somehow, though, I don't think the Japanese women will be shedding their clothes...and frankly, I'm grateful.
I had my lesson this morning with Mr. Swank in West Shinjuku. My package on how to talk about the Japanese economy in English got some dividends so it made for a nice satisfying walk back to Speedy's, despite the blistering heat. In about a couple of hours, I've got The Magician and then I've got to run out to teach The Carolinan at the Starbucks in Shinjuku.

Thursday July 14, 2:25 p.m.

Continuing on with my calvacade of photos, this is a shot of the main intersection in Nakano-Sakaue, just west of Shinjuku. It's usually known as one of the bigger wind tunnels, but a couple of days ago, it got converted into a gigantic oven. Not one of the most comfortable places to be in Tokyo.
Of course, during a typically skin-broiling summer in The Big Sushi, I'm often much more appreciative of refreshments. I had a nice drink of Peach Tea with some Sakuranbo Cherries. At this point, I'm just guzzling down the liquids with absolute abandon. Heck, I'm even back into knocking back the tap water despite the admittedly tiny risk of cesium radiation.

Just another one of the summer customs in Tokyo. Along with the annual New Year's Day Jumbo Lottery, there is also the Summer Jumbo with the big lines forming in Yurakucho. The grand prize is the usual 300 million yen or around 3 million bucks. Nope, a bit downsized when compared to some of the nutso amounts given out Stateside but in this economy, we'll take anything. But I betcha the winning person here will most likely put most of the winnings into his bank account accruing 0.05% interest.