Monday October 26, 8:24 p.m.

Sunday may have been the visit to Omotesando but the day before was something different altogether. After my session with The Intellectual, I decided to take the train over to Akihabara, as I am occasionally wont to do. Apparently, during the same time that The Tokyo International Film Festival was on, the Otaku Mecca had its own Entertainment Festival. I went there on the 2nd last day. Most of the festa (as the Japlish would have it) took place at the UDX Building, one of the two twin towers that now occupy like Akiba like two dismembered legs from a Gundam. There was a huge mass waiting for some sort of event while there were some stands selling anime stuff but otherwise, there wasn't a whole heck of a lot going on inside.

However, just outside of the UDX was another matter...and that refers to the upper-left hand picture. The 1st floor is occupied by a Chinese restaurant and a Tully's so the crowd is atypically (for Akiba) well-heeled showing some of the new Akihabara. However at the time I got there, some of the old Akiba showed its well-worn face. What looked like something that usually takes place in front of the @Home Cafe was happening in front of that Tully's. A couple of women in space-age outfits was strutting their stuff in front of an adoring (all male) mob. While the girls were wailing away in their mikes, the fan(atics) were just throwing themselves all over the place; I would say that they were just as entertaining as the girls on stage. It's become a custom for Akiba idols to have their cheering section throw their bodies around like interpretive dancers and spit out practiced lines and slogans like a bunch of hirsute cheerleaders. Of course, there were quite a lot of folks training their cellphone cameras on the sight of otaku going nuts. There were a number of uniformed teens looking on rather amusedly and bemusedly. I think a teen's biggest fear would be peering into that mass of black-shirted otakudom and then suddenly crying out "DAD?!"

Monday October 26, 6:31 p.m.

Rotten weather outside due to the effects of Typhoon No. 20. Must be Halloween Week. Went to Omotesando yesterday morning before my session with The Jyuppies to see if I could take some pics of the annual Halloween Parade there. The rain and gloom certainly added to the festive mood but I'd had doubts whether the event could come off. However, when I saw the steady stream of kids and parents come up from the subway, I don't think the organizers could've cancelled it if they had tried. Yup, the entire city has its fair share of orange-and-black decorations, including Jack O'Lanterns strewn all about.

It's amazing how Halloween has taken hold here...at least in Tokyo...in the past 15 years. When I came here in 1994, there was no sign of the Great Pumpkin anywhere. There was that custom of drunken foreigners hijacking one car of the Yamanote Line for one loop on the 31st, much to the bemusement of normal passengers and JR staff. That may have been nipped in the bud, but since then, Halloween parties have been popping up like mushrooms over the last decade-and-a-half.

When I was at the old school, I started up the tradition of carving pumpkins and getting the students in their Halloween finest. No such luck here at Speedy's since we don't have nearly the quantities of students. No new students to show my Jack O'Lantern abilities but I may still brave the elements tomorrow after my physical (provided that I can still walk after that and no breakfast) just to head over to National Azabu Supermarket in Hiroo and pick up a gourd to carve all by myself. I've already gotten into the spirit of things by watching "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".

Saturday October 24, 1:30 p.m.

It was an interesting Thursday. I saw The Bow for the first time in about a month...she'd been working on the campaign for her soon-to-be former company, Dyson, to get the word out locally about James Dyson's latest revolutionary invention, the bladeless fan. The Bow spent half the hour on the schematics of the device...basically a large ring on top of a cylinder containing a powerful impeller sucking air in and throwing it out through a gap in the ring. The official launch came out in Omotesando Hills about a week ago with the man himself making an appearance, but sales in regular electronics shops won't be starting until early next year.

Then I took The Carolinan after her lesson to my favorite ramen joint, Foo Foo. Yup, she enjoyed the pai ko tan tan men...just slurped up the spicy broth right up.

I gloriously enjoyed my late Friday. Actually got 9 hours of sleep in bed since I decided to stave off the physical until Tuesday. The need for sleep and the ramen within me made the point rather moot. The juku boss seems to be still suffering from the effects of her operation nearly a year ago. She said her blood pressure was dangling quite low last night. The Ace and The Restauranteur were fine.

This morning, I got up early and headed down to the Shin-Takanawa Prince Hotel in Shinagawa to meet up with my old friend, Paddy. The Prince Hotel chain seems to really want to get that prize of Japanese Holiday Inn. The interior of this one, along with the very first one down in Shiba Park, seems to be stuck in the 60s. Years ago, it was pretty much known as the premier hotel chain in the country, but now it just seems to be hellbent on staying in faded mediocrity. In any case, Paddy was just here to get some family stuff done so we met up in the lobby before heading for one of the small restaurants for breakfast. We made the usual chat on catching up and finding out what's become with some of our old cronies. Since my old friend is now based in London and uses Virgin Airlines fairly often, I was wondering about introducing him to The Ballerina since she's now working in a supervisory position there at Heathrow.

Had my lone lesson with The Intellectual. I'll probably be heading out at 2 to go to Akiba. Apparently, it's the last day of some sort of festival over there. I just want to take some pictures since it's been a while.

Looks like this Monday will be a Donut Day. Both Swank and Daddy's Girl have re-scheduled their classes for later dates, so I'll just have Cozy for the early slot while Medicine Man will come in for his usual last slot.

Thursday October 22, 12:49 p.m.

Yup, Grandma FON was in the house, and true to her Force of Nature title, she was just off and running. Almost didn't need to refer to her text. She'd gone to the Basque region of Spain (not sure if she ran into any ETA types) over the summer, along with her frequent hops up to her house in Nagano Prefecture. She'll be heading there next week as well since she loves the countryside so.

Just gotta ingest some lunch and then I'll be headed out for Shinjuku. Feeling a bit weary from the lack of sleep, so it looks like it'll be a heavy coffee day. Thankfully, my remaining 2 lessons will be at Starbucks.

Thursday October 22, 11:14 a.m.

Another early wake-up call to teach Cozy. My shoulders are definitely getting that petrified forest quality. It's been a long time since I had a massage...ever since that financial gouging I got at the Lilac Forest, the massage clinic area in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City, earlier this year, I've been rather trepidatious about entering one. However, Cozy is one good student. Barely got through the one page but only because we were just riffin' on the conversation.

I've got Grandma FON for the first time since July. Wonder how she's gonna be. Most likely, we'll just be gabbing on her latest trips, so probably no need for any textbook but just in case, I've got it with me. Then, after lunch, I'm off to Shinjuku to teach The Bow and The Carolinan. And then good ol' Foo Foo for dinner. I'll be definitely holding off that physical til next Tuesday. When I've got the early wake-up call for a physical plus the requisite of not eating for 10 hours before the checkup versus a fine ramen tonight followed by several hours of good sleep, I think the choice is obvious.

Wednesday October 21, 8:00 p.m.

Basically got some stuff done: a bit of planning for that long-range project of devising an EIKEN 1 course, proofread the latest report from The Croatian, and looked at what I'll have to do with The Music Man. Yep, 001 is off for the 2nd week in a row...ostensibly for a workshop tonight, although I do wonder if there is any alcohol involved.

I've also been wondering if I ought to join the "NCIS" community on Mixi. Yep, even here in Japan, Mark Harmon's magnum opus has got an in-built fan club. Last year during my time in Canada over the Holidays, it was "CSI: Miami" that I was glued to on the tube. Well, thanks to the good folks at Fox Japan, I've been catching the funnier and more action-packed spinoff to "JAG" pretty regularly. And I guess in deference to both the Cate and Ziva fans, FJ has been showing eps from Seasons 2 and 4 (pre- and post- Cate's death) at different times of the day. Ironically, I think FJ will be showing the tragic season finale to Season 2 tomorrow morning. Tragically, I have to be out by 6:30 a.m. tomorrow to teach Cozy.

It's been interesting how "NCIS" has slowly come up through the ratings eclipsing its parent show, that had often been referred disdainfully as the program for retired folk just after Pablum time. "NCIS" just seems to be a different show altogether...it consistently has elements of "CSI" and "Moonlighting" and even, to a certain crazed extent, "Sailor Moon", just in its plotting. I don't think anyone has ever seen such a fusion of drama, thriller and comedy in one series, and I think the viewers have finally seen the light, judging from the Neilsen ratings.

Wednesday October 21, 5:06 p.m.

A rather Humpless Day with only The Music Man as my student of the day. However, I've kept it interesting. Went over to the Gyotoku annex of Ichikawa City Hall, just one station over and a 5-minute walk, to renew my Gaijin Card. I was apparently taken care of by a reject from the Japanese rock band, GLAY...fiery Dragonball hair, open shirt and a pimp moustache. Nice enough guy, though.

Then, I headed to Kanda/Jimbocho and took a long browse over at Sanseido Books, one of the most famous bookstores in Tokyo. I hadn't been there in years...not too many changes, and still doesn't have quite the English-language book section that Kinokuniya or Maruzen does. Still, my main mission was to meet The Carolinan at 1 for lunch since she works nearby. She took me to a soup curry restaurant (the Japanese seem to like to reverse their word order for compound word dishes) which apparently had been recommended on TV by the currently "in" comedy duo, Audrey. The restaurant itself was one of the usual places squeezed in between old buildings. It had quite the Showa Era air about it...a lot of wood, old 20th-century art and kayo kyoku from the 60s playing in the background...very natsukashii.

Soup curry is as it sounds: it's not the usual spicy and thick concoction poured over a mound of rice. The rice is set aside while the curry is much more watery though it still retains that spiciness. I took the hamburg set, so there was a thick patty doused in my soup, while The Carolinan had the veggie set with carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. It was quite a good lunch to have in such an appealingly old-fashioned environment. Definitely worth another visit. I told my lunch partner that I would have to take her out to Foo Foo to return the favour tomorrow night. Since I only have one lesson at Speedy's in the morning, I'll be teaching her at the Shinjuku Starbucks a couple of hours after I'm done with her friend, The Bow. It would just be short walk to get to my favourite ramen place afterwards.

I've been teaching for over 22 years now, and I've had my spectrum of students: angry, overly peppy, nearly mute, very engaging, etc. But last night at the juku, I had my very first morbidly depressed session. As I've mentioned before, Mr. White has been battling his depression, and he came right at the time where he must have been at rock bottom. He came in hunched over, shuffling and shaking, and as soon as he sat down, he just started breaking down, wracked in sobs. Oh, boy...I kept myself calm since I'd already been advised about his condition by the boss and just let him get it all out, before I asked the boss to get a glass of water and call his wife.

I'd thought that it was probably prudent to have Mrs. White come with the car and pick her husband up, but instead, the missus advised me to teach him as long as possible to help get his confidence up. Apparently, Mr. White has been battling depression for five years, so if anyone knows how to handle him, it would be his wife. So, there was no protest from me...I just set back to work. Used kid gloves on him, of course. And I managed to get him through the lesson. His mood lightened somewhat although he was still very down on himself and spoke in little more than an anguished whisper. I offered to walk him home, but he politely declined. I just hoped he can control himself. After that class, I gained a lot of perspective in terms of my own life.

After lunch with The Carolinan, I went over to Shinjuku and picked up the CD for Cozy's textbook at Kinokuniya. I noticed that the days of the snaky lineup at Krispy Kreme #1 are over. There was only a 15-minute lineup. Also to use up some of those soon-to-be deleted points on my HMV card and bought a couple of jazz discs, one of them being the legendary (and legendarily complicated) Miles Davis' "Steamin". Just don't think I'll be able to listen to it until Friday at least.

Tuesday October 20, 2:47 p.m.

Finally get to use the I-Cafe for a bit of recreational surfing other than the slog of translating as was the case last week. Haven't heard anything from The Cornerette yet so I can assume that she's making a long count to 10 before replying back.

Had The Beehive this morning. Mrs. Tee dropped in and was mostly mute for which she got a royal teasing from her friends. That's usually the case for her....not really much for conversing. She and The Medicine Man could make an Ingmar Bergman film just looking at each other. Yup, it was another teeth-pulling session with him last night.

I've got the usual juku crowd...or perhaps it would be more accurate to say just The Milds tonight. I'm not sure if Mr. White will be coming today on account of his depression. This could be the 3rd week running for him. I'll give the boss a call and see if he's indeed coming in.

Well, lunch is confirmed with The Carolinan for tomorrow in Jimbocho. I'll head over after I get the ball rolling on renewing the Gaijin Card. Yup, I didn't bother going after The Beehive session. I figure that I do have some time.

Monday October 19, 8:55 p.m.

I guess I really am making up for lost time. Daddy's Girl showed up...sign of the times...the reason she was absent for 5 months is that the entire temp staff got laid off so the permanent stuff, including her, had to pick up the slack. As it was, she was a bit more conversant than I remembered her back in her first two meetings.

It's just the Medicine Man now and then I'm done for the day.

Monday October 19, 6:06 p.m.

My second entry of the day...the first time I can boast that for a while. Daddy's Girl has delayed her arrival by an hour, so I'll be able to digitally twiddle my fingers for a bit longer.

La Fille and I shared the kitchen table for dinner. We had some of that cheese with those little peppers that Grandma Dynamite had given us last Thursday. Warmed up, it made for a fine topping on cracotte wafers. We also talked about the upcoming Halloween celebrations. La Fille and a friend were thinking about throwing a party on or near the day. She'd never carved out a Jack O'Lantern, so I gave her the basics. I think this might be the first year in a long time that I won't be pumpkin carving...kinda too bad since I now have a digital camera. I would've loved to have taken some photos, but then again, I can just bring home one for myself. There will be the annual Halloween parade down Omotesando...I may put my camera to good use there just before I head on over to The Jyuppies for their lesson on Sunday.

Had a level check last Friday with that high-powered lady Speedy had been talking to me about. She's the president of her own consulting company and used to be a journalist. She's quite the cheerful talker with a confidence not quite bordering on theh cocky. Pretty good English, too...kinda wonder why she would need lessons. It was almost like talking with a female Speedy. Not sure what she's gonna do and even if I would be able to squeeze her into my schedule.

Monday October 19, 4:23 p.m.

Man, what a week. Hardly blogged in since I was spending most of it tackling that supposed translation from The Cornerette, only to get the equivalent of a cease-and-desist order from her. Too late, I spent 10 hours over my weekend getting it done and sent over to her. It turned out that I misread her instructions, and that the assignment hadn't come in yet. I think this would be the point where that muted trumpet sound would start sounding. Well, I sent my apologies and just said that if the assignment does come in, she's lucky since it's already done. I was perhaps a bit cheeky about it, but that is a much preferable reaction from me compared to how I would have reacted a decade ago, when I would probably have sent every epithet imaginable at her.
But then again, it may be just as well that I did jump the gun since I'm not quite sure what the next few weeks are gonna bring in terms of teaching work. For some reason, I've started getting rather busy again with Cozy and Swank becoming regular students among other things.

It's another different scene now on Monday mornings. Up until the Spring this year, for the past decade, it was the sessions with The Class Act at The New Otani and then The Lady's palatial mansion. Now, it's meeting Swank at Roppongi Hills. I've just had her for the past month, but it's looking pretty good. She loves to absorb vocabulary, the more complex the better, and we usually start gabbing about our own personal situations. Today, it was on how much our mothers annoy us. So I get a psychology session AND money. Speaking of Roppongi Hills, the annual Tokyo International Film Festival has gotten under way, not that I'd heard much about it. However, I did notice an increase of well-suited foreigners in the plaza.

This week will be government stuff. Tomorrow, I gotta go to Ichikawa City Hall and renew my Gaijin Card (officially the Alien Registration Card). I got the ball rolling today by taking a few passport photos at the automatic machines...man, did I get old, and it looks like 5 years of orthodontics were largely wasted since it seems that my lower jaw has decided to move back a few degrees left of centre. The trip shouldn't be too painful, but then I've got my annual physical in Gyotoku on Friday. Oh, that should be a barrel of laughs...for the nurses. Ever seen what an E.T. body really looks like?

In the midst of all of the craziness surrounding that translation, I did manage to watch a couple of flicks on cable...both of them would probably be considered to be "No Cigar, but Nice Try" movies. One was "Spy Game", that flick with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt (two generations of heartthrobs) directed by Tony Scott. It was good enough to watch at home, but I think the marketing department had screwed up. It's really not that much of an action flick, more of a 70s-style intrigue with most of the movie being devoted to flashbacks and intra-Langley hijinks. It was almost pathetic how Redford's character managed to make his colleagues look like the Keystone Kops.

The second flick was "The Black Dahlia". The powers-that-be really turned on the 40s film noir for this one, maybe even more so than "L.A. Confidential". Still, I think the writers got a little too carried away with the de rigueur plot twists at the end. It turned out to be a ping pong game with Josh Hartnett as the white ball.

I have The Medicine Man tonight in the final slot, but before him, I've got a student who'd only been here twice before putting on a disappearing act in late Spring. I can't even remember if I even gave her a code name. I just remember her telling me that her father had given her a BMW. So I guess Daddy's Girl might be good for her.

Thursday October 15, 8:01 a.m.

Ah...the big 44...apparently, in Japanese culture, the age of 42 is the yakudoshi (the bad year) but I would have thought that this year was the Year of Hell (knocking on wood most loudly now), since the number 4 is considered a bad luck number on the same level as the number 13, and, heck, with "44", that's a pretty double-barreled numeral.

In any case, it's been about a week since my last entry since I've been away from Speedy's for about that long, and I've been hard at work trying to get The Cornerette's latest epic translation ready to go by tonight. Not sure if I'm gonna make it, but I'll certainly give it my best despite the first truly heavy schedule in some time here. I've got Grandma Dynamite for two hours (oh, boy), then The Nurse, The New Yorker, The German, and finally The Music Man.

In fact, this is all that I can afford to write right now since I'm gonna have to hit the translation for the next several minutes before Grandma comes in.

Saturday October 12, 10:27 a.m.

Last night for a couple of hours, CNN, FOX and all those alphabet media outlets could've been forgiven if they'd decided to change their call letters into "HUH?" or even "WTF?!" I was at home watching The Network That Ted Turner Built when the live news feed came in from the chairman of the Nobel Committee stating in his native Norwegian something about Barack Obama, followed by a major inhalation of air from the amassed journalists. Jonathan Mann of CNN probably echoed millions of viewers when he looked rather stunned when he had heard the most famous name this year. And then the chairman confirmed it a few minutes later in English when he declared that the US President has gotten the 2009 Peace Prize.

Well, after resetting my lower jaw, I echoed what a lot of the CNN and BBC folks were talking about...first and foremost, the question "WHY?" Or "Why now?" There were indeed a lot of folks who were trumpeting the accolades of the decision, but there were even more people, including myself, asking "What has he done?" and "Why does he deserve this?" I think even Obama himself was thinking that as he was told the news when he woke up. He probably thought one of his siblings was playing a practical joke on him.

The chairman of the Nobel Committee (sorry, can't be bothered to look up his name) stated soberly as he brushed off the near-incredulous questions from reporters that Barack was given the Nobel Prize for Peace because of his effect on the world, and apparently his gosh-darn great speeches. Pundits educated me that the Nobel Committee often roll the dice on winners in the hopes that the award can provide some existential nuclear fuel to do more of the right think. News to me...I always thought that that heavy medal was for deeds done, not for deeds to be done. I got pretty much the same reaction from the juku boss and The Restauranteur last night. Y'know....I like Barack Obama, I really do. But I just don't think this was particularly the right choice at this time. I think the slogan was "Yes, we can!", not "Perhaps, we could."

All I can say is that Sasha and Malia now have some pretty powerful bragging rights in the schoolyard. Their father has become the US President and a Nobel laureate in less than one year.

Thursday October 8, 7:21 p.m.

Saw The Carolinan for the first time in about a month since she couldn't make it for the latter half of September. For some reason, she was still rather blah or blase...although the Beard Papa cream puff I plied her with helped a bit. She's now getting used to her new circumstances in Jimbocho, and since I sometimes have a bit of a shopping trip there, she told me that if I'm ever in the area around noon on a weekday, I should look her up for a bit of lunch.

Ahhh...The Cornerette sent me an e-mail. Haven't heard from her since that little kerfuffle from the ceramics translation project. Can't say that I was too enthused about hearing from her, but she sent me her own personal thing to translate....all of 14 pages. Should be fun.

I was able to tunnel through The Croatian's sample of writing and get it off with remarks. So, basically, it's just working on The Corner's and The Cornerette's translations until The Music Man comes on in.

Thursday October 8, 4:44 p.m.

Well, Typhoon 18 has come and went. Looks like we got the 2-tiered deal. The sheets of rain last night followed by sun and warp-drive winds from this morning. In an O. Henry moment, all of the folks due to go to Speedy's earlier in the morning had no problems, but although I could sleep in, I ended up riding a morning rush hour peak train at 12:30 p.m. since the Tozai Line stopped due to lingering high winds. It was a distinctly uncomfortable experience breaking laws of physics with my fellow passengers on the subway...something that I hope to not repeat tomorrow morning when I go and see Cozy for his first lesson.

Luckily enough, I was able to meet Bay just in time at Nakano-Sakaue despite the turtle-like Tozai. Yes, she contacted me last night to say that she needed my signature for verification for some of those translations I did for her a few months ago. Bay is basically an ex-employee of Speedy's since she's now full time at another place, but she had a day off so she decided to come over with me to Speedy's with a ton of Beard Papa Puff Pastries for presents. The Japanese sure love their shuu kurimu. I'll have to remember to give one to The Carolinan. Yep, she finally replied to my summons...no explanation but she said that she'll be here by 6.

Only have The Music Man as the official Speedy student tonight. Perhaps he'll have some opinions on the Suzuka Grand Prix.

Wednesday October 7, 8:23 p.m.

Well, the day's done for me...001 has left the building, and will be gone for the next couple of weeks. She has her annual all-day barhopping tour in Suidobashi next week, and then has a meeting at work the week after that. Speedy and Ray are just talking logistics about the next big step to salvage the school.

I think Mixi has gotten rather dead when it comes to the communities I've joined. Even the Star Trek community has gone dark after what seemed to be interminable chatting amongst the local Trekkies for the past several months. Basically, the only one of my communities that has remained quite active is the one for jazz...and I haven't contributed anything to that yet.

The rain has stopped for now....not sure what it's gonna be like tomorrow morning, though. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm gonna enjoying lounging in my futon for a few extra hours.

Wednesday October 7, 4:16 p.m.

Well, I thought as much. We'd been expecting Grandma Dynamite's grand return to the fold tomorrow morning. However, there is also Typhoon 18 with its own grand entrance, and her sister, Grandma Enka, along with Speedy and I were wondering if the former would brave the latter. A few minutes ago, we got the answer. She canned and she'll be doing a double next week instead. So, instead of having to slog myself here early in the morning fighting sturm und drang, I can actually get a decent round of sleep and not show up until 6 p.m.

Speaking of which, I haven't heard anything from The Carolinan about confirming for her lesson tomorrow night. I did send a message to her a couple of days ago but have yet to hear back. Pretty unusual for her. Hope she's OK.

Got that translation done for Shrek...at least, I've sent it off for him to peruse. Hopefully, it passes muster. I've got that other one for The Corner but that one's considerably smaller than the one I've just done and it won't be due til Halloween. However, The Croatian sent me his first official assignment, so gotta get that copied out and analyzed by Friday.

At the juku last night, Mr. White dotakyan'ed due to his illness...which both the boss and I suspect is depression. He's almost 4 years younger than me, but his hair has gone stark white (hence the name). The two of us then had a brief but deep talk on the nature of depression. As for The Milds, the three of us basically devoted most of the class on talking about his performance on Sunday. Apparently, the leader and conductor of Mr. Mild's glee club was not too complimentary about the first part of the show...I have to admit that the early stuff did come out off-tune...but by the end, the group was humming like a well-oiled machine. Strangely enough, the talk turned to my Mixi experience, and they both got really interested. I may have created a couple of online monsters here.

It was Miss Sedona's final lesson with me before she heads off to Toronto for what could be her new life. Not too much studying...pretty laidback class and then the usual questions about my hometown.

I've only got 001 tonight and then I plan on getting the heck out of Dodge by 9 before Typhoon 18 pummels on in.

Tuesday October 6, 1:25 p.m.

A bit of a bummer....I wanted to use today's session at the I-Cafe to get some more translation done, but this computer won't download the file. Just a bit of a bummer, since I'm "resigned" to a bit of surfing instead.

This week may actually turn out to be the busiest week I've had since early summer. I've got 3 early wake-up calls, plus Shrek's translation, one small one from The Corner along with the regular student classes. Unfortunately, this will all occur with the backdrop of a major typhoon coming our way tomorrow. I just saw the icon on the weather map with a diagonal umbrella and driving rain to realize that it could be rather hard commuting on Wednesday.

David Letterman's being doing a lot of mea culpa over the past few days since it was revealed that he hadn't just been relying on certain members of his staff for jokes. I think "The Late Show"'s new slogan should be "Stay up for Dave. He certainly has." Of course, some of his fellow late night host have declared a feeding frenzy and jumped on his tribulation like a cat on juicy mice. A bit sad but the late night show host fraternity has been anything but....more like a fracternity. Plus, as one lady said on Jeanne Moos' report, "If he can dish it out, he should be able to take it." And certainly, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer is probably not crying too hard for ol' Dave.

Monday October 5, 10:45 p.m.

Finished off The Medicine Man tonight. Man, it was another slow one with him, but then again, the two of us were beat.

I received a great line from Mrs. Jyuppie just now. She couldn't do the test, not because the dog ate it, but her baby daughter did! Ahhh...my job just gets more and more interesting.

The news has been buzzing about the sudden mysterious death of ex-Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa. A couple of years, it was Agriculture Ministers who were falling by the wayside, but now it's the money men. Apparently, he was a real nice guy in the political world and in the world of constituents, but he regrettably lost it all earlier this year with his inadvertent Foster Brooks impression at the G-8 Finance Ministers meeting in Italy. Not sure what he died from...could've overdosed on medicine.

Cozy is now officially my newest student. And he wants to get the earliest slot on Friday. So it looks like I'm gonna have three consecutive early wake-up calls for the latter part of the week. But at least I'm gonna be making some money again after a lean couple of months, and Cozy told me straight out that my usual wage is too low and that he would give me a whopping 5,000 yen for 60. Gotta keep this guy.

Monday October 5, 8:33 p.m.

May have the prelude to a typhoon outside of these walls right now. It's been raining the proverbial cats and dogs for the past several hours.

However, yesterday was quite pleasant for Mr. Mild's debut as a basso profundo member of his chorus. The juku boss and I made our way to Urayasu Culture Hall in the afternoon and got to see my student in full James Bond tuxedo get up on the stage with a few dozen other middle-aged fellows to sing a number of Japanese folk tunes as well as UK ditties such as "Loch Lomond". Strangely enough, at the same time as this concert, there was indeed a festival held in Chiba City organized by the Japan-Scotland Friendship Society. Some cabers were thrown, some kilts were raised, but there were no panic-stricken starship engineers. In any case, both the boss and I were surprised to see Mr. White and his family show up as well. Mrs. White is quite the opposite of hubby...garrulous, opinionated and with a machine gun for a voice. I thought she came from the Kansai.

It's been a busy one today. Although two lessons are on the slate today (Swank and The Medicine Man), I finally got that meeting with The Romantic and his boss...seems that research project is indeed a research project looking for raw corporate data. Looks like I'm the newest unofficial member of their network. And I'm grinding through Shrek's translation of that rental contract. I'm halfway through, so it looks like I may be able to finish it tomorrow at the I-Cafe.

Anyways, would love to write more but still busy.