Thursday July 14, 2:16p.m.

I've been taking my fair share of shots over the past couple of days. I was taking my walk through Ginza and I took a picture of the newest additions to the ritziness of one of the most expensive shopping areas on the planet. The GAP store opened up sometime in May, I believe.

Took this one walking down westward from the main intersection of 4-chome in Ginza. Yep, it felt even hotter than it looked when I took this pic. The ladies had their parasols up like starships with shields. Not that it mattered too much....the concrete was just reflecting the heat and sun back at us.

This is a shot of West Shinjuku from the 17th floor of the Nittochi Building where I teach Mr. Swank. Just has that metropolitan look all over it. Walking from there back to Speedy takes about 20 minutes. In a Tokyo summer, that would be enough to shed a kilo or so. Luckily, there are plenty of vending machines and convenience stores to prevent pedestrians from collapsing on the sidewalk. Good thing, too, since if they did land, they would end up sizzling like fried eggs.

Wednesday July 13, 4:52 p.m.

Just one of my latest additions to my CD collections over the past few weeks. And since I'm not only on energy conservation, but also on financial conservation, I got this one for just a hundred yen at the nearby Recomints in Nakano Broadway.

Yep, Mariya Takeuchi looks rather plain Jane-ish for some reason considering that she was one of the few singers in Japanese pop in the 80s who also could have struck up a pretty decent career in modeling.

But I guess the photographer wanted her to be relatively cosmetic-less for her shot in her 1987 release of "Request" since she was doing covers of her own songs written for other singers...going the chameleon route, so to speak. I believe this was her second album since coming back from her 3-year hiatus. Even though she didn't come off as a typical aidoru singer in her early period, she made a comeback with an even more maturer sound although her songs still retained a bit of that 50s Connie Francis touch, especially with the track "Kenka o yamete" (Stop Fighting) that would've been perfect backing a scene with Tab Hunter and Sandra Dee having a spat.

Anyways, I had my lone lesson yesterday with The New Yorker. She and her sister, The Carolinan, had had their trip to Okinawa last week. Although The New Yorker has been to Japan's southernmost prefecture a few times, this was The Carolinan's first foray. The New Yorker assumed that her big sis had had a good time; it's always a mystery with The Carolinan since she has a rather good poker face on a lot of things. In any case, I did get a box of Taco Rice Mix (a delicacy in the Ryukyus, thanks to some good ol' Tex-Mex influence) and an Okinawan cookie which I scarfed down for breakfast this morning.

I finally relented this morning and turned on the air conditioner for the first time this morning. It was nice not to have been sweating most of my bodily fluids in my own living room although I almost burned off my fingers when I pulled out the plug of the AC before heading out. I guess it's pretty darn old.

Had lunch at my favorite Chinese place, Jukeifu, in the Maynds Tower in Shinjuku...I was stuffing myself with free dumplings so that I wouldn't go hungry tonight since I won't be having dinner per se. I've got a rare busy night tonight with 001, Mrs. Thursday (it seems she likes switching her nights from time to time) and then Kirk.

After lunch, I went over to Kinokuniya and Tower Records...just to browse of course. I saw the magazines hailing the final Harry Potter movie coming out this Saturday here. Looks like the movie is getting some grand treatment from the reviewers. Would be a good way for it to go out....I just haven't been all that impressed with the series as a whole. If I could just see a halfway decent movie as the finale, I would leave Hogwarts with some level of satisfaction.

Tuesday July 12, 10:17 a.m.

These have been uncertain times for me (read: crappy). My juku days are pretty much done since The Milds have left the building, Mr. White is battling his depression and The Journo is now busy catching up on his career. There has been a dropoff in my work at Speedy's, and I've got those hefty bills of city taxes and National Health Insurance premiums to pay. Plus there's the fact that I will probably have to pay a chunk to have my real estate agency guarantee my apartment in the remaining time I have here. Of course, there is also the problem of moving and air tickets.
I've been trying to save up on spending but it's gonna be rough. I don't want to, but I may have to ask the parents to help me out. Of course, Dad will harangue me about why I even bothered moving to Japan in the first place.
But I finally found out the real reason that the juku boss has been exhorting me to get her off as my apartment guarantor. She's finally decided to divorce her husband. Her husband has always struck me as being taciturn but not a bad sort. However, he is a 180-degree switch from his overexuberant wife, and finally that difference snapped the bonds over the past couple of months. She's been looking for a new place, and as such, she probably would not want to have the burden of apartment guarantorship.

Tuesday July 12, 9:56 a.m.

Back on Sunday, I met up with Cozy and the (former) juku boss for our 4th annual dinner. This year, we decided to try out the inner city area of Tsukishima near Cozy's neck of the woods.

Whenever anyone mentions Tsukishima to a local here, his/her mind will invariably conjure up the image of monjayaki. Monjayaki is not very well known (if even that) in the West...even considering that gyudon has become a staple in American airports. And the reason for that is the second picture from the top. As you can see, it kinda looks like

something that someone egested instead of ingested. And I have to admit that I've often referred to some of the messes that the Friday drunken sots leave on the subway platforms as street monja.

Monjayaki is the ugly Tokyo stepsister of the pancake-like Kansai okonomiyaki which apparently has made sort of inroads (we've had an okonomiyaki restaurant in Toronto for decades). The solids consist of cabbage, chosen meats and other ingredients...rather like the stuff that goes into the drier okonomiyaki. However, what makes the difference is the soup that makes monja initially unpalatable.

The soup is made from fish stock, water and cornstarch. Also, there is a somewhat more complicated process in making monja in that the dry stuff has to be put on the oiled griddle first without dropping the soup in. When the cabbage is cooked and chopped up, then the ingredients are shaped into an atoll, and the soup becomes the lagoon. With the cornstarch in the soup, it quickly becomes this plasticky goop that is combined with the dry stuff to make the final product.

As I've said, Tsukishima is the home of monjayaki. The main street, Nishinaka-dori, was bracketed by several monjayaki restaurants. The three of us ended up going to this place called Okame for our monja. It took me a long while to get to like the stuff but I can say that I can eat it quite happily now. And with so much of Japanese cuisine, a lot of Western variations have come into the mix (no pun intended). We had three monja with the first being Corned Beef Monja. Neither Cozy nor the boss had ever tried this one but it turned out to be the best of the bunch.

The taste of monja is obviously very savory, or umami. But usually a lot of monja neophytes wonder about the texture due to its resemblance to something very unpleasant. However, despite the plasticky nature of the soup, the cabbage and the other solids help to give it a grateful bite and crunchiness. Now along with the 3 monja, we also ended up having a couple of rounds of yakisoba to finish things off. Our waitresses were definitely very salt-of-the-earth types. When it was obvious that I was not doing things correctly cooking up the stuff, the veteran waitress immediately jumped in to help things along the right path. And I was grateful that she was nice about it. Some of these rustic places are famous (or infamous) for employing grumbly impatient asses just to add some of that Showa-era atmosphere. Definitely one aspect of Japanese culture I will never care for.

Despite being here for 16 years, I had never been to Tsukishima before. A bit of a pity that I've only come to explore it now.

Monday July 11, 8:37 p.m.

Finished for the day. I had my usual early morning with Cozy and then it would be several hours of traipsing through Ginza before I made my way to Shinjuku to teach Mr. Swank and then back here to finish off with Miss Genki. It'd been several weeks since my last visit to Ginza; made my way to Yamano Music...didn't buy any CDs since I'm trying to be very careful with my money but I realized that the place also sells some of those rather obscure discs that I'd assumed would only be available at discount stores like Tacto in Jimbocho and Recomints in Nakano Broadway. And the cost isn't too bad since we're talking about oldies.
I had a talk with Cozy about his annual translation requests since I won't be around Japan as of the end of the year. I suggested my former colleague, AK, as my replacement since she's a professional translator. And I figure that I owe her one for giving me some work with her TV stuff. I've sent word to her; hopefully it will be a positive reply.
Tried to work some magic with Mr. Swank with some work on Japanese politics; a bit iffy. The vocabulary is still an issue with him so I'll have to bring some further structure when I see him next on Thursday morning.
Miss Genki was not quite as genki as she usually is since we were pretty much focusing on the text today. But we did have our "Glee" moments. I actually a couple of episodes from the 2nd season last night on cable. I'd gone through the "Glee" DVD of Season 1 earlier in the year but the show hasn't manage to last with me. There have been some obvious changes in the dynamics since the last year, but I'm still not really all that willing to catch up with Season 2.

Monday July 11, 6:34 p.m.

Definitely into the summer. Today's high was about 33 C, which probably means Shinjuku was 38 degrees. But we're slowly getting used to the new temps and so far we haven't blown a major area-wide fuse.

Saturday was another Movie Day and DVD Night with MB. Started off with another stint at Foo Foo, our favorite ramen restaurant in Shinjuku Station.

Yes, you must be wondering what insanity went through our brains to actually choose hot spicy ramen as our lunch in brain-melting weather. Well, it was foodie insanity. And we were indeed sweating like Richard Simmons at a Hell's Angels meeting. And for the converted, ramen is good at any time of the year, even during blistering July and August.

Our first movie of the weekend was "Thor", the B-tier Marvel superhero. Forgot that it was master thespian Kenneth Branagh who had directed this mid-level superhero flick. Nowhere near "The Dark Knight" but nowhere near "Elektra" either. It was just a nice little intro to the Odinson. It rather felt more like a prelude to a bigger movie (which will be "The Avengers" in 2012) than it did an individual movie in its own right...along the same lines as the very first "X-Men" movie when compared to "X2". MB wondered aloud the necessity for the romance angle with a largely wasted Natalie Portman (I guess she felt like slumming after her tour de force in "Black Swan"), but again it seems foredestined that a love interest has to accompany any of the superheroes. Of course, all eyes over here were focused on the guy playing the dour Hogun of The Warriors Three, Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano. He had more than a cameo appearance but it was obvious that he stuck very much to the phonetically written script lines given to him.

Afterwards, we got out of the sauna that was Shinjuku and headed overe to MB's neck of the woods in Jiyugaoka. Ended up having dinner at at Italian place called La Baracca which had a very nice atmosphere complete with wood-fired pizza oven. That picture above was of my dinner, the Asparagus and Garlic Penne stuffed with ground meat. Good dinner but it did wipe out most of my wallet.

The DVD of the night was "Speed Racer"...yep that one by the Wachowski Bros (or should I now say the brother-sister act of the Wachowskis?). It had come out more than 3 years ago with a lot of stinky reviews. But after watching it, I thought it was a pretty OK homage to the Japanese original which got a bit of a bum rap for being too original....kinda like how "Dick Tracy" was treated 20 years ago. Not nearly as bad as the critics said it was. And Christina Ricci is never bad for the eyes although being a kids' flick, her clothes were very much stuck to her.

Thursday July 7, 7:35 p.m.

Ahhh...did forget to give my congratulations to PyeongChang for getting the 2018 Winter Olympics after losing out twice to Vancouver and Sochi. Just like the saying, "Three times' the charm". Just hope North Korea doesn't decide to spoil the party.

Mrs. Speedy just got home and gave me something called a curry dorayaki. A dorayaki is ordinarily two small pancakes encasing anko (sweet bean paste), but this one contains curry paste. Well, not bad....probably an acquired taste but I'm OK with it.

Thursday July 7, 6:05 p.m.

One of my must-have drinks during this summer. I was wondering about that phrase underneath the title, "Refreshing & Uplifting". It is indeed English but the combination struck me as slightly odd Japlish. And sure enough, Bay, who has seen this photo, pointed out that the American bottles don't have the caption. All I could think about was mentholated Wonderbras.

The German came in and we had an actual text lesson today but it was almost like fighting against a tidal wave trying to keep on text. Kinda like teaching 001. Speaking of whom, Arashi's No. 1 fan informed me that her particular favorite, Masaki Aiba, has ended up in hospital due to a nasty bout of pneumothorax. And the boys have got a concert schedule in about 3 weeks. Of course, the big question is whether Aiba-kun will be able to make it on stage in time. Most likely, Johnny Kitagawa himself will probably kick his protege/boy toy out of bed and force him to make a press conference where Aiba will tearfully apologize to the public for causing so much trouble by contracting a serious disease. Yes, I am pretty snarky about Japanese culture when I want to be.

Thursday July 7, 3:12 p.m.
As I was walking to the station a couple of days ago, I came across this scene at a neighbourhood apartment's garbage dumping area. Sign of the times, I say.
In 17 days, these television sets will be officially labeled extinct although as you can see here, the fossils are already starting to pile up. Since Japan is going completely digital as of the 24th, the old tube TVs (or buraun-kan terebi) have been piling up along with the banana peels and eggshells in garbage dumps all over the country. Of course, these TVs have been dumped illegally. That pink sign states that these sets cannot be picked up and recycled since the recycling fee hasn't been paid through the convenience stores with the appropriate receipt sticker stuck onto the set. But hey, I can understand a bit of the dumper's plight since I wouldn't be too enthusiastic about having to pay $40 to have a truck come and pick my own 40-year-old set up. Yup, my old Sharp still has a little over 2 weeks of life left before the days of analog come to an end. Not sure what I will do with mine when the Day of Reckoning comes. I may just have it as a really big ornament.

Thursday July 7, 3:05 p.m.

Today is Tanabata! It's the holiday for star-crossed lovers...yadayadayada. But for most people, it's their opportunity to write their wishes onto colored bands of paper and attach them to tree branches. I'm sure this would be something that Temperance "Bones" Brennan would sniff her nose at.

The pictures of the colorful Tanabata decorations were taken at the Nihombashi branch of Takashimaya last Friday. And the band up above was written by some kid exhorting some people in Sendai to hang in there during these rough times. I haven't tied a band onto a branch but if I could I would write to wish everyone in Japan to improve their lot in life.

Just have a couple of students today: The German and Mrs. Thursday. Both have always been chatty types so the lessons should flow pretty easily. Actually, the weather isn't so blisteringly hot today...will be looking forward to a cooler night tonight.

Wednesday July 6, 5:41 p.m.

Yep, that sizzling dish to the left is of my trek to the Gold Rush, that hamburg steak restaurant that the Movie Gang had gone to back on Sunday before "Super 8". That is a picture of The Triple Rush, a combo plate of Cheddar Burger, Grated Radish Burger and Bacon Burger with the throw-in of veggies and baked potato. I asked for a sausage for an extra buck....hey, they offered, I took it. Considering all of the calories at stake (no pun intended), the name Triple Bypass would also be a fine way to address this dish. Still, it was a good dinner since I hadn't had any lunch.

Heatwise, it wasn't the sauna-like conditions of a week ago, but it is definitely summer out there. I actually stopped by Jimbocho where my favorite old CD shops are located. I checked out Tacto and Disk Union...if I'm still solvent by the end of the month, I may pick up a couple of discounted discs there.

I'm just having 001 today since Kirk did a dotakyan this morning which means I still get paid for the class. Luckily, I'm feeling far more regular than I did for 001's lesson last week. I've been eating plenty of veggies for the past 7 days.

Monday July 4, 4:02 p.m.

Whilst most of America is (gonna be) enjoying The Fourth of July, it's just a regular day here. However, it is a slightly cooler and drier Monday compared to the heat and humidity of last week which gladdens me no end.

Yesterday, after my session with The Jyuppies, I met up with The Movie Gang of Skippy, Movie Buddy, The Satyr and The Wedding Planner at JR Shinjuku for what could be an epic month of movie-watching due to all the flicks that are coming out. We first had dinner at another Skippy recommendation called The Gold Rush which is just a few doors down from Studio Alta, one of the area's landmarks. The Gold Rush is a chain that serves variations on the hamburg steak that is de rigueur within the interesting culinary category of yo-shoku or Japanese-style Western food. The Shinjuku branch is basically just a basement corridor with a few booths lining the place....quite cramped in there. I had the Triple Rush of burger with cheese, burger with grated radish and burger with a bacon slice on top...all frying away on the hot plate. Luckily, I made do without lunch yesterday.

The main event was "Super 8". It was a pleasant enough summer timewaster; definitely not on the level of "E.T." although I'm one of the few people on the planet who couldn't even get through halfway through that movie (just too schmaltzy for me). There was definitely a feeling of camraderie between the two flicks although "Super 8" was far less sentimental about the creature and its relationships with humans. Basically, the only recognizable face in the large cast was Elle Fanning due to her more famous sister and the fact that Elle had been in the much-acclaimed "Somewhere" directed by Sofia Coppola. Overall, it came off as an intense kids' version of "The Outer Limits"...no big twists, just a straight-on sci-fi adventure with the usual Spielbergian touches of parent-child angst. I think I liked it a bit better than MB and The Satyr; they complained about the unevenness of the story.

Afterwards, the gang and I ended up downstairs at The Brooklyn Parlor, my third visit to the place and my first at night. Yep, the atmosphere is nice and the prices are New York level. Had dessert there this time in the form of Cherry Pie with a nice buttery crust and a Coconut Latte.

Next Saturday, the option is already in to catch "Thor" with another stayover at MB's.

Saturday July 2, 3:21 p.m.

Finished up with my two classes. It was another serious but good lesson with The Intellectual. We got into the discussion about the government's handling of the Fukushima Crisis.

I've just been diddling about the Net since I don't particularly want to head home while it's still feeling like a blast furnace. Not that it's that much different when I get home at night. I really have to open the windows. I did manage to put my Japanese writing skills to good practice by blogging down about the fact that it'll soon be 30 years to the day that I made my 2nd trip to this country and stayed at the Tokyo Prince Hotel for my first 5 nights. The place hasn't changed one whit since 1981. A lot of water under the hashi since those teenage days.

Saturday July 2, 12:12 p.m.

Sad to say but I almost forgot to mention that it was my country's birthday yesterday. 144 years young! Mind you, the only thing I did to commemorate the anniversary was to listen to a little-known Junko Ohashi tune called "Canadian Lullaby" which has absolutely no reference to Canada in the lyrics. Maybe I should drink down a bottle of maple syrup in penance but since one of those bottles of Medium No. 1 now cost close to a thousand yen a pop, I think I'll have to settle for the usual pancake breakfast tomorrow.

Finished what was probably my final lesson with Mrs. Prissy; certainly she thinks it is since she got me a couple of Peanuts postcards as a gift. Plus, she only has a few lessons left on her current contract so there is a possibility that she may not renew in any case.

Saturday July 2, 10:28 a.m.

Just a picture of a small brook in the middle of Shinjuku that I'd taken back on the hottest day of the year a few days back. But actually, the past couple of days have been slightly less volcanic in temps much to my delight. We did get some rather intense squalls shortly after my walk through Hell on Wednesday which cooled things down nicely. Just going up to 30 C today....believe me, taking into accounts recent heat and humidity levels, that temp is a blessing!

Yesterday turned out to be a triple cafe day. I had The Bass in our usual coffeehouse in Funabashi. There was a barfly of sorts knocking back beer (yes, I know, this is a cafe but beer still flows just as easily there) while belching and having his dirty feet on the seat, but thankfully outside of bad manners, he didn't bother us. Then, it was some hours later when I came across The OL for her first official lesson with me in 3 years. We met at our old haunt in Nihonbashi's COREDO complex...the Ueshima Coffeehouse...a lot fancier than the Funabashi place but definitely more crowded. The two of us had to occupy a couple of tall stools by the entrance. The OL was somewhat lamenting the fact that although she and her two sisters (my former student The UL and the otaku sis) are now well into their 30s they're still nowhere near marriage. Hey, join my club. I've got jackets!

And finally, I had The Godfather in the Tully's in Tameike-Sanno. Although we're basically having the lesson without a net (i.e. no text), we've been having good sessions talking about the birth of his new company and the fact that he's already got 3 projects on tap...all having to do with the recovery of the Tohoku area after the tsunami and earthquake.

I have Mrs. Prissy and The Intellectual today. It may be my final time with the former since she's reported that she can only come on Saturdays now and I'm just coming here as a favor to the bossman.

Tuesday June 28, 2:26 p.m.

Going gaga for Gaga....sounds like going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. But that's what the crowd at NTV studios were doing since their heroine showed up there for what seems to be a nearly annual custom. She's done her concert in Makuhari Messe and now she's doing the media rounds.

Had my usual Beehive at Cafe Nard in Funabashi. The demand for rooms at the community centre in Tsudanuma is high so we couldn't score a room until late July. So, this little cafe will do for the next few weeks. Travel, Alp, Jade and myself expressed some worry over our friend, Mrs. Tee, since apparently she's been going through some major stress in her family life. She's been absent from our little group for the past month or so. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch at a classy Chinese restaurant on the Chiba Kaido.

I finally set foot into my real estate agency to explain my guarantor predicament in person on the way back home. It didn't hurt too bad; the nice clerk there confirmed what I was asking for and he gave me a form to fill out which required to put down an emergency address. I can drag it out some more. However, another clerk had to deal with an irate foreign customer over some sort of problem; I would've disdained the lady but then again I remember that I was in the same sort of mood a few years back when I'd first entered the agency.

After a few days of relatively cool weather, we're back into the blazing heat again....explains why I'm in the I-cafe for the next few hours instead of at home. I can take advantage of the fans and all-you-can-drink option.

Monday June 27, 7:35 p.m.

Well, got the news from the juku boss that she's decided to shut down the offer of English lessons. I can't say that I'm surprised about it since neither Mr. White nor The Journo will be coming back anytime soon if ever. So, the only thing left for me is to nullify her guarantorship of my apartment tomorrow and basically my links with the place that I'd been teaching at for over 5 years will be gone. I'm still not too happy that she's decided to do this.
In Lady Gaga news, apparently, the Lady has found a new appreciation for the popular izakaya cocktail known as a Lemon Sour (shochu and lemon juice). Rumor has it that she was in one of the branches of the popular izakaya chain, Tengu...maybe in Shinagawa, a rather odd place for a celebrity of her stature. Shinagawa Station splits the neighbourhood into a strictly residential area filled with drab apartments and new condos and a neighbourhood filled with hotels and upper middle-class houses...not exactly celeb territory. And it also has the gigantic Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau....unless Gaga's gotten herself into some trouble, I don't think she'll be anywhere near there.

Monday June 27, 5:22 p.m.

I kinda figured that it was due, but I still had to sigh sadly when I heard about Peter Falk's passing on Saturday night via NHK. Lieutenant Columbo was a favorite of Dad's, and I occasionally watched one of the movies on cable. There was a certain appeal about this rumpled detective ultimately getting the best of his targets after having to suffer from their arrogant slings and arrows.

Columbo was part of the rotating lineup on "NBC's Sunday Night Mystery Movie" along with "McCloud", "MacMillan & Wife" and "Hec Ramsay" back in the early 1970s. The theme of the series by Henry "Pink Panther" Mancini ended up becoming Columbo's theme .

But for all of the TV detectives that proliferated in the United States over the past few decades, it was only Columbo who not only made it through the Japanese cultural filter but thrived here in Japan. He had a large fan following and his movies have seen repeated viewings. I can theorize that it was because of Columbo's kindness, humility and quiet deductive brilliance that garnered him his enormous popularity on this side of the Pacific. A lot of the TV detectives here in the weekly suspense dramas also contained these traits but Peter Falk added that something extra with his beat-up raincoat and car, his cockeyed and seemingly confused expression and his "Just one more question, sir..."

Falk even got his chance to do a commercial in Japan for some sort of whiskey, and one of the most famous scriptwriters here even created his own popular detective hero, loosely framed on Columbo. Furuhata Ninzaburo (definitely more difficult to pronounce than Columbo) took on his own eccentricities and keen genius reasoning, and even the show followed the same format of having the plot show how the detective solves the crime rather than who committed it, but Furuhata didn't share the same cuddliness that Columbo had.

I figure that there will be a lot of fans here who will be searching throughout the cable universe over the next few days and nights searching for that episode of "Columbo".

Monday June 27, 5:16 p.m.

Part of that Friday recce included taking a look into the old Tokyo Prince Hotel in the Shiba Park area. Just located a few hundred metres away from Tokyo Tower, this was the Ground Zero for what my life was to become. Almost 30 years ago, I stayed in this place and discovered that Japan was the place I had to study. And strangely enough, the very first of the Prince Hotels hasn't changed one whit in those 3 decades. It was almost as if Doctor Who had plopped a Time Bubble around the structure. I would love to spend a last night here before heading back to the Great White North for good, but with my financial picture looking rather bleak at the moment, just not sure....

Monday June 27, 5:11 p.m.

After finishing with The Godfather in Tameike-Sanno, I ended up spending the next 2 hours doing a walkabout through that area and even down into Tokyo Tower territory. Since I know that I'll be leaving for home by the end of the year, I've started taking photos of the myriad areas that make up the largest metropolis on the planet. It was a bit of an undertaking since it was warm and humid out there but managed to do the recce without fainting. As you can see, I do love the Sunset function on my digital. And I was able to even get a few night shots.