April 5

Wind, rain and cold are plaguing Tokyo once more this weekend. So much for cherry-blossom season. It looks like a lot of those delicate petals are going down the sewer today. If we are lucky, there may be some hope for Sunday although with the amounts pouring down today, it'll be some pretty soggy sitting.

Just caught a Biography of Carrie Fisher, a former target of puppy love back in the 70s. Man, she went through more hell than Princess Leia ever did as a Rebel leader. Can't believe she's now a portly 47.

April 4

Capped off another quiet week with dinner with some old students of mine in an Italian restaurant in Shinjuku. I hadn't seen one of them in several months due to her long stay in England. I thought she would have picked up an accent there but that wasn't the case. The food was quite good; Italian has become quite a mastered cuisine in this country, and the typical Italian eatery has become as ubiquitious as a sushi shop. Our maitre 'd seemed to take his job a bit too happily, though. He had a frozen smile and an annoying penchant for spouting Italian which creeped us out sometimes.

Well, I got a heads-up that next week, the busy days will be back. I'll be doing another one of those all-day intensives for the freshmen for one of our clients. Not one of my favourite assignments since a number of these Intensives are frankly of no immeidate use to them. Maybe I can feign SARS.

April 2

Just looking at one of the numerous specials that pop up on Japanese TV between seasons. This one is the CDTV countdown special celebrating the show's 10th anniversary. Boy, nothing dates you than seeing music videos from 10 years back. A lot of those bands have disappeared into nothing. Such is the fleeting nature of fame.

April 2

The black suits are comin'! With the arrival of April, the new fresh-faced addtions to the Japanese work force were out in full force yesterday all over the city. Boy and girls....erk, men and women...were hitting the streets in their new suits and ties and dresses with crisp black bags all against the backdrop of blossoming cherry trees. Oh, how Japanese!

Up and down in the temps department again. We've got some major rain here now and it's back to cold. And my cold is still haunting me.

One of my biggest Internet horrors has come to pass finally. I accidentally deleted all of the good mail instead of the spam mail through the screening software. Major frustration!

March 31

In this currently uncertain world, it is nice to know that there are some nice days to be had. It was the very first gloriously Spring Monday in Tokyo this year. And as I was walking toward the Hotel New Otani from Yotsuya Station, it was nice to see the cherry trees blossoming beautifully, and the temps balmy. Also, I had what was probably the best cocoa I've ever had in Japan in the hotel thanks to my students.

It also didn't hurt that I got to finish at 1 today, so just came back home, did a bit of shopping and then watched some Babylon 5 DVDs before cooking up some dinner. This week looks light as well, and I think I may be finishing even earlier on Wednesday. I'll be appreciating every minute of this week since things will get back to normal within a couple of weeks.

March 28

Ugh! Fighting Darth Throat. Thanks to a cold and a lot of talking in class over the last couple of days, I now have a voice which is a mix of James Earl Jones and a bullfrog. I could probably do a decent version of the famous Budweiser commercial from a few years back. Time to hit the tea and honey.

I see on CNN that the battle map is starting to look a bit crowded in Iraq; kind of like a RISK gameboard after the 7th hour of play. Georgie is getting a bit testy about being questioned on the length of this war but, hey, he and his Cabinet were implying that it would be a bit of a cakewalk before the 20th.

Over here in the Land of the Rising Sun, the (fiscal) year is coming to an end, and come April, everything reactivates from the companies to the TV schedules. University grads are spiffing up their new polyester suits and black bags to enter real society and copious amounts of drinking and abuse. As for me, I'm waiting for CSI to arrive on TV.

Bought a Yellow Magic Orchestra CD a couple of days back. For those not in the know, YMO just happens to be one of the big original bands for technopop which came into being just shortly after Germany's Kraftwerk. The band included Ryuichi Sakamoto, now better "known" to the world at large as the Oscar-winning composer for The Last Emperor. The album I got was "BGM", one of their most techno albums. Their earlier efforts mixed a lot of Oriental flavor and other genres, but this one was pretty pure techno, and it struck me that this was a bit of a precursor to the techno albums of today.

March 27

Thanks to a big hole in my schedule which swallowed my classes in the middle of this week, I find myself with a lot of time on my hands to write and watch TV. Two of my classes on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons got canned or given away to somebody else so I've been able to come home quite early and head out quite late. Not complaining too much, for now.

Spring has finally come to stay. My windows are way open and I'm feeling no pain.

After my lone 2-hour class tonight, I'll be heading out to see a fellow teacher off before he leaves the country permanently. When he first came in, I wondered about how popular he would be but it looks like I had nothing to worry about. He's getting a lot of students coming to his going away party tonight.

March 24

Well, Oscars don't really come out here very much, but it was gratifiying to know that Japanese anime, "Spirited Away" aced the Best Animation award.

Having watched this war in live progress for 5 days, I've gotten a very stark perspective of life. While I'm here grumbling sometimes about my job and my boss, there are people half my age half a world away literally fighting for their lives as well as for their country and political philosophy. Heck, five of those people are now in Iraqi custody going through who knows what. At the same time, there are also journalists out there who are risking their lives to get the truth out, two of whom have paid the ultimate price.

Finally after a very long winter, it became warmer; no need for the heater or blankets anymore. Amen.

March 21

Bush's War is in its second day now. Because Japan treats the First Day of Spring as a national holiday, I got to spend the day with CNN. All I can say is that Aaron Brown must have a lot of time on his hands. For 3 hours, I see him and General Clark talking and cheering on the wonders of the videophone. Over here, the Japanese coverage has been steady.

The president of my soon-to-be former school asked me to have a coffee with him after work last night; the first time in 5 years he's ever invited to anything. He implored me to reconsider my departure and offered me a higher position with higher salary...at the expense of two staff members which he quietly trashed to abandon. The only question that went through my brain was why he couldn't ask me this years ago. I sense a president who is in desperate need of an MBA.

March 18

Well, Bush has thrown down the gauntlet, Hussein has thrown his gauntlet, the UN inspectors are high-tailing it, and over 200,000 troops are massed and ready to kick butt. Plus, the Dept. of Homeland Security has raised the alert up to Orange. Great! I'll just be going to my first class in downtown Tokyo at an oil organization which just sits next to the US Embassy. I wonder if the class will be a bit more interesting than usual.

March 17

The big trip to Tateyama in Chiba worked out pretty well, and that big fear of lightening my wallet didn't come to pass. However, for one thing, that "Romance Car" just ended up being a regular express train so the cost wasn't nearly as bad. Also, lunch was provided by one of our students.

After a 2-hour ride to the other side of Tokyo Bay, our first stop was a strawberry farm. They do things a bit differently than how we would pick the berries back home. They cut out the transportation of the berries back home and just encourage everyone to pick and eat right in the patch. We were given 2 plastic containers, one containing condensed milk and the other was for the berry butts after we ate them. Not a bad system; I managed to down about 30 berries before finishing off the milk.

Then it was off to the seashore where we had my student's exquisitely prepared box lunches which included rolled sushi, fried chicken and marinated meat balls. It was quite nice munching with the waves crashing on the rocks. Then, it was up a long flight of stairs to a hotel nearby for coffee and cake. Well, you might imagine that we were feeling pretty stuffed after lunch and dessert so we took a long walk along the road for about an hour to burn off the excess calories before reaching a tourist store selling lots of flowers, honey and peanut-based goods (Chiba is well known for its peanut crops).

Finally, the girls negotiated a ride with a taxi driver who was very kind to give us a tour around the area before leaving us at the station. Another half-hour of drinks in the nearby cafe, and then we were off to another town an hour away towards Tokyo called Kisarazu. There we went to a Japanese pub, or izakaya, for a clam-based meal. The best dish was the clams steamed in sake. However the meal tended toward the deep-fried side so I felt somewhat bloated this morning. All in all, a nice gourmet tour.

In other news, looks like it'll be a light week for me. My night class got canned so I got home around 3:30 today and the same appears likely for Wednesday. Also, Friday is a national holiday, the Vernal Equinox, although I think this week has started more like the depths of winter.

March 15

I had one of those rare days in my teaching career as I got slapped on the wrist for unprofessional conduct. Strangely enough, the slap came from four high school students whom we're currently grooming for life in American universities. These guys are very keen though a bit on the hyper side. Still, they're very good nonetheless. They came to me after class tonight to good-naturedly chastise me for being too generous on them during their speech class. And you know, they were absolutely right; I have been much too easy on them. They were nice about it, but I'm taking it quite seriously so I'm not exactly too thrilled with myself right now.

Well, the past week has been light though those high school classes have still managed to tap my energy reserves. I'm looking forward to the weekend. On Sunday, I'll be heading out with two other teachers and three students to the tip of Chiba Prefecture for a little walk through the woods, a nice little excursion for a person who hardly ventures outside of the megalopolis. However, I'll have to shuck out a good 15000 to 20000 yen for the round trip tickets on the Romance Car. The Romance Car is just a moniker for an observation train car with enlarged windows and movable seats. Lucky I got paid today. Still, this will pretty much deplete the entertainment budget for the month.

Very happy that there's been a resurgence in the return of American TV programs here in Japan on regular and satellite TV. The last time we've had such an influx was back in the 50s when there wasn't enough original domestic programming to fill the airwaves in Japan's virgin industry. Now, it's just the case I've become disinterested in the tons of trendy dramas and variety shows. The West Wing is firmly esconced here along with all of the Star Trek series, plus we're getting CSI in April. However, the great experiment with Buffy didn't take, and Ally is coming to a series end this Sunday. Heck, I even caught an old episode of Gunsmoke this morning. Now, if only we could get either Alias or 24, we'll really be making progress.

March 12

We're definitely in a light week. First, my non-teaching Monday, followed by a shortened Tuesday session and now a 9-hour break between a morning and evening class. Not that I'm complaining too much about it. However, from my classes, I've been getting a largely negative reaction to this upcoming war in Iraq. People from my oil company class to my group of travel-loving middle-aged ladies are frankly a little concerned. Mind you, the UN actually did show a bit of gumption and managed to stave off D-Day to the 20th, at least.

March 10

One of those non-teaching teaching days. My first couple of classes were just chat fests as they usually are. And then, my final class had two of my students coming in over an hour late so that I just did an iota of instruction. Still managed to feel tired

The hay fever is still beating down on me. My nose was stuffed up so I had to apply some Tiger Balm-like medicine to my upper lip to clear my sinuses. My eyes are still looking pretty bloodshot.

I caught the trailer for the next Charlie's Angels movie. The suspension of disbelief required is probably even higher than the "lift n' separate" of the stars' bras.

March 10

A bit of a bittersweet weekend. Found out from my ex-(?) that she'll moving out of prefecture next weekend. It's not too bad; she says that she can still reach downtown Tokyo in less than an hour but our meetings will become even more infrequent. Also, found out last night how much out of synch a person can be with other people. My good friend's friends are good people but they just don't mesh with my personality, and I think that was vice versa.

Caught the latest Bond flick yesterday. I was rather surprised that the hoary series still managed to draw the folks over in Tokyo in. It was a very serviceable movie with the usual sex-and-violence. However, I hope the next movie will have a much better theme song. Where's Shirley Bassey or Carly Simon?

Hay fever is still running rampant with my sinuses, and my eyes are as "road-mapped" as a major urban centre. One can only hope that someone decides to deforest much of Chiba Prefecture.

March 5

It's been an up-and-down week. Luckily, the down side is coming from tomorrow. Tuesday was pretty heavy but the last couple of days will be fairly stress-free. My school is now hosting 40 high school kids heading for the States to study in university. So far, the kids I've had are pretty good and keen; I'm very grateful....I've had some real dumpees over the past few years, so it's good when one gets kids who are very eager for the trip abroad.

It's also been up and down in terms of the weather. We've had some pretty stiff gales to rival those in Chicago this week. Plus, the temps have been doing some major yo-yos. For the next little while, we'll be fairly cold but perhaps next week, we may be getting those first few licks of spring.

February 27

Finally got that 4-day Intensive out of the way. No more of those 2-hour commutes crosstown. That little adventure got tiring pretty quickly. However, the training centre was nice, supplied good lunches and bottomless cups of coffee. Glad it's all over now, and I can start my weekend a day ahead of schedule...a little reward for the work.

Strangely enough, the big news here is about a Bullet Train driver who was asleep at the wheel for about 8 minutes and ended up having the computer stop the train 90 metres away from the station. With both NHK and Japan Railways calling a major red alert on this incident, despite the fact that no one died or was hurt, that driver must feel a whole lot like Charlie Brown after he screwed up in that spelling bee.

February 25

Well, the winter of yesterday has been replaced by the near-spring of today. Unfortunately, that means the hay fever is back. My mask was on!

Day 2 of the Intensive was better although I'm still left rather drained by the experience. It also doesn't help that I go through a 2-hour commute back and forth each way. However, on the plus side, I still appreciate having nights off.

Looks like North Korea is coming into the backyard and fooling around without asking. It decided to give the new incoming South Korean president a warm welcome with a Silkworm missile.

February 24

The winter this year in Tokyo has been long and hard. It's been bitterly cold today and we even got snowed upon, although it was of the very wet, non-accumulating variety. One wonders if Spring will come here on time.

Today I had the first day of a 4-day Intensive based on Listening. Got the job done but it's never easy when one has somewhat uninspired students who've been forced to attend by their minders. The material is tough enough as it is without people who really don't want to be there. That, combined with the lousy weather, gave me a rather tough Monday.

But I am happy to say that I could get home and make a nice hearty meal of soup and kimchi chicken. Nothing like good ol' comfort food.

February 22

Well, I had the graduation party today for our students on a chilly cloudy day. We had it in our current venue of choid, C-AMBER, a somewhat incongruous restaurant of slickness and style surrounded by the usual Starbucks clones and down-and-dirty izakayas in the Ichigaya district.

Pretty much everyone showed up who was to graduate, and we had a larger-than-usual turnout of teachers to see them off. A couple of our grads came in full kimono, a common form of dress for women graduating from college or university in Japan. I had the MC duties as I've been having for the past 5 years, and we dutifully handed out the diplomas. Then came speeches from all the grads. One particularly had everyone, including this author, on the edge of their seats as the speaker, with a brilliant combination of pregnant pauses, expressions and giggling, described her very first lesson with little ol' me. Whew! Bullet averted. Then we had our musical performances from a student and teacher before we all broke up.

Of course, this being Japan, that didn't end the day's events. Of course, we had to follow up on the nijikai, or second party. So we went down the block to the neighbourhood karaoke box for a couple of hours of singing, and then there was the final stage at the izakaya. The past year's students were a good crew and there were a few misty pairs of eyes when it was finally time to say good-bye but at least some enterprising new alumni decided to keep the good times rolling by suggesting a day trip out to a local mountain next month.