Sat. Sept. 27, 11:16 p.m.

I came home smelling of sweat, tobacco and booze. Namely, it was another long party day with the students and teachers of my school. Had a larger than usual turnout for the September students' welcome party at the Grill, which rather reflects a more outgoing April bunch. It was interesting that throughout the day, I never really got to know the new students except, ironically enough, a fellow who's quickly gained a reputation of being alternately shy and sullen. More on him later.

Also throughout the day, I gleaned more insight into the various teachers and students. One of our new teachers is a young lady who's a very seasoned traveler. She's been going throughout various countries and teaching English there, and now Japan has become her newest port of call; she's very down-to-earth. However, we also have our long time Japanese teacher of English grammar who's at the other end of the spectrum. She's always been a bit in left field, and the people around her have always wondered if she is Japanese or American in her ways. She was especially out there today, with Movie Buddy commenting that she seemed to be using more non sequiturs than usual.

Afterwards, fifteen of us did the usual second party custom of going to karaoke around the corner for a few hours. One teacher, who will now be known as the Rapper, brought us more into the urban side of life with his choices of Eminem for singing. Quite a few of the younger students appreciated that and fully participated. He and I are cordial enough but I don't think we'll ever become friends; we just have too much of a cultural bridge between us.

Then, it was time for the third party which took place at the 300-Yen Bar. Only Movie Buddy knew of its location; two girls who thought they knew ended up taking us way out of range, so we had additional walking to do before an emergency call to Movie Buddy, who had to race back to the karaoke bar to help a mutual friend find her stole and therefore had left the two girls to lead us into oblivion. 15 unnecessary minutes later, Movie Buddy guided us to South Ginza into a dark side street and down the stairs into a basement standing-only bar where everything, and I mean everything, was only worth 300 yen. I initially thought that having to stand for a few hours after the odyssey through Ginza was going to kill me, but I lasted 4 hours standing, drinking, chatting and becoming a pop psychologist.

My role of a 21st-century Fake Freud came into gear when I started gleaning further insight into various members of the group after the influence of alcohol came over them. Ms. Left Field had other things to do so at least I could avoid psychoanalyzing her. The Canuck, a relatively recent addition to the crew, came by with his lovely girlfriend. He's developed a reputation of being an OK if not great teacher and a good guy, to boot. For the next four hours, we all centered around one table in one room of the cavern.

My first "patient" was sweet Ms. M, who has recently shown a very soft emotional side when her favourite teacher, the Yankee, finished his tenure at the school last week, who confided that she was still undergoing some pangs of depression over his departure. I think she just needs a bit of time to recover herself, and after all, she can just send e-mail to him. Then there was the sullen student who actually introduced himself to me. Over the course of the evening, I tried to engage him in conversation but his quiet voice and my push into somewhat more difficult vocabulary put an abrupt end to our talk.

Then, there is the Doll. She actually graduated way back in April, but she decided to take some remedial classes with the top students to prep for her 8-month stay in Seattle in a couple of weeks. She'd always exhibited a certain brittleness and uncertainty, but today it got more pronounced as she became the victim of a round of mild trash talk from the soused duo of Movie Buddy and The Rapper. The forum was a variation of a Truth or Dare game, and she got a bit steamed at some of the explicitness of the statements. I later told her that in America, trash talk was just the usual mediium of chat within a small group of buddies and that she shouldn't get too worked up about it. After all, she will probably have to face some form of it in the States.

And throughout all the therapy, there was another young lady, the Iron Liver, who kinda came in as a bit of a sidekick. She is Ms. M's good friend and she was helping out especially in her "treatment". The Iron Liver moniker came about from her reputation as a fearless drinker, as was evident when she and the Canuck were responsible for a mini-event in which they downed tequila shots with lime and salt. By the end of the night, the Liver and I had swapped e-mail addresses and numbers. I'll probably include her in any Movie Buddy outings. Speaking of which, I do have one of those tomorrow. And I also have to do some planning with the Madame about the Doll's farewell party.

Friday Sept 26, 10:34 p.m.

Pleasant day today. After class, I went over to Shinjuku and met up with Movie Buddy to have some spicy ramen before catching Lara Croft 2. It was one of the few times that Movie Buddy sounded even more pessimistic than I was about the flick. To me, it was actually better than the first one, if only for the lame reason that I was able to stay awake for the sequel. The FX and stunts were good but the story and use of characters were weak points.

Afterwards, we returned back to the area of my school and caught up with a student at a nearby cafe for an hour. I'm in the midst of planning her farewell party before she takes off for Seattle in 2 weeks for the next several months. While she went off to the washroom, we noted that she was usually quite tough on herself, and she needed a better sense of humour. Hopefully, she'll find it in the States.

Then, I had my final Friday night circle at the Tea Room. Nothing too fancy or emotional; just naturally, we rather went over old times before breaking up.

Looks like that morning quake has been upgraded to a Magnitude 8.0, even more powerful than the Kobe Quake and just a few points weaker than the legendary 1923 Kanto Quake which wiped out hundreds of thousands of people in Tokyo and Yokohama. Only the fact that the epicenter was far out to sea saved Hokkaido from becoming a true disaster area. However, the quake became the center of discussion amongst all of the people that I spoke with, especially with the oil class. I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any more possible temblors.

Fri. Sept. 26, 5:38 a.m.

Looks like we've had an exciting start to our morning. About 50 minutes aga, there was a strong quake in the Hokkaido area with a magnitude of 7.8 or Shindo 6 Minus. I did what everyone does and turned on NHK, and saw a whole bunch of NHK offices in the north get majorly rocked. All TV stations are now focused on the quake with a superimposed map of northern Japan showing tsunami warnings. There are even reports of a burning oil refinery, train derailings and power outages. One amusing thing, though, is seeing a Fuji-TV announcer who often comes across as a Jim Carrey-esque clown giving a no-nonsense commentary on the quake

The tremors were felt in my area as slight but unusually long vibrations. So I figured that there was something up with this one. Perhaps those rumours I mentioned in my last entry may have some kernel of truth after all.

Thurs. Sept. 25, 7:54 p.m.

I received an interesting rumour from one of my students yesterday. She had heard that with the recent tremors rocking Tokyo, seismologists are "predicting" that there will be a major quake in the Tokai region (for those not in the know when it comes to Japanese geography, it's the band of land just west of Tokyo including the tea region of Shizuoka) sparked by the explosion of Mt. Fuji on Halloween Day of all days. That ought to bring some excitment to the annual pumpkin carving at my school.

Looks like I may be picking up a couple of more students in the next few weeks. One is a recommendation from my Tuesday night juku owner; she needs help to pass an exam for JAL. And the other is another former student.

The next few days should be quite filled with activity. I've got an early end to my Friday so I'll be meeting Movie Buddy and catching Lara Croft. Then, on Saturday, I have the welcome party for the September students at the Farm Grill. We may have to be fighting the Chinese tourists over the waffles, though. But it looks like there will be a bigger attendance than usual for the September welcome. And finally, I've got another movie outing for SWAT.

I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who's living in Shizuoka after several years of landed immigrantship in Canada. She got cut from a company after having a rather lively exchange with the big boss on the telephone. Her direct superior relayed to her that the big guy would only respond favorably to certain expressions, which of course, reflects him as the tyrant he is. I gather from the length of the letter, she was pretty upset, so I relayed some of the problems with my management over the years. Hopefully, she'll be OK.

Wed Sept 24, 10:50 a.m.

Since I've got some time before I head on out, I have finally gone onto a "quick" translation request by that friend I had met on Friday. He works for a tech company out in Shinjuku. All I can say is that those pro translators definitely make and deserve the good money. I did try one of those online translation programs; pretty hit and miss. There were some glaring errors in the translation; but then again, computer technology hasn't quite reached the subtlety to recognize nuances and probably won't for at least another decade or so.

From Chip Guy, I am borrowing a whole ton of B5 and DS9 DVDs. They should keep my machine busy for the next several weeks. Among the DVDs, there is the Babylon 5 pilot. From what little I remember of it is that it was probably one of the worst cases of an acting troupe against the backdrop of Toaster special effects tha t I ever will see. Tamylin Tomita, who is quite a tall drink of water to gaze at, couldn't act herself out of a WET paper bag in that one. It's not a real surprise that she wasn't picked up for the series and had to be replaced by the character of the new Russian second-in-command.

Wed. Sept 24, 12 midnight

Currently watching George Bush just as he's being announced to address the UN Assembly. He's going have to bat this one out of the park and into the parking lot if he's gonna get any sympathy. UN Secretary-General gave a pretty eloquent speech...he'll be a tough guy to beat.

On this official first day of Autumn, the weather has cooperated with us, and it has been appropriately sunny and cool. I went over to Movie Buddy's apartment across town for his BBQ party. His apartment is smaller and more expensive than mine, but he has a large balcony which puts my gutter of a veranda to shame. Once again, my clothes are stinking of garlic and sauce as we dined on beef and sausages on his tiny grill. However, the amounts were easier to handle.

The party was a nice group of three teachers and three other friends. Movie Buddy's girl became more of a whirling dervish as the day progressed into night and as the alcohol progressed to nothing. Mind you, she was getting on my back about how I should be lighting a BBQ which reminded me about how my ex could annoy me at times. At the same time, though, the later cuddling between her and him also reminded me of us in earlier and happier days.

One of the group was a teacher who had just left the school and has become, like me, a freelancer. Also like me, he's enjoying his newfound freedom since he's had little love for the staff. When the non-school folks went home, the remaining members who have been with the school starting talking about past teachers and students, including some of the scuzzier folks. It was then, with some sense of irony, that he told me on our way back to the station that he had tried to make "first contact" with one of the women there. He pointed out that he really wasn't interested in her; he just wanted to see if he got a positive or negative reaction. The response was indeed in the slightly negative range, according to him. My feeling about that confession was also rather negative. No, he wasn't nearly as bad as some of the past teachers on the make, but I don't think him going on a fishing mission like that was particularly the smoothest thing to do. Why, for example, if he really weren't all that interested in her, would he still attempt a touch?

In any case, I've washed my hands at the whole romance thing. It looks like any spark between me and the Madame has fizzled to nothingness although we will still get together for movie and dinner. However, my social calendar is getting quite busy. I'm catching a couple of movies in the next week, and I've been asked by another student if I would be interested in joining her class for a BBQ in late October.

Well, back to work.

Tues Sept 23, 12:44 a.m.

If there are any mental health specialists out there in the world, you might consider this an SOS for Japan. Today in my lone class, I heard one of my students relate an incident involving her teenage daughter last week in which a nutbar tried to maul her on her way home from school. She screamed which resulted in her attacker to try and muzzle her with his hand leaving some scars on her face. Somehow, she was able to break free and then went after her assailant which surprised him. He ended up running away. Traumatized and angry, she raced back to the school gate to tell the security guard on duty; he just merely told her to be careful and that there was little he could do since he had to take care of things at the gate. Even I was left fuming inside when I heard that.

Recently, there have been incidents of attempted and successful kidnappings of students, pedal-by stabbings by mentally unhinged people including one 25-year-old fashion hound who was stabbing kids for their Hermes or Louis Vuitton bags. Luckily, she was apprehended, but many others aren't. Plus, there was that incident of that guy going postal in Nagoya last week, and the spree killing in Osaka 2 years ago by a psycho in an elementary school which left several children dead.

Crime in Japan is low in quantity but what it lacks there, it more than makes up in its heinousness. Adults and teenagers are snapping for various reasons bu t there aren't nearly enough mental health specialists such as psychologists in this country because there isn't a demand for them because there is the stigma of being identified as a mental patient. The problem is that the special stresses that occur in Japan will only mean more of these psychotic attacks on kids. The government just has to do something about this, but I'm cynical enough to know that it won't happen unless something really tragic happens.

After that harrowing report, I met up with Chip Guy and his family again less than 24 hours after I had left them for lunch. We went to the neighbourhood Outback Steakhouse where I had the Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich, and also made the mistake of ordering a cheesecake. I know that the Outback desserts are phenomenally big but I just can't seem to shake the habit of perpetually ordering the sweet course.

Afterwards, we went back to Chip's house for a few hours. The weather was much cooler and sunnier after the typhoon had luckily merely just kissed the Pacific coast before heading out to sea. This felt like a Toronto autumn, and I hope that this trend will continue. I managed to catch half of CONAN THE BARBARIAN for the first time (which surprised Chip no end) before heading out to meet up with my oil class at Tokyo Station fo r dinner.

Once again, as often happens at the big stations, we mixed up our meeting points which delayed our meeting about 10 minutes. But we did get together and we headed for a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant where we infused our clothes and ourselves with lots of alcohol, beef and garlic for 2 hours. We all got a bit tipsy on drink but since Tuesday is a national holiday, it felt more like a Friday. We certainly relaxed a lot more than we usually do in class.

Then, it was a short and necessary walk over to the Yurakucho area to a small bar where we sipped on drinks for another couple of hours. I actually enticed a couple of students to try the notorious B-52 and the Kamikaze cocktails. One guy got a bit quiet for a while as he tried to stop the room from spinning while the other got a bit more lively in his talk. Unfortunately, my sinuses were starting to drain again. Smoke-filled bars may be quite alluring in the nightlife of Tokyo, but my nose certainly begs to differ. A bit risky but I swallowed down three cold tablets after swigging a Brown Cow. Felt a bit woozy but by the ride home, I was feeling much better. The subways were certainly on a Friday night schedule. They were packed to the gills. I'm sure that everyone knew where I had been for dinner tonight.

Now back home after midnight, I've taken a well-needed hot shower to sweat out some of the garlic oil, and then gave my mouth a good scrubbing (although I will still have morning breath with the potency of a WMD when I wake up). It was a good night, and I think I really made some good friends with the oil class. In fact, we insisted that one of the guys ought to bring his new fiancee to the next event.

Tomorrow is Movie Buddy's BBQ across town. More eating...sigh.

Monday Sept. 22, 8:54 a.m.

The rains fell down yesterday and the winds were a bit gusty this morning but this so-called typhoon didn't bother us too badly. Thank heavens for that although my friend's BBQ had to be postponed from yesterday to tomorrow. Instead, I met up with Chip Guy and the family for a nice dinner and dessert. This week should be pretty free and easy. I've got my Monday morning regulars and then a yakiniku dinner with my oil class in the evening. In between, I'll probably drop by Chip Guy's house again since he'll be alone taking care of the baby.

Koizumi handily won the LDP presidential race on Saturday but that didn't seem as important as the fact that he selected a new Secretary-General of the party who looks (relatively) younger. There was a full court press on the selection of Mr. Abe, who may be the youngest politician to be chosen for the position at the age of 49.

As I said, this week shouldn't be too difficult. Tuesday is a national holiday so I head over to Movie Buddy's BBQ. Wednesday and Thursday will be my regular days of private lessons and good classes at my former full-time school, and Friday will just see one class in the morning before I meet up with Movie Buddy to catch Lara Croft. Not a great choice considering what I've heard about it but he's pretty eager.

Sat. Sept 20, 9:30 p.m.

That translation thing with my friends on Thursday turned out to be a near-marathon session after a leisurely dinner. The Beatles articles were interesting, though. By the time we got through the 6 pages, it was about 1:30 in the morning, which meant that I only got 3 hours of sleep that night.

Which meant that I was feeling pretty groggy all day on Friday. Luckily, I only had one class in the morning. What was difficult was that I met my friend in Shinjuku to talk about a possible interpreting session late next month. The ramen was good, but at points, I was barely hanging onto consciousness. However, I was able to get through my second last Friday night session very well, thanks to a spate of good conversation.

I got a bit more sleep today though I did feel a bit out of it at times today. My kids were OK, but near the end while I was talking with their parents, Tokyo got a pretty good jolt. And apparently, it was strong enough to merit a headline on CNN.com.

After a long walk around the City Hall area and a bit of coffee, I headed over to Asakusa to meet some old friends from my NOVA days. I used to teach two of them when they were teenagers, and now they are much more mature adults. Ironically, both of them did their post-secondary education in England. Just as ironically, our entire conversation was in Japanese. It's interesting how the two teens turned out. One of them was a bespectacled, older-than-her-years, downright serious student, but now she's got a somewhat more girlish and giggly side to her. The other had a more perky side to her but it's become less spikier with the years. It was a pleasant time in Starbucks and then in a ramen shop with my favorite type of soup, TONKOTSU.

The rains were coming down pretty heavy today, and they should be getting worse as we get into Monday since we've got a major typhoon hitting Tokyo then. I have my regular Monday morning class and then a dinner with my oil class, so I wonder how they will turn out.

Wednesday Sept. 17, 8:01 p.m.

I just read in the paper today that Mrs John Lennon still had a bit of the performance artist in her despite her age of 70. She basically had the audience snip pieces of her clothes until she was absolutely naked on the stage. Now if it had been Cameron Diaz, I would've been rather excited, but as it was, I can only say "Yoko, oh no!"

A long commute out to Yokohama again as my former Monday nighters started their new Wednesday afternoon slot. They decided to have their first class at the woman's apartment there. And I think there was a bit of a resurgence in energy so the class went well. Still, I was snoozing my way back home.

Seeing that my income will be pretty chintzy this month, I've started my diet of austerity. I managed to keep my food intake down to less than 1000 yen. For dinner, I'm having a 100 yen bag of rice crackers and peanuts. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't go too mad.

Tues Sept. 16, 10:15 p.m.

In the afterglow of the Hanshin Tigers' victory, there was a very sad sign of the times in Nagoya when a courier company driver went POSTAL this morning. He took several male staff members hostage for a couple of hours in the company HQ and calmly demanded that he get three months' back wages transferred to his account. Apparently, that was done and everyone except for the branch manager was let go. However, seven minutes later, the entire office exploded killing the hostage-taker, the manager and a police officer, along with injuring 41 people. Apparently, the disgruntled driver had poured gasoline all over the floor in the barricaded meeting room.

I checked my pay today which finally showed up in my bankbook. Apparently, I'll be on daily rations of bean sprouts and tofu for the next month.

I've got a couple of friends coming over on Thursday. It'll be nice to see them but I'll have to do some major cleaning before I take off for my Jiyugaoka class tomorrow.

Monday Sept. 15, 9:33 p.m.

I often like to think of my little blog as the written ID to my EGO, so I would like to say that I was somewhat pissed off when I found out that the Starbucks that I use as my classroom for my Wednesday nighter was closed due to the holiday. But I wasn't as miffed at The Coffeehouse That Seattle Built as I was at my student who, for some unfathomable reason, didn't answer her cellphone despite multiple attempts. This meant that I had to end up sitting on a ledge in front of a bush for an hour instead of either canceling the class or making better arrangements. When she did come, she gave profuse apologies that she hadn't noticed her phone. Maybe she was busy at work, but I thought those bloody things rang at a loud enough volume and vibrated hard enough to qualify as a sexual aid. She was lucky that I was able to hold it in and cool off by the time she came by.

Well, at least we could actually take a look at the Hotel Okura, one of Tokyo's premier hotels which just happened to be close by, right beside the US Embassy. I must admit that the decor had the ambience of modern Japan....circa 1960, but the staff is super polite and friendly. I can't damn them for that. After a mini-odyssey trying to get to the South Wing, we made it to a cafeteria inside the hotel which also had that 60s feel. Again, super polite service with a bunch of well-heeled old folks as customers. There was one old guy by our table who evidently thought that 200 decibels was the customary volume to speak, but since my student and I had become accustomed to working during the operation of the Starbucks coffee grinder, it was OK.

Practically speaking, we could really only comfortably afford the desserts, and I must admit that it was the first time that I had a dessert that looked like something that often pops up on TV on a gourmet show. My dish was some sort of American Pear soaked in red wine on top of a slab of vanilla mousse with an almond-shaped scoop of sorbet ("sherbet" sounds too mundane for this place) on the side and the whole thing was ringed by raspberry sauce. Not cheap by a long shot but delicious enough.

The two of us managed to chat on a number of things, including one on ugly Japanese in hotel restaurants. For some reason, she's had recent experiences in these establishments in which the person sitting at the next table always seemed to harangue the staff for some sort of faux pas. Of course, such a scene makes the dining experience a very poor one for the surrounding guests, but naturally the complainant doesn't really care at that point. I surmised that exemplary service is such a thing to be taken for granted that when there is a mistake made by a waiter or waitress, the offended customer takes it that much more personally in a "Why me?" way that he basically loses it. Also those restaurants attract a client of a certain tax bracket which means more demanding folks which can include snooty celebs or even worse, members of the yakuza. My student remarked that the people who had sat next to their table had that somewhat organized crime feel to them, so she was relieved that her superior, despite her anger at them, held her tongue. The talk certainly made me reconsider whether I should dine in these fine restaurants or have a more peaceful time with room service.

After 18 years, the Hanshin Tigers of Osaka won the Central League championships. The Tigers are kinda like the perennial sad sacks of baseball with the loyal loving fan base. The Toronto Blue Jays certainly could sympathize during their first decade in the majors. However, the Tigers fans are a die hard, almost rabid, lot. Being Osakan, the fans are a lot more looser with their emotions and more loyal to their baseball team than, say, the more straitlaced Tokyo Giants fans. They drink hard, they cheer hard, and they sing their fight song, "Rokko no Oroshi" just as hard.

As I said, the Tigers have been the perennial doormats of the Central League so when they do win big such as they did tonight, Osaka and the Kansai area declare a mini-holiday. The manager of the team, Hoshino (a man who's often been called a thug for his very spartan tactics), go t the customary DO-AGE, or fling up into the air by the players on the pitcher's mound. No matter how he's seen, right now, he's the man of the hour.

Monday Sept. 15, 11:25 a.m.

BREAKING NEWS! Ben and Jen break up! Film at 11! Oh, the infamy, the tragedy....the stupidity! Well, I caught this one on CNN just now, and the talking heads were just barely rubbing their hands with glee. Apparently, there's no real love lost with Jennifer Lopez since she has exercised such diva-like behaviour. I don't what it is about these female celebs which makes them act so bratty. Lady Jen wants her tea stirred counter-clockwise every time?! Boot to the head!

Aside from that rant, I've had a pretty quiet weekend. Today is Respect-for-the-Aged Day in Japan, so it's a national holiday here. However, I still have one class to teach tonight, my regular Wednesday nighter who is actually one of the relatively few people who does have to work.

I took a call from...well, I can't really say friend, to be perfectly honest. He is a former student from a few years back, and although he doesn't intend to do it, he has managed to annoy a number of people. It can't be helped...he's a bit slow if earnest but he just doesn't know how and when to interact properly. Since his graduation, he's managed to keep in contact with me for the past few years. He had kept in contact with a couple of other teachers but those folks finally couldn't take him calling anymore so one changed her number, and the other escaped when he returned home.

He has a penchant for calling once in a while. I usually screen my calls so I know when he calls up since he never leaves a message. All I get is the three rings and then the busy tone on the machine when he hangs up. What is so bad about this guy? Well, he's not that bad but he just talks on some of the most insignificant stuff. Y'know, from his talks, I've realized that most callers have a reason to call or they want to know how I'm doing. I think part of it is because he wants to practice his English, and I can't damn him for that, but when he just prates on and on about stuff that really has no connection with anything. A couple of years ago, I had to read the riot act to him when he called me up close to midnight after I had gone to sleep; so he's better on timing now. Still, if I don't feel like picking up the phone, I just let him give his three-ring-and-a-busy-tone message. The problem is that he does this three times on that night.

Madonna? Author of children's books? French-kissing Britney Spears? Uh-uh...not near my non-existent kids.

Saturday Sept 13, 4:12 p.m.

It's been another sweltering day. Happily, I just had that one class before getting back home and cooling off.

Well, I thought I was going to get paid this weekend, but nothing has shown up in my bankbook. I wonder if there has been a change in the rules. Usually we get paid on the 15th of the month or the closest business day preceding the 15th, and since Monday is a national holiday, I logically assumed that it would be either Friday or Saturday. Well, nothing has shown up yet. I'm not putting up any red flags as of yet but I did send an inquiry to my colleague. And this is the first time that the school has not paid on the expected day. I'm sure that there is more to follow.

Two more celebs bit the dust, I see. One, Johnny Cash, was not a surprise. He'd been looking pretty ill for a long time. I was never a fan of his but I do remember catching his specials when I was a kid when my parents seemed to be on that country kick. The other death was a complete surprise. John "Three's Company" Ritter passed away suddenly due to something called an aortic separation. The way CNN described it, it sounds like an aneurysm. Man, I just remember him as the hapless but lovable Jack Tripper with the two bimbettes.

In one of our last meetings at the Friday night circle, my friend and I talked a lot on 9/11 and where we were, and by extension, all of the other major breaking news stories such as the attempted Reagan assassination, the Challenger disaster and Gulf War I. Very interesting.

Thursday, Sept 11, 4:24 a.m.

It's the 2nd anniversary of the WTC attacks, an event that will probably stand as one of the most seminal of this century. And personally, I also had a brush with it. For it was on that day, I had just come back from a summer trip to Toronto which included a brief stay in New York City a couple of weeks before 9/11. It was on that day that my flight originated from New Jersey Airport, 24 hours before one of the hijacked planes started its fateful final flight from the same place. It was on that day that my plane had to make three separate attempts to land at Narita just after a typhoon had plowed through the Kanto before aborting and head to Nagoya for 2 hours...something that left me wondering if we were going to be be victims ourselves. I also remember the plane making one more attempt which was successful which made all of us applaud in relief, not realizing that half a world away, several hundred other people on planes would not be so lucky.

I had been home for a few hours that night. I was exhausted. I didn't even bother to turn on the TV. Then, the phone rang....I didn't answer it; I figured that I would get back to him/her when I was feeling more energized. So the message machine activated, and the messenger just happened to be my friend from Toronto telling me to get onto CNN immediately; something had just happened in NYC.

Sure enough, when I turned it on, I saw one of the Twin Towers smoking, but the far more searing image was that of the second plane, looking almost like a paper equivalent, plow into the second tower. Aaron Brown had just started his first day at the network, and his voice was preternaturally calm but he gave the dreaded news that two planes had just become weapons of terrorism. Die Hard fantasy became hard reality. Then, the news came that another plane had crashed into the Pentagon, and yet another plane had crashed into a Pennsylvania. The US, and by extension, the world would never be quite the same again.

All of my exhaustion just left me as I kept my eyes glued on the TV well into the wee hours of the morning, Tokyo time. I sent a couple of frantic e-mail messages over to my two friends, one of whom lived in Brooklyn, just across the river from where the Twin Towers stood. He later sent me word that he and his girlfriend were OK. My brother and his wife were celebrating their honeymoon in Florida when they had to be evacuated to their hotel. The day after, I reluctantly went back to work and the feeling was somber since a number of the teachers were from America.

On the first anniversary of 9/11, I and two other teachers were doing the second Intensive of the annual series of training sessions for our oil company students. As usual, all of us, teachers and students, occupied the training center lobby lounge like a bunch of sophomores after a whole day of study. It was a bit awkward having the TV set to ABC's satellite service which was televising the solemn ceremony while the students were trying to relax, chat and drink beer while the teachers were looking at the coverage in all seriousness. The students were sometimes at a bit of a loss as to what to do. One of the teachers later on confided that he had been miffed at the usual frivolity in the lounge but he also realized that 9/11 affected people on different levels, one of the factors being that of nationality. Although 9/11 was a horror for almost all people, I couldn't expect the Japanese to share the same level of solemnity that the Americans and even the Canadians had.

And now the 2nd anniversary of 9/11 is here. I will have just one class today, and I don't expect any sort of meeting with a group of people to commiserate with. As I said before, the world has changed in some ways: the US is now fully dedicated to war against terrorism, the world has become a bit more polarized, and two countries have fallen in front of the US military might. And of course, CNN now has that perpetual red news strip at the bottom of its screen. But in some ways, the US didn't change or only had a temporary brief moment of change. The so-called rejection of irony didn't become a permanent part of pop culture: comedies are back to their snarky selves and action movies are once again part of the mainstream. Americans live under a rainbow-hued alert system and yet they have reverted, more or less, to their old lives. New Yorkers have reportedly returned to their in-one's-face, sarcastic selves but now with a subsurface undercurrent of sympathy and caring. All in all, though, I think the attitude toward the most tragic event of the 21st century so far in in line with some of the tragic events of the 20th century: we will never forget it but we will go on and thrive.

Tues Sept 9, 12:02 a.m.

Long Monday but it'll be the last one. First off, my Monday morning students too k me to the Oregon Bar and Grill up on the 42nd floor of the Shiodome City Centre. The social and financial gaps between me and them were quite evident according to some of the remarks that one of them said about the restaurant. She thought it was rather casual; however, I found it fancy if comfortable. I mean, it isn't everyday that I see true maitre d's in well-tailored suits and wait staff in crisp white uniforms. Also, she played the role of a food critic to a slight extent, stating that the Caesar salad was good but a bit too salty. I also agreed but I didn't mind it all.

The rest of the course, which cost just 3000 yen by the way (a real bargain in a place that regularly charges 6400 yen for the dinner courses), included warm bread and butter, minestrone and dessert with coffee. And of course, the piece de resistance, the steak. It certainly didn't match the size of my usual steak at the Outback, but the taste was certainly more refined and tastier. Plus, the view over Tokyo couldn't be beaten. I would definitely recommend the place to the Movie Buddies.

It looks like that bike victim from the previous night in Hiroo wasn't the only recent accident close to me. That same student had suffered one herself just last Tuesday when a car smashed into her BMW. Surprisingly, she came out of it relatively unscathed with just a sore head. However, the BMW will have to be sold.

After I had given my goodbyes to the ladies, I ended up splurging a bit on CDs. In rather disparate purchases, I bought the Best of Henry Mancini, the man who was responsible for a lot of the movie themes before John Williams took over. And then after an hour or so in my usual hangout on the roof of the Mitsukoshi Department Store, I ended up going to HMV, and bought Peter Gabriel's SO album from 1985.

I then popped down to my regular Monday night haunt all the way in western Tokyo before I had my class with the real estate students. One of them told me that he would like to move the class over to Wednesday afternoons instead of Monday nights, a shift that elates me no end. I do realize it's a bit of a sacrifice for them since Wednesday is their only day off, but to be honest, I was hoping that the late Monday nights would come to an end. And I think that in the long run, it will be much better for all of us if we were in higher energy mode for class. So no more of those midnight home arrivals. I can have pleasant Monday nights at home. However, I'll have to level with my juku employer since she was hoping to extend my hours into Wednesday afternoon.

Sun September 7, 10:59 p.m.

A very long day, and also a very revealing one. I had that get-together with the Movie Buddies for that breakfast outing at ROTI this morning. It turned out to be a very nice time for all of us. It just so happened the Madame sat right in front of me, but she didn't give any particular inclination about our e-mail messages to each other except for the somewhat jokey references to us as husband and wife, plus some of my own embarrassing French gaffes. I was also happy to see one of my Tea Room bunch mesh in very well with the new alumni. I managed to ingest a lot of food.

The da y saw a gradual attrition of our ranks. We lost a couple of them after breakfast. The remainder did some looking around Roppongi Hills since the Madame hadn't visited the supermall. I found that she has a good interest in interior design shops and jewelry stores. Those two types were perfectly up Roppongi Hills' alley.

Then we lost two more people so the four remaining people: myself, the Madame, my Tea Room buddy and one other teacher decided to take a view from the 20th floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel which is meshed in with Roppongi Hills before heading for a quiet tropical bar just a few hundred meters away from the complex. I certainly go t to know the Madame even more at that event, as well as get some more insight from the teacher about his travels through Europe and Africa.

Finally, the Madame and I were by ourselves...by luck or by design, I'm not sure. However, we ended up going to a favorite Chinese restaurant of mine, BEMI, in the Hiroo section of town, just one subway station away. Hiroo is known as a more casual hangout for the ex-patriate population than Roppongi. However, the two of us received a rather exciting greeting when we reached street level. We actually witnessed a motorcycle get majorly clipped by a van in the main intersection. Although the bike rider was injured in the crash, it was still heartening to see some of the people help out the situation by directing traffic and calling up on their cell phones for an ambulance. The ambulance came within a few minutes although the one cop on a regular bicycle took his sweet time arriving on the scene.

When it looked like everything was under control, the Madame and I headed for BEMI down the road and ordered more food. There, we spent the next 2.5 hours just talking about our lives and ourselves. We unburdened a lot about our pasts and our philosophies on life, but it still felt a bit like a cautious dance between the two of us; there is a mutual attraction between us but the fact is that neither of us is willing to whole hog into a relationship at the moment although we never said so directly; we were throwing so many 3rd-person tangential statements at each other. But the two of us had shared one thing in that individually, we had been in relationships that just took off at warp speed. We agreed that we wanted to see how our friendship went for the next few months before we make any moves into a deeper connection. Certainly, from our conversation tonight and our e-mails over the past few weeks, we have started a very close friendly relationship. And I think at this time, I would prefer to take it one word, one gesture, one day at a time.

Well, I managed to blow away close to 8000 yen and ingest several hundred calories today. And yet, I still have an engagement with my two rich students tomorrow at the Oregon Bar and Grill on the top of the Shiodome City Center.

Saturday Sept. 6, 12:11 a.m.

So, another work week has passed by without incident. Another full-time teacher has gone by the wayside. And it looks like I have at least one more dry week at the school before things start hopping again.

It'll be a quiet Saturday with just the kids to teach. Maybe I might go for a rubdown at the neighbourhood clinic provided I haven't sweated too much. Then, it's the big breakfast outing at Roppongi on Sunday.

Sad to say, but I found out yesterday that one of our previous students from a couple of years back passed away rather suddenly. She was a happy character; middle-aged chain smoker with a blonde bob, black-rimmed glasses and a big smile. Definitely not your typical Japanese woman.

September 3, 9:06 p.m.

One of those annoying days. Just when I was about to head out to start the renewing process for my passport, I found out that I needed to hand in my birth certificate. Only thing is that I didn't have one. So now I had to send out a letter to the Registrar General back home to get the APPLICATION FORM for the certificate which I have to fill out and then send back to Canada and then get the certificate to hand in with my other documents to renew the passport. Oh joy, oh bliss. I'm not particularly concerned since I'm not planning to go anywhere in the next 2 months but it's just that I don't have any love for bureaucracy. Then again, I could've been a bit more on the ball about the timing.

Also, Tokyo was entertained by a mammoth thunderstorm around 6 p.m. tonight. Usually, the storms in Toronto are louder than the relatively sedate ones here in Tokyo, but tonight, that fact was smashed by the natural fireworks and waterworks that inundated us. Luckily, I was already sipping my coffee in air-conditioned comfort at the Starbucks. However, I paid the price thanks to the delicate balance maintained by JR and the subway system going awry due to the storm. The power went out at one station which threw the schedules for all of the stations which meant that the trains were all superpacked for far longer. It was a claustrophobic's worst nightmare.

I swear that the so-called paradise of strict punctuality that the Tokyo transportation has is a brittle one. If there is any incident, ranging from an attempted suicide to light snow, that affects the train lines, the entire system suffers and therefore the entire commuting public does, too. I remember taking 4 hours one winter evening getting from Chiba City back to my city, a trip that would normally take just 30 minutes due to light steady snow. Some very unhappy people on that trip home.

However, despite tonight's hellish commute home, I'm grateful that the storm decreased the humidity a bit.

Tuesday September 2, 11:16 p.m.

It's been one of the few nights this summer which deserves to be called muggy. I can only hope that my fan will be able to help cool things off when I hit the hay.

Looks like my Thursday just got its hours doubled. I'll be teaching 6 hours then...it's been a while since I've had that many hours during the day. Hope I'm not too rusty.

Tomorrow, I head out to the embassy to get my passport renewed. I'll have to put on the shirt and tie (definitely not a blazer considering the temps) and get those forms and photos done. It was fairly smooth 5 years ago, so I hope it won't be too painful

Ah, another one bites the dust. This time, it's Charles "Death Wish" Bronson. Unless one is a diehard aficionado of "The Magnificent Seven" or the aforementioned "Death Wish" series, Bronson is pretty much unknown here except for the older crowd. He was one of the first foreign stars to make a Japanese commercial. The product was for Mandom Aftershave. Oddly enough, I relate more to his younger days as one of the M7 than as the avenging vigilante. In fact, I still remember his turn in a Twilight Zone episode with Elizabeth "Bewitched" Montgomery as two warriors from opposite sides of the front.