Sunday April 16, 7:10 a.m.
Continuing on the Seoul trip...
After Myeondong, we took another taxi up to the other main area called Insadong, the more traditional quarter. I guess it would be the equivalent of Asakusa in Tokyo but Insadong is somewhat smaller and cleaner. It was there that I got caught up on my souvenir shopping for all the students. I picked up a lot of these sesame snaps and other confections. Again, it was obvious that the Japanese component of tourism was alive and well since a number of the shop owners were fairly OK in the Japanese language. After my foster sisters scoured the stores, we all took a bit of a breather in a small restaurant where we had some toppokki, a dish which is similar to chow mein except that instead of noodles, the carbs are represented by long cylindrical pieces of rice cake. It was all good.
We took another cab to Namdaemon. The actual Namdaemon is this ornate Korean temple-like structure but for most tourists, Namdaemon is the hurly-burly marketplace that abuts it. There is nothing like it in Tokyo, but the place reminded me of ol' Kensington Market back in the ol' hometown. It is just a labyrinth of small awninged shops hawking everything from nori to clothes to fresh (kinda) fish and chicken. The ladies were almost overwhelmed by the smells but I was very accustomed to the stench after years of walking through Kensington and nearby Chinatown, especially during the summer. The second part of my souvenir shopping occurred here when the three of us entered a nori shop owned by a very friendly, Japanese-speaking owner. We certainly got our money's worth of seaweed. I was now quite overstocked with stuff for the students back home.
After navigating our way back to the main street, we took yet another cab to the huge Lotte Department Store not too far away. After taking a short non-buying tour of the food floor in B1, we made our way all the way to the top of the store where we went to a restaurant which specialized in the dish of bibimbap, the mix of rice, veggies, meat and egg which is mixed in a hot stone bowl. It was a spicy mix which heated me up quite well, and I like to think that my tummy is fairly asbestos-lined. The Matron was creating a good sweat.
That was basically it for the gourmet tour. And what a tour it was. Looking at the photos, I definitely put on a bit of weight. After Lotte, it was back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and then we were off to Gimpo Airport. Our taxi driver for the final leg was the friendliest of all of our drivers in that he was able to speak some Japanese. In fact, his daughter married a Chiba man and now live in my neck of the woods. He certainly charmed the Class Act; as for me, I took a nap for the hour's drive to Gimpo.
We got to the airport with a number of hours left before our flight. I thought it would be one of those long waits but after a short dip into the duty-free shop, The Class Act returned to the waiting lounge to inform that they had found a foot massage salon at the back of the shop and proceeded to make an appointment for all of us. Well, that will take some time. So the three of us got our rubdowns on our swollen tootsies after a long day of hoofing it (albeit with assistance from the Seoul taxi industry). The 30-minute session would have been perfect except for the fact that there was a little problem processing The Matron's credit card; it was the scanner's fault. The Lady, not one for infinite patience, wasn't pleased since the folks taking care of us didn't want to give up on the scanner if at all possible. Instead, we had to go downstairs to another shop to get the card processed. Still, it burned up some more of the time needed to wait for the flight home.
And so after a small wait at the airport lounge downing some unexpectedly tasty kiwi shakes, the three of us said our goodbyes at the gate since all of us would be flying in different seats. When I got back to Haneda at around 10:15 on Friday night, I got a refresher on what life in Tokyo is like before the weekend. I had to contend with the usual stuffed trains on the JR Yamanote and Tozai Lines. At least for the Tozai Line, I was able to get a seat of course at Takadanobaba Station. However, it was a revelation that even at midnight, the train was packed way beyond capacity. Luckily, my two bags provided a good barrier against the throng of standing folks whilst I read my magazine in relatively seated comfort. I don't think even a Seoul resident would have or could have given up his seat for anyone in those conditions.
And so my final thoughts on the whirlwind tour of Seoul? Well, it was certainly worth it for the food. And I am very indebted to my host, The Lady, for all she did for us since my Korean was obviously not up to the challenge. I could easily go back there again on a small tour with a person like The Madame since most likely that would entail a more cultural angle. But I could certainly hope that I can have a Korean friend who lives there to show me around. I guess the next target for me in Asia will be Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Gonna have a lot to talk about tomorrow when I see The Class Act for their regular.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Saturday April 15, 9:40 p.m.
The second day in Seoul started out early. I woke up before 7 and then by 8, I was headed down for breakfast at The Cornerstone restaurant on the 2nd floor of The Park Hyatt. As buffets go, it didn't have that huge quantity of everything but the kitchen sink as its American equivalent have but it was healthy enough. I just had granola cereal, an apple danish and two cups of coffee which was probably just as well after the feast of the night before. As it would turn out, the three of us would have further things to eat anyways.
We checked out early and I was allowed to keep the card key as a souvenir. We did leave our bags at the hotel while we did our culinary sightseeing. It was back onto the subway again...this time to go to Myeongdong, the equivalent of Shibuya. Sure enough, down the main road, we saw a camera crew filming a duo of young folk having a talk on what seemed to be a variety program. Being the equivalent of Japan's teen Mecca, there were plenty of posters of the young and beautiful including the idol of both Japan and Korea, Boa. There was also a McDonalds with its name written up in Hangeul (at the same time, there were also a couple of other American chains that have long deserted the Japanese shores: Dunkin Donuts and Burger King). The area though was rather empty since it was not only in the morning but a weekday morning. The Class Act continued their sock-buying spree from the day before. After that little escort to the backroom warehouse in Itaewon, the ladies had done a major search for brand name socks at a number of the stands along the main strip. Well, the search continued in Myeongdong; we stopped at one stand where the owner was quite enamoured with The Matron. I did manage to get one shot of the masher getting too close with her. There must be something about her and her daughter, The Tulip. The kid herself was mauled by some old guy when the two of them were traveling in Austria a couple of weeks ago.
Well, I would like to continue but it's getting kinda late and I do have the kids tomorrow after a few weeks. We'll be exchanging travel news since they had come back from Italy and the Alps.
The second day in Seoul started out early. I woke up before 7 and then by 8, I was headed down for breakfast at The Cornerstone restaurant on the 2nd floor of The Park Hyatt. As buffets go, it didn't have that huge quantity of everything but the kitchen sink as its American equivalent have but it was healthy enough. I just had granola cereal, an apple danish and two cups of coffee which was probably just as well after the feast of the night before. As it would turn out, the three of us would have further things to eat anyways.
We checked out early and I was allowed to keep the card key as a souvenir. We did leave our bags at the hotel while we did our culinary sightseeing. It was back onto the subway again...this time to go to Myeongdong, the equivalent of Shibuya. Sure enough, down the main road, we saw a camera crew filming a duo of young folk having a talk on what seemed to be a variety program. Being the equivalent of Japan's teen Mecca, there were plenty of posters of the young and beautiful including the idol of both Japan and Korea, Boa. There was also a McDonalds with its name written up in Hangeul (at the same time, there were also a couple of other American chains that have long deserted the Japanese shores: Dunkin Donuts and Burger King). The area though was rather empty since it was not only in the morning but a weekday morning. The Class Act continued their sock-buying spree from the day before. After that little escort to the backroom warehouse in Itaewon, the ladies had done a major search for brand name socks at a number of the stands along the main strip. Well, the search continued in Myeongdong; we stopped at one stand where the owner was quite enamoured with The Matron. I did manage to get one shot of the masher getting too close with her. There must be something about her and her daughter, The Tulip. The kid herself was mauled by some old guy when the two of them were traveling in Austria a couple of weeks ago.
Well, I would like to continue but it's getting kinda late and I do have the kids tomorrow after a few weeks. We'll be exchanging travel news since they had come back from Italy and the Alps.
Saturday April 15, 6:38 p.m.
I had my first student since my Korea trip. The Carolinan was quite happy to receive the omiyage of Korean nori and little pouch that I got from the kalbi restaurant in Seoul. I also gave her the same deal to be given to her sister.
Anyways, back to the Seoul trip. Once we got out of that backroom fake fashion emporium, The Class Act and I made our way back to the main strip of Itaewon and grabbed a taxi. We took the black one with the golden stripe since apparently those taxis are the most dependable in terms of the driver getting us to a destination without the unintended tour of the entire city. Our cab took us up a steep hill and as we made the final turn, our eyes were walloped by the sight of The Grand Hyatt, our hotel's monolithic sister. This Hyatt looked like a wall. When we got into the lobby, we decided on just having some drinks at the cafe. I tried my pathetic attempts at Korean, forgetting that all staffers working at a Hyatt are probably former beauty pageant contestants and are fully versed in Japanese and English. Again, The Lady saved my bacon and calmly asked for a table for three in English. The cafe had a spectacular panoramic view of the whole city since it was sitting on top of the highest hill. I had a Bailey's Coffee, the Irish cream version of an Irish Coffee. It didn't give me much of a buzz which was good since we did have dinner coming up.
Then it was another taxi ride down the hill and a subway ride across the Han back to the Park Hyatt. We had an hour of downtime so I used it to get into my room and take a well-needed shower. It was one of those glassed-in affairs. I was careful to bring down the shades on the glass wall lest I scare some poor office fellow in the building across the street. I had two choices for a shower. There was the rain shower type with this huge head basically spritzing me; didn't like that one too much since the stream was too diffuse and therefore couldn't really work up a satisfyingly hot temperature so I ended up with the handheld karaoke microphone type. After that shower, I got dressed and just lay out on the modern recliner and ate some of those fresh grapes that came with the room for several minutes before I got the call from The Lady to come on down for the taxi ride to dinner.
The restaurant we got driven to was called Podunam Chip, a place famous for its kalbi and other BBQ fare. The Lady had gone there a few times before and swears by its quality. Yep, she certainly didn't get any disagreeement from The Matron and me. The fare there was probably some of the best food I'd ever eaten in a Korean restaurant. We just devoured a ton of beef wrapped in lettuce and Korean miso and we drank it all down with a combination of soju (Korean vodka) and water. I was surprised with all of the cow we had been eating, barely 30 minutes had elapsed since our arrival. The staff was also well versed in Japanese and English. I would've been forgiven if I'd thought that there was none of that Japanese-Korean historical and diplomatic rancor. If I ever go back to the city again, Podunam Chip is on the priority list.
Another taxi ride later, we were back at the hotel again. It was another hour later and then The Lady called me down to head to down to the main lounge for some jazz. It was on my way down to The Timberhouse that I realized how eerily attentive the staff were. The frankly ridiculous layout of the elevators forced me to get off on the 1st floor to transfer to another lift. As soon as I got out, the bell captain at his post automatically identified by name and showed me how to get to the lounge without me saying so much as a single word. I would swear that another condition for these guys to get hired by the Hyatt along with beauty, efficiency and youth was ESP.
The Class Act had already arrived when I got there in my increasingly rumpled suit (note to self: if at all possible in future trips, go more casual). The Timberhouse was your prototypical jazz lounge: comfy chairs and dim lighting surrounding a stage with a combo of piano, drums and bass. There was a lead singer who was belting out jazz and Latin songs. The Lady had seen her in her first stay at the hotel and was quite impressed with her chops...quite a thing to hear knowing how particular The Lady is. The singer, whose name now escapes me, was indeed very accomplished vocally although there was a bit of that cheesiness in her rapport with the audience....there was that "I'm here til Friday...please drive safely...try the dessert table" vibe with her. Once again, the beautiful staff were there serving us. This was frankly making me wonder if the Hyatt had been inspired by "The Stepford Wives", but I'm just being nasty. While the ladies indulged in some good champagne, I was quite content to have some non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri. I didn't quite get the cute umbrella but the waitress smilingly placed a cute straw in my drink. I'm sure she and her bar colleagues were probably cracking wise at my expense about how this guy who looks like he imbibes too much booze was actually just downing women stuff.
After the singer's second set, the Class Act called it a night. The ladies went up first since I had to claim my jacket. Again, some of that eerie efficiency came to the fore. As soon as I had taken it off, a waitress quickly scooped it out of my hands and into the checkroom. Anyways, when I claimed it, I ended up sharing a short elevator ride with the singer herself. She was just as engaging in person as she was up on stage (although I didn't mention the cheesy element). I offered my compliments on her performance. She was very diplomatic in her response that the Koreans were still slowly coming to grips with jazz as a musical choice. I kinda felt sorry for her at that point....there was a large group of young folks who had sat right in front of her, most of whom just gabbed away without acknowledging her or the band. It must be just as hard for a singer to be ignored as to be booed at, but then again, it's called paying one's dues. The singer isn't there for a concert....she's there to add musical ambiance to the lounge. However, she did get enough of an applause.
It was pretty late in the night but I decided to try the bath. There was a vial of natural bubble bath so I indulged in a nice little round of bathing while looking at the video screen right in front of the bathtub. Thus, endeth my first night in Seoul.
I had my first student since my Korea trip. The Carolinan was quite happy to receive the omiyage of Korean nori and little pouch that I got from the kalbi restaurant in Seoul. I also gave her the same deal to be given to her sister.
Anyways, back to the Seoul trip. Once we got out of that backroom fake fashion emporium, The Class Act and I made our way back to the main strip of Itaewon and grabbed a taxi. We took the black one with the golden stripe since apparently those taxis are the most dependable in terms of the driver getting us to a destination without the unintended tour of the entire city. Our cab took us up a steep hill and as we made the final turn, our eyes were walloped by the sight of The Grand Hyatt, our hotel's monolithic sister. This Hyatt looked like a wall. When we got into the lobby, we decided on just having some drinks at the cafe. I tried my pathetic attempts at Korean, forgetting that all staffers working at a Hyatt are probably former beauty pageant contestants and are fully versed in Japanese and English. Again, The Lady saved my bacon and calmly asked for a table for three in English. The cafe had a spectacular panoramic view of the whole city since it was sitting on top of the highest hill. I had a Bailey's Coffee, the Irish cream version of an Irish Coffee. It didn't give me much of a buzz which was good since we did have dinner coming up.
Then it was another taxi ride down the hill and a subway ride across the Han back to the Park Hyatt. We had an hour of downtime so I used it to get into my room and take a well-needed shower. It was one of those glassed-in affairs. I was careful to bring down the shades on the glass wall lest I scare some poor office fellow in the building across the street. I had two choices for a shower. There was the rain shower type with this huge head basically spritzing me; didn't like that one too much since the stream was too diffuse and therefore couldn't really work up a satisfyingly hot temperature so I ended up with the handheld karaoke microphone type. After that shower, I got dressed and just lay out on the modern recliner and ate some of those fresh grapes that came with the room for several minutes before I got the call from The Lady to come on down for the taxi ride to dinner.
The restaurant we got driven to was called Podunam Chip, a place famous for its kalbi and other BBQ fare. The Lady had gone there a few times before and swears by its quality. Yep, she certainly didn't get any disagreeement from The Matron and me. The fare there was probably some of the best food I'd ever eaten in a Korean restaurant. We just devoured a ton of beef wrapped in lettuce and Korean miso and we drank it all down with a combination of soju (Korean vodka) and water. I was surprised with all of the cow we had been eating, barely 30 minutes had elapsed since our arrival. The staff was also well versed in Japanese and English. I would've been forgiven if I'd thought that there was none of that Japanese-Korean historical and diplomatic rancor. If I ever go back to the city again, Podunam Chip is on the priority list.
Another taxi ride later, we were back at the hotel again. It was another hour later and then The Lady called me down to head to down to the main lounge for some jazz. It was on my way down to The Timberhouse that I realized how eerily attentive the staff were. The frankly ridiculous layout of the elevators forced me to get off on the 1st floor to transfer to another lift. As soon as I got out, the bell captain at his post automatically identified by name and showed me how to get to the lounge without me saying so much as a single word. I would swear that another condition for these guys to get hired by the Hyatt along with beauty, efficiency and youth was ESP.
The Class Act had already arrived when I got there in my increasingly rumpled suit (note to self: if at all possible in future trips, go more casual). The Timberhouse was your prototypical jazz lounge: comfy chairs and dim lighting surrounding a stage with a combo of piano, drums and bass. There was a lead singer who was belting out jazz and Latin songs. The Lady had seen her in her first stay at the hotel and was quite impressed with her chops...quite a thing to hear knowing how particular The Lady is. The singer, whose name now escapes me, was indeed very accomplished vocally although there was a bit of that cheesiness in her rapport with the audience....there was that "I'm here til Friday...please drive safely...try the dessert table" vibe with her. Once again, the beautiful staff were there serving us. This was frankly making me wonder if the Hyatt had been inspired by "The Stepford Wives", but I'm just being nasty. While the ladies indulged in some good champagne, I was quite content to have some non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri. I didn't quite get the cute umbrella but the waitress smilingly placed a cute straw in my drink. I'm sure she and her bar colleagues were probably cracking wise at my expense about how this guy who looks like he imbibes too much booze was actually just downing women stuff.
After the singer's second set, the Class Act called it a night. The ladies went up first since I had to claim my jacket. Again, some of that eerie efficiency came to the fore. As soon as I had taken it off, a waitress quickly scooped it out of my hands and into the checkroom. Anyways, when I claimed it, I ended up sharing a short elevator ride with the singer herself. She was just as engaging in person as she was up on stage (although I didn't mention the cheesy element). I offered my compliments on her performance. She was very diplomatic in her response that the Koreans were still slowly coming to grips with jazz as a musical choice. I kinda felt sorry for her at that point....there was a large group of young folks who had sat right in front of her, most of whom just gabbed away without acknowledging her or the band. It must be just as hard for a singer to be ignored as to be booed at, but then again, it's called paying one's dues. The singer isn't there for a concert....she's there to add musical ambiance to the lounge. However, she did get enough of an applause.
It was pretty late in the night but I decided to try the bath. There was a vial of natural bubble bath so I indulged in a nice little round of bathing while looking at the video screen right in front of the bathtub. Thus, endeth my first night in Seoul.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Saturday April 15, 10:46 a.m.
Well, I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Seoul with The Class Act. For one night and two days, I was led around by my two foster mothers...I should really say foster elder sisters since they're just a little over a decade older than me...to all the shopping districts and culinary wonders of South Korea. I'll try and ensure that the following report will not sound too much like one of those Discovery Channel travelogues.
I got up pretty darn early on Thursday morning and headed out to Haneda Airport in downtown Tokyo. People here have always complained about heading out all the way to Narita Airport in the wilds of Chiba Prefecture. And here I was, living in Chiba itself, grumbling a bit about having to make three transfers to get to this smaller airport out by Tokyo Bay. Haneda used to be the international airport until the mid-70s when the more controversial Narita was built. Now, the international wing has been reduced to this small building servicing China and Korea. Actually, the commute wasn't too bad, timewise. I got there in about 90 minutes, the same amount of time it takes me to get to Narita. In fact, I was lucky to have gotten there when I did. The Lady got there some 15 minutes after my arrival and told me that the check-in lines were starting to lengthen a bit. And then The Matron had to endure some waiting-for-Star-Wars lines by the time she'd gotten to the airport.
Our JAL flight got to Gimpo Airport (another airport that has been whittled down to a fraction of its former significance by a larger facility in Incheon) in about 2 hours. I'd always heard about this place during my viewings of "MASH" but never thought I would actually go through it. Going through Immigration wasn't too painful and Customs was a breeze. The Lady was there waiting for The Matron and myself. It was plain from the outset that she was the boss of our little homemade tour. She'd already made the currency conversions from yen to won and gave us our little packages. None of us won in the currency rates, though.
We tackled the circuitous Seoul subway system whose stations kinda reminded me of those of New York City. They looked a little less bright and had a bit more grime on the walls. However, the dangerous aspect was non-existent. The Lady was quite excited about going through public transit since she rarely did that sort of thing anymore; she has been more of a private transport citizen for many years. We did our fair share of transfers and got a quick education in the Seoul subway culture. For one thing, salesmen rather frequently traveled through the cars to hawk something such as hay fever and pollution masks (I gather that Seoul is quite industrial) and then blind folk often did the same thing with metal cups extended to pick up some alms from the commuters; taped concertina music added to the sad ambiance. The one thing that did strike me though which kinda shamed me and the ladies is that people are a bit more respectful towards our elders when it came to letting go of our seated comfort for the elderly or infirm. Tokyo commuters have become rather cold-hearted of late (I'll have to admit that I'm no better) by pretending to sleep or just plain ignoring the older folks when it comes to giving up their seats. This is by no means an excuse but there's something about having to ride in overcapacity trains that brings out the "me or them" mentality in all of us in The Big Sushi. But obviously it hasn't totally consumed Seoul commuters yet. In fact, one rather large salaryman brusquely ordered The Lady in his native language to let go of her seat for an older man. It was quite a sight to see since The Lady isn't the type to be ordered around easily. But she quickly did.
We finally arrived at Samseong Station in the trendy area of Gungnam south of the Han River about the better part of an hour later. I was happy to know that the Park Hyatt was right there in front of us when we got out. It was the first time in a very long time that I've stayed in a hotel of its calibre. The Lady told me that it was still just barely 6 months old. The staff all spoke nigh-flawless English and that chiseled beauty (men and women) about them (I did kinda wonder if job interviews for positions at the hotel resembled more for those for a beauty pageant). We actually got checked in within The Class Act's room and were given our card keys. The rooms certainly had more of that art gallery sensibility. They were all done up in beige faux-wood and glass. In fact, one wall was all window overlooking the city. One could even conceivably take a bath and shower by that glass wall although Internet reviews by users on a travelsite warned that the curtains should be drawn lest one wanted to give a free show to some horny businessmen in the buildings across from the hotel. Of course, the curtains were also all automated.
After the quick check-in, the three of us decided to head on out to our first place of interest: Itaewon. It was another series of subway transfers leading us up to this neighbourhood which was the foreigner quarter of Seoul. Itaewon reminded me of Koreatown in Toronto. The side-by-side buildings were all old brick low-rise affairs consisting of small restaurants (a lot of US chains have obviously found new homes here) and shops. As soon as we reached street level, I saw a few Americans having a chat on the corner. Itaewon is also the area to find various brand name knockoffs. And not long after walking through the area, The Lady came across this rather shady character sitting in front of a clothing store. All it took was just some eye contact between him and her for the guy to start speaking in halting Japanese. Then we were led on a "merry" walk. We first went through the store and out the back entrance and then down some quiet side streets for about five minutes. While the guy was 10 metres out in front of the ladies, I was 10 m out in back feeling a bit nervous. I kinda wondered if this is how Eli Roth's goreflick, "Hostel" had started. As it turned out, Mr. Softspoken took us to the back of this house with a rather formidable iron gate with lock (keep the fashion police out or keep unsuspecting travelers in...forever? are the fabrics made from human skin?). Once I saw other women inside, though, I let down my guard. I had actually clutched my apartment key just in case I needed it for something other than opening my door although I hardly think anything with a Hello, Kitty keychain could be seriously taken as a weapon of choice.
The back of the house was this very crowded showroom of fake Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes stuff from shoes to bags. The ladies, including my two foster sisters, proceeded to pelt the guy and his fellow storemates with a lot of questions including ones for haggling. I was finally seeing The Lady in her element now. After about 15 minutes, both her and The Matron bought some token stuff and we all made our way back to the main strip of Itaewon. The Lady later stated that the stuff was somewhat inferior to those in other backroom showrooms she'd been to but after being led all the way there, she had felt that she needed to buy something...hmm, I thought, she ain't that tough.
I'll have to continue this travelogue later since I gotta head on out to teach The Carolinan. She'll be my first souvenir recipient of Korean nori.
Well, I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Seoul with The Class Act. For one night and two days, I was led around by my two foster mothers...I should really say foster elder sisters since they're just a little over a decade older than me...to all the shopping districts and culinary wonders of South Korea. I'll try and ensure that the following report will not sound too much like one of those Discovery Channel travelogues.
I got up pretty darn early on Thursday morning and headed out to Haneda Airport in downtown Tokyo. People here have always complained about heading out all the way to Narita Airport in the wilds of Chiba Prefecture. And here I was, living in Chiba itself, grumbling a bit about having to make three transfers to get to this smaller airport out by Tokyo Bay. Haneda used to be the international airport until the mid-70s when the more controversial Narita was built. Now, the international wing has been reduced to this small building servicing China and Korea. Actually, the commute wasn't too bad, timewise. I got there in about 90 minutes, the same amount of time it takes me to get to Narita. In fact, I was lucky to have gotten there when I did. The Lady got there some 15 minutes after my arrival and told me that the check-in lines were starting to lengthen a bit. And then The Matron had to endure some waiting-for-Star-Wars lines by the time she'd gotten to the airport.
Our JAL flight got to Gimpo Airport (another airport that has been whittled down to a fraction of its former significance by a larger facility in Incheon) in about 2 hours. I'd always heard about this place during my viewings of "MASH" but never thought I would actually go through it. Going through Immigration wasn't too painful and Customs was a breeze. The Lady was there waiting for The Matron and myself. It was plain from the outset that she was the boss of our little homemade tour. She'd already made the currency conversions from yen to won and gave us our little packages. None of us won in the currency rates, though.
We tackled the circuitous Seoul subway system whose stations kinda reminded me of those of New York City. They looked a little less bright and had a bit more grime on the walls. However, the dangerous aspect was non-existent. The Lady was quite excited about going through public transit since she rarely did that sort of thing anymore; she has been more of a private transport citizen for many years. We did our fair share of transfers and got a quick education in the Seoul subway culture. For one thing, salesmen rather frequently traveled through the cars to hawk something such as hay fever and pollution masks (I gather that Seoul is quite industrial) and then blind folk often did the same thing with metal cups extended to pick up some alms from the commuters; taped concertina music added to the sad ambiance. The one thing that did strike me though which kinda shamed me and the ladies is that people are a bit more respectful towards our elders when it came to letting go of our seated comfort for the elderly or infirm. Tokyo commuters have become rather cold-hearted of late (I'll have to admit that I'm no better) by pretending to sleep or just plain ignoring the older folks when it comes to giving up their seats. This is by no means an excuse but there's something about having to ride in overcapacity trains that brings out the "me or them" mentality in all of us in The Big Sushi. But obviously it hasn't totally consumed Seoul commuters yet. In fact, one rather large salaryman brusquely ordered The Lady in his native language to let go of her seat for an older man. It was quite a sight to see since The Lady isn't the type to be ordered around easily. But she quickly did.
We finally arrived at Samseong Station in the trendy area of Gungnam south of the Han River about the better part of an hour later. I was happy to know that the Park Hyatt was right there in front of us when we got out. It was the first time in a very long time that I've stayed in a hotel of its calibre. The Lady told me that it was still just barely 6 months old. The staff all spoke nigh-flawless English and that chiseled beauty (men and women) about them (I did kinda wonder if job interviews for positions at the hotel resembled more for those for a beauty pageant). We actually got checked in within The Class Act's room and were given our card keys. The rooms certainly had more of that art gallery sensibility. They were all done up in beige faux-wood and glass. In fact, one wall was all window overlooking the city. One could even conceivably take a bath and shower by that glass wall although Internet reviews by users on a travelsite warned that the curtains should be drawn lest one wanted to give a free show to some horny businessmen in the buildings across from the hotel. Of course, the curtains were also all automated.
After the quick check-in, the three of us decided to head on out to our first place of interest: Itaewon. It was another series of subway transfers leading us up to this neighbourhood which was the foreigner quarter of Seoul. Itaewon reminded me of Koreatown in Toronto. The side-by-side buildings were all old brick low-rise affairs consisting of small restaurants (a lot of US chains have obviously found new homes here) and shops. As soon as we reached street level, I saw a few Americans having a chat on the corner. Itaewon is also the area to find various brand name knockoffs. And not long after walking through the area, The Lady came across this rather shady character sitting in front of a clothing store. All it took was just some eye contact between him and her for the guy to start speaking in halting Japanese. Then we were led on a "merry" walk. We first went through the store and out the back entrance and then down some quiet side streets for about five minutes. While the guy was 10 metres out in front of the ladies, I was 10 m out in back feeling a bit nervous. I kinda wondered if this is how Eli Roth's goreflick, "Hostel" had started. As it turned out, Mr. Softspoken took us to the back of this house with a rather formidable iron gate with lock (keep the fashion police out or keep unsuspecting travelers in...forever? are the fabrics made from human skin?). Once I saw other women inside, though, I let down my guard. I had actually clutched my apartment key just in case I needed it for something other than opening my door although I hardly think anything with a Hello, Kitty keychain could be seriously taken as a weapon of choice.
The back of the house was this very crowded showroom of fake Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Hermes stuff from shoes to bags. The ladies, including my two foster sisters, proceeded to pelt the guy and his fellow storemates with a lot of questions including ones for haggling. I was finally seeing The Lady in her element now. After about 15 minutes, both her and The Matron bought some token stuff and we all made our way back to the main strip of Itaewon. The Lady later stated that the stuff was somewhat inferior to those in other backroom showrooms she'd been to but after being led all the way there, she had felt that she needed to buy something...hmm, I thought, she ain't that tough.
I'll have to continue this travelogue later since I gotta head on out to teach The Carolinan. She'll be my first souvenir recipient of Korean nori.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Wednesday April 12, 9:18 a.m.
It's still wet and cold out there....regular dog's nose weather. Well, I still gotta do the laundry since my machine is starting to fill up. Hanging everything inside though will humidify my home greatly.
Movie Buddy's canned out of the Chocolate Cafe. He and The Sylph have another event to attend at about the same time. Took a look at the promotional video for the place. Well, it's really more cafe than museum but I think the food and drink there should keep The Madame and Skippy quite happy.
I watched "The Enemy Within" from Star Trek Classic this morning for the umpteenth time. It's the one where Kirk gets split into his good and evil sides. Seeing William Shatner giving his usual scenery-chewing all made me wonder how Patrick Stewart would have handled it. I'm sure the late James Doohan would have cheekily said that the evil Kirk was the one that cast and crew usually saw for those 3 years.
The only class I have is with 001 tonight. 006 is off to Guam for a friend's wedding. I'll probably put off any gym work this week since I've gotta keep up with my Korean. However, I'll be dropping by Maruzen on the way to Speedy's to pick up that handbook for the country.
It's still wet and cold out there....regular dog's nose weather. Well, I still gotta do the laundry since my machine is starting to fill up. Hanging everything inside though will humidify my home greatly.
Movie Buddy's canned out of the Chocolate Cafe. He and The Sylph have another event to attend at about the same time. Took a look at the promotional video for the place. Well, it's really more cafe than museum but I think the food and drink there should keep The Madame and Skippy quite happy.
I watched "The Enemy Within" from Star Trek Classic this morning for the umpteenth time. It's the one where Kirk gets split into his good and evil sides. Seeing William Shatner giving his usual scenery-chewing all made me wonder how Patrick Stewart would have handled it. I'm sure the late James Doohan would have cheekily said that the evil Kirk was the one that cast and crew usually saw for those 3 years.
The only class I have is with 001 tonight. 006 is off to Guam for a friend's wedding. I'll probably put off any gym work this week since I've gotta keep up with my Korean. However, I'll be dropping by Maruzen on the way to Speedy's to pick up that handbook for the country.
Wednesday April 12, 12:03 a.m.
It was a miserable day. Just relentless rain and rain. I met The Teacher for the first time in a couple of weeks. She's been very busy with her new job as Japanese teacher and her new hobby as Chinese-language student. I kinda wonder if she's gonna end up like The OL. However, we are gonna meet next week but at a new venue...at the Becker's hamburger shop in the JR Tsudanuma Station. She figured that it was a time for a change in scenery. Personally, I still like our old cafe and since she gave me a filled point card from there, I'll probably make at least a few more visits.
I had those photos developed from my time at L'Aqua with The Madame on Friday and with Skippy and The Kid in Akihabara on Sunday. The Madame will kill me for one photo of her on the merry-go-round.
It looks like that Chocolate Cafe trip on Sunday is getting legs. Movie Buddy contacted me just now to say that his girl, The Sylph, is interested in going which probably means that her beau will tag along. I took a look at a promotional video on its website. Hmmm...the fare looks nice but there's not much in the way of seating. Just 18 chairs. Could be cramped. Not quite sure what we're gonna be doing afterwards either.
I've been reading stuff that the Idol Queen herself, Seiko Matsuda, has gotten herself married for the 3rd time. Gonna have to check her future ex-husband. And apparently, one of those NHK staffers has been dipping into the till again. And we are paying that bimonthly fee for what reason again...?
The rain is going on into later in the day. Man, this has gotta be the rainiest April on record.
It was a miserable day. Just relentless rain and rain. I met The Teacher for the first time in a couple of weeks. She's been very busy with her new job as Japanese teacher and her new hobby as Chinese-language student. I kinda wonder if she's gonna end up like The OL. However, we are gonna meet next week but at a new venue...at the Becker's hamburger shop in the JR Tsudanuma Station. She figured that it was a time for a change in scenery. Personally, I still like our old cafe and since she gave me a filled point card from there, I'll probably make at least a few more visits.
I had those photos developed from my time at L'Aqua with The Madame on Friday and with Skippy and The Kid in Akihabara on Sunday. The Madame will kill me for one photo of her on the merry-go-round.
It looks like that Chocolate Cafe trip on Sunday is getting legs. Movie Buddy contacted me just now to say that his girl, The Sylph, is interested in going which probably means that her beau will tag along. I took a look at a promotional video on its website. Hmmm...the fare looks nice but there's not much in the way of seating. Just 18 chairs. Could be cramped. Not quite sure what we're gonna be doing afterwards either.
I've been reading stuff that the Idol Queen herself, Seiko Matsuda, has gotten herself married for the 3rd time. Gonna have to check her future ex-husband. And apparently, one of those NHK staffers has been dipping into the till again. And we are paying that bimonthly fee for what reason again...?
The rain is going on into later in the day. Man, this has gotta be the rainiest April on record.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Tuesday April 11, 1:33 a.m.
Not quite ready for bed. And I think I need to talk about what happened with my Monday after gabbing all about the hijinks in Akihabara and Asakusa on Sunday. Well, actually, even before the Monday, I received a call from GC for the first time in perhaps a year. He was testing out his Skype connection just like Old Sam did some months earlier. Our talk was almost as if there hadn't been this long absence in our formerly close relationship. It was one of those 2-hour marathon phone sessions. One reason that he probably hasn't been coming out to Tokyo all that often anymore is that his school has been on the financial skids of late. The kids haven't been signing up for his school. Therefore, the money has been scarce. However, he's hopeful that there will be a security blanket of sorts in terms of private students in his area. He's also told me that our mutual friend, The Angel, has gotten a job working at Studio Ghibli as of May. So now she has to set up shop in the Big Sushi. He said that he would pass on my number to her but I'm not carrying any expectations that she will even be following through on any calls to me.
My day started yesterday with sending a package of his pre-ordered video games to The Anime King. Wouldn't he be interested in how I had spent my day on Sunday? But he's not all that much into his raison d'etre anymore. Now that he's got himself a wife...he's just keeping himself to his games.
My time with The Class Act was spent just making the final talk about our Korea trip. The Lady wasn't too impressed by my adventure at the Maid Cafe, no matter my insistence that it wasn't as sordid as I'd previously thought. I was surprised that she had given The Matron and me a manga depicting her husband's rise through the ranks to become one of the country's biggest (and feared) corporate figures. I'm trying to imagine how a real person can turn into a manga. Of course, the 8-issue compilation depicted the man as this relentless can-do paragon of business virtue, a point that I'm sure a lot of people will take issue with. But there's no doubt that he's made his millions.
Afterwards, I had to race down to Immigration to get my re-entry stamp. Since I was heading to Korea and then back to Canada for Xmas, I had to go for the multiple re-entry which cost me 6,000 yen. Then, it was take a number and wait. There were 154 people ahead of me when I arrived. But much like my time at Shinagawa last time, the folks were processed fairly quickly so after about 80 minutes, I was able to get my permit stamped into my passport in less than 2. Something not right about that.
I had lunch at the Hansens hot dog emporium at the station before I made my way up to Speedy's. The Part-Timer was her usual diligent self and my second student in the English in Cooking program was also very enthused about her second of three lessons. Afterwards, Speedy and I had a talk about trying to increase the student and revenue flow for the school once more. Speedy is now toying with the idea of sending out teachers to more far-flung areas such as my neck of the woods. The particular target here is 002 who has steadfastly refused to return to the fold since the school is just too far away from her. But if I were to go to her area since she and I don't live too far away from each other, perhaps we can start something on that order.
Got home to get a few messages. The OL has kept her end of the bargain as my ex-student by setting up a time and day for her sister to become my newest student, ironically on the first day of Golden Week. The headquarters will be The Tea Room...something that the manager there will be quite happy to hear about since I haven't been too frequent a presence there of late. The Madame has also been sending her share of messages to me about the next two Sundays' activities. So something is definitely coming along on that front.
Well, since the Beehive will be off today (thus explaining my very late writing right here right now), I'll be sleeping a little later and then trying my darndest to cram in some more Korean. However, some TEPCO official will probably be dropping by for a bit of inspection of the electrical system. I'm debating whether to answer the door when he comes. I probably wouldn't understand what he's talking about and besides he'll naturally assume there won't be anyone at home during that time of the day. However, I do have The Teacher for her lesson and I'm sure she'll be wondering about all the fuss at the Maid Cafe. And then I have my usual guys at the juku.
Not quite ready for bed. And I think I need to talk about what happened with my Monday after gabbing all about the hijinks in Akihabara and Asakusa on Sunday. Well, actually, even before the Monday, I received a call from GC for the first time in perhaps a year. He was testing out his Skype connection just like Old Sam did some months earlier. Our talk was almost as if there hadn't been this long absence in our formerly close relationship. It was one of those 2-hour marathon phone sessions. One reason that he probably hasn't been coming out to Tokyo all that often anymore is that his school has been on the financial skids of late. The kids haven't been signing up for his school. Therefore, the money has been scarce. However, he's hopeful that there will be a security blanket of sorts in terms of private students in his area. He's also told me that our mutual friend, The Angel, has gotten a job working at Studio Ghibli as of May. So now she has to set up shop in the Big Sushi. He said that he would pass on my number to her but I'm not carrying any expectations that she will even be following through on any calls to me.
My day started yesterday with sending a package of his pre-ordered video games to The Anime King. Wouldn't he be interested in how I had spent my day on Sunday? But he's not all that much into his raison d'etre anymore. Now that he's got himself a wife...he's just keeping himself to his games.
My time with The Class Act was spent just making the final talk about our Korea trip. The Lady wasn't too impressed by my adventure at the Maid Cafe, no matter my insistence that it wasn't as sordid as I'd previously thought. I was surprised that she had given The Matron and me a manga depicting her husband's rise through the ranks to become one of the country's biggest (and feared) corporate figures. I'm trying to imagine how a real person can turn into a manga. Of course, the 8-issue compilation depicted the man as this relentless can-do paragon of business virtue, a point that I'm sure a lot of people will take issue with. But there's no doubt that he's made his millions.
Afterwards, I had to race down to Immigration to get my re-entry stamp. Since I was heading to Korea and then back to Canada for Xmas, I had to go for the multiple re-entry which cost me 6,000 yen. Then, it was take a number and wait. There were 154 people ahead of me when I arrived. But much like my time at Shinagawa last time, the folks were processed fairly quickly so after about 80 minutes, I was able to get my permit stamped into my passport in less than 2. Something not right about that.
I had lunch at the Hansens hot dog emporium at the station before I made my way up to Speedy's. The Part-Timer was her usual diligent self and my second student in the English in Cooking program was also very enthused about her second of three lessons. Afterwards, Speedy and I had a talk about trying to increase the student and revenue flow for the school once more. Speedy is now toying with the idea of sending out teachers to more far-flung areas such as my neck of the woods. The particular target here is 002 who has steadfastly refused to return to the fold since the school is just too far away from her. But if I were to go to her area since she and I don't live too far away from each other, perhaps we can start something on that order.
Got home to get a few messages. The OL has kept her end of the bargain as my ex-student by setting up a time and day for her sister to become my newest student, ironically on the first day of Golden Week. The headquarters will be The Tea Room...something that the manager there will be quite happy to hear about since I haven't been too frequent a presence there of late. The Madame has also been sending her share of messages to me about the next two Sundays' activities. So something is definitely coming along on that front.
Well, since the Beehive will be off today (thus explaining my very late writing right here right now), I'll be sleeping a little later and then trying my darndest to cram in some more Korean. However, some TEPCO official will probably be dropping by for a bit of inspection of the electrical system. I'm debating whether to answer the door when he comes. I probably wouldn't understand what he's talking about and besides he'll naturally assume there won't be anyone at home during that time of the day. However, I do have The Teacher for her lesson and I'm sure she'll be wondering about all the fuss at the Maid Cafe. And then I have my usual guys at the juku.
Tuesday April 11, 12:39 a.m.
Ah...where was I? Oh, yes...the search for a Maid Cafe. After leaving all the hilarity of singing and dancing maid fanatics, Skippy, The Kid and I started making our half-hour trek seeking a Maid Cafe that wasn't gonna be too full. We had to do quite a bit of searching even with Skippy's handy map which started frustrating even the infectiously enthusiastic girl. We even had to skirt the outer edges of Akihabara to find one place. There was a lineup for the 2nd-floor Maid Cafe from the ground level so The Kid and I took our places in line while Skippy looked for another more accessible place. A young girl dressed up like Sailor Mars of "Sailor Moon" fame and who looked like a reject from a Morning Musume audition started going down the stairs taking down seating orders. She took ours down but just then Skippy contacted The Kid via his cell and relayed that the other cafe actually had openings. We were told that the place where we were waiting would take about an hour to get us seated. So the decision was quite easy to make.
From Skippy's directions, we made our way down back into the heart of Akihabara once more. We passed by a very large and prettified elementary school which was just kitty-corner away from a porn DVD shop. Just the perfect neighbour to have for an educational institution. I'm sure the tykes would quickly find out the perfect knots for an S&M tie-up or how large dildos can get. In any case, it was another minute before Skippy found us out and led us to Tiara, the Maid Cafe that she had found for us.
We couldn't get into the 2nd floor shop which looked like it was designed by a wedding cake manufacturer but we could get a table on the 3rd floor. There was something rather ad hoc about the deal on 3. It seemed like the owners got tables and chairs from a regular cafe and put them onto a deserted floor; there was a distinctly industrial vibe to the setting. However, we did get the "O-kaerinasai, go-shujin sama" greeting ("Welcome home, my master!") by a tribe of young ladies in maid outfits. We got seated, and then one maid took our order of a mocha cafe for Skippy, a chocolate float for The Kid and just some hot cocoa for me. I was rather struck by the ordinariness of the situation. Aside from the garb and age of the employees, Tiara was really just a regular cafe. The one thing I had been fearing....that the place would be populated by some extreme otaku...never materialized. In fact, I would say that any otaku was strictly in the minority. I only saw a number of heterosexual couples, a bunch of normal-looking guys and even one family. None of the waitresses acted like the typically lethally cute, helium-voiced anime characters. Our waitress had a very normal Shibuya girl voice, in fact. If I had closed my eyes, I would have thought I was in a family restaurant. I wasn't particularly disappointed, though. It was good cocoa. And frankly speaking, I wouldn't mind heading to Tiara, at least. I'm sure even The Madame wouldn't shy away from this place. I guess all that mewing excess is just at the At Home cafe. Still, the ladies sent us home with a "Itterasshai, go-shujin sama!" ("Farewell, my master!").
So that was basically our tour of Akihabara. I have a feeling we have yet to scratch the surface of this world of the otaku. However, as I said before, thanks to "Densha Otoko" and the somewhat controversial Disneyfication of the area, Akiba has now even received official approval by the national government via its "Yokoso Japan" (Welcome to Japan) campaign, complete with its own little pamphlet showing the recommended shops and even a glossary of Akiba-only terms such as "Moe" and "A-Boy". I can just imagine the deep otaku crying in their pink sundaes and fleeing for the refuge of east Ikebukuro.
The three of us took the Ginza Line all the way to the end of the line at Asakusa, my old stomping grounds in the 90s. There, of course, was much more different from the techno geekiness of Akihabara. It was back to some shitamachi traditional stuff in that wizened neighbourhood. We strolled down the shopping streets of Nakamise-dori and bought ourselves a snack in the form of 100-yen age-manju, deep-fried buns filled with sweet bean paste. Quite tasty if high-calorie. We made our way to the brazier at Sensoji Temple and wafted the incense smoke onto out bodies to purify ourselves.
Our next search was for this restaurant that Skippy had found on the Internet which has become famous of late for its okonomiyaki and monjayaki. Once again, it took several minutes of traversing the side streets of Asakusa, but we finally found the main restaurant for these traditional delights. I can't remember the name...I think it was Rokumon...something or other. However, we couldn't get into the main restaurant since it was already rather crowded but the lady there kindly told us of the second shop just around the corner and down a couple of blocks; she even called ahead there to let us know we were coming. The walk only took us a few minutes and we could get a table on some tatami.
Rokumon was getting its 15 minutes of fame, alright. The restaurant put up a billboard in front of the restaurant showing all of the magazines that had featured it. And just above our grill/table there was a handwritten sign pointing out that Masatoshi Hamada of the comedic duo "Downtown" had even brought his gang from one of his own TV shows to try out the fare there. Well, the three of us ordered an okonomiyaki, a monjayaki (the liquidy stuff that I had initially pooh-poohed due to its resemblance to barf only to get to like it in later years) and yakisoba. While The Kid got himself a beer, Skippy and I stayed traditional and ordered two Lamune...a Sprite-like drink which is notable for its bottle. The neck of the bottle has a glass ball in it which automatically stops up the hole once the bottle is inverted so that one doesn't overdrink the soda and get too much gas.
The fare was great eating and my two former students were more than happy to do the cooking chores while I just watched. Although Skippy finally bowed out after the yakisoba, The Kid and I decided to go for one more dish, the one which the Downtown gang had ordered which was okonomiyaki with beef chunks. Ooh, talk about decadent. We were being served by a number of staff, one of whom looked like one of those young boys who would have a future with that male idol troupe, Johnny's Jimusho. As we were leaving, he was getting a bit of the tongue-lashing from his superior for a bit of a slip. There's none of that taking him aside and chewing a guy out privately to save face in these places. You screw up, everybody hears about it. It's probably the way that the greenhorns learn to be be efficient fast.
Over the course of the several hours that I was with The Kid and Skippy, I had noticed a gradual change in Skippy's demeanor. I had always known her to be the ultra-enthused cheerleader amongst the alumni of her year at the ol' school. However, she was showing somewhat of a suffer-no-fools-gladly-Shibuya-gal-ish side by the end. She was getting on The Kid's case for something or other, mockingly or not. Not a side that I particularly liked but who am I to judge character? I can only imagine what fights must be like between her and her boyfriend. Our final stop was a very normal Jonathan's family restaurant near Asakusa Station for dessert and coffee before heading home.
Ah...where was I? Oh, yes...the search for a Maid Cafe. After leaving all the hilarity of singing and dancing maid fanatics, Skippy, The Kid and I started making our half-hour trek seeking a Maid Cafe that wasn't gonna be too full. We had to do quite a bit of searching even with Skippy's handy map which started frustrating even the infectiously enthusiastic girl. We even had to skirt the outer edges of Akihabara to find one place. There was a lineup for the 2nd-floor Maid Cafe from the ground level so The Kid and I took our places in line while Skippy looked for another more accessible place. A young girl dressed up like Sailor Mars of "Sailor Moon" fame and who looked like a reject from a Morning Musume audition started going down the stairs taking down seating orders. She took ours down but just then Skippy contacted The Kid via his cell and relayed that the other cafe actually had openings. We were told that the place where we were waiting would take about an hour to get us seated. So the decision was quite easy to make.
From Skippy's directions, we made our way down back into the heart of Akihabara once more. We passed by a very large and prettified elementary school which was just kitty-corner away from a porn DVD shop. Just the perfect neighbour to have for an educational institution. I'm sure the tykes would quickly find out the perfect knots for an S&M tie-up or how large dildos can get. In any case, it was another minute before Skippy found us out and led us to Tiara, the Maid Cafe that she had found for us.
We couldn't get into the 2nd floor shop which looked like it was designed by a wedding cake manufacturer but we could get a table on the 3rd floor. There was something rather ad hoc about the deal on 3. It seemed like the owners got tables and chairs from a regular cafe and put them onto a deserted floor; there was a distinctly industrial vibe to the setting. However, we did get the "O-kaerinasai, go-shujin sama" greeting ("Welcome home, my master!") by a tribe of young ladies in maid outfits. We got seated, and then one maid took our order of a mocha cafe for Skippy, a chocolate float for The Kid and just some hot cocoa for me. I was rather struck by the ordinariness of the situation. Aside from the garb and age of the employees, Tiara was really just a regular cafe. The one thing I had been fearing....that the place would be populated by some extreme otaku...never materialized. In fact, I would say that any otaku was strictly in the minority. I only saw a number of heterosexual couples, a bunch of normal-looking guys and even one family. None of the waitresses acted like the typically lethally cute, helium-voiced anime characters. Our waitress had a very normal Shibuya girl voice, in fact. If I had closed my eyes, I would have thought I was in a family restaurant. I wasn't particularly disappointed, though. It was good cocoa. And frankly speaking, I wouldn't mind heading to Tiara, at least. I'm sure even The Madame wouldn't shy away from this place. I guess all that mewing excess is just at the At Home cafe. Still, the ladies sent us home with a "Itterasshai, go-shujin sama!" ("Farewell, my master!").
So that was basically our tour of Akihabara. I have a feeling we have yet to scratch the surface of this world of the otaku. However, as I said before, thanks to "Densha Otoko" and the somewhat controversial Disneyfication of the area, Akiba has now even received official approval by the national government via its "Yokoso Japan" (Welcome to Japan) campaign, complete with its own little pamphlet showing the recommended shops and even a glossary of Akiba-only terms such as "Moe" and "A-Boy". I can just imagine the deep otaku crying in their pink sundaes and fleeing for the refuge of east Ikebukuro.
The three of us took the Ginza Line all the way to the end of the line at Asakusa, my old stomping grounds in the 90s. There, of course, was much more different from the techno geekiness of Akihabara. It was back to some shitamachi traditional stuff in that wizened neighbourhood. We strolled down the shopping streets of Nakamise-dori and bought ourselves a snack in the form of 100-yen age-manju, deep-fried buns filled with sweet bean paste. Quite tasty if high-calorie. We made our way to the brazier at Sensoji Temple and wafted the incense smoke onto out bodies to purify ourselves.
Our next search was for this restaurant that Skippy had found on the Internet which has become famous of late for its okonomiyaki and monjayaki. Once again, it took several minutes of traversing the side streets of Asakusa, but we finally found the main restaurant for these traditional delights. I can't remember the name...I think it was Rokumon...something or other. However, we couldn't get into the main restaurant since it was already rather crowded but the lady there kindly told us of the second shop just around the corner and down a couple of blocks; she even called ahead there to let us know we were coming. The walk only took us a few minutes and we could get a table on some tatami.
Rokumon was getting its 15 minutes of fame, alright. The restaurant put up a billboard in front of the restaurant showing all of the magazines that had featured it. And just above our grill/table there was a handwritten sign pointing out that Masatoshi Hamada of the comedic duo "Downtown" had even brought his gang from one of his own TV shows to try out the fare there. Well, the three of us ordered an okonomiyaki, a monjayaki (the liquidy stuff that I had initially pooh-poohed due to its resemblance to barf only to get to like it in later years) and yakisoba. While The Kid got himself a beer, Skippy and I stayed traditional and ordered two Lamune...a Sprite-like drink which is notable for its bottle. The neck of the bottle has a glass ball in it which automatically stops up the hole once the bottle is inverted so that one doesn't overdrink the soda and get too much gas.
The fare was great eating and my two former students were more than happy to do the cooking chores while I just watched. Although Skippy finally bowed out after the yakisoba, The Kid and I decided to go for one more dish, the one which the Downtown gang had ordered which was okonomiyaki with beef chunks. Ooh, talk about decadent. We were being served by a number of staff, one of whom looked like one of those young boys who would have a future with that male idol troupe, Johnny's Jimusho. As we were leaving, he was getting a bit of the tongue-lashing from his superior for a bit of a slip. There's none of that taking him aside and chewing a guy out privately to save face in these places. You screw up, everybody hears about it. It's probably the way that the greenhorns learn to be be efficient fast.
Over the course of the several hours that I was with The Kid and Skippy, I had noticed a gradual change in Skippy's demeanor. I had always known her to be the ultra-enthused cheerleader amongst the alumni of her year at the ol' school. However, she was showing somewhat of a suffer-no-fools-gladly-Shibuya-gal-ish side by the end. She was getting on The Kid's case for something or other, mockingly or not. Not a side that I particularly liked but who am I to judge character? I can only imagine what fights must be like between her and her boyfriend. Our final stop was a very normal Jonathan's family restaurant near Asakusa Station for dessert and coffee before heading home.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Monday April 10, 7:45 a.m.
It was a day of revelations yesterday. I arrived at JR Akihabara Station where I met Skippy at the gates. She was definitely waiting for this day for a long time. Her hidden otaku came out to the fore, and coupled with her natural effervescence, she was, frankly, on fire. The Kid called her cell to say that he would be 30 minutes late and his friend pulled a dotakyan, so the two of us went ahead. There were already several maids in front of the station handing out flyers for their respective Maid Cafes. And of course, they were getting a lot of photo-snapping admirers. Skippy didn't waste anytime and had me take a shot of her and a couple of the maids with her digital camera.
Her inherent geekiness became further evident to me when she took me to the complex across from the station, Radio Kaikan, and up to the 4th floor where there was a character doll shop (she had a homemade map of all the places that she wanted to visit in Akiba...including the major Maid Cafes). The entire complex held several stores on about 4 or 5 floors which were all cramped if efficiently set up. There were huge lifesize dolls of anime characters from "Evangelion" and "Hokuto no Ken", next to which Skippy was very happy to take some shots. There were also representatives from the various other major anime and robot shows such as "Ultraman", "Masked Rider" and "Gundam". Of course, there were the figures of the saucer-eyed, gravity-challenged blimp-bosomed anime girls in various stages of dress and undress. But it wasn't all Japanese. There was representation from the United States as well. There was a display case of Star Wars characters and ships. And I even saw a couple of boxes of the ISS Enterprise, the mirror universe version of the "good" Enterprise, from "Star Trek: Enterprise". How's that for specific?
We went back down to the bustling pavement and joined the crowds on the main street where all the otakus and maids and regular folk in the long pedestrian paradise plaza were mingling like folks in the Rio Festival. Skippy would later remark that the crowds were even bigger in Akihabara than in glamourous Ginza, which is also closed off to vehicular traffic on Sundays. I wouldn't have disagreed with her. It also brought me to the realization that Akihabara has indeed changed. The whole neighbourhood has become Disneyfied. Having lived next to Tokyo for well over a decade, I knew the area as the semi-exclusive enclave of the slightly villified, often-ridiculed otaku. But now, it's become the place to be for everyone, the trendy place to visit along other trendy neighbourhoods like Harajuku and Omotesando. And otakus, in addition to the Maids, have come back in from the cold. In a way, it's kinda like what happened to Times Square (the real McCoy in Manhattan, not the shopping mall in Shinjuku)...once, it was one of the seedier and more dangerous parts of New York; now it's become this happy-happy area of Disney and Warner Bros. The sleazebuckets must've been crying in their beer.
Our next stop was Asobit, another store on the main strip. We were about to explore some of its heights when The Kid arrived. He looked even thinner than last we met, and he wasn't exactly portly to start with. The three of us then entered Asobit in earnest, up to the higher floors to be exact, and we came across the character goods once more. However, it was on the higher floor that we entered the cosplay zone. Skippy started bouncing around as if it were Xmas. The Kid, being much younger and therefore a little more sensitive about his self-image, was groaning in embarrassment as his sempai from the ol' school was checking out the various Maid dresses. I think I knew right then and there where those Maid Cafes got their supplies. In any case, there were a few frilly-frocked girls doing some window-shopping as well.
Getting back onto the street, crowds were starting to coagulate around certain Maids or other costumed girls. We took peeks at who they were. A couple of them were dressed like sexy future police officers while others had the more traditional Maid garb. It was then that I realized a change in Skippy. She'd always been the happy-go-lucky one but she started taking on a bit of a harder edge as the day wore on. She took a look at a few of the girls getting the attention and remarked openly that she could look a whole lot better than those dogs. I wouldn't doubt it and she did openly state that would be very happy wearing one of those frocks. It was almost as if the girl had secretly taken a swig from a little silver bottle.
The Kid, Skippy and I started searching for a Maid Cafe to invade. We had to somewhat grope (figuratively not physically) our way on the street to look for the most famous At Home cafe. We could finally find it in this huge emporium. There was the downright bizarre sight of a diminuitive Maid dancing to some Eurobeat on a stage in front of the complex. However, the really weird sight greeted us on the floor where the At Home cafe was located. There were a few more Maids singing and dancing in front of a bunch of hopped-up geeks, two of whom were just flailing away as if they were at a mosh pit. However, to add legitimacy to the proceedings, there were several normal-looking women present with their boyfriends although they were looking at the scene with a remarkable sense of bemusement. As it turned out, the At Home cafe was fully booked and would mean that we would have to wait for an hour at least to get in. So we decided to go back down.
When Akihabara was still the geeky enclave, restaurants were pretty hard to find outside of the local McDonalds. Now, with the Disneyfication of the area, they've started to pop out from the woodwork. The three of us got a small lunch in front of that complex housing the At Home cafe at a onigiri stand. For 310 yen, I got a tuna & mayo rice ball with a bottle of green tea. Quite good.
Well, I do have a regular day ahead of me including that stop off at Immigration. I'll have to continue our Maid Odyssey later on.
It was a day of revelations yesterday. I arrived at JR Akihabara Station where I met Skippy at the gates. She was definitely waiting for this day for a long time. Her hidden otaku came out to the fore, and coupled with her natural effervescence, she was, frankly, on fire. The Kid called her cell to say that he would be 30 minutes late and his friend pulled a dotakyan, so the two of us went ahead. There were already several maids in front of the station handing out flyers for their respective Maid Cafes. And of course, they were getting a lot of photo-snapping admirers. Skippy didn't waste anytime and had me take a shot of her and a couple of the maids with her digital camera.
Her inherent geekiness became further evident to me when she took me to the complex across from the station, Radio Kaikan, and up to the 4th floor where there was a character doll shop (she had a homemade map of all the places that she wanted to visit in Akiba...including the major Maid Cafes). The entire complex held several stores on about 4 or 5 floors which were all cramped if efficiently set up. There were huge lifesize dolls of anime characters from "Evangelion" and "Hokuto no Ken", next to which Skippy was very happy to take some shots. There were also representatives from the various other major anime and robot shows such as "Ultraman", "Masked Rider" and "Gundam". Of course, there were the figures of the saucer-eyed, gravity-challenged blimp-bosomed anime girls in various stages of dress and undress. But it wasn't all Japanese. There was representation from the United States as well. There was a display case of Star Wars characters and ships. And I even saw a couple of boxes of the ISS Enterprise, the mirror universe version of the "good" Enterprise, from "Star Trek: Enterprise". How's that for specific?
We went back down to the bustling pavement and joined the crowds on the main street where all the otakus and maids and regular folk in the long pedestrian paradise plaza were mingling like folks in the Rio Festival. Skippy would later remark that the crowds were even bigger in Akihabara than in glamourous Ginza, which is also closed off to vehicular traffic on Sundays. I wouldn't have disagreed with her. It also brought me to the realization that Akihabara has indeed changed. The whole neighbourhood has become Disneyfied. Having lived next to Tokyo for well over a decade, I knew the area as the semi-exclusive enclave of the slightly villified, often-ridiculed otaku. But now, it's become the place to be for everyone, the trendy place to visit along other trendy neighbourhoods like Harajuku and Omotesando. And otakus, in addition to the Maids, have come back in from the cold. In a way, it's kinda like what happened to Times Square (the real McCoy in Manhattan, not the shopping mall in Shinjuku)...once, it was one of the seedier and more dangerous parts of New York; now it's become this happy-happy area of Disney and Warner Bros. The sleazebuckets must've been crying in their beer.
Our next stop was Asobit, another store on the main strip. We were about to explore some of its heights when The Kid arrived. He looked even thinner than last we met, and he wasn't exactly portly to start with. The three of us then entered Asobit in earnest, up to the higher floors to be exact, and we came across the character goods once more. However, it was on the higher floor that we entered the cosplay zone. Skippy started bouncing around as if it were Xmas. The Kid, being much younger and therefore a little more sensitive about his self-image, was groaning in embarrassment as his sempai from the ol' school was checking out the various Maid dresses. I think I knew right then and there where those Maid Cafes got their supplies. In any case, there were a few frilly-frocked girls doing some window-shopping as well.
Getting back onto the street, crowds were starting to coagulate around certain Maids or other costumed girls. We took peeks at who they were. A couple of them were dressed like sexy future police officers while others had the more traditional Maid garb. It was then that I realized a change in Skippy. She'd always been the happy-go-lucky one but she started taking on a bit of a harder edge as the day wore on. She took a look at a few of the girls getting the attention and remarked openly that she could look a whole lot better than those dogs. I wouldn't doubt it and she did openly state that would be very happy wearing one of those frocks. It was almost as if the girl had secretly taken a swig from a little silver bottle.
The Kid, Skippy and I started searching for a Maid Cafe to invade. We had to somewhat grope (figuratively not physically) our way on the street to look for the most famous At Home cafe. We could finally find it in this huge emporium. There was the downright bizarre sight of a diminuitive Maid dancing to some Eurobeat on a stage in front of the complex. However, the really weird sight greeted us on the floor where the At Home cafe was located. There were a few more Maids singing and dancing in front of a bunch of hopped-up geeks, two of whom were just flailing away as if they were at a mosh pit. However, to add legitimacy to the proceedings, there were several normal-looking women present with their boyfriends although they were looking at the scene with a remarkable sense of bemusement. As it turned out, the At Home cafe was fully booked and would mean that we would have to wait for an hour at least to get in. So we decided to go back down.
When Akihabara was still the geeky enclave, restaurants were pretty hard to find outside of the local McDonalds. Now, with the Disneyfication of the area, they've started to pop out from the woodwork. The three of us got a small lunch in front of that complex housing the At Home cafe at a onigiri stand. For 310 yen, I got a tuna & mayo rice ball with a bottle of green tea. Quite good.
Well, I do have a regular day ahead of me including that stop off at Immigration. I'll have to continue our Maid Odyssey later on.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Sunday April 9, 10:50 a.m.
Well, I guess I have seen everything now. The most unlikeliest Hollywood celeb to ever do one of those silly Japanese commercials actually did a commercial according to what I saw an hour ago. Tommy Lee (suffer-no-fools-gladly) Jones did his usual glare in a gyudon restaurant at a couple of young guys before stepping out soberly in his suit and drinking a Boss canned coffee. Mind you, he didn't say anything stupid. Even Anthony Hopkins couldn't escape that several years ago when he was plugging a Japanese car by saying in a zombie-like state, "Let's have a wonderful time!" Still, I guess the economy must be on the upswing if male Hollywood stars are doing ads here again.
Times are definitely a-changin'. The Sunday 9:30 a.m. slot on Fuji-TV isn't exactly the time for frenetic hilarity. In fact, I think aside from 5-and-under kids, I don't think there would be too many people up-and-at-'em. The slot used to be filled by this long-running show starring three not-quite-young but not-quite-middle-aged female tarento who just sat around on a living room set and just gabbed for 30 minutes (that was Chip Guy's big beef about Japanese TV...there seemed to be just shows that had people on to only talk). Currently, those formerly nasty boys, London Boots, have now taken over their slot with a fairly harmless little half-hour show which resembles any happy-happy Saturday morning variety program.
That's quite a thing to say about London Boots, the live Japanese equivalent of Beavis n' Butthead. They were notorious for doing a lot of nasty stuff although not quite on the level of MTV's "Jackass". They were more manipulative on the emotional level. They once had a show on TV-Asahi on Sunday nights (now occupied by the home-remodeling show "Before/After" ) which often featured them screwing around with real romantic couples with a "Temptation Island"-like theme, and a segment in which a pretty girl had to guess amongst a group of 10 guys wearing Michael Jackson masks who the only handsome guy was. The other 9 were pretty hideous...and the worst thing was that the girl had to kiss her choice. It was interesting that this was the only program that Chip Guy raved about in his years here in Japan. I'm sure he would cringe at finding out that the boys are now just introducing cute segments like the best bakery serving curry rolls in Tokyo.
Things have slightly changed on the set of "Waratte Ii Tomo", the noontime Fuji-TV program. Every Sunday, there is a 90-minute wrap-up digest of the week's shows. There have been a couple of additions to the lineup of regulars...one of whom is the daughter of the late Toshiro Mifune of "Seven Samurai" fame. Mika Mifune is just 23 years old but she's already a veteran actress and a wife/mother to boot who's also recently broken into the morbidly happy world of the tarento. She's entered one of the key tarento agglomeration spots by joining the "Waratte Ii Tomo" family.
In a few hours, I meet up with Skippy, The Kid and one other person for that fateful trip to a maid cafe in Akihabara. I may not be the same after that.
Well, I guess I have seen everything now. The most unlikeliest Hollywood celeb to ever do one of those silly Japanese commercials actually did a commercial according to what I saw an hour ago. Tommy Lee (suffer-no-fools-gladly) Jones did his usual glare in a gyudon restaurant at a couple of young guys before stepping out soberly in his suit and drinking a Boss canned coffee. Mind you, he didn't say anything stupid. Even Anthony Hopkins couldn't escape that several years ago when he was plugging a Japanese car by saying in a zombie-like state, "Let's have a wonderful time!" Still, I guess the economy must be on the upswing if male Hollywood stars are doing ads here again.
Times are definitely a-changin'. The Sunday 9:30 a.m. slot on Fuji-TV isn't exactly the time for frenetic hilarity. In fact, I think aside from 5-and-under kids, I don't think there would be too many people up-and-at-'em. The slot used to be filled by this long-running show starring three not-quite-young but not-quite-middle-aged female tarento who just sat around on a living room set and just gabbed for 30 minutes (that was Chip Guy's big beef about Japanese TV...there seemed to be just shows that had people on to only talk). Currently, those formerly nasty boys, London Boots, have now taken over their slot with a fairly harmless little half-hour show which resembles any happy-happy Saturday morning variety program.
That's quite a thing to say about London Boots, the live Japanese equivalent of Beavis n' Butthead. They were notorious for doing a lot of nasty stuff although not quite on the level of MTV's "Jackass". They were more manipulative on the emotional level. They once had a show on TV-Asahi on Sunday nights (now occupied by the home-remodeling show "Before/After" ) which often featured them screwing around with real romantic couples with a "Temptation Island"-like theme, and a segment in which a pretty girl had to guess amongst a group of 10 guys wearing Michael Jackson masks who the only handsome guy was. The other 9 were pretty hideous...and the worst thing was that the girl had to kiss her choice. It was interesting that this was the only program that Chip Guy raved about in his years here in Japan. I'm sure he would cringe at finding out that the boys are now just introducing cute segments like the best bakery serving curry rolls in Tokyo.
Things have slightly changed on the set of "Waratte Ii Tomo", the noontime Fuji-TV program. Every Sunday, there is a 90-minute wrap-up digest of the week's shows. There have been a couple of additions to the lineup of regulars...one of whom is the daughter of the late Toshiro Mifune of "Seven Samurai" fame. Mika Mifune is just 23 years old but she's already a veteran actress and a wife/mother to boot who's also recently broken into the morbidly happy world of the tarento. She's entered one of the key tarento agglomeration spots by joining the "Waratte Ii Tomo" family.
In a few hours, I meet up with Skippy, The Kid and one other person for that fateful trip to a maid cafe in Akihabara. I may not be the same after that.
Saturday April 8, 8:35 p.m.
What's something that a single guy in his 40s without any hope of getting a girl can do with one hand? That's right...surf the Internet. My problem is that my search engines of Yahoo and Alta Vista don't seem to be working very well. After several seconds of waiting to get an entry up on the screen, I get one of those 404 notes. However, Ask.com seems to be in good order. Just goes to show that my computer may be on its last legs.
However the weather seems to have stabilized. I haven't needed to make a sudden rush to the balcony to snatch off any clothing in danger of getting re-moistened. However, it looks like much of next week will be rather gloomy. That's something The Lady doesn't want to hear for the Korea trip.
Being a Saturday night on TV Tokyo, it's another 2-hour special on food. However, unlike the usual travelogues by B and C class tarento, the special today is just on visiting various sushi bars all around the country. Well, I just have to tape this thing and the usual 1-hour of "Admatic Tengoku" which follows to get my first complete tape for the parentals. The show is one of the flagships on TV Tokyo. Every Saturday at 9 p.m., the show spotlights a certain sector of Tokyo and strip mines of it for all the information on shopping and eating and other interesting goings-on in that neighbourhood.
Well, time to wash the dishes...
What's something that a single guy in his 40s without any hope of getting a girl can do with one hand? That's right...surf the Internet. My problem is that my search engines of Yahoo and Alta Vista don't seem to be working very well. After several seconds of waiting to get an entry up on the screen, I get one of those 404 notes. However, Ask.com seems to be in good order. Just goes to show that my computer may be on its last legs.
However the weather seems to have stabilized. I haven't needed to make a sudden rush to the balcony to snatch off any clothing in danger of getting re-moistened. However, it looks like much of next week will be rather gloomy. That's something The Lady doesn't want to hear for the Korea trip.
Being a Saturday night on TV Tokyo, it's another 2-hour special on food. However, unlike the usual travelogues by B and C class tarento, the special today is just on visiting various sushi bars all around the country. Well, I just have to tape this thing and the usual 1-hour of "Admatic Tengoku" which follows to get my first complete tape for the parentals. The show is one of the flagships on TV Tokyo. Every Saturday at 9 p.m., the show spotlights a certain sector of Tokyo and strip mines of it for all the information on shopping and eating and other interesting goings-on in that neighbourhood.
Well, time to wash the dishes...
Friday, April 07, 2006
Saturday April 8, 2:25 p.m.
Very unstable day out there. It was sunnier earlier today then I came home to a cold drizzle then it was sunny again and now it's clouded over. It's weather like this that decreases the life expectancy of weathercasters.
JJ was fine although she was getting tongue-tied on her prepositions. Had to hold her the hand (figuratively, of course) to keep her confidence from plummeting.
Looks like this month's weekends could be filled with The Madame...ironic, considering that she was virtually missing during the first two months of the year. We're probably heading for the 100% Chocolate Cafe next Sunday and then we could be catching "The Libertine" at Times Square the following Sunday. In between, we have that day trip to Yokohama. Hmmm....
Just did Sapporo Ichiban for lunch. At 68 yen a package, even the Lotteria's bargain basement Hamburger Set couldn't beat that price. For dinner, I've decided to have that sesame pork concoction I made up a couple of nights ago. Scrumptious, that was.
My brother contacted me to offer to get a special Star Trek DVD set which includes all the series finales of at least the sequel TV shows (I can live without the series finale of Trek Classic, "Turnabout Intruder"...I'm sure George Takei must have been giggling at Bill Shatner's take on a woman possessing Captain Kirk), and the Trek Classic classic "City on the Edge of Forever". That episode of Kirk, Spock and McCoy was deemed to be the best that the original series had ever made. I think it was a good ep but it was a time travel show. It would seem that the much-ballyhooed episodes on any of the Trek shows were all time travel oriented in one way or another...probably because the performers were so grateful to do some thespian stretching away from the oft-straightjacketing influence of the Star Trek bible. Still, for me, the best Trek Classic episode will always be "The Doomsday Machine". You got your undefeatable enemy in the form of the planetkiller, a commodore with an Ahab complex (William Windom as Matt Decker whose scenes will just wow anyone accustomed to seeing him much later as the McCoyish Dr. Seth Hazlett in "Murder, She Wrote"), two starships battling said enemy and some of the best music ever heard on a TV series...ever.
Very unstable day out there. It was sunnier earlier today then I came home to a cold drizzle then it was sunny again and now it's clouded over. It's weather like this that decreases the life expectancy of weathercasters.
JJ was fine although she was getting tongue-tied on her prepositions. Had to hold her the hand (figuratively, of course) to keep her confidence from plummeting.
Looks like this month's weekends could be filled with The Madame...ironic, considering that she was virtually missing during the first two months of the year. We're probably heading for the 100% Chocolate Cafe next Sunday and then we could be catching "The Libertine" at Times Square the following Sunday. In between, we have that day trip to Yokohama. Hmmm....
Just did Sapporo Ichiban for lunch. At 68 yen a package, even the Lotteria's bargain basement Hamburger Set couldn't beat that price. For dinner, I've decided to have that sesame pork concoction I made up a couple of nights ago. Scrumptious, that was.
My brother contacted me to offer to get a special Star Trek DVD set which includes all the series finales of at least the sequel TV shows (I can live without the series finale of Trek Classic, "Turnabout Intruder"...I'm sure George Takei must have been giggling at Bill Shatner's take on a woman possessing Captain Kirk), and the Trek Classic classic "City on the Edge of Forever". That episode of Kirk, Spock and McCoy was deemed to be the best that the original series had ever made. I think it was a good ep but it was a time travel show. It would seem that the much-ballyhooed episodes on any of the Trek shows were all time travel oriented in one way or another...probably because the performers were so grateful to do some thespian stretching away from the oft-straightjacketing influence of the Star Trek bible. Still, for me, the best Trek Classic episode will always be "The Doomsday Machine". You got your undefeatable enemy in the form of the planetkiller, a commodore with an Ahab complex (William Windom as Matt Decker whose scenes will just wow anyone accustomed to seeing him much later as the McCoyish Dr. Seth Hazlett in "Murder, She Wrote"), two starships battling said enemy and some of the best music ever heard on a TV series...ever.
Saturday April 8, 8:02 a.m.
I kinda figured that this was going to happen in CNN. Ever since John Roberts came on board as this overqualified national correspondent, he seems to have gained more and more of his old job back. He's been the go-to guy as replacement host on "American Morning", "The Situation Room" and even "Anderson Cooper". And he's done it faster than anyone else new on staff. John King must be feeling quite green right now. And then I see on TVNewser that one contributor has been crowing about the temporary team-up of Roberts and Heidi Collins on Anderson this week stating that although she doesn't think he has a particularly likeable screen persona (yeowch!), Roberts is a top-notch interviewer. It's good to know that all those chats with Iggy Pop and David Bowie all those decades ago have served the former J.D. Roberts well. Anderson may have to look over his shoulder but I think Wolf Blitzer will be getting his bags packed very soon.
Interesting thing...just one year after former Canadian Peter Jennings gave his sign-off from ABC, we got former Canadian John Roberts becomign the star quarterback for CNN. Americans must be scratching their heads about who these people are. Do all Canadians sound so stentorian and uninflected? Then again, as an antidote, you can take a look at former Canadian William Shatner.
Still, sticking with the wonderful world of American network news, I heard about the impending jump of perky Katie Couric from "Today" to the coveted throne of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather on CBS. She would be the first sole female anchor of "The CBS Evening News". It would also make her very first nighttime CBS anchor to have had a cameo in a Mike Myers movie ("Goldmember")...now can Cronkite and Rather boast about that, huh?
As for news here, there was a scary reminder to that sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subways 11 years ago when a Korean pickpocketing gang tried to escape from the cops by spraying a whole bunch of people with some mace-like substance on the platform of Nishi-Nippori Station on the Yamanote Line back on Thursday morning. Well, at least, the officers got one of the guys. About 27 commuters and at least one cop had to be treated.
In my own little (and hopefully, far more peaceful) world today, I should just be meeting JJ for her appointment and then coming straight back home. I checked the Japanese Immigration website for any potential hiccups about getting that re-entry permit. Nope, I can still get it on the same day that I apply. So off I will go on Monday straight after The Class Act. It'll cost me 6,000 yen to get the multiple-entry, though. But I absolutely know that I will have to return home this Xmas at risk of being written out of the family will...not that there's any guarantee that I'm even in it as it is.
I kinda figured that this was going to happen in CNN. Ever since John Roberts came on board as this overqualified national correspondent, he seems to have gained more and more of his old job back. He's been the go-to guy as replacement host on "American Morning", "The Situation Room" and even "Anderson Cooper". And he's done it faster than anyone else new on staff. John King must be feeling quite green right now. And then I see on TVNewser that one contributor has been crowing about the temporary team-up of Roberts and Heidi Collins on Anderson this week stating that although she doesn't think he has a particularly likeable screen persona (yeowch!), Roberts is a top-notch interviewer. It's good to know that all those chats with Iggy Pop and David Bowie all those decades ago have served the former J.D. Roberts well. Anderson may have to look over his shoulder but I think Wolf Blitzer will be getting his bags packed very soon.
Interesting thing...just one year after former Canadian Peter Jennings gave his sign-off from ABC, we got former Canadian John Roberts becomign the star quarterback for CNN. Americans must be scratching their heads about who these people are. Do all Canadians sound so stentorian and uninflected? Then again, as an antidote, you can take a look at former Canadian William Shatner.
Still, sticking with the wonderful world of American network news, I heard about the impending jump of perky Katie Couric from "Today" to the coveted throne of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather on CBS. She would be the first sole female anchor of "The CBS Evening News". It would also make her very first nighttime CBS anchor to have had a cameo in a Mike Myers movie ("Goldmember")...now can Cronkite and Rather boast about that, huh?
As for news here, there was a scary reminder to that sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subways 11 years ago when a Korean pickpocketing gang tried to escape from the cops by spraying a whole bunch of people with some mace-like substance on the platform of Nishi-Nippori Station on the Yamanote Line back on Thursday morning. Well, at least, the officers got one of the guys. About 27 commuters and at least one cop had to be treated.
In my own little (and hopefully, far more peaceful) world today, I should just be meeting JJ for her appointment and then coming straight back home. I checked the Japanese Immigration website for any potential hiccups about getting that re-entry permit. Nope, I can still get it on the same day that I apply. So off I will go on Monday straight after The Class Act. It'll cost me 6,000 yen to get the multiple-entry, though. But I absolutely know that I will have to return home this Xmas at risk of being written out of the family will...not that there's any guarantee that I'm even in it as it is.
Friday April 7, 9:40 p.m.
It was pretty cloudy when I met The Madame at the West Exit of JR Suidobashi Station this morning...rather gloomy, in fact. I thought we were gonna get another douser. However, we were saved from the wet stuff although it stayed overcast for the most part. And The Madame likes it this way since she's a bit sensitive to the sun. We made our way over to the Tokyo Dome area for our afternoon at L'Aqua, the shopping/spa complex next to the Dome.
Our first stop, though, were a couple of the rides. The Madame was armed with some free passes for both L'Aqua and the amusement park area. We chose the Ferris Wheel known as The Big O for our first venture. The Big O is called as such because it is the only Wheel on the planet that doesn't have any hub or radii filling in the ring. And it was an auspicious ride for me since it was the very first time that I'd ever been on a Ferris Wheel of any sort in my life (you can start oohing now). Each cab had a stereo piping in the latest J-Pop hits from a device bolted to the wall resembling a cell phone. Although I didn't let her know, I was feeling a little antsy at first as we made our 15-minute rotation up and down. My fear of heights is still there.
Afterwards, we used the remaining ride passes for the much tamer carousel. The Madame opted for riding the gorilla for some giddy reason that she couldn't really explain. I, on the other hand, just chose a nice little loveseat for the gentle ride around.
Then, it was off to the wonders of the spa itself. The Madame had free passes for those. We had quite a few attentive...almost unctuous...staffers leading us the way. L'Aqua the Spa is one of those places that just yells class and naturalness. All the lockers were tastefully apportioned in faux-wood and browns. And the general theme seemed to be a mix of resort inn and spa. At the front desk, the two of us received our spa clothing that we were to wear inside the grounds. I went to the Men's locker room; the male staffer kindly spoke to me in broken English and led me to my locker. I had received a a numbered wrist bracelet which acted as locker key and internal credit card. I stripped down to nothing and donned on my brown-fiber clothes and joined my barefoot companion outside. As with my gym in Urayasu, most of the folks walking around all shriveled like were of the geriatric persuasion.
The Madame and I decided to make the low-heat saunas our first stop on the 8th floor. We went for the room with the lowest temperature...40 degrees C. It was a darkened circular room with a bench running around the circumference. We sat there for about 10 minutes. It was quite comfy there since as any standup comedian would say when it came to the topic of Calfornia summers, it was a dry heat. To be honest, I didn't even really work up a sweat. Then, the two of us tried to go into the hotter 45-degree chamber which looked more like the typical sauna. The Madame took just two steps before bailing out. What a difference 5 degress can make for some.
Instead we went back out into the main hall where there were some chaise longes just laying out there as if they were on the Lido Deck of a cruise ship so we just laid out on them for a little bit before heading all the way down to the 5th floor where the massage areas were. We decided to go for a bit of Taiwanese reflexology at a clinic called Wu Lai. This did cost us some yen, to the tune of 3675 yen for the 30-minute basic, for which we beeped our bracelets at the reception. Remembering our somewhat turbulent time at that foot massage place in Taipei several months ago, I was a little nervous about having my feet pummeled again. However, this time, the masseur was quite a bit more gentle on my tootsies although there were a few instances of wincing (such as my left big toe). It was so relaxing that the 30 minutes just seemed to fly by. The last 5 minutes had my feet wrapped up like a mummy. And we got a record sheet telling us what was ailing us via the feet. I was surprised at how accurate the chart was considering some of my aches and pains. The chart got my wizened shoulders and neck right along with a spot-on diagnosis of my sinuses.
Then, it was time for lunch so we ended up at this wabisabi place just across the floor from Wu Lai. We both had the special which was basically miniature versions of penne, hamburger, very mild chicken curry and stewed eggplant. It was all quite good. The Madame remarked how odd it was to be having lunch while dressed in pyjamas. Well, it is a spa after all...
We went all the way back up to the 8th floor to a small cafe where we just drank some rather steeply-priced drinks. I paid a hefty 550 yen for an Iced Caffe Latte. We followed that talk up with another descent back to the 5th floor (I think we were getting our exercise that day) and to the lounge area which was filled with snoring folks in reclining chairs hooked up to small flat-panel TV screens. The Madame and I took adjoining seats. Just by luck, there was a Korean language learning program on NHK 3 so I practiced a bit of my greetings there before switching to the big political news of the day which was the voting for the new leader of the Democratic Party of Japan. The procedure which involved handing in slips of paper either for Ichiro Ozawa or Naoto Kan had the media attention of a coronation. By the end of the counting, it was indeed the elder Ozawa who got the top prize...although considering the longevity of previous DPJ leaders recently, I'm not sure if it's much of an honour.
We finally decided to get ourselves back into our civvies again. All in all, I paid 4,625 yen for the day at L'Aqua. Not exactly a cheap experience but again it is a spa...I think I would be more worried about the amenities at a cheap spa. And I think if one considers the experience as an annual treat instead of a regular workout, then L'Aqua will not be a disappointment. The Madame and I spent another hour walking through the Tokyo Dome area. We came across Bubba Gump, that restaurant built to the theme of Tom Hanks' magnum opus. The Madame had been to the one in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka and fell in love with the menu. She was slightly disappointed that Bubba wasn't part of the spa complex but I think its inclusion would rather defeat the purpose of a healthful resort. The items on that menu seemed to scream "Cholesterol!" To add insult to injury, there was another restaurant owned by former sumo wrestler Konishiki, who hails from Hawaii, which boasts this mammoth hamburger. In fact, most of the items could have conquered some of the lower-ranked sumo. We agreed that we would make a beeline for Bubba Gump's in the near future and headed our separate ways.
I made my way over to the Toranomon Starbucks for the first time in a few weeks and for what would probably be the final time. The chirpy manageress was there again plying customers with some new blend of coffee. The OL did come and to her credit, let me know immediately that this would be the final class. To be honest, I didn't react too much to the revelation. I kinda figured that our days together were numbered since it was fast approaching three years since we first met, and the fact that she was now juggling full-time work and night studies at Aoyama Gakuin University. There just wouldn't be any time or energy left for me in her schedule. Still, it was kinda sad since The OL was the very first student in my freelancing career (The Beehive and The Class Act were carryovers from my ol' school). And she was a most loyal student. In fact, she made nice by stating that her place would probably be taken over by her older sister who has expressed an interest in learning from me. If everything works out, I could be teaching her sis most likely on a regular basis after Golden Week back at The Tea Room in Ichigaya since she works in the area. And The OL left some hope in that she may have some time during the summer to see me during that time. Still, I'll miss the old girl. Not sure if I am depressed about the fact or not, but I did end up having some comfort food at the Lotteria burger joint in the station mall when I got home tonight.
I checked my messages. The Satyr sent a slightly snarky mass mailing to me and some of the others from the ol' school about his plan for a drink out tomorrow night. Apparently, the replies have been slow in coming. Well, I definitely gave him my regrets. After today's draining of my finances at L'Aqua, there won't be anything for drinking in Shinjuku even with payment from JJ tomorrow morning and I am desperately trying not to siphon anything from my account. At least, he knows how I feel whenever it came to some of the planning that I've had to do in the past. I also got a couple of messages from The Madame herself. Looks like she really wants to go to that 100% Chocolate Cafe on the 16th. I've also sent word to Skippy. Her second message asked whether I would be game for "The Libertine" with Johnny Depp. She pegged me right when she pointed out that this wasn't my type of movie. But I said that I would go. Maybe we can fit in that Bubba Gump's afterwards.
Well, finally, I don't think this will cause any major problems with my trip to Korea but I realized today that I haven't gotten my re-entry permit yet. I was mentally kicking myself for that oversight while at the same time sighing relief that I did realize it in time. I'll have to head down to Immigration on Monday to buy that. The good thing about those permits is that I can just hand in the application form and get that stamp on the same trip. I'm glad then that SIL decided not to come this Monday. Again, I'm not too worried about it but it's good to know that even if in the unlikely event that I can't get it on Monday, I still have two more days to go for it.
Ugh...long day.
It was pretty cloudy when I met The Madame at the West Exit of JR Suidobashi Station this morning...rather gloomy, in fact. I thought we were gonna get another douser. However, we were saved from the wet stuff although it stayed overcast for the most part. And The Madame likes it this way since she's a bit sensitive to the sun. We made our way over to the Tokyo Dome area for our afternoon at L'Aqua, the shopping/spa complex next to the Dome.
Our first stop, though, were a couple of the rides. The Madame was armed with some free passes for both L'Aqua and the amusement park area. We chose the Ferris Wheel known as The Big O for our first venture. The Big O is called as such because it is the only Wheel on the planet that doesn't have any hub or radii filling in the ring. And it was an auspicious ride for me since it was the very first time that I'd ever been on a Ferris Wheel of any sort in my life (you can start oohing now). Each cab had a stereo piping in the latest J-Pop hits from a device bolted to the wall resembling a cell phone. Although I didn't let her know, I was feeling a little antsy at first as we made our 15-minute rotation up and down. My fear of heights is still there.
Afterwards, we used the remaining ride passes for the much tamer carousel. The Madame opted for riding the gorilla for some giddy reason that she couldn't really explain. I, on the other hand, just chose a nice little loveseat for the gentle ride around.
Then, it was off to the wonders of the spa itself. The Madame had free passes for those. We had quite a few attentive...almost unctuous...staffers leading us the way. L'Aqua the Spa is one of those places that just yells class and naturalness. All the lockers were tastefully apportioned in faux-wood and browns. And the general theme seemed to be a mix of resort inn and spa. At the front desk, the two of us received our spa clothing that we were to wear inside the grounds. I went to the Men's locker room; the male staffer kindly spoke to me in broken English and led me to my locker. I had received a a numbered wrist bracelet which acted as locker key and internal credit card. I stripped down to nothing and donned on my brown-fiber clothes and joined my barefoot companion outside. As with my gym in Urayasu, most of the folks walking around all shriveled like were of the geriatric persuasion.
The Madame and I decided to make the low-heat saunas our first stop on the 8th floor. We went for the room with the lowest temperature...40 degrees C. It was a darkened circular room with a bench running around the circumference. We sat there for about 10 minutes. It was quite comfy there since as any standup comedian would say when it came to the topic of Calfornia summers, it was a dry heat. To be honest, I didn't even really work up a sweat. Then, the two of us tried to go into the hotter 45-degree chamber which looked more like the typical sauna. The Madame took just two steps before bailing out. What a difference 5 degress can make for some.
Instead we went back out into the main hall where there were some chaise longes just laying out there as if they were on the Lido Deck of a cruise ship so we just laid out on them for a little bit before heading all the way down to the 5th floor where the massage areas were. We decided to go for a bit of Taiwanese reflexology at a clinic called Wu Lai. This did cost us some yen, to the tune of 3675 yen for the 30-minute basic, for which we beeped our bracelets at the reception. Remembering our somewhat turbulent time at that foot massage place in Taipei several months ago, I was a little nervous about having my feet pummeled again. However, this time, the masseur was quite a bit more gentle on my tootsies although there were a few instances of wincing (such as my left big toe). It was so relaxing that the 30 minutes just seemed to fly by. The last 5 minutes had my feet wrapped up like a mummy. And we got a record sheet telling us what was ailing us via the feet. I was surprised at how accurate the chart was considering some of my aches and pains. The chart got my wizened shoulders and neck right along with a spot-on diagnosis of my sinuses.
Then, it was time for lunch so we ended up at this wabisabi place just across the floor from Wu Lai. We both had the special which was basically miniature versions of penne, hamburger, very mild chicken curry and stewed eggplant. It was all quite good. The Madame remarked how odd it was to be having lunch while dressed in pyjamas. Well, it is a spa after all...
We went all the way back up to the 8th floor to a small cafe where we just drank some rather steeply-priced drinks. I paid a hefty 550 yen for an Iced Caffe Latte. We followed that talk up with another descent back to the 5th floor (I think we were getting our exercise that day) and to the lounge area which was filled with snoring folks in reclining chairs hooked up to small flat-panel TV screens. The Madame and I took adjoining seats. Just by luck, there was a Korean language learning program on NHK 3 so I practiced a bit of my greetings there before switching to the big political news of the day which was the voting for the new leader of the Democratic Party of Japan. The procedure which involved handing in slips of paper either for Ichiro Ozawa or Naoto Kan had the media attention of a coronation. By the end of the counting, it was indeed the elder Ozawa who got the top prize...although considering the longevity of previous DPJ leaders recently, I'm not sure if it's much of an honour.
We finally decided to get ourselves back into our civvies again. All in all, I paid 4,625 yen for the day at L'Aqua. Not exactly a cheap experience but again it is a spa...I think I would be more worried about the amenities at a cheap spa. And I think if one considers the experience as an annual treat instead of a regular workout, then L'Aqua will not be a disappointment. The Madame and I spent another hour walking through the Tokyo Dome area. We came across Bubba Gump, that restaurant built to the theme of Tom Hanks' magnum opus. The Madame had been to the one in Universal Studios Japan in Osaka and fell in love with the menu. She was slightly disappointed that Bubba wasn't part of the spa complex but I think its inclusion would rather defeat the purpose of a healthful resort. The items on that menu seemed to scream "Cholesterol!" To add insult to injury, there was another restaurant owned by former sumo wrestler Konishiki, who hails from Hawaii, which boasts this mammoth hamburger. In fact, most of the items could have conquered some of the lower-ranked sumo. We agreed that we would make a beeline for Bubba Gump's in the near future and headed our separate ways.
I made my way over to the Toranomon Starbucks for the first time in a few weeks and for what would probably be the final time. The chirpy manageress was there again plying customers with some new blend of coffee. The OL did come and to her credit, let me know immediately that this would be the final class. To be honest, I didn't react too much to the revelation. I kinda figured that our days together were numbered since it was fast approaching three years since we first met, and the fact that she was now juggling full-time work and night studies at Aoyama Gakuin University. There just wouldn't be any time or energy left for me in her schedule. Still, it was kinda sad since The OL was the very first student in my freelancing career (The Beehive and The Class Act were carryovers from my ol' school). And she was a most loyal student. In fact, she made nice by stating that her place would probably be taken over by her older sister who has expressed an interest in learning from me. If everything works out, I could be teaching her sis most likely on a regular basis after Golden Week back at The Tea Room in Ichigaya since she works in the area. And The OL left some hope in that she may have some time during the summer to see me during that time. Still, I'll miss the old girl. Not sure if I am depressed about the fact or not, but I did end up having some comfort food at the Lotteria burger joint in the station mall when I got home tonight.
I checked my messages. The Satyr sent a slightly snarky mass mailing to me and some of the others from the ol' school about his plan for a drink out tomorrow night. Apparently, the replies have been slow in coming. Well, I definitely gave him my regrets. After today's draining of my finances at L'Aqua, there won't be anything for drinking in Shinjuku even with payment from JJ tomorrow morning and I am desperately trying not to siphon anything from my account. At least, he knows how I feel whenever it came to some of the planning that I've had to do in the past. I also got a couple of messages from The Madame herself. Looks like she really wants to go to that 100% Chocolate Cafe on the 16th. I've also sent word to Skippy. Her second message asked whether I would be game for "The Libertine" with Johnny Depp. She pegged me right when she pointed out that this wasn't my type of movie. But I said that I would go. Maybe we can fit in that Bubba Gump's afterwards.
Well, finally, I don't think this will cause any major problems with my trip to Korea but I realized today that I haven't gotten my re-entry permit yet. I was mentally kicking myself for that oversight while at the same time sighing relief that I did realize it in time. I'll have to head down to Immigration on Monday to buy that. The good thing about those permits is that I can just hand in the application form and get that stamp on the same trip. I'm glad then that SIL decided not to come this Monday. Again, I'm not too worried about it but it's good to know that even if in the unlikely event that I can't get it on Monday, I still have two more days to go for it.
Ugh...long day.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Friday April 7, 7:40 a.m.
GC sent me his message in as many days. The two of us were commiserating about our belt-tightening needs. I think it's rather true that nowadays whenever I purchase something, I ponder how tax-deductible it is. GC's friend has been applying for a couple of positions in Tokyo. One is an accounting job at none other than Studio Ghibli, the magic factory that legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki of "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away" fame built. Actually, I saw a short documentary on Miyazaki's No. 2 man, Toshio Suzuki, on NHK last night. It was done as a "day-in-the-life" special. He basically comes off as the prototypical grumpy/lovable father/martinet type who populate most of corporate Japan's middle management.
Speedy also sent me what was frankly an unnecessary message forwarding 006's apology for pulling off a dotakan, or sudden cancellation, on Wednesday. I'm already well aware of 006's busy schedule at her company. He also wanted to show me a small prepositional error in her message to further give me some insight about how I can help her. As soon as I saw that part in his message, my temperature started rising a bit. It might be as irrational as all hell, but I've never been too good at taking backhanded advice from anyone and the way he phrased it, it seemed to go into that direction.
Well, I do have that outing with The Madame for L'Aqua today. I checked the website for the complex. Hmmm...there doesn't to be much for me there; all the amenities seem to be geared for women. I'll just hold my tongue. I am bringing the spoon so that she can prove to me her Uri Gelleresque power.
GC sent me his message in as many days. The two of us were commiserating about our belt-tightening needs. I think it's rather true that nowadays whenever I purchase something, I ponder how tax-deductible it is. GC's friend has been applying for a couple of positions in Tokyo. One is an accounting job at none other than Studio Ghibli, the magic factory that legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki of "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away" fame built. Actually, I saw a short documentary on Miyazaki's No. 2 man, Toshio Suzuki, on NHK last night. It was done as a "day-in-the-life" special. He basically comes off as the prototypical grumpy/lovable father/martinet type who populate most of corporate Japan's middle management.
Speedy also sent me what was frankly an unnecessary message forwarding 006's apology for pulling off a dotakan, or sudden cancellation, on Wednesday. I'm already well aware of 006's busy schedule at her company. He also wanted to show me a small prepositional error in her message to further give me some insight about how I can help her. As soon as I saw that part in his message, my temperature started rising a bit. It might be as irrational as all hell, but I've never been too good at taking backhanded advice from anyone and the way he phrased it, it seemed to go into that direction.
Well, I do have that outing with The Madame for L'Aqua today. I checked the website for the complex. Hmmm...there doesn't to be much for me there; all the amenities seem to be geared for women. I'll just hold my tongue. I am bringing the spoon so that she can prove to me her Uri Gelleresque power.
Thursday April 6, 10:33 p.m.
Managed to make it through another Thursday OK. One of these days, though, I'm gonna have to realize that coming too early to class is almost as bad as coming too late. I kinda gave the juku boss a bit of a scare when I came to the house 45 minutes early...as I often do during the night sessions on Tuesday. Problem is that the boss and her hubby were still in wake-up-and-brekkie mode when I arrived. I think the boss was just a little panicked that she hadn't put on her make-up. I don't particularly care about such things but then again, I'm not a woman. I'll promise to be a bit less diligent on that score next time.
Went to the local family restaurant for lunch before doing the hour at the gym. I sometimes wonder if working out there just once a week is really worth it. I haven't seen any sort of progress in my spare tire in months. Really, I should be doing this three times a week but I just don't have the time nor interest. The night before during 001's lesson, 001 told me that during her drinkathon with the erstwhile 002 and their mutual friend last weekend, she had related the news that I was going to the gym. The reaction was one of disbelief. I knew it was just a jest but there was a bit of it that still stung. Having been a regular member of the gym for over 18 months and not having anything to show for it doesn't really sit well with me. Sometimes I just think fate has intended me to stay fat.
Anyways, I got home, did some laundry and made dinner. I then headed to the Starbucks in Mitsukoshimae for the third lesson with B2 and B2B. It was probably the most successful lesson so far although I think we still need to settle down a bit more. However, the banter was much more easier amongst the three of us, and B2B seemed to really appreciate the extra text on basic English conversation I gave him. I joked to B2 that she may have gained a rival for her affections in the form of that book. Still, I'm just happy I got through the hour intact.
The Satyr has kept me updated about how his plan for that little drinking outing is going on Saturday. I'm still undecided about whether to go or not; I just have to be careful about these things from now on. But he has stated that I was doubtful for the event so at least he's made it easy for me to pull out.
The Kanto has been getting a few soft jolts over the past half-hour. I hope it's not a sign of much stronger things to come.
Looks like the race for the leadership of The Democratic Party of Japan is gonna be between two veterans and former leaders, Ichiro Ozawa and Naoto Kan. The vote is tomorrow, and I'm betting even money on Kan since there are quite a few of young turks in the party that wouldn't be too happy with Ozawa and the man himself has some health issues. However, I probably won't hear anything until I get home tomorrow night. I'm off with The Madame to that Korakuen spa, L'Aqua, from the morning, and then I've got the OL for her first lesson in almost a month.
Managed to make it through another Thursday OK. One of these days, though, I'm gonna have to realize that coming too early to class is almost as bad as coming too late. I kinda gave the juku boss a bit of a scare when I came to the house 45 minutes early...as I often do during the night sessions on Tuesday. Problem is that the boss and her hubby were still in wake-up-and-brekkie mode when I arrived. I think the boss was just a little panicked that she hadn't put on her make-up. I don't particularly care about such things but then again, I'm not a woman. I'll promise to be a bit less diligent on that score next time.
Went to the local family restaurant for lunch before doing the hour at the gym. I sometimes wonder if working out there just once a week is really worth it. I haven't seen any sort of progress in my spare tire in months. Really, I should be doing this three times a week but I just don't have the time nor interest. The night before during 001's lesson, 001 told me that during her drinkathon with the erstwhile 002 and their mutual friend last weekend, she had related the news that I was going to the gym. The reaction was one of disbelief. I knew it was just a jest but there was a bit of it that still stung. Having been a regular member of the gym for over 18 months and not having anything to show for it doesn't really sit well with me. Sometimes I just think fate has intended me to stay fat.
Anyways, I got home, did some laundry and made dinner. I then headed to the Starbucks in Mitsukoshimae for the third lesson with B2 and B2B. It was probably the most successful lesson so far although I think we still need to settle down a bit more. However, the banter was much more easier amongst the three of us, and B2B seemed to really appreciate the extra text on basic English conversation I gave him. I joked to B2 that she may have gained a rival for her affections in the form of that book. Still, I'm just happy I got through the hour intact.
The Satyr has kept me updated about how his plan for that little drinking outing is going on Saturday. I'm still undecided about whether to go or not; I just have to be careful about these things from now on. But he has stated that I was doubtful for the event so at least he's made it easy for me to pull out.
The Kanto has been getting a few soft jolts over the past half-hour. I hope it's not a sign of much stronger things to come.
Looks like the race for the leadership of The Democratic Party of Japan is gonna be between two veterans and former leaders, Ichiro Ozawa and Naoto Kan. The vote is tomorrow, and I'm betting even money on Kan since there are quite a few of young turks in the party that wouldn't be too happy with Ozawa and the man himself has some health issues. However, I probably won't hear anything until I get home tomorrow night. I'm off with The Madame to that Korakuen spa, L'Aqua, from the morning, and then I've got the OL for her first lesson in almost a month.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Thursday April 6, 7:12 a.m.
It's brilliantly sunny out there once more. I hope it stays that way. But I may have to watch out for pollen again. Just another month, I tell myself...
I got a letter from ol' GC for the first time in several months. He came out with a rather sad bit of news. The school that he's been with ever since he arrived on these shores years ago may be on the slow fade to bankruptcy. The kids have just not been coming in. I wonder if it's a matter of changing demographics or perhaps the scourge of NOVA has entered even that little pocket of ruralism. I'm kinda surprised that he hasn't gone for his Permanent Residency; he's been here even longer than I have, so he's well over the minimum time of residency to apply.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle on the Keio commuter line last night. A couple of trains "grazed" each other which caused one of them to derail. One person ended up dead but aside from a few other cases of light injuries, the biggest damage was a lot of very unhappy commuters trying to get home.
Well, I gottta head on out to teach the juku boss at 10. Then it'll be my weekly visit to the gym, a bit of dinner before heading out to see B2 and B2B.
It's brilliantly sunny out there once more. I hope it stays that way. But I may have to watch out for pollen again. Just another month, I tell myself...
I got a letter from ol' GC for the first time in several months. He came out with a rather sad bit of news. The school that he's been with ever since he arrived on these shores years ago may be on the slow fade to bankruptcy. The kids have just not been coming in. I wonder if it's a matter of changing demographics or perhaps the scourge of NOVA has entered even that little pocket of ruralism. I'm kinda surprised that he hasn't gone for his Permanent Residency; he's been here even longer than I have, so he's well over the minimum time of residency to apply.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle on the Keio commuter line last night. A couple of trains "grazed" each other which caused one of them to derail. One person ended up dead but aside from a few other cases of light injuries, the biggest damage was a lot of very unhappy commuters trying to get home.
Well, I gottta head on out to teach the juku boss at 10. Then it'll be my weekly visit to the gym, a bit of dinner before heading out to see B2 and B2B.
Wednesday April 5, 11:11 p.m.
It looks like NHK has changed its lineup. I was expecting to see the usual 10 p.m. news but instead, it was some sort of This Day in History-type program followed by some sort of artsy little show which seems to be espousing some slow life themes while sporting jazzy/Latin background music. Sigh...time to check the TV guide again. Anyways, it seems as if the host for this month is none other than perennial tarento, Marina Watanabe. And tonight's theme is Spring Cleaning. Ahhhh...I'm relaxing already. Mind you, I do like the fact that the program is playing a lot of Chet Baker.
It was rain for most of today but thankfully that stopped by the evening. I had lunch at the neighbourhood tonkatsu place then stopped at Maruzen to get that text for B2. I ordered the CD for the text which will eventually cost me 5 Soseki's (that would be 5,000 yen) once it arrives on my doorstep. Man, what voice actors must get paid for a disc to cost that much.
006 had to pull out so I only taught 001 tonight. It was the first time that the former cancelled with a little more than an hour before class time so I'm not sure what this will mean for my money. My ol' school, being the chiselers they are, would only compensate teachers, even if a student pulled a no-show within a few hours of the scheduled class time, only if the teacher were willing to come all the way to the head office to pull computer duty. Considering the clients have already paid all of the fees to the school in advance, I've had quite a few epithets for them about their policy.
001 was her usual fun self. She confided to me that she had gotten together with 002 (Speedy and I are still hoping that she'll return to take some classes, but according to 001, the school is just too darn far for her friend) and another mutual friend known to me. Looks like I was one of their many gossip topics to laugh about (or at).
I just heard that PM Koizumi has become the 3rd-longest serving Japanese leader in the postwar period. Hmmm...that should make him want to leave even more quickly before his supposed departure in September.
Well, I ought to hit the shower now since I gotta hit the hay and then wake up to get ready for the juku boss' lesson in the morning.
It looks like NHK has changed its lineup. I was expecting to see the usual 10 p.m. news but instead, it was some sort of This Day in History-type program followed by some sort of artsy little show which seems to be espousing some slow life themes while sporting jazzy/Latin background music. Sigh...time to check the TV guide again. Anyways, it seems as if the host for this month is none other than perennial tarento, Marina Watanabe. And tonight's theme is Spring Cleaning. Ahhhh...I'm relaxing already. Mind you, I do like the fact that the program is playing a lot of Chet Baker.
It was rain for most of today but thankfully that stopped by the evening. I had lunch at the neighbourhood tonkatsu place then stopped at Maruzen to get that text for B2. I ordered the CD for the text which will eventually cost me 5 Soseki's (that would be 5,000 yen) once it arrives on my doorstep. Man, what voice actors must get paid for a disc to cost that much.
006 had to pull out so I only taught 001 tonight. It was the first time that the former cancelled with a little more than an hour before class time so I'm not sure what this will mean for my money. My ol' school, being the chiselers they are, would only compensate teachers, even if a student pulled a no-show within a few hours of the scheduled class time, only if the teacher were willing to come all the way to the head office to pull computer duty. Considering the clients have already paid all of the fees to the school in advance, I've had quite a few epithets for them about their policy.
001 was her usual fun self. She confided to me that she had gotten together with 002 (Speedy and I are still hoping that she'll return to take some classes, but according to 001, the school is just too darn far for her friend) and another mutual friend known to me. Looks like I was one of their many gossip topics to laugh about (or at).
I just heard that PM Koizumi has become the 3rd-longest serving Japanese leader in the postwar period. Hmmm...that should make him want to leave even more quickly before his supposed departure in September.
Well, I ought to hit the shower now since I gotta hit the hay and then wake up to get ready for the juku boss' lesson in the morning.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Wednesday April 5, 9:40 a.m.
Welcome to my 1500th blog entry! I was about half a day behind schedule but I was just feeling too tired to bother last night. Maybe I'll celebrate with an extra Big Mac....nah, on second thought...actually, the last couple of days have seen me without much of an appetite at night. I haven't bothered with dinner at all. Not sure if this is the male version of menopause coming on. Maybe if I start getting heat flashes or mood swings, I'll get a better indication.
I had a half-hour trial lesson at the juku last night before The Milds and McGirl showed up. The potential new guy is a pretty energetic fellow with a love of French cuisine and a gift of the gab. If he does decide to join our humble abode, it'll just be a half-hour at first. With his personality, those 30 minutes should just zoom by. The big word is IF, though. He was a little surprised that our little school is in a small room in a house.
The OL is back on my schedule after almost 3 weeks away. And B2 is still being a glutton for punishment; she will indeed be coming for her 3rd seesion with B2B in tow. Time to get that text for her. Skippy has also gotten back to me about that trip to the Maid Cafe on Sunday. She's been able to wrangle The Kid for the outing. I guess in his case, it would be appropo for him since he's still a pretty young fellow. The Satyr has also thrown out an invitation for this Saturday seeing if he can get some of the ol' school gang together for drinks. I gave him a wait-and-see since I'm not exactly sure if I can really afford these benders anymore....and yet, I'm still going to a Maid Cafe and yakisoba on Sunday.
The Wild Guy is indeed going to be tying the knot pretty soon. I do wish the man well...a lot of us had thought that he was nigh-unmarryable due to his...shall we say...volatile personality. But I'm still skeptical about him getting married so soon after meeting the girl. As far as I know, I may be the only one outside of his family that has been told of this upcoming wedding. It will be quite the talk of the town.
It's pretty wet out there but the rain has let up. Should have washed away most of the dreaded pollen. There may even be some mood-lightening negative ions out there, too.
Welcome to my 1500th blog entry! I was about half a day behind schedule but I was just feeling too tired to bother last night. Maybe I'll celebrate with an extra Big Mac....nah, on second thought...actually, the last couple of days have seen me without much of an appetite at night. I haven't bothered with dinner at all. Not sure if this is the male version of menopause coming on. Maybe if I start getting heat flashes or mood swings, I'll get a better indication.
I had a half-hour trial lesson at the juku last night before The Milds and McGirl showed up. The potential new guy is a pretty energetic fellow with a love of French cuisine and a gift of the gab. If he does decide to join our humble abode, it'll just be a half-hour at first. With his personality, those 30 minutes should just zoom by. The big word is IF, though. He was a little surprised that our little school is in a small room in a house.
The OL is back on my schedule after almost 3 weeks away. And B2 is still being a glutton for punishment; she will indeed be coming for her 3rd seesion with B2B in tow. Time to get that text for her. Skippy has also gotten back to me about that trip to the Maid Cafe on Sunday. She's been able to wrangle The Kid for the outing. I guess in his case, it would be appropo for him since he's still a pretty young fellow. The Satyr has also thrown out an invitation for this Saturday seeing if he can get some of the ol' school gang together for drinks. I gave him a wait-and-see since I'm not exactly sure if I can really afford these benders anymore....and yet, I'm still going to a Maid Cafe and yakisoba on Sunday.
The Wild Guy is indeed going to be tying the knot pretty soon. I do wish the man well...a lot of us had thought that he was nigh-unmarryable due to his...shall we say...volatile personality. But I'm still skeptical about him getting married so soon after meeting the girl. As far as I know, I may be the only one outside of his family that has been told of this upcoming wedding. It will be quite the talk of the town.
It's pretty wet out there but the rain has let up. Should have washed away most of the dreaded pollen. There may even be some mood-lightening negative ions out there, too.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Tuesday April 4, 1:39 p.m.
Just enjoying my brief time before tackling the lesson plans at the juku. Well, they're not exactly the most pressing things. I really only have to plan for one lesson, that for The Milds and McGirl (if she shows up...she may be stalking her punk rock singer again somewhere in the country). And I just have that half-hour trial lesson when I come in for an guy who needs it at work. He wants to do a group lesson but that will depend on how he does in the trial. If he's too low, he stays a solo act. Of course, The Siberian doesn't need a plan. As long as the cat is there, he's happily distractable.
The Beehive was a bit subdued today although my pics of Toronto informed Ms. Tulip. She showed me her copy of the TTC map so she's already started getting ready for the big move. As I thought, her hubby's company will take care of the accomodations which will be a great boost for them financially. However, we were missing Ms. Alp and the de facto leader, Ms. Travel. Ms. Travel has been away for a few weeks since her younger brother has been in a coma for some time. So basically, it was the chattier pair of Ms. Perth and Ms. Tulip alongside the quieter pair of Ms. Jade and Ms. Tea. Unfortunately, the group will be even sparser next week so it was decided that there would be a rare Tuesday morning off.
As for B2 and B2B, I'll see what happens tonight on the e-mail. If she doesn't say anything by the end of tonight, I'll start assuming that our brief relationship will be null and void and save myself any further handwringing (and money) for a teaching arrangement that wasn't looking too good in the first place.
TV Tokyo is showing "The Devil's Own", that early 90s suspense flick with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt as Irish-American cop and IRA terrorist respectively. Well, at least I have been reminded that there was at least one other celeb who hadn't gotten along with Pitt even before Jennifer Aniston and the rest of the Friends. The movie almost looks like a prequel to Ford's latest thriller, "Firewall"...same grim-faced man having to go to extreme measures to protect his beleaguered family. Margaret Colin is portraying the wife du peril in this one.
Another small story in the local news. Often reporters have to cover some sordid stuff like rapes. Well, it looks like one Fukuoka TV reporter wasn't satisfied covering just sexual assault cases. He had another life secretly taking part in them thanks to some victims over a cellphone dating service. He's made his 15 minutes now...he's been arrested by the police and fired by his station. In a way, his case reminds me of the one last year in which another intrepid TV reporter who always seemed to scoop his rivals at city fires ended up getting arrested for setting them himself.
Anyways, gotta get back to duty...
Just enjoying my brief time before tackling the lesson plans at the juku. Well, they're not exactly the most pressing things. I really only have to plan for one lesson, that for The Milds and McGirl (if she shows up...she may be stalking her punk rock singer again somewhere in the country). And I just have that half-hour trial lesson when I come in for an guy who needs it at work. He wants to do a group lesson but that will depend on how he does in the trial. If he's too low, he stays a solo act. Of course, The Siberian doesn't need a plan. As long as the cat is there, he's happily distractable.
The Beehive was a bit subdued today although my pics of Toronto informed Ms. Tulip. She showed me her copy of the TTC map so she's already started getting ready for the big move. As I thought, her hubby's company will take care of the accomodations which will be a great boost for them financially. However, we were missing Ms. Alp and the de facto leader, Ms. Travel. Ms. Travel has been away for a few weeks since her younger brother has been in a coma for some time. So basically, it was the chattier pair of Ms. Perth and Ms. Tulip alongside the quieter pair of Ms. Jade and Ms. Tea. Unfortunately, the group will be even sparser next week so it was decided that there would be a rare Tuesday morning off.
As for B2 and B2B, I'll see what happens tonight on the e-mail. If she doesn't say anything by the end of tonight, I'll start assuming that our brief relationship will be null and void and save myself any further handwringing (and money) for a teaching arrangement that wasn't looking too good in the first place.
TV Tokyo is showing "The Devil's Own", that early 90s suspense flick with Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt as Irish-American cop and IRA terrorist respectively. Well, at least I have been reminded that there was at least one other celeb who hadn't gotten along with Pitt even before Jennifer Aniston and the rest of the Friends. The movie almost looks like a prequel to Ford's latest thriller, "Firewall"...same grim-faced man having to go to extreme measures to protect his beleaguered family. Margaret Colin is portraying the wife du peril in this one.
Another small story in the local news. Often reporters have to cover some sordid stuff like rapes. Well, it looks like one Fukuoka TV reporter wasn't satisfied covering just sexual assault cases. He had another life secretly taking part in them thanks to some victims over a cellphone dating service. He's made his 15 minutes now...he's been arrested by the police and fired by his station. In a way, his case reminds me of the one last year in which another intrepid TV reporter who always seemed to scoop his rivals at city fires ended up getting arrested for setting them himself.
Anyways, gotta get back to duty...