Saturday March 17, 2:25 p.m.

Well, Tokyo finally got its first snowfall on Thursday morning. Yes...a snowflake was seeing staggering out of a Shibuya izakaya at 3 in the morning before collapsing and melting in an alley. Actually, it was a small flurry just around the morning rush hour. Of course, Chiba was spared all the excitement.

So, it was ironic on such a blustery day that Takafumi Horie, the flamboyant & wallbusting ex-CEO of Livedoor Inc., got his decision as to his fate: 2.5 years for securities fraud. The media wags were stating how unusual it was that the portly Horie (looks like he gained back some of that weight he had lost in his first stint in prison) didn't get anything suspended; at this point, he has to serve the whole 36 months. The customary thing is that a defrocked business magnate would get a suspended sentence on the judges hearing massive amounts of contrition (genuine or not). Well, Horie, true to form, never played that game. He always insisted on his innocence which probably made it easy for the trio of judges to throw the book at him hard. Some people would say that Horie got what he deserved for being so arrogant at the expense of investors who had ended up losing their entire life savings. On the other hand, some say that Horie was the nail who ended up getting whacked down deep into the wood for daring to shake up Japan Inc. Of course, Horie is appealing so the trek isn't over yet.

Friday was basically a free day for me. I only had The Ace at the juku late in the evening. The juku boss pleaded with me if she didn't have to see me off at the door since she just had to see the saishuukai (final episode) of "Hanayori Dango 2", one of the more popular of the winter season's crop of dramas. Then when I got home, there was a message from Skippy that she would call me back once she saw the end of "Hanayori Dango 2". I recollected that my two sisters were also pretty big on this show. So I just flipped on TBS at 11 p.m. and saw the Budokan filled to capacity with folks celebrating the hero and heroine confessing their love for each other in the centre of the world-famous Tokyo landmark, replete with confetti and the Wave going through the audience. Bleech! As soon as the ep was over and drank down some water to dilute some of the existential sugar, I called up Skippy. Sure enough, she was wiping away tears from the tender moments, and we got our plans together to catch "Happy Feet" on Sunday. Looks like we'll be trying out one of the new theatres in Shinjuku...one of those modern multiplexes just a little away from the south exit of the station.

As for me, my TV pleasure has been pretty much restricted to the late night stuff. I've mentioned it before...the variety shows after 11 have been much more entertaining to me than most of the prime time stuff (not that I can catch any of it due to work). I've recently discovered another couple of shows that have been catching my fancy. One is "Gekkou Ongakudan" (Moonlight Music Gang), basically a televised version of a girls' house party (it's not what you think) hosted by the irrepressible Becky, one of the increasing number of binational tarento, and her posse of former gravia idols (they're clothed, thank you very much). The other show is on Thursday nights called "Ame Talk" hosted by the latest comic duo to become ubiquitious on the airwaves, Ameagarikesshitai (geseundheit). The lads have a theme to their guests whether it be super fat tarento or celebs who are otaku about Gundam robots.

And of course, there is the granddaddy of late night shows, "Tamori Club", hosted by the Johnny Carson of Japanese TV, Kazuyoshi "Tamori" Morita. The ever-sunglassed fellow has had quite a surreal thing with "Tamori Club" over the many years that the show has been on. Last night's topic was the zither...yes, that's right...he had some rather famous tarento on the show trying their hand on the arcane instrument. I did find out that the zither was used for the theme of one of Orson Welles' movies, "The Third Man", a little ditty that is much more famous as the Ebisu Beer jingle. Along with the "Soramimi Hour" (actually barely 5 minutes) that has been getting lots of uploads on YouTube, Tamori has had a lot of out-there topics ranging from locomotive otakus doing show-and-tell to the more imaginative vibrators out on sale (I think the Disney-themed one with Mickey Mouse on the tip was a classic); I'm sure that topic got a lot of phone calls in....I don't think I've seen anything as racy on the show since then. And of course, there are the opening credits of dancing female butts in bikinis to "Who Wears Short Shorts?" Now, can even Letterman top that?

Ah, such is life....

Thursday March 15, 5:22 p.m.

Just finished the 2nd of 3 of EIC with that happy-go-lucky lass. Always nice to have that type of students to get through the hour. Now, from cooking English to job interview English with B2. We're down to just monthly sessions since she's no longer with her boyfriend/bank.

After her, I'm basically on my weekend. I only have The Ace late at night tomorrow at the juku and I've got bupkiss on Saturday so I'll be able to catch up on that rest.

I went over to The Siam at the main corner of Ginza this afternoon for my lunch buffet. Now that LAST has joined the The Farm Grill in that buffet in the sky, The Siam may become my all-you-can-eat-of-choice. But boy I think I overindulged in that one. I felt rather titanic downing all that tom yan kun and Thai Curry so I needed to head up to the outdoor lounge on the very top of Mitsukoshi to digest...and comprehensively use the facilities. After about a half-hour, I was sufficiently deflated to hop on the subway to Speedy's. There were the usual American tourists on the train taking in the sights. One of them decided to sit beside a couple of tiny elementary school girls in their uniforms. The tourists were just gawking at how cute their hats were so they took some pics of the guy and the girls. However, the girls weren't having any of that and stragetically placed their readers in front of their faces. When the tourists got off the train, the girls were whispering to each other in rather snarky tones about their perceived invasion of privacy. Ah...tis a wonderful thing to be a stealth gaijin in this city.

Well, off to Mitsukoshimae...

Wednesday March 14, 3:44 p.m.

Well, looks like I was rather wrong on "Heisei Manners" or "Heisei Sex Industry", Ringo Shena's album. Apparently, the album did debut at the No. 1 position on the Oricon charts although it's currently at No. 13. Still, I'm glad I was proved wrong.

Wednesday March 14, 2:55 p.m.

Pretty run-of-the-mill Tuesday. However, I got word from Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Perth that The Beehive and I will be ousted from our longtime classroom over the bowling alley as of May since the owners have new plans for the space. Well, the room has always been a bit more of an oversized equipment locker than a classroom anyways. Not quite sure where my flock will be headed...but if worse comes to worse, we can always use Perth's apartment.

By the way, Travel and Perth had a great time in Morocco a couple of weeks back. Their sleep habits were quite different but other than that, they did enjoy their time in the desert. On a somewhat more sinister note, my suspicions about some possible strained relationship between Mrs. London (whose stay with us will be temporary since she has to return to teaching foreigners as of April) and Mrs. Jade further deepened when one of the ladies said that Jade would return from April.

I took care of my taxes right after the lesson. Very efficient and fast. I was there for the grand total of 10 minutes. Mind you, a lot of bills quickly turned into coins.

The juku group was fine. I finally dispatched the last of my White Day presents...in the form of a bottled Kit Kat to Seven. I'm so glad that she's not the Godiva type. Jolly had his struggles with the TOEIC, and I think I tried to shove too much down the kids' throats.

Today, I've got my latest for EIC. I met her briefly a couple of days ago. She sounds pretty high so I may have to push the envelope for her. Then, I've got 001 as usual. It'll be a nice finish to the day but unfortunately, I've gotta finish those lesson plans under the wire to reap the full benefits of my curricula money.

Strangely enough, Michael Jackson is still in town....albeit only for another few hours. For the past few days, I assume, he's been safely ensconced in his hotel, after his last official event at Camp Zama, one of the American military bases near Tokyo. I can only wonder what the grunts must've thought seeing this fellow enter their domain. Even the morning wide show panelists were wondering aloud about Wacko Jacko deciding to put up stakes in Japan. The host of one of the shows just rolled his eyes and wished to move onto the next topic.

Skippy got back in touch concerning catching "Happy Feet" on Sunday. So far, it's the two of us but I did send MB mail. Most likely, he won't be catching it with us (I don't think he's really the dancing penguin type) but he and The Sylph are up for dinner.

Monday March 12, 9:22 p.m.

Well, after a flurry of scheduling negotiation with Speedy with all of these new students coming in and just lesson planning with my privates, I'm ready to head on home. Not sure if I'm gonna be in any shape to do any ironing by the time I get there, mind you.

Forgot to mention that I received reports from two different alumna of two different "generations" from the ol' school that The Coordinator has finally given up the ghost and quit the place. She and the rest of the muckety-mucks (emphasis on muck) never got along too well and I figured it was high time to fly the coop. The Coffeemaker first told me about it before I got the e-mail from Skippy later that afternoon. It's just like The Coordinator to send her farewell to just about everyone who had ever graduated.

Did another round of listening to Shena Ringo's latest, "Heisei Manners". Yup, really gotta hand it to her: swing, torch song, bossa nova, techno...she's got it all. Too bad that it hasn't done a thing on the Oricon charts. I guess it's just too adult a move for most of the listeners.

Monday March 12, 8:13 p.m.

Today was another seasonably cold day in The Big Sushi. I guess that balminess of a week and a half ago will be coming back at a more normal pace.

A pretty full day today. Everyone was back...The Class Act, SIL and The Part-Timer. Looks like I've become the nexus for Hawaii travelers. The Part-Timer and Tully just got back from their time in the sun and The Polynesian will be heading out at the end of the month. The Part-Timer gave me the requisite tribute in the form of salted macadamia nuts, and she's definitely smitten with The Aloha State.

Well, my underemployment blues seem to be receding in a hurry. Speedy has suddenly gotten pretty flush with model lessons for which I may be getting the lion's share. I had my second model lesson in five days and apparently she signed up despite my attempts to scare her out of the school...ah, well. Plus, I've got my newest in the form of The Cook after her model lesson on Thursday afternoon; that one was definitely a clicker. Glad she's on board but she's had to cancel her first official lesson due to work...one of the things she's warned me about. A third model lesson scheduled for after 001 on Wednesday has also become a scratch. I met her briefly last week; she's quite the gabber, a very good sign. Speedy's assured me that both her and The Cook will come back. In fact, a blast from the past is also coming back....a lass whom I prepped for her trip to New York last summer has decided to sign up with us instead of renewing with her old school.

Yesterday after my lessons with the two teen sisters and The Polynesian, I met up with The Wild Thing again for the second consecutive Sunday. Last week it was Shinjuku....this week it was Akihabara. Unfortunately due to the rain, the street couldn't be closed off so that the wild n' wacky Maids and other costumed folks weren't out. I could only imagine what The Wild Thing would've said to that spectacle. Instead, we looked for a lunch haven from the wild n' wacky wind and rain. We found a burger joint in the UDX Building, one of the two monolithic towers that sprung up a year ago. Good Seattle burgers but we did wonder about the two cockroaches that popped out of the seats nearby; we'd thought about informing the staff but the arrival of two guys into that booth made the point moot.

One of the Wild Thing's biggest requests while he was back at home was that I look into Gundam figurines. Well, since he's here we decided to finally have him come face to face with his robotic heroes. I took him to one of the bigger stores (in terms of variety of goods not actual floor space...we were doing a lot of pushing through other customers) where he not only got to examine the merchandise but also came across some WWII model vehicles which are also a fancy with him. He was most definitely intrigued...I did bring him back down to Earth by mentioning his wife's name. There's nothing like a spouse to cool off any frivolous spending. BTW, his wife seems to be a bit of a nervous Nelly...he needed to check in with her as soon as he caught up with me.

Then we checked out the second floor of a huge building directly across from JR Akihabara Station, a place that was packed with different shops of character figures, import DVDs and other stuff. Looks like they already have "Babel" and "The Departed" selling there; "Babel" won't be showing up in the theatres for another 2 months. Kinda wonder if the government knows about this. Of course, we traipsed over to Yodobashi Akiba, the massive electronics department store. After looking at some of the wares there, we ended up drinking some tea at the Tully's nearby before going back up the elevator at Yodobashi and having our last meal at a tonkotsu ramen place. Ironically, The Wild Thing had been having some stomach trouble due to something that wasn't agreeing with him from breakfast...had to find the facilities pretty quickly twice during our walk. Still, he could down his thick soup of noodles. Double ironically, although I was good during my time with him, I was having some stomach woes of my own after getting home. Luckily, some of that wonder medicine I'd received some months ago from the kids' mother got me back as right as rain.

Skippy got back to me about catching "Happy Feet". Looks like this upcoming Sunday will be it but I'm not sure if I'll be able to convince MB and The Satyr to catch it with me. And I don't think The Wild Thing will be one for dancing penguins either.

Saturday March 10, 1:53 p.m.

Back to nicer conditions after a couple of days of very wintry weather (though no snow). Looks like Mother Nature needed to put us in our place after that Indian Spring earlier this week.

Thursday was quite the day. I had four classes. That first class...a model lesson at Speedy's...was a good hit out of the park. The student is a teacher herself...a cooking one...and she needs the lessons to test out her English before she starts teaching the foreigners at her school. From the prep questions I'd sent out to her in advance, she said she could figure out that I liked to have fun in the kitchen. After that, I pretty much sealed the deal. I've got two more model lessons on tap next week, too.

Then, it was the 3-peat performance at the Ichigaya Tully's with The New Yorker, The Carolinan and BC. By the end of my three hours, I think one of the staff was looking at me. I'm not sure if he had been resentful of the fact that I monopolized one corner of the non-smoking section with my school without buying anything more than a Honey Latte (mind you, that was a 430-yen investment). Recently, a lot of the family restaurants have been putting up signs forbidding long residencies in their establishments (including meetings....not sure if that includes private English lessons); I hope the cafes don't follow suit. Still, I'm gonna hedge my bets at the next 3-peat and buy an extra mug or an entire meal there. What was also interesting about the back-to-back-to-back was that I went from low to high in terms of student ability. With The New Yorker, it was all about grammar drills and repetition; by the time, I finished with BC, the lesson was about coherent structure in a comparative essay dealing about Americans and Canadians.

Friday was also a day of having three lessons although not as intensively. I had 002 for her regular house call. I also got some delightful baked goodies via The Baker's mother. Man, I'm not usually a toast guy but I have and will continue to make an exception for Mom's homemade bread and apple pies. I had a slice today...blows away anything in the supermarkets. Then, it was off to downtown Tokyo for my final lesson with The OL...for now. Her university classes start up again so she'll be gone again. She and I made some prelim plans to get together with Betty Boop for another dinner together. Up until a year ago, the three of us had been fairly regular mutual diners at the various eateries in The Big Sushi. Then, I scooted back out to my neck of the woods for the last lesson of the day with The Ace. I was pretty scorched by then.

Today, I had Tully & The Coffeemaker for their semi-monthly. However, the cafe where I had my 3-peater a couple of days back was closed for remodeling (I would've been flattered in a way if the place had been closed just to keep me from hogging it up), so instead the three of us went over to the Cafe De Crie across the street. Cafe De Crie is another one of the domestic cafe chains, and the decor is somewhat lighter and more feminine than the dark woods of Tully's or Starbucks.

Tully had just returned from a few days in Hawaii (a graduation trip of sorts for him and his 2 buddies). Looks like the lad had a good time doing the circuit around the big island and even getting in some surfing. I got a box of dried fruit instead of the usual macadamia chocolates, a nice change. However, The Coffeemaker got the big winfall since she also received a White Day package from me.

Looks like The Wild Thing and I are back on for Sunday afternoon in Akiba. I've also asked Skippy, she being the not-so-closeted otaku, but I don't think she'll make it out at such short notice (Japanese usually require a week's notice for even a casual meet). However, she's thrown me an offer to catch "Happy Feet" in the next few weeks. Dancing penguins....hm...

Still feeling a bit tired but I gotta clean house and write in my taxes before I head on out on Tuesday to the tax office. Yes, I did say that I would go yesterday but frankly I didn't have the cash on hand to pay the taxman, and I was loathe to go groveling to my ATM. With no cancellations, I should have enough by Tuesday afternoon. Also, I do have that oral test to concoct for the Younger sister tomorrow.

On the Michael Jackson front....yep, he's still here. Did Bic Camera on Monday midnight, then it was Tokyo Disneyland on Wednesday. Then, he did what his raison d'etre was on Thursday and Friday...a couple of big parties for his fans and underprivileged children at the whopping price of 400,ooo yen a head (that could be about $4,500 US)! At this meet-&-greet, there was the Michael Jackson lookalike contest (probably the second-biggest event for such people next to Elvis impersonators), a speech by the King of Pop, and a lot of photo opps. Even my clone, Mr. Karube the Fuji-TV celeb reporter, got his time in the sun with The One-Gloved One...I assume that his company and not him picked up the tab on his entry. Today is apparently his time to go watch some sort of baseball game or something at one of the US military bases near Tokyo. I'd say that if he stayed any longer, he could apply for Permanent Residency. Methinks that he would get it far faster than I did.

The other day, my sanity decided to take a few hours' off, and so I ended up forsaking my fiscal austerity program and bought a couple of discs at HMV. One was the latest by Shena Ringo, "Heisei Fuzoku" (Heisei Manners). I was intrigued by her performance on that Friday night music program the other week so I decided to splurge on the yen. Usually when I put on a new disc on my Discman just before hitting bed, the music does act like warm milk with nutmeg and I head off to la-la land. However, Shena kept slapping me awake. All of the usual Shena-nigans are there: the vacuously sinister look of the singer and complex kanji-riddled lyrics in the jacket that have been a trademark of her stuff over the past decade. In one of the singles from early in her career I have of her, there was a B-side song in which she sang a fairly good jazzy tune written and composed by her. I figured that jazz would be a good medium for her to try out. Well, I guess "Heisei Fuzoku" is perhaps that medium. Unlike the only other album of hers I got, "Muzai Moratorium", she's got a full orchestra behind her led by some cat named Neko Saito. And boy, does she put it through its paces. The first song, "Gamble" would've been a better theme song for the newest James Bond movie with its swinging brass-n-strings. And one of the middle songs, "Salle Du Bain" is probably one of the best Pet Shop Boys song the Boys never made; the lyrics kinda made me wonder if she were talking about some sort of stalker/photographer and her target or a sociopathic killer's latest conquest. Basically, the album taps into her acid jazz side, and though she won't scare Ella or Sarah, she could give the domestic folks like Ego-Wrappin' a run for their money. There's even the last track, "Memories" with her brother, Junpei Shena, that could be a Japanese cousin to The Beatles' "When I'm 64". I'd say I got my money's worth here.

Thursday March 8, 12:20 p.m.

Hmmm....Matt Damon as Captain James Tiberius Kirk? Hmm...I'm starting to get images of that Matt Damon from "Team America"; y'know...Matt Damon: "Matt Damon..." Just not sure about this supposed J.J Abrams' "Star Trek XI" project. Adrien Brody as Spock? Gary Sinise as McCoy? I'm kinda wondering if this is gonna be some sort of movie of Trek impersonations. In that case, I would probably choose that actor/comedian from "The Usual Suspects" and "Hostage"...he does a killer Kirk. But then again, all's possible at this stage of the guessing game in Hollywood. And besides, look at what happened to "Battlestar Galactica". Could you have imagined the stoic lieutenant boss to Crockett and Tubbs from "Miami Vice" becoming the replacement to Lorne Greene's Commander Adama? Could anyone have imagined that this show and the new "Doctor Who" being called the best that TV has to offer in their respective countries? But there you are. The Anime King had sent me the article talking about all the fuss over the casting of this new prequel in the Star Trek series. He stated that he probably wouldn't imagine a Shatneresque rendition of Kirk. And so maybe that's the way it should go. A complete redux...a young James T. Kirk who has yet to gain the theatricality of his later self. Should be an interesting road ahead for Star Trek to regain credibility, if the movie ever gets off the ground.

And speaking of pop icons....Michael Jackson should basically think about changing residency to this country from that hothouse in the Middle East. At least Japan has four seasons...but then again, there is that rumour about the former King of Pop mulling the idea of converting to Islam. Still, Jackson would be ever-loved over here if the reaction to his latest visit is any indication. There doesn't seem to be that stigma of his creepy love of children over here that has gotten him persona non grata status in the States. Oh, the folks in Japan know about all the difficulties Jackson had been through for the last several years but that doesn't seem to be neither here nor there for his greatest fans. One girl who was approached by the cameras, barely coherent, managed to spit out between quivering lips how she could actually shake his hand. And this was because she was happy to see him. I could imagine the same reaction for folks in the States but for other more opposite reasons.

"Big in Japan" still applies for the one-gloved one, as it does for a lot of has-beens, also-rans and never-wases. Anyone who's considered AOR (the musical kiss of death in America) can find sanctuary in Japan, a country whose music stores actually have AOR sections. Jaye P. Morgan? Christopher Cross? Air Supply? Welcome home!

Thursday March 8, 11:37 a.m.

Back at Speedy's some 12 hours after I'd left it. Ended up sharing some Pizza Salvatore with the boss man, his wife and an acquaintance that I occasionally see at the school parties. Pizza Salvatore is the latest entry into the Tokyo pizza arena of battle with Domino's, Pizza-LA and Pizza Hut. I'm a Domino's guy with my de rigueur Giga Meat Medium but Pizza Salvatore probably has the highest quality pies in town. It was started up by some very professional pizzamakers (i.e. they're Italian) but a Japanese fellow who had won a prestigious pizzamaking prize in Sicily apparently also has a hand in the dough, so to speak. Accordingly, their prices aren't exactly the cheapest.

Looks like the media and rabid fans are continuing their "Where's Michael?" Easter Egg-like hunt. Yep, the one-gloved one made his latest nightly foray. On Monday, it was to the Yurakucho branch of Bic Camera at midnight...some hours after the place had closed. Still, there was quite a scrum of fans and media trying to get pics of Michael Jackson as he went rummaging like a raccoon. Last night, it was Tokyo Disneyland in my neck of the woods. Not sure, if his team had the entire place cordoned off like Bic. His big events are today and tomorrow. I'm sure Japanese TV will have all the details by this weekend.

After having the CSI franchise hijack TV Tokyo at noon with Horatio Caine and that other leader of the Las Vegas team, now it's Sydney Bristow's turn. Yep, "Alias" has finally arrived onto mainstream shores with her high-kicking and disguise-wearing. Never caught it from the beginning so I haven't particularly fallen in love with the series but if the DVD set can ever be bought for a ridiculously low price, I'll think about it. Still waiting to see if "Heroes" makes it out here someday. Maybe since a Japanese guy seems to be the big hero of the show, the series might get the fast track instead of the usual 5-year waiting period.

Well, I got that cooking teacher as my first student in an hour. It shouldn't be too intense as a model lesson since all I have to do is listen and critique her presentation. Speedy says the 16 questions I sent her to answer as part of her presentation will be more than enough for the hour. Then, I head on down to Ginza and see if I can pick up the first of my annual White Day chocolates for the students who were kind enough to give me some Valentine's Day goodies. The Sisters of State were the first ones and since I see them later today, well...gotta reciprocate. Not sure if I can afford even the smallest of the Godiva or Leonidas packages but there is always the stuff from the convenience stores. After all, it's really just giri-choco anyways.

It'll be a back-to-back-to-back evening with The Sisters of State and then the newest, BC, at the Ichigaya Tully's. I did a lot of copying today for the ladies. I hope I don't end up burning out by the end of tonight since I've got my tax office visit tomorrow AND another three classes with 002, The OL and The Ace.

Wednesday March 7, 8:22 p.m.

Another hump day gone by. The winter temps have started to creep back into the metropolis after a few days of early Spring. Only had 001 today. Looks like she's off on another one of her frequent ski weekends up in Hokkaido. Amazing the frequent flyer points she must be racking up.

Started getting my income tax papers in order before Friday's trip to the tax office to pay my cash. I found out much to my chagrin that I miscalculated somewhere and now I owe 5,000 yen more than originally thought. Just can't win.

Last night at the juku was pretty normal. The kids were fine along with Seven. Jolly dotakyan'ed as usual but both Milds showed up. I hadn't seen Mrs. Mild in nearly a month due to work. She was surprisingly quite stable despite the long absence. Of course, The Siberian is off in Korea for the rest of the month.

Another wrinkle in the celeb ethos. The Empress has been diagnosed with bleeding in her intestinal tract. Not sure how serious it is.

It'll be a busy one tomorrow. I've got a model lesson here at Speedy's with a cooking teacher asking me to take a look at her English delivery for her foreign students. If all works out, it'll become a regular gig. Then, I've got the battery of The New Yorker, The Carolinan and BC in Ichigaya.

Monday March 5, 4:39 p.m.

Well, unlike the near-summer conditions of yesterday, we've got clouds just whipping by and the threat of some heavy rain tonight, so I invested in a new collapsible umbrella to replace the one I'd left at the Tully's cafe a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday saw The Polynesian showing some of her former loopiness in class. She couldn't string two sentences together and this was for a couple of Japanese folk tales, Momotaro and Urashimataro, stories that are as famous as Cinderella and The Tortoise and the Hare back home. Well, she did say that she had just gotten up before meeting me. I managed not to throw my pen at her in frustration.

And then I met The Wild Thing at Shinjuku Station. He and his wife were over by the escalators within the ticket gates. Wild Thing met me while his wife did an abrupt turn and quickly escaped up the escalators, off to see her friend. He did tell me once before that his wife wasn't the most open of folks but I just thought that it was somewhat rude of her not to even give a rudimentary greeting.

Anyways, I gave Wild Thing a couple of choices for eats: Saboten, the tonkatsu joint, or the old favourite of Foo Foo, the pai ko tan tan men place. We went for the latter, and of course, I introduced him to the wonder of artery-clogging deep-fried pork cutlet swimming in a spicy broth and noodles. To top off our all-cholesterol, all-the-time meal, we drank down a couple of beers. He was quite satisfied.

Wild Thing was his usual manically jovial and profane self and we did our usual swing through the talking points, going from French recipes to his wife to me bumping into our mutual friend the other night. He did belch a couple of times which I'm gonna have to warn him about.

Then, we did a walking tour through South Shinjuku since we had to attempt to walk off some of that dinner. Of course, I showed him the circus surrounding Krispy Kreme. And of course, he went into a little tirade about how this evil of business models was now sinking its teeth into the Japanese public. I've known for decades so it was all water down a duck's back to me although I couldn't really say how the folks walking around us reacted...probably just the usual: henna gaijin (strange foreigner).

After going up and down Kinokuniya and Takashimaya Times Square, we finally set down at a branch of Afternoon Tea in the Southern Tower Building. He kinda complained about the prices of an apple pie and coffee but if he's gonna be living here, he'll have to get used to it. We made a joint proposal about meeting next Sunday for a round at Akiba; I'll see if Skippy might be interested, although I'm kinda wondering how having two manic folks will be like for my sanity.

Well, the entertainment rags and morning wide shows are having a banner day today. Pop diva Hikaru Utada has decided to divorce her hubby of 4.5 years at the tender age of 24....geez, who saw that one coming? And what's more, her parents had apparently divorced last year for the 5th or 6th time; talk about your manic-depressive relationships.

Then, there is the return of Wacko Jacko to Tokyo. Michael Jackson hit the tarmac at Narita this past weekend to a wild crowd of 500 to make up for his sudden cancellation of a Xmas concert last year. He'll have another relatively long stay in the Big Sushi...the events are supposed to happen on the 8th and 9th...a lot of lounging time for a celeb. The nurseries and elementary schools are taking the necessary precautions.

And finally, a famed tarento is retiring rather suddenly at a young age. Ai Ijima has decided to pack it all in at the end of the month due to some health issues (something to do with her kidneys, I think). Ijima, 34, has stood out amongst the galaxy of TV personalities that always populate the airwaves (some would say pollute) since some 15 years ago, she wasn't Ai-chan the tarento but Ai-chan the Queen of Hard Porn. So far, she's the only one from that part of entertainment to make the full trip into mainstream TV land; kinda like if Marilyn Chambers had become a co-host on "Good Morning America". She also wrote an ingeniously titled autobiography, "Platonic Sex", several years back which became a bestseller which then became a movie and TV miniseries. Although a lot of her fellow tarento have been stating that she's a kind warm-hearted lady, she's known to the public as one of the more acid-tongued celebs out there. In fact, as late as last night (before the news broke), she apparently lashed out at Dave Spector, foreign tarento, on a TV show that both were on for being a little too gabby (yep, I would agree).

I'm sure that all three stories will be rolling through the media zeitgeist in the week to come.

Sunday March 4, 11:57 a.m.

Balmy-with-a-capital-B day. Up to 17 degrees C in the sunshine today...I'm sure all you East Coasters must be cursing with a passion on reading this. New word for today: danto. It means warm winter...and yes, Tokyo has been having one summer of a winter. It's gotten so bad that the weathercasters have been pathetically predicting that the first snow here may be sometime this month. As if people really want snow here... Anyways, the surprising news is that the Japan Meterological Agency is reporting that this may be the first year in several years that Tokyo will be completely snow-free. I say it is surprising because I'd always thought that Tokyo was mostly snow-free...I only see a few flakes once every few years in any case. I guess they must be referring to the Mount Takao area, the small corner of Tokyo that actually looks rural.

Back on Friday night, my juku boss reminded me of that semi-deal about killing two birds with one stone....getting a new residence for me and a new site for her juku. Apparently, her friend told her that she (the friend) owns a house on the verge of getting remodeled and is offering to rent it to her for a ridiculously low price. As usual, she was pretty breathless about it; as usual, I was much more sanguine about it in the too-good-to-be-true vein. Still, having my rent slashed to less than half is nothing to turn my nose at.

Saturday was another light day. I had The Coffeemaker and Tully at the usual place. The class went pretty well. Then I headed off to Shinjuku to see if I could find some writing material for my newest student, BC, for this Thursday. Couldn't find anything but I saw that Krispy Kreme is still attracting the long lineups. Just surprised I haven't heard of any staffers snapping and dousing customers in hot oil from the donut machine.

Then, it was off to 002's place in what is becoming a bimonthly ritual of home parties. It was a slightly smaller group than January's gig with The Baker and her vegetarian teacher. It was very meaty this time around. Last night's meal was chankonabe...yep, the legendary stew that the sumo wrestlers always have to fatten themselves up. Well, actually to be fair, the stew is quite healthy. It's just that the sumotori feast on tons of it along with a ton of carb-heavy rice. In my long history of ingesting Japanese hot pot, I've usually gone with yosenabe, the most conventional version or mizutaki, the family favourite with Chinese cabbage, chicken and tofu in boiling water. This was the first time for me to have the sumo hot pot, though looking at me, you may be quite surprised that this was the case (actually, I've had lots of gaping mouths when I've revealed that I hardly drink despite the presence of a beer belly).

Chankonabe consists of veggies such as Chinese cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, tofu and the meat portion is fish chunks and minced chicken balls stewed in a dashi broth. No rice but the hot pot was delish. Afterwards, 002 followed tradition and made some zosui with the remaining flavourful broth. She threw in some cooked rice, beaten eggs and chopped leeks for a great shime (end) of a meal. I also contributed to the culinary satisfaction by bringing in some snacks, including a Pringle-style canister of corn chips with a little pot of salsa. Love those Japan Nabisco folks. Apparently, noone else in the party had ever had corn chips before. I really miss those things. The closest we can get to corn chips in this country is Dorito Nachos.

It was just 002, 001, 002's hubby and myself. The Baker was supposed to have come with her mother's prized apple pies but she got mired in sudden work thanks to an incompetent assistant there. The ladies remarked that, though they've never seen her in that mood, they could imagine that The Baker could be as frightening as Medusa when angered. Apparently, the lass during her aggrieved cancellation call stated that she was appropriately punishing her young charge. Still, it was another fine dinner out.

I got a call from The Wild Thing yesterday morning. He and his wife have now settled in their new neighbourhood of Shinagawa. I'm supposed to be meeting my old friend after my lesson with The Polynesian. Since I'm meeting him in Shinjuku, I'll either take him to Foo Foo or the nearby tonkatsu restaurant. In one of the weirdest coincidences, I was heading home from 002's through the plaza connecting JR Funabashi and Keisei Funabashi Stations when I ran into a mutual friend of The Wild Thing and me. I hadn't seen him in a few years since The Quarterback's wedding. The mutual friend hadn't been aware of The Wild Thing's plans so he was doubly surprised. Apparently, both him and The Wild Thing are at a crossroads...so it was appropriate that we met in a connecting walkway. The Wild Thing and his mate are trying to make a new life here while the mutual friend and his significant other are considering heading back the other way. In any case, my latest call from The Wild Thing this morning revealed that the mutual friend beat me to him about our coincidental encounter.

On the geino front, this year has seen the arrival of another "It" girl here. I spoke to you about Anna Tsuchiya, who apparently is half-American/half-Japanese according to the sites, instead of the half-Russian label I'd stated before. Well, the newest arrival is this young lady by the name of Leah Dizon from Las Vegas, Nevada. She's all of 20 and is the offspring of a French-American mother and a Chinese-Filipino father. Well, she was discovered online via her own website by a Japanese talent scout and invited late last year to come on over. Since then, her life hasn't been the same. She's been hitting the shows and fashion magazines like Matsui with an easy pitch, and she's even released her first Japanese-language single. Her ability with the Japanese language has come along quite swimmingly. I think it won't be too long before she hits her first drama role.

And I finally found out that last year's "It" girl, Rie Kaela Kimura, is half-British....just like that Becky girl.

Anyways, time to hit the road.

Thursday March 1, 2:43 p.m.

One of those blank Thursdays...nothing going on. Just slept in late, got a Wendy's set and I'm now doing the 3-hour gig at the neighbourhood Internet cafe. As it turned out last night, Speedy took his now-former admin assistant, me and his wife to one of his usual haunts near the school, this rustic family-operated Japanese equivalent of Ye Olde Tavern...a nomiya, in other words. The place looked like something lived in from decades past. In fact, there were only two customers at the counter when we came in. The two tatami rooms were dark until the mama-san turned on the lights. Like any Mom-&-Pop operation, the food was homecooking at its finest but I think the best dish was the final one of rice cooked with flavoured chicken and burdock root (gobo). Still, I was a bit dismayed at the 4,000 yen price tag, but then again, we were also treating the assistant.

Once upon a time in Tokyo, it was the usual thing for nighttime commuters to race for their subways and trains at midnight, heels clacking away on the hard floor like crazed castanets. I could imagine Cinderella doing the same thing after her ball. However, unlike the fairy tale, Tokyo Metro didn't turn into pumpkins...they just disappeared after the strike of 12. Kinda weird that in the world's largest city with all of the nightlife on display, mass transit died after midnight.

Well, not anymore. Over the past several months, Tokyo Metro has subtly extended operations for an extra half-hour. The partygoers can rest easy and enjoy that final nightcap in Shibuya or Shimbashi. Still, old habits die hard. My fellow commuters were walking nonchalantly at 11:50 last night for the Tozai Line while I huffed and puffed up 3 flights of escalators...almost earned myself a coronary. Having crowed about TM's light of insight about the dynamics of nighttime Tokyo, the Tozai is still majorly crowded at midnight.

Got back home...well, most of the laundry actually hung on. My only casualties were an undershirt and a dress shirt.

My last entry last night before Speedy told us to pack up for dinner was about how this Tommy Tomita of Harlem was able to get so-called J-R&B king, Ken Hirai, into the Apollo Theatre, only to see him nearly get booed offstage. Again, I reiterate...I'm not surprised although I felt sorry that a popular-in-Japan singer could get so humbled like a reject from a Simon Cowell thrashing. For one thing, I never thought Hirai was that good a singer...let alone one in the R&B genre. As one of his hit songs here goes, ..."I wanna be a popstar". And for another, I think his best hit was that rendition of "Grandfather's Clock". "Grandfather's Clock"? That's a song that only junior high school bands play. Basically, Hirai is a pop singer. Apollo only entertains the best in black music. And if you think I'm harping on the inadequacies of Japanese musicians, I can mention that in that same article on Tomita, the writer mentioned that an 11-year-old boy brought down the house at the Apollo with his rendition of a Whitney Houston song. Man, talk about Hirai getting hoist on his own petard.

The terms "Made in Japan" and "Big in Japan" seem to have particular relevance when it comes to J-Pop. Perhaps for the first expression, the words "only for" ought to be thrust in place of "in". The great majority of hit-making Japanese bands and singers would probably never get past the receptionist in an American talent agency. SMAP? No way! Kumi Koda? Nah. Ayumi Hamasaki? Can't see it. Even Hikaru Utada, the turn-of-the-century wunderkind with her R&B-tinged hit, "Automatic", was diffidently referred to in a TIME magazine article a few years back as just a pop starlet. As for Puffy Amiyumi, they had that "Sukiyaki"-like unexpected stardom in the States a couple of years ago but now they're just known for a couple of theme tunes on The Cartoon Network as well as their own little anime for kids. The news isn't all bad, though. I think there are a few acts which may get some sort of legitimacy on the Western hit charts and with the critics (the fans are there, though, as the J-Pop forums will attest to). Kanye West seems to see something in the special unit known as The Teriyaki Boyz, a collective of J-R&B artists from other bands. The female singer who broke out a couple of years ago, AI, could make it Stateside if she wanted to. And perhaps there are a few others out there who could find binational success overseas, but for the most part, I think the musical barrier between Oricon and the American charts will remain far more solid than anything the Department of Homeland Security can come up with between the US and Mexico.

Wednesday February 28, 8:32 p.m.

Yeah, I'm still at it but that's only because the three of us are waiting for Mrs. Speedy to show up so that we can all go out for dinner; probably be another 20 minutes.

I got word from The Wild Guy. He and his mysterious missus will be heading to Japan to perhaps start a new life. I hope Japan is ready for him.

Well, how about that? Just started typing and Mrs. Speedy shows up.

I was reading an article in The Japan Times about this fellow by the name of Tommy Tomita, a Japanese resident of Harlem who took up residence in his adopted home in Manhattan since he fell in love with the neighbourhood a couple of decades ago. He claims it is safe despite being shot twice in the torso and being held up at knifepoint 10 times...yeah, I think it's kinda delusional, too. In any case, he's been helping out the Japanese tourist trade by providing tours of the area including setting up gospel-singing workshops and trips for some soul food. He has also brought none other than singer Ken Hirai to try his chops at the legendary Apollo Theater...almost to disaster. Apparently, the ever-demanding crowd nearly booed the man off the stage. But as sad as it is, I'm not too surprised...but I'll continue this line later since Speedy has given the all-clear to clear out.

Wednesday February 28, 8:22 p.m.

Well, 001 finally came after a 3-week absence. She was none the worse for wear; I'd think she'd be quite refreshed after a nice little vacation in Hokkaido. In any case, I'll be seeing her, 002 and The Baker for another round of hilarity on Saturday when we do the nabe thing.

I thought I would be doing some more curricula planning but it's one of our assistants' last day here and since there are no more classes tonight, the boss has decided to take the lass out for a drink in the next half-hour. And since I have no classes tomorrow, I may as well indulge myself with the folks.

I won't be making any income but at least I can get my income tax done before taking it to the tax office...and pay my pound of flesh.

Wednesday February 28, 4:35 p.m.

Fairly breezy day today which probably means most of my laundry is now flying somewhere in the stratosphere over Kamchatka...

In any case, my Tuesday was fairly draining. For one thing, I was sporting a full suit and long coat for my interview and for another it was 15 C and sunny yesterday. Luckily, The Beehive was as happy-go-lucky as usual. In face, we had a surprise visit by the lady that had introduced me to the ladies almost a decade ago, Mrs. London. She's quite the vivacious one despite her age and wears an air of regality; I'd say that in a past life, she was probably British royalty. Although a lot of the ladies were happy to see her, I had a bit of an impression that Mrs. Jade and Mrs. Tee weren't as enthused. They were a bit quieter than usual. I'm not sure if it were due to some past animosity or if they were intimidated by the perceived English ability. As it were, Mrs. London was a bit rusty in her English. I think Mrs. Perth and Mrs. Alp rather ranked above my benefactor. In any case, next week will be a scratch with them since Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Perth are off to Morocco today for about a week. Their long trip will include stopovers in Osaka, Oman and even Tripoli before the final destination of Casablanca....a grand total of 24 hours up in the air. They should be properly ragged by the end. I did ask them not to end up being on some sort of NHK emergency report on abducted tourists.

My interview took me to Chiba City, some 20 minutes away from Tsudanuma on the Sobu Line. I hadn't been to the place in over a year when the juku boss took me to a museum showing there and before that, it had been several more years. I used to be a regular commuter there during the early years of my time at the ol' school since I was teaching at one of the major manufacturing firms for a few years. I was glad to see that it hadn't changed all that much.

I hopped on the Chiba Monorail for just one stop...in front of Chiba City Hall. The monorail was one of those where the rail was over, not under, the train so I did get a bit of vertigo looking outside and seeing nothing but air under me. As for the area around City Hall, it was located in the port area so there was a mix of salty types and regular polyestered salaryment mingling about, and not much else. There were the bland government buildings but nary a McDonalds or a department store to be see...well, there was a Yamada Denki appliance store but since I wasn't buying anything electrical or electronic, I gave that a pass. Of course, I got to the school, a full half-hour before interview time so I was doing a bit of walking...not great under a suit and coat.

The school was really just a narrow little one-room office in one of the bland buildings. And there were only two people: the Japanese fellow who I'd spoken to over e-mail and phone, and the co-founder, a former JET like myself. The Japanese fellow looked and sounded a bit like a younger version of the manager of the ol' school. I gather that he was the young Anakin Skywalker to the evil Darth Vader at the ol' school. Still, the interview went pretty pleasantly. Basically, there is no school to talk about. The pair there instead just act like matchmakers of sorts, pairing up teachers and students at cafes for lessons. Most of the business, though, seems to revolve around home tutoring with kids. Anakin was nice enough to pick up on the fact that I didn't want to have anything to do with the children so after some talk, signing and information, I became an employee of sorts. Now, I just have to wait for some potential students to hover into my neighbourhood.

Although the interview was pleasant, I was still pretty sloggy and famished by the end so I hopped back on the monorail to Chiba Station. After a bit of a search, I did find a fairly cheap kaiten sushi place. As it was cheap, so was the quality...no half-frozen or cardboard sashimi, to be sure but I think the old conveyor belt sushi restaurant in my station could handily beat it. I hung about Chiba for about an hour or so, even going up the station's Sogo Department Store, one of those old commercial behemoths of yesteryear. Then, I got back onto the JR and headed back toward the juku.

My ex is a card-carrying nutritionist so she would've had me flayed alive if she'd found out that I ended up having an additional Big Mac set at the station's Golden Arches after getting out. My excuse or rationalization (let's not beat around the bush about that) was that by the time I got out of the juku, it would've been way too late for dinner so I might as well load up on the carbs and empty calories. As it turned out, there were two factors which rendered my excuse null and void. For one thing, The Siberian did his usual sudden cancellation so I only had to work until 9 and then the boss offered me some meat sauce spaghetti (I learned early on not to refuse any of her dishes). In an O.Henryesque irony, with all of the calories that I'd ingested within the 6 hours, the boss had one of those balance balls rolling about in my room. When I decided to sit on it, I would've sworn that the boss ducked and put her fingers into her ears. Going back to the House of Ronald, it's been a real surprise how successful the Mega Mac campaign has been. Branches all over the Kanto have put up notices apologizing that due to the popularity of the Double Big Mac, supplies have basically dried up by mid-morning. Oh, yes, but of course....what says healthy living than a mid-morning Mega Mac? It's a wonder that we all don't end up like Americans by mid-century.

I got the impression that the honeymoon period for Chip N' Dale, especially Chip, was now waning. The lass was looking slightly piqued. Well, they are kids but I'll see what I can do to rectify the situation although I think I already am pulling out all the stops for the kids. I was doing quite a bit of cutting, pasting and copying before their class. Seven showed up for her lesson; I'm thinking that I may have to rev things up with her as well. Jolly is definitely on the TOEIC Listening track. He's having problems catching the questions so my job is cut out for me. And once again, it was Mr. Mild for his 3rd solo lesson in a row. He assured me that his wife would be back next week although considering her sieve-like memory, I wonder if I'm gonna have to start from the beginning of the text.

Luckily, I didn't have 002 until the early afternoon so I could sleep in somewhat. In her class, she stated that 001 was a bit nervous about her lesson with me in less than an hour since she'd been away for most of February. I reassured her that I would just merely bite her on the ankles. She's getting revved up for her latest dinner party this Saturday. The theme for that party will be nabe.

Newswise, the only scandal in town right now involves, appropriately enough, The Kano Sisters. The Japanese equivalent of Hilton/Richie (only in terms of both pairs' unique ability to gain celebrity on almost no perceivable talent at all...actually, not that difficult in this country), the pneumatic "sisters" are crying foul at one of their own, yet another mystery sister, who has apparently absconded with some valuables. The mystery sister defiantly stated through her lawyer that all of the stuff was hers. The only other thing of note is about a veteran enka singer, Shinichi Mori, who apparently extended the lyrics of his theme song, "O-Fukuro" (Mom); the problem is that he failed to tell the songwriter, some old fogey who has ear hair the size of harvestable wheat. Well, that started a bit of a war with the fart quietly banning in a press conference that Mori no longer has his permission to sing the song. Mori has tried to visit the writer's hotel suite in Tokyo and even the old guy's home in Aomori Prefecture to apologize or at least explain himself but the writer has refused to deign him an audience.

Two superstars of their genres met in an unlikely conversation on Friday night. Sheena Ringo, the Queen of Shibuya-kei pop/rock, and Ichiro, the King of all that's Japanese in the Major Leagues (although he may have a usurper in the form of Dice-K) met on "Bokura no ongaku" (Our Music). The show has been one of those programs wrapped up in urban class as singers and non-singing celebs get together for 25 minutes of gab on the big picture. I'd seen Ringo in a past episode with a kabuki great. Then, she was the one definitely handling the S&M whip...she had the master panting and ducking like a schoolboy in his very first crush. Last Friday, it looked like Ichiro had her on the ropes instead. I think it's safe to say that fans saw a fairly different heroine. I thought that she was about to break into tears when the master batter alternately slammed and complimented her. Of course, Ringo gave her performances of her latest singles...liberally sprinkled with jazz tones thanks to a huge swing orchestra. I couldn't really decipher her English but it sounded good enough that I would break my CD fast for her.

It's been getting more and more nostalgic on the satellite channels. One of the karaoke stations has been televising episodes of this ancient NHK show called "Let's Go Young" which figured prominently for the youth of 25 years ago (that would include me). I got to see a very young Seiko Matsuda, the Queen of Idols, singing along with other idols of yesteryear such as Yoshie Kashiwabara and Hideki Saijo (yup, I know...you don't know any of these names..just look them up on the J-Music forums). It was weird watching all of the cutesiness, big hair and nearly unwatchable choreography of 80's idol pop on this show and then switch to MTV Japan and see the current hip-hop of 21st-century J-Pop such as Dragon Ash, Kumi Koda or Soulhead. But I'll say it again....the new stuff is arguably better sung and danced but the old stuff was more uniquely Japanese. On another channel which specializes in oldie TV shows, I got to see some of the variety stuff of veteran comedian Ken Shimura. His stuff came in the era of the early 90s...the age of Juliana's (a popular disco in Tokyo during that time notable for huge feathery fans and bodycon tight dresses), and long straight hair on the ladies and short square hairstyles on the guys.

Anyways, time to get prepped for 001...

Monday February 26, 7:49 p.m.

Well, it was a nice try but Rinko Kikuchi didn't quite get her Oscar. But despite all the (minor) hoopla about the actress (Daisuke...or should that be Dice-K [as if he were a new hip-hop star]...Matsuzaka still beat her soundly in the media sweepstakes), she lost out to Jennifer Hudson from "Dreamgirls", the more relatable role to the Academy folks. The morning news show hounds ambushed her outside of her hotel...the lass took things with aplomb although when one of the Fuji-TV folks pelted her with some fractured English, I swore that Kikuchi gave a slight "F*** off" look; I guess that all that filming in Shibuya rubbed some of the attitude onto her.

Still, despite the loss on the Japanese side ("Letters from Iwo Jima" didn't score either), I was happy to see Martin Scorsese finally get his Oscar for "The Departed", a movie that I'm proud to say that I actually did catch a few weeks previously. I bet that was one huge elephant that got off his back.

More mundanely, I had my usual slate of Monday students including The Class Act after a 2-week absence. The Part-Timer did pretty well at the Doutor Cafe by the station although my sweater now smells of Camels due to the useless regulation of no-smoking & smoking sections in an unpartitioned coffee house. However, she'll be away next week since she and a buddy are doing the Hawaii thing again. Now, that I'm back at Speedy's, I'll be doing some more curricula stuff for the next couple of hours.

One thing that I kept forgetting to mention is how quiet my floor in my apartment block is now. For the last third or quarter of last year, I had that Filipino "family" two doors down (though I suspect it was just the crew of one of the hostess clubs near the station) plus the weirdo next door who seemed to insist on moving anything not nailed to the floor all over the place, and slam doors entering and leaving. However, since I got back from Canada, it's been all quiet on the southern front. I've been noticing that flyers squeezed into the cracks of the doorways have yet to be plucked out and the mailboxes are getting stuffed with junk mail. I'm wondering if the folks there just decided to do a yo-nige (escape under darkness). If so, I feel sorry for my management company but I'm not complaining myself. More than likely when Spring comes around, there will be some new residents...I'm hoping for some quiet unassuming transferred salarymen.

Sunday February 25, 12:11 p.m.

It all started last week when I woke up. My eyes started getting that sandpaper-gritty feeling. Then over the next couple of days, my nose started twitching like Samantha Stevens's cute little button. I realized that it was back...hay fever season.

So, I've loaded up on the meds and I picked up some tissue and that mask at the conbini today. As a result, I'm feeling slightly loopy now although the good thing is that my nose isn't running like a faucet. I think the guys would rather have a slightly loopy fellow than a friend covered in mucous.

Speaking of the guys, I'll be meeting up with Skippy, MB (and I assume The Sylph), The Satyr and even Sylph's buddy, Porcelain, for the latest stop in the massive Burger Tour in Ningyocho. I'm kinda wondering if Sylph's little matchmaking has borne fruit between Satyr and Porcelain. In any case, I've held off on the heavy carbs for breakfast today in anticipation of ingesting mass quantities.

I finally got to meet The Carolinan's friend for that initial meet-&-greet on Thursday night for lessons. I took her to the same Tully's shop that the Carolinan and I meet for our sessions. The lass quickly positioned herself into the high rankings of student ability...despite her wrongfully placed insecurities. She'd certainly give Mrs. Perth of the Beehive a run for her money. Unlike most of my students, though, she'd rather go into academic writing than conversation...no surprise there. So, I'll be looking at some other stuff for her. As for her code name, well, since she's a huge Vancouver fan, she'll be heretofore known as BC.

Though I'm atheist, I would like to say "What the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away". I got the BC contract but I've lost The UL. Looks like she's been having a bit of a breakdown because of difficulties at work (interpersonal as well as the usual stuff) and illness; plus, she admitted that she was lazy. I asked her point blank if it had anything to do with any dissatisfaction with the lessons but she was quick to deny that; in fact, she added that she would've enjoyed having me twice a week but the current situation won't let her. I'd had a feeling some weeks back that something was up with her. So, the last class with her on Friday in Toranomon Starbucks was one of those counselling affairs. Luckily, though, her sister, The OL, has been kind enough to step in. The OL also said that her older sister had been a bit cranky recently.

Earlier on Friday, I called up that CEO of the school in Chiba about the part-time position I'd applied for. He said that he would call me but after waiting until 11:30 with no ring, I decided to get proactive. Hmmm... well, I've got an interview with him between The Beehive and the juku on Tuesday afternoon. I hope everything goes well although when I heard that most of the classes were kids' home tutoring, I kinda got a bit wary. He also asked me if I would teach a TOEIC class from Wednesday morning in the wee hours between 7 and 8. Of course, I had some hesitation about that but the CEO was kind enough to give me an out and suggested I think about it. I have and I will refuse it.

The Saturday classes were pretty steady on. The Elder behaved herself and the Younger did quite well on the review. The Polynesian also did well. Then I raced over to Ichigaya where I met that one M. I hadn't seen her since late November and her friend, the other M, was still busy studying for a major exam. Since our old haunt, The Tea Room, was dead and buried (a new restaurant has popped up in its place), we looked for a cafe that she'd found out about not too far away. As it turned out, that place only opened for lunch (no surprise since Ichigaya is a pretty dead place on weekends) so we ended up going to a health food restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building just few dozen metres away from the ol' Tea Room.

The set was pretty good as health food goes. I had the minced sardine-ball soup with veggies, unpolished boiled rice with sesame salt...and natto. Yes, you heard it. I finally came face-to-face with my culinary nemesis, my fermented bugbear. I didn't have much of a choice; the menu didn't have much else to recommend. I informed M about the moment in history she was about to witness, and she helped me out. When I dunked my chopsticks into the wet, sticky mass of undead beans and tried to pick some out, the lass immediately jumped in and suggested I actually pour a little soy and mix it about with the dab of mustard that traditionally came with it. I wasn't feeling too good as I was mixing this horror which was getting increasingly gelatinous. Then, M instructed me to pour the natto onto the rice which I dutifully did.

When I finally took that first historic mouthful of natto and rice, I was slightly surprised that it didn't have that taste of month-old socks I'd dreaded for so long. It was actually quite mild though the pungent smell lingered like a green assassin after his first kill. Natto didn't do anything to make me like it but I can finally say that I have eaten it. M continued her tutorial when she noticed that there was a mass of strings emanating from my mouth like web from a spider with leaky spinnerets so she showed me that little winding motion that all natto eaters do with their chopstick hands to cut the ito. That definitely cut down on the embarrassment factor.

As for M herself, she may finally have gotten a foot into the door for some employment opportunity. I had been wondering how she was able to stay solvent all these months without a job...especially in this city...when she admitted to me that she was living in sin with her very employed boyfriend. Ah, well, that does help. Living in a nice, spacious condo rent-free can also cut down on the unemployment blues.

Well, looks like my nose has dried up rather well. However, one lousy bit of trivia concerning hay fever...the rain of the last couple of days washed down a lot of the cedar pollen but unfortunately I found out that the first good day after a rain is a godsend for all that flower-sperm from Hell. Things just bloom all over. And I just happen to live in Gonad Central in Japan.

Thursday February 22, 5:26 p.m.

I'm just less than a couple of hours away from meeting my potential new student in Ichigaya. Since I tend to blend in quite well with the native population...and at Ichigaya Station, there are tons of salarymen flooding the gates at night, I told my prospect that I'd be wearing a long black trenchcoat, holding a black bag and carrying an English-language newspaper under my arm. Sounds rather Mickey Spillane, doesn't it?

As for that company that contacted me the other day, one of the folks there will call me tomorrow morning. I checked out their website. Seems OK...they even have pics of themselves posted. It seems to focus on home tutoring but they also have cafe-based adult lessons along with small adult group classes as well. Kinda up my alley although I will discreetly ask not to have the kids. I tried to look beyond the propaganda and searched other sites which talk about the various schools. Of course, NOVA is the easy whipping boy. I found one guy's site which said that he really didn't have any problems with it; he even admitted that he's working at my ol' school with little dissension. As he said, there are all sorts of opinions...and a lot of crybabies. Well, I will agree with him part way. I really didn't have much of a problem with NOVA; it really depends on where you're posted....if you're at a new small school, there's a much better chance of a happier environment, but if you're at one of the base schools (base...as in Cylon basestar), it's a horrible zoo. As for the ol' school...I can only gather that the lad is usually far away from the HQ or he's a very new guy.

Since I've had the day off today, I did a dry run of doing my taxes. UGH! Even with the lower gross income last year and all of the deductions I could squeeze out (legally, of course), I still have to pay more than 20,000 yen. Gah...you just can't win.

I've got another virtual day off tomorrow (hopefully that'll change if this new school pans out) but I've got The OL. Since The Ace is away, that'll be it for me. However, the weekend will be a little busier since I've got my kids, The Polynesian (who hopefully won't be screwing up her attendance again) and the one M. Sunday might be another stop on The Burger Tour...back at Brozzers in Ningyocho. Skippy, The Kid and I went there some months ago but this time, we wanna bring over MB and The Satyr.

Wednesday February 21, 5:16 p.m.

Made my kilo's worth of curricula money right now...ready to hit home. Actually, during my plow through the texts, I got a reply (surprisingly) from this outfit in Chiba which would be interested in speaking with me about a position as a private English instructor...it's basically the same I'm doing (or so they say)...teach in cafes or something. Well, I'm expecting a call on Friday morning. Every time that I get an offer, though, I can't help but remind myself of Groucho Marx's quote: "Any club which would accept me as a member isn't worth joining." Before you label me as a self-pitier, though, I would remind you that I have worked for beleaguered NOVA and the corrupt ol' school.

Just going through the front page of "The Japan Times"...looks like the government folks will be investigating instances of patient abuse at an old folks' home in my relative neighbourhood of Urayasu. It seems that the staff there have been accused of such cruelties as locking up one patient in a cage. As horrible as that sounds, I also have to say that on a recent NHK report, there have been instances of abuse heaped on the nurses and other care workers by very naughty old people.

Still on the page, I see that VP Dick Cheney is (or was) in town with a little talk with the humble government here. Things didn't quite get up to the level of the riots in Tokyo against Eisenhower's visit in 1960, but there were a few unhappy locals more than happy to welcome Darth Vader in their own special way.

One of the smaller news items here has been about that damaged whaler ship, the Nissin Maru, trapped in Antarctican waters. Greenpeace had offered to tow the ship away (which I'm sure had the whaler crew steaming and the Greenpeace folks giggling) but of course, the whaler would have none of that. And then New Zealand starting barking about the possibility of environmental damage caused by the leaky trawler. It looks like in a few days, though, there will be a resolution. Either the Nissin Maru will be able to get out of there under its own power or it will be towed out by one of its sister ships in the whaling fleet. Part of me is snickering at the whalers (although one engineer lost his life on the vessel) since I've never considered whale as a part of my food regimen and I've always been a bit irked at the transparent-as-glass rationalization of whaling-for-scientific-research that the Japanese have used to get out of anti-whaling legislation.

I guess the one other reason that I'm gonna miss LAST is that the buffet restaurant's BGM included a lot of oldie hits from the 70s and 80s. The place even played Anne Murray! Anne Murray...the Canadian singer? "Snowbird"? "You Believed In Me?" Ah...never mind...we'll now return you to Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morrisette.