Sunday April 29, 1:43 p.m.
Glorious day out there. Probably around 25 C and sunny. Quite unlike the maelstrom of yesterday. I was watching the news yesterday. Apparently, Tokyo was getting whacked by gusts of up to 30 m/s. Some events held under tents got a rather rude awakening and some construction lattices got knocked over...surprisingly noone was injured.
There was also some whacking in the political arena. Looks like Japan's most popular governor (for now), Governor Higashikokubaru of Miyazaki Prefecture has started using some of his political capital to attack a politico's typical enemies: the media and other politicians. The media was no real surprise...even the domeheaded governor admitted later on his sudden tirade at his press conference was more bluster than actual grievance against the journos; he just wanted to stake his borderlines about what's permissible and what's not. However, a few days ago, in an interview along the Miyazaki coastline, he decided to take on the most powerful (and far from popular) governor in the country, Shintaro Ishihara. Higashikokubaru said that Ishihara's re-election meant that the arrogance of Tokyo will continue on and that there won't be any fruitful change. Well, a lot of folks had thought that the 74-year-old Ishihara was looking a bit frayed around the changes. However, the broadside from the countryside knocked the old man into verbal action. Ishihara started launching some sidewinder missiles of his own on Friday. Not surprisingly, Higashikokubaru got a friendly visit from one of Ishihara's main rivals in the recent elections, former Miyagi Prefecture governor Asano. As for political capital he has gained in the first 3 months of his tenure, I would advise the popular Governor Higashikokubaru that a far higher authority across the Pacific stated something similar and is now paying much more than he'd thought. Still, although panelists today on the morning political program said that this little spat would only stay one, I'm kinda looking forward to a battle between the Ishihara Gundan and Beat Takeshi's Army.
Got the place cleaned up for MB's arrival later today. I also sent a clarification to The Polynesian who's not exactly the most prompt replyer. Basically, she's lost her window of opportunity to see me tomorrow but I'm still holding out next Sunday.
Caught a new TV show last night on TBS starring the World's Busiest TV Personality (according to the good people at Guinness), Monta Mino. He's decided to further extend his masochistic schedule by hosting one of those celeb-populated game/obstacle course shows that the natives here seem to love. Called "Captain Do-Mino", it has Mino dressed up like a B-grade space captain while his "executive officer", Takashi Fujii (the fruitcake Japanese host from "Lost In Translation") is the human megaphone following orders to the various guests to take part in what could be described as an Akihabara-style array of games such as a variation of that old game, Dance Dance Revolution, via pads on a musical suit, and Memory Tic Tac Toe. The very first guests featured a fairly formidable lineup including the Queen of J-R&B, Akiko Wada.
Just a place to deposit my thoughts on life here in the Kanto and about anything else that sticks to my walls.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Saturday April 28, 5:59 p.m.
Both The Dentist and I missed a couple of mighty bullets this afternoon. For my student, she got in...sans umbrella...just a few minutes before The Mother of All Downpours descended upon The Big Sushi for several minutes. We were witness to some massive sheets of precipitation smacking down on whatever and whoever was left on the pavement. Fortunately for her as well, the rains let up just when her lesson ended. As for my bullet, I missed it when I realized that I'd planned the right chapter...but for the wrong level of book. Ach! However, she still had hers and I've been doing this job long enough so that I could literally teach from her text upside down.
Just spent the last couple of hours doing some curricula. Was in danger of falling asleep a couple of times but still managed to finish off yet another text. Now, I'm planning to head on home to do some major relaxation before cleaning up things tomorrow morning before MB comes on over.
Both The Dentist and I missed a couple of mighty bullets this afternoon. For my student, she got in...sans umbrella...just a few minutes before The Mother of All Downpours descended upon The Big Sushi for several minutes. We were witness to some massive sheets of precipitation smacking down on whatever and whoever was left on the pavement. Fortunately for her as well, the rains let up just when her lesson ended. As for my bullet, I missed it when I realized that I'd planned the right chapter...but for the wrong level of book. Ach! However, she still had hers and I've been doing this job long enough so that I could literally teach from her text upside down.
Just spent the last couple of hours doing some curricula. Was in danger of falling asleep a couple of times but still managed to finish off yet another text. Now, I'm planning to head on home to do some major relaxation before cleaning up things tomorrow morning before MB comes on over.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Saturday April 28, 2:40 p.m.
A fairly decent day out there. However, for the beginning of another Golden Week, the Tozai Line was pretty packed as I made my way to see the kids again. The Elder was reliving her sullen days with me today although The Junior made up for it. Since I had a couple of hours before seeing The Dentist at Speedy's, I just went over to a Chinese eatery just above Shinjuku Station on the Oedo Line. Pretty filling stuff with Spicy Chicken and rice...and the dumplings and veggies are free. Not bad for 900 yen.
I took a quick dip into Kinokuniya Bookstore. But on the way there, I saw that Krispy Kreme still has that huge 2-hour lineup attached to it. And we're going on 6 months since the place opened before Xmas. When is the chain gonna open a second branch?
Some more adjustments on my calendar. The Coffeemaker contacted me to cancel hers and Tully's lesson on the 30th, and the kids's mother wants my lessons switched to Sundays next month from the regular Saturdays. Well, at least, Movie Buddy and I can be rather leisurely with our holiday Monday. However, The Polynesian is taking her sweet time replying despite the fact that I've been contacting her cellphone e-mail.
A fairly decent day out there. However, for the beginning of another Golden Week, the Tozai Line was pretty packed as I made my way to see the kids again. The Elder was reliving her sullen days with me today although The Junior made up for it. Since I had a couple of hours before seeing The Dentist at Speedy's, I just went over to a Chinese eatery just above Shinjuku Station on the Oedo Line. Pretty filling stuff with Spicy Chicken and rice...and the dumplings and veggies are free. Not bad for 900 yen.
I took a quick dip into Kinokuniya Bookstore. But on the way there, I saw that Krispy Kreme still has that huge 2-hour lineup attached to it. And we're going on 6 months since the place opened before Xmas. When is the chain gonna open a second branch?
Some more adjustments on my calendar. The Coffeemaker contacted me to cancel hers and Tully's lesson on the 30th, and the kids's mother wants my lessons switched to Sundays next month from the regular Saturdays. Well, at least, Movie Buddy and I can be rather leisurely with our holiday Monday. However, The Polynesian is taking her sweet time replying despite the fact that I've been contacting her cellphone e-mail.
Friday April 27, 5:36 p.m.
Forgot to mention one thing. With all the news that's gone on these past two weeks such as the Democrats and the White House slugging it out over the Iraq War, the Virginia Tech Massacre and other such nonsense, one little positive news story managed to peep out into the mediasphere like a chick breaking out of its shell. A couple of European astronomers may have come across the first inhabitable planet outside of our solar system. And it's not all that far away...just trillions of miles. Cosmically speaking, I guess that's just down the street. As a currently dormant Trekkie, I'm quite a happy camper, although I haven't been tricked by any of those CG pictures of this so-called planet. The astronomers don't have technology nearly advanced enough to actually see this Earth-like orb...just a lot of shadows and gravity fluctuations. Still, I am hoping that I will live long enough to see that TIME magazine cover stating "We are not alone".
In a related story, Stephen Hawking just had his fun time on The Vomit Comet for some gravity-free hysterics. He still insists that space is indeed the final frontier.
Forgot to mention one thing. With all the news that's gone on these past two weeks such as the Democrats and the White House slugging it out over the Iraq War, the Virginia Tech Massacre and other such nonsense, one little positive news story managed to peep out into the mediasphere like a chick breaking out of its shell. A couple of European astronomers may have come across the first inhabitable planet outside of our solar system. And it's not all that far away...just trillions of miles. Cosmically speaking, I guess that's just down the street. As a currently dormant Trekkie, I'm quite a happy camper, although I haven't been tricked by any of those CG pictures of this so-called planet. The astronomers don't have technology nearly advanced enough to actually see this Earth-like orb...just a lot of shadows and gravity fluctuations. Still, I am hoping that I will live long enough to see that TIME magazine cover stating "We are not alone".
In a related story, Stephen Hawking just had his fun time on The Vomit Comet for some gravity-free hysterics. He still insists that space is indeed the final frontier.
Friday April 27, 5:04 p.m.
A bit of a weird one at 002's yesterday. I was going to her place for her regular home lesson when the skies suddenly opened up, despite the forecast that it was gonna be sunny all day. However, it luckily only lasted as long as the lesson itself. The strangeness wasn't just limited to the outside pyrotechnics, however. 002 has always been one of my steadiest and hardest-working students in my little flock...but she does have an underconfidence problem. She got a little tongue-tied with the comparative form of "as...as", and got comprehensively flustered within a minute. I had her repeat some of her corrected statements again but she remained somewhat unnerved. And then she half-jokingly said I was in my more "Sparta" mode today. (over here, Sparta refers to a more rigid style of teaching...namely, more ball-busting). I was a bit surprised by that statement since I don't think I changed anything in my delivery; I think she got that wrong image from all the beating that she was doing on herself. In any case, the instinct kicked in and I did my Dancing Bear routine for the last few minutes which brought her spirits back up.
Got over to Ichigaya to teach The Carolinan and BC. Those were more steadier affairs although the former was still fumbling over her structure and the latter also has a bit of a insecurity problem as well. As for BC, she'll be away for about a month, since she'll be doing a trip with friends in Belgium and Holland. In any case, by the time I got home, I felt like I really earned my yen. Luckily, I could sleep in this morning.
Woke up and caught some of CNN. There was a Democratic Presidential Nominee debate last night? First time I heard it. There were 7 or 8 of those folks including Obama, Clinton and Edwards tussling about on the issues; problem was that there were 7 or 8 of those folks. The debators and the media griped about how little they could get anything out of it with all of those Democrats on their podia.
Headed out to Ichigaya once again to teach The New Yorker at the Tully's. She was running the spectrum in terms of proficiency...one moment she took an eternity to answer a question and then later on, she was giving out some pretty good stuff. Looks like she and her sister, The Carolinan, will be headed out next week to catch a Hawaiian ukelele concert in downtown Yokohama. It's kinda hard to imagine The New Yorker...this quiet nail artist with a boho fashion sense....going nuts for uke music. However, the Sisters of State along with their mother will be making another beeline for The Aloha State in early summer. Would've enjoyed the talk further if it hadn't been for a gaggle of gyaru geese who were just jabbering away at huge decibels on the other side of the room. Shibuya gals don't seem to be satisfied enjoying the fine art of conversation unless they can speak at a volume that can make the windows vibrate.
Tully the student contacted me to say that he could get into Georgetown U. for a month-long English course. Lucky him...I'm sure he'll have lots to say on Monday for his class. I even got word from The Polynesian after her long absence to ask for classes again. And I even got a call from The Ballerina during breakfast yesterday. She got into Narita after another flight on her airline. Looks like it'll be a very short layover for her. She's meeting her buddy in trendy Shimo-Kitazawa today and then she's back on the plane tomorrow. Her voice has taken on a somewhat unusual if slight Eastern European accent. I wonder if she's been hanging out with gypsies.
Even earlier, I got a wake-up call thanks to The Matron. She had left a message on Wednesday night saying that she would call in the morning, so when the bell rang, I was able to leap out of the bed and grab the phone. Looks like the first class in May for The Class Act will be a field trip to a French restaurant near her hubby's office.
After The New Yorker, I went over to Maruzen in Otemachi to pick up the new text for the Elder sister for her class tomorrow. Yup, after about 3 weeks, I'm back at the kids' house. Actually, today was the launch date of yet another fancy-schmancy shopping/restaurant complex in downtown Tokyo. This time, it's the New Maru Building, just across from the old one. I would've taken a look but decided that the place would be too crowded. Besides, I was looking more forward to my Bun Bi at Com Pho downstairs.
So, I've got my class later at the juku with The Ace, another face that I haven't seen in a few weeks. Then, just some quick shuteye before seeing the kids tomorrow morning and then The Dentist at Speedy's. The Manhattanite was also supposed to come but did the quick cancellation. Movie Buddy will be over Sunday night for DVD night. The Satyr declined since he and his new girl will be off somewhere.
Looks like the first two reviews I've seen for "Spiderman 3" have been less than glowing. CNN has referred to it as "solid but not amazing" while the fellow for Tokyo Metropolis, a reviewer about as curmudgeonly as J. Jonah Jameson, just said that the second sequel is merely a cash cow (spider?) and show window for special effects. Well, I also thought the first Spiderman was kinda like what CNN said, but I also enjoyed it all the same, so it shouldn't be too bad.
A bit of a weird one at 002's yesterday. I was going to her place for her regular home lesson when the skies suddenly opened up, despite the forecast that it was gonna be sunny all day. However, it luckily only lasted as long as the lesson itself. The strangeness wasn't just limited to the outside pyrotechnics, however. 002 has always been one of my steadiest and hardest-working students in my little flock...but she does have an underconfidence problem. She got a little tongue-tied with the comparative form of "as...as", and got comprehensively flustered within a minute. I had her repeat some of her corrected statements again but she remained somewhat unnerved. And then she half-jokingly said I was in my more "Sparta" mode today. (over here, Sparta refers to a more rigid style of teaching...namely, more ball-busting). I was a bit surprised by that statement since I don't think I changed anything in my delivery; I think she got that wrong image from all the beating that she was doing on herself. In any case, the instinct kicked in and I did my Dancing Bear routine for the last few minutes which brought her spirits back up.
Got over to Ichigaya to teach The Carolinan and BC. Those were more steadier affairs although the former was still fumbling over her structure and the latter also has a bit of a insecurity problem as well. As for BC, she'll be away for about a month, since she'll be doing a trip with friends in Belgium and Holland. In any case, by the time I got home, I felt like I really earned my yen. Luckily, I could sleep in this morning.
Woke up and caught some of CNN. There was a Democratic Presidential Nominee debate last night? First time I heard it. There were 7 or 8 of those folks including Obama, Clinton and Edwards tussling about on the issues; problem was that there were 7 or 8 of those folks. The debators and the media griped about how little they could get anything out of it with all of those Democrats on their podia.
Headed out to Ichigaya once again to teach The New Yorker at the Tully's. She was running the spectrum in terms of proficiency...one moment she took an eternity to answer a question and then later on, she was giving out some pretty good stuff. Looks like she and her sister, The Carolinan, will be headed out next week to catch a Hawaiian ukelele concert in downtown Yokohama. It's kinda hard to imagine The New Yorker...this quiet nail artist with a boho fashion sense....going nuts for uke music. However, the Sisters of State along with their mother will be making another beeline for The Aloha State in early summer. Would've enjoyed the talk further if it hadn't been for a gaggle of gyaru geese who were just jabbering away at huge decibels on the other side of the room. Shibuya gals don't seem to be satisfied enjoying the fine art of conversation unless they can speak at a volume that can make the windows vibrate.
Tully the student contacted me to say that he could get into Georgetown U. for a month-long English course. Lucky him...I'm sure he'll have lots to say on Monday for his class. I even got word from The Polynesian after her long absence to ask for classes again. And I even got a call from The Ballerina during breakfast yesterday. She got into Narita after another flight on her airline. Looks like it'll be a very short layover for her. She's meeting her buddy in trendy Shimo-Kitazawa today and then she's back on the plane tomorrow. Her voice has taken on a somewhat unusual if slight Eastern European accent. I wonder if she's been hanging out with gypsies.
Even earlier, I got a wake-up call thanks to The Matron. She had left a message on Wednesday night saying that she would call in the morning, so when the bell rang, I was able to leap out of the bed and grab the phone. Looks like the first class in May for The Class Act will be a field trip to a French restaurant near her hubby's office.
After The New Yorker, I went over to Maruzen in Otemachi to pick up the new text for the Elder sister for her class tomorrow. Yup, after about 3 weeks, I'm back at the kids' house. Actually, today was the launch date of yet another fancy-schmancy shopping/restaurant complex in downtown Tokyo. This time, it's the New Maru Building, just across from the old one. I would've taken a look but decided that the place would be too crowded. Besides, I was looking more forward to my Bun Bi at Com Pho downstairs.
So, I've got my class later at the juku with The Ace, another face that I haven't seen in a few weeks. Then, just some quick shuteye before seeing the kids tomorrow morning and then The Dentist at Speedy's. The Manhattanite was also supposed to come but did the quick cancellation. Movie Buddy will be over Sunday night for DVD night. The Satyr declined since he and his new girl will be off somewhere.
Looks like the first two reviews I've seen for "Spiderman 3" have been less than glowing. CNN has referred to it as "solid but not amazing" while the fellow for Tokyo Metropolis, a reviewer about as curmudgeonly as J. Jonah Jameson, just said that the second sequel is merely a cash cow (spider?) and show window for special effects. Well, I also thought the first Spiderman was kinda like what CNN said, but I also enjoyed it all the same, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Wednesday April 25, 9:07 p.m.
Been here for almost 12 hours now, and I'm pretty fit for bed just about now. 001 was fine but by the end of her lesson, I think all of us (Speedy sat in for the last few minutes) were pretty ready to call it a day. At least, I won't need to get started until 002's lesson in the afternoon. Still, I'll have to plan for The Carolinan and BC tomorrow night. I also received a short e-mail from the long-absent Polynesian who wants to resume her lessons. I'm sure she'll have a tale to tell.
The good news is that I got my pay today from Speedy. A nice amount this month...may splurge a little bit.
Been here for almost 12 hours now, and I'm pretty fit for bed just about now. 001 was fine but by the end of her lesson, I think all of us (Speedy sat in for the last few minutes) were pretty ready to call it a day. At least, I won't need to get started until 002's lesson in the afternoon. Still, I'll have to plan for The Carolinan and BC tomorrow night. I also received a short e-mail from the long-absent Polynesian who wants to resume her lessons. I'm sure she'll have a tale to tell.
The good news is that I got my pay today from Speedy. A nice amount this month...may splurge a little bit.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Wednesday April 25, 12:43 p.m.
So far so good. The Nurse was continuing her status as "go-to student to teach" this morning. And The Cook has cut her double lesson down to a single since...dammit...she's just not ready for the big time quite yet. I'm actually fairly relieved since my energy levels are also just not all that high today. My shoulders feel rather fossilized right now....could do with a good massage, but I don't think one will be forthcoming in the coming hours. Just glad that I've got 001 to wrap up things.
Well, the judgement came down on the Lucie Blackman case yesterday. Blackman was that British flight attendant-turned-gaijin hostess who was raped, murdered and dismembered allegedly by millionaire psychopath Joji Obara all the way back in 2000. That was a case which basically fell off the media radar for several years until it popped up again last month, close to the verdict and coincidentally, in the light of the Lindsay Ann Hawker case. Most of us thought Obara was gonna get the gallows but unfortunately, most of us weren't judging the case. The three judges decided to throw the nutbar into jail for life for serial rape but not for killing Blackman since there is no evidence directly linking him to any killing. Not a happy lot received this news, not least the poor lass' father and sister. In defense of the judges, though, the evidence was circumstantial; there have been columnists in "The Japan Times" today and probably in "The Daily Yomiuri" countering the judges' decision by stating that circumstantial evidence was enough to convict other defendants. However, I'm of the opinion that circumstantial is circumstantial. There's gotta be a conviction based on solid facts and evidence. Not that I'm happy that Obara has gotten literally away with murder, but he has gotten the maximum possible outcome outside of death, life imprisonment. I don't think he'll be seeing too many girls in the big house.
I've been noticing that the Major Leagues have gotten quite a surplus of Japanese players since Hideo Nomo made his breakout back in 1995. Until recently, everyone here could root for one of the Japanese players like Matsui or Ichiro in the hopes that he could get that World Series ring. Now, although the Japanese media breathlessly announce matchups like Matsuzaka vs. Matsui as if they were Mothra vs. Godzilla, American baseball has gotten enough players from here so that matchups of teams with J-names are pretty much common stuff. No matter who plays who, there'll be a Japanese winner and loser. Heck, Tomo Ohka got his win for the Jays the other day over Boston, which contains the more heralded Matsuzaka. Speaking of whom, I'm not sure if Dice-K got his win on Monday but, and it might just be me, but am I getting the feeling that the 51-million-dollar man isn't living up to full expectations? Then again, can anyone live up to $51 million? Hopefully, the (so-far) congenial Matsuzaka won't end up being called a toad by the team owner like former New York Yankee Hideki Irabu did by George Steinbrenner when he wasn't living up to his promise. Then again, Kei Igawa of that very same team may replace Irabu in the G-Man's doghouse.
Speaking of Japanese imports in other genres (and this isn't about the fact that Toyota has overtaken GM), my clone in the form of Masi Oka as hero Hiro of "Heroes" has finally gotten an article written about him in "The Japan Times". The problem is that the picture they showed of the genius-level actor is of him wielding some sort of club menacingly....like the picture of Cho Seung Hui from the Virginia Tech massacre. The news and the photos had been out there for a week....couldn't the newspaper have picked a more appropriate picture of Oka?
Well, time for some lunch...
So far so good. The Nurse was continuing her status as "go-to student to teach" this morning. And The Cook has cut her double lesson down to a single since...dammit...she's just not ready for the big time quite yet. I'm actually fairly relieved since my energy levels are also just not all that high today. My shoulders feel rather fossilized right now....could do with a good massage, but I don't think one will be forthcoming in the coming hours. Just glad that I've got 001 to wrap up things.
Well, the judgement came down on the Lucie Blackman case yesterday. Blackman was that British flight attendant-turned-gaijin hostess who was raped, murdered and dismembered allegedly by millionaire psychopath Joji Obara all the way back in 2000. That was a case which basically fell off the media radar for several years until it popped up again last month, close to the verdict and coincidentally, in the light of the Lindsay Ann Hawker case. Most of us thought Obara was gonna get the gallows but unfortunately, most of us weren't judging the case. The three judges decided to throw the nutbar into jail for life for serial rape but not for killing Blackman since there is no evidence directly linking him to any killing. Not a happy lot received this news, not least the poor lass' father and sister. In defense of the judges, though, the evidence was circumstantial; there have been columnists in "The Japan Times" today and probably in "The Daily Yomiuri" countering the judges' decision by stating that circumstantial evidence was enough to convict other defendants. However, I'm of the opinion that circumstantial is circumstantial. There's gotta be a conviction based on solid facts and evidence. Not that I'm happy that Obara has gotten literally away with murder, but he has gotten the maximum possible outcome outside of death, life imprisonment. I don't think he'll be seeing too many girls in the big house.
I've been noticing that the Major Leagues have gotten quite a surplus of Japanese players since Hideo Nomo made his breakout back in 1995. Until recently, everyone here could root for one of the Japanese players like Matsui or Ichiro in the hopes that he could get that World Series ring. Now, although the Japanese media breathlessly announce matchups like Matsuzaka vs. Matsui as if they were Mothra vs. Godzilla, American baseball has gotten enough players from here so that matchups of teams with J-names are pretty much common stuff. No matter who plays who, there'll be a Japanese winner and loser. Heck, Tomo Ohka got his win for the Jays the other day over Boston, which contains the more heralded Matsuzaka. Speaking of whom, I'm not sure if Dice-K got his win on Monday but, and it might just be me, but am I getting the feeling that the 51-million-dollar man isn't living up to full expectations? Then again, can anyone live up to $51 million? Hopefully, the (so-far) congenial Matsuzaka won't end up being called a toad by the team owner like former New York Yankee Hideki Irabu did by George Steinbrenner when he wasn't living up to his promise. Then again, Kei Igawa of that very same team may replace Irabu in the G-Man's doghouse.
Speaking of Japanese imports in other genres (and this isn't about the fact that Toyota has overtaken GM), my clone in the form of Masi Oka as hero Hiro of "Heroes" has finally gotten an article written about him in "The Japan Times". The problem is that the picture they showed of the genius-level actor is of him wielding some sort of club menacingly....like the picture of Cho Seung Hui from the Virginia Tech massacre. The news and the photos had been out there for a week....couldn't the newspaper have picked a more appropriate picture of Oka?
Well, time for some lunch...
Wednesday April 25, 9:34 a.m.
Nothing like an early morning commute on a stuffy subway with slightly damp folks to wake up one. Fortunately, no "road rage" took place.
Had my McBreakfast at the branch near Speedy's. I think that'll be my kitchen away from home during these morning classes at the school. At least, McD's has a semblance of a non-smoking area unlike Doutor's which seems to be the last refuge on Earth for desperate smokers.
I've got a large slate today with The Nurse, The Cook for her double lesson and then 001 to wrap up. Speedy is already proclaiming that he'll be taking off early tonight on account of exhaustion but from past experience, that usually means he'll only be staying 2-3 hours overtime.
Yesterday, The Beehive and I had our very last lesson in the meeting room on the 3rd floor of that bowling alley that we'd be using for years and years. At least for me, it was over 8 years. No particular tears, but all of us did thank the staff personally. So it was off to our temporary residence on the other side of Tsudanuma Station. I'd never been to the other side before; it's certainly a lot more urban and bustling than the relative residential feel where the alley is. From the 8th, we'll be trying out the food court at the JUSCO supermarket. We took a look at the place and actually had lunch there. The court is huge...and packed with a lot of families with screaming kids but then again, it was noon. I'm hoping that 10 won't be as frenetic. Still, the choices for eats and drinks were quite intriguing. I saw a couple of ramen places, a Pepper Lunch (the sizzling hamburg steak chain) and a Baskin-Robbins. I decided to have a taco/spaghetti set (!) at one stand. Not too bad, actually. The chairs are quite large, even for my girth. If the food court doesn't work out, Mrs. Alp suggested Beckers, the hamburger restaurant in Tsudanuma Station itself, where I used to teach with The Teacher. And as a last resort, we may end up doing rotations with the students' homes.
As for the juku, the mysterious Jolly finally re-surfaced though it took the fact that he had my TOEIC CDs to get him to come out of the woodwork. Apparently, he will be coming back into the fold, although the boss said that most likely he'll be shifted to the very last slot on Tuesday night due to his strenuous schedule. Well, we shall see...now, that he has given back the discs, I wonder if he'll just pull off another disappearing act again, this time for good. As it turns out, I'll be having the full slate of students next week despite it being Golden Week. Not complaining too much since it'll be a pretty light week financially.
Nothing like an early morning commute on a stuffy subway with slightly damp folks to wake up one. Fortunately, no "road rage" took place.
Had my McBreakfast at the branch near Speedy's. I think that'll be my kitchen away from home during these morning classes at the school. At least, McD's has a semblance of a non-smoking area unlike Doutor's which seems to be the last refuge on Earth for desperate smokers.
I've got a large slate today with The Nurse, The Cook for her double lesson and then 001 to wrap up. Speedy is already proclaiming that he'll be taking off early tonight on account of exhaustion but from past experience, that usually means he'll only be staying 2-3 hours overtime.
Yesterday, The Beehive and I had our very last lesson in the meeting room on the 3rd floor of that bowling alley that we'd be using for years and years. At least for me, it was over 8 years. No particular tears, but all of us did thank the staff personally. So it was off to our temporary residence on the other side of Tsudanuma Station. I'd never been to the other side before; it's certainly a lot more urban and bustling than the relative residential feel where the alley is. From the 8th, we'll be trying out the food court at the JUSCO supermarket. We took a look at the place and actually had lunch there. The court is huge...and packed with a lot of families with screaming kids but then again, it was noon. I'm hoping that 10 won't be as frenetic. Still, the choices for eats and drinks were quite intriguing. I saw a couple of ramen places, a Pepper Lunch (the sizzling hamburg steak chain) and a Baskin-Robbins. I decided to have a taco/spaghetti set (!) at one stand. Not too bad, actually. The chairs are quite large, even for my girth. If the food court doesn't work out, Mrs. Alp suggested Beckers, the hamburger restaurant in Tsudanuma Station itself, where I used to teach with The Teacher. And as a last resort, we may end up doing rotations with the students' homes.
As for the juku, the mysterious Jolly finally re-surfaced though it took the fact that he had my TOEIC CDs to get him to come out of the woodwork. Apparently, he will be coming back into the fold, although the boss said that most likely he'll be shifted to the very last slot on Tuesday night due to his strenuous schedule. Well, we shall see...now, that he has given back the discs, I wonder if he'll just pull off another disappearing act again, this time for good. As it turns out, I'll be having the full slate of students next week despite it being Golden Week. Not complaining too much since it'll be a pretty light week financially.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Monday April 23, 10:25 p.m.
Managed to finally get a decent lesson with Mr. TOEIC tonight...good enough so that he's renewed for another year. Just kept things nice and steady and focused on one target structure.
I also sent the latest list of questions to be answered by The Cook for her double lesson on Wednesday. She sends the recipes that she has to teach the foreign students at her cooking school, and I make up questions for her that I think she may be pelted with during her lesson. From looking at her lesson plan, though, I think some very intense proofreading is also in order. In one recipe, it talks of a "gridiron"....well, unless Montana or Favre or Stauback have made the same drastic change in hobby, I think she may mean "griddle".
Movie Buddy has contacted me for the first time in a while. Looks like we've got another DVD night on the way. It'll be the upcoming Sunday since we'll be entering Golden Week then. I've sent word out to The Satyr.
Speaking of movies, we've got a quite few out fresh on the slate this past weekend. "Rocky Balboa", "Hannibal Rising" and "Music and Lyrics" have gotten out the gate here. Not sure if any of them are worth my 1800 yen. As for that last entry, Hugh Grant is (or has just) making his appearance on "SMAP x SMAP" tonight. I saw ads for the show this morning; he was grinning with the tall SMAP'er, Shingo Katori.
Well, I've got my usual Tuesday with The Beehive...or what's left of it...we've been pretty sparse in recent weeks, and then another 6-hour layover before I got the folks at the juku.
Managed to finally get a decent lesson with Mr. TOEIC tonight...good enough so that he's renewed for another year. Just kept things nice and steady and focused on one target structure.
I also sent the latest list of questions to be answered by The Cook for her double lesson on Wednesday. She sends the recipes that she has to teach the foreign students at her cooking school, and I make up questions for her that I think she may be pelted with during her lesson. From looking at her lesson plan, though, I think some very intense proofreading is also in order. In one recipe, it talks of a "gridiron"....well, unless Montana or Favre or Stauback have made the same drastic change in hobby, I think she may mean "griddle".
Movie Buddy has contacted me for the first time in a while. Looks like we've got another DVD night on the way. It'll be the upcoming Sunday since we'll be entering Golden Week then. I've sent word out to The Satyr.
Speaking of movies, we've got a quite few out fresh on the slate this past weekend. "Rocky Balboa", "Hannibal Rising" and "Music and Lyrics" have gotten out the gate here. Not sure if any of them are worth my 1800 yen. As for that last entry, Hugh Grant is (or has just) making his appearance on "SMAP x SMAP" tonight. I saw ads for the show this morning; he was grinning with the tall SMAP'er, Shingo Katori.
Well, I've got my usual Tuesday with The Beehive...or what's left of it...we've been pretty sparse in recent weeks, and then another 6-hour layover before I got the folks at the juku.
Monday April 23, 7:14 p.m.
Well, my nearly 4-day weekend is over and I'm back on the job today. Just the usual suspects of The Class Act and SIL. However, the Part-Timer is off for the next couple of weeks. So, it's just that TOEIC fellow tonight. It's officially his last lesson with the school, so Speedy is hoping for a renewal but I'm a bit more sanguine.
Friday was a nice day to stay indoors and just veg. The only TV highlight was an NHK documentary on none other than The Carpenters. Yep, you got it..."On Top of the World", "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun"...those Carpenters. Y'know...in their native States, mentioning that one likes the brother-sister act would probably bring unnaturally straight faces or naturally arched eyebrows....and those faces belong to folks my age. Couldn't imagine what the kids today would say. Carpenters songs would probably only be played ironically (like on that Simpsons episode where Homer first met Marge) or at weddings when things are coming to a close. But then the Carpenters had initially worked from a distinct disadvantage; being a white bread band that played sappy love songs in the era of Hendrix and Zepp will not exactly get you to a cool label.
But here....that's why they say "Big in Japan". The Carpenters are the musical equivalent of the young, pre-"Breakfast at Tiffany's" Audrey Hepburn. They'll always stay evergreen and popular, even with the kids. In an age of Kumi Koda, SMAP and J-R&B, the Carpenters still have relevance in the Land of the Rising Sun. Heck, even a couple of the trendier (re: starring teen heartthrobs) dramas had "On Top of the World" and "I Need to Fall in Love" as theme songs. I think the fact that karaoke boxes are still considered a proper form of recreation has also helped. I remember a variety show that featured them years ago in which one of the cute young tarento that was on the panel weeping her eyes out, not knowing that Karen had passed on years before she was born. Yes, the Carpenters live on and I don't have to whisper my like for the group's songs in this country.
Saturday was the 002 party. The theme was tekka maki or hand-wrapped sushi. So, 001 and 002 whipped all the fillings which included maguro, negitoro and egg. The Baker did show up this time with all of her mother's baked goodies. It was another pleasant affair. And I even brought the Scrabble, at 002's request. Though the four of them (002's hubby got into the act as well) toiled a bit at coming up with the vocab, they seemed to do quite well at the game. However, I think it'll probably be a one-shot.
Sunday was another full day off. I was lucky not to have had any lessons since the winds were whipping at a gale-force 27 m/s. The Tozai Line, out in the air in my area, shuts down automatically at 20 m/s. It was also the second of two by-elections nationwide. On a day which saw the world news services like CNN and BBC focusing on France and Nigeria, NHK focused on a couple of cities...one, because it had been declared bankrupt some time ago, and the other because its mayor had been assassinated last week. After Nagasaki mayor Itcho Ito got shot to death by a disgruntled Yakuza thug, the new guy, Tomihisa Taue, is a career civil servant who came up through the ranks. The tragedy for the Ito family was complete when the late mayor's son-in-law, who bravely stood in as a proxy, couldn't pull it off. On the other side of the country, bankrupt Yubari in Hokkaido may have gotten some new blood with a new mayor.
I did forget one other major gun-related incident (aside from Virginia Tech and Nagasaki). Last Friday, all stations were laser-focused on Machida City, one of the satellite towns of Tokyo, when yet another Yakuza decided to hole himself up in his own apartment after having shot down his own sempai in front of a convenience store nearby. For 15 hours, he kept the tactical teams at bay for some inexplicable reason (the crim was all alone in his apartment; in the States, that probably would've been an invitation for the SWAT guys to come and get him) until at 3 a.m. Saturday morning, the teams finally threw in the flash-bangs and got him out all kicking and screaming. Mind you, the idiot had shot himself in the head just a few minutes before...I mean, how unlucky can you get? The guy basically signed his own death warrant by shooting his own goodfella, has probably earned himself either the gallows or a life sentence, and couldn't even kill himself at point-blank range. True to form, though, the media breathlessly announced exactly how many shots were fired. It might be difficult for Americans (or the NRA) to fathom, but the Japanese are very prickly when it comes to how many bullets were sacrificed on either side. For the record, flash-bangs aside, 9 shots were fired...all of them from the thug.
Well, time for Mr. TOEIC...
Well, my nearly 4-day weekend is over and I'm back on the job today. Just the usual suspects of The Class Act and SIL. However, the Part-Timer is off for the next couple of weeks. So, it's just that TOEIC fellow tonight. It's officially his last lesson with the school, so Speedy is hoping for a renewal but I'm a bit more sanguine.
Friday was a nice day to stay indoors and just veg. The only TV highlight was an NHK documentary on none other than The Carpenters. Yep, you got it..."On Top of the World", "Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun"...those Carpenters. Y'know...in their native States, mentioning that one likes the brother-sister act would probably bring unnaturally straight faces or naturally arched eyebrows....and those faces belong to folks my age. Couldn't imagine what the kids today would say. Carpenters songs would probably only be played ironically (like on that Simpsons episode where Homer first met Marge) or at weddings when things are coming to a close. But then the Carpenters had initially worked from a distinct disadvantage; being a white bread band that played sappy love songs in the era of Hendrix and Zepp will not exactly get you to a cool label.
But here....that's why they say "Big in Japan". The Carpenters are the musical equivalent of the young, pre-"Breakfast at Tiffany's" Audrey Hepburn. They'll always stay evergreen and popular, even with the kids. In an age of Kumi Koda, SMAP and J-R&B, the Carpenters still have relevance in the Land of the Rising Sun. Heck, even a couple of the trendier (re: starring teen heartthrobs) dramas had "On Top of the World" and "I Need to Fall in Love" as theme songs. I think the fact that karaoke boxes are still considered a proper form of recreation has also helped. I remember a variety show that featured them years ago in which one of the cute young tarento that was on the panel weeping her eyes out, not knowing that Karen had passed on years before she was born. Yes, the Carpenters live on and I don't have to whisper my like for the group's songs in this country.
Saturday was the 002 party. The theme was tekka maki or hand-wrapped sushi. So, 001 and 002 whipped all the fillings which included maguro, negitoro and egg. The Baker did show up this time with all of her mother's baked goodies. It was another pleasant affair. And I even brought the Scrabble, at 002's request. Though the four of them (002's hubby got into the act as well) toiled a bit at coming up with the vocab, they seemed to do quite well at the game. However, I think it'll probably be a one-shot.
Sunday was another full day off. I was lucky not to have had any lessons since the winds were whipping at a gale-force 27 m/s. The Tozai Line, out in the air in my area, shuts down automatically at 20 m/s. It was also the second of two by-elections nationwide. On a day which saw the world news services like CNN and BBC focusing on France and Nigeria, NHK focused on a couple of cities...one, because it had been declared bankrupt some time ago, and the other because its mayor had been assassinated last week. After Nagasaki mayor Itcho Ito got shot to death by a disgruntled Yakuza thug, the new guy, Tomihisa Taue, is a career civil servant who came up through the ranks. The tragedy for the Ito family was complete when the late mayor's son-in-law, who bravely stood in as a proxy, couldn't pull it off. On the other side of the country, bankrupt Yubari in Hokkaido may have gotten some new blood with a new mayor.
I did forget one other major gun-related incident (aside from Virginia Tech and Nagasaki). Last Friday, all stations were laser-focused on Machida City, one of the satellite towns of Tokyo, when yet another Yakuza decided to hole himself up in his own apartment after having shot down his own sempai in front of a convenience store nearby. For 15 hours, he kept the tactical teams at bay for some inexplicable reason (the crim was all alone in his apartment; in the States, that probably would've been an invitation for the SWAT guys to come and get him) until at 3 a.m. Saturday morning, the teams finally threw in the flash-bangs and got him out all kicking and screaming. Mind you, the idiot had shot himself in the head just a few minutes before...I mean, how unlucky can you get? The guy basically signed his own death warrant by shooting his own goodfella, has probably earned himself either the gallows or a life sentence, and couldn't even kill himself at point-blank range. True to form, though, the media breathlessly announced exactly how many shots were fired. It might be difficult for Americans (or the NRA) to fathom, but the Japanese are very prickly when it comes to how many bullets were sacrificed on either side. For the record, flash-bangs aside, 9 shots were fired...all of them from the thug.
Well, time for Mr. TOEIC...
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Friday April 20, 2:31 p.m.
Had a nice visit from an old friend whom we haven't seen in a while...may I introduce the Sun? Yes, ol' Sol finally returned after several days of rain yesterday afternoon. My eyes almost fried under the sudden exposure to long-absent segments of the EM spectrum.
Basically, I'm in the middle of a 4-day weekend. I virtually had nothing yesterday except for B2. Looks like she's in better spirits now that she got that interview past her. Last month, she was fairly tense. We spoke of our mutual friend, The Ballerina, who's continuing her long residence in London as a flight attendant. Apparently, The Ballerina went to her friend's wedding up in Scotland since her friend got hitched to one of the Highlanders up there. I'm curious about whether the lass did have her first taste of haggis.
B2 and I also got onto the topic of Brit music. Nothing ages me more when students and I get into the topic of music in general, and the UK was no different. I mentioned about a certain Nissan commercial in which the jingle is "Just Can't Get Enough" covered by Anna Tsuchiya, the current "It" grrl of Japan. B2 was rather surprised when I told her the original artists were Depeche Mode, and the song was considerably more technopop back in the early 80s. Didn't get around to mentioning that "Angel" song by The Eurythmics that's also getting heavy coverage on the Japanese commercials.
Today has been the domestic engineering stuff here although I'm taking a break right now to do this. Tomorrow will be the latest home party at 002's. 002 has asked me to bring along my Scrabble game (she saw it in my bag once several weeks ago). Should provide hours of fun.
Skippy contacted me for the first time in a while to check about "Spiderman 3". She suggested mid-May since she didn't want to deal with the huge crowds of Golden Week. I was actually gonna try for that time, but I'll be patient instead. Speaking of GW, I'll be working during that time since there will be a couple of days in the middle which are technically non-holidays (the juku and 001 at Speedy's). Not complaining since I've got these 4 days of nothing right now; could use the extra money.
While America is dealing with the Virginia Tech massacre, the cops here may have finally gotten their man in a case which had dropped from the media radar. Earlier this year, some poor young woman was stabbed to death in an underpass tunnel around midnight in Kawasaki. Well, the police arrested some fellow in his 20s today who may have also been plying his evil trade in some stabbing assaults. Over here, stab-and-runs seem to rival hit-and-runs in number. Still haven't heard any progress in that Lindsay Ann Hawker case.
Well, it'll be pork kimchi night tonight...
Had a nice visit from an old friend whom we haven't seen in a while...may I introduce the Sun? Yes, ol' Sol finally returned after several days of rain yesterday afternoon. My eyes almost fried under the sudden exposure to long-absent segments of the EM spectrum.
Basically, I'm in the middle of a 4-day weekend. I virtually had nothing yesterday except for B2. Looks like she's in better spirits now that she got that interview past her. Last month, she was fairly tense. We spoke of our mutual friend, The Ballerina, who's continuing her long residence in London as a flight attendant. Apparently, The Ballerina went to her friend's wedding up in Scotland since her friend got hitched to one of the Highlanders up there. I'm curious about whether the lass did have her first taste of haggis.
B2 and I also got onto the topic of Brit music. Nothing ages me more when students and I get into the topic of music in general, and the UK was no different. I mentioned about a certain Nissan commercial in which the jingle is "Just Can't Get Enough" covered by Anna Tsuchiya, the current "It" grrl of Japan. B2 was rather surprised when I told her the original artists were Depeche Mode, and the song was considerably more technopop back in the early 80s. Didn't get around to mentioning that "Angel" song by The Eurythmics that's also getting heavy coverage on the Japanese commercials.
Today has been the domestic engineering stuff here although I'm taking a break right now to do this. Tomorrow will be the latest home party at 002's. 002 has asked me to bring along my Scrabble game (she saw it in my bag once several weeks ago). Should provide hours of fun.
Skippy contacted me for the first time in a while to check about "Spiderman 3". She suggested mid-May since she didn't want to deal with the huge crowds of Golden Week. I was actually gonna try for that time, but I'll be patient instead. Speaking of GW, I'll be working during that time since there will be a couple of days in the middle which are technically non-holidays (the juku and 001 at Speedy's). Not complaining since I've got these 4 days of nothing right now; could use the extra money.
While America is dealing with the Virginia Tech massacre, the cops here may have finally gotten their man in a case which had dropped from the media radar. Earlier this year, some poor young woman was stabbed to death in an underpass tunnel around midnight in Kawasaki. Well, the police arrested some fellow in his 20s today who may have also been plying his evil trade in some stabbing assaults. Over here, stab-and-runs seem to rival hit-and-runs in number. Still haven't heard any progress in that Lindsay Ann Hawker case.
Well, it'll be pork kimchi night tonight...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Wednesday April 18, 10:21 p.m.
Sounds like the rain doesn't intend to give us a break. Not good since I'm taking that load of hand-me-downs of brand name clothes that The Lady had given me back on Monday. Luckily, I didn't bring the black bag.
As it turns out, I'm just gonna have B2 for her monthly 60 tomorrow night. The Dentist can't make it for her 60 tomorrow afternoon. I thought I was gonna have a replacement in the form of The Cook but she can't make it out either, so I'm basically homebound for most of Thursday. And Friday is a complete day off. I may end up with a very long weekend.
001 was her usual happy-go-lucky self. She was just swooning when her favourite actor, a man by the name of Kitaoji, popped up on Bistro SMAP on Monday night. He had just been in that Winter TBS Sunday night drama serial with Takuya Kimura so it was a homecoming of sorts for the pair. As for Japanese drama's million-dollar man, KimuTaku is coming back in a much more lighter role...actually, it's a return to one. He's currently filming either the motion picture version or the second TV coming of the series "Hero", one of the guy's more popular entries.
Anyways, getting back to 001, the two of us are looking forward to the latest soiree at 002's this Saturday...provided that the deluge doesn't consume us all. 001 has been a very good sport about all this considering she has to come out all the way from Kanagawa Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture for 002's parties.
For the past few hours since 001's departure, I've just had some conbini dinner and worked on the curricula stuff. Since I'm basically on holiday as of tomorrow, I think I can afford a bit of extra time here. Of course, Speedy is burning the midnight oil as he usually does. It's never easy being the head cheese of a fledgling company.
Sounds like the rain doesn't intend to give us a break. Not good since I'm taking that load of hand-me-downs of brand name clothes that The Lady had given me back on Monday. Luckily, I didn't bring the black bag.
As it turns out, I'm just gonna have B2 for her monthly 60 tomorrow night. The Dentist can't make it for her 60 tomorrow afternoon. I thought I was gonna have a replacement in the form of The Cook but she can't make it out either, so I'm basically homebound for most of Thursday. And Friday is a complete day off. I may end up with a very long weekend.
001 was her usual happy-go-lucky self. She was just swooning when her favourite actor, a man by the name of Kitaoji, popped up on Bistro SMAP on Monday night. He had just been in that Winter TBS Sunday night drama serial with Takuya Kimura so it was a homecoming of sorts for the pair. As for Japanese drama's million-dollar man, KimuTaku is coming back in a much more lighter role...actually, it's a return to one. He's currently filming either the motion picture version or the second TV coming of the series "Hero", one of the guy's more popular entries.
Anyways, getting back to 001, the two of us are looking forward to the latest soiree at 002's this Saturday...provided that the deluge doesn't consume us all. 001 has been a very good sport about all this considering she has to come out all the way from Kanagawa Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture for 002's parties.
For the past few hours since 001's departure, I've just had some conbini dinner and worked on the curricula stuff. Since I'm basically on holiday as of tomorrow, I think I can afford a bit of extra time here. Of course, Speedy is burning the midnight oil as he usually does. It's never easy being the head cheese of a fledgling company.
Wednesday April 18, 4:28 p.m.
The week has stubbornly remained cold and rainy. Came out of the station again needing to bring out the umbrella. At this rate, the Japan Meterological Office in Otemachi may have to recant its statement that Spring officially arrived last month.
Looks like Jolly is out of the juku picture. The boss moaned again that her latest missive over to his e-mail address didn't get any sort of reply. Well, I already wrote him off last week. In any case, the boss, true to her optimistic nature, told me that she may have another person in the wings in the form of a 1st-year high school student who has had homestay experience in one of Urayasu's sister cities. As for the students who have remained loyal to me, Seven did her usual thing and brought over some sweet potato pies for us to nosh on during her lesson. It's been just about a year since she arrived on our doorstep, and she's comfortably settling into Present Perfect. She's definitely been going farther and faster than the folks who had recommended her to me, The Beauty Pair. Mr. and Mrs Mild finally came together as a couple for the first time in a few weeks, but they were both ailing from some sort of cold. I was honoured that they would still come for my lesson under such conditions. And The Siberian was back for his hour of gab.
Since The Nurse had her weekly 60 yesterday afternoon, I was spared the early morning torture of having to come all the way here but I will have to do just that again next week. So, I spent most of the morning watching all that news on the horrors that Virginia Tech have just gone through. Because of my days and nights out, I only heard about the shooting rampage several hours after the fact. I woke up on Tuesday morning (which would be Monday night in Blacksburg, VA) and caught some of it on the Fuji-TV morning show in which the hosts were having a satellite talk with their American correspondent on the scene concerning the safety of the Japanese students there. A female student by the name of Uno was providing all of the info.
Of course, Japan has been no stranger to mass murder/spree killings although we barely have the gun culture that the US does. About a few years ago, there was that notorious case of Mamoru Takuma, a sociopath of the worst order (as redundant as that may sound), who stabbed to death eight elementary school students in western Japan; rumours have it that he was basically cackling all the way to the gallows about his evil deeds. And of course, there were the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system back in 1995.
I was doing a bit of snooping around the Net, including various blogs about the deranged killer at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung Hui. So far, it looks like the reaction to him has been more about his unfathomable acts than the fact that he was a Korean immigrant doing these things. I have been worried about the backlash against Koreans, and perhaps even Asians in general, because of what happened on Monday morning. I think there'll be some sort of negative reaction since there is always that disturbed segment of society which is just itching for an excuse to get back on a minority Stateside. Hopefully, though, such a reaction will be minimal relatively speaking.
Then, I come home last night from the juku and turn on the tube and went....WTF? The mayor of Nagasaki gets assassinated by a yakuza oyabun?! Man, I really gotta be home more often at nights. Apparently, the assassin was the second-in-command of a local gang who had some issues with the city (which is of course represented by the mayor) over his car driving itself into a manhole some years ago. Well, the guy got his retribution by pumping a few slugs into Mayor Itcho...yep, it was actually a gun...in front of Itcho's campaign headquarters across from JR Nagasaki Station. Actually, this isn't the only time that a Nagasaki mayor has been targeted for assassination. Some rightwing lunatic tried to do something similar about 17 years ago to the mayor of that time. Attacks on politicians are nothing new here. Not a year goes by without some story involving a lone ultrarightist ramming his car into the Diet gates or sending a Molotov Cocktail into a politician's house. Of course, for all those who have gone into Japanese Studies at university, there is that infamous blurry black-&-white photo of politician Asanuma after he just got stabbed by a high school kid in 1960. In any case, this ought to be an interesting Sunday when the latter round of elections across the country takes place.
With these two stories of deaths by Japanese organized crime and American psycho, the latest chapter in the saga of Daisuke Matsuzaka was buried...something that would've been unthinkable last week. Dice-K was up against my Jays in the Skydome, and didn't exactly overwhelm anybody. Mind you, the Bosox only lost by one run in a low-scoring game, but if this guy drops another one on a non-tragic day, I can guarantee that the media here will be starting to wonder aloud. Still early to tell, though...
With elections, new corporate cogs and lots of rain....another season that has arrived again is the one for moving companies. I've been seeing the huge trucks of companies labeled "The 0123" and pictured with cute elephants, black cats, pandas and even Doraemon lumbering around my neighbourhood. New salarymen and veteran transfers have been moving in and out like chess pieces.
Well, I've got 001 in about an hour and then I gotta do a bit more on the curriculum bit.
The week has stubbornly remained cold and rainy. Came out of the station again needing to bring out the umbrella. At this rate, the Japan Meterological Office in Otemachi may have to recant its statement that Spring officially arrived last month.
Looks like Jolly is out of the juku picture. The boss moaned again that her latest missive over to his e-mail address didn't get any sort of reply. Well, I already wrote him off last week. In any case, the boss, true to her optimistic nature, told me that she may have another person in the wings in the form of a 1st-year high school student who has had homestay experience in one of Urayasu's sister cities. As for the students who have remained loyal to me, Seven did her usual thing and brought over some sweet potato pies for us to nosh on during her lesson. It's been just about a year since she arrived on our doorstep, and she's comfortably settling into Present Perfect. She's definitely been going farther and faster than the folks who had recommended her to me, The Beauty Pair. Mr. and Mrs Mild finally came together as a couple for the first time in a few weeks, but they were both ailing from some sort of cold. I was honoured that they would still come for my lesson under such conditions. And The Siberian was back for his hour of gab.
Since The Nurse had her weekly 60 yesterday afternoon, I was spared the early morning torture of having to come all the way here but I will have to do just that again next week. So, I spent most of the morning watching all that news on the horrors that Virginia Tech have just gone through. Because of my days and nights out, I only heard about the shooting rampage several hours after the fact. I woke up on Tuesday morning (which would be Monday night in Blacksburg, VA) and caught some of it on the Fuji-TV morning show in which the hosts were having a satellite talk with their American correspondent on the scene concerning the safety of the Japanese students there. A female student by the name of Uno was providing all of the info.
Of course, Japan has been no stranger to mass murder/spree killings although we barely have the gun culture that the US does. About a few years ago, there was that notorious case of Mamoru Takuma, a sociopath of the worst order (as redundant as that may sound), who stabbed to death eight elementary school students in western Japan; rumours have it that he was basically cackling all the way to the gallows about his evil deeds. And of course, there were the Aum Shinrikyo sarin gas attacks on the Tokyo subway system back in 1995.
I was doing a bit of snooping around the Net, including various blogs about the deranged killer at Virginia Tech, Cho Seung Hui. So far, it looks like the reaction to him has been more about his unfathomable acts than the fact that he was a Korean immigrant doing these things. I have been worried about the backlash against Koreans, and perhaps even Asians in general, because of what happened on Monday morning. I think there'll be some sort of negative reaction since there is always that disturbed segment of society which is just itching for an excuse to get back on a minority Stateside. Hopefully, though, such a reaction will be minimal relatively speaking.
Then, I come home last night from the juku and turn on the tube and went....WTF? The mayor of Nagasaki gets assassinated by a yakuza oyabun?! Man, I really gotta be home more often at nights. Apparently, the assassin was the second-in-command of a local gang who had some issues with the city (which is of course represented by the mayor) over his car driving itself into a manhole some years ago. Well, the guy got his retribution by pumping a few slugs into Mayor Itcho...yep, it was actually a gun...in front of Itcho's campaign headquarters across from JR Nagasaki Station. Actually, this isn't the only time that a Nagasaki mayor has been targeted for assassination. Some rightwing lunatic tried to do something similar about 17 years ago to the mayor of that time. Attacks on politicians are nothing new here. Not a year goes by without some story involving a lone ultrarightist ramming his car into the Diet gates or sending a Molotov Cocktail into a politician's house. Of course, for all those who have gone into Japanese Studies at university, there is that infamous blurry black-&-white photo of politician Asanuma after he just got stabbed by a high school kid in 1960. In any case, this ought to be an interesting Sunday when the latter round of elections across the country takes place.
With these two stories of deaths by Japanese organized crime and American psycho, the latest chapter in the saga of Daisuke Matsuzaka was buried...something that would've been unthinkable last week. Dice-K was up against my Jays in the Skydome, and didn't exactly overwhelm anybody. Mind you, the Bosox only lost by one run in a low-scoring game, but if this guy drops another one on a non-tragic day, I can guarantee that the media here will be starting to wonder aloud. Still early to tell, though...
With elections, new corporate cogs and lots of rain....another season that has arrived again is the one for moving companies. I've been seeing the huge trucks of companies labeled "The 0123" and pictured with cute elephants, black cats, pandas and even Doraemon lumbering around my neighbourhood. New salarymen and veteran transfers have been moving in and out like chess pieces.
Well, I've got 001 in about an hour and then I gotta do a bit more on the curriculum bit.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Tuesday April 17, 1:52 p.m.
Looks like The Admin has to do some office stuff with The Nurse before the lesson, so I have a few minutes to continue on the "Spiderman" series. As I said, the interview rounds here between Hollywood stars and local journos can be rather weird. My clone, Mr. Karube of the morning news show on Fuji-TV, had the three mains on the couch. Not sure if the three had become rather jaded with our folks here but Kirsten and James looked distinctly blase. Only the Spiderman himself was still pretty peppy. James Franco appeared as if he were heavily jet-lagged or he had already hit the bar in the Premium Lounge of Virgin Theatres.
Ah, more later...
Looks like The Admin has to do some office stuff with The Nurse before the lesson, so I have a few minutes to continue on the "Spiderman" series. As I said, the interview rounds here between Hollywood stars and local journos can be rather weird. My clone, Mr. Karube of the morning news show on Fuji-TV, had the three mains on the couch. Not sure if the three had become rather jaded with our folks here but Kirsten and James looked distinctly blase. Only the Spiderman himself was still pretty peppy. James Franco appeared as if he were heavily jet-lagged or he had already hit the bar in the Premium Lounge of Virgin Theatres.
Ah, more later...
Tuesday April 17, 1:39 p.m.
Cold and dry...kinda wintry out there with that diffuse overcastness. Yup, my day is on a roller coaster. I got started with The Beehive...or perhaps I should say just a couple of bees. Ms. Perth and Ms. Tee were the only ones to show up. The others seem to be ailing...not surprising, considering the ups and downs of the climate over the past several weeks. We spoke somewhat on soon-to-be homeless standing. Next Tuesday will be our very last time in the enlarged storage room that we've been using as our classroom for 8 years. Apparently, as of post-Golden Week, it becomes a darts room. Our nomadic experience will have perhaps one temporary oasis in the form of the food court at the JUSCO shopping complex on the other side of JR Tsudanuma Station. However, I am hoping that a more permanent solution avails itself in the next few months.
Received an old-fashioned letter with photos from Ms. Tulip who's now residing in Toronto with her family. I shared them with the ladies today. Actually, Ms. Tee will be heading over there as part of a tour in a couple of weeks, some months before the whole hive does its much-awaited Canadian tour. So, I pegged the bashful Ms. Tee as the vanguard before the invading army.
Speaking of Toronto, I just saw on CNN that apparently a filmed documentary has been made about non-Torontonian Canadians hating Toronto. All I can say is that I'm just surprised that it hadn't been made sooner.
Hopped on the Sobu and whipped over here to this side of the Big Sushi. I've got The Nurse for her 60, and then I'm back on the transit again to the juku. Whenever I got the kids, I've gotta plan a lot of stuff even for their 30-minute class. So, my shoulders feel like granite.
Well, noone else has been saying it so I will. "Spiderman 3" had its world premiere last night at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. Everyone showed up: Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco...I think I even saw Aunt May on the red carpet. Of course, the three leads have been here before to do the often bizarre interview rounds with Japanese journalists.
Anyways, the Nurse is here...
Cold and dry...kinda wintry out there with that diffuse overcastness. Yup, my day is on a roller coaster. I got started with The Beehive...or perhaps I should say just a couple of bees. Ms. Perth and Ms. Tee were the only ones to show up. The others seem to be ailing...not surprising, considering the ups and downs of the climate over the past several weeks. We spoke somewhat on soon-to-be homeless standing. Next Tuesday will be our very last time in the enlarged storage room that we've been using as our classroom for 8 years. Apparently, as of post-Golden Week, it becomes a darts room. Our nomadic experience will have perhaps one temporary oasis in the form of the food court at the JUSCO shopping complex on the other side of JR Tsudanuma Station. However, I am hoping that a more permanent solution avails itself in the next few months.
Received an old-fashioned letter with photos from Ms. Tulip who's now residing in Toronto with her family. I shared them with the ladies today. Actually, Ms. Tee will be heading over there as part of a tour in a couple of weeks, some months before the whole hive does its much-awaited Canadian tour. So, I pegged the bashful Ms. Tee as the vanguard before the invading army.
Speaking of Toronto, I just saw on CNN that apparently a filmed documentary has been made about non-Torontonian Canadians hating Toronto. All I can say is that I'm just surprised that it hadn't been made sooner.
Hopped on the Sobu and whipped over here to this side of the Big Sushi. I've got The Nurse for her 60, and then I'm back on the transit again to the juku. Whenever I got the kids, I've gotta plan a lot of stuff even for their 30-minute class. So, my shoulders feel like granite.
Well, noone else has been saying it so I will. "Spiderman 3" had its world premiere last night at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. Everyone showed up: Tobey McGuire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco...I think I even saw Aunt May on the red carpet. Of course, the three leads have been here before to do the often bizarre interview rounds with Japanese journalists.
Anyways, the Nurse is here...
Monday April 16, 8:24 p.m.
I've got the characteristic aroma of Doutors infused within my clothing again. The Part-Timer was steady as usual and it was good that the final part of the review was taken care of tonight since she's gonna be unavailable for the next couple of weeks. So May 7 will be her test day which I duly warned her about.
Well, that's a switch! Looks like Japan will be jumping the gun ahead of virtually every other country when it comes to releasing "Spiderman 3". Peter and his gang will be coming out on May 1st instead of the 4th like everywhere else, but only because the Japanese theatres want to take advantage of Golden Week, the holiday consisting of Green Day, Children's Day and Showa Day along with the other days of the week to cement everything up. Ironically, May Day (perhaps it should be called Aunt May Day, in honour of one of the characters in the movie) is one of the few days during that week not officially designated as a national holiday but a lot of the companies are just letting the folks go. In any case, Japan, or I should say movie fans living in Japan, usually get the short end of the stick and have to wait as much as a whole year before a movie gets here; the whole year is pretty much the extreme, though. The big releases get out a few weeks after the initial release Stateside. Still, that's an eternity for those geeks who are dying to catch their latest superhero in action on this side of the Pacific. So, with the previous Spiderman movies, we had to wait til midsummer for the webslinger to make his way here. But this time, the fans will have to hear from us now. Not sure if Tobey or Kirsten will come over all the way to inaugurate the release but if they do, they can be duly impressed by the Spiderman Museum that's been set up in Roppongi Hills.
Speaking of the movie, I was trolling through YouTube. I was rather glad not to have seen those grisly videos of Mexican drug gangsters getting executed "Hostel"-style. Instead, I got to see some enterprising fellow make his own Spidey video using Michael Buble's jazzy rendition of the Spiderman theme against quick cuts from "Spiderman 2". As the comments said, I give the hard-working lad full marks for trying...his sense of timing is pretty good, especially considering the syncopation involved in the song. The video itself could've been a lot clearer, though, and usage of some scenes from first movie would've helped, too.
Tomorrow could be another long haul. Along with the Beehive and the juku classes, I've gotta fit in The Nurse in the afternoon. So it will be one of those crosstown adventures. However, I am grateful that I won't have to wake up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning like I had to the last couple of weeks. I've yet to hear anything from the juku boss about the fate of Jolly, though his insistence of not answering speaks volumes. Also, I haven't heard anything from The Polynesian, so I think that class is also in doubt, too. Geez....and all I did was just slap her wrist for standing me up twice in 3 weeks.
I've got the characteristic aroma of Doutors infused within my clothing again. The Part-Timer was steady as usual and it was good that the final part of the review was taken care of tonight since she's gonna be unavailable for the next couple of weeks. So May 7 will be her test day which I duly warned her about.
Well, that's a switch! Looks like Japan will be jumping the gun ahead of virtually every other country when it comes to releasing "Spiderman 3". Peter and his gang will be coming out on May 1st instead of the 4th like everywhere else, but only because the Japanese theatres want to take advantage of Golden Week, the holiday consisting of Green Day, Children's Day and Showa Day along with the other days of the week to cement everything up. Ironically, May Day (perhaps it should be called Aunt May Day, in honour of one of the characters in the movie) is one of the few days during that week not officially designated as a national holiday but a lot of the companies are just letting the folks go. In any case, Japan, or I should say movie fans living in Japan, usually get the short end of the stick and have to wait as much as a whole year before a movie gets here; the whole year is pretty much the extreme, though. The big releases get out a few weeks after the initial release Stateside. Still, that's an eternity for those geeks who are dying to catch their latest superhero in action on this side of the Pacific. So, with the previous Spiderman movies, we had to wait til midsummer for the webslinger to make his way here. But this time, the fans will have to hear from us now. Not sure if Tobey or Kirsten will come over all the way to inaugurate the release but if they do, they can be duly impressed by the Spiderman Museum that's been set up in Roppongi Hills.
Speaking of the movie, I was trolling through YouTube. I was rather glad not to have seen those grisly videos of Mexican drug gangsters getting executed "Hostel"-style. Instead, I got to see some enterprising fellow make his own Spidey video using Michael Buble's jazzy rendition of the Spiderman theme against quick cuts from "Spiderman 2". As the comments said, I give the hard-working lad full marks for trying...his sense of timing is pretty good, especially considering the syncopation involved in the song. The video itself could've been a lot clearer, though, and usage of some scenes from first movie would've helped, too.
Tomorrow could be another long haul. Along with the Beehive and the juku classes, I've gotta fit in The Nurse in the afternoon. So it will be one of those crosstown adventures. However, I am grateful that I won't have to wake up in the wee hours of Wednesday morning like I had to the last couple of weeks. I've yet to hear anything from the juku boss about the fate of Jolly, though his insistence of not answering speaks volumes. Also, I haven't heard anything from The Polynesian, so I think that class is also in doubt, too. Geez....and all I did was just slap her wrist for standing me up twice in 3 weeks.
Monday April 16, 5:11 p.m.
More of that alternating weather pattern. Whereas yesterday was warm and sunny, today is cold and rainy. Any more of this, we'll all end up in hospitals without needing a major cataclysm. Speaking of which, Mie Prefecture was the latest area here to get smacked with a Shindo 5 or above. I'll have to give GC a holler and see if he's OK since he's living in that area. First, it was Ishikawa Prefecture a couple of weeks ago and then Mie yesterday. If there were a god over us, I'd swear that he was torturing Tokyo with The Big One.
Today has been the usual round of Monday classes thus far. I had The Class Act from which I got a bunch of hand-me-downs from The Lady. Since her hubby slimmed down, she's giving me some of his old fat clothes. I'd hardly call them hand-me-downs since the labels have such names like Christian Dior and a couple of Italian names that I'd never heard about. SIL was her usual self. We spoke on some of our old discoing days. I've got The Part-Timer in about an hour. That TOEIC fellow won't be coming today but he's threatening to come over next week so at least I've got a week's headstart to load up on Bufferin.
More of that alternating weather pattern. Whereas yesterday was warm and sunny, today is cold and rainy. Any more of this, we'll all end up in hospitals without needing a major cataclysm. Speaking of which, Mie Prefecture was the latest area here to get smacked with a Shindo 5 or above. I'll have to give GC a holler and see if he's OK since he's living in that area. First, it was Ishikawa Prefecture a couple of weeks ago and then Mie yesterday. If there were a god over us, I'd swear that he was torturing Tokyo with The Big One.
Today has been the usual round of Monday classes thus far. I had The Class Act from which I got a bunch of hand-me-downs from The Lady. Since her hubby slimmed down, she's giving me some of his old fat clothes. I'd hardly call them hand-me-downs since the labels have such names like Christian Dior and a couple of Italian names that I'd never heard about. SIL was her usual self. We spoke on some of our old discoing days. I've got The Part-Timer in about an hour. That TOEIC fellow won't be coming today but he's threatening to come over next week so at least I've got a week's headstart to load up on Bufferin.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Sunday April 15, 2:18 p.m.
Well, that little dinner at Spyros last night made me think a lot. First observation: for a guy who's earned a reputation for being a stickler for details to an anal degree, Speedy is ironically not the most prompt person in the world. He usually comes 10-15 minutes later than he promises and I was left waiting in the genkan for another number of minutes as he had to get every little thing shut down.
As for Spyros in Roppongi, I'd give it a fairly good grade. There was quite a large group for this dinner outing, the second in Speedy's master plan to expose his friends to fine dining. We had the 3,150-yen course which consisted of all the basics in Greek cuisine. As a long-lived Torontonian, I could say that I've had the real stuff back home on the Danforth at places like Omonia, Pappa's Grill and, of course, Mr. Greek. The souvlaki was quite tasty although not as big as the Toronto version (no surprise there), as was the saganaki...the famous flamin' cheese thanks to some flambe action via a well-placed spurt of ouzo. However, the chefs kept that form of entertainment out of their saganaki...just came out on a plate with some olive oil dashed on it. The taramosalata wasn't on the list so a fellow who was sitting beside me and I decided to try it out a la carte. Hm...the bowl that arrived contained what seemed like tarako in an oily emulsion....not the greatest. In fact, I'd probably say that Spyros' fare was good for Greek in Tokyo but not great. The Danforth has nothing to worry about from this part of Asia. Mind you, the dessert came out quite nicely. The baklava usually comes out in Toronto as this huge hunk of supersweet pastry, but the Japanese propensity for conservative sizes won out and the Spyros version was much easier to handle. It was an expensive night, though, once again. Despite the 3,000-yen price tag on the course, a bunch of us had cocktails and other forms of alcohol along with any other a la carte stuff which tacked on another 100% onto the final bill. OUCH! Not blamin' the establishment or Speedy for that at all, but I think Spyros will be my final outing with Speedy and his gang. Just can't really rationalize paying over 6,000 yen for dinner.
There were a couple of other Speedy regulars sitting at the table across from us. I've been in their doghouse for some months now. Speedy doesn't seem to be aware of it and I'm not going to drag him into our private little war. I can imagine what soured the ladies on me. Several months back, I took them and a couple of others to the original Baker Bounce hamburger shop in Setagaya Ward to introduce them to what real hamburgers were all about. Apparently, during our meal, I may have said something inappropriate in the wrong politeness register. Well, since then, they've turned off me faster than warp speed. At the dinner last night, the more vocal of the pair snapped her neck away from me when she made inadvertent eye contact with me. The cold shoulder treatment is precise and quick here. I've not bothered to apologize to them since my instinct has told me that it would be useless. I've had to mediate a couple of similar situations between students and teachers in the past. Though they seemed to have gone well, one lady has actually remained quite standoffish toward the teacher even now. Forgiveness is strictly a Christian conceit in this country of just 1% Christians.
But my immediate dinner companions were quite an amiable lot. The Admin was the other staff member at my table, and she thoroughly enjoyed wining and dining according to the similarity in skin tone between her and her red shirt. The lady across from me was definitely someone who was very confident and comfortable in her own skin; she was either around my age or slightly older but she was dressed like a casual supermodel half her age. Va-va-va-voom, as they used to say. And she had more than a passing resemblance to a tarento, Tamao Sato, but with a lot more poise and intelligence.
As I said, the dinner last night did make me think a lot. For one thing, don't go to these things anymore. For another, it did make me think about the almost soap operatic nature of my career. Students and other folks seem to come and go like various characters in "General Hospital". After what seemed to be nearly weekly lunches with The Madame and frequent outings with MB and Skippy, all three have gone off of my social radar. I've got a feeling though that Skippy will pop in again for another late Spring burst. I just wonder if other folks like Jazz Buddy and The Stick have permanently left the show.
Anyways, this morning, as I still digested the last of my Greek dinner, I went off to meet Tully and The Coffeemaker. The Coffeemaker was looking quite exhausted since she had to take part in some art fair at Tokyo International Forum all day yesterday and she had deadlines in her regular job. Looks like she's getting together with The Barmaiden fairly soon to concoct another reunion with their old classmates.
For lunch, I just went to Sozaiya, a so-called healthy cooked meal store in Ichigaya Station. The prices match the high quality of the ingredients but my stomach would brook no argument from my economy-oriented mind, so in I went. The place has been there for several years, certainly during my years at the ol' school; I would get something there about once a week. When I'd first started at the ol' school a decade back, there used to be a Lotteria's fast food shop. In fact, the entire station was more for the salaryman set. Upstairs was a huge Kirin City izakaya franchise. Now, it's a To The Herbs Italian restaurant and a Starbucks.
I took the Sobu Line to Akihabara and went over to that imported DVD shop on the 2nd floor of the building across from JR Akihabara. I was looking for that copy of "Mishima" for SIL. The 1985 movie starring Ken Ogata as the titular right-wing zealot and author has been banned from these shores by Yukio Mishima's widow until her death. I thought the store had pulled a coup of some sort but as it turned out as I saw the sign for the movie, there was a string of kanji basically saying that it can't be supplied. Well, I'll just have to tell SIL the bad news.
As we approach Golden Week with its usual nightmarish 70-km traffic jams and overcrowded airports and train stations, I'm starting to wonder about what this life of mine has been all about all these years. It seems that I'm getting into some sort of time loop, repeating the same ol' things. The Lady mentioned last week all of a sudden that I would be rich in about 4 years. I was kinda taken aback by that comment. It would be nice if that were true...it would certainly kick start something.
Well, that little dinner at Spyros last night made me think a lot. First observation: for a guy who's earned a reputation for being a stickler for details to an anal degree, Speedy is ironically not the most prompt person in the world. He usually comes 10-15 minutes later than he promises and I was left waiting in the genkan for another number of minutes as he had to get every little thing shut down.
As for Spyros in Roppongi, I'd give it a fairly good grade. There was quite a large group for this dinner outing, the second in Speedy's master plan to expose his friends to fine dining. We had the 3,150-yen course which consisted of all the basics in Greek cuisine. As a long-lived Torontonian, I could say that I've had the real stuff back home on the Danforth at places like Omonia, Pappa's Grill and, of course, Mr. Greek. The souvlaki was quite tasty although not as big as the Toronto version (no surprise there), as was the saganaki...the famous flamin' cheese thanks to some flambe action via a well-placed spurt of ouzo. However, the chefs kept that form of entertainment out of their saganaki...just came out on a plate with some olive oil dashed on it. The taramosalata wasn't on the list so a fellow who was sitting beside me and I decided to try it out a la carte. Hm...the bowl that arrived contained what seemed like tarako in an oily emulsion....not the greatest. In fact, I'd probably say that Spyros' fare was good for Greek in Tokyo but not great. The Danforth has nothing to worry about from this part of Asia. Mind you, the dessert came out quite nicely. The baklava usually comes out in Toronto as this huge hunk of supersweet pastry, but the Japanese propensity for conservative sizes won out and the Spyros version was much easier to handle. It was an expensive night, though, once again. Despite the 3,000-yen price tag on the course, a bunch of us had cocktails and other forms of alcohol along with any other a la carte stuff which tacked on another 100% onto the final bill. OUCH! Not blamin' the establishment or Speedy for that at all, but I think Spyros will be my final outing with Speedy and his gang. Just can't really rationalize paying over 6,000 yen for dinner.
There were a couple of other Speedy regulars sitting at the table across from us. I've been in their doghouse for some months now. Speedy doesn't seem to be aware of it and I'm not going to drag him into our private little war. I can imagine what soured the ladies on me. Several months back, I took them and a couple of others to the original Baker Bounce hamburger shop in Setagaya Ward to introduce them to what real hamburgers were all about. Apparently, during our meal, I may have said something inappropriate in the wrong politeness register. Well, since then, they've turned off me faster than warp speed. At the dinner last night, the more vocal of the pair snapped her neck away from me when she made inadvertent eye contact with me. The cold shoulder treatment is precise and quick here. I've not bothered to apologize to them since my instinct has told me that it would be useless. I've had to mediate a couple of similar situations between students and teachers in the past. Though they seemed to have gone well, one lady has actually remained quite standoffish toward the teacher even now. Forgiveness is strictly a Christian conceit in this country of just 1% Christians.
But my immediate dinner companions were quite an amiable lot. The Admin was the other staff member at my table, and she thoroughly enjoyed wining and dining according to the similarity in skin tone between her and her red shirt. The lady across from me was definitely someone who was very confident and comfortable in her own skin; she was either around my age or slightly older but she was dressed like a casual supermodel half her age. Va-va-va-voom, as they used to say. And she had more than a passing resemblance to a tarento, Tamao Sato, but with a lot more poise and intelligence.
As I said, the dinner last night did make me think a lot. For one thing, don't go to these things anymore. For another, it did make me think about the almost soap operatic nature of my career. Students and other folks seem to come and go like various characters in "General Hospital". After what seemed to be nearly weekly lunches with The Madame and frequent outings with MB and Skippy, all three have gone off of my social radar. I've got a feeling though that Skippy will pop in again for another late Spring burst. I just wonder if other folks like Jazz Buddy and The Stick have permanently left the show.
Anyways, this morning, as I still digested the last of my Greek dinner, I went off to meet Tully and The Coffeemaker. The Coffeemaker was looking quite exhausted since she had to take part in some art fair at Tokyo International Forum all day yesterday and she had deadlines in her regular job. Looks like she's getting together with The Barmaiden fairly soon to concoct another reunion with their old classmates.
For lunch, I just went to Sozaiya, a so-called healthy cooked meal store in Ichigaya Station. The prices match the high quality of the ingredients but my stomach would brook no argument from my economy-oriented mind, so in I went. The place has been there for several years, certainly during my years at the ol' school; I would get something there about once a week. When I'd first started at the ol' school a decade back, there used to be a Lotteria's fast food shop. In fact, the entire station was more for the salaryman set. Upstairs was a huge Kirin City izakaya franchise. Now, it's a To The Herbs Italian restaurant and a Starbucks.
I took the Sobu Line to Akihabara and went over to that imported DVD shop on the 2nd floor of the building across from JR Akihabara. I was looking for that copy of "Mishima" for SIL. The 1985 movie starring Ken Ogata as the titular right-wing zealot and author has been banned from these shores by Yukio Mishima's widow until her death. I thought the store had pulled a coup of some sort but as it turned out as I saw the sign for the movie, there was a string of kanji basically saying that it can't be supplied. Well, I'll just have to tell SIL the bad news.
As we approach Golden Week with its usual nightmarish 70-km traffic jams and overcrowded airports and train stations, I'm starting to wonder about what this life of mine has been all about all these years. It seems that I'm getting into some sort of time loop, repeating the same ol' things. The Lady mentioned last week all of a sudden that I would be rich in about 4 years. I was kinda taken aback by that comment. It would be nice if that were true...it would certainly kick start something.
Saturday April 14, 5:07 p.m.
It's been a fairly languid few days. But the classes on Thursday were kinda finding their comfort zones. The Dentist's second lesson went OK but she's a bit of an old-world type despite her relative ability in English. She gets kinda embarrassed rather easily, and in fact, she even shut the inner door on us when she was on her way out since she didn't want anyone to see her transfer her tootsies from slippers to shoes....I guess the foot fetishists in all of us were sorely disappointed.
As for The Carolinan, most of the lesson was gab about what her immediate future will look like. She did pass her accounting exam with flying colours, so it was a case of now what? She's not all that thrilled with her job but she finally got her status as a full employee with all of the benefits, so she's at a bit of a crossroads. Then, I found out from BC that she quit her job after only 3 months. Ouch! That could also mean her time with me will be fairly short.
Friday turned out to be a day off since Jolly never called back. I think he's out the door as far as I'm concerned. So it was nice to not worry about students and lessons for at least 24 hours. Just cleaned and bought stuff for cooking. I even had time to watch "Spiderman 2" on DVD as a bit of prep work for the upcoming "Spiderman 3" in a couple of weeks. Yup, I'd probably say that Spiderman series is the best superhero movie series for right now. Superman is flawless, and Batman has got a mansion & butler along with his psychosis. Peter Parker is somebody we can all relate to.
Well, it's another near-summer day. It's 25 C out there and darn sunny. Can't be beat. Just had the Manhattanite for her third lesson. Pretty low but she's got heart. In about half an hour, Speedy and I are headed out the door to Roppongi for that dinner at Spyros, the Greek restaurant. It will be my first time for Greek in this country. The fare there will be under pressure to match my memories on The Danforth in Toronto.
It wasn't exactly Mikhail Gorbachev suddenly getting out of his limo in Manhattan and shaking hands with the New York masses in a grand gesture of glasnost, but Chinese Premier Wen did his best for Sino-Japanese diplomacy over the past few days by visiting Kyoto for a tea ceremony and playing a bit of baseball with a nearby high school baseball team. Every little bit helps...
I guess the United States has been caught up in all that Don Imus career implosion. To give in my two yen worth, I think that the guy got his just desserts and I hope that his professional demise will give way to some dialogue on how people oughta address each other. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't the beginning of some paradigm shift but just another swing of the pendulum, culturally speaking. There's a chance that in a few years, people may be crying out censorship instead. As for Japan, we really don't have that type of beast known as the shock jock...most likely because radio is in a grand malaise here.
It's been a fairly languid few days. But the classes on Thursday were kinda finding their comfort zones. The Dentist's second lesson went OK but she's a bit of an old-world type despite her relative ability in English. She gets kinda embarrassed rather easily, and in fact, she even shut the inner door on us when she was on her way out since she didn't want anyone to see her transfer her tootsies from slippers to shoes....I guess the foot fetishists in all of us were sorely disappointed.
As for The Carolinan, most of the lesson was gab about what her immediate future will look like. She did pass her accounting exam with flying colours, so it was a case of now what? She's not all that thrilled with her job but she finally got her status as a full employee with all of the benefits, so she's at a bit of a crossroads. Then, I found out from BC that she quit her job after only 3 months. Ouch! That could also mean her time with me will be fairly short.
Friday turned out to be a day off since Jolly never called back. I think he's out the door as far as I'm concerned. So it was nice to not worry about students and lessons for at least 24 hours. Just cleaned and bought stuff for cooking. I even had time to watch "Spiderman 2" on DVD as a bit of prep work for the upcoming "Spiderman 3" in a couple of weeks. Yup, I'd probably say that Spiderman series is the best superhero movie series for right now. Superman is flawless, and Batman has got a mansion & butler along with his psychosis. Peter Parker is somebody we can all relate to.
Well, it's another near-summer day. It's 25 C out there and darn sunny. Can't be beat. Just had the Manhattanite for her third lesson. Pretty low but she's got heart. In about half an hour, Speedy and I are headed out the door to Roppongi for that dinner at Spyros, the Greek restaurant. It will be my first time for Greek in this country. The fare there will be under pressure to match my memories on The Danforth in Toronto.
It wasn't exactly Mikhail Gorbachev suddenly getting out of his limo in Manhattan and shaking hands with the New York masses in a grand gesture of glasnost, but Chinese Premier Wen did his best for Sino-Japanese diplomacy over the past few days by visiting Kyoto for a tea ceremony and playing a bit of baseball with a nearby high school baseball team. Every little bit helps...
I guess the United States has been caught up in all that Don Imus career implosion. To give in my two yen worth, I think that the guy got his just desserts and I hope that his professional demise will give way to some dialogue on how people oughta address each other. But I have a sneaking suspicion that this isn't the beginning of some paradigm shift but just another swing of the pendulum, culturally speaking. There's a chance that in a few years, people may be crying out censorship instead. As for Japan, we really don't have that type of beast known as the shock jock...most likely because radio is in a grand malaise here.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Thursday April 12, 3:47 p.m.
I did forget to mention one thing that I came across in the newspaper this morning. Apparently, the Japanese are the most prolific bloggers in the world. I think the huge I-community of Mixi has contributed to that fact. Ironically, my time in there was pretty brief. Just never caught on with me. I much rather prefer this court. I'm not surprised at this revelation. The Japanese are traditionally still not all that open with their feelings, so having this field to put out their thoughts in relative anonymity has been a godsend.
I did forget to mention one thing that I came across in the newspaper this morning. Apparently, the Japanese are the most prolific bloggers in the world. I think the huge I-community of Mixi has contributed to that fact. Ironically, my time in there was pretty brief. Just never caught on with me. I much rather prefer this court. I'm not surprised at this revelation. The Japanese are traditionally still not all that open with their feelings, so having this field to put out their thoughts in relative anonymity has been a godsend.