Saturday November 5, 10:00 a.m.

Since I had several hours between Swank in Hiroo and The Button-Down Girl in Shinjuku, I decided to take one last look at Sugamo...known as the Harajuku for Senior Citizens. Just by chance, the neighbourhood was holding its annual Chrysanthemum Festival, so some of these flowers were greeting when I entered the main shopping arcade.


Yup, as I said, it's the Harajuku for Senior Citizens. If there were any more of these oldtimers walking at me, I would've gotten gerontophobia...the fear of old people!

A very elaborate gate to a temple inside the arcade. There was a flea market of sorts going on beside it.

Rather incongruously, there was a bit of hip-hop in this Mom n' Pop (like that, eh?) area.

The flea market also had a lot of old audio tapes for sale....and they were on my type of music...kayo kyoku. I was quite tempted to grab some of them....they had Seiko, Hiromi Iwasaki and Chisato Moritaka, but considering that I will probably not have any sort of access to a tape recorder in the near future, I held on to my yen.

A senbe shop...one of the must-haves in Sugamo.

This is one of the most famous shops in the area. It boasts that it is Japan's No. 1 shop for red pants...and other similarly scarlet wear. When a citizen turns 60, it's an auspicious age and it is often signified by the newly elderly wearing something red. Although I didn't see it yesterday, during my last visit here, this place also had a red brassiere on display, but I won't let you or myself imagine too deeply about any potential wearers.

Of course, festivals of any sort means a lot of food stands. And of course, the de rigueur yakisoba stand stands out.

Saturday November 5, 9:42 a.m.

A sunny and cool day in Ichikawa. I cannot complain.

Another thing I'll miss about Japan: convenience stores, or as they say here, conbini. However it's said, they are truly convenient. The robberies at these places have gone up in recent years, but they still probably pale in comparison to their grimier equivalents back home.

This is just one of four or five conbini that's within 10 minutes' walking distance from my apartment. At any of these places, not only can you get the various foodstuff and other sundries, but you can access a mini-bank for fast cash, pay all utility bills and even purchase Amazon goods and airplane tickets. Not a bad deal. Mind you, if you were a staffer there, the pressure and responsibility must be a lot higher.

Ahhh...my breakfast for today at the I-Cafe: sausage roll and pound cake along with milk tea. And no, I have yet to run insanely to the washroom after ingestion.

I have the day off today. So I will probably be busy doing domestic stuff and then also doing some more packing of various things such as CDs. I found out from Speedy that The Businesswoman and Mrs. Prissy want to have lessons with me in the next few weeks. Rack 'em and stack 'em!
Had my official lesson with The Button-Down Girl last night at the Cafe de Crie in Shinjuku. Right from the get-go, I had to take off my teacher's hat and put on the counselor's beret. Looks like the lass has been having stress problems at work. However, unlike my erstwhile student of a few years ago, she didn't sound nearly that morose. Still, I hope she does something about the situation. I realize that the economic situation doesn't make it easy to ditch an unlikeable job but when things get to the point that waking up on a weekday is the worst feeling, some big decisions have to be made.

Wednesday November 2, 9:41 p.m.

Well, I've told 001 of my departure. She took it pretty well though she is saddened that I am heading home for good. She'll tell her old friends, 002 and The Baker. Perhaps we may all get together for dinner. I also heard that there are some big changes in store for 002 and her hubby. Her hubby works for an oil company, and international transfers were always in the offing. It looks like the day has come. Apparently, he'll be heading for Perth, Australia in the next few months. And 002 will be eventually joining him next summer. I was gonna tell Kirk but I thought that one bout of bad news was enough for me tonight.
The reactions have started to come in from Mixi and Facebook. So far, the average level has been that of surprise. But I think there are more reactions to come.
In any case, neither Speedy nor his wife have come back yet but I plan to close up shop by 10 p.m.

Wednesday November 2, 9:31 p.m.

Definitely one of the things I will miss about life in Japan is the conbini bento...or as I would translate it, the convenience store boxed lunch. This was my lunch for today...actually, this is something I bought at the nearby supermarket instead of the usual 7-11 or Lawsons. It's the 398-yen fried chicken special...like a psychopath, there is nothing at all redeeming about this meal....it is the J-equivalent of a Big Mac set. And just like it, it is irresistable (at least for me).

Every conbini bento has a set pattern...just like a frozen TV dinner for which the containers seem remarkably alike in shape. There is the main source of protein, whether it be chicken or a hamburger or fish. Then, there is the 2nd -largest segment which is the cooked rice sprinkled with sesame seeds and a red umeboshi (pickled plum) dead centre. After that, it's a bit more flexible. In this one, there is the small block of tamago-yaki (sweetened fried egg) over a soft pile of Spaghetti Napolitano, and strips of pink pickled radish. Pretty darn filling and a lot more inexpensive than a Big Mac set.

At the convenience store itself, the cashier will ask you whether you want the sucker heated or not. But I always go cold with the supermarket stuff since I think fried chicken tastes great either way. I'm sure when I do hit home finally, I will miss this stuff although I am looking forward to Canadian deli food again.

Wednesday November 2, 3:08 p.m.
At yesterday's Beehive session in Funabashi, Mrs. Travel surprised all of us when she presented me, Jade and one other with small bubble-wrapped packets of matsutake mushrooms. Now, these were sent over by The Beehive's old comrade, Mrs. Tulip from Canada where matsutake mushrooms can be found but don't have quite the popularity there as they do here.
The native matsutake of Japan have nearly culinary legend status. They could be compared to the French truffle. Mass media go into major fawning mode every Fall about this supposedly amazing mushroom with the earthy taste and aroma which often gets manipulated into a whole spectrum of recipes ranging from rice boiled with slivers of matsutake to matsutake pasta. But the go-to way to eat it is by grilling matsutake and then putting on a few drops of ponzu for taste. I've got the national holiday tomorrow so I will be able to cook something up with this miracle fungi.
Speaking of the holiday, it's Culture Day tomorrow. I found out from Cozy that originally this was the birthday of the Emperor Meiji, the first modern Japanese ruler after the fall of the shogun-led feudal system. However, I will not be visiting Yasukuni Shrine or weaving flowers in an ikebana school. I will in fact be packing up one parcel of summer clothes and then trying to figure out how I'm gonna be shipping my hundreds of CDs home.

Wednesday November 2, 2:58 p.m.

Yesterday, I met up with Movie Buddy and after another round at Foo Foo, we went off to the Milano in Kabukicho to catch "Captain America". The movie had been playing for a few weeks now but decided to catch it just last night since the first of the month is always 1,000-yen Day in Tokyo. And considering the car crash of "Green Lantern", we weren't about to pay a whole ton of money for a superhero movie. As expected, the movie came between Mrs. Speedy's wholehearted ecstatic rave and The Satyr's just-as-wholehearted rant against it. The plot and the heart were there, but MB thought that the pacing for individual scenes was somewhat off. And we both thought that The Red Skull's demise was about as lame as they came. Still, Marvel has bested DC in the latest matchup. I would've enjoyed the movie even more but there were these three young idiots a few rows in back who just wanted to gab for some reason. I never would've expected that sort of behaviour in a Japanese theatre.

A few hours after getting home, I ended up watching "Event Horizon", the sci-fi/horror movie with pre-"The Matrix" Lawrence Fishburne and Sam Neill. I'd heard about all the gore what almost seemed like an homage to "Alien", and it certainly bore itself out on that front. After seeing all the gouged eyes and fallen guts, I was rather reminded of my kitchen sessions molding ground beef into hamburger patties.

Wednesday November 2, 2:41 p.m.

All by my lonesome here at Speedy's...a state that will remain so throughout my day. Neither the bossman nor his wife, and any staff for that matter, will be showing up here for various reasons. I'll be serving tea and crumpets for 001 and Kirk. It'll be just my show.

Well, I've pushed further ahead on Operation: Exodus. I went to the real estate agency and filled out the official form to get out of my apartment lease. Not too painful....I also nailed down the date for the interior decorator folks to come in and take a look at my apartment...they may in for a rather big surprise, although they must have some images about what a 17-year-old resident could have done to his place. However, the bigger thing was that I've just told everyone on Facebook about my intentions. I have a feeling that I'll be getting a lot of reactions in the next several hours. And I will be telling my students tonight. All of my private students have known now for some weeks but the Speedy students will be getting the bad news as of this month since I didn't want to cramp the bossman's style. Actually, a couple of them already know. Both Grandma Dynamite and The Music Man, two students who darkened this school for several months, had expressed interest in coming back, only to get the news about my departure. Dynamite decided to give up since she would only be able to see me 4 times before she gets busy again for December. As for The Music Man, the bossman had been trying to contact him but, true to his mysterious nature about his job, he had never left a contact e-mail address and attempts to reach him via phone proved futile. It was rather sad to find out that The Music Man's first question to us was whether I'd returned from Toronto yet. He apparently came by the school on Monday night to pick up a refund since I would no longer be teaching him; the bossman asked me whether I would hang around for another half hour so that I could see him, but I just said that at best, it would be rather awkward if I only met him just to say goodbye, so I just left to keep things tidy.

I received an e-mail from The Bow...another ex-student. She'd found out from The Carolinan that I would be leaving and just wanted to give her goodbyes. And she also asked me I could give her some advice about a friend who got cheated by a Brit in Tokyo. I hinted that The Matron's husband could be of some help.

And Skippy asked me about hitting the Hooters in Akasaka sometime in the next couple of weeks. Well, gotta try it at least once.

Monday October 31, 8:22 p.m.

Finished my lesson with Miss Genki. It was another gab session since we got onto the topic of her foray into Facebook. She's just started her page and got a bit spooked when within a few hours of launching it, she'd already gotten one request from her cousin. I let her know that she should consider herself lucky that it was one of her family who had tracked her down and not some otaku. It was once again the talk about the differences between Facebook and the Japanese equivalent, Mixi. Facebook is not quite the anathema for Japanese society but I did tell my student that the whole point of it was to show as much as the user wants to show, whereas Mixi was more about the user getting involved in communicating via communities while staying rather anonymous via nicknames. She will take it day by day and see if she's up to the FB philosophy. Then we got into the Holidays, notably the typical Xmas celebrations back in the West. She did ask me whether I was going back home in December. I didn't tell her that my last move will be a permanent one; I'll save the big announcement for next week.

Monday October 31, 6:32 p.m.

The witching hour is once again upon us. I'm sure Roppongi, Shibuya and Shinjuku will be having their final Halloween blowouts in the next 6 hours or so. And perhaps some of the more adventurous gaijin types (read: drunk foreigners) may take over a car on the JR Yamanote Line for an hour of revelry...that is, if the cops don't grab them first. Then, from tomorrow, department stores here will be taking a page out of the North American handbook and replacing their orange and black displays with those of red, green and white. Yes, once again, J-Xmas will be landing in The Big Sushi as of November 1.

Yesterday, after my lone lesson with The OL (she was in far better spirits than last time when she was in a bit of a funk), I met up with The Anime Chamberlain in Akihabara and helped him buy a couple of anime figures...nothing too obscene, thankfully. Was kinda disappointed that there weren't all that many Halloween types walking up the hokoten, but then again the cops probably would've shooed them away in keeping with the new spoilsport rules. We then met up with a couple that The Chamberlain knows from Toronto. They are just spending the next 2 weeks in Tokyo. Automan even knows them although it was my first time to meet them. We ended up going to Sushi Zanmai, the kaiten version, up on the top of Yodobashi Akiba. The couple were amply impressed by the massive size of Japan's (possibly) largest electronics store. When I entertain visitors from the home country, I usually take them up there since conveyor belt sushi is basically just a fantasy in T.O. Of course, we managed to pig ourselves out.

This morning, I had Cozy as usual for his early lesson and then I had several hours off before I saw Mr. Swank in Shinjuku. I finally made the call to my real estate agent after a couple of rounds of telephone tag. On Wednesday, I have to go over to the office and pick up a form formally notifying ABLE that I am leaving the premises. I snuck the call between watching the season enders of "Hawaii Five-O" and "Nikita". Yup, pretty rollicking stuff. Season 2 won't be starting here until next Spring, but then again I will be heading home right in the middle of that season.

Looks like Econoship may be the way I'm going in terms of moving companies. I've been seeing some good reviews about them. The Carolinan had sent me contact numbers for Nippon Express via a friend but I'm not quite willing to call them cold and then have them try to give me a hard sell. I will have to make a decision within the next couple of weeks.

It's been comfortably cool for the past few days, but Mr. Swank told me that it might be getting a bit warm tomorrow. So, the humidity may not be going away just yet. Still, I think it's probably more preferable than the freak snowstorm that's hit the Eastern Seaboard.

Well, I've got The Beehive and then The Kimono Nurse here tomorrow but after that I'll be meeting up with MB in Shinjuku for a rare Tuesday night at the movies. "Captain America" is on tap. I've heard different things about it; The Satyr despised it while the bossman's wife enjoyed it to no end.

Sunday October 30, 9:57 a.m.
It was Shrek's Halloween party in the wilds of Chiba yesterday. To contribute my part, I ran down all the way to Hiroo in what would've been my final purchase at the soon-to-shut-down National Azabu Supermarket, only to find out that they had run out of American pumpkins. So, instead, I went to that other expensive supermarket, Meidi-Ya right above the station and snapped one up for 3,000 yen. Yup, by the 29th, it was pretty much a seller's market.
The trip up from Hiroo all the way up to Kita-Kogane was pretty straightforward...only needed to go up the whole of the Hibiya Line and then transfer over to the JR Joban Line for about 20 minutes. Of course, the weather was so nice that a BBQ was called for. I guess before chestnuts do so, we need to have chickens roasting over an open fire (ahem).

Buzz Lightyear wasn't exactly going to infinity and beyond in this shot, but he still looked rather cute.

The kids were just able to hold their attention for a couple of minutes while I explained what a Jack O'Lantern was, not surprising considering their average age was 6. So, it was up to my old friend, The Chipmunk, who had never carved a pumpkin before, to do the honours of transforming the gourd into a Jack. Pretty nice job here, eh?

After 2 straight days off, I've got The OL in the afternoon but then I'm supposed to be meeting with The Anime Chamberlain in Akiba to get that Nintendo 3DS for The Anime King and then dinner. His two buddies may be showing up. But before all that happens, I'm gonna make a quick jump down to Shibuya since it is their special point card day at Tower Records.

Friday October 28, 10:59 a.m.

I really have to confirm things up with people. It happened between me and The Anime Chamberlain a few weeks ago, and it's happened again just now. Shrek's plan for his Halloween party tomorrow has been in the works for a month, and he only now asks me about my plan to bring pumpkins over for carving. I just mentioned (at least that's what I think happened) about perhaps bringing some the gourds over if Shrek were interested but there was nothing confirmed about this. No huge problems since I don't have any lessons on Saturday but now I'll probably have to head all the way over to the soon-to-be demolished National Azabu Supermarket to pick up pumpkins before I head on over to Shrek's place all the way near radioactive Kashiwa.

Friday October 28, 10:14 a.m.

Nice, cool, and dry....what every armpit aspires to be. But in this case, I'm talking about the weather in Chiba. I have the day off today. As I mentioned, no lessons with The Bass and Swank is off in Manila with the kids while her hubby is doing business in Vietnam. Just spending the day surfing and blogging on the Net....the 21st-century version of perusing the paper leisurely with a cup of coffee.

My exodus plans have been pushed a bit further...I got some further intel via The Carolinan last night about potential moving companies. It's a star...Nittsu. My student gave me a name and number. I checked their website...the process looks very comprehensive but I do wonder about what their prices will be since they don't list any and won't until they do the inspection. I have a feeling if I go with these guys, I will be using my VISA. Also, I sent off my diplomas via air mail this morning. The lady at the post office expressed some concern that I hadn't put in any cardboard backing in the padded envelope (D'oh!) but at this point, I don't think I really care anymore if my diplomas get folded...plus they may actually gain a bit of character. Right now, I've got a box that's getting filled with my summer clothing.

I received a rather odd letter from my old colleague, Bay. She's in Seattle right now but apparently her current boss over there will be coming to Tokyo next next week on business, and she wanted to "hire" me as an interpreter between the boss and her parents. She knows of my translation experience since I helped her translate a couple of Japanese documents into English, but I informed her that translating and interpreting are two different animals, and that in all good conscience I could not take on a paid role as an interpreter but that I would be happy to volunteer my services to help out. The money would've been good but just couldn't live with the pressure.

Friday October 28, 9:44 a.m.

Well, it's music time again on this blog. Thanks to The Satyr's b-day present of an Amazon e-gift certificate, I made a couple of purchases.

The one at the very top is "Kana", by Kanako Wada, a pop singer who had a pretty short career of perhaps 5 years in the late 80s. Like a number of J-Pop singers I admire, she never became a huge superstar like a Seiko Matsuda or an Anzen Chitai but she is known amongst the anime veterans as the vocalist for at least a couple of theme tunes for the well-regarded 80s show, "Kimagure Orange Road". But this fact I only discovered some years later. Actually, I'd bought her very first album on LP a couple of years before KOR back in Toronto's Chinatown...and it's the only Wada entry to not have been put to CD so I've got a bit of a prized asset in my closet back home...too bad I can't play it anymore since my parents threw out the old Victor. To be honest, I hadn't been all that impressed with her on that inaugural release so I kinda forgot about her for a few years until I re-discovered her via a 1990 Japanese soup commerical for which she sang the jingle, "Dreamin' Lady", a snazzy upbeat AOR tune which caught my attention. After that, I tracked down the song to her album "Dear" and after that, I was hooked again. She'd obviously improved her production staff. "Kana" is one of her earlier albums, and it's got a mix of that late 80s synthpop of that time along with some of the more bossa/jazz/pop that she would get into into her last releases.

The other album I got from Amazon was Taeko Onuki's "Aventure", but I'd already talked about that one in a previous entry. With my quickly dwindling supply of free Amazon cash, I managed to get the Blue version of "The Best of The Art of Noise" which has all of the remixes. From the distributing company, I think it's coming from somewhere in Germany which means I'll probably get it sometime in early November. Hey, "Peter Gunn" and "Dragnet" are classics by me!

The final album you see up there is "Songs" by 70s group, Sugar Babe. It was the first and final album by the group which consisted of the aforementioned Taeko Onuki and Tatsuro Yamashita as two of the three vocalists. Of course, along with Onuki, Yamashita has carved himself a legendary solo career as a pioneer of the New Music movement in Japan as well as all-round pop crooner and the writer/performer of the J-equivalent of "White Christmas", "Christmas Eve". The album cover itself has become one of the more recognized covers in Japanese music...two old curmudgeonly ladies in sepia drawing. And the album itself is considered to be a New Music classic. I've yet to take a listen to it since I don't think "Songs" is quite the album to listen in bed. However, I have listened to two of the tracks via other albums and YouTube. "Downtown" is a perennial J-Pop chestnut that has been covered by a number of artists over the decades, including a Japanese chip tune unit, YMCK. Yamashita sings the original version here but my favorite version is by the Queen of City Pop, EPO. The other one I've heard is "Itsumo doori" (As Always) by Onuki. From these two songs, my impression for the album is that it's a pop album in the vein of Carole King. Should be interesting.

Thursday October 27, 9:23 p.m.

It's gotten downright chilly in The Big Sushi tonight....that fish on top of the rice is getting frost forming on it. My lesson with Mrs. Thursday was such that it would make a bicultural pop culture enthusiast weep for joy. We ended up not even touching the text; instead we started out discussing the latest news on "NCIS" and then spending several minutes talking about what an "NCIS: Yokosuka" cast would be like (Ken Watanabe...we have a show for YOU!) before seguing onto the latest Hollywood adaptations of anime (not a good record there unfortunately;"Dragonball" anyone?) and then getting into kayo kyoku once again. It's a pity that I won't be seeing her until mid-November due to the fact that next Thursday is a national holiday and then the Thursday after that will have her and her family celebrating the Shichi-Go-San kids festival.

In any case, tomorrow will be a day off for me since I don't have The Bass or Swank. Swank is off with her kids to Manila. Instead, I'll probably do the 8 hours at the I-Cafe.

Thursday October 27, 7:40 p.m.

Finished up with The Carolinan. She's usually quite unemotional but today she was a bit more sullen than usual. Didn't delve into it since I've gotten quite accustomed to it, but I kinda wonder if she's not feeling too good about entering the 40s. She did appreciate my present of rice crackers. Should be quite happy about cracking the Miller open tonight.

The process for finishing my lease has begun. I sent the letter last week and I got a message on my machine from the local Able office. Of course, when I returned the call yesterday, I was informed that the man in charge is on his weekend and so most likely I will not be able to reach him until early next week.

In the "Oh, dopey me" department, I had made two letters last week: one going to my mutual funds company and another going to my old friend and former student, The Stick. I ended up sending the wrong letter to The Stick, but at least it did get a response from her. I hadn't heard from her in several months. She apparently moved again...this time to an apartment in Koiwa. And she gave me her new e-mail address for which I gave her a total accounting of my future plans.

I've got Mrs. Thursday coming here in about 15. I'll probably ask her about the rumour about that "Hawaii Five-O" and "NCIS: LA" tie-up. Mind you, she likes "NCIS: LA" far less than the original show.

I'll be meeting Movie Buddy on Tuesday for Foo Foo and "Captain America", and I'll be seeing The Anime Chamberlain on Sunday after The OL's lesson. The Chamberlain is currently traveling through very rural Kyushu via the Bullet Train.

Thursday October 27, 6:07 p.m.

Was doing a bit of shopping today in Shibuya. After picking up a large envelope in Tokyu Hands, I came across this place right next door called "L&L Hawaiian BBQ". Being a veteran of daytime Shibuya, I used to frequent this place when it used to be a McDonalds up to a few years ago. Then, it was an Okinawan ice cream joint, but apparently now this restaurant has popped up. I've found out that this place is yet another American transplant along with Krispy Kreme and Eggs N' Things to tantalize the Japanese palate.


Well, being a "Hawaii Five-O" fan and after having that scrumptious dinner at Eggs N' Things a couple of weeks back, I decided to give this place a shot. There was a fellow in his mandatory Aloha shirt taking orders, so I asked for the regular BBQ Chicken plate. I decided to stay on the first floor where there were a few tables in a peoplewatching position. About 10 minutes or so passed before I got my platter of chicken, shredded cabbage, rice and macaroni salad. And with a mango juice, the lunch special came to 780 yen. Not too bad.

Yup, this is the 1st floor area. I read on another blog that the writer, who has been to the original restaurant in Hawaii, felt that a possible obstacle to this far-flung branch's success is the fact most pedestrians will only see this exposed area and assume that this is the only seating area. As someone who used to know and frequent the McD's that had once stood on this site, there are two more floors but a lot of people aren't aware of this fact. In addition, apparently customers can now only get to the 2nd and 3rd floors by elevator only (what if there is a fire?) since the stairs are now off-limits for some bizarre reason. The Aloha guy told the customer in front of me to take the elevator to the 2nd floor, but I'm not sure if that is particularly the most efficient way of informing potential customers. And I didn't notice any signs on the 2nd and 3rd-floor windows. Something to fix, I believe.

Something a restaurant always cherishes...the cardboard bromides with autographs of famous customers. Apparently, a number of tarento have come through the doors of this place. The band DefTech is one of them. It's a duo consisting of one Japanese and one American who sing a lot of mild pop-rock. They've got a fairly catchy tune out right now.

The BBQ Chicken passed muster although it was reminiscent of the usual teriyaki stuff but then again, the Hawaiians have adopted a lot of culinary influence from the Japanese.
I'll have to come back for the loco moco next time.

Managed to pick up a birthday present for The Carolinan who should be here in about 10 minutes for one of her final lessons with me. Her sister informed me yesterday that instead of the sweets, she prefers something salty and Japanese....I was gonna remark with "Akiko Wada" but my brain got back on track...and so I bought a bag of rice crackers from a branch of Kinokuniya Supermarket located under Bunkamura. The Carolinan has always appreciated snacks that go well with a glass of beer.

Thursday October 27, 4:11 p.m.

Now, this is something that Steve Jobs would weep for joy about. I came across this vending machine in JR Funabashi Station...on the platform for the Sobu Line, to be exact...which works with a touchscreen. Basically, it's an iVending Machine...heck, let's call it an iPop. When it's not being called upon for some juice or coffee, the screen is showing some cute animated commercial.


But when you touch the screen, it transforms to show you its range of drinks. All you have to do is touch the drink you want after putting in the coins...or just use your commuter's pass to pay. I just had to try it myself and went for a can of coffee. Considering I'd had a cuppa for breakfast and then another at the cafe where I teach The Bass, I was pretty much bouncing off the walls by noon.

Thursday October 27, 3:56 p.m.
Last Saturday, I met up with The Anime Chamberlain and The Bohemian in JR Shinjuku for dinner. Now the two of them have both annoyed the hell out of me at different times, so I had been wondering what would have happened if the two of them were put together. Do they get along swimmingly or would they end up eating each other alive? Luckily, the two got along although they both traded opposing sides at a couple of points during the meal. The meal, by the way, was in Okubo, aka Tokyo's Koreatown just north of Shinjuku.


Not surprisingly, we had dinner at a yakiniku (Korean BBQ) joint and went for the 3,480 yen all-you-can-eat meat and all-you-can-drink (of course, this was The Bohemian's idea)
plan. This little bowl was an interesting number to start off with. It's carrot congee...rice soup with some added fiber. But luckily, none of us had any sudden need for the washroom during our 3 hours there.

Naturally, no self-respecting Korean restaurant would serve dinner without the appetizers of sesame sprouts and deep-fried tofu skin. The Anime Chamberlain is remarkably picky about his food (he has been quite disappointed by Tokyo's ramen since he feels that the noodles have all been un-freshly made), but he really liked these condiments.

These are pork bellies frying up on the slanted teppan with onions, sweet potatoes and kimchi. Yep, pork bellies. Usually they would be part of a culinary punch line back in the West but over here, they are part and parcel of a fine Korean dinner. Probably the reason that pork bellies don't have as much popularity back home is because of the thick fat. Ironically over here, they're loved for that same reason.

The pork bellies were cooked and then the eagle-eyed waiter came by with some very sharp scissors and snipped the long strips into bite-sized pieces. The teppan is slanted, by the way, so that the excess oil can run down and collect in a trough at the bottom.

Next to the teppan was a wooden plate filled with fresh lettuce and other greens...known here in Japan as sanchu.

And just before it disappeared deep into the abyss known as my gastrointestinal system, here had been a piece of pork belly about to be wrapped in a piece of green. Ironic, a belly going into a belly.

Wednesday October 26, 7:32 p.m.

This ordinary skyscraper in Shinjuku wasn't here some 7 months ago. Instead, there was a crane doing construction work, and on March 11th, it took on the added job of swinging helplessly like the trunk of an addled elephant. Yup, the construction site was next door to the Maynds Tower, where I usually teach The New Yorker at the Starbucks. I can only hope that this building will hang in there during the next major quake.

Speaking of The New Yorker, I met her at Starbucks today as well. She was actually a bit more lucid than usual; it would be nice to end my tenure with her on a high note. And earlier on, I saw The Kimono Nurse. It was another ball of laughs, but I think I'm gonna have to be a bit more serious with her in future lessons. I will be having Kirk in about 45 minutes.

Wednesday October 26, 7:15 p.m.

I've been hearing some interesting tidbits from the world of entertainment. First off, I heard that there will be some sort of crossover between the new "Hawaii Five-O" and "NCIS: Los Angeles"; apparently, Agent Bly will be heading over to meet McGarrett's task force for a joint mission. All I can say is that sometime in the future, I wanna see McGarrett vs. Gibbs! And I would love to see an encounter between Max and Abby in the lab.

As for the 2nd tidbit, looks like Lindsay Lohan will finally be doing that nude pictorial in Playboy. I don't think that's much of a surprise...more an inevitability.