Wednesday November 1, 5:11 p.m.

Finished off my dinner of tofu...nothing more blander in taste and ambience.

Looks like there's a chance that there won't be any reunion party for me to go to tomorrow night. The Coffeemaker's shindig is from 7-9...which is about a half-hour longer than my time with B2 and B2B...not even sure if there's gonna be a second party. Well, at least I could save some money.

The Anime King will be heading over here at the end of November. I told him about taking The Egg to Kimu Katsu last month. Speaking of The Egg, I got some Swiss Chalet Debit Cards from him and his wife in thanks for my hospitality back in September. That should alleviate some of the cash flow during The Holidays. Mm-hmm...love Swiss Chalet. For those not in the know, Swiss Chalet is a chain of roast chicken restaurants in Canada. My family's had a long relationship with them...eat-in and take-out. And now that I'm living long-term in Japan, my rare visits to the place have become more precious. The BBQ sauce has been a source of some controversy over the decades. Some (like me) just lick up every last drop while others compare it to well-seasoned dishwater, preferring SC's rival, Ste.-Hubert's Chicken. I've never been to Ste.-Hubert's. Over in the States, one way of finding out what a man is made of is by his stripe of politics: Republican or Democrat. Over in Toronto, it's probably about which chicken restaurant he goes for. I'm solidly Swiss.

However, I'm not crying for lack of good chicken dishes here....and I'm not talking about KFC, either. The Maple Leaf, the Canadian pub in Shibuya, has some really good wings which can actually burn orifices in your throat and stomach. And a more Japanese alternative, Toriyoshi, which is also in the same area, has a scrumptious menu which is totally devoted to the beloved fowl. But when I get back to Toronto next month, I still plan to hit Swiss, along with The Madison Ave. Pub for my wings. I may even hit The Colonel...if only to have my 10W40 gravy on my fries there.

Speaking of food, I'm reminded of a scene from a 1985 Japanese movie, "Tampopo", the first ramen western. The movie was released a good decade before the critical darling, "Shall We Dance?" which introduced cineasts to Koji Yakusho, and was notable for the Pythonesque scattershot comedy of how a struggling ramen owner tries to get back on her feet, and a risque scene combining food and sex (don't think too deeply...no fruit or vegetables were harmed during the filming of this movie). However, I also remember a scene in which a homeless man sumptuously cooked a dish for a young boy. The old codger first sauteed some chicken and onions and then tossed in some cooked rice before adding ketchup. Then, he whipped up some eggs to a froth before putting the mixture into another pan, jolting it with his arms and hands into a softly cooked mound before landing the fluffy thing onto the red chicken rice. And for the piece de resistance, he took a sharp knife, carefully sliced through the pod of egg and the pod opened gently revealing a glistening yellow roof which slowly covered the rice.

It was a magnificent minute of cooking artistry displayed on film. The dish is called omu-raisu (rice omelette) and it belongs to that peculiar intra-Japan culinary genre called yo-shoku, or Western cuisine....but Western cuisine done through Japanese eyes. I know about Spanish omelettes in America and the ground beef-filled omelettes that my mother makes but I don't think omu-raisu has ever made its appearance in the West. And yo-shoku isn't just about eggs and rice. We also have hayashi raisu (Hayashi Rice), the beef stew-like concoction poured over cooked rice, our own version of rice curry (very mild...I don't think the Indians have ever quite forgiven us for making our own type of curry using honey and apples), and perhaps even sukiyaki could even be put into this august group...beef wasn't widely eaten until Commodore Peary decided to break Japan's isolationist policy and throw Japan into The Meiji Restoration.

Wednesday November 1, 3:26 p.m.

As the Peanuts gang annually say, "Christmas time is here..." At least for the department stores in Tokyo, it has. Not more than 12 hours since the last Jack O' Lantern was thrown out with the rest of the garbage, the Xmas trees went up. As I was coming down the huge escalator at the Mark City Mall in Shibuya this morning, there was a huge trimmed tree in gold, and one of the main thoroughfares in the Teen Mecca was already sporting a distinctly Noel look.

However, yesterday was indeed Linus Van Pelt's favourite time of the year and thus, it was Haruhiko's annual pumpkin carving day. It all started with The Beehive. Mrs. Travel came through with one medium-sized pumpkin. Instead of the usual lesson, the Hive and I set up shop at Mrs. Perth's apartment where the ladies couldn't help but already put out all the fixins for another amazing lunch spread with plenty of alcohol. I was feeling quite gregarious by the end of lunch. Mrs. Perth had a great time traveling through Europe with her husband and buddies and had the pics to prove it although she couldn't quite handle the quantities characteristic of a German meal (I think that's more my domain). As for the pumpkin carving, the ladies pulled off the job within 20 minutes which is a record in my history of pumpkin carvings.

Then, later that night, it was the same activity with Seven at the juku. However, there I was more of the navigator since I was given a rather faulty knife and I couldn't really have the lass take the chance of slicing off her hand. However, her pumpkin did look like a proper Jack by the end of our 60 minutes. She gleefully took it home. Once again, she carried on the tradition of giving me some confectionaries; this time, it was a bag of marshmallows which I managed to devour in about 2 hours...i.e. the time that I was at the juku. I also got a nice box of cookies from her. But I also gave her the complementary Halloween waffle from a package that I'd bought at the local Mini Stop. My time was really just half a stint: Jolly no-showed and once again, The Siberian cancelled. So, in my little corner of my world, I had a nicely quiet Halloween as compared to the raucous goings-on at the dance parties in Roppongi and Shibuya.

My Wednesday has been remade into my usual Monday schedule since I saw The Class Act this morning. The Lady has fallen for the "24" trap. Yup, she rented out the first half of Season 1 from the nearby Tsutaya, and now she can't get enough of Jack Bauer. I accidentally let it slip out that Dennis Haysbert's Senator survives to become President but other than that I kinda tortured her about the traitor within CTU.

To continue with that Charlie Brown analogy from the beginning, I actually did buy the latest Peanuts book (1961-1962). The Peanuts gang has finally taken that most familiar shape, and there was a nice intro by Diana Krall.

The foreign celeb sightings continue. I was talking about Scarlett Johannsen hawking Mt. Rainier Iced Coffee. Now, Cameron Diaz is back...this time, she's selling Softbank cellphones. She's made her money and this time, she doesn't have to spout out any of those nonsensical non-sequiturs that other stars have to spit out. She's just gabbing silently away to some music. Plus, Madonna made her way onto the "Smap X Smap" programme starring the SMAP boys; it was as the guest on the Bistro SMAP segment where she has the boys whip up some sort of magnificent dinner. Just glad that she didn't have to do the duet segment where she actually has to sing with them. Mind you, The Black-Eyed Peas weren't so fortunate several weeks ago. Speaking of them, though, Fergie did a surprise appearance on the Fuji-TV noontime variety show, "Waratte Ii Tomo" yesterday to promote her new album. Not sure if she pulled off one of her "London Bridge" dancing gyrations on Tamori.

Lifting a paraphrased quote from an actor from a recent article of "Premiere" magazine, paying the bills is like vomiting: I dread it but when I get it done, I feel somewhat better. I unloaded a lot of yen last night for National Health Insurance, Citizen's Tax (I keep telling myself that I enjoy having my garbage picked up to justify the cost) and my rent (I also appreciate my apartment).

Monday October 30, 9:51 p.m.

Still a bit early to make my way home, so....

Also still wondering when that first Krispy Kreme franchise will be landing here in Tokyo. I've been reading the announcements about it but so far there has been no sighting of those succulent icing-drenched haloes of heart-stopping cholesterol yet. I kinda wonder if KK will make a splash (or a splat, if I'm gonna be onomatopoeically accurate) in the megalopolis. KK donuts are a pretty sweet deal and I'm not sure if the Japanese are quite ready for that level of fat. However, I figure if they've weaned themselves on McDonalds, Hansons and even The Doughnut Plant, they may be ready for the ultimate in guilty culinary pleasures.

I was able to take care of The Part-Timer and 008 tonight. 008 came in some 15 minutes late due to the rigors of work but she was good to go as usual. I even gave a little spiel about Halloween. Speaking of which, I've got my first pumpkin carvings tomorrow morning and night. I hope that Mrs. Travel of the Beehive was able to procure a couple of gourds for carving up; I haven't heard anything from them in the last couple of weeks. And then I've got Seven for hers.

In the D'oh! (as in Homer Simpson's favourite expletive) department, the Japanese education system must be yelling "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" while knocking their brains to the wall repeatedly. Apparently, almost 200 high schools across the nation are guilty of not teaching the required core courses for their seniors to graduate next March. The teachers and principals basically lied to Monbusho (Ministry of Education...or Propaganda) about what their young charges have learned in the misguided notion of helping them pass their entrance exams for university. After all, there is only so much time in a semester to cram as much info into their brains before the exam hell comes upon them so something had to be jettisoned....and that something was the basics. And now the schools' so-called assistance may ensure that the students will have to cram even more hours of schooling just to be eligible to get out with a diploma. I'm kinda surprised that the students didn't just lynch the faculty right then and there during cho-rei (morning assembly).

As if the government weren't screwing the kids, the incidence of violence toward kids has become front and centre in the news (I knew it...all that media outrage about drinking n' driving has been shoved aside like week-old leftovers). A father beats his two kids to a pulp after they accidentally deleted his notes from his computer...a 4-year-old boy is found dead in a drainage ditch in some suspicious circumstances...a 64-year-old guy goes berserk and uses his car as a ramrod against some elementary school kids for some perceived bullying against his daughter...and two kids hang themselves in separate schools last week due to bullying itself. What's this about Japan having the safest society? Apparently, that fact only kicks in if one survives childhood.

Monday October 30, 7:28 p.m.

I've got a bit of an unexpected respite between students since 008 is running a bit late.

Can't believe how much Halloween has grabbed hold of Tokyo. If the holiday has taken hold of the rest of Japan like it has here in the past several years, then the country should be considered the third official nation to celebrate October 31 after America and Canada. The decorations of Jack O'Lanterns and witches were up in many store windows as early as late September, and I'm sure there was the gamut of Halloween parties over the past weekend. Not sure if the custom of foreigners hijacking one car on the Yamanote Line for one hour still reigns though. The annual Omotesando Halloween Parade was in full stride, though. I saw a lot of children running around in costumes with their ragged parents.

I should be in for an ass-kicking. Here I was yesterday trying to grab a couple of pumpkins down in the tony district of Omotesando/Aoyama. I checked the usual flower shop next to Kinokuniya Supermarket for some of the medium-sized orange gourds and they were fresh out. I even checked the supermarket itself, despite the considerable cost, and found out that even they were sold out. So I walked down to one last chance at another flower shop down the street across from Aoyama Gakuin University. I did get one, the last one...for the price of 2,000 yen...the going rate in the tony area. Then I get back home lugging this behemoth and decide go into my own little supermarket for dinner supplies when lo and behold, I see these large orange pumpkins on the shelf. My neighbourhood supermarket had never sold pumpkins before now, and there they were selling for the tiny price of 298 yen each....almost a tenth the price of the pumpkin I got in Aoyama. Oy vey! Well, at least I've got the two I needed for Seven and 002.

Monday October 30, 5:35 p.m.

Gabbing with Speedy while I'm typing this...he's doing a major gripe about PH's latest Thanksgiving party. I didn't bother going since I decided that large parties are no longer my thing and I just don't have anything in common with most of the Quarterback's gang. Apparently, the QB's group, according to Speedy, is taking the massive annual PH Thanksgiving party for granted. PH, ever the ball of energy, was slaving away over the hot stove while virtually no one lifted a finger or offered to pitch in financially. In a very cynical way, it made me feel a little better but I do feel sorry for PH. On the other hand, knowing that PH is a take-no-crap type, she'll probably grab QB's ear and give him a good talking-to.

Mom called me last night....after Uncle had called me asking me whether I was gonna go to Osaka when the parentals arrive there later this week. One of the small things that drives me up the wall about my mother is that for months and years, she's discouraged me from visiting my Kansai relations so that I'm not guilty of meiwaku (burdening)...although part of me thinks the real reason is that there is no risk of me embarrassing the family name. When she called me last night, she kinda asked me questioningly if I would be willing to go to Osaka after all. I sighed (internally)....I already have plans for the long weekend. Now I've got some guilt trip coursing around in me, although I'm glad that I'm not going for purely financial reasons. A Bullet Train ticket is not cheap.

Sunday October 29th, 1:49 p.m.

It's been a case of seconds for the Japanese sporting world over the past few days. In the World Series, the Cardinals won so it is the 2nd year in a row that a Major League team with a Japanese player got the brass ring. This time, the lucky fellow is So Taguchi. Of course, the local media here focused all on him spritzing his mates with the champagne. Over here, the Japan Series got its champion from Hokkaido when the Nippon Ham Fighters won its first Series in 44 years in Sapporo over The Chunichi Dragons. The second connection comes with the fact the Fighters was the 2nd team in a row to win its do ring with an American manager, Trey Hillman.

But the bigger news was that it was Fighters centrefielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo's final game. After 14 years with the Hanshin Tigers, the New York Mets and then his current team, the man with a personality bigger than his talent finally hung up his mitt for good (supposedly). He didn't do much with the Mets but his outsized self certainly brought a cultural earthquake of sorts in staid Sapporo. And he's been hitting the commercial world in a big way, which ought to hint at what his post-baseball future may be like. He's been hawking a travel agency, iced coffee and underwear. Although some have disagreed with me, I think he'll probably hit the tarento circuit. In his last game, he was wearing his emotions literally on his sleeve. While wiping away the tears at his last at-bat, he took 3 mighty swings-turned-strikes before heading out to the field one last time. The man didn't stop crying for about half an hour. But it was a great way to end a career...getting a championship on his home turf.

In my own little life, I've had the usual ups and downs during the latter half of the week. My first true class with The Polynesian went very well...looks like the girl has actually turned another leaf. On the other hand, my lesson with The New Yorker was very nearly a crash n' burn. The girl just can't get it together. It also didn't help that there was a bigger-than-average crowd at The Tea Room because of its last days. All of my Tea Room students were with me on the last 3 days. The New Yorker suggested the Starbucks over the station although that place is one of the more crowded cafes in the neighbourhood. Then on Friday, The UL suggested a potential choice in Otemachi since it is the station for both our lines; however, we'll be meeting at the old Toranomon Starbucks the next time. Ironic...I thought once The OL went inactive, The Tea Room would remain one of my main bases and Toranomon would become a faint memory. Now it's the other way around. Finally, M+M came for their 2 hours with me; they actually decided to get some food with their tea in commemoration of the very last day yesterday. Then, followed The Carolinan. As they say, the joint was really jumping last night as old regular customers tried to get one more cuppa before the doors closed for good. Even I got a bit sentimental by ordering the scone set with my Earl Grey. As The Carolinan and I made our way to the cashier, we had one final chat with the ever-smiling manageress. Luckily, she has my name card so if anything comes up, she'll be the first to contact me.

During my 5 years at The Tea Room, my favourite sandwich was The Tuna Salad and Cheese. I finally asked the manageress about the recipe, thinking that I would have to combine a complex mix of ingredients such as the finest European cheese, some sort of expensive mayo or the freshest tuna from Tsukiji. Well, she sank my boat by just answering that the chef always used regular supermarket ingredients. At least, I know that I can put it all together by myself. The manageress is one class act...I'll miss her.

Earlier in the morning yesterday, I had my first class with The Coffeemaker and Tully. It went very well. Looks like my "Conversation Gambits" book has become the impact player of my texts. I may even use it with the text-shy Siberian on Tuesday night. Before the two came though, I had been sipping my coffee in the basement of the Tully's cafe near the station (my new Ichigaya touchstone since The Tea Room has closed up shop). There was a group of young me just huddled around three tables just talking very quietly...very unusual considering their age...I'd guess, their twenties. They looked the intellectual university type and were just talking in hushed voices. I could've sworn that they belonged to a bible study group...or an otaku terrorist cell. I wonder if they're regulars. In any case, The Coffeemaker and Tully are still planning their umpteenth reunion with their old mates this Thursday in Shibuya. The Satyr and I are planning to go but I do have that lesson with B2 so I'll be late.

I just had my kid, The Younger, and her mother today. The Elder is off at one of her frequent volleyball games today. Now after this, I'm heading on down to Aoyama to pick up a couple of pumpkins for carving with Seven at the juku on Tuesday and then at 002's party on Saturday (fully knowing that it'll be 4 days after Halloween). The Beehive will be having its own pumpkin carving on Tuesday morning but hopefully Mrs. Travel will have taken care of the details on her end.

I got word from Speedy that Farrah came in for one of her rare classes yesterday. Usually, I'd be teaching her but since I was already well engaged, Speedy had to take over. And it looks like Farrah will be a rather scarce student since her company is now entering the busy season. Speedy was ruefully saying that it would be May before any more time would open up for her. Well, that's the way it goes.

Wednesday October 25, 10:04 p.m.

I've finished up my classes with 001 and 007. Everything was as usual: 001 and I were bandying about the dollops of humour during her lesson, while I've discovered that 007 is not just slightly otaku-ish but he's also quite the intellectual. We were playing Desert Island Discs, Movies, etc, and he was throwing me some rather highbrow suggestions. I'm still wondering if he's still a bit too high for the text since his listening comprehension and grammar are rather high; it's just that his fluency isn't too great. Well, Speedy told me that his fourth and final lesson of his current batch will be next week, so we'll see if he'll continue on with me.

I've also updated my Mixi account with a couple of articles on my Permanent Residency and on the death of The Tea Room. I haven't really gotten any replies from anyone...not too surprising since Mixi is a Japanese community forum, and I've stubbornly continued to write in English. I'm just not willing to spend two hours on line constructing Japanese sentences with the help of dictionaries. Still, there may be someone who will dare to read what I've got.

Well, gotta go on home. I've got The Polynesian for her official first lesson tomorrow and then The New Yorker for her final lesson at The Tea Room. I kinda wonder if The New Yorker will be continuing on with me. She's been slow in progress over the past couple of years, and I wonder if the end of her presence at my base of operations will cue her to stop with me, period. I've recently decided not to go haywire whenever a student decides to cease his/her time with me. I will now just treat it as her time to go away for a while. With the return of The Polynesian and The Coffeemaker after a few years, I think my life is just one bus stop with a lot of arrivals and departures.

Wednesday October 25, 5:07 p.m.

Two months before Xmas...what will I be doing then...aside from devouring fowl, that is?

In any case, I've changed the flight for The Great White North. I've gone back to the robber barons at Air Canada since I decided that paying more for a direct non-stop flight was better than risking missing a connector via the US. The damage won't hurt too bad...just another 14,000 yen extra.

Well, after two straight days of rain and cooler weather reminiscent of mid-November instead of late October, things are pretty peachy today. But I'm still drying out the sneakers. I headed on out to City Hall to register the fact that I'm now a Permanent Resident on my gaijin card. It just took 5 minutes. While I was thinking about lunch before heading over to 002's place, I came across the sign stating the existence of a cafeteria inside Ichikawa City Hall in the basement. And I saw that the lunch sets were at a low, low 400 yen. So I checked it out. And I should've checked it off. It was like going into a time warp into those old company shokudo of yesteryear: dingy walls and flourescent lights with a staff of old ladies. I had the saraudon, a dish of dry chow mein noodles smothered in a cornstarch sauce of veggies and bits of meat. Well, I tell you, the adage "You get what you pay for" loomed large in my mind (and stomach) after eating that one. I actually tasted gristle. Just like the processing of my information upstairs, my digestive tract only needed 5 minutes to return its verdict. Of course, I used the proper facilities.

Yesterday, during the unstable weather, I had most of the day off since The Beehive was having my rarely seen teaching partner and 002 was having her class today. So I trotted off to the nearest department store to see if I could pick up a new fax/phone to replace my ailing one. Well, a comparable one comes to about 23,000 yen...and on my current budget, I don't think I'll be purchasing one this year. I came home when I kinda ran into that weirdo neighbour on the stairs. We didn't say anything to each other...well, I mumbled a konnichiwa but most likely he didn't hear...he looked pretty raggedy in his undershirt, shorts and flip-flops. I kinda wonder how much of a hikikomori (shut-in/recluse) he is. One thing, for sure...he's a morning person..a very early morning person. He was already banging on the walls at the crack of dawn. He still has his penchant of slamming doors. But then again, he isn't alone. My other neighbours at the end of the hall are a group of Filipinos who often have the same habit.

The juku guys were fine last night. Seven was her usual giddy self. I'll be getting her that pumpking for carving next Tuesday. Jolly finally came back after a 3-week absence, and The Milds were their usual happy selves.

During that idle afternoon, I caught a rare rerun of one of the last Japanese dramas I'd seen before giving up on them several years ago. It's called Shin O-Mizu no Hanamichi (The New Golden Road of the Water Trade). The water trade in Japan refers to the somewhat sleazy businesses catering to the salarymen such as hostess clubs and the more risque establishments like soaplands and the like which breed in Tokyo's entertainment districts of Kabukicho and Roppongi. Lest you think that this show is a hardcore expose with vile characters, I have to remind you that it was a Fuji-TV drama...very fluffy and all that. The original O-Mizu no Hanamichi was shown in the late 90s and was a moderate hit since it was a comic take on life in a ritzy hostess club called Club Paradise. When I mean "comic", each episode seemed to have a similar structure to an average show of "Sailor Moon". There were the kooky characters, the slapstick situations and the breaking of the 4th wall. However, the original got so maudlin in its final eps (the romantic lead gets offed in a car accident) that the new version wasn't a bona fide sequel. It was made so that the original show was a manga read gleefully by the characters in Club Paradise in the first ep. How's that for a "Dallas" dream sequence? In any case, one of the third-stringers in the show is now an A-lister actress, Mizuki Ito.

In any case, I've got 001 and 007 starting in about 20 minutes.

Monday October 23, 5:26 p.m.

Had one of those up-and-down weekends. On Saturday, I had The Ramen Lady for a total of 45 minutes...she only got the half treatment since she'd been late due to a hangover from an all-night binge with a buddy of hers. Speedy himself kinda tailored that schedule for her since he was a bit antsy about getting to the theatre in time to see "World Trade Center"; not that he was being selfish or anything but he kinda cut things a bit too close and the movie outing was an official school event. However, I think he almost threw out The Ramen Lady a bit too hastily once I got done.

So, while he raced off to his movie, I made my more leisurely way up to Kichijoji, a subcentre of Tokyo in the northwest. Speedy had mentiond that it was "a happening area". When I got there, I just thought it was just like any other minor commercial hub around a station...kinda like Jiyugaoka, where MB now resides. There was the requisite department store, a couple of fast food places and the like. However, I had to dig a bit deeper to realize that there was a bit more going on. Kichijoji seems to take in the character of a few other subcentres. There is a long shopping arcade a la Nakano, a number of tastefully done restaurants and boutiques a la Omotesando, and Inokashira Park. In fact, I think the whole area has this labyrinth type of feel to it...turn a corner and you end up in a small zone of differing atmosphere. I did this for about 90 minutes before meeting up with The Satyr, MB and The Sylph.

Of course, it was another stop on the Grand Burger Tour. This time, it was The Village Vanguard about 10 minutes' walk from the station. It had that rather intimate pub vibe to it. Surprisingly, we actually had a choice of seating in it despite its small size, considering it was a Saturday night. I have to admit that the burgers there were the best I've eaten so far in the tour; the patties weren't quite as big as the monsters in that Double Burger at Baker Bounce in Setagaya but they were better seasoned. I had the largest sucker amongst a goodly variety of burgers there: the W Cheeseburger. Downed that beauty with a Corona and then a Bailey's Irish Cream. MB was so impressed that we decided to try out the Fish n' Chips. They were OK but the burgers were really the thing. The only downside, and admittedly it's a very small thing, was that the staff was a little overly friendly. Like, the staff had their smiles on full wattage and spoke in very airy-fairy voices (these guys were dressed like dorm students on campus...they had to be at least baritones) explaining how to eat hamburgers. I mean, didn't the guys take a good look at me?! I'm no freakin' vegetarian...I know what a hamburger is. The Satyr remarked that if we'd been in Canada, he would've sworn that our waiters were really going for that tip. Of course, Japan doesn't allow tipping. Still, I'll take too much nice over too much indifference.

After our engorging, the four of us decided to attempt to walk off some of our added calories by going through the commercial maze and then cutting through Inokashira Park. Very pleasant stroll although we didn't come up against any amourous canoodling or ambitious muggers. On the way, MB mentioned that The Polynesian had actually contacted him the day after my meeting with her; looks like our trip down Memory Lane on Thursday prompted her to make some old contacts. We actually made our dessert stop at some sort of French patisserie. Pretty good fixins there...I had a sesame-cream cheese tart concoction. Of course, the four of us all have had our histories with the ol' school...so we regaled one another with various stories of the nefarious staff and the casanova teachers. Probably the next outing for burgers might be in Akasaka-Mitsuke or The Firehouse near Ueno. In any case, Village Vanguard gets my enthusiastic vote for a repeat visit.

The next day was the trip out to Hikarigaoka at the very end of the Oedo Line. The Satyr was helping out at this annual Speech Day festival organized by his former colleague and one other somewhat boho lady. The students were all kids of varying ages...never a target that I would approach willingly; however, The Satyr asked us some weeks ago if any of us would be willing to help out in the main post-event: an English lesson version of Battleship (as in "you sank my.."). Skippy, being the kids' teacher and all around happy lady, naturally put up her hand. I volunteered because I was his friend and I could understand how any teacher could put up an SOS taking care of several younglings. As it turned out, I was the large fifth wheel of the outfit. The Satyr, Skippy and I were assigned to the littlest kids who may not have had the ability to speak out readily. Satyr's and Skippy's young charges did need some guidance but aside from a perfunctory greeting between me and my kid, the kid proceeded to destroy quite a few fleets without any help from me. I just sat there. And then, one of the organizers asked me about some further activities for the kids since there was some time left over. To be honest, I'd already thought up of some stuff for Charades and Hangman but since Skippy had brought over some stuff for her game and since she was the more experienced kids' teacher, I had Skip talk it over. My decision wasn't wrong. Skippy took care of the kids, even the teens, like a pro with her games. I would've had a major case of flop sweat; it would've been like bleeding in shark-infested waters. However, both Skippy and I received some nice cake and wine (a Cabernet Sauvignon) for our efforts. I felt rather badly about that....I did bupkiss and I get a pretty nice swag pack...I felt pretty awkward for the rest of the night. I think I'll have to think harder before accepting things like these.

As it were, Hikarigaoka the neighbourhood, was a very nice residential area. Skippy used to work there and she said that the rents weren't too bad. Food for thought...

Saturday October 21, 1:45 p.m.

Gonna have to speed-type this since I've got The Ramen Lady for her biweekly chit-chat within the next 15 minutes.

Well, The UL and I got a bit of walloping news last night at The Tea Room. The manager had wanted to tell me the day before when I was teaching The New Yorker there but she didn't have the heart. Apparently, after 10 years of serving up all kinds of tea and crumpets, The Tea Room is calling it quits in one week. One of my main haunts will go the way of the dodo. Maybe it was fate that all of the students that I see there (The Sisters of State, M+M and The UL) will be coming next week right up to the final day. Time to look for alternate venues. I'm gonna miss the ol' girl...I was there for 5 years starting with The Tea Room Ladies; perhaps I should let them know as well. I retro-figured that maybe The Tea Room's days were indeed numbered for the same reason that I always enjoyed teaching there: it was always so empty there except during lunch. The Tea Room would have been my final touchstone gone with Ichigaya aside for the fact that I'll be meeting The Coffeemaker and Tully at a Tully's there from next week.

On Thursday morning, I met The Polynesian for just the 2nd time. My first demo lesson with her was a few years ago...and I didn't hear anything back from her. Plus, MB and I thought she was a bit more flightier than her more button-down and down-to-earth sister, The Hawaiian. So I wasn't looking forward to particularly any big things that morning. But it seemed like the girl has become a bit more grounded and less burdened with the accessories. And her English is better since she'd spent 6 months in Perth with her sibling. So, there is hope.

And after The Ramen Lady, I've gotta head out the door for Kichijoji to see The Satyr and MB for the latest chapter in The Burger Tour Saga. Tonight's episode: The Village Vanguard...and no, it doesn't follow the legendary jazz joint in Manhattan.

Wednesday October 18, 10:00 p.m.

A long day is coming to an end. From my 5:00 a.m. wake-up call to head over to Immigration to this blog entry after 001 & 007, I've had a day. Hmm...not sure but I seem to be in a midweek rut. The lessons with the Wednesday duo have been a bit sloggy. In the case of 007, I think it's just that the guy is pretty button-down to begin with, but with the usually vivacious 001, she's been rather exhausted due to work. However, a long-unheard-from student may be making the rounds once more. Farrah may be coming back into the fold but it probably won't be til the second week of November at the earliest.

I've made the official announcement of my heading back to The Great White North for the Holidays to the students and to some of my close friends (what few I have left...I've been quite the demolition expert). Sometime next month, I may have to impose on the juku boss to pick up any December bills. I probably won't be asking The Chipmunk since I've barely spoken to her in the last year.

Recently, my departure from Speedy's neighbourhood has taken a different route. I used to just board the Oedo Line and then transfer to the Tozai. However, in the last couple of weeks, I've actually gone with the bus whose stop is conveniently situated not too far from the school. It heads back to Nakano Station, and the Tozai Line usually starts out from there which means a guaranteed seat. But more than that, despite the extra cost of 100 yen, I rather enjoy being on a bus more than a subway...obviously more to see from the window of a bus....life whizzing by instead of a dark tunnel.

According to CNN, Condi Rice has reassured we Japanese citizens (and permanent residents) that the U.S. will protect us if push comes to shove where North Korea is concerned. Well, considering what's happened with Iraq over the past 3 years, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up wearing a Kim pin unless I got out of Dodge really quickly.

Wednesday October 18, 5:36 p.m.

Just finished my tofu dinner. I've gotten used to eating the curds, slightly flavoured with soy sauce. It helps that I'd eaten the lion's share at LAST so I wasn't all that hungry. But I'm just concerned about my sleep levels. Coffee would be kinda nice.

Thursday should be an uncharacteristically busy day...perhaps thankfully. I've got The Polynesian...The Hawaiian's sister. Actually, some years ago, I had an abortive first lesson with The Polynesian. Things didn't gel between us and MB had warned me that she was kinda flighty. So, I'm not meeting her with any big expectations here. Then, I've got another sister...The New Yorker. She's been pretty loyal...not particularly proficient in the English language, but loyal. And then in the evening, I've got B2....maybe B2B, although he's been busy.

I've also gotta think about what I'm gonna do with that new duo, The Coffeemaker and Tully although I won't be seeing them for another 10 days.

Wednesday October 18, 4:03 p.m.

Well, as of 9:15 this morning JST, I was no longer a visa resident in this country, living 3-year-to-3-year. After 10 months of waiting, I became a Permanent Resident in Japan. Well...I think the term waiting is a bit harsh. Actually, it should be more like 10 months from my initial application with brief periods of wondering. So, it was just a matter of getting up with the roosters and then heading on down to the monolithic Tokyo Regional Immigration Centre, waiting in a line with the rest of the applicants for about an hour. Then, I was told to purchase an 8,000-yen revenue stamp from the convenience store on the 1st floor before handing it in on a form. Some 10 minutes later, I got my passport back with a stamp saying that my permanent residency started today. No need for an interview or any other interrogation techniques; it was just like my previous visa renewal processes. But now, I no longer have to grovel for visa sponsorships which helps me somewhat. However, it doesn't mean that I no longer have to head out to Shinagawa. I still gotta renew rentry permits and when my passport runs out, I will still need to head out to the TRIC but at least the frequency of my visits will fall even further. And of course, sometime next week, I'll have to head on out to City Hall to register the change in my status.

Still, it was a small burden off my back. And I guess I can consider the permanent residency a belated birthday gift. Any other rewards were purely culinary: a Sausage Muffin set at McD's and then a buffet lunch at LAST in Shimbashi. The 8,000 yen for the Permanent Residency was a bit hefty, I had initially thought. But then again, I rationalized it by thinking that I've just paid something less than ichi-man to be able to stay here for the rest of my life. Not a high price to pay.

My day and night yesterday were generally fine despite it being the busiest day of the week. But I came down with a major allergic attack during The Beehive's session which elicited a lot of tissue from the ladies. I was still sniffling something awful until after lunch when I decided to sacrifice my 1400 yen to get some Benza Block Cold Medicine. Thankfully, it kicked in at the beginning of 002's class. My juku classes were their usual OK works of art. Jolly called in to pull off another dotakyan and The Milds pulled a sudden surprise weekend trip to Korea. Mrs. Mild had wanted to consult with The Siberian about his time there about a month ago. But man, the Milds aren't the greatest at retention. It was a bit of a tooth-pull trying to get any sort of application out of them. Not surprisingly, they gave me some more Korean dried seaweed as souvenirs.

I've got 001 and 007 tonight although I'm not sure if I'm in the best shape. Not because of any more sniffles but instead because of the early morning call today, I'm feeling pretty sleepy right now. I could use with a bit of joe.

On a totally different note, that part of the media covering the J-Pop industry is having a bit of a time talking about the defection of one of that local boyband, KAT-TUN. Apparently, one of the boys, a Mr. Akanishi, has rather strongly wanted to follow his desire to study overseas. After just a little less than a year of stardom, I'm slightly surprised that Johnny's Jimusho decided to let the kid go but it's supposedly for about 6 months, so not too long. The band's name comes from the first letters of each of the band members' last names, so Akanishi was the "A" (in a weird way, it reminds me of the "5 Neat Guys" from SCTV). So, with his departure, KAT-TUN may now become K'T-TUN. Sounds a bit Klingon, to me, although I don't think the remaining members will start wearing forehead ridges. Mind you, being a Johnny's band, they may as well sound like Klingon opera considering how little I like SMAP or Tokio.

Speaking of celebs, Speedy had his own sighting. And it was quite a catch, too. Over the weekend, the head honcho caught a glimpse of actress/model/Amazoness Norika Fujiwara during a bit of filming for her latest TV drama near Tokyo Station. Hubba hubba. Of course, with a lady of her stature (literally AND figuratively), her minders were also on double time. One of Speedy's colleagues was trying to snap a pic of her on his cellphone camera when a whole bunch of these guys started to block said colleague's view like a football team's defense on a hapless quarterback. But Japanese minders don't compare at all to a Mike Tyson posse. For one thing, bothering a Japanese celeb doesn't carry the risk of bodily harm.

Monday October 16, 2:53 p.m.

Did actually forget to mention a couple of other things. One is that after 10 months of waiting, the Immigration folks finally sent me that postcard telling me to come on down. Now I see if I finally get to become a Permanent Resident in my adopted home. It looks promising. The form postcard always has a list of the visas and their prices. Well, at the bottom of mine, there was a new stamp for "Permanent Residency---8,000 yen". Guess it's a small price to pay for relative security. Mind you, it means that I'm gonna have to head on out pretty early on Wednesday to Shinagawa.

I was also wondering about The Class Act. Both The Lady and The Matron have houses in Hawaii, and there was a rather sizable earthquake there yesterday. The governor has apparently labeled it as a disaster area. But at least for The Lady, some representatives from the area called her up this morning to reassure that aside from some crooked pictures, her second house is in good condition.

I also got a birthday wish from DTE, whom I hadn't heard from in several months. Looks like she's doing fine in Munich.

Monday October 16, 2:12 p.m.

Back at the AI Cafe in Akiba again. I just had to check my e-mail to see if my brother actually could come through with that ticket proposition. He was thinking of sending me an Air Canada ticket over. I kinda doubted that it could be done, and sure enough, there was no message for me. So in about an hour, I'll be sending my deposit to the travel agency for that Continental ticket.

I've had The Class Act but SIL cancelled out due to her mother's illness so I do have a few hours to kill before heading over to Speedy's. I've got The Part-Timer and 008 tonight.

After yesterday's stint behind the keyboard here, I met MB downstairs and we walked over to the Kanda area. Kanda is known mostly for its bookstores but there is also a small intense zone of ski shops. MB is getting that itch to hit the slopes again after his epiphany last season for the wonders of skiing. However, we decided to get some lunch at a local Freshness Burger. It was the first time for us to witness an empty Freshness Burger; since this branch is located in a commercial area and it was a Sunday, the place was a far cry from its Shinjuku cousin which is usually wall-to-wall people. We took another long walk towards Kudanshita. On the way, MB was talking about his hoped-for plan to set up a Role-Playing Game session sometime in the new year. That reminded me of my days witnessing the U of T RPG'ers; I rather blurted out that the guys there looked like the prototypical geeks. I don't think I offended MB with that remark but I'll consider it a long-delayed retaliation towards him and Frodo for snickering at me during karaoke all those months ago. Strangely enough, as we were walking through Kanda, we came across a small shop that was hawking "Lord of the Rings" RPGs. The staff there struck me as being folks doing a labour of love...very friendly and encouraging about their wares.

Last week, NHK was reporting on the fact that the Japanese economy had actually surpassed the legendary Izanagi econonic boom of the 60s which led The Land of the Rising Sun to its status as the 2nd-richest nation. The boom was so big that it actually got named after one of the founding gods of Nippon. Well, all of us viewers were rather gobsmacked at this news. We certainly aren't feeling any richer...folks aren't getting paid any higher despite this news. Perhaps it's an economic boom by stealth. Still, I think Tokyo is doing far better than any of its fellow megalopoli/metropoli.

Still, one sign that there could be an economic recovery under way is the fact that the Hollywood celebs are back doing their mondo bizarro Japanese TV commercials. Case in point: Scarlett Johannsen is now the spokesperson for Mt. Rainier Iced Coffee, following other pixieish stars like Winona Ryder and Natalie Portman. I'm sure she could have asked Bill Murray of "Lost in Translation" fame for some fatherly advice after his character's stint doing Suntory Whiskey commercials. Like Murray's character, Johannsen had to spout some English snippets while she's walking through what looks like the London Tube; unlike the previous spokeswomen, though...Scarlett is considerably more voluptuous. No idea whether she'll be making an appearance on Matthew Minami's program.

Mind you, Johannsen is following Kiefer Sutherland and Tommy Lee Jones on the Japanese ad front. Sutherland has been taking the piss out of his Jack Bauer character by trying to dismantle a bomb with a bumbling Japanese sidekick while munching on a Calorie Mate wafer. But the weird one is Tommy Lee. Mr. Suffer-No-Fools-At-All has been in a series of ads for Boss Coffee for the past few months as he plays an alien (no costume though...just craggy-faced him) observing Japanese life. He's had to take on odd jobs as an assembly line worker and an electronics store salesperson hawking the merchandise in Japanese. And lately, he's been a delivery man who's had the unfortunate luck to have his truck ticketed by a couple of rent-a-cops played by The Regulars, one of those goofball comedic duos. Never thought I'd see the day. At least, he doesn't have to spit out some non sequitur English phrases. He just glares at the cops. If only Clint Eastwood were younger...

Ah, what else is new? Well, I was watching "Aru Aru Daijiten", that Fuji-TV Sunday night program which features tips on self-improvement. Last night's program dealt with the physical age of one's body and how to lower it. The show has a panel of tarento to talk about the topic and often humilate themselves going through a battery of tests. I was rather amused to see buxom beauty MEGUMI, a 25-year-old member known more for her sassy mouth and two other assets than for any particular talent, realize that her body is more fit for a woman on the cusp of retirement. She wasn't really all that sassy after that.

The locals here have been a little edgy since neighbour Kim Jong Il set off that little pocket rocket last week. Kinda wonder how things are gonna go for the remaining part of the year after the UN Security Council finally brought the hammer down on North Korea. The ambassador for Kim naturally stormed out. I wonder if he's gonna stay out with a South Korean becoming the new Secretary-General.

Sunday October 15, 3:03 p.m.

Things have finally cooled off here after Summer got its last licks in last week. Walking through the megalopolis has been pleasant, to say the least.

Yesterday, I saw The Carolinan for what may become a regular Saturday meeting for her lessons. We got into The Tea Room just when it opened. Before it did, though, we took a look across the street. There was a building which once housed a number of commercial establishments, including an AM/PM convenience store, a manga cafe and a small boutique. Well, the boutique is still there but the rest of the building (and I do mean all of the floors) has been wrapped up in police "DO NOT ENTER" tape. Well, The Carolinan and I got a bit curious and we crossed the street. Apparently, according to the notice that my student kindly translated, the building has been condemned due to structural disintegrity. Good golly...I wonder if it was designed by the defrocked architect Aneha.

After The Carolinan, I met a couple of former students at the station. The Coffeemaker and Tully wanted to brush up their English so they've hired me. We went to the latter's namesake cafe near the station. Since it was just a meet-n'-greet to assess their abilities and find out what they want to do, I didn't charge them anything for which The Coffeemaker seemed to be very grateful. They're both pretty high in level so it'll be a bit of a challenge; certainly, grammar won't be a priority. I'll start officially with them in a couple of weeks so I should have some sort of game plan and text by then.

Then, I met Movie Buddy and The Satyr at my station a few hours later. The Satyr has become, perhaps, the newest addition to our long-running pizza-and-a-movie pilgrimages. But he didn't follow up on the stay at Hotel Haruhiko. We caught a couple of fairly dire pics, Michael Bay's "The Island" and "Sound of Thunder"...the latter picture being a poster child for straight-to-DVD flicks. All of us were quite grateful that we hadn't shucked out the 1,800 yen to catch "The Island"in its original release. The three of us were kvetching like the guys on "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" about this dog of a movie. I think Scarlett Johannsen is one of those thespians who needs to have a good director behind her; she's really pretty to see but certainly didn't wow us in the acting department. The only interesting thing was having Ewan McGregor and Ethan Phillips being good buds on the movie....Obi-Wan, meet Neelix...Neelix, meet Obi-Wan. All throughout the movie, we were all throwing out titles of other movies that "The Island" must've cannibalized: "Minority Report", "A.I.", "I, Robot", etc.

As for "Sound of Thunder", it was one of those straight-to-DVD genre flicks. When the biggest names are David Duchovny wannabe Edward Burns and "I'll do anything for a buck" Sir Ben Kingsley, I knew that we weren't going in optimistically. The movie is about time travel and its paradoxes...stuff that's been explored before, better and more slickly in "Timecop" and any particular episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

However, the last movie was quite good if rather cynical and depressing: "Lord of War" with Nicholas Cage. It takes a very jaundiced and fatalistic look at the arms industry through Cage's character...a guy who resigns himself to playing a devil on Earth...just because he can. I think Cage will never win another Oscar...he always plays the same character in just about every movie I've seen him in.

Well, gotta contact MB. He's out somewhere in Akiba walking around. It's a good day outside for that.

Wednesday October 11, 4:52 p.m.

Well, it's been interesting here over the past few days. Monday morning, Kim Jong Il decided to set off his newest toy, a bright and shiny nuclear bomb test somewhere in the mountains of his North Korea. Everybody took notice. CNN went on Red Alert as did NHK. The other commercial stations in Japan took a slightly more nonchalant approach in its coverage but by early evening, every station was focused on the Prime Minister's official response.

Speaking of Shinzo Abe, what a way for him to get his tenure started, eh? I bet Junichiro Koizumi was probably blowing out a breath of air from his hotel bed and muttering "Boy, am I glad I got out when I did." A true trial by fire for the new kid on the block. But in a way, Mr. Abe should send Kim a thank you. Kim's bomb test went off during Abe's fence-mending trip to China and South Korea. There's nothing like a North Korean crisis to bring enemies together. I bet a lot of that Yasukuni Shrine kerfuffle just got swept under the diplomatic carpet once that test got started.

Ironically, The Siberian got back for his first lesson last night for the first time since his trip to Seoul. His homestay family lives just 15 minutes away from the DMZ. They live on the tenth floor of an apartment so I mentioned to the lad that the family must a great view of the North Korean landscape. I got my souvenir of Korean nori. Man, that stuff blows any of the dried seaweed here out of the water (as non sequitur as that sounds). The Siberian enjoyed his first trip to South Korea so much that he plans to visit again with friends before the end of the year; that is, if there is even a South Korea...(just joking..)

As for the other folks at the juku, Seven has plied me with sweet goodies for the 3rd week in a row. She may be singlehandedly responsible for counteracting any benefits from my tofu diet. However, I'm more concerned about reciprocating her kindness. It looks like along with The Beehive, I'll probably be having her make a Jack O'Lantern on the 31st. The juku boss is wholeheartedly on board but I'm not sure if there will be much of a party since everyone is tightly restricted to his/her slot due to work. Jolly didn't show up last night for his lesson; perhaps, his business trip has taken longer than expected.

Yesterday was a tough one for both commuters and staff on the Sobu Line. Apparently, there was another one of those jinshin jiko at Higashi-Funabashi Station, smack dab in between where I started out and where I wanted to go to reach The Beehive. Some person either fell onto the tracks or wanted to ensure that he/she ended up there. In any case, I had to join the mass exodus over to the Keisei Line to get to Tsudanuma. By the time I got to The Beehive, I was 20 minutes late...the first time in my 8 years with the ladies that I'd ever been late. No particular problems with the class itself. In fact, we all went off to lunch at a little bistro nearby called "Pot Au Feu"...thereby helping my rapidly shrinking wallet since the ladies always pay my way. I was the only male in the place but that didn't particularly sway me. Mrs. Jade and I had the Atlantic Salmon lunch. I was OK with it but Mrs. Jade was somewhat disappointed; the salmon wasn't a particularly thick slab of fish. Then, heading back home for a few hours, the Sobu Line once again had a 10-minute delay due to some technical problems.

Got that monthly call from Mom. Looks like she and Dad will be heading to Japan next month. Not surprisingly, she deterred me yet again from visiting the relatives in Osaka. But considering my dribbly money flow, she didn't have to twist my arm too much. At least I will save the tens of thousands of yen in Bullet Train fare. But the parentals will be coming here for a few days. In fact, Mom has assigned me the task of finding a ryokan so that the three of us can spend some quality time out in the woods somewhere. I've already started checking my sources. Mrs. Travel gave me some tips in Hakone, and 002 even told me about a couple of inns that she'd recently visited.

Well, I just have 001 tonight since 007 is off on some business trip. Then, I've got the entire day off tomorrow. I will definitely be using that filled point card for my 200 yen Subway sandwich.

It looks like that next DVD-klatsch this Saturday is an official go. And The Satyr will make it 3 along with me and MB. I think Domino's Pizza may be getting a winfall from us.

Sunday October 8, 1:38 p.m.

Well, unlike the meterological hell that was Friday night, today is downright gorgeous. But like Friday night, I'm typing this from the outside...this time, back at the Shinjuku Kinko's. I would've gone to the Ai Cafe but I figured that it was a bit too far away for me and probably filled with the otakus. Kinko's is somewhat more expensive but I'm currently the only one at a computer booth. Right now, as I type, there is some sort of cheerleader show outside of the Microsoft Bldg where this Kinko's is located going on. As I was coming in, there was a couple of men in eyeball masks entertaining the masses. Some rather odd activities to commemorate Sports Day.

Yesterday was a rare one for me in that I actually had a full day off. Having my hair cut and putting out the mattresses onto the balcony to air out were about as strenuous as it got on Saturday. I was even able to indulge in a long nap. However, I did have to plan for the kids' lessons this morning. Speaking of whom, The Elder was her usual queenly self while The Younger is showing more signs of laziness. I made my yen today.

Skippy called me yesterday to confirm for today's meeting in front of the Shinjuku Koma Theatre for dinner. It'll probably be a party of 5: myself, Movie Buddy, The Sylph, Skippy and The Madame. Strangely enough, we'll be going for Korean; The Madame can't touch the slightest thing spicy without going into a lather but somehow Skip was able to convince her that there is blander fare in the Korean menu. Just wondering if The Madame and MB are gonna get into another dustup about her spirituality again. If so, I'll just focus more on my bibimbap instead. Skippy was rather bouncy...or I should say even bouncier than usual...in our brief conversation on the phone. She had trip through Oz...thoroughly enjoyable for her (she could probably sludge through the infamous Smoky Mountain junkyard in Manila and still find some fun in that) although she did say that there was one moment of panic when she got temporarily lost in a national park.

Actually, I may have two full days of nada coming up this week. Tomorrow, being Sports Day, I've got a national holiday. And then because The Carolinan wanted her lesson to be shifted to this upcoming Saturday, I've got nothing on Thursday as well. But along with The Carolinan, I may have The Coffeemaker and her buddy for their first, so I can perhaps make some cash that day.

Although getting my haircuts isn't exactly a cheap thing, I was happy to get rid of the mop from my head. This time, it was the girl who took care of me for the whole hour. As in any tonsorial establishment around the world, she likes to gab, so I engaged her in any sort of talk under the sun. Luckily, there were the typhoon and that Keiyo Line fiasco to talk about. I would have mentioned something about the new Prime Minister, but I didn't get the feeling that she was the political type.

Speaking of whom, it looks like Shinzo Abe is getting started on his first big task. When Koizumi started his term, he set about pushing that reform with the post office. This time, Abe is gonna be mending fences...fences that got broken by his predecessor over the past 5 years. He's off in China for a dialogue with President Hu, and then he'll be going to South Korea to do the same with its president. Of course, North Korea, which ironically doesn't want to be left out of things despite its nickname of The Hermit Kingdom, is making noise in the form of a threatened nuclear test. Kinda wonder what the United States is talking about when it says that it "won't live with a nuclear North Korea". I wonder if I should get a flight out of here sooner.

Newswise, it looks like a few days after my little rant about the bandwagon-jumping nature of Japanese journalism, those guys have done it again. Drinking & driving has been pushing off the radar screen for the topic du jour of capsized trawlers. Apparently, there have been three of them over the past couple of days. And it looks like...all kidding aside and in all tragedy...there's been another suicide triggered by ijime (bullying). Some poor elementary school girl in Hokkaido decided to hang herself in her classroom after deciding that life wasn't worth living due to her ostracism by her schoolmates. Kids are often cruel but whenever these things happen, I ask myself with all the attention placed on the victim and the circumstances, why hasn't there been any (and I'm not asking for a lot here) focus placed on the so-called perpetrators? Obviously, there is the question of being considered innocent before being judged guilty (a legal theory about as empty of meaning and significance as beer bottles after a night in Shimbashi) but for once, I would just like to see some of those little brats get the spotlight on them and find out why they decided to hound a classmate to death. Are they just kids who went too far with their teasing or are they budding sociopaths who've claimed their first victim? Do they show any remorse or are they cackling inside? And what of their families...do they care that their children may have been responsible for abetting a kid's death?

Wednesday October 4, 9:27 p.m.

Finished another day at Speedy's. I kept 001 rolling out into the aisles with my brand of humour since she was initially quite sleepy. It also helped that she aced her test of last week. As for 007, it looks like he was under the weather so he did a dotakyan. Ack...that's the way the cookie crumbles. During what would've been his class, I did have the chance to chat with Speedy's wife for a while in the kitchen as we dined on the last of Mr. Influence's apple pie.

Looks like the school managed to snag itself another new student. This one happens to be Mrs. Speedy's co-worker and has the same name (right down to the individual kanji) as 008. And she'll be coming on the same night as my own student. The intros ought to be interesting. However, the new namesake will be taught by one of the other teachers.

Well, gotta get home and get ready. I've got 002 and then B2 (maybe B2B will be back) tomorrow. I'm a bit worried about the weather for the next couple of days. We've got two typhoons coming in back to back. I do wonder about Jolly's little night BBQ on the 7th.

Wednesday October 4, 4:49 p.m.

inshuu unten. It's translated as "drinking and driving". And it happens to be the media's current flavour-of-the-month. A couple of years ago, it was those diabolical revolving doors that caught the attention of everyone via journalists after one of them had crushed a little kid at Roppongi Hills. And then maybe a little before that, it was the roving n' marauding bears in the rural areas attacking defenceless farmers that were getting almost nightly coverage. Now, NHK and the other stations have dogpiled on the drinking n' driving bandwagon since that tragedy several weeks ago in which a drinking driver backended a car off a bridge into a river killing all of the children of a young family. It seems that just about any cab hack or salaryman who's had a bit too much to drink will get his (so far, the idiots caught have all been male) 15 minutes of infamy on the nightly news. A Tokyo police officer has even been cited for DUI despite his protestations that he hadn't drunk that much; the punchline was that he belonged to the section responsible for controlling drinking and driving. Today, we heard that he has been suspended for 6 months but that he plans to turns in his badge.

As usual, the tone in my voice may seem a little snarky. Let me confirm...I am being snarky. Not that drinking-and-driving isn't worthy of media attention. Of course, it is. However, my eyes start rolling because of the faddish nature of journalism in this country. DUI has probably existed since the first cars rolled off the conveyor belts at Toyota almost a century ago; certainly, drinking has existed for the entirety of Japanese history (my old professor told me that some ancient Chinese reports on the island of Wa [Japan] were liberally interspersed with the statement, "...and the people drank"). And obviously, over the decades, hundreds of people have probably died behind or in front of the wheel because of it. So, why is inshuu unten becoming the scourge we must fight today? And how long will it stay Public Enemy No. 1 before it gets bumped off by the next big story (killer tornadoes, anyone)? I think the best I can hope for is that some good comes out of this journalistic feeding frenzy while it lasts. As long as the media has its hot klieg lights on the issue, perhaps the government may do something or the folks may use more common sense after their umpteen rounds at the izakayas or nomiyas.

However, as much as one fellow hoped that the numbers of DUI will come down under this media glare, I don't think there will be much of a dent at all. For one thing, there is still much more of the feeling amongst the drinking and driving public here than in their American counterparts that they would never be caught. Probably a lot of the folks feel that they never drink that much to become a danger to others. And finally, there is just the fact that the Japanese just love alcohol. They can afford to wean themselves off of tobacco but take away their drink, and you've got trouble. I think as long as cars and alcohol co-exist, DUI will always exist in large numbers unless something no less than Prohibition gets passed. And then, the Yakuza, the Triads and the Russian Mafia will start mincing their hands in glee. But that's another story (to dogpile on)...

Wednesday October 4, 4:36 p.m.

A typical Fall day in Tokyo, I guess. Kinda gloomy with the threat of rain; still I don't mind the cooler temps.

Yesterday, the regular Beehive session had us chatting in the main tennis area on the 3rd floor of the building since apparently the floor was closed for something or other. So, while we talked in half-darkness, Miss Travel acted as the sub front desk staff for any other unknowing folks who had wanted a bit of action on the courts.

The juku session was OK. That little kerfuffle between the boss and me last week has been patched up. Seems like the boss had a bit of an argument with her mother and her hubby and some of that frustration leaked out onto me after classes last Tuesday night. She was profusely apologetic. Seven was back after a sudden absence last week due to a cold. She seems to be in the habit of giving me food every week. Her stuff is good but I'm starting to feel a little guilty...as well as fatter. Also, Jolly put last week's lesson to good use and actually invited me to a BBQ party on Saturday night. Yep, you heard me...at night...somewhere near Tokyo Disneyland. He got a little quiet when I'd asked him whether his girlfriend would be joining us...hmmm, a little problem in Paradise? Again, I'm not too big on parties but perhaps as long as I put on my teacher's mask, I can endure it. And then, Mr. Mild came back to class after being away for a month. I was privately glad that he was back since his wife frankly had a tough time being by herself. The boss told me that The Siberian had called her to cancel out of last night's session due to a cold. The joke's on both of us; I had forgotten that he was back from Korea...I hadn't done anything to prepare for him. Mind you, I never prepare for him since his "classes" are just hope-for-the-best chat sessions.

I just have 001 and 007 tonight. So, pretty straightforward. But it looks like I may have some more students coming into the fold. The Coffeemaker got back to me and said that Saturday mornings might be good for a session. It looks like my Saturdays are getting pretty busy now with Speedy and the kids and the occasional M+M kaffeeklatsch. Speaking of whom, one of the Ms asked me about the 28th for the next meeting.

Monday October 2, 5:47 p.m.

My Saturday ended at Speedy's with a sudden invitation to dinner by the bossman himself. I joined him, his wife and some old acquaintances of his to yet another Korean place in Higashi-Nakano. This one is called Sonam and it has the honour of having seven of its dishes highlighted on the recently departed show "Dotchi ni Ryori Show" (Which Dish do you Choose?) on NTV. So, Speedy couldn't resist a pedigree like that. The place is small, even smaller than Insadong, the other eatery we'd gone to some weeks ago. However, the dishes were well worth the force yoga position I had to take on that tatami mats. Some really crunchy kimchi followed by the main dish of boiling pork bones with bits of meat and collagen falling off of them. It tastes better than it sounds, believe me. And then I finished up with some kalbi kuppa, that zesty soup with rice, veggies and beef.

Sunday was basically a time out from teaching for which I was eternally grateful as we entered October. Today was another regular Monday. I had The Class Act and SIL for their regular slots. The Class Act won't ever let me live down the fact that I didn't really help in asking for directions during our whirlwind gourmet tour of Seoul. I think my goof was even mentioning that I was going to try and learn a bit of the language. Well, I think if they were truly pissed off with me, they would've had me banished from the magic kingdom already. Instead, The Lady is already thinking of having us try out this steak place, appropriately called The Oak Door. SIL was her usual giddy self. We actually got through the 90 minutes without having to go to an article; we just smoothly transitioned from talk of her mother and relatives to some of the oldies music.

I was able to use some of that commuting time between SIL and The Part-Timer to use the remaining gift certificates to get my niece a couple of presents: an Anpan Man doll and the Cat-Bus from "My Neighbour Totoro". Gotta get that squared away and sent out for her birthday.

Another thing to get squared away...my air ticket back to The Great White North for Xmas. Man, does Air Canada love to gouge! Basically, all I will afford after the ticket and presents for everyone is...nothing. Well, I'm now heavily considering taking the painful yet cheaper route through the US.

Saturday September 30, 3:43 p.m.

Already the end of the month. Oy vey! Had the kids this morning. The Elder was her usual lackadaiscal self...had her usual sullen argument with Mother before meeting me. It was the first time seeing the Younger in 2 months. She has sprouted a couple of more centimetres and may have put on a kilo or two of muscle onto her shoulders, thanks to her new physical regimen of volleyball.

Spent the last couple of hours in the smoky Doutors cafe near Speedy's. And in less than half an hour, I've got The Ramen Lady for another 90 minutes of aimless chit-chat. I am gonna lend her my X-Men DVD as promised from last time. I don't know if she's gonna like it much; she doesn't strike me as being the sci-fi blockbuster type.

Speaking of X-Men...a relative neophyte can't come up with a complete review of a movie in one sitting. So, I'm back to this movie. After gurning through the memories of yesterday's viewing of "The Last Stand", I have to admit that though X3 was entertaining enough, I think a lot of it was due to some sleight-of-hand editing. After going through the various scenes in my head, I've come to the conclusion that the entire movie was made up of quick appearances of characters without really any deep scenes. I mean, The Phoenix was referred to as such only once, and Famke Janssen was basically the mutant version of the secret weapon...came out when finally needed and not until then. In fact, if I had the opportunity to make up the credit list of cast, I would've done it this way:

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Sir Ian McKellen (the only performers to get anything to chew on)

Guest Starring: Kelsey Grammer, and the kids who played Kitty Pryde, Iceman and Pyro

Featuring: tons of other mutants

Special Appearances by (ie cameos): James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin and Rebecca Romijn (as Ozzy Osbourne's daughter...er, I mean, Mystique)

And: Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier

Quite a different lineup and focus compared to the first movie, eh? Mind you, I did enjoy Grammer's slight invocation of Frasier during a fight scene. All that was missing was a nice retort from Wolvie.

Despite the fact that the X-Men should probably end here, I've got the sneaking suspicion and millions of dollars of box office money backing me up that there will be an X4 in the not too distant future.

Kinda strange that after catching X3 yesterday for the first time, the DVD will be released Stateside next week...

Friday September 29, 2:54 p.m.

It hasn't been the greatest of weeks for me, professionally. That little misunderstanding at the end of the juku day is still unresolved. I did send that explanation and apology to the boss but I haven't heard a thing from her. And I'm starting to wonder about my current status working at Speedy's. Speedy has been a good and patient boss with me but I'm having my doubts whether I'll be there beyond the next couple of years.

The Carolinan was in good spirits, though, last night. Apparently, on Wednesday night, she and a friend had attended a megalong SMAP concert at the Tokyo Dome. Why anyone would subject herself to....ah, I'm being nasty. The Carolinan actually enjoyed herself...and she did get her money's worth. She paid 7,000 yen for what turned out to be a 3.5-hour concert spread over 6 hours. That's certainly better value than Madonna's tiny performance of 90 minutes for 10,000 yen. Arguably, though, Madge is the better dancer and singer...

I actually was grateful that I didn't have any work for most of Thursday. I found out on the morning news that due to a circuit switchboard fire in the bowels of Tokyo Station in the wee hours which shut down all of the commuter Keiyo Line, all those commuters (80,000 of them) decided to dogpile on my Tozai Line. I was surprised to see a bird's-eye view of Urayasu Station, a station that I know intimately, look like the SMAP concert audience. Luckily, I left home at around 4:30 so the problem was pretty much contained by then. All in all, a whopping 160,000 people got majorly screwed.

And for the first time in 12 years in my apartment building, I actually experienced myself and the residents of the other two units on my floor going into our respective homes at the same time. I think I could count on one hand the number of times that I've seen even one neighbour go in or out when I've done the same. And I've never seen two. Well, the one neighbour farthest from me happened to have just moved in. It looked like a family with the numbers. And then there is my latest next-door neighbour who appears a bit scruffy. He also has a penchant for slamming his door...a number of times. Well, I figured that I would, sooner or later, get a psycho as a neighbour

Friday September 29, 2:35 p.m.

Caught "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" this morning at the nearby Warner Mycal Theatres. Once again, I find myself being a little kinder to a superhero movie than some of the American critics or Egg have been to it. Certainly, I'm more inclined to be on MB's side. There was a lot more of the action in this supposedly final installment than there were in the previous two movies combined. I'm sure Halle Berry must be happy that she finally got to kick butt verbally and physically. Once again, as in X-Men 2, the more prominent stars got the bigger sections of the script pie, although with the necessarily huge cast, there were never going to be any major soliloquies. Still, it was too bad that Anna Paquin as Rogue, who was a key plot thread in the inaugural movie, gradually ends up as a cameo...and a depowered one at that. On the other hand, I thought it was just as well that the Cyclops/Marvel Girl relationship died an early and very concrete death. And really, even Marvel Girl & Wolverine never stood that much of a chance. It may be titled X-Men, but the trilogy has pretty much centered on Hugh Jackman with Patrick Stewart as the prerequisite Obi-Wan character.

Of course, "The Last Stand" is an ending and a non-ending of sorts. Those little teasers bracketing the end credits aside, I think the X-Men are done. But Hugh Jackman can now look forward to joining folks like Tom (well not anymore perhaps), Harrison and Tobey as a franchise man with a Wolverine series. And maybe Magneto would be worth a prequel. As for what I saw today, nope, I don't think the X-Men will hit the huge heights of a Star Wars in franchise rankings but it's stayed consistently good. I'd be happy to grab the DVD when it does come out.

Wednesday September 27, 10:18 p.m.

A bit of a rough...nah, more disjointed...night tonight. 001 did her test and actually passed again with flying colours but before the good news was realized, I had neglected to tell her about some of the additional things she could've done to boost her chances. Speedy had to inform her. I sent my apologies; I wouldn't have known what to do if 001 had actually failed. And as for 007, he was OK but the class didn't seem to flow too well for some reason.

I've got a feeling that Farrah, that Saturday afternoon student has flown the coop for good. She hasn't gotten back to us about signing up for more lessons. The sporadic nature of her attendance is a good factor in that. Ah, well...

My Wednesday morning was more of a Monday morning schedule with The Class Act and SIL on the block. Whilst The Lady and The Matron were back, SIL has made a permanent venue shift to Ueno-Okachimachi, my old haunt, so that she could be closer to her mother. Our new classroom was an empty office once used by her late father in an old building. It had all the trimmings of a presidential office: big, plush armchairs and sofas, stuffed birds and even a daruma waiting to have its eyes painted in. We did an article on the outgoing PM, Junichiro Koizumi. A lot of political vocab to wade through. In any case, the new venue doesn't have the serene ambience of the The Lady's tatami room but it'll do. Besides, the place is more convenient in that I have a straight beeline via the Oedo Line to Speedy's.

The rains have finally ended. I hope that my shoes have dried to a certain degree. I was thinking of catching "X-Men 3" with the subtitle of "Final Solution" here in Japan, instead of "The Last Stand". I kinda wonder if Fox Japan had been thinking of adding that extra allusion to Nazism. However, I think that I'll hold off on seeing it tomorrow. After some of my rather lousy luck workwise over the past 24 hours, I'll probably work extra hard for The Carolinan. Maybe, it'll be a Friday thing since I've only got The UL then.

Wednesday September 27, 5:49 p.m.

It was a dark and stormy night last night...yup, one of the worst openings to a book in history, but pretty appropriate opening to this entry since it was a lousy ending to a day yesterday, both literally and figuratively for me.

As for the meterological meaning, well, the rains finally stopped this afternoon but not before both my dress shoes and sneakers got waterlogged. So I face another sloshy commute home. Had to buy a couple of pairs of socks to be dry at least for part of my day.

As for the figurative meaning, I had another one of those linguistic misunderstandings with the juku boss last night which ended up with me sullenly making a quick getaway from her house. It all started when I finished my last class with Mrs. Mild. The Siberian was still away in Korea. Since the weather was just flailing away out there, I decided that I would stay until about 9:30 in the hopes that the rains would give me a bit of a reprieve. Of course, they didn't. However, at about 9:15, the boss came in with that somewhat shocked look and asked if she'd missed a beat and wondered if The Siberian would be coming after all since I was still in my room. I assured her that he was still in Seoul. She stepped out to take care of her regular student but then shortly returned and gave some sort of bilingual gibberish explanation which I basically took to mean..."Get out!" Of course, she said all this in her happy-go-lucky way. I didn't understand her for the most part but I thought she gave this rather cockamamie excuse about me cramping her and her student's style by remaining in the room. Well, it is her house...so I got ready to go. I didn't much relish going out in a driving rainstorm and just that lame reason got my Irish up. And since I'm the type to react first, think later...I started stomping my way out of the room. She asked me if I understood the situation. I told her point blank that I didn't but that we would have words next week and just gave a curt goodbye.

She got the "message" and then proceeded to leave three messages on my machine asking me to call her and apologizing for what had happened. I'm now in a better frame of mind so I decided to send over my own apology by e-mail since my very brief snap occurred in front of her student...admittedly, not a very professional thing to do. But I also tried to explain to her why I felt a little put out. I'll be awaiting the reply.

Monday September 25, 9:40 p.m.

Well, tomorrow will be the big turnover in administrations. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will hand over the reins to current LDP President Shinzo Abe...who will become the youngest head of state in the postwar era, all of 52 years of age (Japan more resembles Russia in its love of gerontocracy). I saw a picture of him and his wife, Akie, in today's edition of The Japan Times, and I just got an image of Tony and Cherie Blair. And to be honest, this could be the way of the new administration. But I also read that Abe is interested in applying an American-style presidential appointment system. Perhaps Akie will try to insert herself into things a la Cherie or Hillary Clinton....although I think there will be many more limitations in this society for a First Lady. In any case, it'll be the first time to see a PM's wife in several years, since Koizumi did his job as a veteran divorce. Speaking of him, what will he do from tomorrow? Maybe he'll just play his Elvis records for an entire week before hitting the road on a journey for a sighting.

Speaking of Elvis, it seems to me French Intelligence may have come up with the anti-Elvis thing by leaking that Bin Laden may already be dead. In America, it's the live Elvis sighting. Now there could be the dead Bin Laden sighting.

Well....I've finished my two tonight. The Part-Timer was her usual diligent self. She told me that SR is back temporarily helping out at her old company. The Part-Timer also mentioned that she's gone through The Creambath Ebisu Scalp Massage Challenge...and she's another convert. As for 008, she's turning out to be an ideal tonic as well as a student. She's just absorbing grammar and vocabulary like a sponge.

Gotta get going home. I've got another busy Tuesday.

Monday September 25, 5:37 p.m.

Well, The Eggs left for home yesterday. And so I'm left with a bit of Empty Nest Syndrome...to continue with the ornithological analogy. It was nice having the couple over for about 10 days, and the side benefit of their presence was a tidier and slightly roomier apartment. There's nothing like the impending threat of house guests to force me to get my act together domestically. So now I'm left with better access into my bedroom and a fuller, more compact closet.

There's also nothing like guests from abroad to bring a fresh perspective or a reminder about life in this zany burg. During our tour of Akihabara early in The Egg's trip, he was marveling at the wares in places like Sato Musen or Bic Camera or Yodobashi. He remarked that the variety of electronic goods and appliances makes any of The Future Shops or Radio Shacks back in Canada look like a Moscow GUM Store during a recession. He (and I) were especially impressed by the fridges of all things. Not only do they come in many, many colours but one brand in particular even has a special compartment which not only keeps things especially frosty (such as that birthday cake), but in a "Wow! Why didn't I think of that?!" moment, also keeps things such as tempura or beef stew warm or hot for late-coming-home Daddy.

During our time watching television back home at night (at our age, we've started becoming part of the sedentary generation), we came across the ubiquitious music video channels that liberally populate my SkyPerfect. As we watched folks like J-Pop princess Aiko (her songs all sound the same) and the current crop of J-R&B singers ( pale copycat pretenders of the American variety), I realized that Japanese music is in an identity crisis. Strangely enough, the so-called inferior aidoru factory of the 70s and 80s differentiated itself much better from what was hot in America and England. Now, there is a form of parity between J-Pop and American pop. It's fine that the Japanese artists are trying to emulate American song forms but the talent has been such that they'll never stand out internationally. Not to say that the producers have been trying to do that on a widespread scale (aside from Toshinobu Kubota, Dreams Come True and Hikaru Utada); they are basically just making the local population happy. In a way, despite the fact that Japanese artists have seemingly become more "serious" about their craft, their progress has come at the expense of uniqueness. I'm hoping that someday a form of Japanese music does come out that makes a big splash overseas and sets itself apart from Britpop and American hip-hop.

Another thing that got the culture clash going happened when the three of us happened to come across the tail-end of a "Densha Otoko" special on TV. The phenomenon of film and telly of last year which was born from a Channel 2 urban legend came back as this special. And it all seemed like last year's news. The otaku program earned wails of laughter from my two house guests as they witnessed the acting and dramatic arcs with all the subtlety of a William Shatner monologue. That's how the Japanese like their dramas...over-the-top. It's probably why I've stopped watching them.

Monday September 25, 5:23 p.m.

Just 3 months before Xmas...it'll be kinda weird being back in The Great White North.

Had a different schedule from my usual Monday. The Class Act and SIL have shifted to Wednesday for this week, so I started with The New Yorker at The Tea Room. NY is still having problems getting her syntax together...makes me wonder if she's wondering about giving up the goat after over a year with me. Some folks are just not language-friendly. The Teacher contacted me to say that she's basically pulling out due to her affliction; again, I'm not sure if she's really on the level or if she's just using the disease as an excuse...basically all of our lessons have been just talkfests and those always have a limited shelf life. I've got The Part-Timer and 008 ready to go, though. And on a further good note, a student that I'd had a limited engagement with, The Opera Singer, is going for another tour with us for another 12 lessons.

Thursday September 21, 3:50 p.m.

Another stint at the Ai-Cafe in Akiba. It's been a quiet day so far since the Eggs are off in Sendai for another day. I used the time to clean up the place a bit and plan for B2's lesson tonight. Treated myself to lunch at the station tonkatsu joint. Not surprisingly, I ended up taking a nap on the subway over here. Speaking of deep-fried pork cutlet, I've been wondering if I'll be able to take the Eggs for one last dinner to that smash hit of a tonkatsu restaurant, Kimukatsu, in Ginza on Saturday. The place is pretty popular and they don't seem to take reservations. And unfortunately, we can't pull off Skippy's technique of having the staff call us on a cellphone since none of us have one. In any case, the pair will be back sometime during my daylong odyssey of teaching tomorrow so perhaps they can just try the place out by themselves.

Yup, my Friday starts and ends at the juku. I've got the juku boss for two hours first thing, followed by 002, and then The OL/UL combo in Ichigaya before I finally finish up with The Salaryman. I'll make the money but I won't be in any shape to use it. And I've got The Younger and her mother on Saturday morning. Luckily, The Younger is still (barely now) the more willing of the two sisters to ingest my lesson, and the mother is always good to go with an article.

Whoever said that the Japanese live in rabbit hutches certainly hasn't been here recently. I was looking through some apartment/condo guide yesterday that I'd picked up in Otemachi. There are some pretty swanky....pretty huge...units up for grabs all over The Big Sushi. I'd say the folks who live in these palaces could fit whole units of rabbit hutches. I'm talking about apartments starting from 75 square metres: tons of rooms, huge living/dining and system kitchen. Mind you, the costs are also rather dear. I don't think I would ever see an English teacher living there.

Looks like Dubya and his country were getting blasted out of the UN verbally by the current Two Bad Boys from Iran and Venezuela. The latter president was especially blistering; talking more like Al Capone. However, these guys' predecessors, Castro and Khaddafy, have pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur...the latter guy getting cut to size in no uncertain terms by Ronald Reagan via some bombing raids.

Wednesday September 20, 9:42 p.m.

Well, got through the two classes. Naturally, 001 was the more jovial of the two. As I said, she and her two cronies had a rollicking time at an onsen in Yamagata Prefecture. Paid 30,000 each for the privilege of sipping from a barrel of sake right by the tub and get some of that Yamagata Beef. It also included the Bullet Train fare so I guess it is rather reasonable but Speedy and I agreed that it would be a while before either of us would try anything that ambitious. As for 007, he was very studious and button-down but it'll be a long process.

Speedy informed me that it looks like I've got a customer for this comatose video thingie that I had the unfortunate opportunity to come up with months ago. For the last few of those classes, it's just been a chance for The Ramen Lady to come over and chit-chat with me. Now, at least for this session, I'll actually have to show an episode of "Friends"...something that neither The Ramen Lady nor I have been great fans of. Well, at least, it'll probably be a one-off.

It was a week late in coming but last weekend was Super Drama TV's chance to pay homage to the 40th anniversary of "Star Trek". Saturday was the day to show the 15 most favourite episodes of Trek Classic ("City on the Edge of Forever" was the top ep, to no one's surprise) followed by Sunday's showing of half of the 4th season of "Enterprise" along with some documentaries on William Shatner and a rather bizarre dialogue between an aging Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. It was all so very pleasant...of course, the 75-minute lovefest was produced by Shatner himself. Then the holiday Monday had the 2nd half of said 4th season. I caught a bit of the new remastered Trek Classic episodes with the improved visual effects at Star Trek.com Hm...sounds promising.

I hear that Brad Pitt might take over the "Mission: Impossible" franchise since the Cruise ouster. Yeah, well....if you belive that now, I've got some Everglades property to sell you. Mind you, at least with Brad Pitt coming aboard, you know who he's gonna choose to be his Cinnamon Carter. Angelina Jolie sounds like a perfect character name for the IMF.

I almost forgot to mention that US beef is back in Tokyo again after that kerfuffle with BSE and inspections. But the Tsukiji branch of beef bowl franchise, Yoshinoya, is the only one to serve US beef full time. The other stores have just been given occasional status. So, all of the salarymen and starving students can now rush back to have their favourite mix of incredibly fatty gyu on rice. In related news, the incidence of death by cholesterol has gone up...

Time to go home...