Thursday April 23, 4:59 p.m.

The big man of the Johnny's Jimusho totem pole, aka supergroup SMAP, has 5 members. There is Nakai-kun The Leader, KimuTaku The Cool, Shingo The Comic, Goro The Enigmatic and Tsuyoshi The Guy Next Door. Well, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi's mild image has taken a major spike upwards into the idiot zone. As I was heading out to meet The Bow in Shinjuku, I just read the newspaper banners at the kiosk screaming "SMAP's Tsuyoshi Busted!" Y'know, I thought, of all the SMAP members that could conceivably be arrested, mild-mannered, Korean-speaking Tsuyoshi was pretty much 5th on the list. What could the guy have been doing...speeding? doing MJ?

Well, after I got back to Speedy's, I checked out the Fuji-TV news website and found out that apparently the lad had been found in a park late last night in some sort of condo area of Tokyo caterwauling, singing in Korean, drunk like a skunk and starkers. Of course, the residents started yelling back at him angrily before 110 was dialed and the police arrived. Then when the cops came to cuff him, Tsuyoshi yelled back, "What's so bad about being naked?!" Uh-huh....

He certainly didn't look too defiant in the newsfilm I saw on the site as he was shown in slo-mo being taken away into the hoosegow. Meanwhile, Ray and La Fille were just giggling away at the idiocy of it all. I just sighed...what was bugging him? The pressure of making those PDAs for the coming of digital TV landlines in 2011 finally get to him? His partner on "Pussuma", obnoxious Yusuke Santamaria gave out one shout too many? Or was it that he just wasn't getting that air time during song performances?

Checked out the JPop website. It's the middle of the night over there so there were only two entries about the incident. I can only imagine how some of those SMAP fans back Stateside are gonna react when they find out in the morning. However, I checked out the SMAP community at Mixi...thousands of comments in the last number of hours....most likely by some very young fans.

Consequences? Well, it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be making a public apology in a timely manner. If he makes it very quickly, he may be able to salvage some of his many sponsors, but most likely he'll lose them. Those TV landline PDAs will probably have been yanked off the air already; "Pussuma" will go on indefinite hiatus until TV Asahi figures something out. He'll be given his walking papers from Fuji-TV noonhour flagship show, "Waratte Ii Tomo" as well as from "SMAP X SMAP", the boys' main show during the week. And he'll probably be taking a small vacation from the band while he has some time to hansei (reflect) on his actions. It won't be the first time that SMAP has had to roll out the damage control, though. Several years ago, enigmatic Goro had some carpet to eyeball when he had an altercation with a policewoman in Shibuya. He came back but I have to admit that this one is far more in the bizarre category.

Well, at least, I know that connection between Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, Anne Heche, Margot Kidder and Mel Gibson now.

Thursday April 23, 1:18 p.m.

Had my lesson with Miss Sedona. Yep, the days are getting closer to her exodus to Canada. Pretty soon, she'll be having that final one.

The bossman has left on his business trip to Osaka. He didn't have time to chow down on his wife's bento so he gallantly offered it to me. Of course, I took it...pretty good stuff too: teriyaki chicken drumsticks with ground meat-filled fried egg and cooked cabbage over a mountain of rice. Can't be beat...

My newfound Ruiko Kurahashi fanmates on Mixi are heading off to that live concert of hers at Mandala tonight. And here I will be teaching folks...ahhh...

Anyways, I'm off to see The Bow

Thursday April 23, 11:04 a.m.

Fancy starting up at this late hour on a Thursday. Usually I would've already been done with Grandma Dynamite, but she's cancelled for today. Could actually get some restful sleep and not have an unhealthy McBreakfast but the latter will be there for me tomorrow since I have to teach Prissy then.

I've got Miss Sedona in about 45 minutes then I have to head on out to Shinjuku to get some lunch and then grab a table at Starbucks for me and The Bow. I've got some pages from my bilingual Japanese cookbook that she might find useful. Then, it's back here for The Carolinan (hopefully, she's coming out of her seeming depression), plus Speedy's student before Music Man to wrap up. I'm not getting any hunches that there will be any cancellations today. so it should be a full slate.

Wednesday April 22, 4:08 p.m.

I had a slight throb in my brain (figurative, of course...otherwise, it would've been an aneurysm and I would no longer be around) last night that there would be another cancellation today along with The Diver. Well, I not only got one but two. Just after I finished with The Big Lug, Bay informed me that Mr. Pronounciation has just dotakyan'ed in the largest sense since he was due to come in at this moment. But the big shocker was hearing that Grandma Dynamite also cancelled...which means I can actually indulge in the ancient activity of sleeping well tomorrow morning.

I sent a response to my newfound Ruiko Kurahashi friend through Mixi. Sounds like she's somewhat older than me since she has a nephew who actually lived and attended school in Montreal for a couple of years. I've also joined a community for The Carpenters.

Wednesday April 22, 1:31 p.m.

The rains came on down last night. I do wonder how really effective my umbrella is when 70% of me and all of my bag get drenched (only my head and upper torso were saved).

However, I have no worries about precip today. Nice, sunny and warm out there. I met up with The Admin today. She had a bit of an edge to her today...I think it was a mix of stress from her job plus the cacophony made from the mothers' & kids' kaffeeklatsch which also takes place weekly. I guess it didn't help that I brought up Speedy's name into the mix. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that she didn't have as satisfying a time working under him as I have. Yep, he is anal but all bosses are and, frankly, have to be to a certain extent. Certainly compared to some of the bosses I've had in the past, Speedy is certainly one of the better and more generous ones. Still, The Admin expressed some sardonic surprise at my opinion; again, she was in a bit of a mood today.

Well, that Indian restaurant with the curry buffet may be gone, but there is a bento place a couple of doors down. I bought a 500-yen lunch which contained Chinese-style fried chicken on rice with the usual pickles and whatnot....worked for me. I may go that route after I finish with The Admin.

It'll be fairly busy today. From 3 o'clock, I've got the gauntlet of students to run. The Big Lug, Mr. Pronounciation, and 001 are coming on in. Then I have about 90 minutes of respite since The Diver is away today before I finish up with The Fashion Designer...if she doesn't decide to suddenly cancel again.

I was watching the NHK Morning News when the announcers cheerfully reported on the fact that The Carpenters started their illustrious career 40 years ago. In fact, NHK not only featured them once but twice in the 2 hours on air. Only in Japan. For some reason, this country's inhabitants are probably the biggest fans of Karen and Richard on the planet, and that does include the United States where their music has occasionally popped up as a sarcastic comedic prop in movies and TV ("The Simpsons" and "Ghost Rider" come to mind) or as wedding music. One doesn't mention The Carpenters in Canada or Stateside without making sure to everyone that tongue is firmly in cheek. Not to say that I'm an anti-fan; I'm a big fan of the band but I'm just pointing out reality. Here, The Carpenters are musical legends. NHK even featured a young 13-year-old girl who discovered the duo online and now regularly plays their songs on her piano and even has a poster on the ceiling immediately above her bed. Richard Carpenter came over to Japan to do an interview. His speech has become rather halting but he can still whip up the music.

Tuesday April 21, 9:09 p.m.

As expected, The Milds and I didn't get anywhere near the text. Half the lesson was on Mrs. Mild's trip to Tuscany. It was a demanding journey...very early wake-up calls and late returns to the hotels, but she said she and the 43 other members of the tour had a fine time. She showed me the group picture in Rome provided by Japan Travel Bureau; yep, I could point out the newlyweds like fireflies in a night bush. She also stated that although by her admission she isn't a great English speaker, waiters and her fellow tourmates seemed to consult her whenever some international communication was needed. Always nice to hear.

However, Mr. Mild also had his moment of international understanding. He attended a multicultural festival in Kawasaki on Saturday since his friend was involved in some Indonesian dance troupe. I wondered aloud what he would be trying next. He had attended that lecture on international religions the weekend before; perhaps that trip to outer space may not be too far off. Then, Mr. Mild mentioned that he wanted to bring over his manual from his new job at the gym in the very probable case that he will be helping out the foreign guests. Mrs. Mild had a fine brainwave of having her husband perform some role plays.

It's always nice to end a day on a high note. Wish I had more of those more often. I'm sure President Obama would concur.

Tuesday April 21, 7:39 p.m.

Well, the rains have come on down. I just went out to get a salad and some rice balls from the conbini.

My little seminar on Peanuts with Suzanne rather gave me a brainwave about whether I should search for the Peanuts community on Mixi; I'm sure it exists. Over the past 24 hours, I've been thinking about my return to the Japanese equivalent of Facebook. Unlike certain British actresses, I do think that there are benefits to online social networking. Facebook has been good for me if only to keep me in contact with my old clubmates, and perhaps Mixi may actually get me interacting with folks...even if online...again on certain topics I like. For example, my musical muse, Ruiko Kurahashi. I'm not saying my entry into that community has brought out all sorts of greetings like at an Alcoholics Anonymous session; I've only gotten that initial hello from the community manager. Still it is far better than the usual blank looks I'd gotten from folks in the real world. And even if it turns out that I'm an active community of one even there, I can still lurk and see what past contributors have written about her and why they're so enamoured of her. I think the communities dealing with aspects of Western pop culture would also be quite fascinating to peruse. This time, it is the Canuck wondering what the Japanese think of us, instead of the other way around.

Tuesday April 21, 6:58 p.m.

Well, Suzanne has come and gone. I gotta admit that she's quite flighty, breezy. Easy Breezy? Just like that horrible title that Hikaru Utada came up with for her first song into her first official foray into the American market. Anyways, last week she was on that Madonna kick which led to that extra hour of her being her which led to that reprimand from the juku boss. However, she's kinda gotten off of Madge and brought out one of those Peanuts books. At least, she's lucky in that she was talking to one of the foremost experts in Peanuts-lore. So, for this week, it wasn't anything about The Material Girl but on Lucy, Charlie, Linus, Snoopy and all of the Americana philosophizing. But she did give me the heads-up that she would like to work on general pronounciation next week. Still, maybe I'll still bring over one of my Vince Guaraldi discs.

Gonna see if I can get a quick bite from the conbini nearby before The Milds get here in less than an hour.

Toonces the juku cat was in his naughty mood today. Came up to the room and proceeded to relieve himself (luckily, it was No. 1) underneath the Ricky Ricardo bongo drums that have adorned my teaching space ever since I arrived at the juku nearly 4 years ago.

Tuesday April 21, 4:43 p.m.

Did forget to mention that The Diver atypically cancelled her lesson for tomorrow....which means I won't be seeing her for about 3 weeks since the next 2 Wednesdays are in Golden Week territory. On a professional level, I'm a bit concerned how her fluency is gonna fare over the absence. However, I'm now wondering if The Fashion Designer is gonna pull another dotakyan. As far as I know, 001 is still coming at her regular time.

Well, that IOC Selection Committee came and went over the weekend after being wined n' dined by the Tokyo hoi polloi in consideration for the 2016 Games. The committee had already gone through Chicago, Barack Obama's ol' town, and now they have to check out Rio and Madrid. Of course, the Japanese couldn't help pulling out the hi-tech in their presentation...they gave the IOC special goggles providing 3-D views of what a constructed Olympic site would look like over the currently barren ground. They were rather tickled by that. However, what it's gonna come down to is whether Tokyo can rightfully promote the spirit of sport. Apparently, some of the visitors weren't too interested about how Tokyo could bring in a Green Games...sport is the overriding concern. If that's the case, then I'll be very happy to present the Olympic Flag to Chicago or Rio or Madrid. I think in this day and age, considering how many people will be affected whenever an Olympics comes roaring into their city, it has to be more than the entertainment that sports is (and yes, organized sports has been primarily entertainment dating all the way from ancient history). I think the Olympics, as potentially the largest peacetime impetus for new technologies, should become the basis for how a city can become far better than it is now. The only other way that technology has spurted forward has been war. To have to go through 7 years of increased taxes (or other sneaky ways of grabbing our money...I do not believe that the government [in spite of its insistence to the contrary]and big business are gonna be able to pull this off by themselves) and urban inconvenience for just 2 weeks of fun 'n games, and then to go through the biggest post-holiday letdown with a stadium as a shell seems to me a colossal waste. It's kinda like having to wait 2 hours to get on a roller coaster and then be subjected to the thrills of 3 minutes...but people at Tokyo Disneyland still do that...go fig. Chicago, Chicago...my kinda town!

Tuesday April 21, 4:24 p.m.

It was a bit of an off night last night at Speedy's. First off, Mr. TOEIC re-started his custom of calling in increasingly later and later arrival times so we ended up just having a 30-minute lesson; basically only had time to mark his test (he passed cleanly, thankfully) and then go on to one section of the text. Then, Medicine Man got flustered during the class; we were both tired as usually are since we always get together for the very last slot at 9:30. Good heavens, the man is a doctor...a profession that requires a very keen intelligence and quick & sure reflexes; and yet, the man is achingly slow with answers. He was almost "achieving" idiot savantism.

My day today started off kilter as well when I tried to pay my cable bill, and for some reason, the convenience store scanner refused to take it in so I could pay it. I tried another conbini; same result. I was 12 hours late since the due date was yesterday but there have never been any problems with my other bills if I couldn't make the due date by a day. So after having my lesson with The Beehive, I called up the service centre and headed over there. Luckily, the staffer was immaculately polite, and she gave me the form for automatic transfer that my cable guy had given me. I'll give the furikomi another try although JCN encountered problems the last time with my bank.

It'll just be the usual Suzanne and The Milds tonight. Suzanne said that she would bring down a Madonna song for us to analyze. I've downloaded the lyrics to "Papa, Don't Preach" since they have more meaning than "Borderline" (although I like the latter better). As for The Milds, Mrs. Mild should have some interesting stories about her trip to Italy last week. We're almost at the end of their textbook but I think with the Italy trip, the review of last week's material and going over any lingering grammar questions, it's safe to say that talk about the new text will have to be left for next week.

The juku boss is having another bad week physically. She told me that she'd had a 39-degree C fever over the weekend which necessitated a quick trip to the hospital. Apparently, her recovery from her cancer ordeal is taking longer than usual. I hope she'll be OK.

Monday April 20, 8:20 p.m.

Mr. TOEIC is gonna be an hour late due to work, and so unfortunately he'll only be able to get a 30-minute lesson. Way it goes, I guess.

Since I rejoined...or I should say, really joined...the Mixi crowd, I've gotten myself into 3 communities: Doctor Who, my ol' university club and the one for my unsung singer, Ruiko Kurahashi. I actually gave my introduction to the last one a couple of days ago, and sure enough I got a response from the current leader. All very nice and civil. I had to give her my regrets about not being able to go to Ruiko's live concert this coming Thursday night.

Strangely enough, I was walking through Jimbocho, the area known for old bookstores here in Tokyo, when I came across a shop selling old and used CDs. I followed a hunch and it paid off; I found some Ruiko CDs. Almost all of them were ones that I'd already gotten but there was one called "Sailing" that was news to me, so I just grabbed that sucker. For some strange reason, she's identifed as RuikA Kurahashi and not her usual Ruiko. Ruiko Kurahashi is a stage name for the singer so I'm sure the sudden vowel change wasn't a traumatic one for her but I could only guess she was going for some sort of image alteration. I did notice that from the albums I had that "Sailing" was her first album with a new studio away from her original Polydor. Her Polydor releases had her singing more conventional pop tunes in the early 80s but her later ones had her trying somewhat more exotic genres. "Sailing" has her trying out everything from French waltz to fusion to even country ("Ruika's Traveling Bus"). It's this last track that seems to have embedded itself into my mind; gotta hear it to believe it. Still, my hunt for more of her increasingly rare discs continues.

Monday April 20, 7:34 p.m.

Saturday afternoon at Yoyogi Park turned out to be an old university club reunion. Along with Shrek and TC, we had various Presidents and Vice-Presidents from years past from our old club at U of T. The park, which is usually pretty crowded on the weekends to begin with, was looking even more stuffed since it was Earth Day. The foreign crowd was very much in evidence. However, the eclecticness of Yoyogi was still very much in evidence; we had glam rockers having picnics along with baton-twirling young folk and tai chi practitioners.

Aside from the folks I'd already mentioned, Automan and his fiance were there, but there were also a number of folks I hadn't ever met...those execs that were after my time. One prez reminded me a lot of PH; most likely if she and her had ever met, they probably would've become either the best of friends or the worst of enemies...no middle ground. Reunions often reflect how much time has passed. Seeing Shrek's and TC's kids scrambling around certainly stressed that fact.

Some hours later, the bunch of us broke up. A majority decided to hit Roppongi while Automan, his fiance and I walked the 10 minutes over to Shibuya. Then, Automan and future wife decided to do more clothes shopping while I did my usual crawl through Tower Records and HMV. At about 8, we all gathered again by the Shibuya Police Box where that PH clone took us...by the most roundabout of routes....to an izakaya. This place was equipped with those touchscreen panels so we didn't have to actually bother a breathing waiter/waitress for orders; just press the right food and drink and they will come. Although Shrek and TC had to take their families home...some annoying bylaw about children under 18 not being allowed in izakaya...we still had about 15 alumni crammed into 3 tables.

Me and one other former club President watched a fellow whom I'd met at the picnic trying desperately to pick one comely young lady right in front of our eyes all night. The fellow was a tall and handsome type....both facts for which he was self-aware...he was trying so very hard and not giving up to make a score but the lady was not biting. It was oddly pathetic and inspirational at the same time.

I'm usually not a party animal but I did enjoy this old reunion. Will be looking forward to Shrek's Canada Day BBQ...ironically being held on Independence Day.

Friday April 17, 7:33 p.m.

Once again, just when we thought the seasons were finally progressing, Winter decides to come back and annoy us like Columbo does when he goes after a suspect. A few days ago, some of us were sweltering in our jackets; now we're back to shivering in them.

Hmmmm....not sure how this gig with The Bass is turning out. Had my 2nd official lesson with him; since he felt that the Doutors across from JR Funabashi was a bit too noisy for him, we changed to another venue. Not too bad, but I did notice that one middle-aged salaryman had put his coat down but on seeing us banter in English, he sullenly picked it up and changed to another seat. Must've failed his Eiken as a child. Still, the thing that struck me was that although things were a bit smoother this morning, I still don't think we've quite gelled. He's a high student and does challenge me on answers which is actually quite refreshing to experience, but I'm not sure if he seems too happy with the way things are going. Plus, he did mention that things have been a bit slow in his business lately. If we don't see much more improvement in the next month or so, my alternate Friday mornings may be empty again. I mentioned to him that that friend of his had contacted me and we'd set up an initial meet-n'-greet for next Friday. I found out from him that he'd only met this "friend" just once at a bar in Shinjuku. Apparently, despite the fact that she'd been corresponding with me only in Japanese, The Bass informed me that she had done anywhere from 2 to 6 months in Australia on some sort of visa.

Dropped off at my station for an early lunch at the tonkatsu place. It was just me and one other customer which was rather nice. Had my usual hire katsu teishoku, and then it was back off on the subway over to Shinjuku. Had some extra time before The Bow's lesson so just did the usual browsing around in Tower Records and Kinokuniya before finding a table at Starbucks. The Bow showed up about an hour later and we had a pretty good lesson compared to The Bass'. After we parted, I decided to head up to HMV in Times Square...came across another new jazz diva whose CD I might get come payday.

It's the usual Ace and Restauranteur combo tonight. Automan confirmed that the meeting time is 1 p.m. in Harajuku tomorrow and it's BYOF (bring your own food). Well, it's just The Intellectual tomorrow morning, so I may actually be able to make the rendezvous time. Not sure what the temps will be like then, but if it's anything like today, I may experience the same sort of conditions for that Ohanami in Komazawa Park a few weeks ago.

I've been tracking via the TokyoWalker website how "Watchmen" has been doing here in The Big Sushi. Not too good, I'm afraid, but I'm also not surprised. Less than 50% from the theatre exit polls said it was "Excellent" or "Very Good", and it didn't even hit the Top 10 in the "Glad I Watched It". As the reviewer in METROPOLIS put it in his pan of it, it's just for the fanboys. I did warn The Publicity Assistant that she should read the graphic novel before watching the movie, but I'm not sure if even a dedicated Nakano Broadway-visiting girl like her would shuck out the yen to do so.

Thursday April 16, 9:39 p.m.

The Mega-Hump Day is over and I managed to survive it. I was feeling a bit peaked at the end of Mr. TOEIC's lesson (he's very rusty) but held in there for The European's student. Luckily, she was cooperative with the sub teacher.

Automan is back from Hokkaido and informed me about the plan on Saturday. Looks like everyone's getting together at Yoyogi Park in the afternoon. If I'm very fortunate, I may actually meet them there at the assigned time, and The Intellectual has always been prompt about his arrivals and departures. I expect that Shrek and TC may even be there.

That friend of The Bass' has finally gotten the time and day down pat for our first meeting. It'll be next Friday in Tsudanuma.

Thursday April 16, 5:26 p.m.

Apparently, I've got just a half-hour before Blogger shuts down for some maintenance.

After Grandma Dynamite, I went through a trio consisting of Miss Sedona, Miss Honolulu (long time, no see) and Mr. Pronounciation. Miss Sedona's workmate-from-Hell seems to have finally left the danger zone, much to her relief. Miss Honolulu...I hadn't seen last November. She's been busy getting married...on New Year's Day, no less (easy way to remember; and no excuses for forgetting on the husband's part). And she's taken up her spouse's hobby of golf. She also showed me a photo of herself and veteran singer Hiromi Go. She even showed me a picture of her and Go 15 years previously; she was quite the early 90s Disco Queen back then. Not that she's a buddy of his; just a very dedicated fan.

Mr. Pronounciation came in for his 60. No particular problems but as his day of departure is drawing closer, he has more questions about Toronto.

We've just had the changing of the guard. Bay has gone home after a full day, suffering fully from hay fever. At one point, we had close to a full crew with Speedy, Ray, Bay, La Fille and myself. The European is currently teaching The Magician and then Mr. TOEIC will be coming in less than an hour for the first time since the end of January. I guess along with Miss Honolulu, it's a bit of Ol' Homecoming Day at the school.

Thursday April 16, 12:20 p.m.

I've been continuing to read the various reviews and reports on this new "Star Trek". So far, the overwhelming positive response has been reassuring to hear, being an old Trekkie and all. However, being a cynic on the level of a Dr. McCoy, I think it is inevitable to see a rant amongst all of the raves, and such a pan is also needed to keep things grounded....that this movie isn't the biggest thing since the wheel. Sure enough, I did find a couple of them, basically accusing it of being a sci-fi flick with coincidental title of "Star Trek". I'm pretty open to this new interpretation (although I will definitely be doing some eye-rolling at the fact that these Starfleet kids will be getting promoted so inexplicably fast that they'll be suffering major nosebleeds), partly since I was so disappointed by the last two movies "Insurrection" and "Nemesis" (even Patrick Stewart cannot rescue dire plotwork). Basically, as long as it's fun to watch, I'll be happy to coronate this flick as the new Trek. Still, I can also imagine coming home from the theatre in little over a month from now, thinking "That ain't Trek!" And unfortunately, I can't burn William Shatner's toupee in effigy as I did for "Star Trek V".

I have a feeling, though, that I may be watching this film all alone. MB isn't a huge fan of the franchise to begin with, and I just couldn't imagine him stomaching too much of the last two movies, and I don't think The Satyr is a closet Trekkie either. As for The Trekkie, our former staffer here at Speedy's, she hasn't made any contact with me since the year began. It may be interesting to head into the lineups, though, to see who dresses up as Starfleet, Klingon or Vulcan officers.

Thursday April 16, 11:27 a.m.

Managed to survive the onslaught that is Grandma Dynamite. Did the double lesson with her since she pulled out of last Thursday. She's a really nice lady but her energy is just flying out in all directions...just try to imagine keeping down a high-pressure water hose with a few well-placed holes.

Luckily, I've got an hour to decompress a bit before Miss Sedona comes by for her regular 60. Still have to plan some more for the rest of the lessons this afternoon. Speaking of my groovy student, I was at Tower Records Shibuya, aka the largest CD store on the planet, and came across the latest album by Superfly, the cool female Japanese chanteuse who has a Janis Joplin way about her with some Carole King thrown in. Miss Sedona has always been a fan of the hippie/70s period when it comes to popular culture...she kinda dresses as a Haight-Ashbury type...and Superfly was a perfect fit for her. Yep, when I was listening at one of the posts at Tower, Superfly does sound rather appealing. I noticed that there was one track called "Vancouver"...I kinda wonder if that tune had any influence on her decision on where to live in Canada.

Looks like Speedy ordered another electronic doodad. Yesterday, there was a new router for the computer and now I see a cardboard box containing an air filter machine to clean our air. Since hay fever season began, we've been asking students to leave their coats and jackets in the outer office so that the chances of bringing in pollen are minimized. I guess the bossman has decided to bring in the heavy artillery.

Thursday April 16, 8:06 a.m.

An appropriately early start to Mega Hump Day. Did the usual McBreakfast with the Latin Jazz BGM in the background. The Patent Attorney has cancelled his lesson for the morning, so no need to be the substitute host.

To my left here might seem like the newest kids' show hosts but they're just a happy anime fan and a large cellphone. Another pic from the Tokyo Anime Fair from almost a month ago. Speaking of which, I should be taking another look at Nakano Broadway sometime in the near future; probably Golden Week. The latest METROPOLIS issue had a nice little article about the area. According to it, the place hasn't changed in 30 years...certainly looks it.

I've come to the realization that there's a certain art to sitting down on the subways. The morning commutes aren't exactly conducive for me to sit down since all of the seats are filled by the time the Tozai reaches my station...and this is even at 6:30 a.m.! However, in the off chance that someone does vacate his/her seat in front of me, I try to gently ease myself into the usually slightly snug vacuum; I pull in my muscles like an accordion and try not to touch my fellow passengers on either side of me since they're most likely snoozing away. I keep this position for a few minutes...just think like a player of that ol' Milton Bradley game, Operation...don't touch the sides. Then, I can gradually relax those muscles and after a few seconds of adjustment amongst me and the two fellows, I'm snug as a bug in a rug.

Wednesday April 15, 6:45 p.m.

Just some of the goodies that one of the Beehive ladies made back on March 3, the Doll Festival Day. It's traditional to make stuff like fish cakes (kamaboko), special tofu and some sticky bean paste popsicles and put them in a lacquered box. Just behind the box is a bottle of sake...which would explain the looser conversation that transpired later on.

Well, I just heard from La Fille that The Fashion Designer has dotakyan'ed again for the 2nd week in a row. So I get to go home early but I kinda feel sorry for my last student since she's now given up another batch of money since she's cancelled on the day of. Must be plenty busy on the catwalk.

I've gotten back to Mixi, the Japanese equivalent of Facebook, after an absence of a couple of years. My page is still up there. Why did I go back? Well, Facebook seems to have the fun apps such as Mesmo and Metropolis, and of course, the "Star Trek" and "Doctor Who" trivia questions but Mixi seems to specialize in the individual communities. Yup, so I did join the local chapter of "Doctor Who" and my beloved singer, Ruiko Kurahashi; haven't made any intros quite yet since I have to concoct up the kanji but perhaps I can make some friends there. Ruiko is having a concert next Thursday night in an Aoyama nightclub, but again like Cinderella being stuck in the house, I've got my night classes. Would be intrigued to actually participate in a Mixi-influenced event someday, though.

Well, since The Fashion Designer has cancelled again, and 001 isn't here tonight, I've just got The Diver to focus on.

Wednesday April 15, 2:16 p.m.

Forgot to mention that I came across a funny feature on YouTube yesterday that The Bostonian had referred me to. In romaji, it comes across as "kotoba ni dekinai" (Can't Be Expressed In Words); I think if you can type the English letters, you should be able to hit it, but a knowledge of hiragana and/or kanji would help. The video is an amalgam of hilarious shots of mangled Japanese signs and cute pet incidents...basically, Jay Leno's Newspaper Headlines segments in Japanese without Jay but with titular background song by famed J-Pop singer, Kazumasa Oda (he of the "Tokyo Love Story" theme); the lovely ballad actually enhances the hilarity.

Gotta admit...Mr. Mild is becoming quite the Renaissance Man now that he's retired from his career. In the year since he left, he has gone through a DIY course which involved carpentry and painting and has just started a new job working in a gym. And last night, he told me that he's been attending a monthly series of lectures on various aspects of foreign culture. Last Saturday, he went to a seminar given by a Japanese professor who's teaching Stateside on the various religions. I'd say that he was already quite a wise man, but this is icing on the cake.

Wednesday April 15, 12:46 p.m.

Especially blustery this morning in the Speedy neighbourhood. I now know what a freshly-minted facelift patient must feel like.

I actually got my letter from the Ichikawa government stating that I'm eligible to get my 12,000-yen handout from PM Aso provided I give the appropriate information. Ichikawa TV says that I probably wouldn't get the transfer into my account until after Golden Week. No matter, my engorgement at a yakiniku restaurant can happen at any time.

Well, that friend of The Bass asked me if I could conduct the model lesson anytime other than this Friday...actually, I was hoping that that would be the case since I was worried that I was cutting things a bit close between The Bow and the Friday night juku classes.

Had my lesson with The Admin this morning. The family restaurant was truly one....since there were two tables worth of mothers and screaming kids nearby. I didn't pay it too much mind.

Mr. TOEIC has decided to cancel his lesson for early Saturday morning...thereby taking away the threat of him trying to get those early classes again. But he has booked it for Thursday night which will pretty much kill me on what will be the biggest Mega Hump Day I've ever had with this school.

Just have The Big Lug and then it'll be The Diver and The Fashion Designer later tonight.

Tuesday April 14, 9:22 p.m.

Suzanne and I have had a pretty good...platonic and professional, may I stress...relationship for the past year. I tried out both "I.G.Y" and Allen Ginsburg poem of "Ken Kesey" on her as slices of Americana. She had an unexpectedly harder time understanding the concepts than I thought she would. Then, we got on talking about her and her mother's love for singer Madonna, and we discussed about our thoughts on the diva from our different temporal perspectives which led the both of us to this computer to check out YouTube and Wikipedia. Unfortunately, since the juku computer is behind the times in terms of operating systems, there was no way for us to look at "Borderline" or "Lucky Star". However, our little chat ended up going a full hour overtime. Not that I minded at all.

But then when she finally left, the juku boss came back up looking slightly consternated at how late Suzanne had taken off for home. She didn't unleash the Hounds of Hell on me, but she did give me a warning about how I shouldn't be keeping students way past their lesson time; may not set a good precedent. I did feel a bit of a soft lashing but realized that she was right...I may have crossed a certain line in terms of professionalism with that line distinguishing between student and friend. For good or for bad, one of the characteristics in my teaching style is that I do get chummy with my charges and it's often been the case that we've gone overtime by about 5 minutes because we got into a good groove conversationally. The 1 hour was definitely a new record for me, though. I took her reprimand seriously and apologized for breaking a Prime Directive of sorts.

I taught Mr. Mild as scheduled. We also did our fair share of sidetracking since we were almost near the end of the text and I really wanted to end things with both The Milds in attendance. Once the hour was up, the juku boss came back up but this time in a somewhat more sheepish mood. She actually apologized to me for being so "harsh"; she said that it wasn't really her but her bad health today that had unleashed the so-called invective. I was a bit surprised since I'd agreed with her that I was in the wrong, but she was quite sorry and even gave me a bag of cookies as peace offering. I assured her that she had been right for giving me the warning on keeping Suzanne way past her class time...but still accepted the cookies. No harm done. That seems to be the pattern of the boss....she did something similar to Mr. Mild some weeks ago when there was a slight misunderstanding about the schedule, and later on, she asked me whether she'd been a little too hard on the guy. Nah, not at all.

In any case, I'm done here...and with a clearer sense of responsibility.

Tuesday April 14, 4:06 p.m.

It's overcast and it's spritzed a bit out there but I'm feeling a bit sticky...a sign that Spring has come and that Summer isn't too far off. Met with Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Jade for the weekly Beehive session. Slightly depressing since that was one of the topics talked about. Not too long ago, one of Jade's friends had suffered a heart attack at a nearby station and later died...wasn't too old either, just 63. Travel cheered her up by suggesting going to a gym to exercise and exorcise those demons. Not quite sure what next week will be like...Travel won't be around and it could be just Jade.

Ended up having lunch at the neighbourhood Lotteria. I have to admit that Lotteria may occupy a lower rung on the fast food chains in Tokyo, but it does have a pretty tasty burger compared to the Big Mac. The only problem is that it's quite a bit smaller and more expensive.

Last night, I had a chance to talk with La Fille in more depth since she and I were having dinner in the school kitchen at the same time. It always seems like every time a new staffer comes in, I end up sharing a table with her just once; it was the same with Ray and Bay. Anyways, La Fille is actually trilingual: fluent in Japanese, French and English. I think that may be a first with us in our crew of bilingual folk. Yup, she quite the up-with-people type although she's not nearly as frenetic as The Trekkie.

Got word from that friend of The Bass'. I thought when I didn't hear from her in the last few days, she'd lost interest since I couldn't really offer a wide variety of available days. But she did get back to me so perhaps Friday afternoon will be doable. It'll be a sliver of time...just the 5-6 hour.

The juku boss wasn't doing too well when I came in, which doesn't strike me as a good sign at all, since the boss is almost always jovial. Definitely not today...she looks like she's in distinct pain although she insists that it's fatigue; in any case, the cancer is the root. And yet, she says she still has to teach one kid and cook dinner for her husband downstairs. I'd say that hubby can get his own dinner, although it might be difficult to suddenly cancel on the kid (knowing the Japanese work ethic and giri). I hope she's OK.

Just Suzanne and then Mr. Mild tonight. I've brought Donald Fagen's legendary "The Nightfly" as the potential "poem of the week" for her. I think an analysis of "I.G.Y." is in order. Mrs Mild is off in Italy right now, although she was also suffering last week with a major headache.

Just thinking about the upcoming "Star Trek". Critics and regular folk alike have been praising the efforts of J.J. Abrams (thankfully, this new approach to Gene Roddenberry's baby is more "Cloverfield" than "Mission: Impossible 3") for a product that, if not cerebral or universally-themed, still fits in with the original idea of Roddenberry and provides a crackin' good time in terms of the action quotient. I have a feeling that this movie may actually become a bigger hit than any of the last four movies with "The Next Generation" crew. Just from what I've heard of the story and the scenes I've seen, "Star Trek", intentionally or no, seems to follow to a certain degree the storyline from "Space Cruiser Yamato". Both have got iconic ships in epic battles, a firebrand deputy captain, a wise and seasoned captain, a lone comely female officer and a humanoid deus ex machina (Startia from "Yamato" and ancient Spock in the new movie). Kinda wonder how many of the Japanese fans will be coming out of the woodwork.

Monday April 13, 10:39 p.m.

Finished for the day. Medicine Man was fine; needs a bit more practice on Reported Speech with Commands, though. Consulted with the European, our recently arrived teacher. Looks like I'll be teaching her night student on Thursday which pretty much nixes any hope of getting an early Thursday night.

Recently, I got an invititation from the U of T Alumni Association to some sort of wingding in Tokyo for the President of Vic College, my old alma mater. It's on a Thursday night which nixes any of that right off the bat...not that I would've gone in any event. And besides, I don't they would miss a fellow who barely passed the minimum GPA to graduate in any event. I don't really have many fond ties with the university.

Tomorrow, it'll be the usual gabfest with The Beehive. I downloaded the inaugural speech of Barack Obama...I'm sure there'll be lots to talk about and analyze.

Monday April 13, 8:09 p.m.

Yup, the Spring is starting to heat up. I didn't have to wear a jacket today although I've got one scrunched into the bag for the evening. La Fille was complaining of the temps; man, I hope she's used to the Tokyo variety in a few months.

Yesterday, I met up with both Tully & The Coffeemaker at the usual place for the first time in over 2 months. I didn't bother asking Tully about what had happened to his European tour; methinks that it's not something I should be prying into. He was also suffering from some rust in terms of his English, but I gather that his status as a freshman in the Tokyu Corporation may be taking up about 100% of his time.

I also got that model lesson with The Sylph's former colleague and his wife near Komazawa Park. Took the bus from Shibuya Station; since I got that commuter PASMO I haven't been taking my old bus from the school to Nakano Station, so it was nice to have a ride through Setagaya Ward. The route I was taking was dominated by that huge expressway overhead; I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that when The Big One finally hits. It took about half an hour to get to the couple's neighbourhood and the bus dropped me conveniently off just a minute away from their house. As usual, I ended up getting there a half-hour early so I wanted to find a place to grab a quick bite but I walked down the wrong side of the street since the only fast food joint was Mosburger and Mosburger always prepares its burgers fresh which means a long wait time. After traversing in a relative fast food desert for close to half a kilometre, I just doubled back and dropped by a small cake shop that I'd passed by. I never want to enter a house emptyhanded so I decided to buy some goodies there. There was a couple bickering inside; unusual in that they were two men. Nothing too violent, just the usual familiar back & forth that family members go through. If the men had actually been closer in age, I would've pegged them as a gay couple, but the two seemed to be a father-son combo. Anyways, while the staffer patiently waited for them to come to a decision, I pressed ahead and got a box of small chocolate cakes.

The Jyuppies were delighted to see this Roman bearing gifts. And I was quite happy how the two hours of model lesson went, although I didn't earn any yen. Mrs. Jyuppie was first and she turned out not to be the tabula rasa I'd been dreading but fairly good although she was still fairly low...good attitude. It was a big jump to Mr. Jyuppie's level but he really appreciated me bringing the Presentations book for him. Like his wife, he was also good student material. I'd done a lot of prep work over the past week so I was happy that things went off without any major hitches. Like a lot of other house calls I've done over the years, this place came with its pet...a very friendly little dog who wanted to get in on the conversation. Looks like my planning bore some fruit; the couple tentatively booked me in for three Sundays in May although Mr. Jyuppie said that they have one more teacher to meet in a couple of weeks.

Afterwards, I decided to have my dinner at the nearby Freshness Burger. The Komazawa Park neighbourhood is a trendy residential area that any yuppie would love to be in. It's also a pet paradise according to all of the canines I saw walking around with their masters. Would love to live there myself, but on a lowly teacher's salary...

Saw SIL this afternoon for the first time in a few weeks; some good talk catching up on the latest events. Then, I had to rush on over to teach Mr. Pronounciation before seeing The No-Timer. She's been making the transition from harried accounting staffer to jogging-and-napping unemployed lady. Not a bad way to be in, considering that she still lives at home with the folks. For some reason, we got on the topic of past pets and she told me about how she was inadvertently responsible for her pet crayfish's death. I told her that was nothing; I told her the events surrounding my pet gerbil's demise. I won't get into that online; suffice it to say that The No-Timer was somewhat shocked at the dark side I possessed as a kid.

Found out that Mr. TOEIC is coming back to the fold. He's asked for a 10a.m. class before Mr. Intellectual. I'm OK for that but if he starts trying to back up the time again, I'll have to have a word with the bossman. Unfortunately, my hopes for a very early start to my Thursday evening were dashed definitely with the sudden influx of students. After Miss Sedona, Miss Honolulu comes back followed by another visit from Mr. Pronounciation and then I gotta take over The Diva's student later in the evening.

I finally got the first big review on "Star Trek" via Dark Horizons. Up to now, it's been all the fanboys and fangirls talking, and although the critic wasn't quite as enamoured with the movie as the Trekkies were, he did say that the film provided a lot of fun and hope for the launch of a new alternate universe Trek. High praise indeed considering how the last few movies have fared. Still hoping for a sneak peek at that soundtrack.

Saturday April 11, 2:47 p.m.

Some transition taking place here. The Bostonian looked out of sorts today since she's apparently getting married...still not a done deal, according to her...the fiance has gotta meet her mother tonight. Kinda wonder why she's wearing black then. At one point, the stress of work (her firm is an insurance company...not the most stable of places to be at right now) and the stress of engagement threatened to have her eyes brimming, so the counselor's pad, pencil, ears and soothing voice came on out. Kinda gotta her out of her funk with some well-laid oyaji joke mines. So, I probably won't be hearing from her for several weeks until she and future hubby register their marriage on Children's Day during Golden Week.

Then, The Businesswoman came in. She had a good, educational time in The Windy City at the end of March. Got to dig into Deep Dish Pizza and caught a blues show in one of the nightclubs. Her business trip was basically her last act for her company; now, she's gonna pound the pavement for the next little while, so she said that we probably won't see her (if ever) for the next few months. Wasn't too surprised since she was coming up to her final paid lesson. Did get some Chicago chocolates from her as an omiyage (goodbye gift?).

As for The Publicity Assistant, she came in rather groggy due to the demands of her job and sleep. So, it was time for another round with Dancing Bear. We gabbed a lot on movies and TV so didn't make much progress but at least she stayed quite awake. Unfortunately, she's not promoting "Star Trek" here in Japan. She'll be catching "Watchmen" on my suggestion tomorrow, but she still hasn't read the book. I gave her a friendly warning that the movie may fly over her head.

Will be heading home in about 15. Gotta do some laundry before it gets dark.

Saturday April 11, 10:22 a.m.

Back to the coal mines again. At least, it's a nice day out there. And it looks like I can put away the masks and meds for now since it seems as if my hay fever has started to fade...knock on any wood except cedar. I'm sure there are still some johnny-come-latelys who will be going for O-hanami this weekend although the cherry blossoms are well into falling off the branches and littering the streets. However, when it comes to modern-day cherry-blossom viewing, most folks aren't particularly focused on the trees above but on the beer below.

Bay has come in for the first time in several days since she tied the knot. Looks like married life has been suiting her well. However, she hasn't gotten over her hay fever quite yet.

It'll be a typical Saturday lineup: The Bostonian, followed by The Businesswoman and The Publicity Assistant. The Businesswoman is looking at her final lesson before renewal today (I think I may have already pointed this out last night); not sure if she's gonna go for another round.

I got word from that friend of the Bass. Looks like she wants either an evening or Sunday. Well, my Sundays are starting to look complicated...so I may have to squeeze her in between The Bow and the juku classes on Fridays. Hmmm....not sure.

Friday April 10, 7:24 p.m.

My 2,900th entry! No, not really much to celebrate...at least for another 100 entries...I think that could take anything from 1-3 months. Speaking of milestones, you'll forgive me if I admit that I only found out now that "E.R" had finally wrapped things up after 15 years...well, what's a week late? How's that for being the video isolationist? To be honest, I never got into the series even though the show has also been a hit over here as well for the past several years. I think the last medical drama series that I was into was "St. Elsewhere" close to 25 years earlier.

Did a whole ton of copying for that model lesson on Sunday...and still have to do some more tomorrow. I sent off the tapescript to The Bass earlier. I hope I don't give him a guilt complex.

I know that I've been needing sleep. I've been nodding off on the subway very easily these past two days. I've been going through the latest book from the Speedy library. It's "Labyrinths of Reason" by William Poundstone...not the best thing to read if you want to stay riveted awake, but I tried my best. Would love to see Mr. Spock tackle this one.

I got there a bit early but I went over to The Restauranteur's place for dinner...a monthly habit now. I had my usual Sauteed Chicken course. And as usual, it wasn't all that busy...just a mother-daughter duo for the most of it before 4 kids and 2 mothers poured in. That was my cue to head back to the juku. Looks like The Restauranteur took the boss' urgent advice after all about having her head checked after that spill last week. The bruises are starting to fade away.

Tomorrow, I've just got my three students: The Bostonian, The Businesswoman and The Publicity Assistant. I'm seeing The Businesswoman for the first time since she'd gone on her business trip to Chicago. Would love to hear how she did. And it could be her last time with us...she's on her last lesson before the decision to renew, and I haven't heard anything from the bossman about her re-upping. The last few lessons have been amiable with the listening practice and all, but perhaps she may be feeling that it's time to move on. I wouldn't blame her and wish her well. I think it was also the case with The Yogist several months ago.

Unfortunately for me, being too curious about upcoming movies, I could never resist trying to get the latest info on them. And so I'm still digging for tidbits about "Star Trek"....hmmm...apparently, Vulcan gets smushed by Nero, and if the scenes look as they are, it could be for good so that this new universe's Spock may end up being truly alone. No Pon Farr, no reconciliation with Sarek, no storage of his katra. J.J. Abrams really wants to shake things up.

Friday April 10, 2:58 p.m.

Well, I'm done with the Speedy half of the lessons today. Prissy was fine and Mr. Pronounciation was in good form. It'd been several weeks since our last meeting. He has just left his firm so I think the stress levels have dramatically decreased. He'll be heading for Toronto on a long homestay in a little over a month from now so I'm sure the questions will be dribbling in.

I also got word from that word-of-mouth friend of The Bass. She used only Japanese so I'm not sure if I'll be dealing with a total beginner. Not even sure if I can even fit her into the schedule. Also that model lesson couple for Sunday contacted me to remind me of the lesson. I've got a basic idea of what I'm gonna be doing for them...just gonna have to see how it goes.

Friday April 10, 10:04 a.m.

A bit of a flurry of activity as I speak as The Music Man suddenly had to come in to see if he'd dropped an important memo last night. The timing is good for Speedy, though, since the bossman needed to give him his bill for the next round of lessons.

I've been reading about that Billy Bob Thornton kerfuffle at a Canadian radio station a few days ago. Not surprisingly, the ugly citizens from both Canada and the U.S. have plopped from their morass and started venting at each other. There's even one fellow by the code name of TrueAmerican who's not even bothering to put together any sort of cogent argument (not that the forum on which I saw the venting would particularly demand it) but just throwing his volleys of anti-anyone-not-American anger across the border...which makes me wonder if he's just doing it for the sake of winding people up or he's really a secret Canadian just punk'n his fellow Canucks or perhaps it's really Sacha Baron Cohen. As for BBT himself, he never struck me as being the most stable fellow in Hollywood in the first place, and that is saying a lot; I mean, this is the guy who was carrying vials of his own blood to profess his love for pre-rebirth Angelina Jolie, and has a phobia of antique furniture.

Mark Wahlberg was in town promoting his latest movie, "Max Payne", and gave an interview to "The Japan Times" on condition that his words would only reach the local Japanese/foreign residents. Apparently, Marky Mark must still think the Internet is only available to those folks at DARPA. Also, his agent "advised" the interviewer that Mark will not be addressed as "Marky Mark". I think Mark should just be worried that he will be addressed as Max Payne for the rest of his life.

Friday April 10, 8:27 a.m.

I gotta get out of these late night-early morning transitions...got up and out of the apartment very reluctantly at the eye-searing hour of 6:30 a.m. Had The Music Man last night...he'll be taking off for Milan next week, so he obviously won't be coming in. However, I may be spelling one of our other teachers' students around that time next week, so I don't think I'll be catching "Utaban" or the Tunnels' old variety show anytime soon.

Got word from The Admin surprisingly stating that she liked my introduction of the word "soothing" and that she would like to use it for her hubby's shop promotion. I didn't have quite the heart to tell her that the word has also been used for Speedy's school. I've always had the niggling suspicion that she didn't have as good a time in the school as some of the other staffers who have passed through our gates. However, she'll never top the manic-depressive BC.

Took a look at some of those Joanna Wang vlogs on YouTube. Yup, as just a regular 20-year-old, she does come off as somewhat self-absorbed and rambling...but hey, she's 20 and she's human. There were a couple of responders to one of those vlogs whose comments were apparently so disdainful that they had been deleted by the site managers. I checked one of those folks' sites out; yep, he/she isn't a particularly popular person...there were a lot of profane comments directed at him/her. I kinda figure the fellow is a cyber-crank...the type of person who ends up sitting next to you on a virtual park bench to harangue you about everything and everyone. As for Joanna, she seems to have been given everything to her on a silver platter according to some of the gushing notices I've discovered elsewhere on the Net (although I'm sure she's paid her dues), but I think she'll hit her rough patches sooner or later. Even the one she's been compared most to, Norah Jones, has been cruelly labeled "Snorah Jones" by her critics.

Well, I've got Miss Prissy in about 90 and then Mr. Pronounciation some 2 hours after I've finished with her. Luckily, I was able to get the needed texts yesterday instead of today, so I really only have to take care of some massive copying for the model lesson on Sunday afternoon. May just enjoy walking in Springtime.

Thursday April 9, 5:41 p.m.

Well, this could be a real kick in the pants for the Japanese entertainment industry. I only just heard (apparently, the news is now 3 days old) that Haruka Minowa of the female comedienne duo, Harisenbon, has gotten tuberculosis...the really contagious kind. Considering how close-knit the geinokai is in terms of appearances on TV and on stage, this could be a pretty tense week for everyone not just in showbiz here but for those who had been watching the duo do their shtick live between December and April. And the duo has done some photo layouts as well with gaijin tarento Marie...I wonder how she's feeling. I didn't see Harisenbon at that TBS All-Star Festival on Saturday night so at least some of those celebs can sigh some relief.

Thursday April 9, 5:30 p.m.

Did some further text buying by rushing out to Maruzen and getting that audioscript for The Bass and a potential text for that model lesson on Sunday. Still, I had enough time to enjoy lunch at Com Pho...always good to go there after the lunch crowd has disappeared.

Met up with The New Yorker in Ichigaya. Her fluency hasn't improved all that much since coming back from New York but her listening has gotten a boost and her confidence has gone up a bit as well. What she has dropped has been some weight. She's looking about as slim as I have ever remembered her. She has decided to make the leap over to The Big Apple later this year but again when I asked her what she would like to do, she demurred.

Earlier in the day, Grandma FON got me hungry for Vietnamese pho through her usual energetic attitude in class. But once again, she's gonna disappear for another 5 weeks due to her various travels. Amongst her targets will be her cottage in Nagano, Kabuki-za in Ginza, and a tour of Croatia. If that latter country sounds familiar in this blog, it is because The Beehive ladies had gone there almost a year ago.

Now that I've gotten that textbook shopping done today instead of tomorrow, I have a whole ton of hours between Mr. Pronounciation and the juku classes. I figure some of that time will be spent making copies of various texts for the model lesson on Sunday and whipping some further material for The Restauranteur.

Thursday April 9, 8:25 a.m.

Another one of those late night-early morning transitions. However, my Mega Hump Days have been downgraded to just Hump Days. The Fashion Designer pulled the dotakyan last night and Grandma Dynamite has cancelled her lesson for today. Speaking of morning students, what has happened to The Patent Attorney? I think he probably pulled another cancellation on Speedy.

Still, it'll be fairly busy today. Luckily, no model lesson...we've yet to hear back from that lady from last Thursday so I think it's safe to say that she won't be a convert. I kinda had a hint of things (not) to come when I saw a bit of a look in her face which seemed to say "Hm...nice but I dunno...." I've got Miss Sedona first off, followed immediately by Grandma FON. And then I have to run off to Maruzen since I got a fax yesterday from them stating that that tapescript for The Bass' book has come in. There was a strange excerpt of a message on the machine which I now assume to be one of the bookstore's staffers. There was a bit of background talk before a spate of girlish giggling and then the click-off. One of the managers probably had one of the newbies try to leave a message in Japanese or English and he/she couldn't quite hack it.

Then, it's off to see The New Yorker in Ichigaya. It'll be the first time to see her since she got back from The Big Apple. I had realized it was a bit of a reach for me to think that a mere five days in Manhattan would transform Eliza into a linguistic "My Fair Lady" but still it was slightly disheartening to see her confirm today's lesson with 80s-like Japlish catchphrases.

I see The New Yorker's sister here at Speedy a few hours later before Music Man wraps everything up for me. Yup, a long day today.

Since I'm here early, it was another McBreakfast nearby. This time, instead of the usual Sausage McMuffin, I decided to try the newest entry in the Golden Arches' morning menu: the Mega Sausage Hot Dog set. Yes, Virginia...there is a Homer Simpson in all of us here. Now, for some bizarre reason only known to the (probably secretive) local Planning Division in the House that Ray Croc Built, the Japanese McDonalds has decided to introduce regular hot dogs and the aforementioned Mega Sausage dogs for breakfast only. As I was in the waiting line, I was debating whether to go slow and just go for the regular dog or go for the gusto, and the latter finally won out (no cracks about compensating for something, please). In any case, the Mega came with mustard and ketchup already on it....it was pretty good, although the late and lamented Nathan's would still win out. Not quite sure if it'll win over customers here though since Nathan's ultimately couldn't do it.

I've been keeping up on the aftermath of the unofficial debut of "Star Trek". So far, all of the reviews have been quite positive with particular kudos to Karl Urban's portrayal of Dr. McCoy, although the clip that I've seen of him on Yahoo seems to show him just as a snarly hillbilly hypochondriac. At least, Urban can play a whole range of characters...I couldn't see any similarity between Bones and his characters in "Lord of the Rings" and the Bourne series. I think the only negative response connected with the movie thus far has been to just one of the fan reviews which managed to get his brethren to turn on their flamethrowers. I may indirectly ask The Publicity Assistant this Saturday if she will have any connection to the movie's promotion here. It's coming out in Tokyo on May 29th, by the way.

Speaking of J.J. Abrams, it looks like Leonard Nimoy isn't quite done with him just yet. He's apparently signed on to Abrams' latest baby, "Fringe", as probably one of the oldest recurring characters to come on a TV show. I saw a couple of episodes of the show back in Canada; it will probably end up coming onto SuperDrama TV in the near future. With Nimoy's return, it means that all of the surviving cast members of Classic Trek have found second lives, starting from Walter Koenig's role as Bester in "Babylon 5". James and DeForrest must be fuming somewhere.

Wednesday April 8, 9:52 p.m.

Surprised that I'm typing this at this time since normally The Fashion Designer would be facing me in the lesson. However, as soon as I finished with The Diver, La Fille informed me that she had called to cancel. So I'm officially done here. The Diver is coming along pretty well; certainly, she's come a long way since her nearly mute ways a year ago. As for 001, she was as genki as usual. She told me of her interest in Hokkaido food so I told her about the jaga buta dumplings I'd had a few weeks ago by way of The Restauranteur. I showed her the picture of the box that I'd taken with the digital camera so she can try to track it down at the next Hokkaido event somewhere in Tokyo.

The first cockroach sighting was made last Saturday. Yep, as is usual in Japan, she was a biggie; I could imagine this one must've had tattoos on its thorny legs. Since unlike the vast majority of the population here, I'm not afraid of the bugs, I just picked it up and put it outside like any pet. I could imagine all of my students screaming in horror at my act. I should've just taken a picture of it and put it on my Facebook.

Well, I'm headed home in the next few minutes. It'll be nice to get a bit more sleep before Mega Hump Day 2.

Wednesday April 8, 5:39 p.m.

Well, The Big Lug and I had another cordial lesson. We spoke on the Starbucks phenomenon including our favourite branches (his is in Kamiyacho...near Roppongi; mine is in Toranomon..it's often big and empty on Friday nights, perfect for teaching while downing that caffe latte) and I also found out that he finally found his new pad in Okachimachi. It's pretty close to the old Ueno NOVA branch that I'd started at over 14 years ago, so he was impressed at the places I knew there such as Takeya, a discount store that was there years before the 100-yen shop became a common part of the urban landscape, and AbAb, a Ueno department store legend. He's quite lucky to get the apartment there: he has three train lines serving the area, including the JR Yamanote Line which is probably the line that closes the latest in Tokyo, and a ton of restaurants to choose from.

Wednesday April 8, 2:36 p.m.

In between The Admin and The Big Lug right now. Just had enough time to chow down on a Filet Chicken Sandwich set from The Golden Arches. Gave my glowing reviews of Joanna Wang to The Admin much to her delight. I said I would probably get her first album; she said that she would be happy to borrow it next month. Unfortunately, my hay fever decided to strike during the lesson so in a lesson which dealt with the importance of etiquette, I was breaking a few rules right then and there.

Gotta say that it is a nice day out there, though. Plenty warm.

Read some of the first reviews of "Star Trek" from that lucky crowd in Austin. A lot of superlatives were thrown out...keeping my fingers crossed. If The Publicity Assistant could only get that assignment...

Wednesday April 7, 12:34 p.m.

Well, as I was saying...those lucky Trekkie bastards in Austin, TX got to see the full "Star Trek" with Leonard Nimoy a couple of nights ago. At least the buzz seems to be good, although a lot of Star Wars fans came out rather blissfully when they'd seen "The Phantom Menace" a decade ago; then, the realization dawned that...no...it really wasn't that good a movie.

Grandma Enka had a grand old time on Lota Island with her 14-strong family last week. The area is still undeveloped and therefore doesn't have the touristy cynicism that perhaps Guam and Saipan are now saddled with but still has the pristine nature. She was lucky in that her daughter not only works for the company which plans these tours but Lota Island just happened to be her daughter's assignment.

Anyways, I gotta be taking off to see The Admin in a few minutes...luckily, she's just over at the nearby family restaurant. May have to wait a while to get a table since it's the peak of lunch hour.

Looks like my schedule got slightly readjusted. Grandma Dynamite has cancelled her class for tomorrow and has opted for a double next week, and Mr. Pronounciation has slotted himself for early Friday afternoon. So, a bit of a respite for the second Mega Hump Day.

Wednesday April 8, 11:17 a.m.

Well, the United States has been full of surprises these past 24 hours. First, Barack Obama pulls a Uwie on Air Force One and heads to Baghdad in a sandstorm. And then Leonard Nimoy shows up in Austin to present the very first showing of the rebooted "Star Trek"

...and Grandma Enka has just come in....too early...later.

Tuesday April 7, 9:23 p.m.

Finished my day. The Milds came in with Mr. Mild getting a buzzcut for his new job at the sports facility. He's one of the many retirees who's going for a second career of sorts. He's doing everything right now from reception, taking care of IDs and Lost & Found. Mrs. Mild was suffering seemingly from a rather bad headache. She was periodically massaging her temples. However, she'll be heading over to Italy next week with her buddies; a bit worried due to that earthquake there.

The juku boss gave me an extra treat in the form of chocolate almonds and maboroshi o-senbe or The Mystery Rice Cracker. Apparently in Urayasu, this treat made from the rice usually devoted to producing rice cakes has picked up a reputation for itself as a much-savored and hard-to-get local delicacy. The rather mercurial producer refuses to say when and how much of the stuff he can make, and whatever he makes gets quickly snapped up through reservations so folks passing by the shop very rarely, if ever, can buy the crackers straight off the shelf. However, the juku boss got lucky and was able to pick up one bag. To be honest, the two crackers I ate tonight were OK but didn't seem to be worth all the hoopla, but in the interest of keeping intra-Urayasu relationships sound, I didn't say anything.

Well, heading home now but I got word from La Fille that Mr. Pronounciation wants to get another class in sometime this Thursday or Friday. I've sent word to Speedy that Friday would be the better day since I'm pretty full up on Thursday.

Tuesday April 7, 7:07 p.m.

Well, Suzanne certainly likes to punch above her weight...she's very unique amongst my students for that reason. Since she has been reading James Allen's "As A Man Thinketh" (translated into Japanese as "Cause and Effect"...a theme that is stated from the very first page) and I got my own original copy from Shard, we decided to tackle the first chapter. It was from easy for her with all of the dated English and concepts and by the end she was feeling distinctly exhausted. Apparently the Japanese translation doesn't have quite the religious slant that the source material has. In any case, we switched over to Margaret Atwood's "In The Secular Night"...which strangely enough seemed to be a philosophical rebuttal to Allen. This was easier but not easy. However, we did enjoy analyzing the poem. Maybe we have something there. I printed out an Allen Ginsberg piece for next week. But I'm now thinking if we could even do a song....let's say Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y."

Automan is back in town with his fiancee for the next couple of weeks. Looks like there may be something over at Shrek's on the 18th. The Bohemian sent me word about some sort of get-together with those Mixi buddies of his whom I met last month in Shinjuku. Not quite sure if I'll say yes to that one considering how obnoxious he was under the influence.

Apparently, there was someone planning President Obama's demise in Turkey. However, it was quickly defused. Not particularly alarmed...all US Presidents are targeted for assassination and sadly, Obama, has an even bigger bullseye on his back due to the fact that he is the first African-American president. But he's been getting the rock star's welcome everywhere he's gone in Europe. I could only imagine what it would be like if and when he lands in Japan.

Tuesday April 7, 4:11 p.m.

I think Spring has finally come. Last night, we all probably had the first pleasant night to walk home. No need to bundle up at all. And today has been a glorious day. Didn't bother to put on the tie. I met The Beehive at the usual place. They'd had a good time in Okinawa last week with Mrs. Perth and Mrs. Pottery who's now living there. I got the usual chinsuko cookies (crammed with pig lard) and a decorative binder as souvenirs. The session was a bit dominated by Mrs. Travel who was crowing about the fact that she and her husband had fought the morning after she got back. I'm not sure about relationships but I don't think boasting about her fighting techniques is particularly the most conducive to English conversation.

Did the usual I-Cafe gig in the afternoon. Seems like Joanna Wang, like Barack Obama, was using the Net to promote herself throughout last year. She had posted a number of her songs throughout her inaugural year on YouTube from the comfort of her room. She looks rather mature on her CD but on video, she comes across as the usual latter-day teen in her delivery. Nothing too profound in her statements...just straight intros.

Just spoke with the juku boss about that model lesson student. She never called back despite the boss' call to her about her interest in the lessons. So I'm assuming that she will be a no-go.

Monday April 6, 9:09 p.m.

Yeah, me again. Got a message from the juku boss. May or may not have a brief model lesson tomorrow with this young lady who apparently speaks in decibels according to a rather loud phone call she had sent the boss a couple of weeks ago. May be a gyaru. I cringe but then again, I'd thought as much about Seven and then Suzanne, and they both ended up to be decent ladies.

Speaking of Suzanne, she told me she's been reading the Japanese translation of "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen, the same book that Shard had given me over Xmas. Small world. I'll be lending my version to her and maybe we can analyze that one.

Got the Beehive back tomorrow in Tsudanuma. I think most of the 90 minutes will be spent on their trip to Okinawa last week and my trip to Quintessence yesterday. I'll be bringing over the Exilim. Perhaps I'll bring some sort of article but most likely I won't be needing it in class.

I've gotta think about that big model lesson with The Sylph's friend and his wife whose house we all had visited a week ago last Saturday after O-hanami in Komazawa Park. Could be a big one but they still have to hear my price quote and they've been interviewing other teachers. I may be doing some more text purchasing on Friday.

I also gotta say that maybe I've passed the peak of my annual hay fever. I did take the meds but I've managed to survive the outside without donning a mask.

Monday April 6, 8:41 p.m.

Yes, I guess it's a pretty slow night but I should be getting ready for Medicine Man in the next 15 minutes.

Anyways, you can enjoy a little bit of Shinjuku skyscraper-dom. I took this on the main street between Nakano and Shinjuku. Actually, during my night out last night in Yoyogi, I took a few dusk pics which might look pretty good in future entries.

Well, in my free time, I got a chance to read some reviews on the restaurant I'd dined at earlier this afternoon, the Michelin 3-star Quintessence. Not surprisingly, the professional critics weren't as generous in their praise as The Class Act and I were. One wag even remarked that the ambience, service, and food were somewhat cold and robotic in tone so that he would more likely head out to a cheap ramen place instead of a 2nd trip to Quintessence. OUCH! However, the ones that I did read did agree that that goat's cheese with the macadamia nuts and olive oil was the hit dish. It was called bavarois. Finally, I can make sense of what the Japanese for years have been calling this dollop of slightly firm creaminess. All I could make out was the katakana pronounciation, babaroa. At first, I was wondering if this was something that the late Desi Arnaz would say to Lucy. Well, the linguistic mystery has been solved.

Also an update on that singer I've gotten interested in: Joanna Wang. It looks like a lot of folks in cyberspace have been calling her the Chinese-American Norah Jones and that she's more categorized as a folk singer. Well, I did see that YouTube entry by the woman herself armed with a guitar and singing "Dream A Little Dream of Me". Yep, she's good. Her album was just released earlier in Japan this year, while she had become quite the rising star in the rest of Asia the year before. Hmmmm....I wonder if she'll be discovered in the notoriously fickle world of Japanese music. She mentioned a singer by the name of Yoeko Kurahashi as one of her inspirations. In any case, I'll have to give my respects to The Admin for lending the CDs to me.

Monday April 6, 8:14 p.m.

Looks like The No-Timer has been enjoying her nearly one week of freedom. And it also looks like she'll be the next of a few students who will be flying the coop sometime later this year. She's been considering doing a tour of duty on Working Holiday in Singapore for about 6 months. But it is going to be a temporary deal compared to Miss Sedona who's hoping for a permanent stay in Canada, and perhaps even The New Yorker who should be back from her namesake city by now. I wonder how she got along in The Big Apple.

As I've said, I've got Mega Hump Days coming up on Wednesday and Thursday. So it was with some relief (knocking on wood) that Mr. Pronounciation decided to have his comeback lesson tomorrow with Speedy instead of me on Wednesday. With 6 lessons already, even if all of my students are great folks, I don't think I would've survived having 7 on my plate. I don't think Speedy looked too happy though.

Monday April 6, 4:23 p.m.

Had a terrific lunch at Quintessence. Made my way over to tony Shiroganedai via the Namboku Line. It was just a brisk 10-minute walk from the station to the restaurant itself. I knew I was in for something other than the usual "Is that for here or to go?" speech at Wendy's as soon as I entered the air lock and a young lady with a beaming smile in a smart suit greeted me. She looked faintly familiar as if she had been a model in the mags or on TV, but I had just enough class not to ask.

I waited in the front lounge for a few minutes. Another couple came on in and sat down but I didn't make any eye contact; I had the impression that such a place reeked of discretion. The Matron came in dressed in a kimono she'd designed herself. It had a sakura motif...I really gotta get her and Mrs. Tee together since she's also often decked out in traditional dress. The noon hour passed by but The Lady was yet to show up...very unusual for her. A phone call from The Matron quickly revealed that The Lady had completely forgotten the lunch and was now rushing to get over. On that note, the impeccably suited waiter showed us to our little chamber for lunch.

I'm not sure about the dinner part but the lunch menu is all up to the owner/chef...a genius who only uses the freshest local ingredients. Nothing frozen or artificially preserved. Of course there were the drinks....The Matron went for sparkling mineral water since she had driven over and I was gently persuaded to try some champagne (for which I downed two fluted glasses...a personal best). While we waited for The Lady, The Matron caught up on life over the past 6 weeks. She'd been busy with various parties including one graduation and one for her grandson.

We'd just finished the first course...an interesting digestif consisting of tomato-based soup seasoned with spices like paprika and some carbonation; tasty although I don't know if I'll ever across its like again....when The Lady rushed on in being absolutely contrite for having forgotten. Of course, we were just happy that she could make it at all.

The rest of our dejeuner de France was consisted of dishes that I'd never eaten and probably won't eat for the rest of my life...I told the ladies that I was getting goose bumps (not an overexaggeration) at the food I was trying. The second course was creamy goat's cheese topped with salted macadamias and drizzled with olive oil. Then came the main course of grilled swordfish steak and rare Iberian pork. Finally, we got two desserts...a tiny crepe that was made from the best sugar, butter and flour...the quality was so high that there was no need to add any filling. The second dessert was another interesting creation of layers of bitter chocolate mousse, crackling caramel and a foam made of espresso coffee. All throughout we were given the play-by-play by our waiter. Yep, he knew his stuff...and we had to have it explained since the dishes were so new to us. Not sure if some people would appreciate the commentary, though; I think there would be folks who would rather have their meal in peace, but then again I don't think such people would come to Quintessence in the first place.

As I'd been told before, we spent about 3 hours in the restaurant but the time just seemed to fly by because the pacing of the wait staff was so immaculate. The two glasses of champagne had me flushing into two shades of scarlet but I was able to hold onto my alcohol until the end. Of course, The Matron paid for everything although I tried to at least make the pretense of pulling out my wallet. The owner/chef and our waiter showed us out the door. Yep, he's a young dude...was surprised to see him own and operate his own 3-star restaurant. Would love to come here again for lunch but the reservation process is extremely strict. You can only reserve exactly 2 months in advance...nothing sooner, nothing later. The Matron was jokingly complaining aloud about that restriction while the wait staff smilingly bowed their apologies.

While The Lady had gone back to her car, The Matron and I walked up to hers. She confided that she'd been worried about her over the past month since the news came out about her husband's financial downturn. There had been some worry that her wonderful house and staff would have to be let go, but it looks like that hurdle has been cleared, thankfully. Not sure if there will be any Xmas party this year, though.

Still, it looks like I won't be resuming any Class Act lessons with them for another 5 weeks; they've requested me to wait until after Golden Week. I don't mind too much since I appreciate the late Monday sleep-ins.

Now that I'm back at Speedy's...it's back to normalcy. I've got The Full-Timer...or perhaps I should say No-Timer since she should have finished her time with her now-former company last week. And then I've got Medicine Man in the last slot.

Monday April 6, 9:33 a.m.

Well, I guess we're in post-launch Japan now. Yup, Kim Jong-Il launched his newest plaything over Japan yesterday at 11:30 a.m. local time. I just managed to turn on the telly just when the news flash came in...and this time, all of the stations chimed in breathlessly from the first reports of the launch to the Chief Cabinet Secretary's press conference at noon. TV Tokyo remained resolutely nonchalant about it, though. As usual, they provided alternate programming for those folks who preferred travelogues over breaking news.

The weekend was pretty quiet. TV-wise, we're in the Spring Specials week between trendy drama seasons, so being Saturday night, TBS put on its quarterly 4.5-hour All-Star Quiz and Marathon show. Hosted by longtime veteran comedian/commentator Shinsuke Shimada and former aidoru-turned-tarento Wakako Shimazaki, the show has 200 tarento and actors (the former vastly in the majority) answering various trivia questions for prizes while chosen celebs have to run a mini-marathon around TBS Studios in Akasaka. Of course, the governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, former comedian Sonomamma Higashi ran in it since he's a big marathon fan, and there was the throw-in of a veteran Olympic marathon runner; not surprisingly he passed through the tape first. The new things about this version is that now because my TV is part of the digital revolution, I could also play along with the other tarento through the interface. Alas, didn't do too well...I ended up in 151st place out of 201. The other thing is that they actually had some of the pretty female tarento getting down and dirty in some of the crazy races. For example, there was one race in which selected tarento had to get across a short track all slicked down in gooey lotion (guess we can thank the porn industry for that novelty). They actually had some of the prettier ladies have their own race; usually if women took part, they were the homely (to say the least) goofball comediennes. Well, this time, new half-American/half-Japanese SHELLEY got into the finals alongside two other men, one of the local Japanese comedians and transplanted gaijin tarento Bobby Ologun from Africa. Shimada astutely pointed out it was the first time that any of the special's races had a totally multicultural look. In any case, despite all the mess, Shelley won the championship but only after she got a bit of a spurt via Ologun "accidentally" poking her in the butt with his fingers.

On Sunday, it was a nice, quiet one but I did go out to Yoyogi to meet up with MB and The Sylph for dinner at a yakiniku restauarant called "Yakiniku no Ganko-chan". It wasn't the usual group of The Satyr, Miss Ivory and Skippy; this time, it was just one other person, a former co-worker of The Sylph's. I wasn't sure if MB was trying to set me up with her, but although she was a nice sociable type, I didn't get any particular chemistry between us. The yakiniku was good, though.

I'd been wondering about what the schedule was gonna be like today. I was supposed to meet up with The Class Act for the first time in a month but never got any calls. Fortunately, the call came in just as I was about to head on here from The Matron. Yep, I'm off to that Michelin 3-star restaurant, Quintessence, so I'm in my dress blues. I'm probably gonna to have take some money out of the account, though...lunch over there costs over 7,000 yen. No, not too bad for a 3-star but then I'm the type of guy who only gets to see stars in his menu when they denote spice level. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to take some pics of the fare.

Not quite sure what my fate with The Class Act is gonna be. The Matron told me over the phone that The Lady was doing quite well when she had spoken to her last week. However, since I haven't seen them and have gotten accustomed to having Monday mornings off now, the lunch may be my goodbye meal with them. We'll see.

As for new privates, I was not only surprised to hear from The Bass that he was OK with the lesson (considering how unimpressed I was with myself last Friday) but he had already recommended me to a young acquaintance of his. Yow! At this point, I'm wondering whether I should think about making moves to leave Speedy's. Nah...

Musically, I may have come across an epiphany in the form of a very young Chinese-American chanteuse by the name of Joanna Wang. In return for borrowing that Miki Imai CD from me last week, The Admin lent me a couple of her CDs. When I first put on the headphones last Saturday night, I had been expecting to just listen to the first track and then hit bed, but her voice just sounded so different and appealing that I ended up listening to the entire album without getting the least bit drowsy. The way the Admin described her, it sounded like Wang was one of those singers getting into the jazz vein but she does a wide range, including a nice cover of that old Paul Anka tune which had been used for all those Kodak commercials decades ago. Her voice has got a certain smokiness and lilt...a mix of Lisa Ono and Sheryl Crow, if you can imagine that fusion. Tried to look her up at HMV yesterday before I met up with MB and company...couldn't find her in the jazz section but found her in the World Music section. The album I'm borrowing is just her second release and discovered that she's perhaps all of 20 years of age! She looks and sounds quite a bit older (and that is a compliment, by the way). May be thinking of getting my own copy.